The Life Of Delinkas-True Story
R.I.P. (~06/1996-10/24/2006)

On a lone summer day at my 6th grade graduation carnival, I won a couple goldfish. Nothing special, just a couple tiny fish in a plastic bag awaiting a new home. Little did I know that in this bag of goldfish which I thought I would be lucky to have some of them last for a couple weeks, I had a very special goldfish.

Over the next several months, one by one the goldfish would pass away, each with parting words thanking my family for the beautiful tank we provided them. However, one goldfish, a very special goldfish, was still swimming around; even after seeing all his friends faced upside down. A couple days passed, then weeks, then months, and he kept truckin away. At that point I decided to name him Delinkas. How did that name come about? I honestly could not tell you. I do know though that I was in my beginning phase of making up random words and names for things such as fish or stuffed animals (this was pre-mesh days), so it was very likely that a couple random syllables put together by myself stuck together for no rhyme or reason. Anyway, that name stuck.

Later the next year, around April another carnival came around, where again, I won some more beautiful specimens of fished gold. Finally after some wait, Delinkas had some new friends, yet one by one they realized they were made for the big buckets and bags of water, not illustrious tanks with a light and fake seaweed. So sadly, one by one they parted ways with now Big brother Delinkas. Except it was a little different this time. There was an odd colored one; a pearl colored fish that somehow stuck around. We kept waiting for him to wave goodbye, but instead every morning he kept waving hello.

Time went by and Delinkas and the white colored fish (not to be confused with whitefish) continued to coexist in this beautiful artifical oceanic environment. So we kept on feeding them those colorful looking flakes, and every time they jumped with joy and excitement of what it might taste like today. At this point I realized, this guy was here for keeps and named him as well. His name would be Delinkas White. To go along with the theme, I amended Delinkas's name to Delinkas Gold. I took after the Chinese, how they put the person's last name first, like Ichiro Suzuki. They were from the Delinkas generation, yet in the Belson family.

And were they ever a part of the Belson family. Delinkas G and W kept getting so big, that we even found them a new home. A brand new tank with its own water filtration system, more rocks, more trees to play hide and seek in, and more love from us.

Delinkas Gold and Delinkas White became best friends. They were brothers from another mother. Yet on a cold cloudy day, tragedy struck. Delinkas White had a tumor. He had a trail of blood that led from his body to his tail. We did know what was wrong with him so we went to the fish doctor and got him some antibiotics. The whole time Delinkas Gold stood by him, giving him support whenever he needed, holding his fin when times got the toughest. However, they fought through and Delinkas White made a miraculous recovery!

But that moment of tribulation would not last long. In the Spring of 2005, Delinkas White tragically passed away. It was kept a secret from me for several months until I got home, as my parents did not want to upset me while I was away.
When I came home, I saw Delinkas Gold, wandering around his tank like a lost, lonely soul. He and I were both having trouble getting over the loss of Delinkas White. I even changed his name back to Delinkas, kinda like Madonna. Yet that still didn't help...

So a couple weeks later, I had an idea. I went to the fish store in my town and looked in the goldfish tank, and in all honesty, there was only one golden fish left swimming around. I had to take him!
So I took him home and put him in the tank with Delinkas. I named this one Delinkas Junior, because standing next to elder Delinkas he looked like his little son.
At first Delinkas did not embrace DJ (as he came to be known) too much. He knew no one could replace Delinkas White and became even more overwhelmed, as he did not want some little kid coming in his town, thinking he ran the show, and trying to eat his food.
Yet one day something happened, and they just clicked. You could see by the way they were swimming around together, rubbing against another, that Delinkas took a liking to Dj and took him under his wing, or his fin. So Delinkas Jr. kept growing, but Delinkas Sr. was at the age where his percentage of growth/year (%gpy) was lower than it had been.

Everything was going splendid in the world of the Delinkas tank, until yesterday, tragedy struck again, and Delinkas Junior was found in the morning in his parting position, upside down in the tank. It was a sad day, and the burial was later that afternoon.

However, something transformed in Delinkas overnight. He was not the same fish that was able to overcome pain and strife anymore. He had his heartbroken too many times, and was getting too old to go through the whole roller coaster ride of life with another fish. So the next day, Delinkas decided it would be his last. Without any warning, or symptoms, like the proud fish that his was, took his bows, and took off to a better place.

