boxes on wheels

There was a time when maximizing aerodynamics in car design was paramount to getting the most out of fuel efficiency and minimizing drag. As I understand it, there would be wind tunnels designed specifically for this task and it always made complete sense to me. There is something so elegant about seeing air flow as it streams smoothly around a solid object.

But in recent years, all that seems to have been thrown out the window with some of the new motor vehicle designs. Have you seen them on the roads? They are shaped like boxes, apparently designed to maximize the buffeting of the air fighting its way around them while minimizing flow and efficiency. Or simply with the goal of making some sort of visual statement, physics be damned.

Sure, they might be better for packing and moving - think moving truck - but I wonder whatever happened to the science and engineering behind the study of aerodynamics?

preseason game - Texans vs. 49ers

Another massacre!

Today's entry might as well be the same one I typed up after the big loss to the Saints a couple of weeks ago. And now, just as then: no worries. In the short term, sure... there might be worries, but that's only if I don't want to give the new coaching staff any time to implement their changes. It will take time, to be sure. We're only three weeks into the preseason, for all those sourpusses out there.

Now, I happen to think that the 49ers are working with more talent and a better situation than Bill Walsh inherited when he took over the team back in the 1970's. Even so, this year the Harbaugh regime missed out on an important off-season of activity due to the situation with the CBA.

As the regular season gets going though, what's important is how do the Niners compete with the rest of the league in general? Clearly, they don't measure up with a team as good as the Houston Texans, but to have shown improvement, the Niners should at least be in the middle of the league - that's what I hope anyway. But if not, as long as they're putting something great together, I'll be fine. No one should expect them to win the Super Bowl this year or next year. Going with the Bill Walsh comparison, it'd be nice if they won it all in three years, but those are lofty expectations. Will they be contenders - that will be a more realistic hope.

What came to my mind as I watched the game last night are the Jimmy Johnson-era Dallas Cowboys with a young Troy Aikman being installed at quarterback. As I recall that first year, they went 1 - 15. It took a few seasons for them to become champions. So as long as the Jim Harbaugh-era shows the same potential of building a champion, let's all be patient.

That's not to say that all coaching regimes should be given at least three years to win the Super Bowl. Looking back, I have to agree that recent 49ers coaches had to go. But I continue to be VERY excited to have Harbaugh as head coach. Even Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. had some missteps when he first ran the team. And he stuck with Bill Walsh even after his team went 2 - 14 his first year as head coach. As long as we know that the right system is being put in place and that things will jell eventually, well, however much we can 'know' something like that, it should be an ultimately satisfying ride for 49ers fans!

preseason game - Raiders vs. 49ers

Harbaugh's first win!!!

As head coach that is. It was a team victory, of course. And a preseason victory, which makes it a bit like a grain of salt. But it feels so good!

Just as last week's awful defeat to the Saints, I have to tell myself not to make too, too much of this week's victory over the Raiders. Have I used the word 'victory' enough times? It was a victory after all...

I am a bit fearful of next week's game against the Houston Texans. It appears that they have a very high-powered offense. But it will be a good test for us, as is every game. I am liking very much the play-calling by Harbaugh's coaching staff - it seems varied, flexible and opportunistic. And not just in that it was effective. I'm rambling, aren't I? Just typing thoughts as they come to me... I'm watching the Giants game right now. Now their season seems to be at the tipping point.

the king retires

Or rather, is retired.

I just read online that Burger King is changing its marketing campaign and retiring that gosh-awful King mascot... you know, that shiny, big-headed monstrosity that is the stuff of nightmares. He, or it, has been thrown into other situations outside of just television commercials, such as football promotions. It's been such a horrid and almost ubiquitous character that I'd really grown to dislike Burger King. And I've always preferred its food to many other fast-food chains.

Some commercials that come to mind: a couple is lying in bed having woken up with the daylight, one of them gets up to draw up the blinds... and there's the King looking in the window! I always pictured myself grabbing a baseball bat and chasing after him, yelling "Did you get a good look at my wife?" Another showed a construction worker, high, high up on a steel girder, and the King appears suddenly in front of him. What the... ? This is supposed to be, what, edgy?? Because I thought it was at the very least creepy.

