A couple weeks ago in the Patriots game against the Ravens, Tom Brady threw a pass that was intercepted by Ed Reed of the Ravens. Ed Reed tried to run it back, but fumbled. The fumble was recovered by Ben Watson, my FF tight end. New England had the ball, 1st and 10 at the point where Watson recovered the ball.
CBS Sportsline credited Brady with the interception thrown, the Ravens D with a pass intercepted, and the Patriots D with a fumble recovered. The Patriots were credited with a fumble recovered since they were technically on defense after Reed intercepted the ball.
What Sportsline did not automatically do was credit Ben Watson with the fumble recovered since he actually an offensive player. So I sent a note to the commish to make the adjustment. This had no effect in the standings but I pointed this out because total number of points is one of the tiebreakers at the end of the season and it could have become a factor.
If you are in a close matchup, be on the lookout for situations like this. Even if it won't make much of a difference in whether you win or lose a game, it could be a factor in a tiebreaker.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Should British Airways come to Portland?
While I have the same complaints that most people have about flying, e.g. long lines at security, cramped seats and delays, I have always had a weird fascination with airlines and airports. I think it started when I made a trip to India as a 2nd grader and got to sit in the lounge at London Heathrow airport. I was among people from all over the world waiting for connecting flights. So you may see quite a few posts about airports and airlines from me.
Both domestic and international service from Portland (PDX) has become much better over the last few years. Domestically, one can now fly nonstop from Portland to Boston, Orlando, Philadelphia, and New York-Kennedy. Outside of Canada and Mexico, PDX offers two international flights, a Northwest Airlines flight to Tokyo and a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. In late March, Northwest Airlines will begin nonstop service to Amsterdam.
It may be in the best interest of British Airways to start nonstop service from Portland to London Heathrow or Gatwick. Both Lufthansa and Northwest/KLM will soon be offering service from all three major Pacific Northwest cities (Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland) to Frankfurt and Amsterdam respectively. If there is enough traffic from the Northwest to go to Frankfurt and Amsterdam, shouldn't there be enough to go to London as well? British Airways already flies to Vancouver and Seattle.
Also, Northwest Airlines recently announced they will begin nonstop service from Seattle to London Heathrow next summer. At the same time, British Airways will have 13 weekly nonstops (almost twice daily) from Seattle to Heathrow. Wouldn't it be better for British Airways to have a once-daily nonstop to both Portland and Seattle instead of a twice daily to Seattle? Next summer, many Portlanders wanting to go to London will take an Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air (both airlines are partners with Northwest) flight to Seattle and then will take the Northwest non-stop to Heathrow. But if British Airways flies to Portland, many of those passengers will prefer to fly non-stop on British.
So a message to British Airways: Come fly to Portland. The business is there and it may help you better compete with Northwest Airlines. Also, not mentioned above, but some of us looking to fly to places in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, could sure use another option for a connection to Europe :-)!
Both domestic and international service from Portland (PDX) has become much better over the last few years. Domestically, one can now fly nonstop from Portland to Boston, Orlando, Philadelphia, and New York-Kennedy. Outside of Canada and Mexico, PDX offers two international flights, a Northwest Airlines flight to Tokyo and a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. In late March, Northwest Airlines will begin nonstop service to Amsterdam.
It may be in the best interest of British Airways to start nonstop service from Portland to London Heathrow or Gatwick. Both Lufthansa and Northwest/KLM will soon be offering service from all three major Pacific Northwest cities (Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland) to Frankfurt and Amsterdam respectively. If there is enough traffic from the Northwest to go to Frankfurt and Amsterdam, shouldn't there be enough to go to London as well? British Airways already flies to Vancouver and Seattle.
Also, Northwest Airlines recently announced they will begin nonstop service from Seattle to London Heathrow next summer. At the same time, British Airways will have 13 weekly nonstops (almost twice daily) from Seattle to Heathrow. Wouldn't it be better for British Airways to have a once-daily nonstop to both Portland and Seattle instead of a twice daily to Seattle? Next summer, many Portlanders wanting to go to London will take an Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air (both airlines are partners with Northwest) flight to Seattle and then will take the Northwest non-stop to Heathrow. But if British Airways flies to Portland, many of those passengers will prefer to fly non-stop on British.
So a message to British Airways: Come fly to Portland. The business is there and it may help you better compete with Northwest Airlines. Also, not mentioned above, but some of us looking to fly to places in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, could sure use another option for a connection to Europe :-)!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
My experience wtih VoIP
I was one of the early adopters of Vonage. What's odd is that I don't remember how I found out about them. I remember I was visiting my cousin and his wife in early 2003 and we had a brief conversation about services to call India. I thought I remembered my cousin's wife saying that she uses this service called Vonage to call her relatives. When I went home, I checked out http://www.vonage.com/ and found that it was a VOIP service, not a calling card service. When I mentioned this to my cousin's wife she said she never told me about Vonage?!?! I still don't know to this day how I found out about them.
When I saw their website, I became pretty impressed with their offering. But was their service really legit? I did some web research and dug up a lot of good reviews. I called Vonage customer service and asked them a lot of questions. At the time, the phone number portability laws were not in place, so to switch I had to change my phone number. I decided it was worth it since I would save so much money over what I was getting from my current provider.