I only hope Delinkas is really in a better place now; with plenty of rocks and fake seaweed, and all the food in the world he could ask for. He was a great fish, and not only was like a brother to me as well, but was like a best friend. Anyone who had ever seen Delinkas, knew he was a great fish with such vigor for life and food and fun. I only wish he may rest in peace, and know that no fish will ever replace, the one and only...Delinkas.

I brought this up to a couple of people yesterday and I figured I'd bring it up to the rest of the world, or to the two people that actually read this.

For years we have been looking for cures to various different diseases and other worldly problems. Granted I am not a scientist and have no clue what research has been done, but I feel that one area of research has probably been neglected.

I honestly believe that our bodily wastes are of extreme importance, but we just don't know it yet.

Here's what I'm thinking:
Have we ever tested sperm outside of for reproductive or venereal diseases. Have we ever used it not to test what's inside but to test what it can do to other things outside of an egg. One of these tiny microscopic little things can create an entire human being. A whole human! Now think about if we put one of those suckers inside a cancer cell or something. I'm sure some sort of reaction would occur. You're saying that if I put a little piece of Muhammad Ali inside some sort of diseased cell it wouldn't kick that disease's butt? I think it would. Have we tried? I have no idea. Am I explaining what stem cell research kind of is? No clue either. All I'm saying is that something that small and that powerful has to have some other use for it. How could it not or have we just not looked for one.

Urine? It's gotta do something. One day we will realize that we can use it to start a car instead of gas. (I can't remember if that is a creative thought, I saw it in a movie, heard it or it's actually in the process of occuring right now. For the sake of the blog, I'll say I thought of it). Urine, albeit waste, has plenty of vitamins and minerals in it. Maybe we'll find that it's actually good for flowers or crops or something. I mean, bowels are good for fertilization. I'm not sure if human bowels are but other animal bowels are. So if all they eat is grass, and we consume far more nutrients than they do, wouldn't our bowels be even better. If that's the case, again, it's gotta be good for something. Have we tested either of these things on plants, human processes, etc? Some people still drink their own urine because ...actually I'm not too sure, but I'm pretty sure I've read that some people still do. Well, they're not dead so it's gotta do something.

Blood? It contains a lot of good stuff in there; Red blood cells, white blood cells that fight diseases, and whatever else it's transporting throughout the body. What happens if we rub it on some diseased cells, forcing it in there as opposed to just letting it flow through the body hoping it will do something? Would the red blood cells fight it; would the oxygen it's carry kill it? What if we fed it to sick animals or poured it in some soil where plants grow? Could have a magic bean stalk effect or something.

All I am saying is that the possibilities are endless. For anyone who is a future scientist or doctor or even politician, as stupid as some things sound, you never know until you try it. And if you figure something out...Give me some of the credit
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This is an addendum to this article, which really is the basic underlying point and question of it.

There is so much research being done in trying to find the cure for cancer and AIDS, yet how many people actually collaborate with their information. Billions of dollars could be in motion for tests that is already being done yet no one has any idea that such is the case.
Now I am not sure how the currect setup for cancer research is laid out, and whether or not the american cancer society or the government does what I am about to say, but changes clearly have to be made.
What I suggest is a government run cancer research information depository (CRID (might as well have an acronym)) where everyone who does any research, has to give all of their information and data to this database. That way, people could see what exact research has been done, and if it was, then they can either try to improve upon it, or try their next idea.
To squash the idea that everyone wants to create the cure for cancer, all the research is automatically "patented" so that anyone who wants to improve upon it would have to share the earnings and the notoriety with the researcher who created the original work.

If everybody worked together and communicated, our problems, in any realms of life, would be solved immeasurably quicker.

I wrote this on Tuesday but never posted it and now I'm pissed that I didn't cause Sports Guy wrote about the first part in his mailbag. Whatever...

Who saw that guy on the Broncos throw up on the field and an instant later take on an offensive lineman like it was nothing? That was one of the greatest plays I've ever seen live. I don't know how the McNabb puking stacks up, but that was real funny. This guy probably got made fun of but probably got mostly pats on the back from coaches for showing guts and all that.
But I was thinking about how that would go over at my job. Just imagine I was in a big meeting with a bunch of important clients and right before I was about to speak, I just puke on the table. Then I just kept talking like it was nothing and just left it there. I'd be fired the next day. I'd probably get thrown out of the room, office, and city, and get blacklisted from any other company in the industry. Yet this guy probably solidified his spot on the team for a couple weeks because of that. I mean, what other job can you actually get away with that kind of stuff and it be encouraged. That's incredible stuff...

