Pot Roast Goodness, Surge Protectors Galore, And The Latest On Michael Vick
Quick-hitters:
- Submitting and mailing out rebates can be so much fun, especially when you aren’t paying attention to what you are doing. Errors in filling out the form, errors in addressing the envelopes, and I haven’t mentioned the time I sealed one of my envelopes…with nothing inside it.
It’s the heat, I tell you.
- I was supposed to build my new computer today, but I stupidly left my computer parts in my sister’s car (I was in Monterey Park, over the weekend, and picked up the parts I had sent there; I guess I forgot to take them out of the car last night)! Oh well, I haven’t even backed anything up yet on my main computer, so I don’t think I would have started today anyway.
- Pot roast, slow-cooked in red wine and beef broth, with potatoes, celery, carrots, steamed broccoli and spaghetti, and a loaf of French bread. What is, Sunday night’s dinner for my Dad’s 70th?
We used a 5lb chuck roast, and three hours into the cooking process, it was clear that we were not going to be able to eat for at least another few hours. I was forced to turn the heat up, and an hour later, we plated the food. That was easily the most tender piece of pot roast I have ever cooked. Too bad I find burgundy to be utterly undrinkable, or I would have had a glass or two alongside my meat.
BTW, I was just kidding about the preference of chicken over beef. I feel like cooking another roast sometime this week. Then again, I haven’t barbecued in a while…
- So after a few weeks of waiting, I finally got my surge protectors, USB cables, and ethernet cables from Provantage.com and this deal. Now I have one power strip or surge protector connected to every major power outlet in my house (by “major power outlet,” I am referring to an outlet that is either connected to a major appliance–TV, computer, etc.–or has devices often plugged/unplugged from it–laptop power adapters, phone chargers, etc.)!
(Tangent: I always thought that any multi-plug strip was known as a “surge protector.” Only recently did I discover that only certain power strips offered surge protection. I have to remind myself to use surge protectors any time I am plugging in anything of value.)
I’ll know that I will have too many power strips/surge protectors when I find one in my bathroom 
- The fun phone call will have to wait, but I gotta get my thoughts in about Michael Vick. For those of you that haven’t heard, Vick has agreed to plead guilty in the dogfighting and gambling case against him. He’s facing up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, and I recall hearing that his presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson, does not plan to be lenient towards Vick.
Why the sudden turnaround? Didn’t it appear that, not long ago, Vick was leaning towards allowing the case to go to trial? My guess is that Vick realized that he wasn’t going to avoid jail time (or a short prison stay), and that he needed to save face by admitting guilt. It didn’t help that three of his co-conspirators had already admitted guilt in order to get a plea bargain.
According to the ESPN article, there is speculation that Vick will probably get a sentence in the 12- to 18-month range. Personally, I think that 1-2 years is a suitable amount of time for Vick to serve. Yes, what Vick is accused of is absolutely unfathomable–and I’m only talking about the dog fighting–but I think that five years is excessive. If he’s given three years, I won’t have a problem with that, but five just seems too much.
As far as Vick’s NFL career is concerned (like he’s THAT concerned with his career, at this moment), I think NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell must suspend Vick for more than his prison sentence. If he gets 12-18 months, Goodell has every right to suspend Vick for the next two NFL seasons, and possibly three, depending on when the prison term starts. As I mentioned in a prior blog entry, I don’t think Vick should be ousted from the league entirely, but he must be punished severely. Given the existing precedent–one year for Pacman Jones–Vick must get no less than a two-season suspension.
When (if?) he does return to the NFL, there will be two very interesting issues to focus on. First, what will the Atlanta Falcons do with Vick’s contract? At this point, I don’t see how the Falcons keep Vick. I understand that there is still plenty of support out there in Atlanta for Vick, but I can’t understand why. He lied to Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank and Commissioner Goodell about his involvement in this dog fighting scandal, and betrayed not only the team, and not only the NFL as a whole, but the entire city of Atlanta as well. Never mind the fact that he just isn’t a very good NFL quarterback and is vastly overpaid.
Assuming Vick gets released by the Falcons, and finds his way back into the league, will any team want to take a flier on a quarterback that has not been involved in football activities for such a prolonged period of time? I don’t doubt that he will probably find his way back into the league (I bet the Raiders would be interested), but how effective could he be as an NFL quarterback? Assuming he is imprisoned for two years, he will be 29 and away from the field for two full seasons. That has to take a toll on a professional athlete’s ability; consider that he has probably been playing organized sports since he was a middle school student. I suppose there’s a chance he could find himself in the Canadian Football League, and perhaps he could hook up with a team in the Arena Football League.
Finally, I think Michael Vick would be doing himself a huge favor if he called a press conference (assuming he’s allowed to) and personally apologized to the Falcons organization, his fellow players, the NFL, Commissioner Goodell, owner Arthur Blank, the city of Atlanta, and dog lovers across the country. If he were to do this, and show even a shred of sincerity, I bet that would go a long way towards embracing Vick and a possible return to the NFL.
Happy blogging!