I was loyal to Vonage for three years. I got a lot of my friends to join and was happy with their service. Even though many of my friends eventually switched to Sunrocket, I remained with Vonage since they were so reliable and switching would take some time and effort. However, I decided to make the switch to Sunrocket after Vonage botched their customer IPO share plan. No, I was not one of the people who bought Vonage shares at IPO price only to see them fall. I was one of the people who asked for a bunch of shares and got 0. It was a good thing that I got 0, but I was disappointed with Vonage for creating such a huge fiasco.
I was with Sunrocket for about 10 months. About 9 months in, I referred a colleague at work to them. One month after she signed up, she sent me an e-mail saying she tried calling their customer service only to get a message saying something like "We are sorry, but we are no longer accepting service calls" and how weird that was. I was busy so didn't respond to her immediately. She then sends me an article describing how about 200,000 customers are being shafted because Sunrocket is suddenly shutting down.
To make a long story short, I decided to switch back to Vonage. I went back to them instead of going to another VoIP provider because Vonage is a public company. I figured that if Vonage eventually dies like many predict they will, I will at least get a warning about it and will have time to switch to another provider.
However, I may not stick to Vonage for too long. I am excited about the possibility of switching to magicJack. They provide VOIP service through a USB port for $40/year. After the first year, that price is cut in half. The only reason I am waiting to make the switch is that they don't offer phone number portability yet.
When I had my land line, my phone bill would average something like $70/month. With Vonage, it is something like $26.50/month. If I sign up for magicJack, I would pay $3.33/month at first and then would pay $1.66/month. Is free phone service around the corner? I know there are many services like Skype that allow users to call each other for free. But I am talking about US residents being able to call any other US resident or even any other person in the world for free..............
When I saw their website, I became pretty impressed with their offering. But was their service really legit? I did some web research and dug up a lot of good reviews. I called Vonage customer service and asked them a lot of questions. At the time, the phone number portability laws were not in place, so to switch I had to change my phone number. I decided it was worth it since I would save so much money over what I was getting from my current provider.
I was loyal to Vonage for three years. I got a lot of my friends to join and was happy with their service. Even though many of my friends eventually switched to Sunrocket, I remained with Vonage since they were so reliable and switching would take some time and effort. However, I decided to make the switch to Sunrocket after Vonage botched their customer IPO share plan. No, I was not one of the people who bought Vonage shares at IPO price only to see them fall. I was one of the people who asked for a bunch of shares and got 0. It was a good thing that I got 0, but I was disappointed with Vonage for creating such a huge fiasco.
I was with Sunrocket for about 10 months. About 9 months in, I referred a colleague at work to them. One month after she signed up, she sent me an e-mail saying she tried calling their customer service only to get a message saying something like "We are sorry, but we are no longer accepting service calls" and how weird that was. I was busy so didn't respond to her immediately. She then sends me an article describing how about 200,000 customers are being shafted because Sunrocket is suddenly shutting down.
To make a long story short, I decided to switch back to Vonage. I went back to them instead of going to another VoIP provider because Vonage is a public company. I figured that if Vonage eventually dies like many predict they will, I will at least get a warning about it and will have time to switch to another provider.
However, I may not stick to Vonage for too long. I am excited about the possibility of switching to magicJack. They provide VOIP service through a USB port for $40/year. After the first year, that price is cut in half. The only reason I am waiting to make the switch is that they don't offer phone number portability yet.
When I had my land line, my phone bill would average something like $70/month. With Vonage, it is something like $26.50/month. If I sign up for magicJack, I would pay $3.33/month at first and then would pay $1.66/month. Is free phone service around the corner? I know there are many services like Skype that allow users to call each other for free. But I am talking about US residents being able to call any other US resident or even any other person in the world for free..............
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Tom Brady
I don't watch very many professional sports league regular season games anymore. But I have tried to catch New England football games to watch Tom Brady. I am not only amazed by what a ridiculously spectacular season he is having (38 TD's with only 4 INT's), but also by the ease with which he seems to be putting up his great numbers.
In the games I watched him play against the Bills and the Redskins, it looked as if he was able to pile up his stats so easily without much effort. During so many situations in which most quarterbacks would worry about defenders coming to sack them, Brady was able to take one or two simple steps and focus on getting his pass down field.
Tom Brady is on pace to smashing records for touchdown passes in a season and quarterback rating. It is difficult to compare athletes in different sports, but in my 20+ years of following sports, I cannot think of any professional athlete who has dominated his position the way Tom Brady has dominated at quarterback this year.
In the games I watched him play against the Bills and the Redskins, it looked as if he was able to pile up his stats so easily without much effort. During so many situations in which most quarterbacks would worry about defenders coming to sack them, Brady was able to take one or two simple steps and focus on getting his pass down field.
Tom Brady is on pace to smashing records for touchdown passes in a season and quarterback rating. It is difficult to compare athletes in different sports, but in my 20+ years of following sports, I cannot think of any professional athlete who has dominated his position the way Tom Brady has dominated at quarterback this year.
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