Back from celebrating Christmas with Lori's family in Dallas ... couple of things to mention:

- Titans eek-ed out a victory against the Jets on Sunday, setting the stage for a Sunday Night Football showdown in Indianapolis against the Colts. The Titans win, and they're into the playoffs. If they lose, they're out, regardless of what Cleveland does. On the other hand, Indy has absolutely nothing to play for, so they'll be resting starters at different points in the game.

This game is for all the marbles. Titans really need to get VY and the other young guys on the team some true playoff experience, even if it means facing a resurgent Chargers team (which we should've beaten a week or two ago in the first place). Titans are equipped, roster-wise, to beat either San Diego or Pittsburgh, so let's hope they get in and get to face one of those teams.

It's also the end of the line for my predictions. I predicted 10-6, and a playoff berth, so this game means everything for whether my predictions end up correct.

Both the Tennessean sportswriters as well as the Titans blogosphere (primarily MusicCityMiracles.com) are aware of my predictions as well as my statistical methods backing them up. In fact, the Tennessean ran an interesting article this morning on FootballOutsiders.com, a site that uses Monte Carlo simulations and an interesting theoretical framework to evaluate the true strengths and weaknesses of teams and individual players, very similar to how I constructed my predictions prior to meeting with Fisher.

In the end, all I really care about is the Titans making the playoffs. I have done a new analysis of the game and predict the Titans will need 28 points to win the ballgame, with Peyton and his 1st-team scoring 17 and Jim Sorgi and 2nd-team scoring another 10. The Titans offense can generate this many points, but let's hope I'm wrong and they don't have to.


- I'm taking time off of work and from the iTest for the rest of the year. I'm initiating a new project or two, getting my New Year's resolutions in order, figuring some things out with the iTest, and basically lounging around for a while. This break comes at a good time.

- This marks the first Christmas and New Year's for me and Lori in our new house. Lori, despite her work hours, managed to decorate our house very, very well for Christmas and it was great to enjoy that.

- I'm closing in on 200 blog posts. That's a lot of rambling!

That's it for now until I return one more time to post a year-end blog with New Year's Resolutions. See you then...

The Titans just threw the game in the garbage against the Chargers, allowing them to come from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime, where they then proceeded to score a game-winning touchdown with LaDainian Tomlinson.

I don't really consider this good news, but my predictions remain on target as a result of today's Titans letdown. Excerpted from my aforementioned 2007 Titans Predictions which I gave to Jeff Fisher on July 24:

Week 14 (San Diego) – LOSS: San Diego defense forces season-high 3 INT from VY

Prediction: 7-6 heading into Week 15.

Vince Young only threw 2 picks (along with 0 touchdowns) and had as many rushing yards in the game as the injured Philip Rivers (who is pretty immobile even when he's not hurt).

Seriously.

I've been spot on throughout the entire season, maybe switching up a game or two, but trending the season with complete accuracy and modeling out the Titans' overall strengths and weaknesses right on the money.

The funny thing is that the Titans could have been a 9-4 team or even a 10-3 team right now. They've got the talent.

Unfortunately, their gameplan of running LenDale White like a battering ram at the opponent, playing Schottenheimer-esque over-conservative offense, and waiting for defensive turnovers to happen, is just not the right formula for winning ballgames at this point.

Why?

1) The Titans' CBs are not physically equipped to force turnovers in the passing game. Nick Harper did have a nice pick today, but only because Rivers sucked. There's plenty of data here.

2) The Titans are resting on their laurels by making the bad assumption that just because you CAN get pressure with your front four, you shouldn't rush anyone else. You've got to change it up and be as unpredictable as reasonably possible. This is quickly becoming a critical error in the team's strategy.

3) Vince Young is either unable or unwilling to run for first downs anymore. If he can't run, and run for first downs consistently like he did down the stretch last year, he is actually worse than Kerry Collins from a predicting future performance point-of-view and should therefore not even be playing. Vince Young needs about 50 yards a game and 3-4 rushing first downs a game to open up other opportunities with his arm.

4) The Titans seem to think that allowing LenDale White to rush for 2-3 yards per carry in the first half leads to 4-6 yards per carry averages by White in the second half.

This could not be more wrong. The Titans need to be rushing Chris Brown more in the first half (or the shifty Chris Henry once he returns from suspension) and then bringing White in the second half to pound through tired defenses...not tolerating his inability to escape and break tackles throughout the first half, all the while keeping the other team in the ballgame.

5) In a similar line of reasoning to why you keep your offense and defense as unpredictable as you can, so you don't put yourself at unnecessary risk, you also don't do the same thing on special teams. A special teams fake at some point in the middle of a ballgame would be advisable. We haven't tried one all year, and it's costing us as much as 8 yards in field position every punt.

I'm done with all this. I'm tired of worrying about a team that seems more interested in falling backwards into any playoff opportunities than grabbing it by the throat.

The Titans should have contacted me by now. Since they haven't, let's hope the rest of my predictions come true. Bear in mind, like I predicted, the Colts will not have anything to gain by winning in Week 17, and will therefore be resting a number of their key starters, allowing the Titans to win that game much easier than it might have been otherwise.

4) Easy part of schedule to finish up year: @ Kansas City, NY Jets, @ Indy

Prediction: Titans win all three of these games, blowing out Chiefs away and seizing revenge against Jets for early ’06 loss and Indy for early ’07 loss at home. Finish season 10-6 and enter playoffs as #5 seed.

I'm not real interested in having a second-straight political post in this blog, but I pretty much have to after seeing Oprah's endorsement of Barack Obama today.

Two key excerpts:

“There are times that I even worry about what happens to our country,” Winfrey said, standing on a small stage before a sea of people in the 100,000-square-foot hall. “That is why for the very first time in my life I feel compelled to stand up and speak out for the man who I believe has a new vision for America.”

“Over the years, I have voted for as many Republicans as I have Democrats,” Winfrey said — one line that didn’t draw applause in the partisan crowd. “This isn’t about partisanship for me. This is very, very personal. I’m here because of my personal conviction about Barack Obama and what I know he can do for America.”


When you're discussing Oprah Winfrey, you're talking about someone who has pretty much re-written the rules of modern media in turning a daytime talk show into something approximating a social movement. Oprah's followers are as loyal as any demagogue's, and Oprah's endorsement alone carries immense weight. If she rejects you on the air, you're pretty much done.

It's the reward for a life full of risks and having as big of a heart as she has a brain. She may very well be the most powerful person in the United States, which is a remarkable thing to even consider.

Does Oprah's endorsement really mean anything, politically? Yeah, it means a WHOLE LOT.

Obama's Presidential chances receive a breath of fresh air and new momentum. Obama's chances of being a Vice-Presidential candidate, in the event he does not receive the Dems nomination, just got a whole lot better.

Oprah attacks the rip on Obama that he's too young, and that he's not experienced enough to be President. Of course, this 'inexperience' argument against Obama is laughable. If Presidents were able to run for a third term, would anyone be arguing that George W. Bush's eight years of Presidential experience means he's more fit for the job than someone with none? In plenty of cases, experience means little.

This is about ideas, potential, and upside. We've all witnessed situations where people with "experience" have no business moving forward or even being considered for positions or levels in which they simply don't fit.

Oprah's comments on how personal this election has become for her are very interesting to me. I'm not a big fan of the ridiculous games that pass for election tactics in this country and I really try to spend as little time as possible caring about elections at any level. But I am fascinated that someone as illustrious as Oprah Winfrey has now come out of the woodwork and sounded the alarm.

Good for Obama. This will help. With me personally, it automatically validates him and makes him someone I'll watch now, whereas before he was "just another candidate."

Bad for Bush. Here's the human form of charity and morality itself, essentially calling out the President as disgracing the country. Yeah, that's actually REALLY bad.

And good for Oprah. It takes courage and conviction to risk her almighty pedestal she sits on to come out and endorse a candidate for President, because this nation is just completely nuts regarding political issues and discourse.

I applaud the effort. Even people who aren't fans of Obama now have to stand up and pay attention to what's happened today.

Mitt Romney's attention-getting speech regarding his religious beliefs was one of the most interesting and unusual events surrounding the upcoming election so far.

Of course, the obvious question is why is Romney giving a speech on this topic in the first place. And, of course, the obvious answer is that people care about a lot more than just policy in electing a President. Religion, and it's importance to the individual leading our nation over a four-year period of time, apparently still matters to this country and it certainly matters to me.

Strangely, the failures of the US in Iraq - under Republican watch - have caused a general paranoia to set in that our country is in decline and that "God has turned his back on us as a nation." So, in other words, Bush's actions in Iraq will actually strengthen the likelihood of a Republican (who plays his cards right with religious issues) to return to the Oval Office in 2008.

The not-so-fun part is that the US is actually truly in noticeable decline. We have a weakening economy operating under the shadow of future governmental obligations - Social Security, health care, etc. - that we have no hope of delivering unless we take radical action and soon. We have a ridiculous tax system which is too complex for anyone to understand and does things like taxes people's money a second time upon their death. And let's not forget that we've created somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy by allowing our negligent, arrogant foreign policy to drive friends away and compel enemies to action.

