Patchwork Nation is a reporting project that aims to explore what is happening in the United States by examining different kinds of communities over time. The effort divides America’s 3,141 counties into 12 community types based on certain demographic characteristics, such as income level, racial composition, employment and religion.

I always find this type of information fascinating. it’s incredibly interesting to me that whenever I find national data like this, there is always a section broken out for the Mormons. It seems as though they are such outliers to the rest of the country that they (and those regions) need to be viewed on their own to put things in perspective.

Also, according to this data, I live in a “Monied ‘Burb”, which is entirely surrounded by “Campus and Careers” counties. Interesting, but also not terribly surprising when I stop to think about it.

Another interesting personal parallel that I picked up was in viewing the state of Montana, where much of my family comes from. Montana is a mostly rural state. It’s also mostly conservative and has a fairly low per capita income. The two major college towns Missoula and Bozeman are notable exceptions, serving and liberal and cultural epicenters. There are also some other cities such as Butte, Helena and Billings. I’m pretty familiar with both Helena and Butte, but I can’t speak to Billings although I do know it’s very large for Montana.

In northwestern Montana there is a large lake called Flathead lake. My family owns a cabin there. My great grandfather bought the land in the 1930’s for $500. We own 5 acres of lakefront property and another 10 off the lake that is completely undeveloped. Our lakefront property has a one room cabin with electricity and no running water. There’s an outhouse. It’s very rustic, and very beautiful.

We’re kind of the odd ones on Finley Point (the area where the cabin is). All of our neighbors have retaining walls and docks. One of our neighbors has a giant water slide. Most of them cut all the trees down and grew grass. None of the animals in the area can actually get to the water because of all the development on the lake.

Over the past couple of decades (more or less, I don’t know), Flathead Lake has become a popular destination and summer home spot for tourists. And in Montana, that pretty much means people from outside the state. In particular, people from California…with money. Flathead Lake has become so popular with the tourists that the land value has skyrocketed, making it almost impossible for Montana families to hold on to their land in that area. This is a problem that hits home for me as my Montana family struggles to figure out how to keep their very modest family cabin in the family. If you take a close look at the Patchwork Nation Communities in Montana, you’ll notice that Flathead County is one of two counties in Montana that are labeled as “Monied ‘Burbs”. Interesting. This kind of screws with part of my point, but the southern part of Flathead Lake region (where my family’s cabin is) is actually in Lake County, designated as a “Tractor Country” community. Regardless, much of Lake County (in particular the stretch of 93) is quite a bit different that the areas bordering on the lake.

Long story short, you should definitely check out Patchwork Nation and draw your own personal parallels.

And the HTML/CSS that slowly sashayed that 300×250 div right the fuck over that paragraph you were trying to read is an open standard too.

Definitely made me laugh out loud.

[..] The Bible is the only Book in the world that predicts the future. Thus the Bible is more modern than tomorrow’s newspaper. The Bible accurately foretells the future [...]

I actually really like the phrase “more modern than tomorrow’s newspaper.” It has a nice ring to it.

Check out the video comparing the performance differences. And finally, here’s the link to the SSD express card on New Egg.

• Linux Commands – A practical reference

The list is not customized for OS X systems, so not all of the commands or options necessarily work as listed. I was however able to find similar commands using the man pages. This list is really an amazing reference for commands to do practical things that you might not have known you could do.

I just discovered wget using this list. I think I might have used this a long time ago and then promptly forgot it existed. Basically it downloads files or websites for you. This was exactly what I happened to need to download all of the student websites for my Web Design class. I was able to download all of them in a matter of minutes. The only problem was that it didn’t seem to pick up CSS background images or fonts used from @font-face, so I had to manually check those. An indispensable nevertheless.

First Impressions

The typical nerd response to this has been laughing and pointing. Now, I have to admit, that was my first response as well. But, after I stopped laughing and shaking my head (well, actually I’m still shaking my head), I started thinking of all of the crazy things that I’ve seen people do in the last 5+ years I’ve spent working in computer support. While I find this whole thing rather amusing, I can’t say that I’m actually surprised. I have witnessed someone physically lift a mouse into the air when asked to “move the mouse up”.

