"Captain Underpants" And His Siblings....

That is Captain Underpants (a.k.a. TJ) on the left.

Why does he call himself "Captain Underpants"? Because as soon as he steps foot in the house he strips off all his clothes except for his underwear and sometimes his undershirt (only if it's his white tank-top Batman undershirt, does he leave it on). Then he tucks the red cape from his Superman pajamas into the back of his underwear and runs around the house.

Turkey Day....

To anyone who is reading this;

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

NBA Top 50 Players....

From a Sporting News article ranking the NBA's top 50 players:

"
No. 1 is easy. Any way you rank the NBA's top 50 players, Tim Duncan comes out on top. Winning. He's the best player on the best team. Because "winning championships is the reason we're doing this," as one executive put it, you now know what our top consideration was when choosing players for the list. Individual honors. Finals MVP. All-NBA first team (in each of his eight seasons), All-Defensive first team. Stats. Duncan ranked No. 1 in the ratings deemed most important by the statistically inclined website 82games.com. If his
plus-16.6 rating (based on the Spurs' point discrepancy when he's on vs. off the court) doesn't impress you, his 2004-05 numbers should: 20.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, 49.6 percent shooting, 2.6 blocks. Polls. In the league's general managers' preseason survey, Duncan was an overwhelming pick to win his third MVP award and lead the Spurs to their second consecutive title. Of the six G.M.s and scouts who helped pick our top 50, five chose Duncan as their No. 1. So there. A slam dunk for Duncan. But ranking Nos. 2-50 wasn't so easy.
Prepare to disagree.
2. Shaquille O'Neal, Heat. At
33, the Greatest Center Ever is the oldest player in the top 50 and has begun to show his age. Still, he was the only player to average more than 20 points and shoot 60 percent from the floor last season, and he remains the player most difficult to prepare for. For all Dwyane Wade does, Shaq is the main reason G.M.s picked the Heat to win the East.
3. Steve Nash, Suns. How can a guy who never dunks be way up here? Easy. He's the absolute best at making his teammates better. And being the reigning MVP and the catalyst for the only team that won at least 60
games (the Suns won 62) last season doesn't hurt.
4. Kevin Garnett, Timberwolves. You know you're special when you check in with 22.2 points, a league-best 13.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 50.2 percent shooting and it's considered an off year. But to have a shot at
reclaiming the No. 1 spot in our rankings, K.G. needs to lead the T-wolves deep into the playoffs again.
5. Amare Stoudemire, Suns. He's worth the wait.
6. LeBron James, Cavaliers. When he hit three 3-pointers in 55 seconds in the season opener, cold sweats
broke out across the league. If the guy's going to shoot like that, forget about stopping him. He's considered by most G.M.s to be the league's most athletic player. Oh yeah -- he's only 20.
7. Dwyane Wade, Heat. One scout on our panel ranked Wade behind only Duncan, but we're not quite ready to go that far. Once he shows the same Jordanesque intensity on defense that he does on offense, we'll reconsider.
8. Kobe Bryant, Lakers. Based on early returns, Phil-Kobe Act II is going to be good for Kobe. His talent and
drive are unsurpassed, but to return to our top five, Kobe has to take the Lakers into late May.
9. Tracy McGrady, Rockets. He showed how good he can be when he averaged 30.7 points in the playoffs and his defense frustrated Dirk Nowitzki for long stretches. But we'd like to see T-Mac's dominant stretches last for weeks instead of days.
10. Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks. Seven-footers who can shoot 3s and lead fast breaks don't come along very often. If Nowitzki could provide even half the defensive presence of another versatile 7-footer (see No. 4), there would be no concerns about placing him higher.
11. Manu Ginobili, Spurs. Talk about a winner. NBA championship in '03, Olympic gold in '04, NBA championship in '05. There were many times last spring when Gi-NO-ba-lee! (we love hearing Charles
Barkley say it) carried the Spurs with his breakneck style on both ends.
12. Gilbert Arenas, Wizards. The league's most talented point guard, Arenas is only 23 and still has some growing up to do. Once his maturity catches up to his skills, he'll be a fixture in our top 10.
13. Jermaine O'Neal, Pacers. An inside force on both ends, he still has not broken through with a career-defining season -- or playoff series. Until he does, this is as high as 24.3 points and 8.8 rebounds will get him.
14. Allen Iverson, 76ers. He has enough left to take over a game on any night. But he's a long way from returning the Sixers to the East's elite. And though he's the toughest player around pound for pound, we
wonder how much more punishment he can absorb before his game begins to crack.
15. Ben Wallace, Pistons. His interior defense, blue-collar rebounding and relentless hustle make him the most irreplaceable Piston. He'd be ranked higher if not for his paltry 9.7 scoring average last season.
16. Shawn Marion, Suns. This guy can fly -- down the court and to the rim. He doesn't have a pretty shot, but
he hits 47.6 percent of his attempts and is among the best one-on-one defenders at forward. He's a perfect fit for Phoenix's style.
17. Elton Brand, Clippers. He's good for 20 and 10 any time he slips on the sneakers, plus he shoots 50 percent and tries on defense. He might be unfairly docked here because he plays for the Clippers, but when you're on a team that has been a joke, it's tough to get your props.
18. Ron Artest, Pacers. If he's not the best one-on-one defender on the wing, he's the scariest. He's also a 20-point scorer with an obsession for winning that borders on unhealthy. That kind of fury is a good thing ... most of the time.
19. Ray Allen, SuperSonics. Owner of the league's prettiest jumper, Allen has proved he's more than a shooter. That said, we'd still like to see more than 3.7 assists, 4.4 rebounds and so-so defense.