So I think Michaels said last night (mon night) something along the lines of "Why is disgruntled and wide receiver always used in the same sentance". So I figured I'd do a little psychological analysis of the wide receiver today and see what I could come up with.

First, let me start by saying Jerry Maguire completely caused this craze. People saw the movie and realized, wow, Jerry Maguire hit it right on the button. All you gotta do is dance. You make a scene and people remember you. People hear your name and they are not sure whether they remember you because you're a good receiver or because you're an idoit. Yet it doesn't matter, because before that, they had no clue who you were. Now that you have the attention of people, anytime you make a catch, they remember you. Anytime you make a catch, people keep their attention on you for the mere fact that you may do something entertaining. As we all know, any publicity, is good publicity.

The main reason wide receivers do this is because they are lonely; they have low self esteem. Think about it. The running backs, full backs, qb, tight end, lineman are involved and important in every play whether blocking or faking but are right in the middle of the field right in the action. Wide receivers, they start every play all the way on the outside, usually standing all by themselves. Most of the plays they are just running around the field feeling purposeless. They have some stupid cornerback talking smack to them all game long and they can't do anything about it. At least a lineman can pancake the guy. A wide receiver can only do something about it if he gets the ball thrown to him, otherwise he's got nothing.

Problem is he knows he's talented and can catch any ball and can probably beat his cornerback, who was just a wanna be wide receiver in high school, but he doesn't get the opportunity. On top of the cornerback guarding him, he's got the safety on him as well making his job even tougher. He's contantly getting questioned of his manhood by opposing players, doesn't get that much love because he doesn't have an opportunity to prove his toughness every play, and players know that the quarterback and running back are far more important than a good wide reciever. So the wide receiver constantly feels like its him against the world, and has to prove himself.
When he does catch a pass, most of the time the quarterback gets most of the love for making a great pass instead of the wide receiver being able to get open.
So in order to draw attention to himself and make himself feel loved, he celebrates after first downs, dances after touchdowns, because he might as well get all the fans and the media to love him too. <>

People say you don't have to love work. I'm gonna tell you why I completely disagree with that. Here's the breakdown of my day and then tell me you don't have to love work:
10 hours at work
2 hours getting to and getting ready for work
2 hours settling down from work or doing stuff to get your mind off of work
6-8 hours sleeping so that I am not tired for work
That leaves about 3hours in the day and if you make dinner, then cooking, eating, and cleaning takes about another two.

Essentially one hour of the day is set for me to do non-work.

In essence, work=life.
When someome tells you, you don't have to love work, they might as well be telling you, you don't have to love life.


More to add on at a later time...

I am I the only one that realizes this? All the music out there sounds exactly the same!
I was in Miami a couple weeks ago and everywhere I went they played the exact same set of songs. To make it worse, all the songs sounded exactly alike. From TI to Chingy to Yung Joc. I mean they are all little kids who have the exact same sound. I feel like I'm in the ghetto Disney Land when I walk into a club.

The problem is this is the only type of music that we hear so we are forced to like it. When I first hear these songs, I think they are not good, but eventually they grow on me because I hear it so much. We are constantly presented with subpar music so we are comparing that subpar music to other subpar music. Liken it to a group of girls that you are hanging out with of which none are hot when you first see them. However, the more you hang out with them that night the better looking you think they are. And this is without the drinking! They grow on you like these songs.

At the same time maybe I'm just getting old. Maybe I've just become spoiled and its harder to impress me. One argument could be that the more and more music that is out there the harder it is to come up with new material. That is where all these rappers come in. Not one rap song we hear anymore is an original beat and if it is, like I said before, its all the same. The sad thing is, the songs that we think are the greatest from Biggie, to Nas, to Outkast, to Lil Romeo are all ripped from somewhere. It baffles me when I'm in the waiting room in a doctor's office listening to 98.7 hits for the oldies, and all of a sudden "I like the way you move comes on". But its not with Outkast, but some old guy who sounds like Kenny G.

