Why is it that when Sarah McLachlan sings, she sounds like she's gasping for air? Writhing in pain. I can see that Taylor Swift adopts this technique. Every line Taylor Swift sings quits as the end. "Oh I had a lovely tiiiiiiiimmmmeeee ahhhh"
OH BABY WOOOEE! SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME this Saturday, meaning tomorrow. I had the privilege of going to a game with Alabama in it. Some friends of mine and I went many years ago to see them at the Rose Bowl vs UCLA in the home opener when 'Bama was the Preseason #1. Naturally there were some Bama fans in the crowd and we kibitzed with them all afternoon. They're very good natured folk, Bama fans. Pretty cool dudes, and yes, they're VERY fired up about their Crimson Tide. UCLA won the game 35-24.
I claimed I would stop making NFL picks, but I was interested to see what would happen with all the Home Underdogs this weekend. There are a bunch of them: Rams +7 (vs SF), Chiefs +3 (vs Carolina), Dolphins +7 (vs NE), Titans +6 (vs HOU), Chargers +1.5 (vs CIN), and Redskins +2.5 (vs NYG). Six home dogs this week! That seems like a lot. Will most of them cover?
I gotta hurry up and finish writing this so that everyone gets a chance to read it before 1pm East... big things happen at 1pm East. Especially in New York, if you know what I mean.
Rain all day, in Los Angeles. It has rained since Wednesday night. I haven't seen this much consistent rain all year, but in all honesty I like it a lot. It makes things tougher to do... swimming (outside), driving, walking, shopping for presents, unless you have a garage at home. Nonetheless, I'm glad to have the rain.
I also got a free Papa John's pizza. I had no idea something so silly as Papa John's could be so polarizing among my friends. You have a group of friends who think the pizza is awful. I'm not going to go on here and say its fantastic, but it's certainly not the nadir of cooked pizza. Then there's the group of friends who find Papa John (the owner) a reprehensible scumbag. To be fair, these friends are probably right, but in all honesty, many CEO's and owners are scumbags at their core. It's a tough spot.
I think one day I'm going to not bother answering work emails and see if I get away with it. Fingers crossed!
So glad this weekend is here. I'm going to try a Persian Cuisine place called Javan's just down the street from my apartment. They do a terrific job with Kebab's they say. Seeing that it would normally be Kings hockey season, I'll be thinking of that great playoff run they had when I eat. I ate Kebabs before every Kings playoff game this year, it felt like.
On the subject of the Kings. Rest In Peace, David Courtney. P.A. Announcer for the Kings, Angels, and Clippers. An unforgettable voice and a gentleman to all. My condolences to the Courtney Family and the Kings.
That's all for now. Catch you all next week.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Dave's LOCKS of the Week: NCAA Week 14
Here it is, my friends, the final
Dave's (blam!)
LOCKS (gobble)
of the Week (splash)
of the year.
It's been a good run, and right up until the last two weeks (0-8! oi) we had a pretty good season. To close us out, we'll go into conference championship weekend. I'll denote that I will potentially do NFL Playoff Picks in January, plus bowl game selections as we come up on them. As for our regular feature, this is farewell, so BANG, let's go:
We start in Palo Alto, CA for the Pac 12 Championship Game. What the hell? I like Stanford -8.5. You know what? UCLA had its chances but I think they're finally going to get served. They probably gave up last week's game thinking they'd benefit by getting "the easier matchup," but be careful what you wish for, Bruins. Stanford will continue its physical attach and manhandle Huntley, Franklin and company. Cardinal to win BIG... Stanford -8.5.
Next we go to the big one, the SEC Championship game in Atlanta, GA. I'll take the Georgia Bulldogs but still expect Bama to win. This will be a close one throughout. Yet, the coaching mismatch is enormous and when it comes to close games, I like Alabama's chances. Georgia +7.
Next we check out Middle Tennessee State at Arkansas State. For no reason whatsoever, other than my general trust in Middle Tennessee St. all season, I want to go Middle Tennessee St. +10. Book it.