While I've mentioned before that I believe Romney's robotic, corporate stature and demeanor won't translate well for the role as Commander in Chief, I have to think twice about that assessment when seeing the level of thought put into this recent speech. Specifically, this caught my attention:

"We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should
dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God," Romney said.

If Romney keeps saying things like this, he should be fine. He probably needs Huckabee out of the race as quickly as possible, though, because no one will overlook Mr. Smith's Book of Mormon if there's an actual Baptist minister in the race. Without Huckabee in, Romney can seize the moral high ground over somebody like Giuliani.

I'm still hoping for Fred Thompson to be the Republican nominee. But if Romney were the choice, I'd give him a hard look. So I suppose he might have accomplished his goal of settling the issue and preparing to move ahead. Romney's pro-active approach in confronting the issue early on simply confirms he has leadership skills that could be of use in repairing the damage that's been done to the Presidency over the past few years.

While I'm intrigued by the elevation of religion within the mainstream, it will take a lot to get me to actually vote in this election. I had two horrible choices in the last election from which to choose, and I continue to not appreciate the 'black and white' polarized type of discussions that pass as political discourse as we approach this next election.

The best thing of all in all of this is that regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is elected, the President will be an upgrade. That's a good realization to have.

Oh, and in other news, Titans have a must-win this week against the Chargers. Unfortunately, I have them predicted to lose, but then go on and win the last 3 games before entering the playoffs. I hope I'm wrong!

From Jeff Fisher's press conference earlier today, after getting annihilated by the Cincinnati Bengals:

"I certainly didn't see this one coming..."

Umm, why not?

Verbatim from my July 24 Titans 2007 Predictions, given by me to the Coach himself:

Week 12 (@ Cincinnati): LOSS. Blown out as Chad Johnson has 150 yard, 2 TD; Rudi has 2 TD.

Chad Johnson actually had 12 receptions (career high) for 103 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Rudi had 88 rushing yards and 1 score...but hey, I can't be expected to be perfect! Especially 4+ months ago!

Sadly, I got the main part right: Titans BLOWN OUT.

My predictions end in the Titans going 10-6 on the year, which I think is quite doable if the Titans crack the whip, get some production out of special teams, and get Albert Haynesworth back on the field.

The only question then becomes: is 10-6 good enough to make the playoffs in the AFC?

Instincts say yeah, it is. Better get it done, Titans.

And Coach Fisher is still the man, as everyone knows he's still as smart today as he was yesterday, but he's got to get ANGRY. I saw a little bit of the anger in today's press conference, so let's hope he's willing and able to communicate the urgency of the situation to the rest of the team.

Terminate the employment of any players and assistant coaches as necessary to drive home this intolerance of mediocrity.

And then, send LenWhale to the bottom of the RB depth chart. Oh, and lest I forget, require that Vince Young have at least two rushing first downs per game, because his rushing for first downs has been a big missing ingredient all year.

On a somewhat related closing note: forget Albert Haynesworth's absence for a moment, and consider how much we miss Pac Man Jones in the secondary.

The official Thanksgiving playlist for the drive home.


Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen
Explosive opener to the Boss' new album "Magic" and the perfect pick to open up the playlist.

The Walk - Imogen Heap
Outside of the groundbreaking "Hide and Seek" masterpiece on her album "Speak for Yourself," this is possibly the best song on the rest of that album. Beautiful orchestration that builds and builds and builds. It's definitely all your fault.

Amsterdam - Guster
Any good song that refers to "Shaq's CD" is automatically and immediately upgraded to great, and therefore eligible to be part of my trip playlists. It's my new rule, we'll say.

Radio Free Europe - REM
Can you imagine what this band could've been, if only for a few right turns along the way instead of wrong turns? Regardless, a classic tune.

Waiting For You - Seal
There has been no one brighter than you.
I can't deny these things that I do.
Feels like the world's at stake.
I have been waiting,
I have been waiting...for you.

If You're Gonna Leave - Emerson Hart
Nashville-based producer and songwriter, formerly of the band Tonic. This guy creates memorable melodies with the same level of ease in which I dispatch loudmouthed 12-year-olds in Halo, and fortunately for him, he also delivers some inspired songwriting to match. Highly recommend downloading his recent solo album, "Cigarettes and Gasoline." Good stuff.

Slice of the American Pie - Mosey
This is Kari Basden (now Kari Dobbs) performing with her husband, Jared Dobbs, as a duo named "Mosey." They recently released their first (self-titled) album, a melodic, musically-diverse album with a folksy center of gravity. While "Love Me Back" deserves special mention for a gorgeous instrumental melody as the backbone of a nice tune, "Slice of the American Pie" leads the album off strong and features both of them...so that's the representative from the album on this playlist! Their album is available on iTunes and songs can be previewed at their website, http://www.moseymusic.com/.

I Hear the Bells - Mike Doughty
Tremendous song by the very distinctive Mike Doughty, the frontman and musical legacy of the defunct Soul Coughing.

Bulls on Parade - Rage Against The Machine
Needs no explanation.

Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning) - Vertical Horizon
This band simply does not get the recognition as songwriters they deserve. Even Gary Allan's remake charting on country radio didn't elevate their status like it potentially could have (and should have). Give this one a listen if you have no idea who these guys are.

When You Love Someone Like That - Reba McEntire and LeAnn Rimes
This song illustrates everything I like about country music: great writing and great performance. The harmonizing in the chorus is awesome. Their performance of this song during the recent Country Music Awards was predictably outstanding as well.

Do You Know - Tonic
I will show no fear.
I won't hide my scars.
I will learn to give.
I will love what's ours.

On and On - The Longpigs
If you're going to be a one-hit wonder, might as well have the hit be a home run.

Mama's Room - Under the Influence of Giants
A prime example of why you should pay attention to the iTunes Free Song of the Week.

Pride (In the Name of Love) - U2
Essential is a laughable understatement.

Ready, Steady, Go - Oakenfold
Quintessential driving tune.

Britney Spears - Gimme More
As unpredictable as it may seem, the unstable Britney Spears has delivered a very listenable album ("Blackout"). Not sure if the congratulations belong more to her producers than they do to her, but regardless...this song is very well done and VERY well produced. The whole thing builds gradually to the over-sexualized but musically-striking climax. Britney Spears will remain relevant as long as she (or her managers) continue to surround her with this level of production talent.

Noticed - Mute Math
Seriously, if you haven't heard their self-titled album and you like anything remotely located within the genre of rock music, buy it immediately.

If I Had Known - Melissa Cartoun
Vanderbilt homegrown artist made good. Should've seen her play more when I had the chance back in undergrad. But who can think like that in a moment? It only starts to make sense, when I look back on it.

Split Screen Sadness - John Mayer
When you find one of these artists where their singles are the worst songs on their albums, you know you've got somebody who's going to be around a while. 'All you need is love' is a lie, cause we had love, but we still said goodbye...

Hip Hop Police - Chamillionaire featuring Slick Rick
Clever writing and very interesting, even more clever video. No idea what this guy's world views are (although I could guess from the video), but he was very articulate on some awards show I saw him on a while back. Given that Chamillionaire's competition in hip hop is some woman that makes up random words and turns them into songs, the bar isn't exactly sky high here.


----------------
RANDOM MISSY ELLIOTT ASIDE: Now that I've posted that Missy Elliott video there, please tell me: is there a more ridiculous, mind-blowingly absurd first 30 seconds of any other music video in existence? And has there ever been another video with serious-looking Marines, in full regalia, lip-syncing the line "give me some, some, some of this Cinnabon?"

Oh, and there's an artist out there with actual talent that probably objects to what's going on from 3:41 to 3:43 in the video as well.

Bear in mind, as you consider this travesty of a video, that this woman has made more money than 99.9% of all humans that have previously walked the Earth, are currently living on Earth, and will ever live on Earth.

OK, back to a couple more songs actually worth a listen to close this entry out...
-----------------


She's My Ride Home - Blue October
"Foiled" is a great album by maybe the best band to ever come out of Houston? While "Congratulations" (with Imogen Heap) is probably my favorite song of theirs, this one is more fitting of the roadtrip back to Birmingham. I'll be reaching for the stars with you, honey...who cares, no one else believes.

Love Letter - Bonnie Raitt
Perhaps the best female blues artist who's ever lived and sadly an artist generally thought of as a one-hit wonder ("Make You Love Me"). Speaking of that huge hit, I remember working for a guy one summer while I was in college, down on Music Row, whose claim to fame was co-writing that song. It would amaze you how much income was, and is, generated by a single huge work like that.

Sunburn - Fuel
Recently rediscovered this fine album of the same name, by the band Fuel. It's ridiculous to think most people probably are aware of this band simply because they're the ones who initially offered then-American Idol-mainstay Chris Daughtry their lead singer spot even before the show had concluded and declared a winner. This entire album is great and definitely takes me back to VHHS years.

Life Is A Highway - Tom Cochrane
The playlist closer, and more of a Eric Gagne-in-his-prime type of closer than, say, a Jose Mesa-esque unconvincing, up-for-debate type of closing tune. Awesome song that actually was recently remade for that Disney Cars movie by Rascal Flatts, also a well-done version. But nothing beats the original!


Enjoy. I know I will.

Thanksgiving approaches this week, as Lori and I travel down to Birmingham to visit with family.