I think the biggest difference between developers (or nerds) and normal people, is that normal people don’t want to know how a computer or the internet work. They don’t care. They don’t want to learn. I’ve never really gotten over this because it’s something that I find terribly disappointing about working in computer support. I can watch a person do the same thing over an over again knowing that there is a better way to do it, but they don’t care. They don’t want to understand. They don’t want me to teach them how to understand why something works a certain way. They just want to get the result they need.

I still have yet to decide the which angle of this attitude is the more important one. Is it an indication that a certain population of people will always be lagging behind because they refuse to adapt to a quickly changing world that requires them to understand certain aspects of technology? Or perhaps is it an indication that technology (and the people who develop it) simply hasn’t evolved enough to adapt to “real people” who do not “need” to understand black box in order to use it?

The Wider Debate

Much has been written in regard to the Facebook login fiasco, and quite a controversy has been sparked in the development community about what this really means, and whose “fault” it is. First, check out some of these articles which highlight very interesting points for both sides of the debate.

• We’re the Stupid Ones: Facebook, Google, and Our Failure as Developers
• Reply to Funkatron’s Analysis of the RWW/Facebook Debaucle of 2010
• No, We’re Not The Stupid Ones
• Really? Are we the idiots?
• Some People Can’t Read URLs
• Why It’s Not A Google Failure

On Whether Or Not Google Got It Wrong

I guess this really depends on how far exactly the RWW article made it up the search rankings. I’d say that it’s an entirely different debate depending on whether the search result was first or fifth. I thought originally the result was first, but Stratton claims it never made it to number one. I don’t see any reason why that RWW article should not reach a high rank on the search term “facebook login” since that is what the article is about. It’s a popular blog and presumably the article was popular as well.

A number one search result is another matter though. I agree with the camp that says it would be impossible for Google (or any other search engine) to always know what a person meant. But seriously, isn’t that what Google is always trying to do? It just doesn’t sit right to me that an article about a website as huge as Facebook would ever be a more popular search intention that the site itself.

The search “facebook login” seems to clearly indicate a search for the login page itself. That seems fairly intuitive. In fact, substitute facebook for most major web apps and I think it’s the same. However, if the search changes slightly to something like “facebook changes login”, it’s now an entirely different issue.

Perhaps the artificial intelligence of search algorithms just isn’t sophisticated enough to parse nuances of language that seem so obvious to humans. Then again, perhaps they are and that’s why the RWW page never made it to the number one spot for the “facebook login” search. In that case, I really think this whole debate about whether or not Google got it wrong is really a non issue.

On The Users Themselves

Moving past the whole Google question, there are a couple of things that really baffle me about this entire fiasco. First of all, it’s clear that these users have no idea what a URL is. Both because they are using Google Search to find a URL like facebook.com and also (and more importantly) because they did not realize that the RWW URL bears absolutely no resemblance to any Facebook URL, and therefore cannot possible be the Facebook website.

How is it that these users who have to most superficial understanding of what a website is and how the internet works, are also capable of writing comments to the RWW page? They are baffled about how to log in to a site that’s not the Facebook site they’re used to (and in fact bears absolutely no resemblance to it). But they still can use the comment form in order to voice their disapproval of the perceived redesign.

Okay so, maybe typing into a comment form is no big deal. Even people that think the entire internet is just Google/Facebook/YouTube can figure out a comment form. What about using Facebook itself? It’s not like Facebook is that simple to use. This isn’t a slam on Facebook user interface, it’s just that Facebook is huge, and there are a lot of things that you can do on it. How can these people figure out how to use Facebook?

Perhaps this is an issue of normal people realizing that they want to use Facebook enough to spend time learning about friend networks, walls, how to upload photos in the little snazzy uploader. Why is it that they deem it important enough to figure out how to use websites like Facebook, but at the same time don’t care to understand what a web address is? I think I just fail to understand why someone would not care about that kind of stuff because I am so interested in it myself.

