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shevdog

Steelers 2010-11

Hard to predict this coming season because:

• Ben Roethlisberer is an X-factor
• Tomlin is not Cowher; I haven’t figured out Tomlin yet, well not like Cowher
• Too many things for the Steelers to patch
• Not sure who the 2010 Steelers are yet, hardly got 2009 down too

Opponents 2010:

Home: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers
Away: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I think this is a fair schedule, with a couple challenging games.  Last season the Steelers gave up easy wins and won some hard ones.  Steelers left 2009 being unstable, which is un-Steeler of them.  With the weak areas beign special teams, offensive line, secondary, and running game, the Steelers will keep that instability sticker on them until they prove otherwise.

Hypothetically, if the Steelers fix half their problems, they will make a run at the playoffs and if they get a running game going, they will be a contender in the playoffs.  If they have a running game, they will be 11-5, if not, they will barely be 10-6.  Steelers will be a hot potato, with their heat being passed back and forth this coming season, where other teams will take the spotlight when the Steelers lose “that game”.

Super Bowl?  Super Bowl?  Hmmm…

Steelers need solid running game and they will be a playoff contender.  If they have a power running game going, then they have a shot at the Super Bowl this year.  No matter how good they are in other areas, especially their suped up passing game, forget it if they can’t use the run as a defensive tool in controlling the clock.  Like I’ve said, the Steelers are one season away from going into the dark ages for a couple years and this could be either their last Super Bowl in a long while or they will enter the dark ages.  So I say Steelers have little chance for 7 this year, unless they get that run powered up.

Update 8.3.10: After seeing day 1 of training camp, I doubt the Steelers will have a power running game this year, though that could develop.  Looks like Bruce is investing heavily on the passing game, which helps when you have a clutch player like Randel-El back in the line-up.  Defense looks restored, though hard to tell at this point how well things will come together.  Special teams is much improved, again with R-El back, Sepulveda looking solid, and Jeff still solid.  … Call me crazy, yet I see this as a hybrid team that won’t get much respect, yet will make the playoffs and has a shot for 7.  I am nervously picking this as the Stairway to Seven year, which fits, since it will be a climb!

Penguins 2009-10 and beyond

So Pens still have the cup and are on another run for the playoffs.  Pens haven’t been solid like they were at the start of the season, yet that’s fine.  The Pens can take on any team in the NHL in a 7 game series, even the Caps and the Devils, who have dominated them in the regular season.  Crosby is extra clutch this year, especially in that Gold Medal game.

I doubt the Flyers will play the Caps in the first round, yet I’m hoping for that match up before the Pens have to face the Caps.  Yes, the Pens will face the Caps.  Likely the Flyers will face either the Devils, Pens, or Sabers in the first round.  I’m hoping for the Pens to play a Canadian team or Boston in the first round, which looks like what will happen.

Pens will battle hard again in the Eastern Conference and will likely go up against San Jose or Chicago.  No matter who it is, it won’t be a guarantee, though maybe the series will be short.  The NHL isn’t going to label the Pens as the top contender, yet the blood that will be shed on the ice in the east tells me that these teams that have been putting it into overdrive all season will burn out in the playoffs, primarily the Caps and Devils.  Anyone in the West can take the cup, regardless if they take on the Pens.  When all the ice settles, the Cup remains in Pittsburgh for another year and we’ll break in the Console Energy Center with Lord Stanley!

As for the 2010-11 season, the Pens will be contenders again, yet I am predicting a major shuffling of the roster, which will ultimately result in the Pens losing in the first or second round of the playoffs.  Now let’s say I am wrong about the 2010 Cup playoffs and the Pens come up short… there will be that shuffling, yet the Pens will bounce back stronger and will grab the Cup back.  Pretty much it is a now or next year kind of thing with the Cup.  I am not putting any hopes for a three-peat, yet don’t be shocked about them grabbing three Cups in 5 years, which is along the lines of what I’ve been thinking will happen with this lineup.