Lastly we travel to the Big Ten Championship game where Nebraska faces Wisconsin. Nebraska hasn't won many big matchups all year why would they change now? With Wisconsin GETTING 3 points, the Badgers are an easy play. Wisconsin +3.
That does it for the season! It's been fun, but trying at times, but overall rewarding. Enjoy Conference Championship weekend!
Recap: Stanford -8.5, Georgia +7, Middle Tennessee St. +10, Wisconsin +3
Dave's (blam!)
LOCKS (gobble)
of the Week (splash)
of the year.
It's been a good run, and right up until the last two weeks (0-8! oi) we had a pretty good season. To close us out, we'll go into conference championship weekend. I'll denote that I will potentially do NFL Playoff Picks in January, plus bowl game selections as we come up on them. As for our regular feature, this is farewell, so BANG, let's go:
We start in Palo Alto, CA for the Pac 12 Championship Game. What the hell? I like Stanford -8.5. You know what? UCLA had its chances but I think they're finally going to get served. They probably gave up last week's game thinking they'd benefit by getting "the easier matchup," but be careful what you wish for, Bruins. Stanford will continue its physical attach and manhandle Huntley, Franklin and company. Cardinal to win BIG... Stanford -8.5.
Next we go to the big one, the SEC Championship game in Atlanta, GA. I'll take the Georgia Bulldogs but still expect Bama to win. This will be a close one throughout. Yet, the coaching mismatch is enormous and when it comes to close games, I like Alabama's chances. Georgia +7.
Next we check out Middle Tennessee State at Arkansas State. For no reason whatsoever, other than my general trust in Middle Tennessee St. all season, I want to go Middle Tennessee St. +10. Book it.
Lastly we travel to the Big Ten Championship game where Nebraska faces Wisconsin. Nebraska hasn't won many big matchups all year why would they change now? With Wisconsin GETTING 3 points, the Badgers are an easy play. Wisconsin +3.
That does it for the season! It's been fun, but trying at times, but overall rewarding. Enjoy Conference Championship weekend!
Recap: Stanford -8.5, Georgia +7, Middle Tennessee St. +10, Wisconsin +3
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Dave's 2012 NFL Playoff Predictions (sorta)
By goofing around with ESPN's wonderful "2012 NFL Playoff Machine" I made predictions for every single game in every single week starting now and going through Week 17. Here are the playoff brackets!
AFC
1. Houston (15-1)
2. Baltimore (13-3)
6. Indianapolis (10-6) vs. 3. Denver (12-4)
5. Pittsburgh (11-5) vs. 4. New England (11-5)
NFC
1. San Francisco (13-2-1)
2. Chicago (13-3)
6. New Orleans (10-6) vs. 3. Atlanta (12-4)
5. Green Bay (11-5) vs. 4. New York Giants (10-6)
This won't be even close to what happens, but it'll be fun to follow. I got a little biased picking the Saints and Colts to win virtually every game. This playoff bracket will be interesting once we see the actual results. Enjoy.
[Click on the image above to view the brackets in larger size.]
AFC
1. Houston (15-1)
2. Baltimore (13-3)
6. Indianapolis (10-6) vs. 3. Denver (12-4)
5. Pittsburgh (11-5) vs. 4. New England (11-5)
NFC
1. San Francisco (13-2-1)
2. Chicago (13-3)
6. New Orleans (10-6) vs. 3. Atlanta (12-4)
5. Green Bay (11-5) vs. 4. New York Giants (10-6)
This won't be even close to what happens, but it'll be fun to follow. I got a little biased picking the Saints and Colts to win virtually every game. This playoff bracket will be interesting once we see the actual results. Enjoy.
Dave's Thoughts of the Day: November 29th
Over the years, I've come to find December my best month. I think it's because almost everything winds down by then. Once we hit the Holiday Season, it's as if the whole world takes a break, at least here at UCLA. I love it!
The "break" really is a big boost and I cherish it every year. I also love when I get to spend extended time with my wonderful family... my parents and sisters, and then my aunts and uncles. Yes, I'm spending time with them all year but at Christmas-time we're all in the same place at once. Good times.
