3 Stepz is Closing

Flks,
This will be my last post on 3 More Stepz. I need to support the family and I am migrating my blogging activities to Yahoo 360. I was skeptical of this product given past experiences with big portal Blogs but I found this cool since it integrates well with my photo albums on Yahoo, LaunchCast and even Flickr.

Here is the new Blog URL so please update any links:

http://360.yahoo.com/lancemartel@rogers.com

You've got to be drunk to watch the Saints...

So last weekend was quite possibly the worst football weekend of my life. Here is the summary:

Saturday - No Notre Dame game
Sunday - Saints lose 52-3 to the 0-4 Green Bay Packers. To make this worse the Saints best player Deuce McAllister is injured and lost for the season (torn ACL). That injury is usually a career ender.

Today the Mayor of Baton Rouge says this:
"I think you've got to be drunk to watch the Saints these days. It would be hard to watch them sober," Greco said.

The statement is in regards to this article:http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2189807

The good news is that Notre Dame is playing USC in the biggest game of the season on Saturday. If the Irish can win this game they may be a serious contender for the National Chanmpionship and end SC's 2 and a half year college football dynasty.

The Saints (2-3) and can move into contention in their divsion with a win over the the rival Falcons (3-2).

I feel good about both games coming off last weekends disasters.

Some Random Thoughts on the Industry

Yahoo, Microsoft join IM hands
Looks like the battle lines are being drawn for the next generation of Web wars. Microsoft has been suprisingly open with it's IM operability if you recall that days when MS attempted to interoperate with AOL's AIM without AOL permission. Great news for us Canadian who primarily use these 2 services over the AOL suite of IM clients.

John Battelle thinks this may set the table for AOL to work with Google Talk. Which leads into this store:

Google, Comcast in talks to invest in AOL
I find it funny as a former AOL employee that Google would even consider this. It's knee jerk to the MSN/Yahoo relationship along with Google's concerns of losing it's Ad words revenue from AOL's membership base if AOL is acquired by someone else..say Microsoft? I would caution Google to look at AOL's past performance with "partnerships". Time Warner, Netscape, ICQ....hello?

Apple unveils video iPod, new iMac
Growden and I discussed what this COULD have been prior to the announcement and our idea was much cooler. An iPod PVR...dock it by your TV and record all the shows to your iPod and watch it on the embedded player or any other TV. Pay for video is also cool.

Michelle...you can have my mini :-)

Like Nascar....but with Rockets

www.rocketracingleague.com

Looks interesting...maybe one or two races before the first big disaster.

32...not quite over the hill.

So I turned 32 yesterday.

I realized I have been able to drive a car for half of my life now (32/2 = 16) . Tough year..I think I like the odd year birthdays better. I got some great gifts from Michelle and the work people not to mention a free lunch and beers! Thanks!

I forgot to post about the U2 concert we attended on Sept 14th. Unbelievable show and an experience I will never forget. We arrived early and manage to secure a spot 2 people off the circlular walkway around the stage. Bono stopped multiple times in front of us to view the "horns". One downer was the pathetic girl who barged in front of us and them attempted to pull her friend into Michelle's spot. I was pretty pissed and she eventually left.

Tailgating at Notre Dame

Group shot on Saturday Sept 17 for Notre Dame homecoming against Michigan State.

One and One

We are two weeks into the NFL season and the Saints have manage to split their first two games.

Game 1 against Carolina was inspirational as they managed to pickup a win over a team many people are picking for the Super Bowl. The following week the Saints received more press coverage than I have ever seem them get and many have dubbed them "America's Team".

In week two they had their first "home" game against the New York Giants in New York (huh?). It was a nationally televised Monday nighter which is rare for the Saints. In true fashion they were terrible in front of the national audience. Even worse the Canadian networks only picked up half of the game and switched to the Dallas-Washington game just before half-time. The Saints looked tired and a number of pre-snap penalties showed that they were screwed by the NFL in being forced to play a road game.

Not a bad start but I am concerned with the sloppiness of play and Aaron Brooks is terrible.

My college team, Notre Dame, has had a decent start and are 2-1. I was in South Bend last weekend to see the Irish lose a tough one to Michigan State. Seeing a live Notre Dame game is an experience like none other. Go Irish!

Hole in the Roof

My beloved Saints were embarrassed in the pre-season game against the Ravens last week. Upon returning to New Orleans they were evacuated because of Hurricane Katrina.

The Super Dome in New Orleans survived the hurricane but 2 holes were ripped in the roof of the dome. I suspect this may cause some problems for home games in the first couple of weeks of the season.

Funnily enough the owner of the Saints hates the Superdome and has been threatening to move the team to another city if a new deal for a stadium isn't reached. I imagine he was hoping the entire stadium was destroyed! In any case, any team that goes through this must deserve some good karma...please!