20. Jason Kidd, Nets. His best likely is behind him, considering he is 32 (second oldest in the top 50) and a
year removed from microfracture surgery. What we're seeing now, however, remains pretty sweet. Kidd still runs the break as well as anybody, is a smart defender and has triple double potential.
21. Yao Ming, Rockets. He'll never be Shaq, but he's still 7-5 and puts up the second-best numbers among
centers -- 18.3 points, 55.2 percent shooting, 8.4 rebounds, 2.0 blocks. To reach the next level, he first needs to get his minutes up to the high 30s.
22. Vince Carter, Nets. Give him a dose of Wade's competitiveness and Carter would be in the Wade-Bryant-McGrady neighborhood. But since his move to Jersey, Carter has proved there's a lot left in his high-flying game.
23. Andrei Kirilenko, Jazz. He ranked No. 9 last year but missed 41 games, so now he has to work his way back
up. That shouldn't be a problem given his ability to fill up a box score.
24. Pau Gasol, Grizzlies. The 7-footer has earned a reputation for being soft, but that hasn't prevented him from becoming one of the league's best post scorers. He has a nice touch out to 20 feet and is able to put the ball on the floor and finish with either hand.
25. Carmelo Anthony, Nuggets. George Karl seems to have gotten through to his high-scoring forward, who is more fit and more motivated after a disappointing second season. He has a strong midrange game but needs
work in most other areas.
26. Chauncey Billups, Pistons. Ask five coaches who'd be the toughest Piston to replace and you'd likely get five different answers. But Billups' big-shot history and overpowering strength as a point guard put him ahead of all the Pistons except Wallace.
27. Baron Davis, Warriors. After he was traded to the Warriors, the injuries and attitude problems suddenly vanished. Though his ability to run a team is unquestioned, he'll have to be on good behavior for an entire season before he moves up in our rankings.
28. Paul Pierce, Celtics. He's a dependable scorer but hasn't quite stepped up and become the true leader his
young teammates need. Whether he does this season will go a long way to determining his place as a
superstar.
29. Mike Bibby, Kings. He's the point guard who best combines scoring and running the offense. Like Billups,
Bibby has a way of making big shots. Unlike Billups, Bibby is not so big on defense.
30. (tie) Richard Hamilton, Pistons; Tayshaun Prince, Pistons. OK, we give up on trying to decide who's better. Each brings something different to the Pistons. "Rip" Hamilton is a tireless player whose movement without the ball and shooting are keys to the team's halfcourt offense. With his gangly body, Prince defends every
position except the point and is an effective scorer who can shoot the 3 and drive to the basket.
32. Richard Jefferson, Nets. He excels in all areas and seems to be picking up where he left off before last
season's broken wrist.
33. Tony Parker, Spurs. This lightning-quick point guard is only 23 and already has started for two title teams. He continues to improve his outside shot but still lacks the overall consistency of the true elites.
34. Joe Johnson, Hawks. He needs another season like the last one to convince us, but there's no denying his impact on the Suns last season. He made 47.8 percent of his 3s, averaged a career-best 17.1 points and was more than capable backing up the point.
35. Michael Redd, Bucks. 82games.com has numbers that show Redd is the league's worst defensive shooting
guard -- by a lot. So what? Anyone who can score like Redd belongs in the top 50. Last season, he was one of 21 players who averaged 20 points or more, and they all made the list.
36. Stephon Marbury, Knicks. He's as talented as any point guard, but this is his 10th season and he's still
trying to prove he can lead a winning team.
37. Antawn Jamison, Wizards. He lacks the forceful personality -- on or off the court -- to be the No. 1 guy on
a good team, but he's a great No. 2.
38. Rashard Lewis, SuperSonics. Few 6-10 players match his ability to shoot and attack the rim, but if you're
this tall and play 38 minutes a night, you need to grab more than 5.5 rebounds per game.
39. Lamar Odom, Lakers. Odom was overshadowed and overwhelmed by Bryant last season. Let's see whether Phil Jackson can help restore Odom to the level he was at two seasons ago.
40. Corey Maggette, Clippers. He's a stronger but not quite as talented version of Bryant. Maggette suffers from the same plight as Brand -- graded down for being a Clipper.
41. Peja Stojakovic, Kings. He doesn't do much besides score, but oh, can he shoot. After a couple of off games to start the season, Stojakovic tourched the Suns for 23 points (on 9-of-10 shooting) in one quarter last week. Before the season's over, he will have a lot of nights like that.
42. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cavaliers. Sure, he's clumsy-looking, but if you're 7-3 and average 16.9 points, you're virtually guaranteed a spot in the top 50.
43. Kenyon Martin, Nuggets. He isn't as good as he thinks he is, but you've got to like the athleticism and effort.
44. Steve Francis, Magic. The supertalented guard is holding himself back with his immaturity (just ask his ex-coaches).
45. Jason Richardson, Warriors. The game's best dunker quietly has become an upper-level, all-around player. He averaged career bests in scoring (21.7) and shooting (44.6 percent) in '04-05 and should be even
better this season.
46. Larry Hughes, Cavaliers. He's a creative scorer and defender who should be a worthy sidekick for LeBron.
47. Rasheed Wallace, Pistons. Is he too unselfish or is it that he doesn't want the responsibility of a leader? Whatever, he has the talent to rank much higher than this.
48. Chris Webber, 76ers. His days of being the man are over, but he has developed enough savvy to remain
productive.
49. Kirk Hinrich, Bulls. If you like young and gritty -- and we do -- then you will appreciate the Bulls' up-and-coming floor leader.
50. Shane Battier, Grizzlies. There may be 50 players more talented. Heck, there may be 100. But are there 50 we'd rather have on our team? No way.
"