Is It Actually a Facebook Problem?

I logged on to Facebook for the first time in several weeks today. I don’t find myself doing this too much these days because I often either don’t look at Facebook at all or only look at it through the Facebook iPhone app. Much to my surprise, Facebook looked quite a bit different than the last time I saw it. I started thinking about how often I have to do what Steve Krug calls “muddling through” when I’m using Facebook. I know what I can do on Facebook, it just usually takes me a couple of tries to figure it out.

Why is this? Well, when I think about it, the Facebook website changes quite a bit. They’ve made several large and small changes to the website in recent years (or less?). Compare this to something like the Google home page which has changed very little since it’s inception.

Perhaps Facebook users have come to expect over time, and through personal experience, that the Facebook website will change, and sometimes change dramatically. They expect this because it has happened. Perhaps it wasn’t so far fetched after all to believe that the RWW page was simply just the newest reiteration of a Facebook design.

Now, I know this is a stretch, but perhaps it’s not too much of a stretch. Has Facebook changed its pages so much that users are now willing to accept that a complete makeover, such as the RWW page being a new Facebook design, is a real possibility? Does Facebook redesign too often? Has Facebook unwittingly trained it’s users to expect this?

One Last Only Slightly Related Thought

Anyone like me (aka: nerd, developer, gamer, general computer enthusiast) who thinks that the iPad is stupid and going to be a flop is not seeing the big picture. The iPad is designed for exactly the type of people commenting on the RWW website. Both Mike Rundle and Fraser Speirs are dead on (along with some other smart people as well). I think that most people will love the iPad. I think the iPad is going to revolutionize the netbook/eReader market just like the iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone market. Will the iPad be as successful a device as the iPhone? I don’t know. But I guarantee that it will change the game.

What we can all really expect from this rebranding is nearly spelled out by Marc Brownstein:

“Verizon has FiOS. Comcast now has Xfinity. It’s rebundling it in a high-tech package. You are rebundling an improved product, an enhanced service,” said Marc Brownstein, president and chief executive officer of the Brownstein Group, a Philadelphia brand communication, public relations, and advertising firm.

When you read that sentence about “You are rebundling an improved product…” just imagine that you are the subject and what he is really saying is that “you will be paying more money for an ever so slightly enhanced service with a different name.”

They also have a clever and vacant holding page for a new website. Is it just me or does this look like the cover of a Jehovah’s Witnesses pamphlet? Seriously. All they need is a little Jesus on those clouds.

Dear Comcast: Good luck making people like you more once you’re called Xfinity. Here’s a tip, if your services still cost a fortune and barely work, and your customer service is atrocious on top of that, that new name will be just as dirty as the old one.

This all started last year when I got fed up watching those guys on the football shows picking teams. Have you ever noticed how poorly they pick? It’s probably more a statement about how unpredictable football is as a game than about their actual knowledge. Regardless, I decided to do my own picks this season. I estimated that I could pick about two thirds of the games right.

So How Did I Do?

I’ve you’ve been keeping track all season, you’ll likely already know the answer. But for those of you fresh out of the gates, I’d say I did pretty good. Anything over 50% counts right? For each week I picked all but one of the games normally. I’d save one game to do a totally ridiculous pick, called See If It Sticks®. Those of you that have ever read King Kaufman’s column on Salon.com should be familiar with the idea (since I kind of stole it). I actually did decent on the See If It Sticks® picks until the end of the regular season when I started picking blindly against the Colts every week. I do dislike them so much.

Anyway, for the entire regular season, including my See If It Sticks® picks, I finished 154-83. That works out to just under 65% (I think). So I didn’t quite make my goal of picking two thirds of the games correctly, but I got real close. Better luck next season. I finished my See If It Sticks® picks at a paltry 6-9. Bad news bears.

Enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend. I will be cheering loudly against the Colts. But beyond that, wouldn’t it be great if New Orleans won?