This holiday is always a good time to consider how blessed we all are. For me in particular, the past few months have brought a new house, the beginning of a new career for my wife, and a growing ability to serve the world through the iTest organization.

My wife has loved her job from the moment she started. How many people can say that? Her boss treats her great and recognizes her immense talent. Her co-workers respect her and acknowledge her contributions. That's huge.

Our house has definitely been a blessing. We both have been looking forward to having a place to call "our own" for a while now. Our house is big enough to where we can grow here and remain here for years to come, and has space to accommodate our particular needs. We're very lucky.

There will be a number of changes coming before the end of this calendar year with the iTest. While it has not been confirmed, it is highly likely I'll be revealing the bulk of these changes at my upcoming speech at Princeton in mid-December. The opportunity to run a business the way I run the iTest is one of the most enjoyable things I do. While the organization gives tremendously to students all over the country by creating new educational opportunities for them year-round, the organization also gives tremendously to me by giving me a platform to sharpen my business sense and a "playground" to get some experience in corporate strategy. I'm very fortunate for this as well.

And even the Titans are doing what they're supposed to be doing: winning most of their ballgames. We'll see how they fare in their second Monday nighter in a couple days. Beating the Broncos is completely non-negotiable. It would be nice to see Vince Young using the no-huddle to actually throw more than 200 yards in a single game...

There are plenty of things in both my and Lori's life that are challenging on a daily basis - things we cause ourselves and things other people cause that end up hurting us. But Thanksgiving is a time to remember and be grateful for all the positives. And we certainly have a lot of positives to celebrate.

If you're reading this, stay safe over the holiday and if you're in Birmingham, feel free to give me a shout. We'll be there until Sunday morning.

Oh, and one more thing...WAR EAGLE!

Must-watch piece from this past weekend's 60 Minutes on Gen Y / the "Millennials" in the workforce.

"Generation Y" supposedly starts anywhere between 1980 (as mentioned in the video) and 1983. I like to consider myself a member of both X and Y, honestly, so I can avoid the negative stigmas of both and take just the positives! :)

Seriously, this is turning into one of the more interesting social issues in America. The big question after watching the video and reading on this topic is: does this new approach to work, both from the employer's point of view, as well as the employee's, increase productivity?

If so, it's worth it, because I agree completely with the sentiment expressed in the 60 Minutes piece that this generation is absolutely not going to go and repeat mistakes made by the previous generation. The old generation almost viewed getting "burned out" at work, and the ensuing personal problems that arise from that, as a rite of passage to the CEO's chair.

That sort of outdated thinking is exactly what is rightfully under attack by this current generation. Work-life balance is critical.

However, there are certainly plenty of people who willingly leave "work" out of that so-called "work-life balance." Employers should have a much lower tolerance for Gen Y'ers who come into a new job with an attitude or an axe to grind. Employers have plenty of power to balance this movement out with a good bit of common sense.

Part of this whole thing is the media once again taking something and blowing it so completely out of proportion that no one can make any sense of it. For this reason, I don't blame the backlash that's begun to form.

Yes, there's a movement among young people in America to maintain work-life balance, make companies work hard (like they should) to engender loyalty, and to feel good about what it is they do every day. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Generation Y has determined that work-life balance is now a requirement of corporate America, and in time, I'm convinced that it will be a big factor in rising productivity and competitiveness within the domestic economy...not some sign of the apocalypse that sends us spiraling out of control.

Just watched the Jaguars run wild over the Titans. That was a ridiculous performance by Tennessee, who obviously didn't care enough to put the right amount of time in preparing for this game.

We are one of the worst teams right now in the NFL on offense. Our defense without Albert Haynesworth is nothing special and can't be relied upon week after week to win every game. Special teams is "special" if you consider "special" below-average and unable to change the game with a home-run threat.

That was a complete embarrassment. Jeff Fisher needs to grab Vince Young by the throat and work him, until he thinks he can't possibly work any more, in preparation for Denver's Monday nighter. I'm disgusted I actually watched that game in its entirety.

Quick update just to mention what many of you already know:

LORI PASSED THE BAR!!!

Now that's what I'm talking about. Congratulations sweetheart!!

Lori gets her own post, so I'll refrain from discussing the iTest's results announcement on Thursday or the Titans' impotent offense and save that for another day.

From a music discussion on the Freakonomics blog...very interesting (and true):

The majors thrived in an era of artificial scarcity when they were able to control the production and distribution of music. Today, we have an infinite number of choices available to us, and when content is infinitely abundant, the only scarce commodities are convenience, taste, and trust. The music companies that are successfully shaping the Internet era are recognizing that the real value is in making it easier to buy music than to steal it, helping consumers find other people who share their music tastes, and serving as a trusted source for discovering new music.

Out here in Tucson, Arizona, this week for work-related reasons. Headed back tomorrow. It's been a good trip.

Had a chance to catch a replay of the Republican debates yesterday. Fred Thompson looked outstanding, especially for a first debate. Little nervous at first, and his answer on the strong dollar question was weak, but overall he showed some real signs of being a no-nonsense, very confident, independent-thinking candidate...which, of course, immediately sets him apart.

He has worldly experience, and he's certainly got a presence and plenty of charisma. Doesn't seem like many people want to admit, yet, how great of a chance he has to get tremendous popular support. If he gets the Republican nomination, I can't see myself voting for anyone else.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, really blundered. Asking attorneys before invading Iran?? Sorry, but that's a great thing to say if you are interested in not ever being taken seriously again. The guy just seems a little too polished, too robotic, too corporate of a candidate to really embrace.

Rudy Giuliani? Not interested. The personal issues are a huge turnoff, obviously. But maybe if it weren't for the presence of Fred Thompson, and just the freshness of him as a candidate, maybe he might be easier to consider. But just seems like a cliched career politician, and no, I dont really view all that experience as a positive for the Oval Office right now.

Only other candidate worth mentioning is Ron Paul, who quite appropriately showed complete disgust at Romney's attorney/Iran comment and was generally quite intelligent and well-spoken throughout the debate. I'll have to keep an eye on this guy but he sure has a Ralph Nader "I'm just sort of here to prove a point, and not really compete" sort of look to him. Maybe too intellectual to be voted in, as sad as that might be.

Yep, Fred's the man, and if he doesn't get the nod as the Republican candidate, it's wide open from there. W has pretty much destroyed any goodwill I had toward the Republican party and it's time for anyone, regardless of party, who can begin to restore some of the damage that's been done in terms of foreign policy as well as on critical domestic issues, such as immigration, Social Security, health care, education, and tax cuts.

I guess I need someone to come along that will make me actually care about politics again.

Got back just an hour or so ago from the company softball game. Down a couple of key players for a number of reasons, I took the mound as our new starting pitcher, and got the win. I had a couple of hits and RBI but really got into one and almost homered, which would've been nice. The weather's starting to change, and it makes for a great time outside even though our start time was pretty late (9:30! I know, I'm old!)

The real point of this post is to point you toward a fantastic new young artist: Melissa Cartoun. She posted something on Facebook, which alerted me to the release of this first real studio album of hers. After immediately purchasing it, I've been listening to it quite a bit and it's great stuff. It's that folk/pop female blend that channels the Indigo Girls, Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Colvin, etc. Very good songwriting and just an awesome voice, and solid production for being her own solo 'indie' release. The album can be purchased here. Even if you're not a fan of the genre, this is good stuff. Trust me...or not, as you can hear song samples by clicking on that link as well.

Hearing this album takes me back to the good ol' Vanderbilt Music Society days on campus, organizing various events and running the types of shows where Melissa would come and wow everybody. Sometimes you see somebody perform and realize that this is what they were born to do. That Imogen Heap YouTube video I've posted on here is a moment like that, just like the Prince "Musicology" Leno performance I've posted on here as well. Melissa's moving into that realm and it's only a matter of time until she's got the backing she deserves. I would say "she'll be on a major label" but who knows whether that's a plus or not anymore. But she'll be fine if she keeps producing stuff like this, so check it out.

If you want to see something amazing, click here and watch some of these videos created by students in honor of the 2007 iTest. All four of these are well conceived and executed.

The fun part of watching these videos is the realization of the national impact the iTest organization is having.

One day, this level of enthusiasm and passion will reach deep into some of the poorest schools and areas of the nation, not to mention across a variety of subjects and age groups.

I continue to be fascinated by Facebook, its growth, and the number of people who use it (including the number of people from my high school graduating class). I also am amazed by how well it keeps me up to date on what's going on with people, which is great as it fills a huge need in that regard.

But the biggest fascination of mine, at least recently, is the whole deal with the "news feed" fiasco that occurred.

Facebook implemented a feature where the opening page upon logging in to the system was a feed of recent changes made by your Facebook friends to their profile or activities they've completed within the Facebook website, such as uploading pictures or whatnot.

People threw a fit over this, saying it was too stalkerish and also would clutter up the user interface on the site.

Well, Facebook responded to that criticism with an open letter that was available on the internet and within the Facebook website...and the entire thing just went away.

Now, everyone seems to love the news feed. I bet if Facebook took it away at this point, there would be a similar uprising.

Let's not forget that just months before all this occurred, Facebook users complained to no end over the company's decision to allow anyone to use Facebook ... not just college or high school students. That complaint also similarly vanished into thin air as Facebook simply marched on to their own drum.

