Driving to work this morning, tooling along the relatively vacant roads (a bonus of the few days before Christmas), when I began to hear bells. No, not entirely isolated to my cranium…it seems that KCBS sent a reporter out to check out the Golden Gate Boys Choir, of which Adam is a part. (See previous post.) As soon as we find out if there is a podcast of this story, I’ll throw it up here. In the meantime, if you can tune into 740 AM, I’m sure that story will be run a few more times this morning, before the performance at 101 California Street in San Francisco.

Adam, along with his fellow ringmasters, can be found in a photo in the San Francisco Chronicle today! The photo ran with an article about the Golden Gate Boys Choir and Bellringers’ Christmas season performances. Adam appears almost dead center in the picture above the article (third from the left). He’s been attending the GGBC summer camp for three years and participating with the group for just about as long, and joined the GGBC last year during its trip to Italy.  I’m not quite certain where this photo was taken. 

You can find the article on page twenty in the 96 Hours section or find it online at sfgate.com. (You can see a larger version of the picture by clicking on it.)

From Dave Barry’s “Christmas Shopping: A Survivor’s Guide”…

On Gifts for Children:

This is easy. You never have to figure out what to get for children, because they will tell you exactly what they want. They spend months and months researching these kinds of things by watching Saturday- morning cartoon-show advertisements. Make sure you get your children exactly what they ask for, even if you disapprove of their choices. If your child thinks he wants Murderous Bob, the Doll with the Face You Can Rip Right Off, you’d better get it. You may be worried that it might help to encourage your child’s antisocial tendencies, but believe me, you have not seen antisocial tendencies until you’ve seen a child who is convinced that he or she did not get the right gift.”

On Gifts for Men:

Men are amused by almost any idiot thing — that is why professional ice hockey is so popular — so buying gifts for them is easy. But you should never buy them clothes. Men believe they already have all the clothes they will ever need, and new ones make them nervous. For example, your average man has 84 ties, but he wears, at most, only three of them. He has learned, through humiliating trial and error, that if he wears any of the other 81 ties, his wife will probably laugh at him (“You’re not going to wear THAT tie with that suit, are you?”). So he has narrowed it down to three safe ties, and has gone several years without being laughed at. If you give him a new tie, he will pretend to like it, but deep inside he will hate you.

If you want to give a man something practical, consider tires. More than once, I would have gladly traded all the gifts I got for a new set of tires.”

 

Holy fowl demise, Batman!  

Is a staple of the American landscape in danger of extinction? 

Pink flamingo imperiled?!

 

 

The below is from MaxPreps…

Sean Konoske #41
Position: FB, LB    Height: 6’0″    Weight: 200 lbs.    Class: Senior
Defensive	Statistic Definitions

Tackles	Tackles	Assists	Total	Tackles/Game
Season Totals	24	14	38	7.6

Sacks	Sacks	Sacks/Game
Season Totals	1.0	.2

Game by Game	Tackles					Sacks
Date	Opponent	Result	Tck	Ast	Tot	Sak
9/8/2006	American	W 15-6	4	1	5
9/15/2006	Tokay	W 34-27	4	3	7	1
9/22/2006	Armijo	W 10-9	6	3	9
9/29/2006	St. Patrick/St. Vincent	W 34-28	6	3	9
10/6/2006	Fairfield	L 20-27	4	4	8

Levi Alexander joined the Konoske clan today (Tuesday, Sept. 12) at 11:56 a.m., weighing in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and stretching to 19¾ inches.  Congrats to Mark and Kenna!

Chuckled at this yesterday on Pete Wilson’s afternoon radio show on KGO in a discussion with Andrew Fraknoi, an astronomy teacher at Foothill College (Los Altos Hills, Calif.):

We have never seen the blackness of the black hole, but we see black holes the way we often see teenagers. We see them because they’re eating, and the mess they make as they eat, it reveals them.”

I was struck Sunday (inspired by the homily) with the thought that a person following a path of faith — of most religions — often will find that the practice of that faith will be a “one-way street,” as we cannot and should not expect reciprocation for forgiveness, charity, or tolerance.

Checked today, and a search of “Konoske” shows this modest blog in the No. 3 position on Google and ranked No. 8 on Yahoo. Not too shabby for a domain that’s only been around for less than two years.

My blog is just behind the San Diego law firm of Shifflet, Kane & Konoske where Gregory Konoske, a first cousin once removed, practices in the areas of general civil litigation and insurance fraud. The Web site konoske.com (Konoske Photography and No. 1 on Google) is owned by former skateboarder, now automotive photojournalist and my second cousin Brian Konoske.

Then there’s the ZoomInfo summary for Michelle Konoske, who seems to be the CFO at The Towbes Group Inc., but I don’t know if she’s related to me.  Further down the list is my first cousin once removed Jim Konoske (removed from what I do not know) with his Web site for Jim Konoske Consulting; the well-published Paula Konoske, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at San Diego State University and another first cousin once removed; and, finally, there’s another ZoomInfo summary for another first cousin once removed, Vince Konoske, who apparently has been a teacher in the Ocean View School District (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and a principal in the Poway (Calif.) Unified School District. Also somwhere in the Yahoo list is the bizarre ”Konoske” character listed on the Who’s Who of the CrossGen Universe…whatever the heck that is.

Now, who do I pay to be ranked No. 1?

I’m a long-time video gamer — maybe even nearly an addict with a modicum of self control — and lately I have come to lament the good ol’ days of simplicity. I blame it on Madden NFL ’07. I picked up a copy of this latest game, looking forward to going head to head with my son, Sean, in online play. On the drive home I imaged blitzing on defense and sacking his QB at least every other play. (That drives Sean nuts!) Got home, had dinner, and slipped the game into the console and pulled out the instruction booklet. No big deal, I thought, the instructions are no longer than years past. Having played this game for the last four or five years on the Playstation 2, XBox and now the XBox 360, I figured I could get a quick grip on it. Then I actually read the instructions and realized that “bloat” has finally hit the video game scene.

A sample of the controls for Madden ’07:
    • Defensive Line Audible: Left Button, Left Analog Stick, Directional Pad…
    • QB Action Mode: Right Trigger and Left Trigger, then shift to directional running controls.

How many fingers am I supposed to be able to use and still hang on to the blasted controller?

I’m not too bad at most video games. I play fair. I always stick with an online game even if I am or my team is losing. But I don’t want to spend months mastering a multitude of button combinations just to have a chance at winning a few games. Video games, in my mind, have always been a simple form of entertainment for my generation. That’s why games like Call to Duty 2 and the Halo series have done so well. Simplicity. Is that too much to ask?

After all, as my forty-third birthday looms on the very near horizon, I will need every advantage, lest complex controls, carpal tunnel syndrome, or arthritis become excuses for losing to my kids and grandkids in deathmatch competition.