Indianapolis √ at Buffalo
Jacksonville at Cleveland √
Chicago √ at Detroit
San Francisco √ at St. Louis
Pittsburgh √ at Miami
NY Giants √ at Minnesota (See If It Sticks®)
Atlanta √ at Tampa Bay
New Orleans at Carolina √
New England √ at Houston
Green Bay √ at Arizona
Washington at San Diego √
Tennessee √ at Seattle
Baltimore at Oakland √
Philadelphia √ at Dallas
Kansas City at Denver √
Cincinnati √ at NY Jets

Hmmm. Not so great that week. Started out good though. That makes me 9-7 for the week and I missed my See If It Sticks® pick.

• Pure CSS3 AT-AT Walker

Buffalo √ at Atlanta

Hehe. Last time I pick Bills.

Kansas City at Cincinnati √

Oakland at Cleveland √

I love it when I pick bad teams to win and they do!

Seattle at Green Bay √

Baltimore √ at Pittsburgh

Close one here.

Houston √ at Miami

Jacksonville at New England √

I say trap game for Patriots. Hopefully the pull it out.

Tampa Bay at New Orleans √

Unbelievable.

Carolina √ at NY Giants (See If It Sticks ®)

Detroit at San Francisco √

St. Louis at Arizona √

I’m going to be pissed if Arizona blows this one. Apparently some teams are even worse than the Lions.

NY Jets at Indianapolis √

Wow. Didn’t see that coming. I’m glad they lost, but I wish Peyton had been playing in it.

Denver at Philadelphia √

Letdown for Philadelphia? I don’t think so.

Dallas √ at Washington

No reason for Dallas not to get this game under control.

Minnesota √ at Chicago

Minnesota slumps to new lows.

Results

Interesting week. Some close loses. I came out 11-5. Not so bad. I got my See If It Sticks®. That makes me 145-76 and 6-8 for See If It Sticks®.

Indy isn’t going to show up this week. At the same token though, I still don’t think the Bills will win.

Jacksonville at Cleveland √

Resurgence in Cleveland? I don’t think so. I’m still picking them though.

Chicago √ at Detroit

I went out on a limb to play the Chicago defense this week. I didn’t think the Eagles were going to be so hot. They better not disappoint.

San Francisco √ at St. Louis

Pittsburgh √ at Miami

Pittsburgh playing for pride and a prayer.

NY Giants √ at Minnesota (See If It Sticks®)

Hmm, which team is in more of a slump. I vote for Giant pride.

Atlanta √ at Tampa Bay

Atlanta has been out for a while, but they are still a good team.

New Orleans at Carolina √

Carolina is the team that everyone would be scared of if they were in the playoffs. Too bad they hit their stride too late. Saints are benching Brees also.

New England √ at Houston

Houston should be a tough opponent. Pats better show up to play. They’re not good enough to take a game off.

Green Bay √ at Arizona

Washington at San Diego √

I would say the the Chargers were going to take this game off, but I still think that they will win.

Tennessee √ at Seattle

Another non-playoff scary team.

Baltimore at Oakland √

Philadelphia at Dallas

The game of the week here. I’m still skeptical that Dallas can close anything out.

Kansas City at Denver √

Denver is still in the race right?

Cincinnati √ at NY Jets

Bengals. Yeah Bengals.

This game should be exciting. Chargers charging (I did it) and Titans stomping (I don’t know). Finally, a great special time game. Let’s hope the fam lets me watch it!

Buffalo √ at Atlanta

Buffalo has to win some of them right?

Kansas City at Cincinnati √

Oakland at Cleveland √

Browns player show up for the new GM…this week.

Seattle at Green Bay √

Baltimore √ at Pittsburgh

Houston √ at Miami

Jacksonville at New England √

I say trap game for Patriots. Hopefully the pull it out.

Tampa Bay at New Orleans √

Saints get it back together. They need to pick it up for the last two games if they expect to roll through the playoffs.

Carolina √ at NY Giants (See If It Sticks ®)

Giant surprise. They choke.

