The Regular Seson is over...

And the results are in.

1) Chris
2) Rich
3) Jim
4) Vince
5) Dave
6) Bruce

Actual tallies in the link on the sidebar, bring on the playoffs! great season everyone.

IT MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN.

God help me, the Patriots cannot be allowed to both 1) go undefeated through a 16 game season and 2) win the Superbowl.

Can you imagine what a catastrophe it would be if this happened? The conventional wisdom would crown the Patriots the greatest NFL team of all time. We'd have to move the White House from Washington, D.C. to Boston. Tom Brady would be the greatest quarterback of all time (especially if he held the single-season TD record.) Randy Moss would become the greatest wide receiver of all time. ESPN would move from Bristol to Foxboro. Bill Belichick would become as a god. Wes Welker would be the greatest white-guy receiver since Steve Largent. Peyton Manning would no longer be allowed to do TV commercials! This cannot be allowed to stand! We can have Chris win the pick-off three years in a row, but we cannot have this!

I call on all that is holy (and possibly some that isn't) for a team, any team to defeat the New England Patriots during this season or the playoffs. This is Horatio on the Bridge! This is the Alamo! This is the meteor from Armageddon heading towards Earth with Tom Coughlin as the Bruce Willis character. Don't drop the detonator, Tom!

If a Taylor Group member's team (Colts or Giants, primarily) beats the Patriots, I will personally buy and ship a bottle of the finest $9.99 champagne to the vanquisher of the Beast from Massachusetts.

Until next week, I will be hoping beyond hope that the New York Football Giants will win this game. Help me, Eli Wan-Kenobi, you're my only hope.

Merry Christmas & Week 16

Who will get playoff presents? Who will get coal? We could also start a side bet about who will just get fired, but thats 2 weeks away. Cast your vote, and your score!

Thursday, December 20
Pittsburgh @ St. Louis

Saturday, December 22
Dallas @ Carolina

Sunday, December 23
Cleveland @ Cincinnati
Kansas City @ Detroit
Houston @ Indianapolis
Green Bay @ Chicago
NY Giants @ Buffalo
Oakland @ Jacksonville
Philadelphia @ New Orleans
Tampa Bay @ San Francisco
Atlanta @ Arizona
Miami @ New England
Baltimore @ Seattle
NY Jets @ Tennessee
Washington @ Minnesota

Monday, December 24
Denver @ San Diego

Week 15

Week 15... Back from the dead, not quite, but i found enough time to do this so I'm posting my scores now and updating the spreadsheet in the next 20 minutes.

Pick'Em....
Thursday, Dec. 13
Denver @ Houston

Sunday, Dec. 16
Cincinnati @ San Francisco
Tennessee @ Kansas City
Baltimore @ Miami
NY Jets @ New England
Buffalo @ Cleveland
Seattle @ Carolina
Arizona @ New Orleans
Atlanta @ Tampa Bay
Green Bay @ St. Louis
Jacksonville @ Pittsburgh
Indianapolis @ Oakland
Detroit @ San Diego
Philadelphia @ Dallas
Washington @ NY Giants

Monday, Dec. 17
Chicago @ Minnesota

need extra cash?

For those of you who might need some extra cash:

http://www.hr.duke.edu/jobs/descr_campus/select.php?ID=1206

too freakin busy....

Get your picks in now for the week's games, i'm rather swamped tonight, so how about if I just direct you all to www.nfl.com for the week's schedule, scores in the comments section as usual, and I will get the spreadsheet updated ASAP. Thanks!

Chris

And now... those OTHER games....

And the rest of the week:

Sunday, December 2
San Francisco @ Carolina
Buffalo @ Washington
Houston @ Tennessee
Atlanta @ St. Louis
Seattle @ Philadelphia
Detroit @ Minnesota
Jacksonville @ Indianapolis
San Diego @ Kansas City
NY Jets @ Miami
Denver @ Oakland
Cleveland @ Arizona
Tampa Bay @ New Orleans
NY Giants @ Chicago
Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh

Monday, December 3
New England @ Baltimore

Tonight...

Post your scores for Green Bay @ Dallas! Or as jim put it, Superman vs. Jesus (Where does Chuck Norris weigh in on this? Oh, wait, who is Ref'ing the game, because if its the crazy buff ref (name escapes me) i think Chuck Norris comes down on the side of the officials... should be interesting!)

I'll put up the rest of the games tomorrow. Stay Tuned!

Great Stuff....

http://www.themishmash.com/2007/11/8-telltale-sign.html

$5 for Olberman's tongue on a platter....

Oh My God,

I have never had a great fascination with Keith Olberman, but until now I had no tremendous need to see him rendered mute. Please, NBC, do us all a HUGE favor and pull the man. Its not bad enough that he can't commentate a highlight reel, or can't pronounce players names (I understand that one, i mean, it was a little no-name guy from San Diego, what was it again, some guy named Merriman?) But the man has more bad impressions and terrible or aloof jokes than Dennis Miller, and they managed to run him off ABC. I'm willing to make a deal, pull Olberman and put a trained monkey or Dan Dierdorf (same thing) in, and take Olberman where he belongs, late-night 2nd rate sports right behind Miller's new show. Just a thought, just please get him off the Sunday Night Football.

