Blayne Sucks

It’s getting longer and longer between the times that I have a chance to blog something. Hopefully, I’ll be able to correct this. I haven’t necessarily been all that busy, but I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping. I suppose I should have used some of that time lying awake to blog.

The Pacers won! They are now up 2-1 in the series with another home game tomorrow. They are 6-0 all time in seven game series where they were leading 2-1. Hopefully, they’ll continue the streak. I thought they played very well last night.

Realistically, if they manage to get past Detroit I think they match up pretty well against Miami. They probably matchup better against Miami than they do against Detriot. Richard Hamilton can run with Reggie Miller better than anyone else in the league and the Pacers don’t really have a player that can match up with Prince. Miami doesn’t have anyone that can really run with Reggie and the only matchup problem they would have is Shaq, who hasn’t really been much of a factor so far in the playoffs. I also think that our bench is better than Miami’s bench, but they are both pretty good. Anyhow, I should stop now before I jinx it by looking too far ahead.

I recently re-discovered the band Stroke 9. This is one of those things that makes me so glad I got an iPod. It’s so much easier to not lose track of bands simply because you only have space for 20 CDs in your CD case. The Vertical Horizon and Stroke 9 concert at Butler University is still one of the best shows I’ve ever been to live and I can’t believe that it’s been so long since I listened to some of their stuff.

A recent Newsweek cover story was talking about how China would become a world power in the next century. It makes a lot of really good points, but I think it doesn’t really emphasize the importance of international trade as much as it should. I really believe that free trade prevents war. There’s a lot to be said for having a healthy economy and a happy populace world wide. Happy people usually don’t start wars. I would much rather see a billion plus happy people in China making cool things for everyone to use than a billion plus hungry people in China desperate for some way to feed themselves. Anyhow, it’s a good article.

Now having said all that there are certainly things that I don’t like about China, particularly some of their stances on human rights. Then again, there’s a lot I don’t like about America too. I know a lot of people think about free trade and don’t want to reward people that do things they disagree with. These are things that I would rather work out with a happy society that’s willing to listen than a desperate society that simply couldn’t care less.

Obviously, things like free trade and war are, uh, somewhat complex, but my point in all of this is that having another economic superpower in the world can be really beneficial for everyone.