Detroit at San Francisco √

St. Louis at Arizona √

I’m going to be pissed if Arizona blows this one. Apparently some teams are even worse than the Lions.

NY Jets at Indianapolis √

I wish I could say that I thought the Jets would beat the Colts.

Denver at Philadelphia √

Letdown for Philadelphia? I don’t think so.

Dallas √ at Washington

No reason for Dallas not to get this game under control.

Minnesota √ at Chicago

Minnesota has to win this game. They need that bye week.

Nice job for the Cowboys in a December game. I was cheering the Saints on towards and undefeated season, but alas, they didn’t get it. I still think they are a good pick for the Super Bowl. Then again, they’re a young team, and young teams don’t seem to do well in the playoffs.

New England √ at Buffalo

New England pulled it together in a lackluster fashion. At least Randy got in the game.

Arizona √ at Detroit

Ditto for the lackluster part.

Miami at Tennessee √

This was a close one.

Cleveland at Kansas City √

Wow, huge game for Cleveland. No fair beating up on another bad team though. Don’t be fooled, Cleveland is still a mess. I can’t believe Holmgren took the bait. What’s in that Cleveland cool-aid?

Houston √ at St. Louis

Atlanta at NY Jets √

Jets trying to make it to playoffs.Scratch that, Jets are pretty much out.

Oakland at Denver √

Cincinnati at San Diego √

Tampa Bay at Seattle √

Chicago at Baltimore √

I picked right, but I didn’t realize that it would be a blowout.

San Francisco at Philadelphia √

Green Bay √ at Pittsburgh

What a catch.

Minnesota √ at Carolina

What’s going on in Minnesota? Somebody tell them the season’s not over yet!

NY Giants at Washington √ (See If It Sticks ®)

Couldn’t have been more wrong about this one.

Results

It was kind of a rough week, again. I’m 7-8 for the week. I think that might have been my first week below .500. Yikes. Better luck for the next two. Remember, my goal is to hit .666 for the season. So far I’m 134-71 and 5-8 for See If It Sticks®.

Jets √ Vs Bills

Philadelphia √ at Atlanta

St. Louis at Chicago √

Detroit at Cincinnati √

Oakland at Pittsburgh √

Tennessee √ at Indianapolis

Denver √ at Kansas City

New England √ at Miami

New Orleans √ at Washington

Tampa Bay at Carolina √

Houston √ at Jacksonville

San Diego √ at Cleveland

Dallas √ at NY Giants

San Francisco √ at Seattle

Minnesota √ at Arizona

Baltimore √ at Green Bay

Week 13 Summary

So for week 13 I ended up being 8-8. Bad news. Apparently I forgot to do a See If It Sticks ® pick. Season total: 115-60.

Week 14 Results

New Orleans √ at Atlanta

Green Bay √ at Chicago

NY Jets √ at Tampa Bay

Miami √ at Jacksonville

Detroit at Baltimore √

Seattle at Houston √

Denver √ at Indianapolis (See If It Sticks®)

Buffalo at Kansas City √

Cincinnati at Minnesota √

Carolina at New England √

Washington √ at Oakland

St. Louis at Tennessee √

San Diego √ at Dallas

Philadelphia at NY Giants √

Arizona √ at San Francisco

Week 14 Summary

I did much better on week 14. 12-3 for the week and I missed my See If It Sticks ®. Picking against the Colts every week has gone against my better judgement. I still think they are not as good as it seems.

So through week 14 I’m 127-63 and 5-7 on my See If It Sticks ®.

Cowboys at Saints √

It’s still December. I’m going to go out on a limb here and pick the Saints. I know, I know. Risky.

New England √ at Buffalo

New England will pull it together this week.

Arizona √ at Detroit

Hopefully Arizona can beat Detroit.

Miami at Tennessee √

Cleveland at Kansas City √

Houston √ at St. Louis

Atlanta at NY Jets √

Jets trying to make it to playoffs.

Oakland at Denver √

Cincinnati at San Diego √

San Diego is on a roll.