Pirates

A year ago the Pirates got a good start.  Then the season fell apart.  And the season ended breaking the losing season record.  That was then, this is now.

I am not a fan of baseball.  It bores me.  Even so, the Pirates are my baseball team.  And I think the Pirates need to be sold to new owners, ones that can make money while contending for a championship.  Rooney’s do that and they have one of the best sports franchises in all sports.  Not to hard to feed off of that, especially since the Pirates created the Steelers back in the day.  Pipe dream, I know.

Pirate might break 500 this year.  Of course I’m not that optimistic.  That’s all I have to say about the Pirates.  I’m looking forward to the day I am excited about them and I can jump on the playoff bandwagon.  Let’s go Bucs!

Cycling

Well, I’m no Lance fan and his better days are over.  Landis is toast, since the Rock Racing thing got ejected into the Hudson.  I don’t like Alberto Contador.  I’ll be keeping tabs on former CSC team, now Cervelo Test Team.  I just wish there were more American contenders not in the Lance camp that can compete in the big races in Europe.  (Team HTC-Columbia has that potential.)  I’m still ticked off that Europe isn’t giving much ground for tours elsewhere in the world, such as USA.  The Tour of California got pushed up to May, which is good for exposure.  Still waiting on a Tour of America, where we do have the geography that can make Europe look tame.  I just think this will be a disappointing season, since there is nothing to look forward to, even if Lance takes a charge in France again.

Ironman

Well this is an individual sport, so the best of the best can win on day, yet the next just be good.  Btw, good isn’t good enough to be the best of the best.  Of course I’d settle for being “alright” in my triathlon attempts this year, with a long way to go.  Maybe Germany will take the spotlight again with freshblood in Kona, since the Auzzies have dominated.  I’d like to see Wellington get her 4th in Kona.

Soccer

I am not a fan of soccer, nor of Philly sports.  Philly just got a MLS team, called the “Philadelphia Union”.  I love their logo, which is the “Don’t Tread on Me” snake.  It is enough to spark interest in going to a soccer game, just to see what’s what.  But as far as adopting them as my team in MLS, no thanks.  (I’d be a New York Red Bulls fan anyways.)

How did you choose your LiveJournal username? Is there an interesting story behind it?

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I saw thormonger’s post about the story behind his screenname and wanted to share mine in three quick parts.

Part 1: the story behind my nickname “shevdog”

It was in AP US History my Sophomore at New Castle Senior Highs School that James called me “shev-dawg”, since at that time “dawg” was a popular urban phrase. Prior to that, people called me either by my last name “Shevitz” or the short version of my last name “shev”. Being a band geek and all, these nicknames were just a way for teens having fun, since in high school it is all about labels. (I doubt that has changed). Honestly I hated that nickname, until part 2.

Part 2: Why I use it as my screenname

I was signing up for an AOL trial in 1996 and needed a screen name. Everything else I picked was taken and I just went with shevdog, since I was use to being called that by that point. By my Senior year at NeCaHi I was know by my two nicknames “shev” and “shevdog” and it grew and stuck in college.

Part 3: Do I really (still) like this nickname?

Though I am use to the screenname, I really don’t like it. Sure I like dogs, but don’t think I am one, since that’s sort of an insult of sorts. However I like wolves, my second favorite animal, though “shevwolf “sounds retarded. My FCF/Indian name is “Silent Eagle”, where I like that nickname named after my favorite animal, though never expect to be called by that.  At least people don’t call me “Commander Shawn” like they do with me at church.  (New people probably scratch their heads about that one).

Part 4: Are there other shevdogs?

I am the original “shevdog”. My brother was also called “shevdog” in high school, though that likely disapeared when he moved to Florida. Some teenage girl from Australia found me on myspace years ago and is the only other person who shares my nickname that I know of.