As big of a Shaq fan that I am, I think #2 is too high to rank him. Is he the most unstoppable player in the league? Yes. But is he the second best overall player in the league? No.

Ben Wallace at #15? No way is he a top 15 player in the NBA.

Amare #5? Not yet.

Kenyon Martin top 50? Nope.

Dwyane Wade ahead of Kobe? No way. Maybe in 3 years.

Tayshaun Prince at #30? Ahead of Rasheed Wallace #47? What? How is Prince so high and how is Wallace so low?

Joe Johnson at #34? Not withouth Nash feeding him for open shots.

Shane Battier at #50? He's a nice guy and all, but not a top 50 talent guy. Grant Hill is just as nice and is more talented.

Life's Been A Little Busy Lately....

My last entry was on November 2nd. I haven't had access to a computer at work yet and haven't had time at home to post anything to my blog so I'll try to catch everyone up on what's been going on since then.

Work

I've been here for 11 days so far, and out of those 11, I've been in to NYC to job sites 9 days. Most of the time I've been tagging along with the guy I've been working with - Paul. He's got a company truck with commercial plates so it's not difficult to find a parking space. For the 3 times that I've had to drive in by myself it's been impossible to find a parking space in the vicinity of the job site, so I've had to park in parking garages. The money isn't an issue since I get reimbursed, but it's when it's time to get the car and there are 10 people ahead of me all waiting to get their cars first.... and the place is understaffed.... and it's a multilevel garage.... and I've got class in an hour.... and it takes almost two hours to get out of Manhattan and down to New Brunswick....

School

The estimating class that I take on Thursday nights is going well. The teacher is pretty good and makes the class interesting. We're always working on some kind of estimating problem either in groups or together as a class - which keeps everyone involved. The tuesday night class about Consturction Procedures, Materials and Costs is a whole nother story. Anyone who can read the English language could do what this teacher does. It's a ten week program and he's got ten powerpoint presentation slide shows that he shows. He's got each week's slides printed out with notes on them that he reads from as he shows the slides. He rarely adds anything not covered by the slides to the class. It also doesn't help that he needs reading glasses to read the notes. He'll go from reading the projector screen, then putting on his glasses, finding his spot on the paper notes, read a note, then take the glasses off, then repeating something from the projector screen, then back to the notes. It's just painful to have to sit there and go through.

Home Life

Last Wednesday my little girl turned 1. We had the NJ relatives come over after dinner for some birthday cake. Nicholas and Jennie made her a small personal cake just for her and Nicholas did the icing job. Like any kid, she just ate the icing. Saturday was her birthday party with more relatives and some friends. Thomas was his usual shy self and spent most of the time in the basement with either Jenna or his brother and cousins playing basketball. Alexis got some really cute clothes and some toys. Her brothers have gotten a better kick out of seeing and playing with her toys than she has so far. She's also reaaallllyyy close to walking full time now. She stands up without holding to anything and she'll take 3 or 4 steps between objects/furniture. She'll also take longer walks (8-10 steps) if we trick her and she doesn't notice what she's doing. (The old trick - mom and dad sit on the floor a few feet away from each other and have Alexis walk between us. Then when she starts walking to one of us, that parent will slide back as she's getting closer, thus causing her to take more steps to reach us.)