There's a good business (or overall life) lesson in here somewhere: generally speaking, people don't really know what they want. Therefore, complaints can't really be trusted, no matter how loud they are. It's up to the people behind the scenes to have the knowledge and ability to make sense of 'background noise' coming from customers, and move forward confidently in the decided direction.

2007 iTest - complete. For a postgame wrap-up, head over to the iTest Blog.

Lori's busy as can be at work. She's loving it, which is good, and her firm understands her talent, which makes it even better. Weekends and free time is precious right now, though. It's all a tradeoff.

Titans take on the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football next week. So far, I'm 2-0 in my Jeff Fisher predictions (you know, the predictions one-pager I gave him at the offseason charity dinner based on my statistical modeling of the upcoming season! loyal blog readers are WELL AWARE of that dinner!) Predicted beating the Jags, and losing to the Colts, to open the season ... and as a bonus, I even predicted on the sheet of paper I gave Coach Fisher that Garrard would supplant Leftwich as the starter of the ridiculous Jaguars franchise.

However, I'm still waiting for the phone to ring.

Jeff, give me a shout! Aren't you the slightest bit curious on how I managed to predict the entire Titans season correctly, prior to your guys even stepping on the field? Give me some sideline passes and I might consider altering my prediction of the Titans losing 5 of 6 in a difficult stretch in the middle of the season, and then you will actually be able to potentially win those games!

By the way, I've got the Titans winning against the Saints next Monday night. You don't even have to watch, if you don't want to. Sorry to spoil it ahead of time.

And while I don't want this blog to degenerate into just an aggregator of links, I can't see this and not post it. Like so many other YouTube videos, it defies explanation and simply requires IMMEDIATE viewing.

The iTest is, once again, off and running. It's amazing how streamlined this thing is becoming, even though this is just our 4th year of operations. More on the competition after it concludes at 7 PM Central on Sunday.

I really logged on just to post two different videos I found while surfing YouTube. I guess it was a retrospective mood that got me thinking back to college, creating an organization then, and running it. One of the best things about running VMS was getting to bring in bands. One of my favorite artists we brought in was Angie Aparo, a prodigy-level musician from Atlanta, Georgia (who, at the time, was touring under his name and had the single "Spaceship" at alternative radio).

This guy is one of the most phenomenal live performers I've still ever seen. YouTube, being the awesome site that it is, somehow has a number of live performances from Angie Aparo. I've selected two of them that are "must see TV":

1) His duet with Faith Hill of his song "Cry" (which Faith Hill recorded and released as a big single off of one of her recent discs)

2) His live performance of "Spaceship" (at WorkPlay Theater in Birmingham)

Enjoy. Back after the 2007 iTest concludes.

In the wake of the Belichick cheating story...I present to you:

BELICHEATER.COM

Someone you know might have had a hand in creating this site.

I can't really say who. But you probably know.

Look for a lot of over-the-top updates and postings of emails I receive ... oh, that will be interesting to see.

Back from a weekend in Minneapolis ... great city. Visited the Walker Center and saw the Picasso exhibit there, which left the city on Sunday, and got to see the Mall of America as well. Lots of fun stuff to do there, and great weather (in terms of temperature - there was a bit of rain though) throughout the weekend.

On Sunday, Gaurav, Noah, and I headed to the Metrodome to see the Vikings take on the Atlanta Falcons. Predictably, the Falcons got destroyed, but unpredictably, Adrian Peterson had an incredible game - possibly the best in recent history for any NFL rookie. That guy is an absolute beast.

The downside to this was that I didn't get to watch the Titans pound the ball down the Jaguars throat on Sunday like I would have if I were back home in Nashville. 282 rushing yards for the Titans is a FRANCHISE RECORD, against a team that was supposedly (and still may become) a top 5 defense.

This is one of those things I love about Jeff Fisher: the man is so good at his job that he doesn't just win games. He provides the BLUEPRINT from which all other NFL teams should play in order to beat the same opponent the exact same way.

Fisher invented the gameplan to beat the Colts - ball-control offense and physically punishing the Colts as they rack up yards, but hold them to field goals. No big surprise that the Titans only lost by 1 in Indy last year, with a fairly bad team at the time, and then beat the Colts later in the year. This year, while I predicted the Colts to win this upcoming game in the predictions I gave to Jeff Fisher at the Loews preseason dinner, it will be extremely close and the Titans will have their chance to win.

The Titans have provided the blueprint that has helped other teams exploit opponents that face the Titans ... and now Fisher's done it again with this weekend's game against Jacksonville. Certainly, Fisher and company knew something that no one else did - that the Jaguars could be exploited in the running game by going between the Jaguars' two Pro Bowl defensive tackles - and simply RAN THE SAME PLAYS ALL GAME. This had the Jaguars understandably furious...but also, at the same time, completely helpless.

The Jaguars' next opponent, the horrendous Atlanta Falcons, may actually keep it close against Jacksonville by using this same approach. And they should send Jeff Fisher a thank-you note.

At some point, the national media will wake up and realize that neither Jeff Fisher nor Vince Young lose. These guys are winners in every sense, and as readers of this blog know, I'm convinced they are headed to the playoffs this year and headed to a sustained period of greatness. Should be fun to watch!

In an unrelated closing note, the 2007 iTest begins on Wednesday. It's already getting crazy like it always does this time of year. Here's to continued growth of our main event!

Something I almost never do is go back and look at old posts in this blog. I figure someday I'll sit down and read this thing through from start to finish and probably smile and cringe all at the same time over some of the things in here. Hopefully more smiling than cringing, but you never know.

I did wonder tonight, though, if I posted this time last year around the time of my birthday (Sept. 4). Sure enough, I did. An excerpt:

By the time I turn 27, Lori will have passed the bar and begun work here in town, which will be a whole new adventure to add to everything else going on right now. What else will have happened by the time next September rolls around? It'll be fun finding out.

Well, what did happen between this year and last year?

1) I returned from Beaufort and still work at the same company, although I don't live near the office anymore (see #5).
2) Lori graduated.
3) Lori undertook an intense summer of studying for the bar, and then took the bar...don't know the results yet (due back in October) but I'm not too worried.
4) The iTest received its first major corporate sponsorship, setting a critical precedent for the organization. The iTest's number of academic events put on during the year has grown from 1 to 3.

5) Bought and moved into a first house!

6) Put in a year's worth of service as VP of the Board of the building where I previously lived. Very interesting, worthwhile experience.
7) Checked off one "life to-do list" item by eating dinner and chatting up longtime Titans head coach Jeff Fisher at a private dinner.
8) Celebrated knowing Lori for 5 full years now, as of September 1. That's pretty crazy. I've been a lucky guy for a while now.
9) Visited and spoke with a variety of teachers and students at MIT during the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament earlier this calendar year, which the iTest sponsored.
10) Logged way more hours than anyone should killing 12-year-olds in Halo on XBox Live.

I suppose those ten items don't really begin to cover everything that's happened, but like everything else in this blog, the list helps me remember and reflect back on what's been a solid, productive year.

I'll be 27 years old on Tuesday. That almost seems impossible.

I remember going to college and thinking "by the time I'm 30, I'll do X, I'll make Y, and I'll be well on my way to being Z." Big, fuzzy, abstract long-term goals always have to accompany tangible, required short-term targets in my way of thinking.

For better or worse, I generally think about progress in terms of age, and that's especially the way I measure myself. It's not enough to have done something...it has to be done now. Age is just an easy way to measure yourself.

And along that line of thinking, I never thought I'd be married by now. And I REALLY never thought I'd be 2+ years into being married by now! But that's why I don't pretend to know what's best for me.

Hopefully the next year will continue to see strong growth for my relationship with God, my relationship with Lori, continued relationships with all those people who matter to me and continued growth of the iTest, a mission He drove me toward and an organization whose time has come.

And maybe by the time I write this same blog entry again next year, I can once again sit back and report another great year.

Over on the iTest Blog, I just reported that the 2007 iTest is partnering with a school from Valandovo, Macedonia to have a number of student teams from that school participate, as well as bring iTest content into their classroom curricula over the next couple of months after the exam concludes. Very positive story leading up to this year's launch of our main mathematics event.

Think you know something about music? Think you have improvisational skill?

Watch this.

I've posted about Imogen Heap before, but finding this video on YouTube deserves special mention.

If I were teaching a music course at a high school or university, this little video would be required viewing on day one. The sheer artistry involved here, from the vocal melodies throughout to the complete mastery of her equipment, as well as the equally strong performance, is incredible. Toward the end, just take note of how much of a soundscape that exists, created by just that one woman standing in front of a handful of people in a studio.

Brilliant work.

2007 iTest Video Contest rules and requirements now posted over on the iTest blog. I am VERY excited about this...should be interesting to see what students all over the country cook up for this thing!

In other news, just about moved in to the new house. A little more to go and we'll be done ... unpacking has already begun and we've got a series of small tasks that have to all be taken care of within the next few weeks. It's exciting to own a new house! I'll probably post some pictures on here at some point as we get different rooms complete.

Well, I'm ready to reveal the first piece of iTest news as we quickly approach the launch of the 2007 iTest:

The 2007 iTest will feature yet another side contest this year. This time, its a "make your own video" contest, whereas in previous years, we've had contests to design logos and capture still pictures.

