Mark Madden Removed from 1250 ESPN

The Post Gazette is reporting that Sports Shock Jock Mark Madden has been removed permanently from the air at 1250 ESPN radio. On his radio show last Wednesday, Madden said the following about Sen. Kennedy, who days earlier had been diagnosed with brain cancer: "I'm very disappointed to hear Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is near death because of a brain tumor. I always hoped Senator Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated."

I have to admit, I listened to Madden's radio show from 3PM to 7PM while driving home from work every week day. He offered some interesting analyses, especially of the Penguins. However, he had a huge ego, was rude to callers (and just about everyone who disagreed with him), and ultimately had to go.

XP SP3 Killed My PC or Not?

Microsoft released Service Pack 3 for Windows XP on 5/6/2008. I decided to install it on my 7 and a half year old Dell GX110 desktop PC and it literally killed my PC. Or did it? After completing the installation, shutting down, and forcing a restart, my PC would not boot or even start the POST process. No output on the monitor, I could not access the BIOS. The power light was solid amber, pointing to a hardware, not software problem. The fan on the power supply was running and I even swapped out a spare power supply, but no success. The problem is either the motherboard or the processor. I bought this PC refurbished from Dell to use a my backup PC, and my primary PC is working great. I know it is a hardware issue, but it seems too coincidental that my PC croaked after installing XP SP3. There are tons of articles out there documenting problems with HP PC's that have AMD processors. I had a working Dell with an Intel processor, so it really does not explain my situation.

I have been procrastinating about building a new PC for myself. I have most of the less expensive parts already - case, power supply, video card, and SATA hard drive. It looks like I will be using part of my Economic Stimulus Payment for the more expensive parts - processor, motherboard, and RAM. Thank You Bill Gates!

Hop in the Cordoba baby, we're going dancing with Lord Stanley!

The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers today 6-0 to advance to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. WOO-HOO ! Mike Lange, Pittsburgh Penguins radio broadcaster, proudly proclaimed "Hop in the Cordoba baby, we're going dancing with Lord Stanley!"

WVU Faculty Votes for President Resignation

Yesterday, WVU faculty members voted 563-35 to demand that President Mike Garrison resign over his administration’s decision to award a bogus MBA degree to the governor’s daughter, Heather Bresch. Last week, the Faculty Senate passed a similar motion of no confidence.

A new group at WVU, called the Mountaineers for Integrity and Responsibility (MIR), has an online petition that you can sign requesting the resignation of Garrison. MIR is made up of faculty, students and alumni at the university.

WVU Faculty Votes to Oust the Prez

The WVU Faculty board voted Monday that President Mike Garrison should resign because of the controversy of awarding a mythical MBA degree to Mylan Inc executive Heather Bresch, who is the daughter of West Virginia governor Joe Manchin. A motion of no confidence passed in a vote of 77-19. The motion demands that Garrison step down, or the that the WVU Board of Governors can require his resignation. There are so many political connections involved with this controversy, it is just unbelievable. Here are just a few:

• Mylan Inc. Executive Heather Bresch is the daughter of West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin.
• WVU President Mike Garrison is a longtime friend of Heather Bresch.
• Mike Garrison once worked as a Mylan lobbyist.
• Mylan's chairman, Milan "Mike" Puskar, has given tens of millions to the university, which named its football stadium for him.

Garrison has stated previously that he will not resign. Last week Provost Gerald Lang and business school Dean R. Stephen Sears resigned from their administrative posts. Both intend to continue teaching at WVU. Will Garrison step down gracefully or will he be forced to resign? He seems more interested in his own personal reputation (which is already tarnished) instead of WVU's reputation.

Workout Rewind

I have not posted about any of my workouts because I was out of commission due to my four week Easter cold which was also my worst cold of the past decade. I have actually been working out the past two weeks, cardio and weightlifting. I am fine doing cardio. However, when I am weightlifting, I suffer from exercise induced asthma. This has happened to me in the past when I have had a very long break from working out. For now, I am using a Primatene Mist inhaler before I work out. From past experience, the amount of time I have taken off from working out is usually the same amount of time it takes me to get back in shape. So, in another two weeks, I should be good again.