The National Media has put such a big beating on the Lakers this week. It's humorous. I mean it is SO early and the Lakers aren't even at full strength... no question, this team has a lot of holes, but it is not *as* bad as the "experts" make it out to be. In fact, I'm gonna call it right here: the Lakers are beating Denver on Friday. That's right, they're going to win, and they're going to win by at least ten points.
Christmas shopping, oh baby I am way behind. I have about 3 weeks to go and roughly 15 presents to shop for. It won't be easy, my friends.
That reminds me: I got my Dad a DVD set on three occasions and all three of them are still sitting in his house in shrinkwrap. I mean are you serious? Haha, my goodness I should consider getting him something he'll use, like a gift card. That's what I intend to do.
In the history of time, the only DVD I ever got my Dad that he used was the film "My Cousin Vinny." That's easily his favorite comedy film. I've never seen him laugh so hard at anything!
I was reading up on music and I read that the Beatles recorded their entire first album "Please Please Me" in one shot. It was as if they were doing a live set and they recorded ten songs in one day over nine hours. Four other songs were on two singles that were already released. Can you even imagine that? The Beatles of 1968 would never have stood for that either.
49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh chose Colin Kaepernick over Alex Smith for this week's game and most likely for the forseeable future. I can't say enough about how great a choice this is. So many coaches would be too scared for their job security and for Smith's feelings to make this choice. You know that Wade Philips would have bumbled this decision and I would even say many other coaches would have made the safe choice and picked Alex Smith. Harbaugh, on the other hand, doesn't play to convention or politics. He plays to WIN. My hope is that the Niners are richly rewarded for this heady decision. To me, it makes sense!
I've been watching Kapernick even going back to the Jets game where he had one or two snaps. This kid has a great arm, AND he can work well outside the pocket. Kaep has tremendous upside. I wish him well.
I *love* that there's a Billy Joel category on SongPop. Every single song in the category is a Billy Joel song! Having listened to, and owning, all of his studio albums but one (The Bridge), once I get an idea which passages are used, I feel really confident about beating everyone when I play the Billy Joel Songpop playlist.
Billy Joel is probably the only artist where I have almost every studio album he ever did, most of them on Vinyl, even Cold Spring Harbor (original issue), although I have that just as a novelty... it's not terribly listenable sound quality.
Souplantation tonight... which means two trips to souplantation in a week. Very rare, my friends.
Cannot wait for the SEC Championship game. I'll talk about it more tomorrow but the more I think about it, the more I see Georgia with a shot to win. Aaron Murray is a fool but if he somehow keeps his head on straight, he's got a great arm and could give 'Bama some real problems. I think it will at least be a close game.
The most surprising part of all is that the SEC Title game doesn't start at 8pm Eastern. I'd have thought that the SEC and/or CBS would have lobbied for that privilege by now but apparently not.
In any case, it's going to be sweet! That's all for now. Catch you on the flip side. Season's Greetings!
The "break" really is a big boost and I cherish it every year. I also love when I get to spend extended time with my wonderful family... my parents and sisters, and then my aunts and uncles. Yes, I'm spending time with them all year but at Christmas-time we're all in the same place at once. Good times.
The National Media has put such a big beating on the Lakers this week. It's humorous. I mean it is SO early and the Lakers aren't even at full strength... no question, this team has a lot of holes, but it is not *as* bad as the "experts" make it out to be. In fact, I'm gonna call it right here: the Lakers are beating Denver on Friday. That's right, they're going to win, and they're going to win by at least ten points.
Christmas shopping, oh baby I am way behind. I have about 3 weeks to go and roughly 15 presents to shop for. It won't be easy, my friends.
That reminds me: I got my Dad a DVD set on three occasions and all three of them are still sitting in his house in shrinkwrap. I mean are you serious? Haha, my goodness I should consider getting him something he'll use, like a gift card. That's what I intend to do.
In the history of time, the only DVD I ever got my Dad that he used was the film "My Cousin Vinny." That's easily his favorite comedy film. I've never seen him laugh so hard at anything!
