tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71353782024-03-13T06:51:22.736-04:00Mug ShotsComputer Hacker and an old-time Sports Hack. This will probably be the perfect site for couch potatoes. Don't count on daily postings, but I'll be here with something new to rant about several times a month.Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.comBlogger881125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-37575670729923142322022-03-15T18:42:00.003-04:002022-03-16T17:59:20.417-04:00It's THAT Time of the Year Again! Okay, fair warning. I did no real prep for this post. At least nothing like I normally do. But I have a duty to the world to tell you what I THINK might happen over the next three weeks in the annual March Madness extravaganza south of the border. And no more chalk picking in this year of upsets (including a Saturday last month that featured the top six teams losing and seven of the top tenGary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-39900960941939682602021-09-09T02:57:00.001-04:002021-09-09T02:57:52.934-04:00Mark Bell, RIP: A Remembrance I lost my good friend Mark Bell to Covid three weeks ago. On the day Georgia called to tell me that, shortly before noon on the Tuesday, I sat in front of my computer staring at the same page of the book I was reading for three hours. I cannot tell you the page number, not even the book title. It was a white page with black text. I think. A grief counsellor would tell me I was in the first Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-78041581363454927992021-03-17T23:29:00.004-04:002021-03-18T01:00:23.581-04:00The Question Is: Who are the Gonzaga Bulldogs? Of course, in honour of the late great Alex Trebek, a fellow Canadian, the answer is: Who will win the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball championship in Indianapolis the first week of April.Now, as things go, this is about the least unlikely champion pick in the tournament that I have ever made. Which should worry you. It's been 45 years since the Little General, Bobby Knight, guided his Indiana Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-51110338911951181072021-02-25T04:34:00.000-05:002021-02-25T04:34:18.342-05:00Pascal Siakam and Al Brown, Together in My Mind The Toronto Raptors' Pascal Siakam is one of the most likable players in the NBA. He is a self-made multi-millionaire who has taken moderate talents (it appeared) as a late first-round draft choice out of New Mexico, worked diligently with high-level coaching with the Raptors organization and summers at UCLA in the off-season and has become an all-star. This from a guy who wasn't interestedGary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-45142720960779854922021-01-25T02:39:00.000-05:002021-01-25T02:39:14.045-05:00A Guy's Gotta Eat Truly, madly, deeply, I like to eat. To do that, I occasionally need to get a service to deliver me food. The ones that come the closest to delivering you your choice of foods for a sawbuck, and getting mostly what you ordered from them, is Sobey's Voilà and Longo's Grocery Gateway. I'm mad at the first for the most recent deliveryman's ability to spread my delivery all the way to the far Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-39086082800504587932020-11-20T19:27:00.003-05:002020-11-20T19:27:30.147-05:00If you are a user of VPNs, check the fine print ... Especially if you consider PIA I am a dupe with a preference to using Windows 7 despite it ending being supported by Microsoft in January. Since I employ both a firewall and a decent anti-virus, I continue to use a system I have setup to my preferences a decade ago. It's a familiar piece of equipment that keeps me contributing to the companies I'm involved with. I understand Microsoft feels that Windows 10 is Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-66444150573169748382020-06-27T16:49:00.001-04:002020-06-27T16:49:51.629-04:00IF My Last Name Was Bettman ...I'm going to give the new Blogger interface a whirl today with some meanderings about the NHL Draft lottery last night. Although it means my beloved Montreal Canadiens will PROBABLY have a 12.5 percent chance of winning the lottery (aka Alexis Lafreniere), I'm in the camp with Brian Burke thinking my namesake from the Bettman branch of the United Gary's of the World, screwed this up.Burke Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-17578035004388346532020-03-12T19:11:00.000-04:002020-03-12T19:11:04.785-04:00You Don't Buy A Name, You Buy A ComputerThis is another case of Trust being abused. Wasn't me this time. It was just a friend operating on my advice. And I failed him. And because of the circumstances on depending on a store and of the product they sold, my credentials as a computer consultant can be called into dispute.
