When the 2007 season starts, the A's will have a new manager. They will also have a new 3rd base coach, now that longtime coach Ron Washington has won the top job for the division rival Texas Rangers. While we and the A's will surely miss Wash and his contribution to the team, we can't help but be happy for his finding a job he so rightly deserved. The ANtics looks in..

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Just when people were starting to talk about the Cal Bears and their potential to challenge for the national championship, the team, coming off eight consecutive wins, sporting an 8-1 record, went to Tucson, Arizona, and simply did not execute. The team couldn't make passes, saw a quiet day from previous Heisman hopeful Marshawn Lynch, and was outplayed in nearly every regard against the now 5-5 Arizona Wildcats. For every Cal fan, who had harbored dreams of a trophy, or at least a Rose Bowl berth, we sit, stunned, frustrated at yet another momentous collapse from an organization that has seemingly always managed to make the least of a great situation.

Every good sports fan knows part of the reason for today's failures - first, the exposure of national television, and second, looking ahead to next week's big game. Cal has never done well on national TV, as seen by the school's week 1 loss to Tennessee, and the debacle against Southern Mississippi in the 2004 campaign. They choke under the bright lights. And while everybody had been talking up next week's game at USC, presumably for the Pac-10 championship and BCS hopes, Arizona was ready to put those talks to rest, outscoring Cal 24-20, effectively ending the game on the third interception of Cal quarterback Nate Longshore, who played one of his worst games of the season.

It's not to say Cal didn't have their chances. In the last offensive drive, DeSean Jackson seemingly put the club ahead 26-24 with a 63-yard touchdown, but he was later ruled to have stepped out of bounds at the Arizona 41. Earlier in the quarter, Lavell Hawkins had stumbled at the 1 yard line, and Cal's offense could get across the goal line, settling for a field goal, where a touchdown was needed. Two interceptions by Cal's vaunted defense were waved off via the penalty. But it didn't matter. One play didn't win or lose today's game. One 60-minute poorly played game kept Cal out of the winner's column, and will put the team on the back pages this year, giving national sports commentators another reason to mock the weakness of the West Coast's elite football schools, and how they could never deign to challenge a Michigan, Ohio State or Notre Dame.

While we can still hold out hope for Cal to go down to USC next week and win, gaining them the front-runner's position on the Pac-10 championship, the team we saw today would be turned into mincemeat by the Trojans. Cal looked weak, sloppy and slow. That's not the team I want to see out there, and as we felt when the A's lost to the Tigers, ending their season, we are full of frustration and emptiness. Our hopes, dashed. There is always next year, but we wanted this year to be "the one".

Listening to ''On Stream'', by Ron Hagen & Pascal M (Play Count: 1)

Google is the world's biggest, most popular, search engine, by a large margin. Our corporate statistics show that in excess of 80% of Web search traffic comes from Google sites around the world. In fact, it's something of an honor to make sure you are the #1 response for your name, and not another person who shares your name. (Example: "Louis Gray" )

But just because it's the deepest archive doesn't mean that all of its search results are entirely accurate - leading folks to what they are looking for.

I've been amused off and on this year by the occasional Web surfer who has visited my Web site, clearly looking for something they just aren't going to find once they get there - prompted by inaccurate guidance from Google. And tonight, I found one of the very best examples - one that might gain the interest of law enforcement, if misinterpreted.

Tonight, I learned that louisgray.com is the #1 result from Google if you search for "How to make a bomb out of household appliances". Yes, that's right. Apparently Google users looking to make bombs are told my site is the #1 place to do that. (Give it a try in your searching)

Is that really what I was trying to say? Do I really have instructions on how to make bombs on my Web site? Of course not. It's an example of keywords run amok, as it took a story about leaked instructions from Iraq on how to potentially design nuclear bombs and combined it with another story I wrote about our new Roomba vacuum. Mix, stir, and ta-da! Household bomb making instructions! Now pardon me while I go and find an attorney...

Listening to ''Turn Out the Light'', by M.I.K.E. (Play Count: 1)

When talking heads traditionally yammer about artificial intelligence, the common themes center around finding ways for robots to feel emotion, or to out-maneuver the latest chess grandmaster, not to complete relatively simple tasks, like vacuuming. But ever since getting our Roomba last Sunday, we're seeing the little guy act independently, not just doing those direct missions that we had instructed, but acting out on its own.

Today, after leaving the house for a few hours, we returned home to see the gate to the kitchen (to keep our beagle out, of course) knocked over, the throw rugs wrinkled, and familiar spiral-like tracks in the carpet, showing that the Roomba had gone out on its own, answering the call of duty to clean. But the Roomba was nonchalantly sitting in its cradle, charging, and wouldn't talk. I checked the auto-scheduler to see if the Roomba had been given a mission, but there was nothing on its docket that said to give it a run today.

So what could possibly have happened? Did we imagine that those spiral markings were not there before we had left? Did the Roomba look around, realizing nobody was home, and went out for a spin?

Best as we can guess, the dog was likely searching for food, or trying to step on the Roomba as a stool to gain access to the table or kitchen counter, always trying to get an extra inch for the occasional morsel. In her quest for crumbs, she likely stepped on the Roomba's power button and set it on Clean, launching it ahead to defeat dirt. I wish I had been there to see the beagle jump with alarm as the Roomba whirred up and set off to get her, and again, to see the dog's reaction when the Roomba later slammed into the gate and knocked it askew.

While we may never know what actually took place this afternoon, we know this: you can't trust the beagle and the Roomba home alone. Those two, while they won't talk, are up to little good.

Listening to ''Totally Fascinated'', by M.I.K.E. presents Fascinated (Play Count: 1)