Tampa Bay at Seattle √

Chicago at Baltimore √

Uh, I don’t know how to pick this one.

San Francisco at Philadelphia √

Green Bay √ at Pittsburgh

I never thought the Steelers would slump so low.

Minnesota √ at Carolina

I guess the real question here is when Minnesota will start benching the old man.

NY Giants at Washington √ (See If It Sticks ®)

Giants are in a big time slump.

Here’s to the normally scheduled Sunday games (and Monday):

New Orleans √ at Atlanta

As good a shot as any for the Saints to lose, but not today I say.

Green Bay √ at Chicago

Green Bay isn’t that bad, Chicago is. Once again, apoligies to my friends who are Bears fans. Chicago fans are used to that though right?

NY Jets √ at Tampa Bay

Ugh. Bore me.

Miami √ at Jacksonville

After beating the Patriots last week, Miami is on a roll and trying to squeeze into the playoffs.

Detroit at Baltimore √

I’m saving my See If It Sticks® pick.

Seattle at Houston √

Denver √ at Indianapolis (See If It Sticks®)

Really I just want Indy to lose.

Buffalo at Kansas City √

Cincinnati at Minnesota √

Carolina at New England √

Yay! I pick the Patriots this week.

Washington √ at Oakland

Ugh. Washington, I guess.

St. Louis at Tennessee √

San Diego √ at Dallas

Dallas in December?

Philadelphia at NY Giants √

Arizona √ at San Francisco

Results

Overall this was a tough week for me. I’m happy though that I got some of the tougher picks like Baltimore over Pittsburgh, and also that a lot of the really close games went my way. Big surprises this week for me were the loses of the Giants (wtf?), Miami and Arizona. I also have to say that my Texans had a great first half against the Colts. Too bad they couldn’t close the deal. I’m happy that I’m only an occasional Texans fan, because being a regular must just be heartbreaking.

So for the week I’m 10-6 and missed my See If It Sticks ®. I think that’s the worst week I’ve had for quite some time. Better luck in week 13. For the season I’m not 107-52 and 5-6 for See If It Sticks ®.

Jets √ Vs Bills

(12/6/09): And here are the rest of this week’s picks.

Philadelphia √ at Atlanta

Redman played well last week, but I think the Eagles have the advantage here.

St. Louis at Chicago √

Stinky, stinky.

Detroit at Cincinnati √

Oakland at Pittsburgh √

One Pittsburgh can finally win?

Tennessee √ at Indianapolis

Originally I picked Indy for this game, but given the fact that I didn’t see any better See If It Sticks &res; picks this week, I’m using it here. I might continue using my See If It Sticks &res; pick against Indy for the rest of the season.

Denver √ at Kansas City

New England √ at Miami

Pats off a bad loss and Dolphins minus Ronnie Brown. Pats should win easily. Then again, nothing between the Pats and the Dolphins ever seems to come easily.

New Orleans √ at Washington

Tampa Bay at Carolina √

Houston √ at Jacksonville

San Diego √ at Cleveland

Dallas √ at NY Giants

San Francisco √ at Seattle

Sad story. I have both Justin Forsett and Julius Jones on one of my fantasy teams.

Minnesota √ at Arizona

Battle of the old men. This game is going to be a mess if Warner doesn’t play. I’d give the advantage to Arizona with Warner, but I’m less sure about it without.

Baltimore √ at Green Bay

Green Bay √ at Detroit

Detroit continues it’s Turkey Day losing streak. The debate about this particular tradition rages on.

Oakland at Dallas √

Dallas pulls it together somehow.

NY Giants √ at Denver

Denver’s slide doesn’t end today.

Tampa Bay at Atlanta √

Miami √ at Buffalo

Cleveland at Cincinnati √

Seattle √ at St. Louis

Carolina √ at NY Jets

The Jets haven’t been so good for a while.

Washington at Philadelphia √

I predict this game will be just as terrible as the first matchup between these two teams.

