NFL Draft: Ted Ginn, Jr. trade not the answer for Niners

The NFL Draft is next week, but one trade has some bloggers thinking that what will happen in the 1st round of the 2010 NFL Draft will be altered by it. Here's a tip: don't believe anything an NFL team rep tells the media before the NFL Draft because it's a clear sign that media person's being used to send a false signal. Translation: the San Francisco 49ers still need a speed running back; Ted Ginn, Jr. does not solve their problems.

The Niners trades their 5th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft for Ted Ginn, Jr., the Dolphins Wide Receiver / Returner, who was their answer to Wide Receiver / Returner Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears.

The year Ginn was drafted, 2007, was the same time NFL personnel execs were on the lookout for someone, anyone, who could be the next Devin Hester, the speedster from The University of Miami.

Hester came in and shook-up the NFL with his shocking straight-ahead speed. The one player tagged by many to be the next Devin Hester was Ted Ginn, Jr. from Ohio State. But when the Dolphins took him as the 9th pick in the first round, there were many in the room at Radio City Music Hall who believed they grabbed him too high.

They were right, sort of.

It's not to say Ted Ginn Jr.'s not the deep threat the 49ers need; he is. The main question is can he catch the ball when it gets there?  He was two caught for eight thrown to him against the New Orleans Saints last year. It's just that Ginn's not the only answer for the speed the Niners need; Clemson Running Back C.J. Spiller's still a player the 49ers should work to get. Spiller's 4.27 speed in the back field combined with Ginn, second-year player Michael Crabtree, and fast tight-end Vernon Davis, will on paper give the 49ers the most dangerous offense they've had since the Bill Walsh years.

But Ginn's not the answer.

From the perspective of Miami Dolphins bloggers, Ted Ginn, Jr. did not have a happy time in Miami. The Phinsider reports that Ginn's high selection in the 1st round of The NFL Draft translated to great expectations as a return guy and a wide receiver.

In fairness, while Ginn didn't meet them as a receiver, he did set return records with the Dolphins. Last year, Ginn became the first NFL player since 1967 to score two return touchdowns in the same quarter against the New York Jets. But Ginn's toughness has been roundly questioned, with Dolphins legends like former offensive guard Bob Kuechenberg calling Ginn a "coward."

Ted Ginn for all the world looks like a Vernon Davis project for San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Mike Singletary. If Coach Singletary can have the same impact on Ginn he's had on Davis, Ginn's NFL Draft promise may well be met.

Stay tuned.

Luxury W Hotel San Francisco gets praise for GDC

OK, beyond the LEED award, the W Hotel San Francisco, in fact, the W Hotel chain, has established a level of legendary cool seldom appreciated.

This blogger takes time to gush about The W Hotel because the memory of it as a new, innovative, and deliberately hip place to lay one's head is still fresh. Each W Hotel this blogger has visited has attracted beautiful, well-dressed, intelligent patrons and featured a bar scene that in many cases was part of the social scene for that city: New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, all have prominent roles in their cities.

The W Hotel's combination of dark muted colors, indirect lighting, and smoked glass create a theme popular with tourists, tech industry leaders, entertainers, and even game developers. The annual San Francisco Game Developers Conference brings the biggest heavy-hitters to The W Hotel San Francisco and this blogger was there, first, in 2007; 2009 was not different.

The lobby was teaming with game development executives, graphic artists, and other members of the game industry, meeting and talking about the doings at what's called The GDC. The W Hotel San Francisco played gracious host, and to my understanding no one was unhappy.

This video is from the 2009 GDC and shows how the lobby became a kind of small convention hall itself, and perfect for the presentation of game ideas:



That had to be written because it's not often a business is openly praised for being the perfect place for its patrons, but that's what the W Hotel San Francisco was at the 2010 GDC.

W Hotel San Francisco gets LEED award, has American Idol Kris Allen

This space has been constant in reporting buildings that get LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) awards from the U.S. Green Building Council and today's no exception.

The popular luxury W Hotel San Francisco, next to Moscone Convention Center, earned a LEED award and celebrated in W Hotel style and fashion, by hosting American Idol Season 8 winner Kris Allen at a ribbon-cutting event on Wednesday at the hotel at a private, invitation-only ceremony.

