Quit Fooling Yourself

I am tired of being saturated with overly hyped meaningless statistics. At least, I am 63.78% sure that I am. The film industry has been getting away it for years and this chicanery cannot go on. The is one of the few industries that publicly denies that inflation exists. The only inflation that they are aware of involves either bicycle tires or their own track record of success.

The only statistic that is publicly acknowledged is Gross Revenue, or how much money they took in. Now it is one thing to report a statistic such as this, but it is another thing to flaunt it. This film had the largest opening for a non-action film debuting on a second Thursday in July since 1974! I am sorry, but that is really disingenuous.

The business world does not fawn over Gross Revenue numbers like this. They use calculations like Net Profit and Return on Investment (Money you make / Money you spent). And guess what, companies don't break all time records every three weeks!

Another example is baseball. Aside from the sport's recent spotty numbers, they have not inflated their statistics. For instance, what if baseball did what the film industry does and multiply home runs by average price of admission? This year (2009) the average ticket price to a Yankees game is $72.97. The year before (2008) the average price was only $41.40. So Alex Rodriguez's 35 home runs last year would equal 1449. This year's 19 home runs equals 1386. So by the movie theater logic, he is 1 home run away from besting last year's rousing success. I don't think so. Let's go back to $5 dollar seats in 1961 and look at Roger Maris's amazing 61 home runs. Wait no, that only equals 305. ARod is almost 5 times better than Maris this year according to the industry.

So, what is the solution?
A simple acknowledgment of total ticket sales . Now there is once again a problem with this because the population has grown, but not near as much as prices have. Or maybe we can use a percentage of the total census that saw the movie. So in 2009, 17.5% of the population saw that movie. So for example, so far this year, roughly 47 million Americans have seen Transformers 2. Impressive. Current figures put the number of people in the country at 307 million. So Transformers 2 sold tickets to 15.33% of Americans. Now there is a statistic I can buy.

Let's put this in perspective a little. In 1993, Jurassic Park came out. So far, Transformers 2 has sold $30 million more than the Crichton classic. But wait, ticket prices were different back then. Jurassic Park sold more than 86.2 million tickets in America. In 1993, the estimated population was around 258 million people. Jurassic Park sold tickets to 33.41% of Americans.

So while Transformers 2 has grossed more than Jurassic Park did, Jurassic Park attracted twice as much of the population to the theater.

So if we unwind, all of the inflation gobbledygook, we are left with the following list of movies that were 'huge' in my conscious lifetime. And whether you liked the movies or not, you can remember that these movies were huge events out there.

1. Titanic-1997
2. Jurassic Park-1993
3. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace-1999
4. Forrest Gump-1994
5. The Lion King-1994
6. The Dark Knight-2008

Come on Hollywood, let's be realistic.

A Real Yard

Our landscaping has been installed and looks great. We no longer have a mud pit surrounding our house garnished with a port-o-potty. Life is good.

The Almost Completed Look


The Lone Tree in the Backyard (Red Oak)


The rest of the Backyard


A plant up front (Juniper ?)


Crape Myrtle (we have 2)


Japanese Sky Pencil Holly


Kitchen Sink Fixture


Master Bath Granite and Sink Fixture


We are busy packing right now.
As you can see, we are just about ready to move!

On the Fence

We now have the backyard officially defined and I like it. The fence has not been stained yet, but you can get a better feel for the yard now.



My panoramic attempt


Oh, and they built our mailbox


Tile was started. Here you can see the pattern around the fireplace


The kitchen and dining room were tiled, but it is covered right now. You can see the light fixture that will be above our table.

85% Kitchen

The house is rolling along. July 10th is the latest that we will close on it. Here is the latest:

The kitchen now has cabinets and counter tops.


A closer look at the granite pattern (Santa Cecilia).


The walls and trim have been painted. This was taken in the kitchen.


The Living Room so far.


Where the TV will eventually go upstairs.


They have finished grading the site so now it is all level and not quite as trashy.

Feelin the Blues

We recently made a trip to a prime photo op location less than a mile from our apartment. Below are the best of the best:

Kimberlee and her Favorites


Mollee


Buddy


Now Buddy has something that he is always on the lookout for... clean clothes. Whenever we do the laundry, he finds the freshest pile and plants himself on it. This is him using a recent pile of clothing for a pillow.