Indianapolis at Houston √ (See If It Sticks ®)

Kansas City at San Diego √

Jacksonville √ at San Francisco

Chicago at Minnesota √

I think every Chicago game the year induces yawns just thinking about it. No offense to my friends that are Chicago fans.

Arizona √ at Tennessee

I like Tennessee a lot in the last couple of weeks. I’m picking the Cardinals, but this is going to be a good game.

Pittsburgh at Baltimore √

This is another really tough game. I think the Ravens are going to pull it out. I would use my See If It Sticks ® here, but I already used that for the big upset of the Texans over the Colts. Hmmmm.

New England at New Orleans √

Once again, it hurts to pick agains the Pats, but this game is in the Superdome on a Monday night. It’s going to be real hard for the Pats to win.

Washington at Dallas √

Cleveland at Detroit √ (What the Heck ®)

San Francisco √ at Green Bay

The next three games are all very close losses.

Pittsburgh √ at Kansas City

Atlanta √ at NY Giants

New Orleans √ at Tampa Bay

Buffalo at Jacksonville √

Indianapolis √ at Baltimore

Seattle at Minnesota √

Arizona √ at St. Louis

NY Jets at New England √

Cincinnati √ at Oakland

San Diego √ at Denver

Philadelphia √ at Chicago

Tennessee √ at Houston

Results

Interesting week. I picked four games wrong, but three of them were within three points and two went to overtime. The only one that wasn’t that close was the Green Bay and San Francisco game (which was still only six points different).

That makes me 11-4 (with one abstention). I got my See If It Sticks ® pick too. On the season: 97-46 and 5-5 for See If It Sticks ®. Very close to two thirds.

New Orleans √ at St. Louis

Wasn’t quite a gimme after all.

Tampa Bay at Miami √

Same.

Detroit at Minnesota √

At least I got one of my gimmes right as an actual gimme.

Jacksonville at NY Jets √

Buffalo at Tennessee √

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh √

I knew I should have picked against the Steelers.

Denver √ at Washington

Wow. Denver really did lose to Washington.

Atlanta √ at Carolina

Kansas City √ at Oakland

Seattle at Arizona √

Dallas √ at Green Bay

Philadelphia √ at San Diego

New England at Indianapolis √

Baltimore at Cleveland (See If It Sticks®)

Yep. That was crazy.

Results

This was kind of a rough week for me. For the week that’s 8-7. Yikes. And I missed my See If It Sticks ®. That’s 86-42 and 4-5 for See If It Sticks ®. Sigh.

Washington at Dallas √

Cleveland at Detroit √ (What the Heck ®)

San Francisco √ at Green Bay

Pittsburgh √ at Kansas City

Atlanta √ at NY Giants

New Orleans √ at Tampa Bay

Buffalo at Jacksonville √

Indianapolis √ at Baltimore

Seattle at Minnesota √

Arizona √ at St. Louis

NY Jets at New England √

Cincinnati √ at Oakland

San Diego √ at Denver

Philadelphia √ at Chicago

Tennessee √ at Houston

Tough picks abound for this week. Even the crappy matchups are tough to pick. Who will stink more? Who knows. Let’s hope I at least get the gimme games.

Chicago at San Francisco √

This one is tough. Both teams are kind of in a slide. I’ll go with San Francisco.

New Orleans √ at St. Louis

Gimme #1.

Tampa Bay at Miami √

Gimme #2. Although, I did go against Tampa Bay last week and lose.

Detroit at Minnesota √

Gimme #3

Jacksonville at NY Jets √

Buffalo at Tennessee √

Tennessee on the up and up?

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh √

I won’t bet against Pittsburgh this week. Tough matchup though.

Denver √ at Washington

A couple weeks ago this would have been a gimme game. Not so sure now though. Washington stinks though, and I think Denver will use this game to get back on track.

Atlanta √ at Carolina

Kansas City √ at Oakland

Seattle at Arizona √

Dallas √ at Green Bay

Dallas at the head of their division. Who’d have thunk?

