Category: Personal

We’re being blanketed in white here this morning, but there’s more good news than that. Ajavon, one of the Rutgers womens basketball team all-stars, has been cleared to play the rest of the season.

I just read the latest forecast from the National Weather Service regarding a snowstorm that may occur Thursday night in to Friday. The amusing item in the report was the following line:

GIVEN THAT THE COMPUTER MODELS HAD TROUBLE IN FORECASTING THE RECENT STORM, THERE APPEARS TO BE BETTER AGREEMENT WITH SEVERAL OF THEM WITH THE LATE WEEK STORM POTENTIAL.

I’ve been reading Joe Bastardi, a long range forecaster at Accuweather, for several years now. He’s continually harped on the weather models used by the NWS and how they routinely miss certain storms in their forecast based on known weaknesses. To see this item in block letters was a coup of sorts for the kind of complaints he’s raised.

Wired magazine passed along this tidbit about the latest fighting video game in Japan.

Check out this video link for a demo of the game.

As always, I’m being asked when I’ll be on the road again. For those who want to be in the know, here’s a list of the upcoming travel schedule.

• December 26 – 30 – Phoenix, Arizona, for the Insight Bowl. If you’re interested in going, let me know.
• January 28 – 30 – Houston, Texas, for the Continental Flyertalk event.
• February 18 – 26 – Bangkok and Chiang Mail, Thailand, and Tokyo, Japan – Details to come, though it’s safe to say this will be the signature Asian trip for 2006.

Is there a disease that makes everything smell like feet, because I think I caught it.

And the banter about saving Douglass College continues.

The only problem I have with all this is there IS not Douglass College. All that exists today is a women’s residential experience. Douglass College students attend class with men, go to the dining hall with men, ride the buses around New Brunswick with men, and generally have a collegiate experience that otherwise includes men with the exception of single sex dorms. If everyone wants to have a women’s college, that’s a great thing. But let’s not pretend that Douglass College is that women’s college.

I’ve been MIA again, largely due to the hours I’ve been keeping at the office. My first time out as PM, I was handed an upgrade of a vendor software package. While it seemed like it wouldn’t be too difficult initally, I somehow spent over 100 hours in 10 straight days at the office leading up to Thanksgiving. We’re almost there, though, since I now only have to have a few loose ends tidied up, including the budget. I’ve learned on that point that meeting budgets feels a lot like trying to make a square peg fit in a round hole, but that’s all part of the fun.

The layoff watch is in high gear, with speculation likely to pick up in a huge way coming up this week. Any announcement will likely come on Merck’s “Analyst Day” December 15, when we host the investment community and explain our plans to boost the company’s stock in the upcoming year. Rumors abound, with cuts anywhere from 5% – 25% expected, including wholesale shuttering of our bulk chemical manufacturing, among other thoughts.

Nothing like happy thoughts before the holiday.

Congrats to the Little Schrieber, who will be attending Trenton State (TCNJ) for their masters program in English beginning in January.

Rutgers will be playing December football after a 44 – 9 win over Cincy today. With the win Rutgers if 7 – 4 overall and is almost certain to get a bowl bid, most likely to the Insight bowl in Phoenix.

Who woudda thunk it? The RUT in a bowl game! I’ve got my plane tickets ready to go to Phoenix.

As we move in to the holiday season, it’s important to remember to take time to celebrate. And what better way than to partake in Santa Con. That’s right, time for some bawdry tawdry holiday cheer.

Anyone who’s interested should contact me.