Hey Kids…For Dummies
August 22nd, 2008NBC is either now phoning it in or really hates me…
We want a Mountain West Hockey Conference…
August 16th, 2008For those of you who don’t know, I spent the early part of the 90s as a graduate student at Colorado State. Especially in the beginning, I struggled with homesickness. I hated Fort Collins. I hated the crappy room I was renting in a basement. I hated the Denver Broncos. The only thing that kept me going was the work I was doing. That was pretty good. However, things could have been better if there was good hockey for me to see. At the time, they had club hockey, which is pretty much is saying there’s no difference between the Boston Pops and the Fayetteville Community Symphonic Band. It just wasn’t the same.
Normally I would say that Internet petitions are pointless, but I will say this one rates as not entirely worthless. It’s to bring a NCAA hockey team to CSU. It’s probably not going to happen. A few years ago, when the athletic department was forced to add a sport for Title IX purposes, added water polo and told the swimmers — “guess what, you play water polo as well.” So I don’t see some petition handed over and being the reason that puts it over the top. But, any chance to add the world’s second best sport to the nation’s 124th best university should at least be looked at.
It’s that time of the year again…
August 11th, 2008TV Dead Pool. Taking entries all throughout August.
I don’t know whether to be happy or sad that NBC “saved” this morning’s USA water polo game so it could be broadcast later. I was sure it would be a cinch to be on a cable channel this morning. I’m happy that it’s getting some exposure, unhappy that couldn’t watch it this morning.
And, since everybody else is doing it, your obligatory Michael Phelps photo.
This was taken in May 2005. Mr. Phelps is 4th from the left in the back row, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
I did not use Photoshop…
July 20th, 2008…other than to crop the scan. This is from the July 20, 2008 issue of the Downriver News Herald, which is a thrice-weekly paper in my old hometown. This particular issue covers Riverview plus three other communities — Trenton, Grosse Ile and Wyandotte. This particular notice was for the residents of Trenton:
There’s issues even beyond the title if you stopped there. Why did Mary Lynn Rajskub leave for Hollywood when she had all the material she needed in her hometown?
But it really feels like 64.38812 today…
July 13th, 2008I ventured to suburban Cleveland yesterday to play in my first sanctioned Scrabble tournament. Interesting little day, as I seemed to have just traded a college-aged geeky subculture for a middle-aged geeky subculture. But that’s not why I’m writing.
On the way home, I needed to get something to eat. For those of you who have traveled the Ohio Turnpike, you know the food options are limited, since they place the restaurants at rest stops and forbid the advertising of other locations that are not Turnpike-owned. So you’re pretty stuck with what’s there. I stop at one where the choices are Hardee’s, The Red Burrito and Mancino’s. You cannot eat Mexican food or even ersatz Mexican while driving, and I really didn’t want a hoagie, so Hardee’s it is. And then you wonder why there’s an obesity epidemic when the smallest burger I could order was 1/3rd of a pound. By some miracle they kept the ham and cheese from the menu from the 22 years ago I worked there, and took that instead.
But that’s not why I’m writing. Still here? Good — I’m finally getting to my point. The lobby in the rest area has a TV that is fully Bloombergized with several different things going on at once. First, there’s this Turnpike retrospective with music that makes the soundtrack to The Natural seem unheroic. Then, the weather forecast and current conditions pop up. Including the relative humidity — to five decimal places. I’ve never even seen it at one before, and all of a sudden we can now tell the difference at the parts per ten-million level?
What ever happened to the days when we as a nation and broadcasters in particular didn’t take the weather so seriously? Like this:
Mind the Generation Gap…
July 2nd, 2008Craig recently bought me this shirt, which for those of you too lazy to click on a link is an exhortation to vote Quimby for Mayor of Springfield. Although I still don’t understand why you would point out the stadium collapsed in your own advertising, he seems fine for the job.
I’ve worn this to work a couple of times and usually I get some people answering back “Vote Quimby” in their best attempt at the voice. Of the overall ages of the employees in the Ann Arbor office, I’m in the oldest quadrant.
Fast forward tonight to my Scrabble group, where I am clearly in the youngest quadrant. I pretty much have to explain the shirt to everyone. One person even wanted to know what Springfield it was for, since a relative of hers was once the mayor of Springfield, Mass. and she was worried the shirt was for her opponent.
When the tables turn in 20 years, what pop culture phenomenon will I be totally clueless about?
For sale…
June 22nd, 2008One pre-owned dryer, purchased sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, features three speeds, accessories include a lint filter, a front load door and a dead chipmunk. Best offer. Please e-mail the blog owner.
We finally have an answer…
June 17th, 2008We’ve been waiting nearly four months, but we finally have an answer to what festive movement performers are. Apparently, they are stilt dancers from Cleveland. My alma mater, and specifically my division (notice they’re not even a “school”), spends money to import Zubaz-remnant wearing, multi-pogo-stick-leaning dancers from Ohio. Apparently, the University of Michigan can’t seem to produce enough performance artists, we have to import them. This is why you do not pay one cent in tribute to your alma mater, they will just waste it.
The 12 Days of No Internet at Home…
June 11th, 2008…have not been pleasant ones. I was given four different “commit” times by Earthlink on when my internet service would be restored. To me, “commit” means “it will be done”. Only one commit time should be necessary. I will probably not be staying with them for too much longer, as the whole “Earthlink Experience” has been “a royal pain in the ass.” I have talked to more Indians than Gandhi.
I have a hearing problem, and I struggle a little bit with accents on phones. On my third call, I got a little frustrated with understanding the call and asked if they had a chat service. I was told their Level 2 service (TRON) did not have chat. I was told “that would be available soon”. Well, unless that was going to be made available that night, “soon” might as well be “2012”. I then asked if they have TTY service, since I actually own a TTY device. She had no clue what that meant.
But, now that I am wired again, I couple of notes.
First, for those of you who like to gamble on anything, I have something for you. My friend Walt is a scientician with the National Snow and Ice Data Center, doing a whole bunch of data gathering on global climate change. He is actually running a pool on the extent of sea ice in the Arctic for 2008. He does include some past data to help you make your prediction, but he still has not explained to me why the data is only to two decimal places but your entry has to be to three places.
Second, someone in our Scrabble club came up with the idea of “Double Scrabble”. Two boards, two sets of tiles, one game. You can choose to play on either board. He beat me 892-690. I am mostly the teal tiles, my opponent the purple. You had your own set of tiles to draw from, and if your bag runs out, you can start drawing from the other bag.
