Long time, no write

Gosh, it's been so long since I've written, I've forgotten just about anything I might have wanted to say. With both football and basketball seasons going on, it's hard to find time to write. Here's a few things rambling around in my head.

* The Sox made a pretty risky deal yesterday, sending CF Aaron Rowand to the Phillies for 1B Jim Thome. I love Thome, but he's on the downside of his career and coming off an injury-marred season. I hate to see the Sox give up their best defensive player and team leader - and a relatively young guy - for Thome at this point in his career. It makes me wonder if the Sox think they can't sign Konerko.

* Kyle Orton is doing a nice job at starting QB for the Bears, who are now 7-3. Like most rookies, he's had some ups and downs, but they are not relying on him to win the games. The Bears have a great defense and a good running game, which takes some pressure off of Orton.

Orton's QB rating of 62.5 won't get him a lot of all-star votes. He's 30th in the NFL in that category. If you throw out that one 5 INT game against the Bengals, his rating is 73.2, which isn't too far off of average. Hard to believe one game could make that much difference.

The one thing that has puzzled me about Orton so far as a Bear is that he seems to be missing guys deep. When he was at Purdue, he was the most accurate deep-ball thrower I had seen in college. It seemed like he was more accurate the farther he threw the ball, but in the pros so far, he's had trouble hooking up on the long ball. Maybe it's just a matter of still learning his receivers. When he starts clicking on the deep ball again, he's really going to take off.

Rex Grossman, whose injury gave Orton the chance to start, is going to be back in uniform this week as the third QB when the Bears play Tampa. Some fans are thinking he should go back in whenever he's ready, but they forget that Grossman has six games experience - total. Orton already has seven WINS. Grossman's career QB rating is 71.1, so it's not like he's the second coming of John Elway.

* Further evidence that there are too many channels: the Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship was on ESPNU yesterday.

* We went to see the Harry Potter movie last night. It was pretty good, although they obviously had to cut a LOT out to make a two-and-a-half hour movie. No house-elves, no Dursleys, and don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it coverage of the Quidditch World Cup. Even Snape is an afterthought. Still, it's a good movie and the special effects are great.

* My two older boys have just joined Cub Scouts. They're both pretty excited about it and they'll probably do OK, but I remember my efforts at scouting and I wasn't particularly good at it. Hopefully, I can stay out of their way. :)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was released on July 16, and I was shocked to find it at the Anderson Public Library that day. I thought I was going to have to wait until I got home to read it. It took me about seven hours (actual reading time) to finish it. By now, I’ve read it twice through and the last few chapters several times. I’m a big fan of the series, and this is the best one yet.

I am pre-dating a blog entry with all the spoiler info, so if you haven’t read the book and don’t want to know what happens, don’t go there. Otherwise, here’s a link to my full commentary on the book.

Busy, busy.

It's been a busy week, which is partly why it's been a little quiet here. We've been taking the kids out and doing a few fun things, like the Porter County Fair. Then, I spent the last two days at the Big Ten football media days, which I'll write about some on the site.

I've also been writing about the Harry Potter book, which I hope to post later this week.

Back home

We came back from my mother-in-law's yesterday and I'm finally able to do a bit of writing. It seems like forever since the last time I wrote.

-> Last week, my kids attended Camp Invention in Anderson. Camp Invention is put on by the National Inventors Hall of Fame at schools around the country and is designed to help kids problem solve and think creatively. For part of the camp, they actually go through the invention process. They figure out what problem they want to solve, come up with a way to solve it, and build a model of their invention. My oldest was in the camp last year and had a great time. This time, #2 son joined him. It's open to kids entering first grade through sixth grade. It's probably too late for this year, but if you have kids who might like this kind of thing, keep it in mind for next year.

-> The All-Star game was Tuesday night and I missed it completely. Didn't see one pitch. I kind of forgot about it. Part of the problem was that I was at my mother-in-law's, and I'm a bit out of my environment there, but also, that was during the camp, so evenings were spent doing other things. Still, I don't feel like I missed anything. Not that long ago, the all-star game was blocked out on my calendar and I scheduled around it, but since the tie, I just haven't cared that much. I'm sure I would have watched if it had occurred to me, but it didn't, and to me, that says something.

The hometown guys did OK. Mark Bueherle got the win and Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez had hits. I didn't see if Jon Garland pitched.