Week 12 and a Happy Thanksgiving

So here is the deal, get in your Thursday picks by the start of the first game, get the rest in by the start of the Sunday action.
Good luck...

Oh, by the way, I added an overall rank column to the standings page, just for amusement. so you can easily spot how well you have to do to jump up a place. Ok, now pick 'em....

Thursday, November 22
Green Bay @ Detroit
NY Jets @ Dallas
Indianapolis @ Atlanta

Sunday, November 25
New Orleans @ Carolina
Oakland @ Kansas City
Houston @ Cleveland
Buffalo @ Jacksonville
Seattle @ St. Louis
Tennessee @ Cincinatti
Washington @ Tampa Bay
Minnesota @ NY Giants
San Francisco @ Arizona
Baltimore @ San Diego
Denver @ Chicago
Philadelphia @ New England (I think John Madden has just moved into an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant up there)

Monday, November 26
Miami @ Pittsburgh

Upstate doesn't count, buddy...

Taken from the CNNSI Boxscore in-game blog...

Darryl Johnston...go back to Dallas.
03:42 PM | As a New Yorker, I can admit that Eli Manning does get a lot of scrutiny in NYC, but this week's headlines were all about A-Rod and the feud between Marbury and Isiah Thomas with nothing about the Giants. I don't know what Darryl is talking about but Eli actually got a break from the criticism this week. Sad thing is, after looking so unimpressive in this victory, it might return on Monday | J. Heck Goree

PASSING
Manning
CP/AT 28/39
YDS 283
TD 1
INT 0

RATING 100.694

But you are right, people are giving him a break from criticism.

for all you Huckabee lovers out there...

I thought this was hilarious and quite clever! Huckabee may very well be that dark horse candidate that the Republicans need in '08. Apparently, his sense of humor is well known...

plus, Chuck Norris said so...lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDUQW8LUMs8&eurl

Week 11, back to a full slate of games

Which means lots of catch-up chances... pick your winners!

Sunday, November 18
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta
Cleveland @ Baltimore
NY Giants @ Detroit
Miami @ Philadelphia
Oakland @ Minnesota
San Diego @ Jacksonville
Kansas City @ Indianapolis
Arizona @ Cincinatti
Carolina @ Green Bay
New Orleans @ Houston
Pittsburgh @ NY Jets
Chicago @ Seattle
St. Louis @ San Francisco
Washington @ Dallas
New England @ Buffalo

Monday, November 19
Tennessee @ Denver

I feel like talking smack, but as soon as I do the football gods will do something worse than frowning... pick 'em....

Sunday, November 11
Atlanta @ Carolina
Minnesota @ Green Bay
Denver @ Kansas City
Buffalo @ Miami
St. Louis @ New Orleans
Cleveland @ Pittsburgh
Jacksonville @ Tennessee
Philadelphia @ Washington
Cincinatti @ Baltimore
Detroit @ Arizona
Dallas @ NY Giants
Chicago @ Oakland
Indianapolis @ San Diego

Monday, November 12
San Francisco @ Seattle

What's a methylene amongst friends?

Doubtless you've heard about the Chinese-made toy "Aquadots" that is being pulled for having a compound that metabolizes into GHB. The Washington Post says that the culprit is a simple compound switch:

"Moose Enterprises said Bindeez and Aqua Dots are made at the same factory, which is in Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province. Last week, the government announced an export ban on more than 700 toy factories in the region because of shoddy products. The company said the product is distributed in 40 countries.

The toys were supposed to use 1,5-pentanediol, a nontoxic compound found in glue, but instead contained the harmful 1,4-butanediol, which is widely used in cleaners and plastics. The Food and Drug Administration in 1999 declared the chemical a Class I Health Hazard, meaning it can cause life-threatening harm. Both chemicals are manufactured in China and elsewhere, including by major multinational companies, and are also marketed over the Internet.

It's not clear why 1,4-butanediol was substituted. However, there is a significant difference in price between the two chemicals. The Chinese online trading platform ChemNet China lists the price of 1,4 butanediol at between about $1,350-$2,800 per metric ton, while the price for 1,5-pentanediol is about $9,700 per metric ton."

I doubt there was any malicious intent involved in this. One feels sorry for the poor supply clerk who saw the price difference and jumped at it. Didn't take any med chem courses?

A good day for CNN....

So I can't decide which story makes me laugh the most today, there are so many options. I mean, there is this...
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14535338/detail.html
proof that heroism isnt dead, even after 5 bullets.

then there is this one, reason to realize that all that chineese lead could be a lot worse....
http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/07/news/international/toys_drug.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes

but best of all, without a doubt, is the worst way to get your steak.... airmail.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2007/11/07/cow.drops.onto.minivan.king

Smallmouth bass

2 lbs 8 oz smallmouth bass: caught in St. Joe river (County canoe landing in South Bend off Riverside road). What a fight!

Interesting British Law

Extracted from Yahoo.com (11/7/7):

Respondents were given a shortlist and asked to vote.