The timing is perfect because Kris Allen just scored his own first:  Allen signed a publishing deal with Universal Music.

A LEED award is given to the builders of structures that have efficient, energy-saving HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) systems that use natural light effectively.

 The W Hotel San Francisco is one of a handful of buildings in America, and even fewer hotels, to earn a LEEDS designation.

Congratulations.

Larry King divorce based on King's gifts to Shawn Southwick sister?

The news that CNN's talk show legend Larry King is divorcing his wife Shawn Southwick has burned up the Internet, but what's interestingly unfortunate is the reported reason for the divorce.

According to TMZ.com, Shawn Southwick found evidence that hubby Larry King bought expensive gifts for her sister Shannon Engemann.

And while King allegedly said he would stop giving the gifts, he never did. That sent Shawn through the roof and making moves toward divorce court, filing legal papers and interviewing potential counsel.

Meanwhile TMZ.com spotted King and Southwick at their sons little league game in Beverly Hills. The blog post reports the two got along famously with King saying "that was the best 30 minutes of my life" and leaving this blogger to wonder what happened to make him say that.

Whatever the present, it's clear Larry King's marriage with Shawn Southwick (Shawkn King) has been anything but easy over the last two year, and in the next post on this you will learn why.

Stay tuned.

Utah Earthquake pushes number of 2010 large quakes to 27

The 4.9 Richter Scale Utah Earthquake that hit Thursday night is the largest in that state in 75 years according to The Vancouver Sun, and pushes the number of large earthquakes to 27 for 2010 and on page to continue to the 92 significant earthquakes (quakes over 4 on the Richter Scale) projected for this year by this blogger.

That is a record pace.

The Utah Earthquake hit at 5:59:38 PM according to the US Geological Survey. The quake was centered five miles from and a mile below Randolph, UT, and 77 miles from Salt Lake City. The "light" earthquake didn't cause much damage or injuries and the Salt Lake Tribune reports it as if it's no big deal.

In fact, the Salt Lake Tribune goes on to report a gross inaccuracy:

The six major earthquakes occurring in the first four months of 2010 puts they year within normal range. There were 18 major quakes from April 15, 2009, to April 14, 2010, which is a number scientists say is within expectations.

That's wrong, and this space wonders if the Salt Lake Tribune is afraid to report the truth. The fact is over that period of time there were 80 large earthquakes, not 18, major quakes using the 2009 and 2010 information to date, and that's using USGS data available from its website.

The Salt Lake Tribune should stop playing games with the facts and report the information as the USGS presents it: a large quake is over 4 on the Richter Scale. The Salt Lake Tribune just mentions "large quakes" but does not define what they are.

The USGS earthquake numbers point to a problem, at least for anyone willing to look at them.

Stay tuned.

Waste Management v. Recology in SF a battle with national implications

Waste Management is angry

Waste Management v. Recology for the right to dump San Francisco waste is a battle with national implications. Why? It essentially pits one giant garbage firm, Waste Management, against it's much smaller competitor Recology and may pave the way for other local firms to have more success in competing against national organizations in the waste business. Waste Management is 43,400 employees in size; Recology, formerly NorCal Waste Systems, has 2,100.

This blogger normally doesn't pay much attention to local trash, preferring the national celebrity brand, but a political battle between two established companies, and the fact that a lot of people from various sides have talked about it without any provocation, caused this space to wade into an argument such that regardless of what is stated, and how reasonable it may be, the other side - or some other side - is bound to be pissed off.

But the reason for the attention from this space was a March 30,2010 San Francisco Bay Guardian (SFBG) article that claimed Waste Management was "Oakland-based"; an online check revealed Waste Management was not Oakland-based but headquartered (another word for "based") in Houston, Texas at 1001 Fannin St.,Ste. 4000.

What giant Waste Management has is an Oakland office, but that's to have a local political face to help land SF Bay Area work. It's just smart business, but Waste Management is not based in Oakland.

Nothing against the media legend that is Bruce Brugmann at all, but the SFBG really went to town in attacking one side against the other. The SFBG made Waste Management look like a local, environmentally-concerned organization, against, well, Recology.