After thinking about my nicknames and names, I really don’t like what I’m called. LOL! Way too picky about names.out names.

I’ll cut to the chase… I read all the time, yet don’t read books very often. Depending on one’s perspective, it is likely bad that I don’t read books, yet generally good that I read a lot.

Why?

Well books are books. Also being IT, I live a very digital lifestyle. I think the only thing I read in print these days are magazines, having stacks of them at home. Yet I’ve cut my zines to outdoors & fitness only ones, where gReader has a daily stream of all kinds of internet feed that I read like zines.

eReaders have been out for many years, yet have come up short for years.  Below is a list of features I am looking for in a tablet sized device:

1. tablet sized (not too big, not too small)
2. color + back light (bright in light + dark)
3. Supports all the common eBook formats
4. Supports PDF‘s + note taking
5. RSS feeds
6. network + internet connectivity
7. syncing up with my computers and devices (this is a big deal)
8. quick charge that is efficient and lasts long
9. Some sort of useful Bible (for sermonizing)
10. good text2voice (optional, yet would be great!)

I’ll stop with 10 items.

Honestly I’m looking for a versatile tablet PC that focuses on eReading, notes, and replaces most of my printing.  These tablets do exist, yet they are way too pricey.  I don’t want a full operating system.  (OK, I do, but not in this case).  If I have something where I can read books, read zines, read feeds, take notes, and make notes on documents, then that’s what I am looking for.  It has to be affordable, practical, something I can “throw around”, etc.   Also, I need to easily move stuff on my personal network, including computers and mobile devices.

Enter Nook (& Kindle)

Last week stumbled upon Barnes and Noble’s Nook, which is a new $259 eBook+ reader.  I liked what Amazon Kindle had to offer, minus the fact it lacked color.  Don’t expect me to go in a full feature compairson.  I just like Nook, since it has most of what I am looking for, plus runs on Google Android mobile OS, which is what my phone runs on.  (A mobile resource hog, yet great OS).

Thing is…

I honestly will not shell out $259 for Nook, even a color Kindle.  If I could do most of what I can do on my Android phone + have these eReader features, then I’d shell out that kind of cash, since I’d use that device all the time.

What I’d like to see is a TechCrunch Tablet merge with Nook in either the Android or Windows Mobile platform.  Thing is we’re not too far away from seeing what I want in Apple flavor, which can upset this “not quite there yet” eReader gadget market.  I’d love to be able to take this eTablet with me around the house and on the go to read my zines, feeds, books, and check up on my websites.

In the end, my mobile phone wins.  Right now I’ll end up going for what I can squeeze into my Android powered phone.  To be able to read books from a device that is usually in my pocket is a win-win for me.  And Nook has software for all these common mobile platforms, though I need to wait for the Android version, even though Nook runs on Android.

Bottom line…

Even in electronic for, you really think I’ll read more books?  For me, yes, but only a 20-25% improvement over my already low book reading rate.  Still, to have all my books at the palm of my hands, that’s what I want.

Poor ole books.  What a dying art you’ve become.

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From an entertainment standpoint, that movie annoyed me, mainly since it was like “Panic Room” where the setting and plot is fairly closed in.  I guess it was a horror movie, which I’d just say it was more a thriller of sorts.  My entertainment value was watching the audience’s reaction.  Btw, last time I saw a theater so back was when I saw Star Wars III on Imax at midnight.

This isn’t a movie review, yet I’ll end my comments on the movie with my thoughts that there are some significant inconsistencies with “Paranormal Activity”.  Lots of ghost like phenomenon, then some alien like stuff, then some psychological stuff, then some demonic stuff.  I’m just not buying that demons are acting ghost-like.  Then all the sudden there is demonic like behavior, then the demonic like behavior goes a bit off the wall, which isn’t too far off but not in that context.  What I take from this is a demon plays ghost, then plays ghost-alien, then plays demon, then plays demon-alien, or some bizarre combination.