Most ridiculous British law:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27 percent)

2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down (seven percent)

3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (six percent)

4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day (five percent)

5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter (four percent)

6. A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (four percent)

7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the king, and the tail of the queen (3.5 percent)

8. It is illegal to avoid telling the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (three percent)

9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour (three percent)

10. In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (two percent)

Week 9, Happy November!

Sunday, November 4
San Francisco @ Atlanta
Cincinnati @ Buffalo
Denver @ Detroit
Green Bay @ Kansas City
San Diego @ Minnesota
Jacksonville @ New Orleans
Washington @ NY Jets
Carolina @ Tennessee
Arizona @ Tampa Bay
Seattle @ Cleveland
New England @ Indianapolis
Houston @ Oakland
Dallas @ Philadelphia

Monday, November 5
Baltimore @ Pitsburgh

Week 8: Too much chaos for a cute byline

Sunday, October 28
Indianapolis @ Carolina
Detroit @ Chicago
Pittsburgh @ Cincinatti
NT Giants @ Miami (@ London)
Philadelphia @ Minnesota
Cleveland @ St. Louis
Oakland @ Tennessee
Buffalo @ NY Jets
Houston @ San Diego (@?)
Jacksonville @ Tampa Bay
Washington @ New England
New Orleans @ San Francisco

Monday, October 29
Green Bay @ Denver

Lessons learned

If you've been watching the news, you've learned that Southern California is ON FIRE!!1!!one! Below are a few thoughts on living through a minor natural disaster.

1. Reverse 911 is a life saver. In the future, municipalities will need to register cell phones to cover the young and landline-less.
2. TV news cannot deliver actionable information fast enough to make it worthwhile. Watching the same 3 pictures again and again (house on fire, tree on fire, reporter in front on fiery treehouse) is useless. Their maps could have been drawn by a drunk first grader. Local news media do their best, but network news is completely useless. It is utterly devoid of anything but the broadest information ('Southern California is a living hell!') and the shallowest emotion ('It sucks to evacuate in the middle of the night!')
3. In terms of staying informed, blogs and interactive maps combined with good radio are the way to go.
4. Americans love to help: Qualcomm has been turning away donations since Wednesday afternoon. There are currently more volunteers than they can use.

San Diego County can relax a little, but we're not out of the woods yet. There are still more mandatory evacuations in some rural areas, but the major population centers are (relatively) safe.

California Fires

Is there an election coming up or something?

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Fox_advances_theory_that_CA_fires_1024.html

In case anyone was wondering...

Danielle and I are quite all right. My work is pretty smoky inside and it's hard to see across the Interstate 5 canyon. But we're nowhere near the fires, neither my work (La Jolla), her work (Kearny Mesa) or our apartment (Mission Valley/Serra Mesa.)That's cold comfort for many of my coworkers at PLJ, who live in the "evacuation" area. Pray for them, if that's your thing.

So far, we have experienced a very small earthquake and there's been a rather large landslide near my work. The fires are simply completing the troika, as far as I'm concerned. I have yet to see any locusts or trumpets.

Week 7: Anyone think Bruce can get back in this?

Cause I tend to doubt it. Only one way to find out, lets pick 'em!

Sunday, October 21
Baltimore @ Buffalo
Atlanta @ New Orleans
San Francisco @ NY Giants
New England @ Miami
Tennessee @ Houston
Tampa Bay @ Detroit
Arizona @ Washington
Kansas City @ Oakland
NY Jets @ Cincinatti
Minnesota @ Dallas
St. Louis @ Seattle
Chicago @ Philadelphia
Pittsburgh @ Denver

Monday, October 22
Indianapolis @ Jacksonville

Week 6, why didnt we think of this years ago?

Because man, if we would have i'd have 3 years of data to analyze, figure out who picks what way, and be able to design a program to beat up on everyone. As it is I have to continue to pull scores out of my... well, you get the idea... i score the same way ND does. On that note, Bring on the picks....

Sunday, October 14
St. Louis @ Baltimore
Minnesota @ Chicago
Miami @ Cleveland
Washington @ Green Bay
Houston @ Jacksonville
Cincinatti @ Kansas City
Philadelphia @ NY Jets
Tennessee @ Tampa Bay
Carolina @ Arizona
New England @ Dallas
Oakland @ San Diego
New Orleans @ Seattle

Monday, October 15
NY Giants @ Atlanta

I made the cut!!

Well, I thought I'd update everyone on the layoffs at Amgen. It was a pretty ugly day.... The Director of Chem. called people individually into his office, sat them down and with the HR rep. standing by, explained that they were no longer needed.

The package was pretty good, 6 months salary and a prorated bonus.

Looks like it's going to be another tough year to get a job in "big" pharma/biotech.

Well what do you all think? Does small molecule chemistry have a future? Can you retire in the industry or is it time to retool?

Good luck,

Mike

Emmanuel Lewis and the SAT

Dan Dierdorf quote during the Patriots Game:

"If Webster had a definition for the word 'competitiveness' it would include Trent Green."

