Blog@johnebecker.com

pls excuse my typing, i like to save kystrkes, and i dont hv the time to deal with spellchk. i apologize for the inconvnience.

Blog 75 10:02PM 6/27/2004

fireworks are so much fun. bought firecrackers, helicopters, roman candles, and some damn good mortars. the big boys. pow into the night sky....then kaboom! just like you see on tv. now thats fun. did i ever mention that you should never mess with a guy that can open a beer bottle with his teeth. that just crossed my mind, and its a pretty good lesson to put in the back of your head. when you run into that guy, walk the other way. because he's either kicking your ass tonight or getting you involved in a rumble will most likely get your ass kicked anyway.

i remember the first time i bought firewrks. my mom took us to china town in new york city. mom, my best friend michael pitcher and me.

Blog 74 5:11PM 6/12/2004

life is an experience. a sequence of events. a long list of decisions. and no matter who you are, it's one helluva ride. i'm watching an msnbc special about a family of 3 children, who's mother gets alzheimers disease. at 50 yrs old. the children are between 20 and 30 yrs old. they are forced to take care of mother and become a team that they never were before. as the brother put it, 'we had a nice family but we were never huggers. everyone was always doing their own thing'. it reminded me of my family. we were never huggers. anyway i'm balling my eyes out watching this special. if you watched it, you would too. and if you dont, you'v either gone thru the same struggle yourself and you'v already lived the nightmare, so your hardnd. or youv won the game. you'r a blocker. you dont feel anything. i guess i'm a blocker too sometimes, then again everyone does it at one time or another.

had enough of that. reagan is finally buried. this week can forever be remembered as ronald reagan week. i just keep having this thought in the back of my head. if another president dies this week they'll be short changed by the reaganfest that just swallowed up this whole week. and it aint over yet. shot 82 today, one birdie. 39 on the front. had a chnce to make 79 if i birdied the last hole. but obviously i double bogeyed. went for the green from 230 and hit it in the water. oh well. it was an awesome day anyway.

Blog 73 11:15PM 6/10/2004

i wrote some good stuff two days ago and as i put down my laptop it rebooted on its own. i lost everything. i couldnt start over. but today i'll try again. the only thing i remember about the weekend was how dan rather cut into the 3rd round of the memorial and announced that ronald reagan passed away. then they went into 40 minutes of documentary of ronny! i kept saying, 'when is this going to end? we're in the middle of the third round here and the leaderboard is hot as a tamale.' it turned out that every channel was playing a biography of ron reagan. it was a ronfest. i almost thought that it was a conspiracy between the U.S. govt and the networks to promote americanism. i finally figured out after the first 12 minutes that this was going to last a long time so i broke away and finished a lot of lawn work in the next 30 minutes. later on i caught the belmont stakes and thought smarty jones was going to be the new hero of the millenium on the day ron reagan passed away. yet it was taken away at the last second. almost a sign that america has lost its glory. but what an ending to the memorial. it was an awesome ernie els win. his confidence was beeming, kinda like the old tiger. couldnt miss a shot.

i never did mention what happened on the plane from baltimore to fort lauderdale. two people were shot as we were landing in florida. it was chaos. i taped the news coverage but i was never in the damn picture. only kidding. i taped the entire interview of me with jessica benitez. she's hot. only kidding, she's a dog. anyway i sound like a moron on the interview. only kidding. i sounded like ronald reagan. alright thats enough. i'm only kidding. nobody got shot. but what did happen on the flight back from baltimore blew me away, and it opened my eyes. i've always thought that being a sports hero would be an awesome life to live. but i've learned that its much more than i ever wouldv dreamed. my partner and i were on a southwest flight to fort lauderdale. if youv never flown southwest then let me explain how it works. its a free for all when boarding the flight. the earlier you checkin, the earlier you get to the gate and stand in line to board the flight. and i mean stand in line. ther are no seat assignments. as you board, grab whatever seat you want. anyway we were in the far back of the plane. theres a set of seats back there that face each other. three facing three. we were packed in ther from baltimore to jacksonville. but everyone got off, so we had the whole two rows to ourselves. to put our feet up, and all that jazz. two really really tall black dudes were walking down the aisle and as they approached they asked,'hey are you guys sitting in there?' we were standing in the aisle chatting and stretching at the time. i said, 'no, you guys can have it, you look like you need it more than us'. they both had small backpacks full of goodies. one of them pulled out a camera that i know runs for about $1500. the other pulld out his mp3 player and his bose noise cancelling headphones. $300. i hv the imitations. $69. it didnt take long before 2 flight attendants dropped by to say hi. everyone was kinda like, 'yeah baby. oh thats right. you right honey.' after the take off the shmoozing continued. the dudes were lounging out, being very loud. i'm pretty sure they were basketball players. one had a tracy mcgrady shirt on but it wasnt him. anyway they ordered a couple beers. they were talking about how they blew 10,000 in aruba and 20g's in las vegas. thats not their bank account. thats money that they just spent on a vacation. can you imagine? i cant. then i noticed the beers kept coming. for free! with a 'yeah baby' each time. but of course, i was charged for my beer. 5$ a pop. then i see some hot chick move from the front of the cabin to a little past mid way. she keeps looking back. about 30 mins into the flight she walks to the ladies room. i was sitting directly across from these two dudes, so i'm watching everything in amazement. as she walks from the lavatory and passes between us the guy on the aisle taps her on the butt and points to the empty seat between the two of them. she says, 'you want me to sit there?' he replies 'yeah baby'. and of course, she sits right down. over the next hour, they get three women to sit with them. the entire trip, these guys did nothing but smile and say yeah baby. and they had anything and everything they needed or wanted. and my good buddy pointed out that it all started with me saying, 'hey you guys can have our seats too if you want!' what a jerkoff i am. and what a life those guys lead. i cant imagine having everything. i'd be heeing and hawing. but these guys were so la dee dah. as if this is how their life goes all the time. i mean imagine being michael jordan. does he get free beers, cab rides, dinners and who knows what, every day? he has plenty of money folks! why dont we make him pay! double! i dont get it. the guy making $25,000 a year would die to get a free beer. yet these guys could buy cases with the cash in their pockets yet we give it to them for free? i know the beer is meaningless but its the free car or vacation at the ritz, or the free tickets to the world series that bothers me. its just unfair. most people that i know, live paycheck to paycheck, and god forbid if any type of tragedy befell them they would be broke. ahhhh who cares. i'm happy laying in my hammock, and golfing on the wkends. ahhh what a life.

Blog 72 8:15PM 5/16/2004

the nj nets are such a diffrnt team than any other. when theyr hot, its like watching the harlem globetrotters. they slam dunk and allyoop embarassingly. the opposing team looks silly. as if theyr lost, or like its the first time theyv ever playd basktball. sometimes i feel bad. but darn if it aint one helluva good show! wahoo! the nets need revenge against the lakers!
Gooooo NETS!