What happened was that Recology tentatively won a contract with the City and County of San Francisco to haul San Francisco's unrecycled trash by train to its Ostrum Road Landfill in Yuba County, starting in 2015, according to Kevin Fagan of The San Francisco Chronicle. The organization they beat for this right by vote of the San Francisco Commission on the Environment was Waste Management, which currently takes the San Francisco trash to Livermore's Altamont landfill area that it owns. Recology has an alternative proposal that takes the trash to Yuba County.

What's interesting is the SFBG went through the scoring for the proposals submitted and nitpicked what scores Recology was given and claimed the process seemed to have some "subjectivity." Any judgement by any government committee is generally subjective, save for one part: cost. Recology's proposal was less expensive than that from Waste Management.

The San Francisco Commission on the Environment made a daring decision: to go with the less expensive Recology proposal. Daring, because the San Francisco Commission on the Environment screwed with a huge value chain of interests, from Waste Management's Altamont landfill to the City of Livermore and the County of Alameda, which make money from it, to The Sierra Club, who has a monetary grant-making interest in the revenue generated from the Altamont Landfill.

Now here comes Recology to screw it all up. In doing so, the attacks on Recology reveal an environmental industrial complex active in Northern California and that seems to block out new organizations from working within it. Recology was fortunate in that it already has a hand in the collection of the garbage in San Francisco, but believes it can do a better job by establishing a fully controlled and more cost effective transport system than what exists by Recology's working with Waste Management.

Recology issued the more cost effective proposal and a brave San Francisco Commission on the Environment picked them. In short, it gave a really local firm a chance to grow rather than be hampered by the environmental industrial complex. Waste Management is not a true local firm; the attempts to make it look as if it is are unfortunate. If Recology can do a better job, and the San Francisco Commission on the Environment thinks it can, give the San Francisco firm a chance.

Of course, it's not that easy; here comes the defenders of the San Francisco environmental industrial complex, here them roar, and all to protect their money.

Stay tuned.

NFL Draft: Jerry Jones, Cowboys owner, blasts Tim Tebow, Bill Parcells

This from the "you should always know a cell phone camcorder's around if you're a celebrity" file. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was caught on camcorder issuing a drunken blast about Tim Tebow just days before the 2010 NFL Draft.

The video above shows Jerry Jones in a rant at some party or bar that involved drinking; Jones ranted on about now-former Dallas Cowboys Head Coach and Miami Dolphins President Bill Parcells and Florida Quarterback Tim Tebow. Someone with a cell phone camcorder caught Jones talking and talking.

The video is hard to hear, so this blogger will turn to the ESPN interpretation: Jones said this:

"Bill's not worth a [expletive]," the video shows Jones saying. After some conversation with an unidentified man off-camera, the video continues with Jones saying, "... to get this [expletive] stadium, I need to bring his [butt] in."

In the video, Jones also said, and ESPN did not report, that Tim Tebow "couldn't get on the field" and said other disparaging remarks about Tebow after someone asked him why a team like Jacksonville (rumored to be interested in Tebow in the 2010 NFL Draft) would draft him, if only to sell t-shirts.

Clearly Jerry Jones should have known better. He's a public figure. To say that he was in a bar, or any other place, does not matter. This would have never happen under the Cowboys of then-owner Clint Murchison and Head Coach Tom Landry.

But it also may reveal how some NFL owners really feel about Tim Tebow.

Stay tuned.

IRS tax day freebies 2010 at Starbucks, Cinnabon; help the homeless

Today is April 15th, IRS Tax Day. That day where people get their last files together to make a list of fiscal expenditures and get their tax report in to the government before midnight.

While today may be a day of dread, fear not, for it's also a time of IRS tax day freebies 2010. Now the trouble is while this is a national trend, not enough retailers or eateries are actually sending out press releases announcing a marketing effort. If this blogger were in the restaurant business, everyone would get a free drink if they purchased a meal and could prove they just filed their taxes.

Now there is one company that seems to get "IRS tax day freebies 2010:" Starbucks. If you bring in a reusable mug on April 15th, or today, you get a free brewed coffee according to their website. Cinnabon, who makes those great, big cinnamon rolls with the thick frosting on top, is also part of IRS tax day freebies 2010.