Interesting weekend

Two major upsets in my town ... Los Angeles. Stanford beat USC 24-23 ... That was unbelievable. Then, Irish finally won their first game against UCLA. A tough weekend for Los Angelinos and my family I supposed, but not for me! My friend was in the rose bowl for the game, and she was rooting for the Irish despite the fact that her boyfriend was a hardcore bruins guy. Go Irish!

Week 5 and the dramatic leveling of the field

Its Thusday, and you know what that means... but first, a bit of a recap on what happenned last weekend.

ITs really pretty remarkable how after 62 games first and last place can be separated by only 4 games. Just when it looked like Dave and Bruce might start to lag, they both stormed back with 4+ points each. SO what does that mean this week, obviously Dave and Rick will now have the great weeks and we'll all be tied at 12 come monday night. Think it will happen, I guess "Thats why we play the games!"

Sunday, October 7
Jacksonville @ Kansas City
Arizona @ St. Louis
Atlanta @ Tennessee
Detroit @ Washington
Cleveland @ New England
Seattle @ Pittsburgh
New York Jets @ New York Giants
Carolina @ New Orleans
Miami @ Houston
Tampa Bay @ Indianapolis
San Diego @ Denver
Baltimore @ San Francisco
Chicago @ Green Bay (Editors Note: Chicago may have the most prime time games of any TERRIBLE team in a long time)

Monday, October 8
Dallas @ Buffalo

a gator at tOSU

Happy Hour

OJ's Eleven

This is absolute genius....

Week 4: Who wants to end the first month in style?

To this point Dave and Bruce are dragging slightly, but i've seen dave have an 8 win weekend, so watch out, its time to pick 'em for week 4...

Sunday, September 30
Houston @ Atlanta
NY Jets @Buffalo
Baltimore @ Cleveland
St. Louis @ Dallas
Chicago @ Detroit
Oakland @ Miami
Green Bay @ Minnesota
Tampa Bay @ Carolina
Seattle @ San Francisco
Pittsburgh @ Arizona
Denver @ Indianapolis
Kansas City @ San Diego
Philladelphia @ NY Giants

Monday, October 1
New England @ Cincinatti

A little financial nomenclature...

As requested, wikipedia once again pulls through with vital information for our everyday lives....

something every trivia buff must know, and to satisfy the curiosities of Lunch Time Taylorites


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5/3_Bank

enjoy!

Why not?

Orange Jerseys and Monday Night

The Bengals are playing the Patriots on monday night and every "expert" will for sure predict the Bengals to be housed. At this point with the Bengals sub par coaching and special teams I would have to agree with them. But if there is any hope for my Bengals it is that they are wearing their orange jerseys for monday night. The Bengals first wore the orange jerseys in 2004 and have wore them two times a season since then. Listed below are the games and the results when wearing orange.

Dallas W 26-3
Cleveland W 58-48
Green Bay W 21-14
Cleveland W 23-20
Carolina W 17-14
Oakland W 27-10

That makes the bengals 6-0 when wearing the orange.

Another reason I think the Bengals have a shot is that they always play up for home primetime games. Under Marvin Lewis the Bengals are 4-0 in home primetime games. The bengals may not win monday night, but you better believe the Pats aren't playing the Jets.

So what part of a point is too small to care about?

The results of week 3 are... the first 3 way tie for a game. Its always remarkable how we manage to do this a couple times each year. So I offer up Jims comment for general comments, do we institute a margain of victory "tiebreaker" to eliminate thirds of a point? I don't much care, its a spreadsheet, it can handle the digits, but I certainly don't mind. If we institute the tiebreaker it will be retroactive back over all 3 weeks, because i still have all the data up. Leave a comment, let me know!

Congrats to Jim for bounding back this week, its still a tight race, any week could swing the standings right now. Congrats on the upset special to Vince for GB over SD, though at this point I think the only people I'd pick SD to beat are Oakland and New Orleans... so they may not make an upset special again for a while.

Question of the week, now that we have winnowed the undefeated field to 5 teams, who will be the last one standing? I have my thoughts, but I have grading to do so i'll let everyone else weigh in first.

Go Irish! (Hockey)

Chris

"Triple H doesn't get much acclaim..."

Is anybody else getting tired of hiring how little acclaim Hunter Hillenmeyer does not get?

At what point does all this discussion of how good someone is actually becomes acclaim?

underrated -> receives little acclaim -> burgeoning star -> "heart of the defense" -> "watch his eyes"

Schmitt

Schmitty here...

Just thought I'd give an update. I'm still at Amgen South San Francisco, it's been a rocky year at Amgen. As you may know, Amgen's most important drug had a saftey signal in a off label study at higher doses. This led to an overreaction by the FDA, followed by a bigger reaction by the CMS, and to make a long story short.... Amgen is cutting staff in the US by 12-14%. Looks like most of the cuts are coming out of research and manufacturing. So for the small molecule chemistry guys like me, we're looking to lose 10% of our current level. We have 80 chemists at our site, so we're losing around 8... We find out who gets cut by early October. I'm not overly worried about losing my job, but moral is at an all-time low. When in fear for one's job people tend to get a little edgy.