Blog 71 12:30AM 5/15/2004

went to baltimore this week. had a great time. they have a quaint downtown harbor, with a new mall area and lots to see and do. like a seaquarium and science center. theres lots of sports bars and restaurants that line pratt street, as it winds along the harbor. this is where francis scott key stood when he watched the attack on ft. mchenry during the war of 1812 when those dam brits burned the white house! oh say it aint so! the battle that forged the national anthem. theres actually a hooters at the end of the mall that overlooks the same harbor.and thats where i watched the nj nets and detroit pistons go to triple overtime in game 5 of the nba playoffs. pure excitement. funny thing happened too. firewirks began to go off in the harbor in the middle of the game, good ones too. there were a few old ships out there, it looked pretty neat. the preakness was takng place in baltimore also this weekend. i cudv gone if i really wanted to. and darn it i shudv. it was a blowout by smarty jones from what i saw on the news. wouldv been wild to see that. but i was on my plane back home.

we had a trade show this week. for the health club industry. we were in a booth across from a sauna company, and we were next to Oreck vacuums. on the other side of us was a young korean guy that was selling his new fitness invention. it was kinda like a 6 inch wide by 2 foot long piece of rubber band with handles on each end. you can do all kinds of exercises with it. he was a nice guy with glasses. hair a little messy. you could tell he worked hard selling his product. he also had a video to accompany his product, demonstrating all the exercises. he had a very interesting story. he sold his product to reebok a few years ago. he was expecting to get $1 for every one they sold, but reebok told him no. they said he would only get .10 for each one and "thats the way it is, because we're reebok". they didnt sell or promote his product and it basically died. he sank into a depression and tried to commit suicide 3 times. then he he finally came out of it and bought the product back and is selling it all by himself at this point. my business partner bought one for herself, and he gave her another for free. he has his product assembled by people that are members of a diabled foundation and he gives them $5 for each one they make. a genuinely nice guy.

this was a very exciting week for the business. we signed for our first magazine ad. a sixth of a page in healthclub solutions magazine. this could be huge. it'll run july august and sept. we are now advancing to level 6. a major step. cant wait to see what happens.

Blog 70 9:08 PM 5/9/2004

...the american military has some sick people in there. whats with the naked men thing? this is really weird stuff. dont know if you'v seen all the pics but i'v seen some disturbing pictures. theres some mean american soldiers out there. just like the bullies when you were in school. take your milk money, and throw you sneakers over the telephone lines. now theyr makin ya strip down, then get on your knees and pretend to give oral sex to your war buddy. kinda like that movie Sleepers, with kevin bacon at the detention center, but kevin actually bent those kids over and stuck it to 'em. ouch. i wonder if any of that went on in iraq? double ouch. this is the story line of the movie Sleepers, "Four boys growing up in Hell's Kitchen play a prank that leads to an old man getting hurt. Sentenced to no less than one year in the Wilkenson Center in upstate New York, the four friends are changed by the beating, humiliation and sexual abuse by the guards sworn to protect them. Thirteen years later and a chance meeting lead to a chance for revenge against the Wilkenson Center and the guards." i hope the iraqis dont come back at us in 13 years and get their revenge, or its gonna be triple ouch. we in big trouble boss!

survivor ending, pretty good. so far. boston rob will be studied in a college class, and they will map out his strategy and his conquests. he was a god. the godfather. it was hyterical at points, but this guy had control of this game like no other person in the history of the game. and right now he's getting grilled by kathy. shes in tears. this was a devilish game as kathy put it. cant wait to see the end. alright! big tom was awesome!

Blog 69 9:18 PM 5/5/2004

69 yin yang. said i was going to shoot 79 this year. actually i just looked it up, blog 52. i said," i will shoot under 80, five times this year." i cant believe i said that. wow. i mustv been excited that day. thats a helluva goal. well my initial point was going to be that i shot a 44 on the front today. and 36 on the back. for an 80. i was so psyched. and just now as i read my new years resolution, i realized how much work lies ahead. today was fun though. the first time i'v ever shot 36 on 9 holes. par. i shot par on the back nine. if i can do it wonce then i can do it a thousand times. well now i'm psyched up again. wahoo! ahhh floritha. that's seinfeld's dad saying florida. we played at boca raton municpal golf course today. forgiving but not as forgiving as many others i'v played. lots of water too. i was the only one that didnt hit a ball in the water. i shot 80 today. and i started the first two holes with two triple bogeys. which means i was 6 over after the first two holes. and that means i was +2 over the next 16 holes. i'll be goin pro in just a few weeks. your whole complexion of life changes when you shoot a par 72. you feel proud. accomplished. you'r an expert. i'm halfway there and if i'm gonna feel twice as good as parring the back nine, the day i shoot 72 i may have a heart attack. i'm never gonna get to sleep tonight, i'll be having hart attacks all nite lowng. changed the name of the product this week. QuikCheK. sounds nice huh?

Blog 68 11:00 PM 4/20/2004

i just heard some crazy stuff on tv. this lady said this administration has no respect for the constitution of the united states. they throw it to the side and do as they wish. thats a pretty strong statement. and the more i thingk about it, the more its scares the hell out of me. darts and arrows all over the news. if i didnt say it already, this is going to be the sickest election of all time. twice as sick as the last one. its gonna be madness. then again it just might be boring. anyway i went to puerto rico last weekend and i'd highly recommend it to anyone. check out the westin hotel and resort. very nice beaches there. near loquillo. rio del mar. i took some great pics. gettin late. need to start a work blog. its a great story. te veo manana.

Blog 67 10:45 PM 4/13/2004

i was against sending troops to iraq. still am i guess. but i do feel Mr. President needs to finish the job he started. but also looking at the job he has done i can still break 50/50 with whats happened since 9/11. i have to give in and pat him on the back for sticking it out. he's taken all the beatings and stuck with his plan, he brought the hussein boys in on a bar-b-q and papa saddam in cuffs. he's the lawman. and there aint no stoppin him. oh. and believe me, he will get osama. no doubt about that. the only thing i disagree with and always have is, why didnt we just pull off a noriega on saddam? send in 300 troops to the palace and take him out. whether dead or alive just get him. instead we've dragged this on for quite a long time now and every day we get closer to 1000 americans dead. i heard a guest speaker on npr radio say, 'if we dont get a handle on this soon, it will turn into a civil war. and every country in the region will become involved. it could really get ugly and spread worldwide.' that kind of unnerved me. i'm just gettin my business up and running, and the whole world is about to erupt in war? damn this place! cant a guy get a few honest days of golf in before its all over? i'm starting to enjoy this ride and its ready to blow up?! ahhh the life. stake and lobsta! the only reasonable ending is peace. we gotta get the bushman and osama and saddam to hang out and ride 'its a small world' at disney world. i wanna see them all smile together, as they enjoy watching all the little dolls dancing and singing. maybe they can raise heinekens and cheer, and the whole world can be friends. great great idea. somebody put that into action will ya. hurry please. get a redneck and a gun slinging muslim together on a ride at disney world? never. cant happen. why did i even bring that up. thats ridiculous! how bout we blow the s... out of the rest of the world. then we can just hang out all day everyday and play golf, and b-b-q, and go to the world series, and raise little kids that will never have to go to war. and visit niagara falls, and mt.rushmore, and hawaii. naaaah cant do that either. but it sure sounds great doesnt it?

