Shane Life

The Chiefs went to San Diego and won.

They won 30-16, coming back in the second half to score 24 unanswered points on the back of Dwayne Bowe, our rookie wide receiver who was everywhere today, setting the record for the most yards receiving by a Chiefs rookie in history. Not bad for his 4th game.

What’s wrong with the Chargers?

This is the team that everyone predicted to win the AFC West hands down and the only AFC team that could compete with the Patriots and Colts to represent the conference in the Super Bowl. They brought in Norv Turner in the off-season to replace the winningest coach in Chiefs history, Marty Schottenheimer, a move that I never agreed with. I failed to see how Turner was a significant upgrade. I guess that’s what happens when you lose the faith of the front office, eh Marty? (deja vu!)

But hey, I never thought the Chiefs would get out to San Diego and win. Even during the first quarter when LaDanian Tomlinson was running roughshod over the vaunted Chiefs defense, things looked grim. A 10-point lead going into halftime might have well have been 40 points. It felt like we were getting dominated. Fortunately, our defense kept us in it with some huge plays by Derrick Johnson (that guy is pretty good).

It was a great day of football. If that offense is the one that shows up every week, we may actually surprise some people this season, even me.

Our new bed arrived today. Nebraska Furniture Mart was supposed to take away our old mattress and box springs.

They didn’t.

Then they said they would send the truck back to our house at the end of the route.

They didn’t do that either.

So…instead of waiting ANOTHER DAY to sleep on the new mattress (it was originally supposed to be delivered Monday), I dragged the old mattress (we’re talking 30 years old) down two flights of stairs and put it on our front porch. If Nebraska Furniture Mart doesn’t come pick it up tomorrow, there is a strongly worded letter coming their way.

It may look trashy, but I just don’t care. I can’t wait to sleep on the new Simmons BeautyRest.

So the Chiefs managed to win today, despite the frustrating ineptitude of their head coach and their complete resistance to passing the ball. Finally, Dwayne Bowe stepped out and Tony Gonzalez had a game worthy of his All-Pro salary.

And how great is it to have Jared Allen back? That guy was a monster today…all over the field, wreaking havoc and pumping up the defense, who needed it considering Adrian Peterson was virtually unstoppable and made Ty Law look like the 40-year-old cornerback that he is on a couple of plays, completely clowning him to the edge.

With Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Tank Tyler, Turk McBride and Allen, the Chiefs defense now needs to think about next year when the evidence that Surtain and Law are past their prime becomes much more evident. I doubt we’ll be able to draft Brohm from Louisville, but perhaps we’ll be able to get a decent corner in the first round. If not, let’s hope they spend their early picks on LINEMEN. Our line is awful, but Larry Johnson is running completely uninspired.

And while Damon Huard managed to bring us back through his arm, he missed some key passes early on that could have been disastrous (the first pass to a very open Tony Gonzalez comes to mind). I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Brodie Croyle come out of the locker room in the second half.

Mike Solari finally got a little creative (maybe Herm finally let go of his leash) and we found that putting the ball in the air was successful because teams are putting 8 in the box against us. Note to Herm: when you tell people in press conferences that you are going to run the ball as much as possible, it kind of takes out the element of surprise and teams plan around that. You might want to reconsider it next time you go up a run defense that is the caliber of Minnesota’s with the awful line you put on the field (our right tackle and right guard were embarrassing today).

Look, I don’t mean to be a downer, but this is a game we should have won by 20. It was just another example of how much work we have ahead of us. Man, is it ever going to be a long season.

Best quote by my wife during the game, after a particularly salty yelling match with my TV: “Maybe it’s best we don’t watch this game with other people…”

Textpattern Solutions: PHP-Based Content Management Made Easy
by Kevin Potts, Robert Sable, Nathan Smith, Cody Lindley, and Mary Fredborg

OK, so I’ve totally already blogged about this, but it is definitely worth mentioning again, especially considering that now I’ve actually read the book. (Now, maybe Kevin will send me a copy of his new one…)

I imagine that most of my readers know this, but for those of you that don’t – I am a web designer. My actual title at my real job is Marketing Specialist, but I have a pretty heavy interactive background and have been working for the last few years to really improve my XHTML and CSS ninja-ry.

While this blog uses Wordpress, I have previously used Google’s Blogger and done hand-coding for various web projects. Content management was always a concept that was kind of foreign to me. I understood the concept, but I really didn’t have a lot of idea of how it would ever be applicable to the projects I worked on – mostly small sites with less than 10 pages of static content.

As I’ve gotten older and wiser, I am becoming more aware of the need for products like Textpattern, an open-source CMS that is much more flexible and powerful than typical blogging platforms like Wordpress and Moveable Type. In fact, I’ve found the perfect project to test my theory.

For several years, I’ve felt that our church’s website has been lacking in functionality. I’ve wanted to re-do it, but I’m not exactly wanting to take all of the responsibility for content creation. So, to me, it seemed like this would be a perfect time to test out Textpattern. As I’ve read through Textpattern Solutions, I’ve found that it is going to do exactly what I want it to do.

