Feed on Posts or Comments March 29, 2024

Monthly ArchiveMay 2007



News Opinion by Spencer on May 7, 2007

Viva La France!

Something tremendous has happened in France… They have overwhelmingly elected a pro-American, pro-Capitalist conservative for their new President.  This changes the decades long socialist trend in France and is a great thing to see.  He will have a lot of challenges ahead, as parliamentary elections are coming up soon, and France’s government may not know what to do if an opposing party to the new president wins the majority (the government as it is now almost depends on the President and Parliament to be of the same party).

To see anything less socialist coming out of Europe (Great Britain excluded) is truly amazing.  The new president is going to be taking on a lot of responsibility but it appears the French are ready to come back to a market based society.

Check out the news article here.

Have a great week!

Bowling by Spencer on May 6, 2007

2006 – 2007 Winter Season Final Report

Greetings to all of my bowling fans. The long winter season is finally over. We have two weeks off before the summer session starts; so now is the best time to post my last set of stats. So, without further ado, here are the details of the entire season:

Wk# Date Lanes Gm1 Gm2 Gm3 Series Avg Run Avg
1 Sep 06, 2006 9-10 150 218 179 547 182.33 182.33
2 Sep 13, 2006 19-20 182 125 169 476 158.67 170.50
3 Sep 20, 2006 27-28 172 130 192 494 164.67 168.56
4 Sep 27, 2006 29-30 160 145 189 494 164.67 167.58
5 Oct 02, 2006 27-28 189 170 179 538 179.33 169.93
6 Oct 11, 2006 33-34 190 139 131 460 153.33 167.17
7 Oct 18, 2006 35-36 147 137 133 417 139.00 163.14
8 Oct 25, 2006 37-38 156 171 180 507 169.00 163.88
9 Nov 01, 2006 39-40 176 149 162 487 162.33 163.70
10 Nov 08, 2006 43-44 178 188 146 512 170.67 164.40
11 Nov 15, 2006 47-48 170 159 167 496 165.33 164.48
12 Nov 22, 2006 51-52 124 178 182 484 161.33 164.22
13 Nov 29, 2006 17-18 171 192 159 522 174.00 164.97
14 Dec 06, 2006 21-22 158 182 146 486 162.00 164.76
15 Dec 13, 2006 25-26 153 135 173 461 153.67 164.02
16 Dec 20, 2006 29-30 127 187 118 432 144.00 162.77
17 Dec 27, 2006 (PR) 1-2 0 0 162.77
18 Jan 03, 2007 1-2 184 149 127 460 153.33 162.22
19 Jan 10, 2007 19-20 168 211 173 552 184.00 163.43
20 Jan 17, 2007 21-22 167 194 *272* *633* 211.00 165.93
21 Jan 24, 2007 19-20 147 168 153 468 156.00 165.43
22 Jan 31, 2007 23-24 184 171 214 569 189.67 166.59
23 Feb 07, 2007 27-28 181 191 179 551 183.67 167.36
24 Feb 14, 2007 31-32 172 177 146 495 165.00 167.26
25 Feb 21, 2007 35-36 153 150 182 485 161.67 167.03
26 Feb 28, 2007 39-40 157 142 176 475 158.33 166.68
27 Mar 12, 2007 27-28 169 197 173 539 179.67 167.18
28 Mar 14, 2007 47-48 160 201 158 519 173.00 167.40
29 Mar 21, 2007 51-52 157 167 150 474 158.00 167.06
30 Mar 28, 2007 21-22 171 198 203 572 190.67 167.87
31 Apr 04, 2007 25-26 203 161 209 573 191.00 168.64
32 Apr 11, 2007 29-30 172 177 228 577 192.33 169.41
33 Apr 18, 2007 1-2 148 157 201 506 168.67 169.39
34 Apr 25, 2007 (PR) 1-2 138 205 166 509 169.67 169.39
35 May 02, 2007 1-2 182 163 247 592 197.33 170.22
Game Averages:  165.18 170.12 175.35

Overall, I am much more pleased with the second half than I was with the first half.  My spare shooting improved tremendously.  I had a lot more clean games (especially in the last 5 weeks with 4 of them).

One striking statistic is the average per game number.  In the first half, they were all fairly even; now there is a clear improvement from the first game to the third.  Perhaps, I should come and bowl an extra game of warmup on league nights?  Something to consider for the summer.

Well, I’ll let you go for now.  With the new software I’m writing to track my scores, it may be a while before I write the ability to export to a web format, but it will be something I’m working on.

Have a great day and take care!

News Opinion by Spencer on May 2, 2007

2 Day Workweek?

Check out this article:

Group Asks Congress to Adopt Five-Day Weekend

As much as it sounds like a good idea, this would kill society.  If everyone only worked for two days, can you imagine the lines at the DMV or medical practices?  Sure, different services could be open on different days to lessen it a bit, but things would grind to a standstill for those services that require lines / waiting.

The economy would be affected, but maybe not as much after a while.  Most people when working probably don’t get a full 5 days of real work done anyway, so if you only had to be in a place for 2 days a week, you could be more productive.  Of course, business couldn’t adopt a rolling schedule like independent services could; otherwise things would really never get done.  Imagine sending an e-mail to a client but they won’t be in until later in the week so it’ll be at least a week before you get a response.

I’m sure the idea behind the group isn’t really to effect change.  If they were truly serious, they would possibly push for a 4 day work week; which would have nearly no adverse side effects to economic or service abilities as each business could choose how to split up Monday/Friday off time.  I think they are just trying to make the point that Congress, for all of the money they receive (outside of PAC donations) as salary, is only in session for what works out to 2 days a week.  I’m not a fan of Congress in general and believe there should be some major overhauls in practice, but the last thing I want would be for them to be in session for any more time than they are now (do you really want them passing MORE stupid legislation?).  Also, even though they may be in session for only 104 days, they are working out side of that; theoretically; for their constituents.

I have a better overall solution… allow me to work 2 days a week at my current salary and the rest of you can all continue to work as you do (or don’t) now.

Take care all, sorry for the lengthy delay in posting.  My current bowling league ends tonight so I will post my scores for the league and how we ended up as a team.