Blog 66 4:18 PM 4/11/2004

i'm outtta my mind. the masters is sick! phil has lost the lead! ernie jumps out in front! sergio ends with a surge! i need a cool rag for my forehead. choi just eagled to get within one of ernie! gotta sit down. phil sinks a 10ft curling par putt to stay one behind also. then couple, love, and singh hover at 3 shots from the lead. as you can see i'm hving a grt time. my weather never kicked in though, oh well i'll just hv to live with nice and sunny. ate lots of chocolate chip cookies and made strawberry cadillac margaritas. a cool breeze is in the air and the last nine holes of the masters is now beginning. they say the Masters doesnt begin until the last nine holes on sunday, that theory defnitly holds true this year. hv to make margaritas. see ya. ernie just eagled!

Blog 65 1:20 PM 4/10/2004

ahhhh Floritha. like i said, 'do whatever makes you happy'. i'm in heaven this week. i've been riveted to the Masters this week, watching every minute of coverage from 3p till midnight. was able to get work done too. ate lots of chocolate chip cookies. a few baileys and coffee to take the edge off. then my favorite weather kicked in. awesome rain showers. just sitting back on the patio listening to the rain. and it shud rain all wknd, which only means i'll be sitting on the patio, watching 16 more hours of masters coverage, eating chocolate chip cookies, drinking baileys and coffee(and a snif of brandy), listening to the falling rain. its going to be a wonderful weekend. ahhhh Floritha. everyday is like a vacation.

Blog 64 11:36 PM 3/29/2004

oh. just herd a grt piece of news. march 23, 2003. iraq. a group of marines are moving across the iraq desert when they see a squad of american A-10's flying towards them. one survivor said, 'they were flying low, it lookd so cool.' then they opened fire. they shot 10 marines that day. they were accidentally called in for a strike by an officer that thought the group of soldiers ahead of him were iraqi soldiers. gee small mistake huh? the families are having a hard time dealing with the news that they just heard regarding the deaths of their children. wonder why.

Blog 63 10:17 PM 3/29/2004

adam adam adam. nice guy. he's on the average joe tv show for those of you that dont know. nice guy shmice guy. i just watched part of the show that really disturbed me. there was a competition between the girls that had them buy and sell stocks. the gal with the most money in the end was the winner. they started with $10,000, making real time stock trades. one gal was down $18,000. adam a stock trader by trade, stepped in and helped her make a few trades. soon she was up $21,000. thats almost a $40,000 turnaround. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ABOUT!!!! YEAH I'M PISSED! THAT MEANS THAT EVERYONE WORKING ON WALL STREET CAN MAKE $40,000 A DAY???!!! WITH MY MONEY??!! ANYTTIME THEY WANT??!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ALL ABOUT??!! HE MADE A $40,000 TURNAROUND IN LESS THAN A FEW HOURS. I KNOW THAT WASNT LUCKY! HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING. WHICH MEANS EVERYONE ELSE DOING THE SAME THING KNOWS WHAT THEYR DOING. WHICH MEANS THEY ARE ALL STEALING OUR MONEY AND LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK. THIS IS BULLSHIT. EXCUSE ME, BUT THIS IS PULL MY PANTS DOWN AND BEND ME OVER! THIS IS AN AMERICAN RIPOFF! i met a guy on the golf course. actually now that i think of it, i've met two guys on the course, that say they work from home, stock trading. they put a couple of trades in then go golfing. now i know that they must have inside info, how ever you want to define inside info, but that information allows them to make a couple of trades a day then spend all their time golfing. why cant we all just do that? why cant we all get in the club? this just seems absurdly illegal to me, and i cant even comprehend what i've just come to realize. this is pure american bullshit. i work for my money. hard as shit. every day. 10-12 hours a day. i keep businesses up and running all over this country. without me, they fall apart. they cant track their money, their employees, or their members. they r doomed without me. but i take pride in my job. i enjoy having the answer that gets them back up on their feet. i help them sleep at night. and the thank you's i get everyday make me feel proud of the job i do. ahhh screw you wall street. you sons of bitches!

Blog 62 7:43 PM 3/28/2004

Vegas. ahhh Vegas. love it and hate it. been ther at least 20 times. i used to go for one nighters intent on winning some cash yet i alwys lost my boxer shorts. the best i ever did was a night at the craps table and as a matter of fact that wasnt even vegas. it was reno. i won $1,200. that was an awesome night to remembr. everyone was winning. it started at midnight and at about 2:30 one guy said, 'ok. nobody can leave this table until we all agree to leave'. we wound up at that table until 6:30am. it was awesome. anyway we went to vegas this week. i lost $300 over 3 days. then i told myself to try a new system that i'v been wanting to try for 5 yrs, but never had the nerv to stick it out. the strategy. to bet on the opposite color in roulette enough times until that color come up. when red comes up, bet black until black comes up, doubling your bet with each spin until black finally comes up. my strategy had a little twist though. i wouldnt bet until after three in a row came up. that way i'm betting that 4 in a row wont come up. well it worked. took alot of patience waiting for three in a row before starting to bet. but the patience paid off. i was starting with $25 on my first bet. so if it went to 5 in a row i was then betting 50 then 100 then 200. i did well for about an hour, i was up about 300. another guy caught onto my system and we began betting together. then even another guy spotted what we were doing and he gave us the scoop. dont start betting until 5 in a row come up. he had his little odds sheet and he was tracking every spin of that roulette wheel. he told us that 8 and 9 in a row arent that rare. he had seen 12 in a row so he was not nearly as brave as dave and i. he held out to 6 most of the time. which wasnt too rare to begin with. but i jumped on the 4 bandwagon almost all the time. my first scare was at about 1:30am. i jumped in at 4 with $25. it stayed black. 5...6...7..in a row....now i'm betting against 8 in a row with $200. which means i've lost 25/50/100..total 175. lost again! now i've lost $375. i put $400 down against the 9th black in a row. at this point there was a few thousand on the table. people were coming over to bet against the black. cash and chips all over the red. and it finally came up red. i shit my pants. i risked $775 just to win $25. then it happened again at about 2:30 am. i think i got in late on the 5 roll this time. but i started with 25 then 30, not the immediate double. this son of a bitch went to 11 reds in a row before black came up. i had almost $700 on the table, and had already lost the same amount. but when that black came up it was pandemonium. this time there was almost $5000 on the black. people were screaming! fred, dave and i took a break after that heart attack set of spins. dave won over $1000 on the night, i wont $800, and fred won his cautious $500. but it was a pisser! and damn if i cant wait to get back and do it again! ahhh Vegas.

