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The Mavericks
January 31, 2007How come basketball analysts are so wishy-washy?
One minute their big Mavs fans and the next they're ready to crown the Suns. Everybody has a favorite, I still remember a couple people picking the Bulls before the season and the jump that saw when they dusted their first opponent.
I'm hear to tell you why the Mavs will win.
The Mavs are the most versatile team in the league. It all depends on how Nowitzki plays but everybody can fill up the scoring sheet daily.
Howard, Stackhourse, Terry, Harris. They can all get it done. And after last night's game, I guess Austin Croshere has a little left in his body.
The Suns have Nash, Marion and Amare.
As Nash goes, so go the Suns. It's that easy. They always lose their 20-point lead in a game because they have to pull him.
You can see in every Mavs player's body language that they are ready to bring a championship to Texas.
The Spurs are old and the Rockets consist of Ming and McGrady. And one of those guys always gets hurt for a big stretch.
The Mavs are going to win the whole deal. The Heat look good, but they lost Riley and Shaq hasn't been in shape since his first year with the Lakers.
I guess will just have to see in the playoffs.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Dr. Hoffman
January 25, 2007The news is disgusting.
A guy who almost took the life of Dr. Tom Hoffman and his wife, Rebecca got a whopping 11 years in jail. John Fletcher did it all for the money.
It's a shame such a good couple had to go through something like that. The had just returned from a dinner with some friends and were almost both murdered.
I was walking around the courthouse yesterday when I talked to Dr. Hoffman.
To me Dr. Hoffman is an inspiration. He was my advisor at MSU, and gave me the guidance necessary to finish my undergrad degree.
I had more classes at MSU with Dr. Hoffman than any other teacher in my entire life. Hands down the best professor I ever had.
The thing that shocked me more than anything was the openness Dr. Hoffman had with giving me details of that night in a casual conversation Wednesday.
He told me he didn't picture himself dying on his belly in his living room. Heck, it seems like yesterday when Dr. Hoffman would tell the class of humerous home remoldeling stories of the house he almost met his demise in.
He told me how he pictured dying on a bed with his family around him to say good bye.
I was speechless as he told me all this.
He even said how he would have to move if the criminal didn't get a sufficient punishment.
The criminal got 11 years and some probation. It wasn't sufficient. I might be biased because I have a "student-teacher" admiration and respect for Dr. Hoffman, but it wasn't sufficient.
I just hope Dr. Hoffman doesn't decide to move. It would be a loss to MSU and to the community.
My words might not matter much, but this message is to Dr. Hoffman.
If you move, he won. Don't let him scare you. A lot of students might not know it now, but they will cherish the days that they sat in your classroom.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Some Top Stocks of 2007
January 19, 2007After a little research, and Fortune/CNN's help, here are the top stocks for 2007 - U.S. companies:
back up info can be found on www.money.cnn.com
1. American Intertanational Group - aig
A top insurance company only gets bigger in the year. You really can't go wrong with insurance companies. They keep raising premiums and we all know they don't pay unless underlined 5b of policy 56874 is correctly filled out and notorized. My point exactly.
2. Altria - mo
a tobacco and Kraft foods stock. I don't see people not buying cigarettes or mac n' cheese in the near future.
3. Conoco Phillips - cop
a big oil company and U.S. oil production keeps making big profits
4. Diamond Offshore - do
this is my steady pick, they lease out their offshore drilling rigs to big oil companies so they can get oil out of the ocean, a per-day-lease of something like $500,000
5. Microsoft - msft
Do I have to say much on this software giant. Sure their Zune isn't doing so well, but that was their dry run. Give them time and a little Vista and you should have some profits
6. RadioShack - rsh
A brandname gamble. The company is well established with a CEO that is dedicated to turning things around. It's the cheapest stock of these picks and might show the biggest gains if they have successful quarters
I see what else I can dig up and give you my opinions on what else you should consider investing in.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Car Seat conundrum
Baby car seat prices these days are ridiculous.
I don't know who sets the market on these bad boys, but man, where's the coupons when you need em.
Wednesday the wife and I decided we needed to pony up and buy a car seat.
Something that would last and something that was as safe as possible. It's our kid we're talking about.
We had some cash from a family member and we decided we were going to make the best decision possible.
We already bought an "infant" car seat. For those who don't know there are basically three stages of seats.
Infant, toddler and not tall/heavy enough to use just the seat belt. I went to Storkland's to buy on. Storkland's may be a little expensive, so I hear, but the customer service compared to other companies locally that sell those kind of things is top notch.
Thanks ladies.
Anyways during the decision making process we run across the car seat brand Britax. You can just look at the thing and see a huge difference in quality and more importantly safety.
But the price tag on the 5 pound to 65 pound car seat was $260...on sale.
We really didn't know what to do.
We figured the safest thing we could purchase would be the car seat. I know every one makes a seat that by some crash safety test is passable, but this is my first kid, so I figured "might as well."
I was customize one thing about the seat that I like - sports print cover. It's awesome. I don't think I've been as excited about a purchase that I will never use.
I guess all this blog proves, and most people already know, is that kids are freaking expensive. I'm just now finding out.
Thanks mom and dad for everything.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Hooray for Minimum Wage
January 12, 2007I once heard a good joke by the legend Chris Rock. "What minimum wage means is, if we could pay you less we would."