I was reading up on music and I read that the Beatles recorded their entire first album "Please Please Me" in one shot. It was as if they were doing a live set and they recorded ten songs in one day over nine hours. Four other songs were on two singles that were already released. Can you even imagine that? The Beatles of 1968 would never have stood for that either.
49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh chose Colin Kaepernick over Alex Smith for this week's game and most likely for the forseeable future. I can't say enough about how great a choice this is. So many coaches would be too scared for their job security and for Smith's feelings to make this choice. You know that Wade Philips would have bumbled this decision and I would even say many other coaches would have made the safe choice and picked Alex Smith. Harbaugh, on the other hand, doesn't play to convention or politics. He plays to WIN. My hope is that the Niners are richly rewarded for this heady decision. To me, it makes sense!
I've been watching Kapernick even going back to the Jets game where he had one or two snaps. This kid has a great arm, AND he can work well outside the pocket. Kaep has tremendous upside. I wish him well.
I *love* that there's a Billy Joel category on SongPop. Every single song in the category is a Billy Joel song! Having listened to, and owning, all of his studio albums but one (The Bridge), once I get an idea which passages are used, I feel really confident about beating everyone when I play the Billy Joel Songpop playlist.
Billy Joel is probably the only artist where I have almost every studio album he ever did, most of them on Vinyl, even Cold Spring Harbor (original issue), although I have that just as a novelty... it's not terribly listenable sound quality.
Souplantation tonight... which means two trips to souplantation in a week. Very rare, my friends.
Cannot wait for the SEC Championship game. I'll talk about it more tomorrow but the more I think about it, the more I see Georgia with a shot to win. Aaron Murray is a fool but if he somehow keeps his head on straight, he's got a great arm and could give 'Bama some real problems. I think it will at least be a close game.
The most surprising part of all is that the SEC Title game doesn't start at 8pm Eastern. I'd have thought that the SEC and/or CBS would have lobbied for that privilege by now but apparently not.
In any case, it's going to be sweet! That's all for now. Catch you on the flip side. Season's Greetings!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Dave's Thoughts of the Day: November 28th
Day four of the flu... I'm sensing some signs of a relapse, but it's still very mild. I feel very bloated. It is high time I swam again... and I'm at that convergence point on the line graph between "resting to beat the flu" and "exercising to stay in shape."
It's really weird... I was already on a 1.5 week break from swimming as it was... I'm not very happy about this. Between my general laziness and illness I have been keeping myself from swimming for a while now. I have to pick this up, my friends.
People who swim for the Olympics, they swim no matter how sick they are. I would love to have that work ethic. Onward.
Anyone realize it's November? "Oh the Knicks are great! Oh now they're not great! The Lakers are going down in flames! They can't even beat Indiana at home!!? Oh the Clippers are way better than the Lakers! Oh... they just lost four in a row including one to the Hornets." It's.... NOVEMBER!!
I know I've had my own share of jumping the gun but even I can't get this riled up over a single month of NBA Basketball.
Remember when Auburn won the National Championship? Feels like decades ago now.
Nate Robinson can't dunk over a chair on YouTube.
A reliever singlehandedly takes your team right out of a playoff series in October, so what do you do? Sign him to a 3 year extension! Good one, Cincinnati. (link: http://news.yahoo.com/reds-sign-p-broxton-3-21-million-deal-145928806--mlb.html )
I started up with peanut butter sandwiches again. Ah, I have forgotten the gooey goodness. Good times on two slices of bread.
Anyone hear the one about the kid from "Two and a Half Men" denouncing his own show as "filth?" I could have told you that!! I could have told you the show was garbage years ago! Perhaps, though, I'd tell you this for different reasons than the kid did. I just don't think the show is that funny. Iono.
Indiana is still #1 in College Basketball. I should mention, however, it's still NOVEMBER!!
That's all for the moment. It won't be November for much longer. Take care for now.
Addendum: You know what? Maybe Nate could dunk over a chair... just barely. Dave OUT!
It's really weird... I was already on a 1.5 week break from swimming as it was... I'm not very happy about this. Between my general laziness and illness I have been keeping myself from swimming for a while now. I have to pick this up, my friends.