Blog 61 5:19 PM 3/16/2004

went to hong kong for real. its a whole new world over there. busy busy. people really move fast over there. it was like being in an ant colony, it was so chaotic. but it was awesome. i didnt want to to come back. i cudv stayd there a long time. so much to experiance. and experience is what its all about. one thing i did learn is that the U.S. has one helluva bad rap when it comes to people from other countries. i met lots of sales people that hang in hong kong during their visits to china to export goods around the world. like shoes, toys, hardware. none of them had anything good to say about the U.S. all they had to say was that the U.S. is screwing up the entire planet with rules that sway everything in their direction. they all hate us. we're destroying the world economy. i felt like an asshole listening to how my government is screwing every other country on the planet. we have some serious problems that need fixing or everyone will gang up on us sooner or later. we're doomed. its like survivor. anyone that tries to be king gets voted off at some point, you can only be king for so long. even the yankees, the lakers, and the Romans fell. its just a matter of time.

they had a local guy from down here that went awol from the war in iraq. he was totally uninterested in fighting the war in iraq, for oil that is. he said the moral there is horrible and lots of soldiers are down and out. he said its very very bad over there and he doesnt want to give his ultimate price for U.S. oil. the guy sounded pretty honest and was in no mood to be pushed around by the military when it came to his life. for those of you that have never served in the military, you dont know shit. i served 3 years in air force ROTC in college. all i remember is that i knew the height, weight, and capablility of every russian aircraft in the russian airforce. how fast they went, their weaknesses and strengths. what U.S. plane you want to be flying when you came up on any specific russian jet. we were programmed to crush, kill and destroy communist russia. and we were psyched to do so. we couldnt wait another minute to get up there and start bombing the shit out of anyone that had a beef with america. we were brainwashed to the fullest extent. and i guess thats what war is all about. this guy that went awol? he got himself out of the brainwash. he somehow woke up. i feel good for him. he snapped himself out of the spell. but the marines that are over there in iraq are under the spell, and theres no need to feel sorry for anyone of them. they are probably psyched up to kill anything or anyone that moves. thats theyr mission. they live for this stuff. just like cops are programmed to assume every single person on the road is guilty of something wrong. theyr brainwashed the same way. write a ticket for everybody excpt family members and close friends. its a sick society and its a warzone. just watch your back and be glad you live in a semi safe coutry for the time being. because the end is near! Elvis shall return! Long live the King!

Blog 60 10:51 PM 2/25/2004

the passion. IS one mans INTERPRETATION of a documented biblical event. it IS NOT REALITY. it is interpretation only, and the violence depicted is strictly how the director wants to portray that event. i could make a movie about julius caesar and portray his murder just as violently and gruesome as the passion portrays the final hours of JC, but that would strictly be my own interpretation of what happened. if you watch this movie realizing that it is only one mans interpretation, then you should come out without a need to blame his crucifixion on any particular person or people. if you go into the movie believing that it is a precise depiction of the crucifixion then you will most likely leave with a sour attitude and an apparent need to blame the jewish people for what happened that day. and in my mind thats a shame.

i was raised a catholic and now being agnostic i am more of an outsider than anything else. but there are a few statements of truth that i can utter from my lifes experiences. the catholic schooling system teaches children that jews are to blame for the death of jc. it was pounded into my head for 12 years. and i guess i believed that and always had a bad view of the jewish people. i married a woman of jewish faith 5 years ago and through my experience with her family my outlook towards the jewish people has not only been reversed but my view of christians has soured immensely. the love, solidarity and faith they have for their family and religion far surpasses any that i have seen by any of my christian friends. the tradition and prayer that they live by is so pure and authentic its like watching something from the bible itself. prayer is spoken in hebrew just the way it was thousands of years ago. the first time i was at a passover dinner it was like being in the presence of moses and his family. i was humbled and embarrased to say i was a christian. it was like judaism was a bar of gold and i had a 10 cent piece in my hand. christianity seemed so worthless. that night i went to bed thinking, 'If there is a God, then these people are surely the children of that God' if you've never been to a seder dinner then you need to, to experience what life, love, family and God are all about. judaism is thousands of years of tradition that literally hasnt changed since its beginning. its a marvel to experience.

anyway back to the passion. i know theres a ton of experts out there on the crucifixion. but one person that i've seen many times on both the history channel, and the discovery channel was on dateline the other night. he's an old irish or scottish guy. (i cant figure out that accent) but he's studied the scriptures and bible obviously for many many years. he is definitly the best authority you will find on the entire planet when it comes to the crucifixion. his words the other night were, 'i can unequivocally say that jesus was crucified by the romans, not the jews.' he did also say that there were jews involved, but it was only a handful of very powerful high ranking pharisees that convinced the romans to crucify jesus. the large majority of jews had nothing to do with the event itself, and there was no throng of jews cheering on the crucifixion. scriptures just dont document the event in that way, and yet somehow the christian majority has rewritten the story and preach it in a different light. one last point, throughout the history of the roman empire there were thousands upon thousands of crucifixions. why would jesus' be different from any other. the beatings that he was subjected to would have been identical to the abuse that every other prisoner in those times endured. exaggerating the event has only one purpose, and that objective would be to sway others to join your cause. that to me seems wrong in its own way and anyone partaking should be ashamed. and oh yeah i spoke to God earlier today. he said, 'dont worry about the past, just respect each other and lend a helping hand and a smile to a friend in need, and everything will be just fine. i'll see you when you get up here john. i'll talk to you next week, bye.'

Blog 59 9:35 PM 2/18/2004

oh life is crazy. i am now the Godfather...Godfatha. if i only taped the lecture by the deacon you may have died laughing if you read it. we flew up to nj from fl to attend the baptism of jims baby jessica. and of course be the Godparents. got up early on sunday and found out i didnt pack any respectable clothes. i completely forgot i was going to the church that i attennded school at as a child. good ol' ascension school. oh the memories. anyway i brought some nice golf shirts but not the shirt and tie that i shudv. so jim wanted to loan me a shirt and tie. the first shirt he held up looked like it was pulled from the bottom of the laundry basket. and was a very nice dingy white. very very appealing. i passed. i told him i'll ask his father for a shirt and tie. they live right next door to the church and i know his father very well, he would defintly hv a closet full of shirts and ties. jim decided to where a very nice dingy polo with a matching tie that looked like it was pulled from of the gutter outside. i wasnt about to say anything. we arrived at dads house and jim went upstairs to beg me a shirt and tie. as soon as his mother saw what he was wearing she almost dropped to the floor. moms right off the boat from ireland. "james wuts the matter with with you. ya cant wear that dontcha know better! ya look like a slob!" so we both dug into dads clost and bagged some nice outfits, shirts, ties, and jackets. we were stylin.