Of course supernatural skeptics…

Like the one in this MSNBC article are quick to disprove the real validity of any of this stuff in real life.  I’d have to agree in part with the author of that article that there is much we label “paranormal” and “supernature” which just is not the case.

Reminds me of the local ghost hunter group from a couple years ago that hit up all the area paranormal hot spots, doing much the same stuff on SyFy’s Ghost Hunter show.  A friend of a friend was part of that group and I got a change to see some of their insider photos and video.  I even got a chance to debunk a couple things.

So yes, I’ll be one to be first to discern what is what, analyze what’s what and look for the logical explanation.  I say 90-99% of the time there is a natural cause, along with possibilities of psychological, physiological, physical, even sociological explanations.  Thing is I’m not out to disprove stuff, just out to discern, analyze, and sort things out.

That 1-10% that is paranormal & supernatural…

My roots are both in science and in faith.  Yes, opposites in general.  I’ll be the first to debunk such mis-classifications, yet not with a filter lens  for science or for faith.  Though much of this stuff can come with a logical explanation that has nothing to do with supernatural, that doesn’t mean that supernatural stuff doesn’t happen.  Actually there is a great deal of supernatural things that often occur that we mostly just don’t sense, thus have little to no awareness of.  I think when some of us do have some sort of awareness our sense of it is equivalent to my sense of eye sight, which is extremely nearsighted.

Modern science has pointed out a lot of stuff that would make mystic uncomfortable.  Over the countless years of human history how many people have been diagnosed with demon possession when it just was a psychological/biochemical disorder.

Yet does science disproved demon possession?  Hmmm…

I’d challenge that with recent technical advances in human-computer interfaces.  There are working interface devices that allow us to tap into our brain to allow us to control the user interface of a computer, where you think what actions you want to do on a computer, as we would mostly do with our hands via keyboard and mouse.  If you tap into parts of your nervous system, you can create artifical arms/legs that you can tap into the nervous system to use like it was your own flesh and blood.  You can even tap into your brain to snatch up memory relays, even kinda sort of do stuff like you see in the move “Matrix”.

Of course it all is extremely complex and this tiny paragraph is a gross summary of all of this recent technology to point one thing out, which is the ever growing fact that technology can be used as a tool of human possession.  Society even in it primitive forms has been possessed by rulers, by culture, by ideas, by religion, by psychology, as in people have and still do possess and control other people.  Of course it isn’t like plugging into our nervous system and controlling our body and tapping into our minds directly, but some possession methods are pretty darn close.

So there can be supernatural/spiritual beings that have a variety of capacities.  If a human can eventually tap into another human and possess another human, why not a spiritual being?  Why can’t a demon, an angel, even God possess a person.  (Not saying God is going to over take your body and control it, but God being God, that capacity is there, just that’s not how God works).  Ok, so all these words to say that no matter how deep you analyze all of this, demon possession is a possibility, one I will say can and has happen(ed)(s).

As far as theology goes in the realm of angelogy and other such things, there is so much out there we just don’t have any sort of concert handle on since our spiritual senses for the most part are blind.  There are many spiritual beings, which I won’t go into a tangent explaining what they all are.  My belief in ghosts is mix and I don’t believe in ghosts in a classical sense.  But as for different types of demons (fallen angels) and angels, they exists.  I can’t prove it, which negates science, which is where faith comes in.

I’ll end this rant by saying…

Yes I believe in the supernatural, paranormal, and such things, which if you really know me, you know I do.  Even though I have such belief in the supernatural, I still hold to a balance in faith and science.  I do think this world we live in is very real, yet in this realness we co-existing in this “Alice in Wonderland” kind of Matrix delusion that we entrap ourselves in our own little world, whatever that might be for you, me, and everyone else.  So I guess we all live our own little virtual life in the matrix of this very real world that we all live in.