Thomas will be turning 3 in about 1 month and has now been in underwear for 3 weeks. He's had a handful of pee-pee accidents and 2 poo-poo accidents, but that's to be expected when potty-training. He hasn't had any accidents of any kind in the past 1-2 weeks so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he's finally crossed that final hurdle....

Nicholas is doing great as a big brother. He loves his baby sister so much and is always trying to hug her, kiss her, help her. Thomas loves her too, but often smothers her when he's doing nice to her. He'll learn one of these days (I hope). Nicholas is pretty good with Thomas also. They rarely fight unless they're playing "power rangers" or one of them is cranky. No sibling rivalry developing yet, so we'll have to wait and see how things progress over time....

Sports

The Jets have got to be the most heart-wrenching team to root for. There is never a definite identity to the team. They're never "great" or "horrible". Just when you think they're done for the season, or even the game, they'll come up with some kind of performance that makes you believe that they can pull it out. Then they'll do something stupid and smash all hope. But the very next drive/week they'll get your hopes up again, only to drop them again. It's like a rollercoaster ride of emotions with that team.

The Nets look like they'll win the Atlantic Division this season. With Kidd, Carter, Jefferson, and Kristic - they've got what it'll take to win easily. That's not really saying much because their opponents in the Atlantic suck. But at least they'll get homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Sherryl Swoopes came out of the closet a few weeks ago and I still haven't decided if the lack of hoopla over the statement is good or bad. Is it good that nobody cares? Do they not care because alternate lifestyles have become so well accepted that a lesbian coming out isn't earth-shattering news anymore? Or is it because it's just because no one really cares? Mainly I think it's because she's a woman coming out and not a man. It's definitely more accepted to be a lesbian than a gay male in this society, which shouldn't be the way it is, but it is. But I just can't put my finger on why Swoopes' coming out causes such little commotion.

I'm in a football pool run by my uncle who lives in Portland, OR and out of the first 10 weeks, I came in second 8 times. I finally broke through and won this past weekend by succesfully guessing the most correct winning teams. Each week's winner wins and then at the end of the season the total wins leader wins some extra. You'd think that by coming in second almost every week would have me at or near the total leader position, but you'd be wrong. My Aunt has won 5 weeks so far and is leading the pack by a wide margin. I'd cry "Fix!" or "Conspiracy Theory!", but they're family and it's all in fun. I'm hoping now that she was the one who used her run of good luck and took a ride down the California to buy that $315 million dollar Mega Millions lottery ticket.

Upcoming Events

Once I get settled down in my permanent desk with my own computer here at work, I should have more time available to post entries in the blog, but I'm not counting on it. So for those of you who looked forward to me posting my silly thoughts every day or two like I did in the past, you'll have to settle for maybe a weekly post or two.

I've got a bunch of pictures that I have to download from the camera to the computer at home so I can post them online, but first I've got to find a block of time at home to get that done. Hopefully I'll have some time this coming weekend to do that.

The Teaneck Jewish Center winter league starts this coming Sunday. I'm no where near as good as I used to be so I'm not expecting to see my name on any of the leader boards. I'm one of those veterans who are past their prime and are still clinging to home of winning one last chamipionship before retiring for good. I feel like Clifford Robinson. Coming in off the bench for short stretches and just trying to do a few of the little things to help the team. Not relied on to carry the team, but to come in and hold things down for the starters when they need a breather.

New Job....

Friday was my last day at Burgess Steel. After 4 years there, it was time to move on. I felt like I was trapped in the drafting position with no way out. It had been over a year since I first broached the with the powers that be at Burgess and I was still in drafting. I was approached about a job opportunity and would have been an idiot not to listen. So after a couple of interviews and an enticing offer, I accepted the position at R & L and started yesterday.

I jumped right into things and got right to work. Yesterday I detailed a job and put it in the shop. I also checked a job for errors and corrected the problems I found. Today I got to go to a job site and go over a few issues that we had. It was my first time ever being on an actual job site while work was going on. It was great! There is no more second guessing my decision to leave Burgess. This was definitely the right move for me.

(Side note: This is my second draft of this entry. The first one was much longer and more descriptive but when I hit the "publish" button, I found out that one of my boys had inadvertantly turned the cable modem off and I didn't have a connection. I also lost everything I had just typed. I'm too tired to type it all in again, so you're stuck reading the condensed version.)