god I love my team's front office

From Michael Silverman's article in the Boston Herald:

Has anyone else been wondering about the $51.11 million bid the Red Sox made – and now must pay the Seibu Lions — in order to gain exclusive negotiating rights with Daisuke Matsuzaka?We asked principal owner John Henry if there was anything behind that specific amount. We got an answer all right, a fascinating and totally unexpected one. Here’s his emailed response, in full:

“$51,111,111.11 actually.

“We assumed a few teams would try to blow all the other teams ‘out of the water.’ We didn’t know if that would represent 30, 40 or 50 million.

We also knew a couple of teams would have their eyes on luxury taxes as well (as) assuring themselves of six years of service. Therefore we estimated someone could potentially bid as much as $50,000,000 to assure success since they were doing so with no risk. And we thought that just to be sure they might decide to bid $51,000,000.

“We were not going to take any chances of losing Matsuzaka-san and were determined to top even that potential bid. And to ensure that our number could not be leaked, I was given the task of devising the final amount. (I thought (team president and CEO) Larry (Lucchino) was going to pass out when I told him the number as we were delivering it to MLB.)

“When we were attempting to purchase the Red Sox, I did not want my name thrown around in the media for quite some time. Therefore, all of the potential investors and bankers knew me only as “Investor 11.” We had extraordinarily good fortune in bidding for the team. In fact, at one point Mr. (Charles) Dolan had won the bidding before asking to purchase the entire club rather than the half that was originally for sale. We were lucky to win the bidding when the second bids were taken. So although I am decidedly not superstitious, I decided, for good luck, to throw in as many 11s as I could.
“I also felt good about another set of numbers. Matsuzaka-san and I were both born on the 13th of September.

That’s the story,

John”

a change of scenery?

So about midway through last semester I had an interesting experience in my Vibrations class...

That day we didn't even begin the lecture, which was supposed to cover single degree-of-freedom free, undamped vibation, but that's beside the point. Instead, Dr. Newman, for one reason or another, decided to enlighten us with the work he does over at the ERC(Engineering Research Center).

To make a long blog short, Dr. Newman divulged that he does TONS of research with respect to ballistic missles, missle defense, and satellite-based missle defense. Maybe it was the way Dr. Newman relayed this information, or maybe it was the fact that he's a very down-to-earth kind of demeanor, or maybe it was the fact that I was excited that we weren't having a lecture, but I was COMPLETELY captivated by what he had to say. I walked away from that class that day(which lasted an extra half hour, but we didn't care) very very interested in the field of missle defense and its applications.

As a side note, ever since John got a job with....er....uhm....the government in a defense capacity, I've kinda wanted to do the same thing. Before graduating high school, I considered majoring in mathematics, as our government is one of leading employers of mathematicians, especially in the Department of Defense. I then switched to aerospace engineering(astronautics), which turned out to be a great decision, but I realized that I probably wouldn't be able to work where my bro worked. Now, however, I may not work in the same place or have the same job as my brother, but I could be working towards the same goal as his.

After some research, I found a place where I might be able to intern AND get some experience in the missle defense field. The locale: Arnold Engineering Development Center, right outside Tullahoma, TN and adjacent to the University of Tennessee Space Institute. These guys do some COOL stuff, including aerodynamic testing of pretty much every military or civilian spacecraft/aircraft created by the ole' U.S. of A., lots of rocket(solid and liquid) propulsion testing, AND missle defense technology, mainly in the areas of detection and recognition. Add that to the fact this place is the world's largest collection of flight test facilities, and you have an engineer's dream at this place. Even cooler, they tested the upper-stage liquid rocket engine of the Saturn-V(the J-2 engine) back in the Apollo days! With our nation returning to the moon in 2020, Arnold could very well be doing some testing once again for our government, as NASA is using basically the same architecture for the booster vehicle this time around.

So there you go. The application process to Arnold requires my resume, a 500-word essay on some topic, and my transcript. Then they notify me after the February deadline if I've been selected for an interview. After the interview, they let me know a month or two later if I've been accepted into their intern prgoram. As you can imagine, I've been hard at work on updating my resume here at home, and I'll begin the essay soon I'm sure. I'm gonna need references too, so Tarik and Eric, be expecting an email from me soon!

I would LOVE to work there next summer. Not only will it be a change of scenery from Houston, but it'll give me a broader range of experience AND I'll be near Nashville, one of my favorite cities in the country. Of course there are other great benefits, but I'm sure you can figure those out.

