An almost three-year-old poem and the by-now-weekly update on Da Blog

Here's a poem I wrote in Summer 2004:

45 Degrees on Port

It is sunny.
Several families watch
For the cargo to approach.
A boat rocks
Over the horizon.

It is rainy.
There will be no sailing today.
Far beneath the waters,
A school of fish waits
For their catch for a change.

It is cloudy.
Sailors don’t know what to make
Of the white sky,
For the old saying about red skies
Never said a thing about white.

It is snowy.
No sailor has been here
For two months.
Beautiful patterns appear
On the water.

Gripping, isn't it?

Well, since I've only gotten a smattering of responses, it's not as though I'm really catering to very many people. In fact, while I'm extending my request to find out what projects you're interested in (two posts down) for another week, I'm also taking a special sample poll, available on the right side of Da Blog, to find out if I'm even going about this the right way.

I'm a root beer guy, myself...

The random, venting, irrelevant to anything post you have to read

There are a lot of things I don't take well. Imperfection is one of them. Brain-dead idiocy is another.

I don't always react to such things, but if I'm already in a bad mood, I might. Generally speaking, if I lash out about it, it's usually with a bunch of random finger gestures thrown vigorously in your direction.

If you feel threatened, don't be. No matter how vigorous it gets, it almost never gets more extreme than that, and you're in no danger if no one takes it to some really dumb extreme. Also, the mere act of doing that is a form of calming me down in many circumstances.

If it isn't, though, and I don't storm out of the room, shut up and don't say anything that might make you look stupid. And don't dare try and suggest you have a problem with it, that'll just make me madder.

Because you shouldn't have a problem with it. You shouldn't have a problem with anything anyone does. I don't believe there should be any one definition of "normal", and I think people should be open-minded enough to accept anything that doesn't kill them.

The original topic poll I refer to in various posts below is now closed with no resolution, so if the results of the new poll in the post immediately below raise too many problems with me, I'll reopen it. Also, I'm modifying Da Blog to show 10 posts per page instead of 7, and I should be hitting 100 page views any minute now.

Update on the future of Da Blog

Of the three total responses I've received, I received two requests for more information on my "grandiose projects", one of which actually contrasted it to mere coverage of sports, as though covering projects precluded covering sports.

Getting grandiose projects is a given no matter which topic gets chosen. It isn't really a topic in itself, and I don't know that I'm confident enough to simply lay them all on you, not to mention that I wouldn't know where to start or what to put on or anything. (By September at the latest, you'll have a very good view on just how grandiose my projects can get, regardless of final topic.)

So what I think I'm going to do is extend this another 24 hours, looking for some clarification as to what projects I would want to post. But I'm also instituting a new poll. Below is a list of just some projects I have and are working on. It's far from an exhaustive list, but it's intended to provide a list of options and provide a feel for what I mean. Tell me if you want to see any of these projects or any similar ones you want to suggest in an area of your interest.

• Ranking the presidential candidates (see the post immediately below)
• Whether Sports Watcher should continue
• Ranking America's professional sports leagues
• A different, maybe insane, method of determining champions in certain team sports, closer to the methods used in combat sports like boxing and wrestling
• Determining the greatest movies of all time from a composite of other similar lists (I can also come up with other "greatest lists" even if they're limited to my own opinion. Inquire within!)
• Any kind of simulated tournament, or any kind of simulated game.
• Or you can help me iron out the rules for a new sport I'm developing.
• I actually have already written some short poems and stories.
• And the proverbial much, much more!

I'm setting the deadline for this new poll for Friday night at midnight Pacific, with an option to extend if I get another dearth of replies.