Just because I know the phone number for my hardware guy Patrick does NOT make me a computer consultant. Knowing a Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-30849984607847397612019-11-12T16:16:00.000-05:002020-03-07T14:05:43.032-05:00The Don Cherry Legend: R.I.P.Every piece, be it written or spoken, over the last three and a half days regarding Don Cherry's final Hockey Night in Canada Coach's Corner segment follows a fairly standard template. First, the person excoriates the commentary regarding 'You people,' and then launches into their own personal saga of acceptance as an open-minded person. Finally, a fair percentage salute Sportsnet for having the Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-80189099333789383702019-10-22T03:19:00.001-04:002019-10-22T03:19:27.312-04:00All Hail Canada, My CountryMy fellow Canadians did our country proud yesterday/last night, electing a Minority government.
Canada
is a multi-party parliamentary system. We have 338 Members of
Parliament who then have the right to elect their leaders without
further interference from the electoral masses. The leader of the party
with the most votes in a Majority (i.e. 170 seats) government becomes
our Prime Minister. Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-63613035080136584022019-09-30T20:07:00.000-04:002019-09-30T20:07:58.875-04:00Trust and How Metro.ca Misplaced MineTrust.
Big topic. Everybody wants services and goods around them to be trustworthy. To not have to look at the invoice, because you've trusted somebody or somebodies that they have done right by you.
I NEED people around me to be trustworthy. I'm house-bound, leaving every couple of months to see doctors or a series of doctors. So, I have my prescriptions delivered (shoutout to the BramQueen Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-79431372597243371432019-07-24T14:45:00.000-04:002019-11-12T16:22:08.759-05:00Al Franken Revisited
Today, at Mark Evanier's blog, I got the head's up to read Jane Mayer's clinical dissection of the American tragedy known as Al Franken's resignation from the Senate for The New Yorker magazine. And a less clinical, more impassioned critique of Mayer's article by Christina Cauterucci at Slate.com.
I'm guessing you know where I fall in this debate from my opening statement. I want to warn you: IGary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-37548314632818443732019-06-27T13:52:00.004-04:002021-01-25T16:01:00.705-05:00A Secret Kept Until NowThis week's announcement that Big Ned, Vlaclav Nedomansky, had been named to the Hockey Hall of Fame stirred up some memories and I guess it won't harm anybody that I'm going to break my vow of secrecy now that some 45 years have passed.
I think, although I am not positive, that I was the third person in North America who knew Nedomansky had successfully defected from the then Czechoslovakia. Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-9171463436254447802019-04-27T09:52:00.000-04:002019-04-27T09:52:00.241-04:00This Week's Amazon Delivery - A Failure Rant - AGAIN!On Tuesday night, I ordered stuff I needed. I've been a little out of it lately and it was time to re-enter the land of the living. So I ordered seven items. I could have had Thursday delivery for half of them, but since one package could only arrive on Friday, I accepted Friday for both. By that time, I would need what I ordered and it gave me a couple more days to get sorted out health-wise.
Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-14800394944686918842019-04-20T05:01:00.001-04:002019-04-20T05:01:44.195-04:00The EndI took a bath a little less than three hours ago. It will be my last.
No, I'm not dying.
At least in the next few minutes, hours, days or hopefully even months. Dying is a constant. But nobody, including me, is hurrying that along any faster than yesterday. But I've had my last bath and will now only be able to take showers from this point forward. Well, unassisted. And I haven't seen hide nor Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-3894046476796138922019-03-19T06:42:00.000-04:002019-03-20T08:24:57.106-04:00It's March, So Here's the ExpectedIt's that time of the year again. Once again, I have to peer into the Crystal Ball, seek out Solomon, and find a wise choise to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. However, even before I turned on the hidden light below the con man's table to light up the cheap plastic 'crystal ball,' a ghostly voice shouted, "Duke, you fool. Duke!'
Who am I to argue the obvious. So, that's the name you Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-42999974348803636122019-02-02T13:07:00.000-05:002019-02-02T13:07:23.810-05:00Give Him the Money for the WallAnd by HIM, I mean the Orange Buffoon who will become the first ex-President to eventually get to wear orange jumpsuits at the pleasure of the government he once misled.