I'll try to keep you all updated on the various stages of my application process.

Four Great Reasons to Drink Beer in 2007

My dad, now that he brews his own beer(a resounding applause can be heard), is part of the Brewers Association. He subscribes to their periodic newsletter, and this week's edition had this to say:

A brochure produced by the Breweres of Europe gives the following information about the health benefits of consuming alcohol in moderation for healthy adults...

#1) Drinking Beer is Good for Your Heart

There is compelling evidence that moderate beer drinkers have a substantially reduced risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack, when compared to teetotalers.

Additional evidence shows that moderate drinking may be protective against the most common form of strokes.

It is estimated that an intake of approximately three alcholic drinks a day should
reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 24.7%( 1 drink = 8.5 U.S. liquid oz.)

Beer is as good as wine for protecting your heart. The American Heart Association has said that "there is no clear evidence that wine is more beneficial than other forms of alcoholic drink."

#2) Moderate Consumption of Beer Reduces the Riske of Type 2 Diabetes

Sudies show a reduced incidence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in men and women who are moderate drinkers. Compared to non-drinkers, men who consume one to two beers a day have a 36% less risk of Type 2 Diabetes.

#3) Drinking Beer Reduces The Risk of Osteoporosis

Recent research shows that moderate beer drinking has a protective effect on bones, thus reducing the risk of osteoporosis.

#4) Beer Consumption Reduces the Risk of Kidney Stones

Daily consumption of beer is shown to reduce the risk of kidney stones by 40%

home for the holidays...and then some

Shouldn't come as a surprise, but I'm home now at the Ranch. Just some points to note...

I've begun painting the rest of the railings at the Center. Nothing like a few extra bucks to earn over break. Dad says he's already received numerous compliments on the railings that I did over Thanksgiving. Guess I'm doing ok with them.

My dogs are somehow 32 times cuter than they were last time I was home. Don't really know how that happened. I'm taking pics of them like crazy, and I really want a good pic taken of just me and them. I'll try to share some of those over break.

I should have a new laptop purchased within a few days. My current computer is on its last LCD days.

Due to a near-incident last night at 2:00 am over at the Center, I have decided (and Dad agrees) I should learn to shoot a gun. So over break Dad's gonna take me to a range around here and show me the ins and outs of packing heat with his Glock 9mm. I can't wait :)

I'm now reading(finally) my automotive handbook I bought several months ago. As I do, I'm going along in my jeep, seeing each piece and storing into memory what each thing does. Although not a natural-born auto mechanic, I'm really getting into this material. I do have some questions, and I'm sure John will be able to answer those when he gets here next week.

I'm totally redoing my resume, as I've had quite a few work stints since my last update. I'm revamping it for my potential job in Tennessee next summer. Where is it, you ask? I'll gladly inform you next time(seriously, I promise).

A Most Impressive Pitch

Well it's all but official: The Red Sox top brass(Epstein, Lucchino, Werner), after flying from Boston to L.A. in owner John Henry's private jet to a last minute bargaining session, have pretty much locked up Daisuke Matsuzaka for the next six years for a total of $52 million, with $8 million left for incentives. I've waited to write about Daisuke(pronounced "Dice-K") until it was almost certain that we'd get him, and well, we pretty much got him.

Rather than splurge and write about 28 paragraphs on the guy right now, I'll be writing plenty about him leading up to Spring Training in March. Needless to say, I'm absolutely STOKED about getting Dice-K. We now have an unbelievable starting rotation, one that is anchored by two veterans(Schilling and Wakefield) and filled in the middle by THREE 26-year old hard throwing studs(Papelbon, Matsuzaka, and Beckett). Also, should Wake not have a stellar year due to his rib injury again, Jon Lester will be wating in the wings. Lester disclosed recently that his cancer is in complete regression, and he will be joining the crew at Spring Training. To add even more intrigue, word has it the Sox have given Clemens a "most impressive" pitch in regards to pitching for them in 2007. Whether this was just a precautionary measure had the Sox not signed Matsuzaka, or whether it was the plan all along, remains to be seen. Either way, it's times like this that it's exciting to be a Sox fan.

"Let's Daaaaaaance!!!"

...because I am DONE with Finals this semester. Definitely the hardest set of exams I've had since I've been in college. Now it's a waiting game to see if I kept the 4.0. But first, I'm going to sleep for a very, very, very long time. I'm out.