Other than the impending layoffs, work is good. Making progress. I had a great start at Tularik, and I was on two seperate projects that were advanced into the clinic. I was able to make a real impact and get promoted for the effort. Since then we were bought by Amgen and everything has moved at a much slower pace. Tularik: 12+ hour days plus weekends, with almost no vacation days used. Amgen: 10 hour days rarely a weekend, and I have time to take a vacation or two....

After Tularik was purchased, we moved out of San Francisco and we bought a condo in North Oakland. It's in an up and coming area. Housing prices out here are extreme!! I commute by motorcycle every day across the Bay Bridge, it makes for a fun start to my day. Stacie is working for a medical software company. She is traveling 3-5 days a week and really advancing at her company. Still no kids, just "DINK"ing it for now.

Golf game is good, have been averaging 2 birdies a round. Have shot quite a few 80, 81 rounds... still looking for the breakthrough. It's right around the corner. Shot a 37 on the back nine at Trump National last week outside LA. And had a 37, the last two rounds at courses in the bay area. Should be breaking 80 in no time.

Stacie and I also took up skiing. Lake Tahoe is a three hour drive, so we usually meet up with friends (including the recently married Brian Hearn) and go up to the mountains for a weekend trip. Skiing is an incredible sport, really pushes you.

I thought I'd never say it... but California is an amazing place to live, great weather and tons of stuff to do. We're hardly ever at home.

Feel free to contact me directly, michael.j.schmitt@gmail.com, if you'd like to discuss the industry, jobs, or life. Or if you'd like to visit that's cool too.

Mike

Week 3 Games, Pick 'Em!

Sunday, September 23
Arizona @ Baltimore
San Diego @ Green Bay
St. Louis @ Tampa Bay
San Francisco @ Pittsburgh
Detroit @ Philadelphia
Miami @ NY Jets
Buffalo @ New England
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Indianapolis @ Houston
Cincinatti @ Seattle
Cleavland @ Oakland
Jacksonville @ Denver
NY Giants @ Washington
Carolina @ Atlanta
Dallas @ Chicago

Monday, September 24
Tennessee @ New Orleans

OJ is quite the ladykiller

Thought with the Juice back in the news I would put up this hilarious clip of him on a talk show. (I couldn't find any Norberg clips to put up, so I went with this one)

Week 2 all wrapped up

Well, for those of us playing and those of us just happy the NFL is rolling so we don't have to talk ND "football"...
The upet special this week goes to Dave for SF over St. Louis, very nice sir. Just a reminder that there are numerous ways to get your picks in, blog comments, email (i'll convert it to a post so others can see the picks after the fact) or the Stepan 357 lab phone.
For this week Jim pulls out the slightest win, in a very even week overall.
So I will pose the following question, who is the biggest bust so far in 2007, I can think of several candidates, but my early vote goes to San Diego. If that sounds odd, the collapse Sunday night sealed it for me. Nothing like going in for revenge and coming out like a whipped puppy. Whay do you think?

Family Guy at the Emmys

I thought this was pretty funny. (Especially for fans of the Sopranos and Family Guy)

P.S. 30 Rock won the Emmy for Best Comedy Series and I suggest everyone reading the blog watch it.

As long as the blogosphere train is dragging me down the tracks...

In case some of you noticed the "Photo Album" link in the side bar, i thought I'd mention the Photo Album :) Yes, thats right, in a random moment of curiousity I decided to see how easy it is to start a Flickr account. Its pretty darn simple. So we have one. If you'd like to post photos to it, send me an email, i'll send you the login info, you can make albums, scan in old group shots, whatever you please (within reason). Glad this is taking off the way it is, if you have any suggestions for improvement please don't hesitate to send me an email. Jim knows this works, and the worst I can do is ignore it :) By the way, did I mention the Photo Album?

Link Question

Can I provide a link in my sidebar to this blog? Or, since it is post-by-invite only, is it read-by-invite only, as well? I'm unsure of the netiquette involved.

Patterson update

well since I don't have much to say about football... the irish look bad, the gophers look bad and both could probably beat the falcons...

I'll introduce myself and give an update:

I was Rich's first postdoc.... also worked with Brad Smith (I think Rich had the left half of me and Brad had the right half).

Since leaving the Taylor/Smith group I've been with two startup companies... the first industrial project lead to a compound that is now in phase 3 clinicals for p. carinii and some of my work at the second led to a compound that is now in phase 2 for HCV.

After leaving the second company (Pharmasset) I joined the faculty at Minnesota where I'm now an Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Center for Drug Design. I've been at Minnesota for almost exactly 3 years. My group webpage is

http://www.cdd.umn.edu/cdd/Member_Directory/Steve_Patterson.html


This summer was a bit of a roller coaster ride for me... my father died, I received the appointment as Associate Professor, and my grant for HIV therapeutics was awarded (11%ile).... all in the space of about a week.

Would be nice to hear from Brian, Jeff, Gabe, Kerry, Matt, Mike and the rest of the guys who were there while I was.

Gabe: I see you're at Scynexis... do you know Sarah Dimick-Gray? She's in my group now.

best to all you Taylorites

Rich, I was hoping to get back to South Bend this summer but the stuff with my father made that impossible... hopefully I can stop by again in spring.