-> The NHL finally ended its lockout. It remains to be seen if anyone is left to care.

-> The Tour de Lance rolls into its final week. Barring a crash or some other misfortune, it looks like Lance Armstrong will win for the seventh straight time, which is an incredible accomplishment. After that, he retires, and America can go back to not caring about cycling.

-> Tiger Woods won another major, making it ten before he turned 30. It's funny to see how the other golfers can't seem to catch him. Guys chasing him tend to play worse rather than better. Colin Montgomerie in particular seems to have trouble with Woods. They've been in the same tournament now 66 times, and the only time Montgomerie finished ahead of Woods was in a tournament shortened to 36 holes by rain.

-> I got and read the Harry Potter book. More on that later. Also, there has been some college football news, which I address on CollegeBCS.com.

Getting to the horcrux of the problem

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” seems to me to be more about Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy and Tom Riddle/Voldemort than it is about Harry. That was fine with me, because it was fascinating stuff.

There is a lot of information in this book, some of which is back story. There are also as many questions as there are answers. I won’t go into what was answered so much because if you got to this point, you have probably already read the book. Instead, I want to ponder the questions and invite you to do the same.

1. Whose side is Snape on?

He’s on Voldemort’s side, whether that was his intention or not. I don’t think he makes that Unbreakable Vow unless he’s fine with killing Dumbledore himself. Snape’s slimy enough to have gotten out of doing that if he didn’t want to.

There will be a contingency of people who think Dumbledore ordered Snape to kill him and that he’s still working with the Order. If so, he’s got them all fooled. I don’t think anyone in the Order would trust Snape now, even if Dumbledore told them to.

It’s probably not relevant to Harry whose side Snape is on. At this point, I think if Harry encounters Snape, he’ll shoot first and ask questions later.

2. Who is R.A.B?

The prevailing theory is Regulus Black, Sirius’ brother. He’s the only character mentioned so far with the initials R.B. (although Mr. Borgin’s first name is unknown). He’s the one Sirius said got in over his head with Voldemort and tried to back out. Voldemort had him killed. Another item in support of this theory is that there was a locket nobody could open in Black’s house. That could be the real Slytherin locket.

3. What is the fourth horcrux?

I suspect it hasn’t come up yet. If Dumbledore’s right about the others, which is likely the case, then the three we know about are the locket, Helga Hufflepuff’s cup and Nagini, the snake. Dumbledore and Harry are guessing that the fourth is something that belonged to either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Both the Sorting hat and a sword were items of Gryffindor’s, however, it’s not likely Voldemort has access to these in order to make a horcrux. My guess is that it is something of Ravenclaw’s that we have either not seen or have seen, but weren’t told it was hers.

I’ve seen theories that the fourth horcrux is Harry himself, but Voldemort was going to try to create a horcrux when he killed Harry. Dumbledore said that he thinks he later created one in Nagini to replace that failed attempt. That means the other horcruxes were created before he tried to kill Harry, so he’s not one of them.

4. Where are the horcruxes?

My guess is that Mundungus Fletcher has the locket, which he nicked from 12 Grimmauld Place, and Harry will have to track him down for it. I’m also guessing that he took Sirius’ mirror and that Harry will use the mirror Sirius gave him to contact and track down Fletcher.

Nagini is with Voldemort, so he can keep an eye on him.

I’m guessing (it’s just a hunch) that one of the others is in Godric’s Hollow. No idea yet on the fourth one.

5. Will Hogwarts open?

I think so, but enrollment will be way down.

6. Will Harry go there?

He said he won’t, and I don’t think he’ll change his mind. He’s got too much work to do to be a student as well. He will probably visit, though.

7. How about Ron and Hermione?

It’s more likely that they go to Hogwarts, but only if Harry can talk them out of shadowing him around.

8. Malfoy?

Undoubtedly expelled and running for his life. Maybe Snape is protecting him – if he can.

9. Have we heard the last of Dumbledore?

That portrait in the headmaster’s office can communicate, and he might have others. We’ll hear from him again. We’ll also hear a lot from and/or about his brother Aberforth, who is the bartender at the Hog’s Head.

10. What will become of the Order of the Phoenix?

I think McGonnigal is the new leader and they go about their business as best they can. Harry will work outside of the group though. He’s not going to be working with the Ministry either. He’s done taking orders from others.

If you have other theories, or just think I'm nuts, go ahead and share them!