10 Thoughts for February 3, 2015

1. TV: I initially thought that Netflix was slowing shipments only on weekends. But my last two shipments during the weekday have been arriving a day late, too. What's worse, Netflix's notifications still say that they're supposed to arrive the next day. Misleading? I think so! Will follow up if this trend continues.
2. Football: We don't often see a bad boy athlete come to terms with his bad ways, but it looks like Johnny Manziel finally reached that point, and is going to rehab. There is still hope that the young, brash man will achieve greatness in the NFL, even though I see it as a slim chance at best.
3. Football: After a tough, devastating loss in the Super Bowl, Seattle fans can look forward to the April draft, with dreams of the Seahawks finding the right parts to complete the picture. I personally think the offense needs a lot of help (o-line upgrade, a true #1 receiver), while the defense only needs some small tweaks (faster OLB / DE). Also, it would be nice to have someone like Harvin, but without the discord and disruption. I reiterate: It sure would be nice to have George Farmer.
4. Football: Meanwhile, Oregon fans (and the rest of college football) have just a few hours left until LOI signing day begins at midnight, when it feels like Christmas all over again, and dreams of a national championship run, begin. (Or your worst nightmares happen and your signing class is left with big holes.)
5. Super Bowl Halftime: Katy Perry's lion was made in Scappoose. I really liked the halftime show, even though I'm not a listener of Perry's music. The show rivaled some far more expensive Olympics opening ceremonies, in my opinion.
6. Super Bowl Ads: Walter White FTW. Or Budweiser's best buds. Meanwhile, GoDaddy pulled their ad and made a last second replacement that sucked balls. But Nationwide takes the cake for worst ad.
7. Geopolitics: Way back when, I said that the drop in the price of oil was more about global politics. It turns out, I was half right: Saudi Arabia is using oil prices as leverage against Russia regarding Syria. I thought it was mostly leverage towards Crimea, but of course SA is more concerned with its own back yard. I just don't know how that power vacuum would work in Syria, though. I know how it'd work in Crimea / Ukraine, but in Syria you're not necessarily going to get reconciliation between pro-Assad groups and moderate rebels.
8. Technology: If any Apple fanboi tells you that Apple Pay makes the iPhone better than Android, kindly remind them that anywhere Apple Pay's NFC works, so does Google Wallet. Really.
9. Health: I cannot believe that small businesses are against mandatory paid sick leave. If I had employees, I'd be scared of employees coming to work and spreading their viruses that ended up hobbling the entire team. Maybe half-pay sick leave would work?
10. Health: I think it amusing that we have laws requiring dogs to carry papers of immunization against Rabies, but children are exempted from vaccinations against diseases that could kill them. We can't be saying that dogs are more important than children -- I see a government policy disconnect. Either you let dog owners choose whether or not to vaccinate for Rabies, or you require children to get vaccinations against diseases that once killed or disabled millions of Americans.