Courtesy: Tom Tomorrow, This Modern World. Buy the Sticker

So, the wife had a "ladies night" at our place, which means I got kicked out. It happens, and it's better off anyway. Who wants to sit around while four ladies gossip about people I could care less about, and get their toenails painted? What a yawner!

I headed down to the AMC Mercado (the local theater) and caught George Clooney and Matt Damon in Syriana. It's a good movie, easily placing in my Top Ten of 2005 releases, and has its surprises, but was definitely a darker movie. There are films where the audience walks out giddy or laughing, and others when they line out, quiet and stunned. Syriana was one of the latter - I didn't hear anybody talking, or see them sitting through the credits to see outtakes (I'm sure there weren't any). It was a good movie, showing the interweaving of business, religion and international politics.

As timing was right, I doubled down and 15 minutes later, sat down for the basketball movie Glory Road, covering the epic story of Texas Western's rise against all white NCAA traditions and taking down the powerhouses in college hoops, culminating in a victory over Adolph Rupp and his Kentucky Wildcats. That was definitely a lighter film, but as Disney commonly does, they would overdo some things - each game seemed to be a nailbiter, and Adolph Rupp was made to seem bigoted and without positives. I'm sure he wasn't as slanted as they'd like to make you think - but otherwise, I felt it was historically accurate, and portrayed the true fear and hatred that threatened to stop the team in its tracks.

In all - a good pair of films back to back. I'd recommend seeing both, depending on your mood.

As chronicled earlier here, things have gone fairly well so far in our fantasy football playoffs, which is somewhat of a surprising development given I had the last pick in our draft, and experts are befuddled by how well the wild card teams have done in the last two weeks - with both Pittsburgh and Carolina one win away from the Super Bowl, while favorites Indianapolis and New England are planning their winter breaks a few weeks early.

It's highly likely that my doing well is due in part to these surprises - as those drafting higher loaded up on favorites like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Corey Dillon and Edgerrin James from the Colts and Patriots. As a result, I zigged when they zagged, picking up Steve Smith of the Panthers, Hines Ward, and Pittsburgh's Defense and Special Teams. While Matt Hasselback plays for me as well on the favored Seahawks, it was my Carolina/Pittsburgh connection that's worked so well thus far.

If Carolina and Pittsburgh were to match up in the Super Bowl, two of my opponents would be completely out of players, and done. I just need Pittsburgh to paste Denver to nearly clinch it. If the Broncos pull it off at home, we could be in big trouble. Should be interesting.

Related Links: KODL Playoffs (Three And Out is my team name), Live Scoring Summary

When Google was initiating plans to go public, they went against traditional IPO methods, opting for a more public-facing open auction, which in theory democratized the process. Eager to get in on what was possibly one of the biggest offerings of the decade, I put an order in for 100 shares, at $90 a pop. $9k down on an idea. But there were definitely concerns. The world of the financial markets is filled with examples of companies that peak on their first day of trading, only to plummet afterwards. Google immediately ran into scandals over improperly accounted for options, and an ill-advised Playboy interview by the company's two co-founders.

As a result, I panicked, and got out. BIG mistake. As we all know, Google stock kept going up and up and up. Sure, I got in at 180 and rode it to 270, making some money, but that 90 to 270 ride would have been much better. And now, with some analysts saying the stock is sure to go to 500, it of course does a U-turn, down 36 dollars on Friday alone, and falling below 400. Did the company's fundamentals change? No. Did the site go down? No. So what makes it worth 9 percent less one day as opposed to the previous? Trends? General market worries? Maybe. Yes. (Muffled response)

So what makes Google Google? And what's to prevent these guys from becoming Microsoft - purveyor of bloated software that comes out on Windows first and having their impact on many industries? Some might say that's already happening. Google is #1 in search by a long margin. There's no good reason to use anybody else. Google Desktop (for the PC anyway) is a great tool to search old e-mail and documents. Google Earth is a fun tool. GMail is interesting. But what else? Google Talk isn't any better than AIM or iChat. The Google Toolbar is just another way to get back to Google.com. Froogle isn't any better than Shopzilla.

In order for Google to remain #1 and continue demanding that they deserve top dollar, they'll have to become more than the world's best Web advertising firm and search utility, but to offer alternatives to Microsoft, Apple, Sun and others that have come commonplace. If they don't, then we can start to see the complaints now. Over-extending their reach into user privacy, shoddy software that is optimized for one platform over another. Not offering a true alternative.

I want Google to win at search. We're tired of Microsoft's attempts to do things half-ass and winning. I want Google to win at E-mail over Yahoo and Hotmail, and I want Google Desktop for Mac. Spotlight is okay but not outstanding. But I want them to offer the best quality software and Web tools out there without acting like a monopolist. We'll see.

When I was in junior high, my grandparents got me an alarm clock with AM/FM radio, and that radio made it with me all the way through high school, college, three moves and the first two years of being married. Surely, it was a lot more dingy looking and unimpressive, but when the thing went off - I woke up. That's what it was supposed to do.


This Christmas, when shopping for others at the Apple Store, I picked up something that would immediately obsolete that old thing - the iHome iH5. Forget the name for a second... think of an alarm clock that works with your iPod in the morning, waking you up to any song you have, and then doubles as a soundsystem for the iPod the rest of the day. It's great. And the sound is very good too - Volume 10 is good enough for filling a room, and the sucker goes all the way up to 40 - not that the neighbors would be too happy about that.

If you have an iPod already and haven't given much thought to taking your alarm clock into the digital age, it's time. Check it out.