Yet what kind of argument is that. Since when has the common person become so unoriginal. Have the music industry people just given in. Have they just said, forget the creative stuff, lets just take the easy way out? It certainly sounds like it. If this theme is the case with the rest of the world, we're not in good shape. Just think if all the scientists stopped being creative and testing for diseases and they say, let's just go with the old methods and see what else we could come up with, we'd never find a cure for cancer. We will be in a never ending cycle where the world discourages new ideas.

The internet, the iPod and the MP3 has forced us to focus on creating new media to listen to music rather than the music itself. Music doesn't make that much money anymore because people don't buy cd's. Therefore people look to create marketable music that rings a bell with people, that is just good enough, so that instead of selling them to consumers, they can sell it to other companies to use in their advertising.
I find myself constantly listening to the same old music on my ipod because I just don't care enough to get the "new" music.

Something's gotta change...

Maybe that change will be me

Here are my thoughts on the week in the NFL:

1. The people who loved the Panthers going into the season should stop worrying about the Panthers. People started worrying last year when they started 1-2 with loses to Miami and New Orleans and they finished off great. John Fox is a great coach, they have a killer roster, and Deangelo Williams is the next Barry Sanders. Me personally though, I'm a little worried. The two huge question marks for me are their linebackers and their tight ends. Their linebackers have clearly overachieved the past several years, and with Dan Morgan, their only legit one, coming from Miami, you knew he was going to get hurt. As far as tight ends you can't really think that guys who should really be fullbacks are going to be a big threat on offense, especially come crunch time or with Steve Smith out.

2. Is it me or does Bellichick just have beef with every coach. I mean first he disses Parcells and then his boy Mangini does the same thing to him and he can't handle it.
About that Jets-Patriots game:
a:Mangini has them playing tough but he looks too out of control sometimes and immature for me to see him really have a playoff season in the next two years
b: I saw something that seemed very un-Brady like which made me think maybe he is a little more nervous than we think about not having Branch around. He gave a defensive guy a fake, nervous smile after one of the plays he messed up in the fourth quarter. I mean since when is Tom Brady not completely serious during the fourth quarter of any game.

3. People keep questioning San Fran but I'm having a harder time. They're defense is not very good. However, I do think that Manny Lawson looks more solid than either of the NCState first round picks, including Houston's very own Mario Williams, and will be an extremely good linebacker in this league. I also think that they have two solid solid veterns on defense in Bryant Young and Derek Smith. With the trade for Sammy Davis, not Jr. the Rat Pack guy, I think they have enough on defense to get the job done decently. On top of that I couldn't really question Mike Nolan's ability to make a defense play hard. But the more I look at San Fran's offense, the more convinced I am that they are legit. I think they're best move of the season was getting Trent Dilfer for Ken Dorsey, because he is a solid solid vetern quarterback who knows how to work with young guys (see Charlie Frye last year), and you know he can do enough to win (see Baltimore's Super Bowl team). But this team has almost a four headed monster on its hands. If Alex Smith went late in the first round or early second round where he may have belonged, no one would have been calling him a bust or even bad. This guy was good in college, not deserving of the first round pick but definately a more than capable QB in the NFL. On top of that he's got:
a. Frank Gore-who runs like Emmitt Smith and showed that he can make catches as well. This is as long as he doesn't get hurt like he did and like everyone else from Miami.
b. Antonio Bryant who has the size and ability and stupid wide receiver attitude to be an awesome threat.
c. Vernon Davis who is legit. He's huge, he works hard, and he's fast as the dickens.
d. An extremely underrated O Line. Larry Allen and David Baas at Guard are solid with good backups there. Kwame Harris and Jonas Jennings are extremely good tackles, and Newberry is more than a good enough center
e. Eric Johnson as backup tight end, and Michael Robinson and Taylor Jacobs as potential threats.
My problem with this team right now is they have no backup at running back. When Gore gets hurt, they're done.