I don't often eat fast food, but there have been those rare occasions when I possibly could have chosen to eat at Burger King and didn't because of that darned 'King' thing – on posters and wall hangings for example. But now, if I want a Whopper, it may be an option. Yes, disturbing, offensive, or otherwise unappealing ad campaigns and commercials are enough for me to quietly boycott businesses and companies.

talk to the hand

Years ago, when my eldest niece was in her early or mid-teens, I remember saying something to her while we were seated in the living room of my mother's house during a family gathering. Boring adult that I am, I'm sure that what I had to say wasn't exactly scintillating or very interesting.

Now, she was being more playful than anything (I think), but at one point she held up her hand and said, "Talk to the hand!" I remember not being offended, but decided to try something else... I started focusing on her hand and seriously talking to it. And after a moment of two, she got icked out and said, "Ooh, stop that!"

Score one for the adult!

preseason game - 49ers vs. Saints

Wow, we got massacred!

But, no worries. Going into this season, people were doing pretty good accepting that the Niners were going to go through some adjustments and growing pains, what with their new coaching staff and all. Plus there was the prolonged lockout due to having to come up with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the owners and players. Which meant a rushed and abbreviated off-season which put the teams with new systems to implement at an even greater disadvantage. Particularly the teams with not only new head coaches, but new head coaches whom had never been head coaches at the NFL level. Not to over-dramatize the situation, but it's kind of a perfect storm.

I'm reminded of last season, when Mike Singletary actually thanked the Seattle Seahawks for the whooping his team gave the 49ers early in the season, maybe even the first game... I don't remember. But that 'thanking' didn't portend much in the way of turning the Niners' fortunes around for the rest of the season. Well, I don't imagine that Coach Harbaugh is planning on thanking the Saints for the a$$ beating last night, but it was one heck of a drubbing that sends the 49ers back to the drawing board. Now, will the team respond by learning and becoming adept at handling the blitz? That's the lasting image I'll take from the game anyway. A pretty aggressive approach to lay on the first game of the pre-season, against a team with so much to do. Not that I'm looking for excuses, but geez!

Let's just hope that the 49ers come out of this loss stronger and more resilient. Particularly the quarterbacks. Both Smith and Kaepernick looked bad at first glance, but I can't imagine any other quarterbacks functioning any better under the circumstances. With the pressure from the rush that the Saints were putting on, what else could the quarterbacks have done? Perhaps the Niners will have 'hot' reads in place in the future, but that will take some more coordination with the receivers. Practice, practice, practice.

And just as the offense was facing an unusually blitz-happy package by the Saints defense, I wonder if the 49er defense was facing an unusually bland and straightforward Saints offense. Our offense is taking a lot of lumps for their performance, while the Niners first-string defense is getting praised. While I certainly hope they have continued success on the field, I wonder if they only looked good because of the Saints playing conservative on offense, at least conservative compared to their defense. Oh well, next week's game will tell a whole lot more about how competitive the 49ers look to be this coming season.

In the end, though, preseason games are preseason games. Last year, the 49ers under Singletary went 4 - 0, and look where that supposed success got them... a 6 - 10 record and outside looking in at the playoffs. So, again, I'm not worried - just very interested, and happy that we've got some football going on!

half deaf

Here's a dubious advantage to being deaf in one ear:

Whenever I need or want to plug my ears, I only have to plug one of them now. That seems rather obvious, but it's just that I can do it more inconspicuously now. When one has both ears to plug, it looks oh-so-obvious – reaching with both hands on either side of the head and pressing a finger into each ear. There's no subtlety at all to that gesture, and everyone knows, "Hey, he's plugging his ears!"

On the other hand, I've found that all I have to do now is tilt my head down to one side, and use one hand, one finger. I haven't yet tested this theory by looking at myself in the mirror, but I'm imagining it is much more nonchalant and casual looking compared to when I could hear out of both ears, and thus having two ears to plug.

