April 2009 - Posts
Right up my alley....
I always think of people being basically good, until proven otherwise. Perhaps that's naive, foolish, or worse, but I find that it works for me, even if I get a little bit bruised occasionally for giving someone the benefit of the doubt. More often than not, people are good, and if you give them a chance, they'll prove it (sometimes without realizing it).
http://www.tweenbots.com/
This is just such a fun and neat social experiment that it makes me smile and feel good about humanity. I have always found that a smile and a kind request for help usually will result in a kind soul giving you help. These little guys do exactly that, and with wonderfully lovely results. The creator has to feel a little reaffirmed that all of humanity doesn't assume the worst when an unusual item or event enters their world looking innocuous. Maybe it's just innocuous (and terribly cute and fun at that!)
Saturday evening, after dinner and helping get the kids all settled in, I walked to OG for a special fundraiser evening. I mostly went because I wanted to see what the place was like jam-packed, and it did not disappoint. They were raffling off some cool stuff, so I bought some tickets. I could choose where to put my tickets -- a leather jacket, a brew-crew membership (already have one of those!), a fantasy brew-camp with Brad (tempting), or a mountain bike. I threw all of my tickets in for the mountain bike. The band was pretty loud, and it was fairly temperate outside (mid to high 40s) so I grabbed an IPA and settled in out in the beer garden and chatted with some locals I know. I got drawn for the bike. I had to chuckle, since I had joked earlier with Jodi that it would be cool if I won it... Crazy...
I am now the proud owner of a 2007 KHS Solo One SE -- brand spankin' new (even though it is an older model). Very cool. I stopped by this morning and picked it up (thanks for the help, Rich!). I'm jonesin' to go play with it...
Fine, NC took my beloved Sparties to the woodshed. We knew that was one of the possibilities, although I thought MSU would hang in there a bit better than they did. Regardless, kudos to UNC for a great championship and an exciting season. For my Green and White, I send a big Thanks to the team and the coaches for a very entertaining season and a thrilling post-season. I predicted a Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight appearance, but getting to the final game was rather surprising to me. Great work, and let's hope our quality young'uns stay put for one more year. Next year could be something special if Roe, Green, and Herzog (not to mention Derrick Nix and Garrick Sherman) can fill in the paint. I am confident that our backcourt will be alright without Walton (although he'll be missed!), but we need a big to step up.
I've got all summer long to obsess about it. How long until football? 
Obviously, I am pulling for the Spartans in tonight's championship game. Do I think the Spartans will win? That's a tough call. I am sure they *can* win, but it is far from an answered question. UNC is outrageous, and they can drop some big scores. If the MSU D is solid, it is a good game. If the D is porous, we have issues. It is good to see at least a few (non-MSU, non-Detroit) people around the country seeing that it isn't a foregone conclusion like some people think. I know MSU isn't favored, but they play the game for a reason -- this is the tourney, anything can happen.
I am looking forward to having elevated blood pressure for a couple hours this evening. I love the NCAA tourney, I truly do.
Go Green!
Oh, and I would like to point out for the record (regardless of the result of tonight's game):
- Big East teams in the finals: 0
- Big Ten teams in the finals: 1 (MSU)
- Big East teams dispatched by that Big Ten team: 2 (Louisville, UConn, both 1 seeds).
Sorry Big East, I guess your vaunted league just couldn't hang with the Big Ten's finest. Maybe the media love fest got to your heads?
Those Spartans do play some good ball. Enjoy the game from the sideline... Good Luck, Spartans!!!
http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html
Easy way to tell if you're possibly/probably affected by the conficker virus.
Still waiting on an egregiously slow compact process on a virtual hard drive, catching up on news feeds...
Came across the Museum of Bad Art website: http://www.museumofbadart.org/
You *must* check out the collections. Timeless, priceless works of incredibly bad art -- some disturbingly so.
http://noise.typepad.com/hey_joe/2009/04/filizzobuster.html
Tom Izzo finally kind of let fly at his presser this week, and Joe Rexrode (Hey, Joe!) of the LSJ shared the entire transcript with us. Needless to say, without getting trite or petty, I think he did a pretty effective job of not only defending the Big Ten and the MSU style of play (I call it 'go hard, or go home!'), but more or less calling out the cowardly commentators who clearly aren't paying very good attention. I'll sum it up in my own way:
lockdown defense + well organized half-court sets + opportunistic transition play + raw desire = MSU + winning
We love you, Tom Izzo. Keep doing what you do best, and keep doing it for MSU!!!