I've become convinced that the Democrats should only commit to impeachment if they get evidence of treason that is strong enough that even blinkered Republicans can't deny it. And that requires IMMEDIATE ACTION. Otherwise, leaveGary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-53916104636823591242018-12-06T09:00:00.000-05:002018-12-06T11:47:31.595-05:00I Don't Heart AmazonIn fact, to be honest, I loathe being an Amazon customer. Or I loathe myself. One of the other or both.
Let's face it, Jeff Bezos has conquered the world and other than not having the nuclear Football to play with, he is in position to outlast that pig-eyed over-stuffed prig in the White House and be an international power all by himself. He can force cities all across North America to spend Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-78614878271353747602018-06-23T10:45:00.000-04:002018-08-08T08:34:49.955-04:00Is It Too Late to Publish my Top 25 TV shows of 2017?The answer is probably yes. Which I plan to ignore and put the list here.
No extended discussion as to the why's and how comes? I'm hoping to turn this annual (I'm LESS than a year late with this) write (sic) of passage into an eBook called "One Man's Guide to Binge-Watching TV: The Lifetime Edition." I plan to 'scoop' myself by releasing the list annually on my birthday. And that will continue Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-54840593211654491752018-06-23T10:20:00.000-04:002018-06-23T10:20:32.550-04:00Heinz Ketchup, Canada and Comrade DonaldI skipped publishing 2017's Top 25 (or so) TV shows last year because I got to the Worst of the Worst and ended up writing 1500+ words on CNN's aiding of the election of the UnGreat Pumpkin, his worst self. I was enraged that the TV channel had abrogated its journalistic responsibilities for the (easy) good ratings letting that overgrown Enfant terrible spout lie after lie, virtually unchallengedGary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-76238611843779895552018-06-19T10:57:00.000-04:002018-06-19T10:57:24.796-04:00Mr. Bergevin, Line 1 is for YouI'd like to call Marc Bergevin and tell him how to go about his business because his business has been hurting. And when the Montreal Canadiens hurt, so do I. Don't quite have the chutzpah though.
Bergevin has managed himself and his team into a corner. There's a lot of talk about taking advantage of the third pick in the draft because the Habs went through all kinds of unhappy to earn theGary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-12396384500634656592018-05-09T09:51:00.000-04:002018-05-11T22:10:06.864-04:00Nice Guys Finish LastDwane Casey is a good man, bordering on being a great man. He was a black man playing on a still VERY WHITE Kentucky team when he was in college. He continued in the game after that by becoming an assistant coach. A good one. But he got falsely labeled as a coach who got caught paying off a player to come to Kentucky. The NCAA, in a rare moment of acting in the actual 'best' interests of the Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-6654342601626015892018-03-15T12:07:00.000-04:002018-03-15T12:07:23.594-04:00The Answer to the Burning Question of the DayWho's going to win March Madness. I dunno. And if anybody says THEY know, then start the comparisons to other pathological liars we know and don't much love. This is NOT a year for unequivocal predictions.
Who do I THINK is going to win? I entered in 13 pools at ESPN/TSN and picked EIGHT DIFFERENT WINNERS. But the one I entered in first had Virginia ripping down the nets.
I corresponded with myGary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-34900966297703043252017-11-14T14:45:00.000-05:002017-11-14T14:45:19.786-05:00IF you write, they may comeWriting is a solitary experience unless you are at a newspaper covering a big story, too big for a single reporter, or you're experienced and understand the collaborative experience. Me? It's just me and my blank screen.
You should know that I've stopped writing my blog posts IN Blogger, the platform that this blog is hosted on. Nothing wrong with doing it there. But the process is too clunky toGary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7135378.post-14329830337957698732017-10-30T14:35:00.000-04:002017-10-30T14:35:28.422-04:00Advice to Mark Shapiro, a LITTLE more publicly this time
When asked in May
what I would do with the then-hot Toronto Blue Jays, my response was
“Trade ‘em, all and rebuild for the arrival of Vlady Guerrero Jr.
and Bo Bichette in 2019!” Obviously, Shapiro and Atkins failed to
telepathically heed my advice and instead stuck with the group as is.
So, what to do THIS off-season. Trade most of ‘em and rebuild for
the arrival of Guerrero and Bichette in Gary Mugfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373692715883477861noreply@blogger.com0