People who swim for the Olympics, they swim no matter how sick they are. I would love to have that work ethic. Onward.
Anyone realize it's November? "Oh the Knicks are great! Oh now they're not great! The Lakers are going down in flames! They can't even beat Indiana at home!!? Oh the Clippers are way better than the Lakers! Oh... they just lost four in a row including one to the Hornets." It's.... NOVEMBER!!
I know I've had my own share of jumping the gun but even I can't get this riled up over a single month of NBA Basketball.
Remember when Auburn won the National Championship? Feels like decades ago now.
Nate Robinson can't dunk over a chair on YouTube.
A reliever singlehandedly takes your team right out of a playoff series in October, so what do you do? Sign him to a 3 year extension! Good one, Cincinnati. (link: http://news.yahoo.com/reds-sign-p-broxton-3-21-million-deal-145928806--mlb.html )
I started up with peanut butter sandwiches again. Ah, I have forgotten the gooey goodness. Good times on two slices of bread.
Anyone hear the one about the kid from "Two and a Half Men" denouncing his own show as "filth?" I could have told you that!! I could have told you the show was garbage years ago! Perhaps, though, I'd tell you this for different reasons than the kid did. I just don't think the show is that funny. Iono.
Indiana is still #1 in College Basketball. I should mention, however, it's still NOVEMBER!!
That's all for the moment. It won't be November for much longer. Take care for now.
Addendum: You know what? Maybe Nate could dunk over a chair... just barely. Dave OUT!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Dave's Thoughts of the Day: November 27th
Hello friends...
My swimming has taken a dive lately, no pun intended. First it was the short week, and now it's my flu. It's a lesser flu but I can sense that I'll get wiped out if I attempt any strenuous activity. Going up the stairs this morning, I could feel some of that fever working its way back but then once I slow down I'm fine.
I'd like to get back to it though... I know I'll gain many pounds if I stop. Sad situation really.
Think about this though... what would I have to eat in order to maintain my current body mass without exercise? It'd have to be maybe 3/4 or 2/3 as much as I have now. Very lame.
All right, so there's this goofball out there who's trying to imitate me without even knowing it, and he has his own blog, and youtubes no less! The man lives in Austin, TX, and I gotta tell you, his blog is a hoot!
http://www.entresting.com/blog/100-days-of-rejection-therapy/
Check it out! His ideas are brilliant... try to go to various places and make an outrageous request and expect a rejection. Sometimes they hook him up. It's a great read, and I highly recommend it. I want to thank my buddy "Ottis" for recommending it as well.
I'm just going to go out there and say it right now: Colin Kaepernick is the next 49ers Quarterback. They *might* go with Alex Smith this week but he's going to get burned sooner or later. All Kaepernick does is keep his team in the game and make good plays here and there. He's not great... he's not Aaron Rodgers, but he's a terrific fit and he has a better arm too. Now I tried to give him a few more games, but he's just been too good. I'll give him one more and if he does well I think it's official.
Why is it that the best albums have 92 different versions of it on CD or LP? Anyone ever see the number of different releases and remasters for "Pet Sounds" from the Beach Boys. I counted about a dozen, or roughly the same number of tracks that were on the original record. They even had a version of it that was an add on to another LP the Beach Boys released in the seventies. Yet, I'm told that's the best sounding copy. It's so weird.
I've had a HUGE hankering for a porterhouse steak, in the style of the old Peter Luger's steakhouse in Brooklyn. Funny thing? I currently have a wad of cash that could buy one at Peter Lugers. Instead, however, I'll not attempt a flight to Brooklyn and just go after a local steakhouse that serves steak LIKE Peter Luger's. In fact there's a Wolfgang's Steakhouse in Beverly Hills. Now would I attempt to eat a "Steak for 2" by myself? Stranger things have happened, my friends!
That's all for the moment. I still need to get that little christmas tree for the apartment. Stay tuned!