the church. my old ascension church. i hvnt stood in that church in years. it was eerie. but it was very nice, i felt right at home. there were about 100 people there all assembled for the 5 couples that brought their babies to be baptized today. the deacon was deacon bates. i grew up with his son. it was nice to see him. the crowd gatherd in the center of the church with all the parents and godparents in the middle pew. thats where the baptismal basin was located. deacon bates took the helm. short, very thin hair, about 60 yrs old. large seeing glasses. he flipped thru a small manual looking for a passage. he looked up and spoke loudly...
'ok. dis is da deal. i want all da parents and God parents up to da front!'
we all stood up and gathered around the deacon.
'ok. everybody! to da back a da choich! ....NOW!'
this guy oughtta be on the sopranos.
he gave us a blessing in the back and had us recite in unison...'We do' to lotsa good things for the Godchildren.
'ok. everybody! back in ya seats!'
we marched back up to the center of church and sat down. the deacon took the helm again and began his lecture.
flipping thru pages in his manual.
'ok. wadda we got hea. ahhh alright. hea we go. ahhh my name is deacon bates. i'm a deacon! not a priest! i'm a lot like awl a you, i woik for a livin! i dont do dis fa fun. dis is like a second job to me. dat means i woik two jobs! i have a family and kids o' my own at home. i know da struggles many of you go tru. life isnt easy. hey. nobody said it would be. you are now a family. you eat, sleep, and live togedda like a family. ya learn to love each udda. love is what God wants us all ta do. i know life is hard sometimes, i raised 6 kids. faw girls i raised in da bronx. den brought em out ta jersey. dats no easy task ya know! imagine. faw girls. i had a helluva time. but we roughed it out. we were a family. nuttin was gonna divide us. sometimes ya wanna kill ya wife or kill ya husband. butcha know ya cant. dats not what God wanted. so ya stick it out tru da bad times, and of course theres plenty o' good times too. but ya stick it out. now my house was crazy like da resta dem. but we loved each udda. and dats what God wants. lotsa marriages end in divorce these days, but dats not what marriage is about. its about love and keeping ya family togedda. in my house we had our troubles. but divorce was nevva an option. murder and mayhem? yes! but divorce nevva!'
at this point i cant believe what i'm hearing. this has sopranos written all over it. how come nobodys laughing? i'm dying to fall on the floor and laugh my ass off. i dont understand people up north. they actually believe the sopranos is a really good show, their riveted to it. but me? all i see is a comedy skit. its like watching the three stooges.
the next 10 minutes is more comedic lecturing about how you 'need ta spank ya kids' i wish i could remember the entire monologue but i cant. sorry ta let ya down. but hey the baptism was great, and the dinner afterward was delicious. all the talk was about murder and mayhem. i got to see lots of old friends. and got a bigger dose of new milford new jersey than i ever couldv expected. good luck to everyone and hv a wondrful week.

Blog 58 11:18 PM 2/7/2004

i gave myself an enema this weekend. what a piece of cake compared to last year. there was blood all over the place. had to call the paramedics. cost me a bundle in doctors bills. but this time i had all the right info and tools, and it turned out great. ahhhh life is good. i ran into bruce lee and thurmon munson the other day. how the two of them wound up together i'll never know. but we all went out bowling. bruce won of course. he destroyed the pins and we had to leave. those guys are so much fun.

i've advanced to the next level. the pie man is the alternator and jimmy stewart is the gatekeeper. i'm still hving a little trouble though. i cant find my way out of the blitzkrieg cavern but i think i found a secret passage. theres a small hole that i can see thru and theres all kinds of colors on the other side. i know it must mean happiness. all i need is patience. i just need to plod thru this level and i'm sure things will brighten up. i dont want to back track its too hard to start over. nobody said it would be easy but i didnt think it would take this much effort to advance. my ray gun is depleted and the only assets i have now are my mind melding powers. oh well. like i said i'll just keep poking until i find the right keyhole then hopefully it hyperspaces me a few levels up the chain.

Blog 57 1:29 PM 2/7/2004

this is a sick country. i dont think its a sick world, i think its just this country. it must be the price of freedom. when janet flashed her tit i didnt think it was a big deal, but one thing leads to another. the video of carlie getting pulled away by a man behind the car wash was chilling. this cannot be tolerated. 3 minutes in the news and that all thats left of carlie. she will be forgotten like every other person that dies every day. to watch the video is chilling. to imagine the next 60 mins of her life is horrifying. its disgusting. i could cry my eyes out all night long and it wouldnt make a difference. i said to myself, 'screw it. if i have to give up all my freedom, so let it be. this cant go on. there shud be cameras everywhere on every street corner to prevent something like this from happening again.' then i thought about it. that might only provoke sick people to be more sick. they would wind up intentionally killing people on camera, just to be on the news. just to see their own face on tv. it might help in finding the criminals but it wouldnt stop anything. there just isnt an answer. i'm sick to my stomach.

Blog 55 8:54 PM 2/3/2004

I am like God, and God like me. I am as large as God and He as small as I. He cannot above me, nor I beneath Him be. Selatius 17th century. if i recite those words, the next logical phrase is. I am God. anyway that quote is recited by Max Cady (Robert De Niro) in Cape Fear. and obviously i found it very interesting.oh yeah forgot to mention. quote me now. i believe that there was life on Mars. my theory is that Mars evolved faster than the earth and also died faster because it was closer to the sun. but it was a green planet just like earth, billions of years ago. i guarantee if you dig far enough you'll find metal girders and crushed civiizations. an absolutely dead world. i told that to a guy i worked with once and he said, 'what if its been so long that everything on the planet has already sunken to the core and been regergitated as dirt or rock or lava. you would never find evidence of anything.' then he joked, 'but if you find a plastic bag you'll know someone was there. that might last forever.'

oh and the ultimate possiblility is that we are descendants of them in some strange way. whether they sent a spaceship here with some soil, and we evolved from the very fabric of mars. or if people actually came here and began our world of humans its always a possibility. its definitly a mathematical possiblity. you would hv to prove to me that my theory is IMPOSSIBLE before i'm going to believe you. now that gets me to my other issue. we blew up a satellite to prevent it from crashing into one of jupiters moons. it was to prevent all likelihood of any organisms that might exist in the spacecraft from crashing on a moon of jupiter and accidentally spawning any life. why the hell would we do that! why not spread a little earth dirt on all the planets. grow something will ya! start a vacation spot somewhere already! anyway i think and hope and pray that we will find the evidence of life on Mars. i know it was there.