The biggest benefit that Textpattern has over other CMS products in my opinion is the ease with which there is customization. Textpattern’s tag system is built on PHP, but you don’t need to know PHP. In fact, it is more similar to XHTML in structure, which makes it really appealing to someone like me who fears PHP somewhat. (It’s all the questions marks…they just seem scary.

Anyway, so I am planning on setting off on the process of building my church a new website this weekend. Textpattern Solutions has been an invaluable resource in my planning and I will lean on it heavily while I work on the site. It will be a long process, but it’s one that I’m not afraid when I have a tool like this – it’s something that I’m looking forward to accomplishing.

And who knows…maybe eventually I will get around to building my own site using Textpattern. We’ll see.

I’m not talking about the abysmal-looking Dane Cook / Jessica Alba vehicle Good Luck Chuck.

No, I’m talking about the upcoming new NBC show of a similar (albeit shorter) name, CHUCK.

A big internet-head-nod to Brian, who pointed out that Amazon Unbox was offering the pilot of NBC’s new show for free. While I certainly am not a huge fan of Amazon.com’s new video download service (particularly the part where their player doesn’t work on a Mac), but I thought this presented a perfect opportunity to try it out. Free TV show that I want to watch that I won’t be able to record on Monday because it airs at the same time as the Dancing with the Stars premiere and the How I Met Your Mother premiere. Since we only have 1 DVR…you get the idea.

Anyway, I checked out the show, which (as I described earlier) is about a guy who works at a Best Buy-type store as a member of the “Nerd Herd” and he unwittingly is sent an e-mail from an old college buddy who happens to be working for the CIA, putting him in the middle of an espionage mess.

One thing that I didn’t realize before was that it is executive produced by McG, most famous for directing music videos and both Charlie’s Angels movies. Not only that, but Chuck’s sister Ellie is played by an Overland Park, KS native named Sarah Lancaster (who was previously known mostly as Gift Shop Girl on Scrubs). So it has that going for it.

I don’t want to give away too much because I thought the show was pretty good (and it has a decent twist at the end), but it is one that I am certainly going to attempt to make room for in my fall TV-watching schedule. Since it is on NBC, I expect that Zucker & Co. will manage to screw it up by episode 6 and rumors of its cancellation will begin to surface, ending all interest in what seems to be a decent show (and perhaps a slightly more comedic version of Alias). If you think I’m kidding, please see: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

I know my readership isn’t many, but it’s powerful. I am asking you to give it a shot at least. It airs this Monday night NBC isn’t promoting it nearly as much as Bionic Woman and my guess is that they are putting both up in the hope that one catches on with the intent of the other getting canceled. My hope is that both end up being good and both stay on the schedule. But alas, it’s NBC. They’re bound to mess it up.

I am now an Uncle.

It is a foreign concept to me, for sure, but one that I’m excited to embrace. The little bundle was born early this morning (about 12:30 a.m.), weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz., measured 19 in. long and is just about the cutest thing ever. (No bias!)

Meet Ireland.

Mom, baby and dad are doing great!

I’ve been wanting to update my version of Madden for a long while now. I’ve been rocking Madden 2003 since…well…2002(?). For an idea of how old that game is, consider that it has Marshall Faulk on the cover.

With the release of Madden 2008, I considered dropping the 50 bucks and buying the newest version in what is truly the greatest sports video game of all-time. However, I thought to myself, “Shane, you have PayPal money and that works on eBay. Why don’t you buy Madden 2007, since it will be drastically reduced now?”

And I answered, “Why self, that sounds like a great idea.”

And so I did.

And it arrived today.

And my thumbs already hurt.

There are so many changes to the game since my last version that I’m spending some time getting to know the gameplay again. It’s tough, considering that there are some pretty drastic changes. I’ll have you know, though, that my Shane Adams NFL Superstar was a first day draft choice by the Jets. He’s still in training camp now, but we’ll see how he revolutionizes the tight end position.

Now that Emaw got me started, I can’t stop this Friday Blogthing anymore. I’ve forgotten what I starting blogthinging for…

Your Power Level is: 86%

You have all the tools you need to be a success – both professionally and personally. You’ll probably go beyond reaching your goals. You’ll change the world (at least a little).

How Powerful Are You?

Dear Neighbors,

Please instruct your children on the rules of playing in the street.

1. If a car comes, move.
2. If a car drives up to you and stops and you are standing in the middle of the road, move.
3. If a car is trying to pull into the driveway you are playing in and you are standing in the middle, move.
4. If you are playing in a driveway that is not your own and then finish playing, please pick up your scooter and return it to your own yard.
5. If your neighbor who does not have (nor does not want) children has the steepest driveway in the cul-de-sac, do not take that as an invitation to race your scooter down the driveway.

Regards,
The neighbor who does not have (nor does not want) children