My swimming has taken a dive lately, no pun intended. First it was the short week, and now it's my flu. It's a lesser flu but I can sense that I'll get wiped out if I attempt any strenuous activity. Going up the stairs this morning, I could feel some of that fever working its way back but then once I slow down I'm fine.
I'd like to get back to it though... I know I'll gain many pounds if I stop. Sad situation really.
Think about this though... what would I have to eat in order to maintain my current body mass without exercise? It'd have to be maybe 3/4 or 2/3 as much as I have now. Very lame.
All right, so there's this goofball out there who's trying to imitate me without even knowing it, and he has his own blog, and youtubes no less! The man lives in Austin, TX, and I gotta tell you, his blog is a hoot!
http://www.entresting.com/blog/100-days-of-rejection-therapy/
Check it out! His ideas are brilliant... try to go to various places and make an outrageous request and expect a rejection. Sometimes they hook him up. It's a great read, and I highly recommend it. I want to thank my buddy "Ottis" for recommending it as well.
I'm just going to go out there and say it right now: Colin Kaepernick is the next 49ers Quarterback. They *might* go with Alex Smith this week but he's going to get burned sooner or later. All Kaepernick does is keep his team in the game and make good plays here and there. He's not great... he's not Aaron Rodgers, but he's a terrific fit and he has a better arm too. Now I tried to give him a few more games, but he's just been too good. I'll give him one more and if he does well I think it's official.
Why is it that the best albums have 92 different versions of it on CD or LP? Anyone ever see the number of different releases and remasters for "Pet Sounds" from the Beach Boys. I counted about a dozen, or roughly the same number of tracks that were on the original record. They even had a version of it that was an add on to another LP the Beach Boys released in the seventies. Yet, I'm told that's the best sounding copy. It's so weird.
I've had a HUGE hankering for a porterhouse steak, in the style of the old Peter Luger's steakhouse in Brooklyn. Funny thing? I currently have a wad of cash that could buy one at Peter Lugers. Instead, however, I'll not attempt a flight to Brooklyn and just go after a local steakhouse that serves steak LIKE Peter Luger's. In fact there's a Wolfgang's Steakhouse in Beverly Hills. Now would I attempt to eat a "Steak for 2" by myself? Stranger things have happened, my friends!
That's all for the moment. I still need to get that little christmas tree for the apartment. Stay tuned!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Dave's Thoughts of the Day: November 26th
Good to be back... welcome back to our blog experience.
Thanksgiving was tremendous this year. In fact, it was the best Thanksgiving I can remember for a long while. We had a great turkey in the family this year. I'm telling you, this was the best Thanksgiving Turkey I ever ate. The skin was so crispy, the meat was tender and flavorful, maybe a little too salty, but no matter. Everything WORKED. The stuffing, which might have been stove top, was tremendous. The cranberries in sauce, which my mom provided, were phenomenal. The mashed potatoes, exemplary. The gravy, complimentary. The rest of the weekend was eventful as well. Some shopping was involved, and a little Monopoly as well.
I made a huge comeback in the game of Monopoly on my sister. I was down to just a couple hundred dollars with all of my properties mortgaged, including all three of the orange ones that I owned. I thought it was over: my sister had hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place. One more trip to either place and the game was over. Instead, I not only survived that trip but then landed on Free Parking (we put our fine and tax money into Free Parking). THEN I took the Free Parking money and unmortgaged all the orange spaces and built up all the houses/hotels I could. I needed a ton of money for that but I went ALL IN... it's like going all in in Poker. I knew that I was going to lose anyway if I landed on Boardwalk. Then, miracle of miracles, I not only avoided "Luxury Row" again, but my sis hit one of the orange properties. Suddenly, I had a lot of real cash! I finished up building the hotels on all remaining orange properties. A few trips around the board later, and she had to mortgage everything. Even the hotels, even Boardwalk itself. Somewhere in between I negotiated a trade to give her something like Illinois Avenue for Marvin Gardens so that I could build up the yellow ones as well. Then it was on... a few rounds later, I won the game. COULD NOT BELIEVE IT.