Blog 55 3:58 PM 2/1/2004

I went to hong kong this week. it was a hell of a trip. how or why did i go to hong kong? well a friend and i were eyeing flights for the past month. we've been wanting to go but the flights have been booked. i told mark that we'll have to make a split decision on the day that we see the flights wide open. (we fly standby). so lo and behold i chekd flights on monday and they were wide open for wednsdy morning.
6:08 PM monday
'holy cow the flights are wide open! we have to go this week! there and back looks great. we leave wed, return on monday. we're goin to the great wall baby!'
the trip is on.
11:08 am Tues
mark calls, 'I cant get off. they wont let out. i have a project i need to distribute before next week. sorry. dont mean to let you down.'
what a drag. oh well maybe next month. we'll be more prepared. the work day went by and i thought 'who else can i get to go to hong kong with me? justin? no, he has a newborn, his wife would kill him. billy? he's probably busy flying, and cant get off. marty's brother? i dont know his number. steve? i called steve and asked if he wanted to go to hong kong tomorrw. he thought i was insane. hmmmm. how about dad! he's outta work. he must hv nothing but time on his hands. i called.
5:08 PM Tues
hey whats up pappa smurf?
not much, just doing side work. i have work lined up for the next 6 weeks.
what r you doing tomrrw?
i hv to put up shelves at some old ladies house. after that i can take some time off.
wanna go to hong kong tomorrw?
what? ar you kidding me? get the hell outta here!
hong kong. the flights are wide open. booked to 26 of 48 in first class. we get first class going and returning. we'll see the great wall. come on. lets go.
wow. i dont hv to install those shelves tomrw. i could take the week off and start next week. holy cow. are you serious?
yep. lets go.
alright i'm in.
i'll meet you at newark airport at 10am tomrw morning. the hong kong flight is at 12 noon.
theres a snow storm coming into new york tonight. your never going to get here. flights wont be leaving tomrw.
international flights always go out. they'll cancel every flight in the U.S. but international flights always go out.
ok if you say so.
see you tomrrw. dont bail on me.
i wont. i'll see you tomrw.
the trip is back on
5:38 PM Tues
lisa and i are going to dinner with the grand parent in laws from chicago. nat and lil will be there also. on the way over.
i'm thinking i should leave tonight
excuse me?
i think i shud leave tonight
why?
my father said theres a snow storm coming in and i probably wont get into newark tomrw morning.
first its mark, now its your father. are you telling me the truth?
yes dear. the only way i'll make the flight tomrw is to get out of here tonight
call alfredo i want to ask him to chk flights tonight
ringggggg. hello?
Alfredo. whats up?
hey beckerhead! whats up buddy!
can u do me a favor and chk a flight for me?
ehhhhh
oh you dont know how?
no no just kidding. i'd do anything for you buddy.
chk newark tonight. last flight. when is it and what is it booked to.
booked to 37 of 183. tonight at 7:45. going to newark for work?
nope. Hong Kong baby!
whoa thats awesome. have a blast man. call me when you get back.
thanks AL.
6:02 PM Tues
we're at the restaurant, nat and lil are out front.
hi nat. hi lil.
hi john. its so good to see you. mmmmmua
hey i have some bad news.
what? (as they look at me with puzzled eyes)
i wont be coming to dinner.
oh? why?
i'm going to hong kong. tonight. actually tomorrw but i need to get to new jersey tonight. the flight leaves at 7:45.
(nat is 86 yrs old. he looked at me like i just told a big fat lie right to his face. but he was nice anyway)
i hear hong kong is a wonderful place. very beautiful.
yes i know. i have a friend that went. well i gotta go. enjoy dinner. tell granny ellie and poppa sy i said hello.
ok?
and off i went. lets make this story move a little quicker. i arrived in newark. its 16 degrees and blizzarding. i have on a polo shirt, no jacket. 10:45 tues. as i step on the monorail i call my sister.
you landed in this snow?!
yep. i do this all the time. its no big deal. i'll be there by 11:30.
ok. see ya.
the monorail goes from C to B to A to P3. i need P2. next stop. nope.
loudspeaker - 'we're having some technical difficulties. we're going to head back to terminal A.'
ok fine with me. we're at terminal A for 2 minutes, we all step off and the agent says 'no you can stay on you'll be going back to P3 in a minute."
ok. a minute later we go. we arrive at P3. i'm still waiting for P2. 5 minute stop but we continue. we arrive at P2. waiting for the doors to open. theyr not opening. the spanish girl on the other side of the window with the radio motions 'do you need to get off?' YES I DO! she talks to the radio. then motions for me to wait just a moment. i wait a moment. then two then three. why is this happening to me? is this a foreshadowing of my entire trip to hong kong? i look at her with damnation. she motions for me to be patient. but all of a sudden, there she goes. she's gone. the monorail is moving. toward P1. but i needed to get off here at P2! we move slowly, very very slowly. all the way to P1. we stop at P1. stop. i wait for the doors to open. they dont open. 'what the F is going on here!' the two black guys on the other side of the window with the radios motion 'do you need to get off?' YES I DO! they talk on the radio. then motion for me to wait just a moment. i wait a moment. then two then three. why is this happening to me? 'what the F is going on here!' i turn away from the terminal towards the outside, lean on the window. what do i see below? two guys in a high reach, coming up underneath my monorail car. 'are they going to do repairs while i'm on the F'n monorail?! what the F is going on here!' 10 minutes later we begin to move. i begin to press the emergency button that says 'press here in case of emergency.' there is a speaker next to the button. i await a response. no response. i begin pressing frantically, 'get me out of here. i'm stuck on car 174. can someone stop this train and get me out of here?!' no response. i see a fire extinguisher under the seat. i rip it out and prepare to smash it thru the window. i picture lots of people tackling me as i escape, then police show up and i go to jail. i put the extinguisher back. we get back to P2. the spanish girl is in the terminal and looks at me in amazement. she cant believe i'm still stuck in the car. she talks to the radio. then motions for me to wait just a moment. i wait a moment. then two then three. why is this happening to me? the doors dont open. the monorail begins to pull away again. i go the for fire extinguisher but i see the 'emergency stop and door open' handle. i tear off the front and pull with all my might. it only moves an inch, similar to a car door handle. then i pull frantically. i notice we begin to slow down. oh my God. the train is stopping! we stop, i kick the door open. thank God we stopped at a portion of the terminal that wasnt just glass but doors that say push here to open. i push them open. the girl with the radio is shocked. as i walk by her in disdain, i see a monorail employee on the monorail in the car ahead of me. he mustv heard my pleas for help the entire time. that sone of a bitch! then as i look into his eyes. he looks at me in anger. as if to say 'why the hell did you pull the emergency stop.' i wanted to murder him. its now 11:30.
budget rent a car. a black guy and black girl are at the counter. the guy looks away to i go for the girl.
hi how are you.
not good i was just trapped on that damn monorail for 45 mins.
oh? (with a look of 'thats impossible, it leaves every 5 minutes'.)
she sits down on the stool but the stool creaks. she gets off. plays with the stool for a minute. 'oh its broke' she moves the stool to the back room and gets another one.
i hand her my credit card and license. she fiddles some keys. fiddles more keys and more keys. i hear her mumble 'theres two john beckers' but i dont respond. she fiddles for an eternity. i finally pipe up, 'is there a problem with my reservation?'
there seems to be two john beckers.
are you sure your not looking at my florida license?
oh my God! that must be it! thank you for telling me! i never wouldv figured that out!
