Nice Ride Last Night

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With last night's snow/freezing rain/slushy mess, I thought I might get the riding bug on my way home.  The forces of nature seemed to be conspiring against me, though.  Although I left the office early last night to try to get a jump on the commute, a lot of LIRR trains to Ronkonkoma were canceled.  There was an accident east of Farmingdale, and the 6:35 Hicksville train was extended out to Farmingdale, so I decided to take a chance and hop on it.  We got held up at Hicksville for a while, and then the train made it to Farmingdale and let us off.  I thought I was going to have to take a cab, but then two school buses pulled in to the parking lot.  As I was about to board the bus, an announcement came over the PA that the train we had just gotten off of was going to pull back into the station to pick us up, and then make local stops to Ronkonkoma.  So I was in the clear, just really delayed. After I got to my truck and cleared the snow off, I found very quickly that I needed 4WD in a big way.  Lots of people were sliding around in the parking lot.  As I was taking the back roads to get to Patchogue-Holbrook Road, I saw a bunch of accidents - mostly people sliding off into the woods.  That's when I thought that maybe taking the Cannibal out around the neighborhood might be fun.

When I did get to Patchogue-Holbroook Road, cars were doing 25 MPH, tops.  I was stuck behind two cars when someone on a Yamaha Raptor came flying out from Broadway and tried to pass us on the road.  That was it.  If other riders were out, I was going out too.

I came home, kissed my wife and turned around to go back outside again.  Lauren protested, but hey - I only get to go out in the snow every once in a while.  This could be my only opportunity this year.  So I started it up, let it warm up, grabbed my helmet and took off.  (Yes, I did still have my work clothes on under my jacket.)

I was only out for 15 or 20 minutes, but I had a ball.  No cars were out.  I didn't see a single one.  I slid around for a while, doing donuts in the street and generally acting like a little kid, and then did some laps around the neighborhood, getting up into the higher gears.  Since it was so cold and the top layer on the ground was more frozen rain than snow, it was ultra-slippery.  Thankfully, I still have Realtors on my quad - the paddles really get traction in loose and slippery material.  I'm really happy with the new nerf bars, too.

'Twas a nice night.  I hope we get some more snow before the season is out.

Microsoft to Yahoo - Prepare to Be Assimilated

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Link

It is unfortunate that Yahoo! has not embraced our full and fair proposal to combine our companies. Based on conversations with stakeholders of both companies, we are confident that moving forward promptly to consummate a transaction is in the best interests of all parties.

Translation: Lower your shields and surrender your weapons. Your technological and biological distinctiveness will be added to our own.

We are offering shareholders superior value and the opportunity to participate in the upside of the combined company. The combination also offers an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market.

Translation: It's a fair offer, even though everyone knows the combined company wouldn't be able to find its own ass, even with the help of GPS satellites.

A Microsoft-Yahoo! combination will create a more effective company that would provide greater value and service to our customers. Furthermore, the combination will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising.

Replace "more effective" with "lumbering," "greater" with "nominal," "more" with "less," and "compelling" with "distant."

The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.

Translation: Assimilation will proceed as planned. You have no chance for survival. Make your time.

I'll say it again. The best thing Google can do right now is let this happen.  watch shareholders hold out for more money, and then let this happen.