The 2007 iTest Video Contest will be centered around the song "Typical" by Mute Math (couldn't possibly be a better fit, could it?) as individual students or teams of students will document iTest teams competing in the 2007 iTest on video to this piece of music. Video submissions will be a maximum of a minute and a half in length and will focus on the bolded piece of the song below.

More details to come in a detailed explanation on the iTest blog (blog.theitest.com).

If you haven't heard this song, go download it. Mute Math's self-titled album is one of my favorite albums of the year. As judging by the music video for "Typical," posted on YouTube, this is definitely not your usual rock band.

The song is very uplifting and this upcoming video contest concept fits with my agenda of "crowdsourcing" marketing material for the iTest to use in future proposals. It's bewildering that this song hasn't been grabbed by some marketeer out working at a big company and integrated it into a marketing campaign. Or better yet, it'd actually be a perfect song for a recruiting/HR piece. The commercialism of the song is just a byproduct of its strong production, strong lyrics, and EXTREMELY strong musical performance (incredible drumming and bass complement; vocals are like a young Peter Gabriel)...

So, maybe I'll be tired of the tune after watching a bunch of video iTest submissions, but I doubt it.

"Typical" - Mute Math

Come on, can I dream for one day?
There's nothing that can't be done.
How long should it take somebody
before they can be someone?

Cause I know there's got to be another level
somewhere closer to the other side.
And I'm feeling like its now or never...
can I break the spell of the typical?

Now I've lived through my share of misfortune,
and I've worked in the blazing sun.
But how long should it take somebody
before they can be someone?

Cause I know there's got to be another level
somewhere closer to the other side.
And I'm feeling like its now or never...
can I break the spell of the typical?

Because it's dragging me down...
I'd like to know about when...
when does it all turn around?

Yeah I know there's got to be another level
somewhere closer to the other side.
And I'm feeling like its now or never...
can I break the spell of the typical?

Break the spell (of the typical)
Break the spell (of the typical)
Can I break the spell
of the typical?


Great song.

Principal author of the inaugural 2007 iTest Tournament of Champions and of this year's 2007 iTest, Mathew Crawford has a blog over on LiveJournal that requires a password to view. He made one recent post visible publicly though, regarding an interesting incident he went through recently involving credit scores, an unpaid bill, and the type of clerical errors that occur on a daily basis but end up wreaking havoc on undeserving individuals down the line. Very interesting reading.

Tonight's dinner/event with Jeff Fisher and the other Titans coaches more than lived up to the hype. It was an incredible event that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life.

First, I arrived at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel with my coworker whom I invited (for free, in return for him doing a good bit of graphic design work for the iTest, and then sold the other two passes I had from winning the eBay auction) around 5:30, when the opening reception wasn't scheduled to begin until 6. We were almost the first people into the event, which had already been set up with autographed memorabilia tables and photo area, and the wait staff was busy getting ready to host the dinner in the main ballroom.

Around 6, the reception began, and something interesting started happening - the executive director of the Charles Davis Foundation, the beneficiary of all money raised tonight at this event, started bringing various guests of honor over to introduce to me, as if I was some big shot. This was very strange, but I definitely enjoyed it! This happened because of the overall amount of money spent on getting the four tickets ... never mind the fact that I made more than my share back in selling two of them off. Very nice!

Got pictures taken with the entire Titans coaching staff, which will be physically mailed to me sometime in the next 30 days. Again, very nice.

In the main ballroom, once it was time for the actual dinner, I found myself sitting right next to Jeff Fisher at a large enough table where several side conversations were going on the whole time, freeing me to pretty much talk to the coach for the majority of the next 45 minutes. Items I asked him about included:

- his thoughts on fantasy football (likes it for the attention it brings to the NFL, but doesn't participate)
- his thoughts on Pac Man Jones (unfortunate set of circumstances but unlikely to play for Titans again, although he's likely to play in the NFL again at some point)
- his thoughts on switching Michael Griffin back to safety (not a good idea because Griffin's footwork and speed are ideal for the cornerback position, and Calvin Lowry is poised for a breakout year in the safety position within the defense)
- his thoughts on areas of improvement for the next year (third down completion percentage has to improve, overall points production needs to significantly increase, Keith Bulluck needs to contribute more within the defense)
- his thoughts regarding the Titans' rumored trade for Chicago Bears DE Alex Brown (much closer to occurring than I realized)
- which coach he likes beating the most (Tom Coughlin, Brian Billick, and Jack Del Rio are all prime candidates, and Coach Fisher rued not being able to close out the victory at Baltimore last year but agreed that Brian Billick knew he was outplayed)
- his contractual status (very close to a LARGE extension that will enable him to keep his core coaching staff together for the next few years while the Titans rack up wins and compete deep into the playoffs)

Prior to this event, I had taken it upon myself to do a little bit of basic statistical modeling to play around with how many wins I thought the Titans would get this season, based on my expectations of the team and the other teams within their division and on their schedule. (I came out to 10-6 on the year, making the playoffs, though this deviates significantly from most mainstream opinions that the Titans will be 8-8 or worse.) But my predictions were pretty detailed and covered a lot of ground, though fitting on a single piece of paper. I had a bunch of copies of my predictions with me, and I gave one to Coach Fisher during this period of time, saying "I had something to give him" ... he stopped completely talking to anyone, and spent the next 4-5 minutes reading this sheet of paper in silence, and actually appeared to really take an interest in them. We discussed the core prediction that the team would go 10-6, and then the most interesting thing of all happened: he asked me to get a pen and write down my name, phone number, and other info on the sheet of paper so he could "reference it later." I still have no idea what he meant, but I obviously had no problem giving him my info! :) At the end of the night, as I was preparing to leave, I thanked him again for being part of the fundraiser and he thanked me again by name, saying once again he would "reference my notes" later...

Don't know what the outcome of all that will be, but the bottom line is that this event was just unbelievable. After the dinner, all the Titans coaches had a roundtable discussion where they talked about old stories and the upcoming season, using a lot of particular examples that they asked not be repeated anywhere (for some obvious reasons, like discussing one particular former player's penchant for having lots of women in his hotel rooms, and one team's ownership group that's running their NFL franchise into the ground, among other stories). Very fun just to sit there and soak it all in.

All in all, very much worth the time and money spent on getting the passes to the event and to sit at Jeff Fisher's table. The man is just as personable and friendly as I expected, based on seeing him in the media and in press conferences, which in hindsight is probably rare. Great coach and great asset to Nashville ... I hope we lock him up for a lot of money for a long, long time.

Now time for bed ... and dreaming about another Titans Super Bowl ... later.

I've posted about them here before, but Black Lab is one of my favorite bands ... and, as it happens, they've decided to re-create the Transformers theme song entirely on their own, and set it to footage from the movie. Check it out here ... Mute Math's version takes the song in a different direction, but Black Lab rekindles the original version's feel, and does it well, I might add!

Rapidly moving in on closing on our first home on July 31...and rapidly losing my mind over the number of tasks, some mundane and some major, that have to be completed by then.

Navigating a mountain of mortgage documents.
Moving money around.
Re-routing our newspaper and magazine subscriptions, as well as everything else mail-wise you can imagine.
Changing personal and business tax records within the state to reflect the new address.
Negotiating the final punchlist of items the seller will fix prior to close.
Figuring out all the ways in and out of the neighborhood and driving around the area.
Packing.
Arranging for various work going on in the house prior to moving in.
Determining what work might occur inside and outside the house over the next six months, and planning for how to begin setting that money aside.
MOVING.

We're fortunate that a number of factors are in our favor with this move, and this entire process could be significantly even more complex than it already is. Still...its a grind.

A lot more on this whole "house thing" to come, post-close.

Reason #727,019 to not take life for granted.

Let me recap this week for you:

Sunday - get up around 6 AM to leave Gulf Shores, where I was on vacation with Lori, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. Mix in an hour of eating lunch with my parents in Birmingham, and we get back into Nashville at around 4 PM.

I had a flight to TX to catch at 6:45, so I had to hustle to get packed (again) and to the airport in time. Flight was delayed, and the subsequent connection flight was also delayed, and I get into my hotel room in Killeen, Texas, at 3:15 AM in the morning. Bad planning on my part turned into a disaster that didn't start the week off right at all.

Great week of training down here at Fort Hood, though. Got to co-teach a course to the fine folks running the military housing there, and it was both fun and rewarding. Maintenance guys, construction guys, and property managers all discussing and learning about how to be even better leaders, utilize various problem-solving tools to correct issues that arise, and in the end, achieve stronger results. Upon completion of the course, got certified as a teacher of the course as well. But the most enjoyable part was seeing a quality team of people function to such an extent that they become almost like their own family. Very strong culture there, similar to Beaufort.

I made the decision when I initially booked the trip to not rush to fly back on Friday, instead delaying flying back until Saturday. This was a great decision because as much as I am looking forward to getting back to Nashville, I came back to my hotel room on Friday completely exhausted.

The final bit of the course concluded around 2:30 on Friday, and I got back into the hotel room around 3. Sent a few emails, relaxed a little bit, and suddenly woke up at 1:30 in the morning! Went back to sleep and ended up getting 12 hours of sleep when it was all over. THAT'S what I'm talking about!