So Notre Dame is undefeated. I have nothing further to add to this. They did everything they could possibly be asked to do. They didn't lose a game, they beat all the teams they needed to, and they played a tough schedule. There really is nothing else for them to prove. I wish them luck on the way to the National Championship Game. Maybe they could beat Alabama. I certainly don't think so, but perhaps Notre Dame struck at just the right time. Defense, to me, is always the difference between BCS winning teams and the field. If it wasn't, wouldn't Oregon have a few National Championships by now?
I'm a little under the weather, but it's not nearly that serious this time out. Ibuprofen is simply the greatest.
I'm getting tired of people who expect to perform miracles on data. If you busted up your external hard drive, it's gone. FINITO. End of story. Fortunately I made it pretty clear that I cannot claim any responsibility on damaged or lost data. Those disclaimers are important because you can't levy any weight of expectation onto an impossible situation.
Portable/External data sources wind up being far less reliable than anything installed inside a desktop. I think a good reason for that is the simple size of the disks involved. A 2.5 inch hard disk is just asking to fail with the unbelievable amount of density between data bytes. AND it moves. A full 3.5" hard disk installed within a well ventilated PC could last for years, even decades.
That's all for now... not much time for more, but I hope everyone had a good weekend. Back tomorrow.
Thanksgiving was tremendous this year. In fact, it was the best Thanksgiving I can remember for a long while. We had a great turkey in the family this year. I'm telling you, this was the best Thanksgiving Turkey I ever ate. The skin was so crispy, the meat was tender and flavorful, maybe a little too salty, but no matter. Everything WORKED. The stuffing, which might have been stove top, was tremendous. The cranberries in sauce, which my mom provided, were phenomenal. The mashed potatoes, exemplary. The gravy, complimentary. The rest of the weekend was eventful as well. Some shopping was involved, and a little Monopoly as well.
I made a huge comeback in the game of Monopoly on my sister. I was down to just a couple hundred dollars with all of my properties mortgaged, including all three of the orange ones that I owned. I thought it was over: my sister had hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place. One more trip to either place and the game was over. Instead, I not only survived that trip but then landed on Free Parking (we put our fine and tax money into Free Parking). THEN I took the Free Parking money and unmortgaged all the orange spaces and built up all the houses/hotels I could. I needed a ton of money for that but I went ALL IN... it's like going all in in Poker. I knew that I was going to lose anyway if I landed on Boardwalk. Then, miracle of miracles, I not only avoided "Luxury Row" again, but my sis hit one of the orange properties. Suddenly, I had a lot of real cash! I finished up building the hotels on all remaining orange properties. A few trips around the board later, and she had to mortgage everything. Even the hotels, even Boardwalk itself. Somewhere in between I negotiated a trade to give her something like Illinois Avenue for Marvin Gardens so that I could build up the yellow ones as well. Then it was on... a few rounds later, I won the game. COULD NOT BELIEVE IT.
So Notre Dame is undefeated. I have nothing further to add to this. They did everything they could possibly be asked to do. They didn't lose a game, they beat all the teams they needed to, and they played a tough schedule. There really is nothing else for them to prove. I wish them luck on the way to the National Championship Game. Maybe they could beat Alabama. I certainly don't think so, but perhaps Notre Dame struck at just the right time. Defense, to me, is always the difference between BCS winning teams and the field. If it wasn't, wouldn't Oregon have a few National Championships by now?
I'm a little under the weather, but it's not nearly that serious this time out. Ibuprofen is simply the greatest.
I'm getting tired of people who expect to perform miracles on data. If you busted up your external hard drive, it's gone. FINITO. End of story. Fortunately I made it pretty clear that I cannot claim any responsibility on damaged or lost data. Those disclaimers are important because you can't levy any weight of expectation onto an impossible situation.
Portable/External data sources wind up being far less reliable than anything installed inside a desktop. I think a good reason for that is the simple size of the disks involved. A 2.5 inch hard disk is just asking to fail with the unbelievable amount of density between data bytes. AND it moves. A full 3.5" hard disk installed within a well ventilated PC could last for years, even decades.
That's all for now... not much time for more, but I hope everyone had a good weekend. Back tomorrow.
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