Now, If you are going to be on my clean clothes, you had better be clean yourself. Therefore, it is bath time, the most feared time of all. Now in the past, I have treated you to Mollee's bath experience. This time, I will show you a glimpse of the 'Bud Man' in his deepest nightmare.

Since this past weekend was the World Beard Championships, here is a little treat:

Its a Brick House

The Entrance


Brick Close-Up


Back of the House


Side of the House
Interesting to note how the look changes as the mortar dries. You can tell which sections where done in sequence.


Front of the House


Interior Paint Color
They just started putting paint on the walls. I tried to capture both the base white and the new color in this photo.

We Have Walls

The sheet rock is up. Things are moving very quickly now. We should have interior doors, cabinetry, wall texturing, and maybe even brick next week.

Entryway:


Kitchen:


Game Room:


Upstairs Guest Rooms:


Looking Down:


Rear of the House:


And in the why not category...

The neighborhood werewolf:

Up

The house has been moving along quite quickly. Here are a few updates.

The cross-stitch that Kimberlee's grandma made for us:


From across the road:


Kimberlee and I out front:


The first official "Hesse Wave":

Completed Foundation

The foundation is complete. In fact, as I type they are working on the frame. Things are really moving now.

Opening Day 2009

Pregame Festivities

Balloons Released Around Noon


Rosters and Alumni


The Biggest Flag Ever


President Bush (43), Nolan Ryan, and owner Tom Hicks on the mound


View During the Game



My Dad and I During the 7th Inning Stretch



Thoughts from the Game

• If traffic was that bad for a Rangers game, I do not want to be out there within a week of a Cowboys game
• Ian Kinsler is hitting the ball very well. Everything was solid contact
• Michael Young is a very good defensive 3rd baseman
• Josh Hamilton has not found his groove yet, but his Willie Mays catch in center was great
• Nelson Cruz looked off on every play in right field, not a good sign
• Hank's Homies should be excited, he seems motivated this year
• Marlon Byrd continues to be too productive to ignore
• Chris Davis looked silly at the plate
• Salty showed why his bat earned the starting job
• Andrus was nimble and efficient, exactly what we want
• Millwood was fooling hitter all day, lots of sky high pop ups
• Grady Sizemore is fast... beat out a for sure double play by making it to 2nd
• Nothing like a packed house to fire up the troops
• Note to the home crowd, our pitchers throw worse when you get rowdy
• Opening Day is much better than Monday at the Office

2009 Baseball Predictions

So once again, I offer the greatest compilation of sports prognostication around. I crunched the numbers and added in my own special expertise. Without further adieu, the greatness:

AL East

1. 95 - 67 Boston Red Sox


2. 89 - 73 New York Yankees


3. 88 - 74 Tampa Bay Rays


4. 78 - 84 Toronto Blue Jays


5. 68 - 94 Baltimore Orioles

AL Central

1. 85 - 77 Cleveland Indians


2. 84 - 80 Minnesota Twins


3. 83 - 78 Detroit Tigers


4. 81 - 71 Chicago White Sox


5. 74 - 88 Kansas City Royals

AL West

1. 88 - 74 Los Angeles Angels


2. 83 - 79 Texas Rangers


3. 80 - 82 Oakland Athletics


4. 69 - 93 Seattle Mariners

NL East

1. 90 - 72 Philadelphia Phillies


2. 87 - 75 New York Mets


3. 82 - 80 Florida Marlins


4. 75 - 87 Atlanta Braves


5. 72 - 90 Washington Nationals

NL Central

1. 91 - 71 Chicago Cubs


2. 89 - 73 St. Louis Cardinals


3. 86 - 76 Milwaukee Brewers


4. 82 - 80 Houston Astros


5. 74 - 88 Cincinnati Reds


6. 70 - 92 Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West

1. 89 - 73 Los Angeles Dodgers


2. 83 - 79 Arizona Diamondbacks


3. 81 - 81 San Francisco Giants


4. 75 - 87 Colorado Rockies


5. 70 - 92 San Diego Padres

So according to that account the Playoffs look like:

American League: Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles and New York

National League: Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and St. Louis

World Series: Boston over Chicago

Taking Root

Today I had the good fortune of checking out our land just as they were pouring our foundation. I got to meet a guy named Mike who was using a remote control to pump the mixture into the ground. A team of guys walked around in the stuff and tried to smooth it out as quickly as possible. I only had my camera phone available, so the photo is a little blurry.