i get the keys and head out into the blizzard. getting out of the airport took an eternity. every car is moving not 15mph, not 10mph, not 5mph, but 3mph. i cant go around anyone the snow is piled everywhere. finally i'm on the highway. cars strewn all over the place i'm passing everyone like a maniac. i'm only doing 40 but everyone else is doing 15 or 20mph. i get off my exit go over the hill and on the other side up ahead i see cars with their lights on all over the road. i get closer and notice we're at the bottom of a hill. the road is frozen and nobody can move. thers 6 cars and a tractor trailer blocking the road. what the F is going on here! why me! i wait. i cant do much i'm dressed in a shirt. i see 4 guys get out of a minivan. they push one car enough to let their minivan thru, a pickup follows then i follow. 10 mins later i get to my sisters house and try and make a beeline for her driveway in an effor to plow thru the snow thats been plowed in front. i miss and hit the corner of the driveway where the snow is piled twice as high. now i'm stuck. i spend the next 6 mins in forward then reverse then forward then reverse in an attempt to free myself. its 1am. what the F is going on here! i get inside the house and tell the story to my brother in law who's waiting up. he laughs. i go to the bathroom and flush the toilet, breaking the handle off the toilet. what the F is going on here! i put it safely back on so nobody will notice. i go to bed. i'm scrunched up in my 5 yr old niece's bed, its about 5ft long. cant close my eyes. i feel like i need to staple them together to keep them shut. at about 7:30am the door creaks open. i hear my 3yr old nephew. 'its uncle johnny. lets wake him up.' my niece replies, 'no we should let him sleep.' a short pause. then i hear, 'he must sleep really hard.' the door closes. 8:30 am the door opens, its my sister. my father is on the phone. i get up and walk into the living room. i hear my 3yr old nephew running out of my temporary bedroom, yelling, 'i found a watch! i'm going to hide it!'
dad, 'so whats the plan?'
'i'll meet you at the airport at 10am. we'll pick up the tickets and we're off.'
'ok see you then.'
my sister and i are chatting in the hallway between the bedrooms, i'm in my flannel boxers grabbing a bath towel out of the closet when out of nowhere my 3yr old nephew comes up behind me and takes a rottweiler sized bite out of my ass. 'what the F is going on here!' i turn around and he throws 6 mike tyson punches to my gut. i lock myself in the bathroom and take my shower. i peak out. the coast is is clear. the kids are reading a book on the couch. (that sounds peculiar doesnt it?) i figure i'll search for my watch. i look in every room. its nowhere to be found. i confront evan and he runs off. a minute later he has my watch. the kids jump and yell and scream and tackle me. i take some pictures and video and i'm off to the airport.
i turn in the car, and head to the lobby restroom. i'm washing my hands and in the mirror i notice some marks on my pants. i look down and thers ballpoint pen marks all over my pants. that damn kid!
i head up to the monorail. thinking about hong kong. i leave in 2.5 hours. i think about that damn kid. i need to call my sister and tell her about this.
ringgg. sis, 'i'm so so sorry!"
i hvnt said anything yet, so how could she be apologizing for what her son did. how could she possibly know?
what are you talking about?
you didnt hear?
i'm thinking she heard that the airport is closed on the news. i think nothing of it, international flights always go out. she doesnt know what she's talking about.
you didnt get dads message? dont you have your phone on?
no. i just turned it on. whats up?
dad just called, his passport is expired.
my heart sank. 'what the F is going on here!'
i call my father. yep. passport expired. 6 days ago! how could we possibly be so lucky. if 10 yrs ago on the day my father got his passport, someone told him, 'you're gonna want to go to hong kong 10 yrs from now but you're passport will be expired by 6 days. and you wont be going to hong kong.' i dont think he wouldv believed them.
now the mission is to get back to florida. i need to get on the next flight to fort lauderdale. gee i've been waiting for this monorail for a long time. 10-15 mins. and its supposed to come every 5 mins. i see it down there at the other stop. whats going on?
loudspeaker- 'attention all passengers. monorail service will now discontinue for the day. we will be providing bus service from the parking lot stations to the main terminals. we apologize for the inconvenience.'
'what the F is going on here! how could this be happening to me!'
now i figure they have to find people to drive the buses, then find a spare bus, this will be at least a 20 min wait. so i sat down and put the mp3 headset on and listened to some good tunes to calm me down. 20 mins later just like i said, a bus showed up. by now there were 20 people waiting for the bus. one burly guy was kind of the leader of the group and the one out of all of us that enjoyed complaining to the girl in the red coat. being it was 16 degrees we were all waiting in the lobby and not outside. the bus passed the front lobby doors and drove about 70 feet away. the burly guy was first out the door and we all followed. i took about 6 steps out the door and noticed the bus was very close to a security pickup truck and it seemed like they mustv been talking to each other on the drivers side. i stopped. i sensed he hadnt noticed us and was waiting to see if our burly leader was going to catch the bus. if he didnt i was going right back inside. 2 seconds later you heard the engine pipe up and the bus began to slowly pull away. our burly leader yelled and screamed and ran after the bus, but off it went. i walked inside and shook my head at the redcoat girl. she got on her radio, 'hello? the bus that just left p2? please come back. you didnt pick anybody up. please come back.' she really didnt put the umph into the radio call that was necessary to show the urgency of the situation. in my opinion she souldv said, 'you need to get back here right now! there are 20 people here, that are waiting! please turn around and pick up this group!' but thats not what she said, so the bus went to the next stop as the burly yelled and screamed again. and waited out in the road to i assume yell at the diver when he came back. but that bus driver didnt give two shits about us. he drove right off from the next stop to the terminal and skipped us all together. so we waited another 20 minutes. the next bus came and we were packed in like sardines. as soon as we stopped at the terminal i ran to the pass office to chk flights. it was now 10:55 and the next flight was at 11:00. i checked in and ran to the gate, the plane was still there but the jetway was off. i slumped in a chair in despair. a cart pulled up and two guys leaped off and ran to the gate. the first guy was a gay albino. he went into a tirade, jumping and screaming. 'they said the plane would be here! i cant believe this! where is everybody!' the black guy saw the despair and asked the cart guy where the service counter was. i figured i'd hang for a second, maybe theyll put the jetway back on to get these guys on and if so i'll jump on too. but that didnt happen. the guy i was sitting next to was the agent for the flight. i hdnt noticed him with the blue overcoat. he looked like just another passenger waiting around. but i recognized the face. i had worked with him at newark airport as a ramp agent 10 years earlier. i turned to him and said, 'so how'v u been?' he looked at me and shook his head, 'holy cow whats up? ' we chatted for a minute then i looked for the next fort lauderdale flight. as i was reading the board i heard an announcement, 'all passengers travelling to hong kong must checkin at gate 21, even if you chekd in already and hav a boarding pass. pls have ur passprt availabl.' i raised my brow and looked over and gate 21 was right next to me. i walked up to the gate and reached in my pants pocket. i had a passport. i thought, 'i can go to hong kong right now.... wow.' but then i thoght, 'i think the last 12 hrs have told me i shudnt be going.' than i looked around. everyone was chinese. i felt like i was in hong kong. and it felt great. and i smiled, and i went home.