As is posted over on the iTest Blog, a lot is going on right now in preparation for the 2007 iTest in September. It's time to, once again, make that big summer push that's required to have a successful event in September. And this year, we may find ourselves stretched by both the 2007 iTest, the next iTest Tournament of Champions, the launch of the iTest CS, the iTest National Rankings (national high school individual math rankings we maintain from September to April), as well as running the website and handling our Problems of the Month.

We're about to realize the first step of the iTest's vision, which is to assemble a portfolio of academic experiences that we offer to high school students around the country. It might be small, but it's our starting point. I'm ready to dive back into it all, once again...

I posted a month or two ago about the opportunity to meet Jeff Fisher through an eBay auction. Well, as some of you know, I stayed up until 2 AM on the night that auction ended, and narrowly edged one other person up at that hour with me to win that auction. The event was extremely undervalued (in my opinion!) so I was happy to sneak away with the 4 passes to eat dinner with the man himself. He is one of my favorite people in the National Football League and a man that I respect both for his very apparent football genius as well as his high degree of skill as a motivator of people. I am very much looking forward to meeting him, and will, I'm sure, have something to say about the experience in this space after it happens later this month. I also have re-listed on eBay two of those spaces at the dinner, so hopefully some other big Titans fan will help me recoup the investment!

Also, the same week, the Simpsons movie lands in a movie that might significantly surpass whatever the highest grossing summer 2007 movie to-date is. The movie looks hilarious - Hetesh may come up that Thursday to see the opening night premiere with me, and anyone else getting in on that is welcome to...just drop me a line...

Finally, I'll conclude with mentioning that Lori and I are rapidly moving toward closing on a house on July 31, pending no major disasters until then. We'll be very close to Cool Springs (south of downtown Nashville) and in a house that should fit our needs over the next 10 years. I'll post more once it's all wrapped up, signed, sealed, and delivered...don't want to jinx it!

Out here in Killeen, Texas, this week getting certified as an instructor for Lend Lease's "Team Leader" training...so not much time to blog. The training is based off of old TQM (total quality management) theory, and for me specifically, represents a chance just to sharpen my public speaking skills, so that's definitely a good thing.

Transformers: The Movie was very good, although I could've used more acknowledgment of the heritage of the franchise. For example, quite strangely, Mute Math's remake of the Transformers theme song did not play during the credits (the new, horrible Smashing Pumpkins single and some Disturbed song played instead). I agree with what one reviewer noted, that Michael Bay seemed rather disinterested in the history of the various robot characters in the movie - when you leave the movie, you have relatively little clue on the interactions of the Decepticons amongst themselves, and even less understanding of how both the Autobots and Decepticons interact with Cybertron (which isn't even named in the movie, I don't think). So could've been more in that department...but as has been noted everywhere, the action is simply groundbreaking in the movie and was very entertaining even for my non-Transformers fan watching with me (thanks, honey!)

So, not quite the big-time foundation for a bunch of sequels that, say, Batman Begins was...but very solid nevertheless.

Also, changing subjects, here is an interesting article out of E3 this week. The Wii has had (and will continue to have, over the next few years) a tremendous impact on the evolution of the video game industry. Between Nintendo and Apple (in their respective tech sectors), there has never been more obvious examples that fearless innovation can pay off big.

EA CEO calls video games 'boring,' complicated
Riccitiello says sequel games often add little from previous versions

Reuters
Updated: 10:48 a.m. CT July 9, 2007

NEW YORK - Most video games are “boring” or too complicated, and game makers need to do more to appeal to casual players, according to the head of the world’s largest video game publisher, Electronic Arts Inc.

“We’re boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play,” EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello told the Wall Street Journal in a story posted on its Web site on Sunday.

Riccitiello became CEO at EA in April in his return to the game maker. EA’s former chief operating officer had left the company in 2004 to help found Elevation Partners, a media and entertainment buyout firm.

The video game executive criticized the industry for rolling out sequels to new games that add little from the previous version.

“For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat,” he was quoted as saying. “There’s been lots of product that looked like last year’s product, that looked a lot like the year before.”

The comments were made as the $30 billion video game industry prepares for its annual gathering, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Santa Monica, Calif. Anticipation is running high that cheaper hardware and a host of keenly awaited new games will fuel the strongest sales in years.

I had two old computers from my parents' house in Birmingham taken to a computer shop, had the hard drives ripped out of them, and gave the guys at the shop the rest of the parts in exchange for throwing that data onto a backup drive I've got.

When I returned home one night this past week, I sifted through the sizable amount of stuff that came off of those drives. Old pictures, documents, mp3s ... all sorts of stuff. Glad I went to the trouble of doing that - if you've got old computers, don't just throw them away!

I'm sitting here right now listening to some of the old songs I had on one of the computers, that I've completely forgotten about. For example, "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow" from the Soggy Bottom Boys soundtrack, "Missing" by Everything But The Girl (memorable, haunting song), "From Your Mouth" by God Lives Underwater (one of the better beginnings of a song), and "Orange Crush" by REM (how did I forget about this one??)

Lots of old pictures from family reunions, random events of the past ten years ... all sorts of actually pretty unexpected stuff. Definitely sent me back.

I would continue this post (albeit shifting gears a little bit) in describing the ignorance of people recently wanting to call a "video game addiction" a medical disorder, but I want to go to bed in a good mood. Later.

To iPhone or not to iPhone?

Apple's little device is getting a whole lot of hype. I mean A TON. And the company has got everything riding on this thing.

No buttons - just a touch screen. Incredibly long battery life, particularly if all you do is take calls. But even if you use the internet, it'll run for a whole day without being charged...which means it will meet most people's expectations in that regard.

Mix in the fact that it is ALSO an iPod and you've got something.

Until you find out its $500-$600.

Then you pause, take a deep breath, and find you're still considering it.

The iPhone is going to sell like crazy. It doesn't matter that the phone doesn't do anything too revolutionary. It, like the original iPod, will nail all of the basic features, do well on the new stuff, and crush the competition in the marketing arena.

Just go read any business press or even any mainstream print or internet media. You, without a doubt, will see something about the iPhone.

That's the sound of that Apple marketing machine just getting cranked up. Count on seeing some sort of crazy TV ad right before the June 29th launch, with all the bloggers singing the praises of Steve Jobs (including this blogger).

The guy's just smarter than almost everyone else. I'll go ahead and give him the advantage heading into a critical time at Apple. With the competition having caught up, in most regards, to the iPod in the MP3 player market, Apple's got to blaze a new trail ... and if this one doesn't work, they'll lose that luster of invincibility they've got going and, with the brand hurting, they'll have opened the door to all sorts of problems.

The iPhone simply HAS to work for Apple. And I'm thinking it will.

I have an insatiable hunger for news pertaining to the Tennessee Titans. I read the Tennessean daily, as well as ESPN, ProFootballWeekly.com, and a number of other smaller Titans-related news sources for info.

I have yet to see anyone do a fully broken down prediction of the AFC South teams for next year (other than ESPN's Merril Hoge saying "oh, I think the Colts will win, cause Peyton Manning pwns") so here is my prediction.

(I promise, it's not biased at all! :) )

AFC SOUTH - 2007 PREDICTIONS

Tennessee Titans

Last year, Tennessee went 8-5 in games started by Vince Young (as opposed to the sack, interception, and fumble machine commonly referred to as Kerry Collins) as the Titans went 6-1 over the last seven games of the regular season, narrowly missing the playoffs.

The Titans lost RB Travis Henry in the offseason, which looms as the largest area of concern entering the 2007 season. Will LenDale White stop eating long enough to post a 4+ yards per carry? Or will unproven Chris Henry have to carry the load? Or will the Titans re-sign Chris Brown and mix all three of them together? Will any of these scenarios get the job done?

The Titans also lost WR Drew Bennett and WR Bobby Wade, the departures of which have received way too much attention. Vince Young's mobility and vision on the field created many opportunities for these decent receivers to look good. Bennett will do well in the Rams offense next year, but Bobby Wade won't do well at all in Minneapolis. These were players that Vince Young helped create, not the other way around. (And to some extent, this was also true for Travis Henry, although in Denver he will post BIG numbers next year.)

The Titans have drafted well enough in the past two years to be fine at running back - I do think Chris Henry will become the primary running back once we're into the season and will post surprisingly solid numbers for a rookie. Wide receiver will be forgotten as a concern once the season begins, as Brandon Jones averages over 100 receiving yards per game and scores 10 TD.

Defensively, the Titans have in 2007 what the Colts had in 2006 - an opportunistic defense laden with solid playmakers in the secondary but lacking in defensive line pressure. While DE Kyle Vanden Bosch will have another solid year, the lack of a productive DE on the other side of the line will mean another year of double teams every game and more risk of injury. The Titans will rely on an improved linebacker corps (with the welcome addition of Dallas LB Ryan Fowler, who was just starting to come into his own when the Titans stole him away with a restricted free agent offer sheet the Cowboys couldn't match) and the finally-consistent play of DT Albert Haynesworth to provide the additional QB pressure necessary to create turnovers and help win games.