It went something like that, but well said. Working for minimum wage sucks.
And thanks to the new Democratic congress, the federal minimum wage will spike by about $2.10 in the next year or so.
It's the first increase in the amount since 1997. It's about time.
"For a minimum-wage employee working full time, $7.25 would mean about $4,000 a year more than the current floor," an N.Y. times article stated.
That's a heck of raise.
I only have one major concern. What about all the people making just above minimum wage?
Are they going to recieve a $2.10 raise like most people are? I doubt it.
And that's the only part that's going to suck.
If a person, hypothetically, was working at a restuarant making $6.50 - and that's not a bad rate for a restaraunt employee, but some kid is going to step in a start making $7 something.
For the person who was just making $6.50 there's going to be a lot of resentment to a lot of people.
I wonder how many people are going to lose their jobs. Companies are going to start looking to make budget cuts and one employee will probably be pushed to do the work of two if not three employees pretty soon.
That's all I'm saying. Depending on how much I'll stew on this topic, I'll probably do another blog voicing my opinion.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Bendover for Beckham
January 11, 2007$250 million. Seriously.
The L.A. Galaxy signed aging soccer phenom David Beckham. Better known as Spice Girl, Posh Spice's husband.
He's a heck of a player, but I can't justify him making as much as Alex Rodriguez.
He's leaving one of the best European teams, Real Madrid, and he going to the glits and glam of Hollywood.
And boy does he have great hair.
The man's crosses, or his ability to pass the ball a long distance, are legendary. In some games for Manchester United, the Yankees of Europe, he was the man who sealed the deal for their championship runs.
But that was something like 10 years ago.
It's a big contract, but the silver lining is that MLS is committed to growth in the U.S. I love watching soccer, but it has to be competitive soccer or local high school games.
The World Cup is the best and the Premiership, in England, and then Series A, in Italy, rank right behind that.
Hopefully the U.S. can lure a couple more aging stars. Zinedine Zidane anyone?
He might be the head-butt king to most of the U.S., but boy does he play a mean game of futbal.
Game on.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I miss Chris Farley
It's too bad the guy went off the deep end.
He was a comical genius. You've probably seen or heard someone's take on the death of Chris Farley before, but here's one thing thats different. He had an impact on the lives of so many fat people. He was comfortable as a big guy.
He must have been teased a lot as a kid - a lot. That's why he made it a point to make you laugh first.
He just could kick the "Casey Jones" habit.
Da' Bears. The motivational speaker. The Gap girl...the list goes on and on of unforgetable SNL figures.
He was the black sheep, a ninja and a retarded son for a failing auto part manufacturer. Oh, the memories. All good movies. All better because Farley was there.
Mainly he played the retard. The lovable retard. How could you not love the guy.
His slapstick style was just his way of falling ontop of something so it would break or move his body uncontrollably.
I still remember, vividly, the Chip N' Dale Dancer skip with Patrick Swazye. The Ghost of "used to be famous past" was on the the butt end of a tights joke.
But at least both had fun doing it.
I wish I could have meet the guy. Raise your glasses to Chris. It's 12:30 as I write this, but I guess I'll sneek a drink in the bathroom.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Labor and Delivery
January 8, 2007This past Saturday I spent learning about the ups and downs of labor and delivery.
Oh, what a wonderful time it was.
We arrived shortly after 9 a.m. and dived right in. For a first time parent, and most of the people in the class were, it was an eye-opener and a little overwhelming.
I had convinced myself that I was going to be calm and cool in the delivery room, but was I ever wrong.
Raise your hand if you know what an episitomy is. I thought not, unless you're a parent. Guys, it's painful, I'll leave it at that.
Moms, bless your hearts and your behinds.
I was able to see three different levels of childbirth - natural, with a little drugs and with an epidural.
What a long needle.
It must be a lot of pain to even consider sticking an foot long needle inches away from your spinal canal.
I learned a little about everything, but the best part about it was the delivery videos. All the videos were from the early 90s, and we got to reflect on the terrible fashion and haircuts.
But during a natural childbirth segment, as a woman was pushing the child out she decided to reach down, when the baby was almost out, and yank that little sucker right out of there herself.
What a miracle!
Posted by Clayton Hein at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Random Bowl Thoughts
January 4, 2007What a great year for BCS bowl games.
So far, two down and three more to go. I don't know if anything will be able to match the Boise State/OU game, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Nonetheless here are a few random thoughts about this year's bowl games - so far.
Boise State vs. OU - was one of the best games I've ever seen, but not the best college game ever. I've only been paying attention to college ball religiously for the past couple of years, and last year's Texas vs. USC will go down in my book as the best ever bowl game.
Yes, Boise State pulled out the kitchen sink and handed it to Stoops, but watching one man, Vince Young, destroy "the best college football team ever" was amazing.
I still remember all the hoopla from press about USC and their undefeatable titan.
LSU vs. Notre Dame - Notre Dame was overmatched, but LSU had everything going for them. The play in the SEC, the played at home and Notre Dame didn't show up after half time.
And no Brady Quinn isn't that bad of a quarterback, and from what I've seen, I don't think JaMarcus Russell is that good.
Everybody says that Notre Dame is overrated, but how many coaches hate the fact that they have to go to South Bend every year.
Charlie Wies is steading the ship, it just takes a little time and a little Clausen.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