Blog 54 6:40 PM 1/24/2004

when i heard howard dean howling in the other room i pictured a crazed man. but when i finally seen the footage of his tirade, it seemed completely normal. like a pep rally. i guess when i heard it in the other room i pictured a guy with horns coming out of his head, then when i saw it with my own eyes there werent any horns.

yes i feel martha stewart should be held responsible for what she apparently did. and if whatever she did needs to be investigated to prove she did or did not break the law then so be it. if she did break the law then i hope she gets the same penalty that .....ahhh....winnona got. a little probation, community service, donations, fines, and a spatula for every family in america.

i built a fountain today. you'll get pictures tomrw.

Blog 53 9:15 PM 1/22/2004

who the hell has time for blogging when theres playstation 2! the addiction is .............i dont know, but it sucks. dreaming at night is corrupted by insane atv jumps, miles thru the air. thats only after i get to bed after playing till....well the first few days weren't so bad, 12:00 or 12:30. but it quickly excelled....and its now at 3am. it must stop immediatly. i'm ready to give this damn thing away. the atv racing is awesome but the tiger woods golf 2004 is a deeply psychotic episode of frustration. it's as hard as golf is in my real life. i had a hard time breaking 80. i couldnt get past the line. the exact score that i cant seem to break thru, in real life. but i put in the hours and the practice, and damn if i didnt make to another level that was twice as disturbing as the first one! i must stop the damnation!

anyway we were, or i brought up the question of how many people do you pass within 100 ft of that you know very well, yet dont notice them within that 100ft circle? it came from remembering the time i ran into 2 friends from work, while i was in new orleans for mardi gras. i easily cudv walked right by them and never seen them at all. how many people do you pass throughout the day that you dont see close enough to say hello to. i could be passing within 100ft of my neighbor or someone on my block 10 times a day and not even notice it was happening. i want to see the windings of my travels on a map and those of 100 other people that i know, over the course of 38 years. i'd like to see how many times we passed each other without ever noticing. then my theory was, if you did a study on the relationship between a neighbors distance from your home to the number of times you pass within 100ft of them, i would think it rises exponentially as you get closer. over an entire lifetime it probably is a bell curve. someday they will do that study. with the chips theyr going to plant in our feet.

the robots are coming. slowly but surely. invest now, because in 25 years its going to be sick! clerks everywhere will be robitic machines. that meet and greet you, clean your house, mow the lawn, collect tolls, and work as the gas station clerk. what a blast its gonna be!

superbowl. new england and carolina. i did pick new england at about week 10. i didnt jump on the indy badwagon either once it came to playoff time. i'll admit i was a bit intimidated but not really worried. i just figured new england knows how to win a championship game. theyv won 3 of the last 7? the playoffs were awesome though, just like i said they would be. i did think brett was going back to the superbowl. it seemed destined, but it was a twist of fate in the end that had brett farve doom himself. that'll be played over and over, again and again in both philly and green bay. what a shame.

the apprentice. sam you broke my heart. i had faith in you and you jumped off the deep end. you're a dick.

laying in the hammock at night is heaven. i hang out in a white wool blanket and flannel pajamas. i get the mp3 player going with agnus dei. i sit back with a beer, the starry sky and a cool 58degree breeze. and life is good. good night.

Blog 52 11:46 PM 1/2/2004

i'm looking at saturn. sitting in my backyard. tonight it looks exceptionally majestic. it wont be this close for another 30 years. the first time you see it, its heart pounding. for just a moment you see yourself shrink to the size of an atom as you realize Saturn is really out there. when ur sitting in ur bkyd and looking at it thru a telescope its mind boggling. and tonight its totally awesome man. like its totally kewl. its like weird. like wow. its so real. skiddly wa wa wah actually it scared the hell out of me. i was looking for it last night but i wound up zooming into jupiter. another awesome sight. you can see 2 rings of clouds and the red spot. exactly like any picture uv ever seen.

new year new look. the header is what i'm talking about. ther are a lot of vomitatious colors. but then again you could say it has lots of Fall colors too. it will depend strictly on your mood the first time you see it. doesnt matter, thats about as inventive as i'm going to get tonight.

awesome awesome awesome NFL playoffs coming up. this is going to be fun. i dont know who i'm routing for yet. just lots of really good teams that should relate to some really good games. nets are straightening up lately. 7-3 over the last 10. not bad not bad. they may go to the championship again. and lose to the lakers again. what a shame. the lakers are like the NY yankees. this year, that team is stacked. overflowing with talent. it will be a huge upset if they DONT win the championship. 2004 NFL jets will go 14-2. i will shoot under 80, five times this year. and i will get my first eagle, if not 2 or 3. foozeball is fun. i got a toolbox for christmas. and life is wonderful. goode knight peng-you. (japanese, go look it up)

Blog 51 8:36 PM 12/30/2003

merry christmas! happy new year! this is the end of 2003. what a year. i became a business owner this year. went to puerto vallarta, san fran, chicago, new jersey and paris. went to the WORLD SERIES! started blogging. watched the country go to war, and saw saddam hussein get caught in a hole in the ground. its been a long year, but just the beginning of a project thats going to take up the rest of my life. its awesome to be able to get up from your desk and go golfing at anytime you like. it really puts a cherry on top of your sundae. or caramel in my case. ahhh life.

i think i was regifted this xmas. i think it happened twice too! but its the thought that counts. right? i did get some great gifts for my friends though. dvd players for everyone! and everyone seemed to be so impressed. theyr not even $50, how could you go wrong? got a bbq gas grill for the torres family. they were totally blown away. i love giving really good stuff to people. even homeless people. i like giving them a dollar or two. i like seeing my dollar go into the persons hand that i intend to help. giving to a charity seems like a lost cause. did u know that if ur the president of a charity, you can decide your own salary? thats right, whatever you want, you get. i feel like starting a charity, but i just dont hv the nerve to be such a scumbag. theyrs plenty to go around anyway. well i wish everyone a happy new year and good luck! its gonna be a wild ride! nite.

Blog 50 11:08 PM 12/23/2003

i lay in bed at night, and as i think about work i picture a huge monitor on my ceiling. i develop my software product on it like a canvas. i wave my hands back and forth in a mad rage of development, like gustav mahler conducting the vienna orchestra. last night i saw flames swirling from my hands as i drew the plans for the next version of our management software. it is so awesome having the power to create. that sense of achievement and the ability to affect thousands of people. making someone elses day easier, is so fulfilling. gosh darn, their aint nuttin like it. less maybe listnin to zeppelin. happy 50th blog becker! nite all.

Blog 49 8:40 PM 12/18/2003

my letter in blog 48 prompted the president of Advanced Cable to call me. he said he never responds to email but my letter was so overwhelming that it made him change protocol at his company. he apologized and gave us a free month of internet. and said he grilled thomas and the other tech involved in our issue.

if i ever become a congressman i promise that i will make two laws that will resolve two of my biggest beefs, that just eat at my ass, and at this point my ass is killin me.

1. the toll booth. i've driven thru toll booths in seattle, phoenix, fargo, boston, florida and every city and state in between. 99% of the time there isnt a sign that tells you how much the toll is, until you are actually in the toll booth itself. the sign is ON the door of the toll booth. you cant even see it if ur second in line. sometimes theres a sign at the 500ft mark, but if u miss that sign you will not see the amount until you are in the booth. there shud be huge sign on the top of every toll plaza that posts the toll amount. i dont want to dig for change when i get to the booth, nor do i want to wait for anyone else to. i think thats a simple enough request that would make EVERYBODYS day less stressful.

2. the first one was easy. this one is pure insanity. in all those places i've driven, i've had to follow directions to a clients business location. i have an address on a piece of paper. to find that address i need to see other addresses on the same street to figure out where i am. i would be willing to bet that if you did a study to see how many businesses have an address posted on the front of the building, you would find less than 5-10% have them. and it happened again today. i couldnt find an address for almost a mile today at the critical point at which i needed one in order to gauge my location. this is,(excuse me) bullshit. there needs to be a law that every business must post an address visible from 80 feet away. i cant imagine what it must be like to be in the delivery business. it must be so stressful that you're driven to beat your wife and kids when u get home.

enough griping for today. happy hannukah tomorrow!