The X-factor in the Titans season will be what happens with Pac Man Jones. Jones has already been all but exonerated in the Las Vegas shooting, leaving the Atlanta incident as the determinant now of his return to the NFL. The Atlanta case comes before a judge in September, and pending its resolution, Jones will be back on the field on Week 10 of the regular season. (Also, don't forget that Jones dropped his appeal of his suspension with the NFL commissioner, which many suspect is a tactic to improve his standing within the commissioner's office and make it easier for the commissioner to reinstate Jones once he is eligible.)

When Pac Man Jones returns, the Titans' kick return game all of a sudden returns to its 2006 level of being in the top 1 or 2 in the NFL. Jones led the NFL in kick return yards last year - NOT Pro Bowler Devin Hester. And once Jones returns, the defense will be helped out by his shutdown corner skills and the offense will be helped out by the trick plays that the team runs with Jones on the field. While he may be rusty in the first game or two, if the Titans season goes as planned, they will be significantly better entering the playoffs than they were at the start of the season.

One of the reasons Vince Young received so much positive press leading up to his Rookie of the Year award at the end of last year was that the Titans had the most difficult schedule in the NFL in 2006. This year, the schedule gets a good bit easier (with a particularly soft middle third of the season) so the Titans should be in good shape from a scheduling perspective.

This is the year that Vince Young and the Titans continue their evolution into perennial Super Bowl contenders, and because of external factors that cause the Jaguars and Colts to be mired in mediocrity, the Titans WILL WIN THE AFC SOUTH IN 2007. Write it down.

Prediction: 10-6
Rank, AFC South: 1st


Houston Texans

The Texans season will be judged by a single moment during the offseason - the acquisition of former Falcons QB Matt Schaub. Schaub isn't too much better than his predecessor in Houston, David Carr, but has a completely different personality that will be capable of leading the Texans to a winner mentality in 2007.

Right behind the Schaub acquisition is the signing of RB Ahman Green away from Green Bay. Green will provide stability at the running back position, and round out a solid offensive team that also includes Pro Bowler WR Andre Johnson.

Defensively, Demeco Ryans will take another step in leading the underrated Texans defense toward becoming a playoff caliber squad. But the real story will be the improved statistics of DE Mario Williams, who was maligned much of 2006 for being drafted ahead of Reggie Bush and Vince Young.

The Texans were close in many of their losses in 2006, losing 4 of their losses by less than a touchdown. Switch those losses to wins and the Texans went 10-6 last season, not 6-10.

The Texans also benefit, like the Titans, from a softer schedule in 2007 than they had the year before. The difference between which team, the Titans or the Texans, will be in first place in this division hinges on their head-to-head record. And do you really think Vince Young will lose to his hometown Houston team? Or that Bud Adams, who lives in Houston, would allow Jeff Fisher to lose these games? Didn't happen last year and won't this year either, although the Texans will have what most will view as a hugely successful turnaround year although will barely miss the playoffs in the last week of the season.

Prediction: 8-8
Rank, AFC South: 2nd


Indianapolis Colts

The popular media is high on the Colts coming out of the AFC South as the champion of the division once again in 2007. What hasn't made a lot of news in the popular media, though, are the number of defections from the Colts roster to other teams during the offseason:

CB Jason David (signed with the New Orleans Saints)
CB Nick Harper (signed with the Tennessee Titans)
S Mike Doss (signed with the Minnesota Vikings)
LB Cato June (signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
DT Montae Reagor (unsigned as of June 17)
RB Dominic Rhodes (signed with the Oakland Raiders)
WR Brandon Stokley (unsigned as of June 17)

Note that the majority of these free agents who have left the Colts are on defense. The Colts, as a team, had 15 interceptions, 10 of which were by players listed above who are no longer on the roster. Bear in mind that the Colts defense was a bend-but-don't-break, opportunistic type of defense, that is incapable of shutting down opponents but instead looked for turnover chances...and you realize that the Colts defense may really suck this year.

Their offense will continue to click along and put up big statistics, as long as Peyton Manning is healthy.

Last year, the Colts went 3-3 within the AFC South, losing the last three divisional games. Jacksonville crushed Indy 44-17 in the second half of last year, and even Houston got in on the action in upsetting the Colts 24-21. But after the Titans barely lost to the Colts (in Indianapolis) 14-13 early in the year last year, who could forget Rob Bironas' 60-yarder to take down the division champions?

So combine the Colts worst-in-AFC defense with the AFC South's high degree of familiarity with the Colts offense, and maybe mix in a little bit of Super Bowl champion malaise / bad luck, and you get a recipe for a horrendous Colts season that sends the franchise in a completely unanticipated direction in 2008.

2007 Colts Record: 7-9
Rank, AFC South: 3rd


Jacksonville Jaguars

This is a team primed for an implosion in 2007. Characterized by strong defensive play and a fierce ground attack, the Jaguars have long been thought to be close to playoff contention and a potential Super Bowl run.

Last year, though, the seed was planted for a contentious, hostile locker room in which QB Byron Leftwich won't even speak to head coach Jack del Rio after not being allowed to resume at starting quarterback after returning from injury, as del Rio opted to continue with David Garrard at that position. Now, the Jaguars (in their infinite wisdom) are considering bringing in clubhouse cancer Daunte Culpepper, who will do absolutely nothing to improve the QB position but will do a lot to add confusion and disarray to the Jaguars team.

Both of them suck, so it doesn't make that big of a difference. Mix in a strangely inconsistent group of wide receivers, and you have the makings of a frustrating offense that is great at grinding out rushing yards behind RBs Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew, but can't do much of anything else to support offensive production.

On defense, another seed has just recently been planted for ill will in the locker room this year. The Jaguars suddenly released S Donovin Darius, their ball-hawking safety who was the leader of the defensive secondary. He was coming off an injury and was expected to begin minicamps on time, but the Jaguars opted to go younger at that position with their first round draft pick out of Florida, Reggie Nelson.

The Jaguars are a team that lives on the edge. They have long been on the edge of becoming a perennial AFC South powerhouse, but have almost stood in their own way as they tried to accomplish that. Now with these dual offseason issues (Culpepper/QB issues as well as releasing Darius) the team will teeter on the edge of implosion before completely falling apart during this brutal stretch of their 2007 season:

Week 9 - at New Orleans
Week 10 - at Tennessee
Week 11 - San Diego
Week 12 - Buffalo (which will be a very good team in 2007)
Week 13 - at Indianapolis

At best, Jacksonville will go 2-3 in these games, but since they will already be sub-.500 entering this stretch of games, they will fall further out of playoff contention and will lead to at least partial meltdown heading into the end of the season. Jack del Rio will not survive the subsequent offseason and the Jaguars will have to decide whether or not to tear the entire team apart to rebuild, or go after a pricey QB veteran to try to compete in the short term.

Prediction: 5-11
Rank, AFC South: 4th

The iTest / Facebook "Causes" (Cross-listed on the iTest Blog)

The iTest now is a "cause" within the Facebook Causes application. Log into Facebook and search within the Causes application (or send me a friend request and check my profile for a link to it) to find the iTest's new site within Facebook.

Support the iTest by becoming a member of the cause, inviting other friends to the cause, and even donating to the cause directly (and securely) through Facebook.


If you're on Facebook, please either check out the Causes application and find us through there, or check my profile and join up ... this is a huge help for us!

Picture from earlier tonight at the Melting Pot ... Lori and I are celebrating our two-year anniversary this weekend!

I will be posting most of my iTest-related stuff over at the new iTest blog (which will have a different graphical layout soon, don't worry). Head over there and check out the post regarding the recently-completed Spelling Bee.

Wasn't planning on posting, but had to...

LeBron James is simply unbelievable.

I quit watching the NBA after Jordan left, and LeBron's brought me back into it ... but even in rooting the Cavaliers to victory, I wasn't expecting THIS. I am in awe of what I just watched, and so glad I watched the game.

48 points.

29 of the last 30 points.

25 points in a row.

Across the 4th quarter and two brutal overtimes.

Playing great defense the entire time.

Easily the best player in the NBA right now. And here's the kicker...

HE'S ONLY 22 YEARS OLD.

After that last post, I of course had to go to YouTube to see if I could pull up the old trailer for the 80's animated movie...obviously, it was there. SICK.

I didn't realize the movie was released in 1986. So I was 6 years old at the time.

The movie absolutely blew my mind. It took the characters I loved and put them through an actually extremely complex story that involved the death of Optimus Prime, the reinvention of Megatron into Galvatron, and the introduction of Unicron.

As a 6-year-old, watching scenes like this and getting introduced to the concepts of revenge and murder, as well as being introduced to the brand-new concept of indiscriminate, reasonless destruction (with Unicron) was pretty scary.

And can you imagine a 6-year-old watching THIS?? I remember this oh so clearly. I would have to imagine this was the most dramatic moment in a movie from my entire childhood, and I'm sure several readers of this would agree.

The creativity in the movie, from the wide-ranging use of the entire Transformers universe (even the Dinobots were in this thing) to the awesome soundtrack (bet you didn't realize Weird Al had a song in this movie...I completely forgot both about that as well as when his song was used in the film) really opened my eyes up to a new world of storytelling.

Also for anyone else who's really appreciating this post, check out Stan Bush's horrifying 80's music video for the Transformers theme, as well as Weird Al's typically genius Dare To Be Stupid video...he was just as lyrically brilliant 20 years ago as he is today with that Ridin' parody. "Put down the chainsaw, and listen to me..." LOL

I'll cut off my fanboyesque gushing over the 80's movie to reiterate:

THIS NEW MOVIE BETTER NOT SUCK.

