Express yourself!

Drop us a line! Head on over to The Rockwood Mailbag at any time to leave us a message! It's easy!

Consider it an experiment in web interactivity. Or, consider it a way to artificially inflate our hit count. Either way, just write in!

 
November 27, 2007

Hi Brian's mom,

I know where you are coming from. Just keep up the gentle pressure, offer bribes, make comments about "Will I die before I see my Grandchildren?" etc. Unfortunately, it took me five years, and having two children married before we had our first grandchild. But the miracle is worth it.

Brian, let's get going on this. You want your mom to be happy, don't you? I'm not going to ask the obvious question.

--Jim Rockwood

 
Is the obvious question "How much is the bribe?" According to MSN Money, it will take nearly a quarter of a million to raise a kid in an upper-income type of environment (and really, Mom, do you want us to raise anything less?) We'll do our part once the money starts rolling in!

 
November 29, 2007

Bush and Gore? What next? Global freezing, oops, mean global warming! Hardly!
Carbon sequestration is necessary for coal caused carbon emissions. You are one smart dude to know as much about politics and environmental concerns.

--Alyce

 
We're all about saving the environment, Alyce, that's why we sunk all of our money into buying U.N. carbon credits, because those will save the Earth! Uh... whoops.

Well, maybe for now we'll just settle for buying more efficient light bulbs.

 
November 29, 2007

Way behind...Eagles new album already to stuff in husbands stocking 2 weeks ago. Now if he would go shopping before 12/24....that would be a surprising Christmas!

--Katie

 
Maybe he just likes being in big crowds, Katie. Although everyone thinks that Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, the actual busiest day is the Saturday before Christmas. While that's not the 24th this year, it's close enough to count.

 
November 30, 2007

I don't know about it being a latest trend or anything like that, but traditionally (i.e. before Christians took over the holiday) the evergreen was supposed to be suspended upside down from the ceiling. I was never able to talk my parents into doing that. Especially now that their tree folds up when turned over.

My personal tradition, now in it's third year, is to put out a Dougmas jar near where I drop my keys when I get home. For the month of December I dump all my change in that jar when I get home. At the end of the month I count it and send a check for that much to my favorite charity. Because, you know, f*** the Salvation Army.

--Douglas Wise

 
Careful there, Douglas, or you're going to end up with some coal in that stocking! While the Salvation Army might not be the most efficient charity out there, they're certainly not the worst, either.

And although Christmas and its closest pagan holiday share similar times, Christmas is not only more successful, but also came first. Sextus Julius Africanus set the December 25th date for Christmas in AD 221 based on the supposed date of the Incarnation. The pagans didn't get around to marking the calendar for their solstice festival until the 7th century.

Honestly, what was the world like before Wikipedia?

 
December 3, 2007

My sister is currently attending Ohio State. Members of my family would always say to her that life is unfair in response to her petty complaints and she would always say, "why is life never unfair in my favor?" Well, this is one instance where it is. By the way, will the Fiesta Bowl be a siesta?

--Michael

 
We think the Fiesta Bowl will be a good game, Michael. We also think OU will win (and that's part of the reason we think it will be good). West Virginia is a good team, but even with a month to prepare, they might still have the bitter taste left in the mouths having blown a shot at the national championship game.

 
December 3, 2007

Playoffs! The current system is a joke (you asked ;)

--Spike

 
That we did, Spike. We can't say that we heartily endorse the BCS system, however, we think it takes a lot of lumps for something that it is not. The BCS is NOT designed to determine who are the appropriate teams for the four major bowls. Rather, it's designed to pick the two best teams from those four bowls and elevate these two teams to a national championship game. In essence, it's a one-game, two-team playoff.

Playoffs? Yes, you would have the advantage of getting a definite number one. However, the disadvantage would be the complete destruction of the bowl system. Follow along with us for a 2007 scenario...

The 16-team bracket for the NCAA Division I bracket started their playoffs on November 23rd and will finish on December 14th. For the BCS teams to squeeze in a 12 game season, they would all have had to start playing on August 25th, with no bye weeks. Conference championships would have been November 17th. The Saturday after Thanksgiving would have been the first week of playoffs. But tens of thousands of fans wouldn't be able to make travel plans for the biggest game of the year until the middle of December.

And with less time to plan, many of those thousands of fans would end up staying home (there would be far less excitement for spending thousands of dollars in travel fees to watch your team play for eighth place). That means local residents would have to buy the tickets. Having followed OU to all four BCS bowls, I can tell you the locals aren't interested in buying tickets unless the team is local. While the OU-LSU Sugar Bowl was sold-out, we actually had someone give us tickets for free to the Fiesta Bowl last year.

And if that wasn't bad enough, you also have to be able to pick the teams. Conference champs? Wild cards? 8 teams? 16 teams? What arbitrary system do you use to pick those teams? Perhaps this one? Whoops! Now you're right back where you started!

The BCS stinks, no doubt about it, but we like curling up on the couch on New Year's Day and watching bowl games. Until someone can come up with a plan to get both, we'll stick with the way it is.

 
December 3, 2007

I live in a town callled Rockwood, Ontario. Now I was sent a link for YouTube on best wedding dances. I started browsing and came across one for Thriller and rockwoodcomic.com was advertised on it...... I find all those Surprise wedding dance vids awesome. beacause I can dance and IF by chance I get married to my current g./f of 2 years I tend to show off my dancing skills especially to MJ. well more to check out there's quite a few on there.

--the one and only Rich Nelson of WoodRock

 
Just make sure you post it to YouTube, Rich. We want to see you bust a move!

 
December 3, 2007

How's the Christmas Shopping? On Black Friday, while we stood in line (in ND) it was snowing. It was so beautiful. Only saw two catfights in Kohls and had to rescue an elder who was pushed down in Target. It was fun.

--K.Peterson

 
Christmas shopping? We're planning to go on Christmas Eve with Katie's husband. It'll be more fun that way!