I’m saying once we discern and filter out what is what, the things that remain, that 1-10%, we’ll find stuff… like that no matter what we believe, God does exist…  or that there are angels and demons in the mix of this supernatural war with humanity that some Christians would call “spiritual warfare”…  or that there are ghost, demons, hauntings, possessions, oppression, etc, etc…   that there is good and evil, love and hate…  that when all things are said and done, God sorts out cosmos and that the love of God ultimate stands unshaken,

Lastly on demon possession…

If anyone is worried that a demon will possess you, I say sleep with some peace of mind that even though I’d argue it is fully possible, it is very unlikely.  If demons are out to get you, they won’t resort to possession unless for some twisted reason and set of circumstance there is that bridge for such an extreme thing.  I think for demons it is more effective and efficient for demons to oppress people and to control people through a complex system of control.  Heck, people have been doing this forever.

If you have never heard of or read “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis, I highly recommend that easy read.  My believes in the supernatural closely match those of Lewis.

And finally, when all things are said and done, demons can possess, oppress, influence, and flat out be out to get you down in all sort of ways.  But so we hunt for an blame demons when it is you and I who possess the very life God has given us?  I know life is well life, but we still can make choices.  And when the world comes down on us in any way it can, whether it be our own fault, other people, nature, spiritual, etc, we still have that one choice on who we are and who we turn to.  As the Bible says, by the name of Jesus demons will have to flee, as Christ himself cast the demons out of a man into pigs.  So God created all things and sure does have the power to live up to that Biblical promise.  Even more so, demons are less a worry, where I’ll ultimate argue our personal choice of accepting God or pushing God away.  I see nothing but bad and horrible stuff when we push God away.

Anyhow, that’s peace of mind for me in a world of supernatural paranormal activity.

Pemmican consists of lean, dried meat (usually beef nowadays, but bison, deer, and elk were common then) which is crushed to a powder and mixed with an equal amount of hot, rendered fat (usually beef tallow). Sometimes crushed, dried berries are added as well. A man could subsist entirely on pemmican, drawing on the fat for energy and the protein for strength (and glucose, when needed). The Inuit, Stefansson noted, spent weeks away from camp with nothing but pemmican to eat and snow to drink to no ill effect. Stefansson, a Canadian of Icelandic origin, often accompanied them on these treks and also lived off of pemmican quite happily, so its sustaining powers weren’t due to some specific genetic adaptation unique to the Inuit. In fact, when Stefansson returned home, he and colleague adopted a meat-only diet for a year, interested in its long-term effects. A controlled examination of their experience confirmed that both men remained healthy throughout.

Read the full post at: Mark’s Daily Apple

Related posts:

1. Primal Energy Bar Redux: Making a Better Bar
2. Top 10 Ingredients that Will Make Your Meals Pop
3. Make Your Own Primal Energy Bars in 10 Easy Steps

I’m using a plug-in called “Live-Press”.

• Once you configure the plugin with your lj account, you can do a new post in WordPress.
• From the “Add New Post” screen, you can go to “Live-Press Extra” to edit all the lj specific stuff, like user pic, mood, post secuity.
• You can have an entirely different post security for your wp post than your lj post.
• I haven’t tested the “lj-cut”, since there isn’t one. There is an “Insert More” which is native to wp.   Also some “lj-cut” plugins for wp.
• If you edit something in wordpress it gets edited on lj!
• If you delete a post on wordpress it gets deleted on lj.
• If you forget to switch from “public” to “friends only” it keeps your lj default of “friends only”. (You’ll have to manually change in lj, if needed).
• By default wp categories = lj tags, but you can change that to make tags = tags

I’ll be using this blog to experiment with cross-posting in lj and facebook from now until the end of the year. I won’t be ditching lj, so no worries.

Lots of things to setup and tweak!!!

btw:
http://shevdog.com/journal -or-
http://journal.shevdog.com (once I get the sub domain setup)