4. I just have zero clue what kind of operation Tennesse is running down there. I mean with Chris Brown wanting to get out, you knew there would be some beef at the rb position. Travis Henry was never the best team player , and with LenDale White spitting on teammates, something is bound to explode there. And I know Jeff Fischer wants to make a point with Billy Volek and not play guys that take it easy, but Kerry Collins. If you are going to do something don't cause a guy to pout around while making your franchise guy lose two valuable games of experience. I love Keith Bullock because he went to my high school, and with David Thornton there too I would think their defense should get better. Vanden Bosch was clearly a product of a contract year guy last year and is not that good. But their DT's are good as well as Odom and Laboy at end, so they are in decent shape. Cornerbacks are weak though and Pacman is overrated as a cornerback

5. I wish I told more people that I thought Vick was going to have a great year for Atlanta in the next two years. The guy is nasty. Does everyone forget how good he was when he first came into the league. No one could stop him. However, injuries and defenses somewhat figuring how to make him throw, stopped him a little. Yet, there is no way this guy after 6 years in the league wasn't going to figure out how to utilize his skills and win both ways. All the people who said he will never be successful enough will be kissing his gluttious.

6. Minnesota looks pretty legit. You know Brad Johnson can win and he proved it last year with this group. They're defense has always had great players and has even better ones this year, but they never had a good enough defensive coach to utilize their talents.

7. Arizona and Detroit every year I think they are going to be great. Every year they disappoint. i am not ready to give up on them just yet, but I am starting to think that someone up there just does not want them to win. Detroit just has to suck it up and start using Mike Williams. Without a good Tight End and Mike Furrey as your second best receiver you gotta start utilizing your skill players. They have a great offensive line down in Detroit so they really don't have an excuse. They are wasting their defense who has awesome linebackers in Boss Bailey, Teddy Lehman, and Ernie Sims and defensive tackles with Rogers and Cody. But for the past 4 years they've had such secondary trouble and every year they pick the wrong side of the ball going for a wide receiver instead of cornerbacks.
Arizona too has all the pieces in my opinion. Once Karlos Dansby starts playing like a man again and if they could figure out how not to cut Ernest Shazor they should be real good on D. But with Dennis Green as their coach, who knows about that defense.

8. Houston-They get beat up enough for all the obvious reasons. The only thing I'll say though is that I think David Carr may finally have a decent season. I loved DeMeco Ryans also and thought he should have went in the first round. He has defensive rookie of the year written all over him especially since they don't have much else at linebacker. I think their problem is Kubiack, who I thought would be a great coach, is too cocky for his own good and doesn't have these guys playing hard enough, thinking that he can just win it his way.

9. Washington- I said last year that Gibbs is too old. What was wrong with their offensive coordinator from last year. Look at their defense too. Do you really think they could win with those guys. Sean Taylor and Carlos Rogers are the only legit guys.

10. Cleveland will play hard as long as Crennel is their coach and I think they will turn it around. They have decent players on their teams and hard working ones as well

11. Seattle's defense does not get the credit it deserves. Everyone forgets how good Ken Hamlin was before he got shot. He was nicknamed the Hammer and lived up to it. With Julian Peterson there too, they have all the pieces.

12. New Orleans can be put in the San Fransisco category. Good enough offense and good enough coach to carry that defense.

13. Chicago and Baltimore's defense is living up to the hype and their offenses are finally looking solid. Tommie Harris is finally looking like the player he was in college

14. Not buying into Buffalo. Jauron is a good coach and will have them playing hard. i just don't think they have enough to get anywhere this year. Good draft next year and they will be solid.

15. Clearly Green Bay wasn't going to be good enough this year. They needed this year to gel, overcome obstacles and mature and next year be nasty with A.J. Hawk and all their other young guys. Instead their young coach isn't growing with the team and gets undermined by Favre and his desire to see results. Favre clearly should have quit and then come back in two years or something.

16. Miami will get back on track as long as Cleo Lemon or may I say Joey Harrington starts starting for these guys. Denver should be ok although I'm never that convinced on them going in to any year. Tampa Bay should bounce back because Cadillac is playing ten times worse than he really is. Kansas City should just start playing Brodie Croyle to see if that little guy is even tough enough to play in this league.

17. Dallas will be great because they have Parcells and a great defense. Pittsburgh and Cinncinati will be as great as Rothlisberger and Palmer take them because those two are natural born leaders. Indy is obviously good. Giants look great. St. Louis looks like that Will Witherspoon signing is really paying off. Philadelphia and Jacksonville will be those teams that are playing for the wild card spot all year

18. Legal Age