Philadelphia √ at San Diego

New England at Indianapolis √

This hurts. I don’t think New England is going to get it done in the dome. Indy is going to have a big surprise though playing a good team.

Baltimore at Cleveland (See If It Sticks®)

Picking Cleveland? I must be crazy.

Results

This was a good week for picks for me, unlike in my fantasy teams. I got blown out on one team and nearly lost on my other to a team that neglected to play a tight end. Sigh.

Out of the two games that I got wrong, one was a big surprise (Tampa Bay over Green Bay) and the other I was torn about in my pick. I’m pleased with picking both the Cowboys and San Diego as winners in their respective games. I’m patting myself on the back.

So for the week I’m 11-2 and got my See If It Sticks® pick. That’s 78-35 for the season and split at 4-4 for See If It Sticks®. Let’s see if I can stay as good. This coming week has some tough games.

I tell you, there are some stinkers this week. Atlanta.

Arizona √ at Chicago

“They are who we thought they were!” Hehe. That will never die. Cardinals bring it back this week. They won’t let ‘em off the hook.

Baltimore at Cincinnati √

Ravens had a big win last week but the cardiac cats are well, the cardiac cats.

Houston at Indianapolis √

My Texans are a lot better than people realize. I don’t think the Colts are as good as people think. That said, I’m still picking the Colts in a close one.

Miami at New England √

Finally, the Pats play the Dolphins. There’s something wrong with the schedule this year. The Jets and Dolphins have already played twice, and this is our first game against the Dolphins. I’ve got to believe that Belichick has an answer for the wildcat, whether it be just keeping the Miami offense off the field or hitting them really hard. He’s got to have an answer. Pats.

Green Bay √ at Tampa Bay

Um, Tampa Bay stinks.

Kansas City at Jacksonville √

Both these teams stink

Carolina at New Orleans √

New Orleans certainly doesn’t stink.

Detroit at Seattle √

These teams really stink.

Tennessee √ at San Francisco (See If It Sticks®)

This is the stinky teams game of the week. I’m thinking Chris Johnson has a break out game.

San Diego √ at NY Giants

I think I’ve picked the Giants the last three weeks in a row and gotten burned. I’m picking the Chargers on that fact alone.

Dallas √ at Philadelphia

The Eagles surprised me last week. They got game. I think Dallas will win though.

Pittsburgh at Denver √

This will be a tough, tough game. What a great Monday Night Game. Denver.

Yay for my Texans.

Cleveland at Chicago √

No surprise here. Everyone stomps on the Browns.

Seattle at Dallas √

The Seahawks don’t stand a chance.

St. Louis at Detroit √

Yeah, got that one wrong.

Denver √ at Baltimore

Oh boy did those Ravens show up to play. I’m kind of sad I missed seeing this game. I’m not quite sure what happened to the Broncos. I would love to get my hands on some of those coaches tapes.

San Francisco at Indianapolis √

A lot closer than I thought.

Miami √ at NY Jets

I am so happy I got this one right.

NY Giants √ at Philadelphia

Unbelievable thumping. I have to stop picking the Giants so that I can be more happy when they lose.

Jacksonville at Tennessee √ (See If It Sticks ®)

Titans for the win? After their bye maybe they can pick off Jackonsville. Maybe.

Oakland at San Diego √

Everybody beats up on Oakland. The Raiders nearly beat the Chargers in week 1, and haven’t looked back since coming face to face with a big win. The Chargers got this one.

Carolina at Arizona √

Another one that I got really wrong. Bad week for me.

Minnesota at Green Bay √

Well, it was a good game. The Packers were just no match for the Vikings. The Vikings are a good team.

Atlanta at New Orleans √

I nearly forgot this one. Finally a good Monday Night game. Saints.

Results

I was only 8-5 for week 8, with the big losses by the Giants, Cardinals and Broncos really screwing me up. I did get my See If It Sticks ® pick though.

For the season I am 67-33 and 3-4 for the See If It Sticks ®. I’m still on track for picking two thirds of the games correctly, which is my goal.