Steve
:)X

Hayden breaks 100!!!

Thats correct. Hayden broke 100 in his first round of golf. Yes, it was the nine hole/par 3 course. Give him a break!

Not just for football...

Let's not let one subject dominate the blog. This is an opportunity for all of us to stay in touch and hear (read) what's new.

Hi Taylor Group!

Greetings from Albany!! It looks like I've been invited to join a football blog(?) Football's been a sore subject in our house as the Irish are tough to watch this year and I live with a disgruntled Raiders fan.

How are things in South Bend otherwise? I was just thinking of you all because Dr. Mobashery was just here to give a talk. He showed a nice overhead pic of the campus. I can't believe it's been over three years since I left there!

Sickening

0-3 ... this is the reason why watching Irish football made me sick. 38-0 against Michigan? This reminds me the 2003 season. Can this season be salvaged?

3 hits and a paper

1. Guilty: Wow -- Belichick and the Patriots have been fined pretty severely, along with having draft picks removed. That's pretty remarkable. The thing that gets me is, what did he think it would gain him? One or two plays of 50-60 where they'd know what was coming? I think there are also too many variables that a defense can throw at a quarterback (# of rushers/defenders, blitz/cover, up the left/right/middle) that could be changed up. In addition, defenses have two defenses against signal stealing: decoy signals (decreasing signal/noise ratio) and the wristband (an encoded key). There would have to be a great deal of legwork for this to work, IMO.

I honestly don't believe that this would have helped the Patriots, but just like everything the Patriots have done over the past five years -- hey, it's New England. They must know something that I don't.

2. Cyclical?: The last time that signals played a big role in the NFL was the '03 Superbowl, where Jon Gruden coached the Bucs against the team that he formerly coached, the Oakland Raiders. Apparently, the Raiders failed to change their signals from the year before (those signals installed by Gruden!!!OMG!!) and the game ended with 5 Oakland turnovers and 4 interceptions off Rich Gannon. [Let's also not forget the extenuating circumstance of the Raiders' starting center deciding that SB week was a good week to visit Tijuana rather than practice.] That was also the last time the NFC won a Superbowl in recent years and only the 2nd time in the last 10 SBs. The time before that was the Rams' 1-yard victory over the Titans in 2000.

The NFC/AFC thing is supposed to be cyclical. Uh, well, it's going to take quite a bit of 'reverting to the mean' for the cycle to go all the way back, i.e. 8 NFC wins in the next 10 Superbowls. Maybe this Belichick thing is the start -- who knows? I think the balance of power has shifted and "the market" has failed. (OMG! The pseudo-libertarian speaks heresy!)

3. Mental/physical: My wife has accused me of being a "Peyton Manning lover". While I may not luuurve Manning, I do admire him for seemingly mastering the mental aspect of the game of football, more so than any QB of our era (post-Elway). Here's the question I have for the football fans in the audience: has he mastered the physical aspect as well? Let's lay aside the dancing feet and the occasional quacking throw. I have an answer -- I'd like to hear yours first.

==

Interesting paper of the week: Soloshonok, Hisanori Ueki, Manabu Yasumoto, Shekar Mekala, Jennifer S. Hirschi, and Daniel A Singleton, JACS, ASAP.

If I haven't read the conclusion wrong (and maybe I have), they're arguing that vacuum drying could have an effect on enantiomeric excess. [A 'kinetic resolution' effect on sublimation of mixtures of solid enantiomers.] Hmmm. Man, nothing beats a good Mosher's though, huh? Don't forget to run it to completion! ;)

Bill BelliCHEAT

I am curious to see what everyone else thinks about the Patriots video recording the Jets sidelines to steal defensive signals. I mean, the Patriots are just such a "classy" organization. Their players wouldn't use HGH or have children out of wedlock. And their coaches certainly wouldn't steal signals. The thing that gets me about this whole situation is that this ISN'T THE FIRST TIME! They have been warned and continued to do it. This means that they must have been obtaining some sort of competitive advantage from stealing the signals. I hope the NFL lays down the law (and knowing power hungry Goodell, he will) If Goodell came down hard on Pacman for biting strippers, then he will be probably come down very hard on the Patriots for compromising the inegrity of the game.

http://bogp.com/recordingits.gif

Week 2 Games (with a bit of a reminder...)

Before I list the games, a little reminder to all of you picking... Please post your picks as a comment to this entry. For a reference please see the original week 1 post and the picks for Rich, Jim, Bruce, and myself. Otherwise we end up with long strings of picks filling up the "home page". Thanks and choose wisely!

Sunday, Sept. 16th
Houston @ Carolina
Cincinatti @ Cleveland
Indianapolis @ Tennessee
New Orleans @ Tampa Bay
San Francisco @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ Pittsburgh
Green Bay @ NY Giants
Atlanta @ Jacksonville
Seattle @ Arizona
Dallas @ Miami
Minnesota @ Detroit
Oakland @ Denver
Kansas City @ Chicago
NY Jets @ Baltimore
San Diego @ New England

Monday, Sept. 17
Washington @ Philladelphia

Eco-Friendly Weaponry

Channel One television said the new weapon, nicknamed the "dad of all bombs" is four times more powerful than the U.S. "mother of all bombs."