I haven't seen a movie in a theater since seeing The Departed back in Beaufort many months ago.

Prior to that movie, I hadn't seen a movie in forever.

But there's a movie coming this summer that will change that.

You know what it is.

TRANSFORMERS.

I saw the trailer for this thing and I think I probably fell over in disbelief. This is going to be INCREDIBLE.

For anyone my age who was in the 5-10 range when the life-changing animated Transformers movie hit the theaters (remember that 80's rock theme song???), or anyone in a wide range both older and younger than me that watched the cartoon series on a regular basis, this movie is highly anticipated.

Note to Michael Bay, the director of this movie that will draw me out of my humble abode and back into the theater for possibly the last time in 2007:

YOU BETTER GET THIS RIGHT.

I'm somewhat of a latecomer to eBay and buying stuff online, as I really only started paying attention to eBay and using it last year. (Which my wife would probably say is a good thing...)

As anyone who uses eBay knows, sometimes you run across items that just sort of leave you there speechless. Sometimes it's a "good" speechless, sometimes it's bad.

Today, I ran across one of those GOOD ones.

Dinner with Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse on July 24

As I write this, no one has bid on this yet, but I would anticipate the auction to reach between $2,500 and $3,000. So, for four people to attend, divide the potential total by 4 and you've got roughly between $600 and $750 per person to attend dinner and the fundraising event. (The event by itself costs $300, for reference.)

Jeff Fisher is, without a doubt, my favorite football coach at any level and one of my favorite sports figures in any pro sport. I think he represents the city of Nashville with class and dignity, I think he's a brilliant tactician on the football field, I think he does a superb job with player development and in handling the day-to-day operations of the Titans, and his discipline with the media throughout his coaching career is almost too good to be true. He never says the wrong thing, he never ends up posterized in a news headline for saying something brash - he has been a great leader for the Titans for years.

My Seattle Mariners, in stark contrast, are led by a guy named Mike Hargrove who does none of these things well. He mismanages the roster, abuses relievers, constructs inefficient, bizarre lineups and ends up costing Seattle probably 2-3 games over the course of a 162-game season. So the coaches of my favorite teams definitely aren't sacred, by any stretch.

Getting back to the eBay auction - that's clearly a large sum of money for one night out. But it got me thinking: is there anyone else on the face of the Earth, alive right now, that I'd pay that kind of money to eat with? (That I don't see on a regular basis?)

Yes. Off the top of my head, in order of hastily-calculated relative priority:

1) Jeff Fisher
2) Patrick Stewart
3) Bill Gates
4) Steve Jobs
5) Bono
6) Donald Trump
7) LeBron James
8) Vince Young (who also has a dinner opportunity in Nashville in July on eBay)
9) Jack Welch
10) Harrison Ford

If I could snap my fingers and have any musical act in front of me, here in this room to perform an intimate set of their songs of my choice for as long as I wanted, my first choice would be U2. Easily. Strongest rock band in my lifetime.

There's a tie for second, though, which is why I felt compelled to post. Prince and Imogen Heap are two of the most unbelievably creative individuals in the music world right now. They create entire worlds with 3 minutes of composition. I would happily do any number of horrific things if it meant I could sit one-on-one with either of these musicians and watch them perform for a couple of hours.

Prince begins a fairly long residency out in a smallish venue in Los Angeles this summer, playing each Friday night for six or seven weeks in a row. He's starting these shows at 11:30 PM local time, playing a couple hours in front of 250 or so people, and then turning the venue into his own eating establishment by opening it up to his own private chef until 4 in the morning. I am definitely watching to see if prices for that aren't too ridiculous to attend. That would be a once in a lifetime event.

Imogen Heap, on the other hand, is one of the most innovative female artists out there, period. I *highly* encourage anyone reading this to head over to her MySpace page (www.myspace.com/imogenheap) and give the live version of "Just For Now" a listen. That's just her sitting there with a computer, and it is a killer performance. Then listen to "Come Here Boy," a song I actually forgot completely about that she wrote for her first solo album, and is a total masterpiece.

We're lucky to have musicians like both of these people who are tied for #2 in my own personal wish list. Sometimes you have to just sit back and recognize incredible, awe-inspiring talent.

This is my 150th blog post...still waiting on Blogger (or Google now) to come and pull the plug...

Headed to Birmingham within the hour to meet with Dave, John, and Steven on the iTest and talk over what will be happening over the rest of the year. On Monday, Steven and I will meet with the Protective Life Foundation regarding our funding proposal to them, and then I'll scramble back to Nashville to see the 24 finale.

June marks the beginning of the new fiscal year for the iTest and an obvious time to take inventory of how far we've come this year. The iTest website, the rapid acceptance of the Tournament of Champions, the successful deal with the Southern Company to sponsor the 2007 iTest...all of these things have been instrumental in us taking a big next step over the past year.

The next 12 months will involve continued capital inflow and the launch of "the next big thing," the iTest CS. Our annual computer science competition will diversify our organization (moving us beyond just mathematics) and will allow us to have some interplay between our math events and our new computer science event.

We'll also be evaluating how best to implement a new revenue stream in matching up students with willing employers for internships and jobs. We've got the right brand positioning to find students with both great academic qualifications and actual social skills and match them with employers looking to win the global war for talent. This will be a critical new piece of the cashflow that will turn us into a full-fledged, sustainable business.

Figuring out who does what for the iTest over the next 12 months starts tonight at this meeting. Time to hit the road.

RIP Josh Hancock, St. Louis Cardinals RP

Vestavia Hills High School, 1996: 9-0, 0.92 ERA
Auburn University, 1997: Member of College World Series team
Drafted by Red Sox in 1998, with his debut on September 10, 2002
Signed as minor league free agent with St. Louis Cardinals on February 21, 2006

I remember very clearly being a freshman at Vestavia and going to see this incredible pitcher we had on our baseball team. Our baseball teams were in the middle of a run during the entire decade of the 1990's of winning state championship after state championship in baseball, and Josh Hancock was an integral part of that for multiple years. Between 1991 and 2000, over a 10-year stretch, Vestavia only failed to win the state championship one single time, winning it 9 of those years and 7 years in a row at one point.

Over a three-year career spanning from 1994 to 1996, Josh Hancock went a combined 28-1, earning enough wins to put him among the all-time Alabama leaders in career wins according to the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

Tragically, just as Hancock was seemingly finding his way in the major leagues with the Cardinals, this accident happens. RIP.

Logged into my MySpace page earlier tonight, and for some reason I feel compelled to post about what this experience was like.

I suppose I was expecting to quickly ascertain that there has been hardly any activity on anyone's accounts, not much new information, and quickly be able to log off and move on to another part of my internet rounds. After all, this is certainly the case for me - I haven't been to the site in months.

This will probably come as no surprise, but I hardly even recognized my "friends" list (which includes many actual friends, in addition to clubs, politicians, bands I've never heard, and who knows what else since I just summarily accept most friend requests without question). Pictures of the people I actually do know have changed, most people had logged in within the past 48 hours, lots of new blog posts, layouts of pages have changed, etc.

For whatever reason, this really blindsided me. People my age actually customize their MySpace? And keep it updated on a regular basis? People of all different types, backgrounds, careers?

Yes.

How strange!

Not too strange to the mainstream media, which has been on top of this for some time now, and certainly not too strange to the entire generation of core social networking users that makes up MySpace's user base. But certainly strange to me, at least for today.

Someday, actually probably much sooner than I would imagine, they'll be teaching case studies in business schools around the world about MySpace.com...that site used by the 40-year-old administrative assistant, 32-year-old corporate hot shot, the 55-year-old musician/poet, the 22-year-old meth addict, the 19-year-old college freshman, and the 26-year-old blogger :)

You know that favorite hangout you had back in high school? Now imagine that EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER MET WAS THERE.

ALL THE TIME.

EVERY DAY.

And that's what MySpace represents - communication, 24/7/365.

We already live in a world where people don't dare to be different. The mob mentality will grow to new heights in a world of 24/7 interconnectivity. Nothing will be hidden anymore - everything will be transparent and right there, out in the open, caught on cameraphone or recorded by webcam.

As new generations raised on this level of interconnectivity rise up to take positions out in the labor force and in other positions of influence over time, the results will be felt.

Leaders who understand the MySpace era and command the mob will reap rewards of unprecedented power and resources. Medical research will move five times faster than it ever has before, creating new cures. Politicians will be cleaner than ever before, since the cost of a mistake is tremendous and there are no more secrets. Business will seize upon crowdsourced information to polish products and services to a shiny perfection, creating new dimensions for competition we haven't thought of yet and raising the importance of human capital and marketing more than ever. Social causes will continue to escalate in importance, as messages of despair and need travel around the world as fast as you can blink, and efforts to address them get organized almost as fast. Organizations like The iTest will do things never thought possible. The world will move faster than ever before, largely for the better.

But, for now, as I sit and read the poetry of a high school classmate, contemplate the politics of another classmate living overseas, and share the happiness in the new baby of a co-worker and new relationship of an old friend - all thanks to MySpace - it's worth a moment to sit and also think about the bigger picture.