Yes, it's quite a reach finding this advantage, but better to focus on the positives of my condition than the negatives...

at the end of the day...

the sun sets.

on my desktop

Here is one of my prized plants, a Rhododendron occidentale, or Western azalea. Not my actual plant though; it's a photograph of my ideal specimen, taken by James Gaither, and used without permission (sorry!). Considering how widely read this blog most surely is (ahem), that could be a real problem... in any case, it is what I currently have on my computer's desktop.

The Western azalea is from the California Floristic Province, and although it is not locally native to where I live, I am attempting to grow it anyway. I have read that it is a slow grower, and it has been; it isn't much bigger than when I bought it through mail order a few years ago. Its flowers vary somewhat in their coloring, but today's photograph shows what I am hoping for when it has its first blooms, next season, I hope.

oh no, football talk!

It's been awhile since I was really active with this blog; there was a time when I tried to have an entry every day. And now, it might be once every week. Both a sister and a friend have commented that they aren't particularly into sports, but that's been my go-to topic whenever there hasn't much else I wanted to really write about. And this Friday, the 49ers play their first exhibition game of this new 2011 season.

With the start of football, it's a very convenient way to get in my weekly entry... a game every week, right? Sometimes when I'm lying around, a non-sports related subject will dart through my mind and I might make a mental note that that would be a good thing to 'muse' about in this blog, but then it's often gone by the time I sit down at my computer and try to remember what it was. Am I the only one that thinks better, imagines better, and is more creative while lazing in bed than while sitting at a desk in front of a computer?

I haven't talked about Coach Jim Harbaugh much since his hiring back in January, and to think of all the entries I went through when Mike Singletary was the head coach. And no, the 49ers didn't end up signing Nnamdi Asomugha off of the free agent market. But after the first wave of free agents were signed, the 49ers were very active on the market. There are a LOT of new names and faces on the team. And apparently none with contracts that will hamstring the team for years to come. I'd like to think that the Niners took a very wise and value-driven approach to their new acquisitions this off-season.

But I think what it really comes down to is the new coaching philosophy. I'd like to think that the team's new coaching regime will bring out the very best in quarterback Alex Smith and jibe perfectly with his talents. That the overall philosophy will bring out the best in every member of the team, utilizing what they do best – no more square pegs jammed into round holes. A fluid and adjustable game plan that will be capable of taking whatever the defense is giving on any given game day. To imagine a team that not only makes half-time adjustments, but one that makes in-game adjustments... it's all very exciting to think about!

Yet just as with the recent free agent activity which at first seemed to be going nowhere, I will have to remind myself that it is a process, that while Harbaugh and company are implementing their changes and molding the team's makeup and atmosphere, it could take some time. If they're building Rome, it will take more than a day or even a single season (or two). But I tell you, I can't wait to see how it all pans out!!

have you heard of... ?

Recently, I was talking with one of my nieces. She's in her early 20's. I had a Music Choice channel on the television and Linda Rondstadt was singing. I asked my niece if she had heard of Linda Rondstadt, and I wasn't too surprised when she shook her head 'no.' And because I thought it was an interesting bit of trivia, I told her that Ms. Rondstadt was Governor Jerry Brown's girlfriend back when he was the Governor of California the first time around. My niece politely listened.

So, later that same conversation, I was describing to my niece about the parlor game 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.' How depending on how one defines a degree, we're all six degrees of practically anyone or more interestingly in my view, any celebrity. And I asked her if she had heard of Kevin Bacon. And she shook her head 'no.'

I kept right on talking... one of the celebrities I'm sort of two degrees from is Kevin Costner. My brother has a friend from high school, Reed, whom I know too although it's been years and years, and Reed is now a Hollywood producer and writer and he happens to know Kevin Costner - in fact, the story I heard is that they've been bowling together! Anyway, I asked my niece if she had heard of Kevin Costner, and she politely shook her head 'no.'

I feel so old.