Between 6 PM and 8 PM at Cinnabon, you can get two free cupcake bites to, as the website reports, "make it less taxing." But if you do this, I personally ask that you give your free cupcake bites to someone who needs food. It's personally sad to see people sitting or begging and know that retailers have these freebees that someone homeless generally doesn't know about.

So if you see someone near by, think about them.

Stay tuned.

iPhone app and Twitter for Small Luxury Hotels of The World

See: small luxury hotels, luxury hotels of the world, iphone app hotels, twitter small luxury hotels

If you think that hotels don't get tech and social networks and aren't willing to try, think again. Small Luxury Hotels of The World, a collection of over 500 hotels in 70 countries has both a Twitter page @SLHLuxuryHotels and an iPhone app. But if you're wondering just what a "Small Luxury Hotel of The World" looks like, here's one in my 2007 video of my trip to New York City to appear as a guest on CNN's Roland Martin Debate This Show:



That hotel at 1:24 is called the Jumeirah Essex House and it's next to Central Park and just a few blocks from CNN's New York studios in The Time Warner Center. It was the first seven-star hotel this blogger ever stayed in, thanks to CNN.

It's not hard to understand why Small Luxury Hotels of The World like the Jumeirah Essex House are so popular, and why a Twitter page and an iPhone app (no blogs or other social network systems so far) are so helpful to the fans of the hotel brand.

While the Twitter page only has 1,259 followers, it has more followers than @SLHLuxuryHotels is following, which is a healthy follower to followed ratio for future growth. Where @SLHLuxuryHotels can grow is by tweeting about subjects beyond the realm of the hotel, thus picking up more Twitter followers. Still, the Twitter use and the frequency of tweets is a great start.

The Small Luxury Hotels of The World iPhone app is both cool and useful and its free. You can find and call to book a room at any one of the hotels in their system right from your iPhone. Then you can share what you've found with your social network contacts.

CNN introduced me to Small Luxury Hotels of The World like the Jumeirah Essex House before this iPhone app; you can bet that when I buy a Verizon iPhone, the Small Luxury Hotels of The World iPhone app is one of the first I'm going to use.

Stay tuned.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy): How exactly does it work?

In a previous article called 15 common cognitive distortions- how our thoughts influence our mental health, I outlined a list of common cognitive distortions. In review, cognitive distortions are irrational thoughts that usually reinforce negative thinking and emotions and often serve to keep us from positive change. With effort and practice, you can reduce or change your irrational thinking style by practicing the exercises below. This article aims to introduce what a cognitive behavioral therapist might cover with you in therapy as way to help you reach your therapy goals.

Identify your style of cognitive distortion(s). Begin by creating a list of your automatic thoughts and examine them for similarities with a list of cognitive distortions, then outline them in a Thought Record. An examination of our cognitive distortions allows us to see which distortions we tend to use most often.

Examine the evidence. A thorough examination of an experience or situation allows us to identify the basis for our distorted thoughts. Are our automatic thoughts 100% true, all of the time? Or can we identify concrete evidence that proves our automatic thoughts are NOT true all of the time? These ‘exceptions to the rule’ are what allow us to begin to refute our irrational thoughts. For example, if you typically struggle with social anxiety, try to identify a number of experiences and situations where you have had less or no social anxiety.

Judge yourself fairly. ‘Self-talk’ can be thought of as the running dialogue we have with ourselves that often comes across as hypercritical and demeaning. Aim to view yourself in the same compassionate and non-judgmental way that you would talk with a good friend in a similar situation. We tend to respond best to encouragement and constructive examination of progress rather than punitive and defeating self-talk.

Think on a continuum. Instead of thinking about your situation or problem on an either-or scale, evaluate things on a continuum, or scale of progress. This will allow you to see yourself in terms other than ‘failure’ or ‘success’. Think about and evaluate any given situation as a partial success in progress, with a series of smaller and larger goals to be achieved over time.

Enlist the support of wise others. Greater perspective and insight can be achieved when we seek the opinions of others regarding whether our thoughts (often in the form of worries and fears) are realistic. When we remain isolated in our view of a given situation or problem, we can lose sight of concrete evidence that refutes our negative thinking.

