Kilroy2.0 is EVERYWHERE!

If you’ve been on any social media website today you’ve probably seen something like “ [ :: ERROR :: ANYONE'S MIND CAN AND BODY CAN BE DUPLICATED!!! KILROY2.0 IS HERE #7thSon ]”. Who is this Kilroy2.0 and why is he hacking everyone’s social media pages? Kilroy2.0, likely the most loved, is one of seven beta clones – replicas of one John Alpha who is intent on taking over the world. The only people who can stop John Alpha are the seven beta clones.

7th Son: Descent is the first novel in the 7th son trilogy written by J.C. Hutchins. The book is part science fiction and part adventure. A master in the social media circle, J.C. devises cleaver ways for his followers (the beta clone army) to spread the news of his works. In the 7th Son novel Kilroy2.0 is a computer hacker who isn’t all quit there but who plays a major part in resolving the plot. Since Kilroy2.0 is so well loved by the beta clone army, J.C. uses Kilroy’s hacking abilities to disrupt the beta clone army’s social media sites.

7th Son: Descent makes its debut today and can be purchased from your favorite book store. Check out a PDF preview of 7th Son: Descent here http://bit.ly/7thSonDescentSpecialEditionPDF

Kicking Back with Kickers!

For the past seven years I have competed in a pay-to-play Fantasy Football league. Many of those years I was the only female among the group. The other gentlemen in the league are spread throughout the United States and although I’ve never met many of them in person, I consider them to be friends.

As with any fantasy league we have certain scoring rules and the rules are subject to change in any year. This year our scoring system for kickers was updated such that a field goal of 50-59 yards is worth five points, a field goal of 60-69 yards is now worth seven points and a field goal of 70+ yards is worth ten points. Previously any field goal greater than 50 yards was worth five points. I didn’t personally see the need to change the rules, but had no objection either, as field goals greater than 60 yards are rare. But how rare are they? The following website follows the history of NFL field goals http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/Longest_Field_Goal_in_NFL_History.htm. The current record was set by Tom Dempsey in 1970 at 63 yards and tied by Jason Elam in 1998. The longest field goal last year was 57 yards by Nate Kaeding and Sebastian Janikowski. Since 2000 only two 60+ field goals one of 62 yards and one of 60 yards have been recorded, both in 2006.

While looking for the NFL record for longest field goals I was reminded of my High School years. I attended Permian High School in Odessa, TX – yes, THE Permian High School of “Friday Night Lights” fame. I was also in the band which means I traveled to all of the district and play-off games. There was one semi-final play-off game in which my Panthers were down 7-9 to Longview late in the fourth quarter. After being stopped on third down and with Permian unlikely to receive the ball on offense again, the coaches opted for a field goal. Out steps Russell Wheatley who proceeds to kick a 62 yard clutch field goal that won the game and allowed Permian to proceed to the state final. At that time 62 yards was the record for high school football. Since that time a 65 yard field goal has been reported at the high school level.

So what are the odds we will see a 70+ yard field goal? Not very good. But this one thing I do know, when/if it happens, someone will be waiting in the locker room handing a urine cup to that Kicker.

Let them eat cake!

Cake? Cake?! Did someone say, “Cake”??!!!

I suppose just about everyone loves cake. How could you not with the many different varieties at our fingertips. There is pound cake, short cake, coffee cake, ice cream cake, pudding cake, cheesecake and the ever present Christmas fruit cake. Additionally you can choose from chocolate, vanilla, lemon and strawberry flavors to name a few. With all of this diversity it isn’t surprising that people enjoy cake.

When I say that I enjoy cake that is what I actually mean. I enjoy the cake, especially if the cake is moist and fresh. I don’t really need any frosting, just let me eat cake. However, that isn’t the case with everyone. You see recently I signed up for a twitter account. I started following people I know and looking at the tweets my friends received from other people. In this way I was able to locate many new and interesting people that I could follow as well. This one person in particular, let’s just call her pianoeditor, would tweet – Cake? Cake?! Did someone say, “Cake”??!!! – everytime someone would mention cake. Thus I made the assumption that pianoeditor liked cake. That is until a mutual twitterpal tweeted about having strawberry shortcake for dessert. I tweeted back something to the effect of “Shhhhhhh don’t let pianoeditor hear you say that as she loves cake". Boy did I have egg (an ingredient in cake) on my face when I was promptly informed by pianoeditor that “Cake is but a delivery vehicle for FROSTING!!!.” Since strawberry shortcake doesn’t have FROSTING…………….. So I have come to the conclusion that pianoeditor is more interested in the “Icing on the cake”. But then the cake and the icing can live in harmony and most people would prefer them together. Who knows, maybe someday I can show her the inherent goodness of the actual cake and she can show me the inherent goodness of the icing.

So how about you, are you a “Let them eat cake” or an “Icing on the cake” type of person?

What's mine is yours!

I’m an avid sports fan especially football, baseball and softball (women weren’t allowed to play baseball in my day). Growing up in West Texas I wasn’t much of a basketball fan until I went to graduate school at the University of Kentucky. There I had to become a basketball fan as to do otherwise was dangerous in Lexington.

I have noticed that there is a major difference between athletes who play basketball and those who play football and baseball. I wondered if perhaps the difference might be genetic but then some athletes play multiple sports so that can’t be it.

What I don’t understand is why a basketball player can be on the floor for over 30 minutes and not spit while a pitcher can’t throw a pitch, a batter can’t step into the batter’s box and a football player can’t take off his helmet without spitting. Being an ex-Medical Technologist, and having cultured numerous sputum samples, I can tell you that spit is nasty! Yet baseball players have no problem sliding head first into home plate and scraping their hands across someone else’s spit.

From the time I was in elementary school my Mom cautioned me against drinking after someone else. I’m sure every Mom in the world does this but somehow the connection with spitting doesn’t register in our brains.

Every year I write a letter to Bud Selig, the commissioner of baseball , and Roger Goodell , the commissioner of football in which I warn about the health hazards of spitting. I never get a response but I guess they are too busy handing out suspensions for growth hormones.

The comment line is now open……..