"The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability," said Col.-Gen. Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said in televised remarks.

Unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn't hurt the environment, he added.

Well said General. Well said.

Uh-Oh!

The Shitstains (Cleveland Browns) traded starting QB Charlie Frye to the Seahawks. That means this guy http://deadspin.com/sports/joe-theismann-disapproves-of-this-outfit/brady-quinn-always-with-the-hetero-photos-261009.php may be their starting QB.

Bold predictions (perhaps not so bold, really)

Living in San Diego is interesting; between Mexican TV and watching crazy Californians, Danielle and I have not been bored. One of the best things about moving here when we did is to listen to the Chargers hype. They should be going to the Superbowl! They have the best player (#21) in the league! I haven't bought into it. I have my doubts about Philip Rivers, mostly stemming from his relatively poor play towards the end of last year. They'll go 11-5 and win the division; they will make it no farther than the AFC Championship. Here's how I think the AFC West will shake out:

1. San Diego
2. Denver
3. Oakland
4. Kansas City

Other bold predictions:

1. HRC wins the Democrat primary.
2. The GOP race is the closest in years and lasts into May. It'll be McCain or Romney, although I hope for my heartthrob Huckabee.
3. Ron Paul will still sound like a loon.

Clinton v. Obama v. Edwards: Battle Royale

So the political season is "officially" upon us. With the uneventful passing of Labor Day and in response to an email that Jim sent me, I'm starting the political discussion (read: ranting). But maybe the recent days weren't so uneventful. I've noticed that Edwards (full disclosure: John Edwards is my pick for president; he was in 2004 and will be in this caucus) has gone after Clinton in the endorsement rounds that he's made, calling her out at both YearlyKos and the Carpenters Union speech he gave recently. Interestingly, he's not criticizing her for taking money previously or suggesting that she return all or part of the funds, but rather arguing that if we'd like to change the power balance in Washington, Democrats can no longer accept what gives them power, the cash-money. In order to put the power back in the hands of the people, K street's gotta go. So he's vowed not to take money from these folks and will run a clean campaign (also, clean is not the word i would use here as his comments were pretty harsh).

This is a concept that the Democrats have been running on for nearly 30 years. If i can channel Rummy for a few minutes: Will it change with John Edwards as president? No. Will even a Democrat (sic) Congress pass such reforms? Decidedly no. Does this get votes in the progressive caucus? Absolutely. Will John Edwards get some air time for this? Probably, but not yet. Will this be enough to oust Obama from his second place status? Not with Oprah backing him. Will Johnny Boy be maligned to Veep status for a second time? i doubt it. He won't accept anything less than the top spot.

All in all this is a play to get endorsements from a blue-collar working class proletariat. A common concept in most progressive populist circles. This is also one of the safest "anti-Hilary" plays out there right now. It's her soft spot in the left blogosphere. And i agree its the right move for Edwards right now. We'll see how it plays out.

As an aside, how can a former lobbyist, assuming he gets the nomination, win against that attack and still be the reincarnation of Reagan if he looks like a evil villain from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? :)


pillaged from Americablog.com

Week 1 Highlights (or Lowlights...)

I think my favorite play today had to be Butterfingers Grossman fumbling while moving in the pocket. Perhaps we need smaller footballs, that way Sexy Rexy will look a little less pathetic.

While I'm offering highlights, anyone got an opinion on the Chargers/Bears fumble controversy? In my opinion, if you can't challenge an uncalled penalty that results ina change of possession there is a serious problem with the replay system. Let the chatter begin...

In the words of Justin Wilson

"This team's going to be ready to go, there's no doubt in my mind. I'm not going to lose. We're not going to lose," Hart said.

The only thing that makes me more angry than the very likeable Hart making statements like this after Michigan's horrendous start to their season is the fact that he is probably correct.



Famous sports guarantees...

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/55339

Week One Picks

Nothing like last minute picks. I would first like to say that I enjoyed Thursday night, but nobody wins a championship for one game. And if the so called experts pick the Patriots, so be it. I would rather the Colts fly under the radar this year anyway.

PIT 27
CLE 20 (Brady Quinn by the second half?)

PHI 31
GB 13 (Farve needs to retire! Let's face it, he just wants the TD record and maybe the interception record too at the rate he's going.)

CAR 21
STL 24

ATL 9
MIN 15

NE 20
NYJ 13

MIA 12
WAS 10 This could quite possibly the most boring game all day and I sure it will be televised here.

TEN 16
JAX 23 I just want the Colts to kill Vince Young next week so I do not have to hear that he is a top 5 quarterback.

KC 22
HOU 27 Not quite sure how you score 22.

DEN 15
BUF 17 Upset special and sorry Daniel.

CHI 10
SD 27 I think Rex is good for a couple of fumbles and at least 2 picks.

TB 12
SEA 28

DET 12
OAK 15 Another boring game.

NYG 20
DAL 24

BAL 13
CIN 24

ARI 20
SF 17

Experts?