Labeling. Do we define ourselves with labels such as ‘shy’, ‘incapable’, ‘bad tempered’, or ‘ commitment phobic’? A close examination of the labels we uses for ourselves will likely will reveal that they represent specific behaviors (perhaps that have occurred in patterns), but nonetheless do not accurately capture you as a whole person who is capable of change, growth and maturity.

Refrain from blaming. We often get stuck blaming ourselves or others entirely for the problems and predicaments we experience. While identifying circumstances and individuals that have contributed to your problems or predicament can be helpful in understanding their origins, it can be rob us of our energy to create change. Regardless of the degree of responsibility we assume ourselves or can pin on others, our energy is best utilized in identifying healthy ways of coping and identifying resolutions to problems, rather than remaining fixated on playing the blame game.

Cost-Benefit Analysis. It is helpful to list the advantages and disadvantages of our patterns of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. A cost-benefit analysis will help us to ascertain what we are gaining from holding on to cognitive distortions, negative feelings, and behaviors that perpetuate our current circumstances. For example, we may feel resentful and angry towards a housemate, but refuse to behave in a way that could resolve the matter, because we think they ought to be the one to change. By making a list that outlines what we are gaining by our approach, we may find that it is easier to expect change from another rather than ourselves because it feels less convenient and/or fair.

Respectfully submitted by Dr. Christina Villarreal, Clinical Psychologist in private practice, Oakland, CA

Reference:

Burns, D.D. (1989). The feeling good handbook: Using the new mood therapy in everyday life. New York: William Morrow.

Gary Meyer of SF's Balboa Theater on Playland and Grateful Dead shows

Gary Meyer, who's a long time friend of this blogger, is a busy man. He's co-director of The Telluride Film Festival and the owner and operator of The Balboa Theater in San Francisco. Gary and I met for lunch at Jupiter in Berkeley and talked about the movie industry, but for this blog, we made the video about two shows at The Balboa: Playland and The Grateful Dead. (And for those of you who wonder, we split the lunch tab, and the food, too. I recommend a pizza-salad combination.)

The Balboa Theater is Gary's love and occupation. Located at 3630 Balboa Street in San Francisco, Meyer took it over about six years ago; now the Balboa Theater not only plays first run movies like Iron Man 2 on May 7th, but has a lot of special events, the one's Gary's got coming up are a movie called Remembering Playland At The Beach on April 23rd, and The Greatful Dead: Crimson, White, and Indigo on Monday, April 19th.

On Playland, Gary says, "Everyone was going crazy! (and saying) 'I remember this. I remember that.' at our sneak previews. Playland is a documentary about the old Playland down at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

The other event, The Greatful Dead: Crimson, White, and Indigo, is based on a 1989 concert in St. Louis that has not been seen but Gary's got it on the big screen. And as usual with Gary he will have the filmmakers on hand to meet and greet.

Visit the Balboa Theater and check out their website at Balboamovies.com.

Stay tuned.

AC Transit Bus Rapid Transit: Oakland Public Works Committee backs it

In a unanimous show of support, the City of Oakland's Oakland City Council Public Works Committee voted to support the AC Transit Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

The Public Works Committee, which consists of Councilmembers Nancy Nadel (District 3 - West Oakland, Downtown), Rebecca Kaplan (At-Large), Desley Brooks (District 6 - Central East Oakland) and Patricia Kernighan (District 2 - Grand Lake, San Antonio)

Rocky Fernandez, President of the AC Transit Board of Directors, said:

"We really need to think big about transporting people around in this area. Not just now, not just tomorrow, but well into the 21st century. This is a project that is highly recommended by the Federal Transit Administration for the benefits it provides to taxpayers and future taxpayers. I want to assure everybody that we definitely are listening to riders and groups within the community about moving forward on this project."

According to AC Transit, the service should be ready in 2013 and "fully implemented" by 2015.

Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan said that, "overall I think this is a great project." That's true.

The AC Transit Bus Rapid Transit project is on its way to the full Oakland City Council. All this blogger asks is for AC Transit to keep the "Epic Beard Man" and that guy he was sparring with, off it.

Stay tuned.