Should we really trust the "experts" on ESPN? Not one had Indianapolis going back to the Super Bowl yet they should be the clear favorites in the AFC. Every so called expert expects Bridget Monahan's baby daddy to make a trip to Arizona this winter. This stems from the assumption that "Tom Brady never has had weapons like this before". Well I am just going to say it....WHO CARES? Randy Moss hasn't did anything significant since 2004 (running over a police officer doesn't count), Donte Stallworth hasn't done anything ever, Wes Welker is just another name for overhyped white wide reciever and Kelley Washington is a pretty boy who is scared to take a hit and is most famous for his hilarious squirrel end zone dance. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMuvjLcuvTI) My question is, does he really have more talent. On paper yes, but in reality I am not so sure. The fact that I have to hear about this from "experts" is the reason I hope the Patriots season isnt as potent as Tom Brady's sperm.

The perennial question of Reggie Bush

Since the advent of Reggie Bush in the NFL, I've been asking the same question to my Taylor Group football friends:

Three years from now, will Reggie Bush be:

A. A perennial MVP candidate (corrected from "Pro Bowler")?
B. A well-regarded, competent back? (i.e. Thomas Jones)
C. A bust?

Last year, the answer seemed to be B, shading in the beginning of the season towards C. He ended the season towards A.

After one season, it's still difficult to tell. Nevertheless, I vote for B. What do the rest of you think?

IND 43
NO 37


start with that, sorry the wife says I've got to get back to work, will finish later

Vince's Picks

NO 20
IND 28

PHI 20
GB 21

ATL 14
MIN 7

MIA 14
WAS 6

NE 24
NYJ 13

TEN 20
JAX 10

DEN 17
BUF 21

PIT 34
CLE 17

CAR 17
STL 24

KC 3
HOU 17

TB 17
SEA 34

CHI 16
SD 13

DET 24
OAK 6

NYG 6
DAL 10

BAL 10
CIN 17 (Ocho Cino will bring "sexy back" on monday night!)

ARI 20
SF 24

Jimmy Claussen

http://www.sportspickle.com/features/volume6/2007-0704-clausen.html

Thanks, Chris!

Great idea, Chris. Although I won't rule out the idea of meeting you in a dark alley, I like blogging better.
I hope this is a good spot to tell good news...guess what? I'm pregnant! Due in March. We still have not officially adopted Harold and Savanah, so we are going for three kids in one year!
Hope all is well with the rest of the Taylor group, past and present.
Talk to you soon,
Annette

Whats this Craziness all about?

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, chemists of all ages! Ok, so basically the idea here is to create a forum where we can all post entries, keep in touch, plan meet-ups at conferences, amusement parks, dark alleys, etc. Its supposed to be a small place where Taylor Group members past and present can communicate, so if you have email addresses for people to add, let me know. I am going to restrict the commenting on the blog entries to only "members" so we don't get lots of spam issues. Welcome back to the party everyone!

Week 1

Let the good times roll, Here is the schedule for Week 1. Also, please note that your comments are viewable by all, this means we don't have the old secretive picks. I'm not going to mess with that part too much, if you don't want people to know, post closer to kickoff. Bring it!

Thursday - 9/6
New Orleans at Indianapolis

Sunday - 9/9
Philadelphia at Green Bay
Atlanta at Minnesota
Miami at Washington
New England at New York Jets
Tennessee at Jacksonville
Denver at Buffalo
Pittsburg at Cleveland
Carolina at St. Louis
Kansas City at Houston
Tampa Bay at Seattle
Chicago at San Diego
Detroit at Oakland
New York Giants at Dallas

Monday - 9/10
Baltimore at Cincinnati
Arizona at San Francisco

Moving to the late 20th century...

Greetings group, as we disperse across the country (or corn fields) i figure its worth a little high tech attempt at the weekly football picks. So, here is the plan, Pick are due in before the kickoff of the first game each week, I will list the games as a post, you comment back with your scores, I'll (possibly) tabulate them in such a way that its easy to brag when you come within 3 points of the real score. If you don't know how to comment on a blog, let me know and to quote Tommy Boy, "I'll come back and hit you with a tack hammer, because you are a retard."

The Rules...
1) All picks in before the first kickoff of the weekend. Want to change your picks? feel free to leave them in a new comment, comments are time-stamped, i'll take them up till the first kick, after that the comments for that week will be solely for smack-talking.
*EDIT* - Phone submissions will also be accepted, just in case you are stranded on a remote island on your honeymoon and can't find internet access, but do have cell phone access, and your new bride isnt awake yet to scold you for calling in your picks on her phone. ITs probably more common than I think... The 357 Lab Phone is the only phone that will be checked for scores.
2) Points will be awarded according to Rules 3-5
3) You must have picked the winning team
4) Your score will be subtracted from the actual score for each team, the sum of the differences will then be added to determine your degree of wrongness.
5) The person with the smallest degree of wrongness gets the point, points will be subdivided as far as needed to avoid ridiculous tiebreakers.
6) Each Tuesday I will post an updated standings, including any interesting statistics.


So what do you think? You have until Wednesday the 6th to suggest rule changes, start the commenting.

Chris