Yet again it's been 2 months since I've posted. Really, there's not a ton going on with me.

 

Holidays were good, except for a few redunant gifts. Not that I am complaining; you can never have too many digital oven probe thermometers.

 

Had my final birthday celebration. Not that I am not planning to age any further; it's just that, like Jack Benny, my age will hereafter remain constant at 39.

 

Was odd not traveling for the birthday. Still, I did take some time off work and catch up on the relaxing.

 

Spending today watching the football. V. surprised to see the Colts go down in something of a strange game. I think they were the last hope to beat the Pats. I hope someone does knock NE off; those people will become even more unbearable than they already are.

 

So I'm running TRASH Regionals again. The goal, after last year, was to avoid this. Actually, while last year was a ton of work, I'm quite pleased with how everything turned out. This year, we have a much smaller field and I'm exerting proportionally less effort, so naturally some disaster will befall us.

 

Or not. It should be fun in any event. The ideal scenario would be to get one of the other local teams, say Carleton or Macalester, to host it. That way I could play without having to travel, and I could avoid doing all the work. I'll have to try to sell this idea to people tomorrow.

 

Other news...well, football. No secret why I haven't been posting a lot about football this fall. This experience has been really painful. Yes, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and no it's not an oncoming train, but the previous train is still running over me. As I predicted this season, 1-11 was just not an option that entered into the thought process. And yet there's a good chance that we'll end up there. Ouch.

 

The lesson learned is that, in college football, the gap between "really bad" and "mediocre" is very small, just like the difference between "pretty good" and "really good". It only takes a small blip, like losing a few players to off-field issues, to make the difference between 5-5 and 1-9.

 

I've also developed a theory around coaching changes. It seems like there's an effect that's independent of the actual talent level. If a coach who has had some success leaves, the new guy always struggles out of the gate, even if he's a better coach overall. The players who remain from the previous coach's era come to believe that they are not as good as they thought they were. After all, it was their poor play that got the coach fired. It takes a season or two of cycling through those players (some will graduate, others will need their confidence built back up) before the team can really win again.

 

At least, that's what I'm hoping for. I do think we'll be better with the new coach in the long run, but it is a long run and we're only just out of the starting blocks. Falling flat on our face didn't help.

 

OK, I've let this thing go over a month without an update again, but you see, this time I have an excuse. Last time I posted here, as I was actually sitting here typing out the post, a bridge fell down and people died. Not that I'm to blame for that, of course, but it still weirded me out enough to be averse to the ol' blog for awhile.

 

So we have some catching up to do. First and most obviously, the bridge. Thanks to those of you who sought me out in the immediate aftermath to verify that I was OK. As we now know, 13 people were killed, none of whom I had even a tangential connection to. Not that it diminishes the magnitude of their passing, but I had such difficulty dealing with the cognitive dissonance created by "bridge I cross frequently...fell down" that it's probably a good thing for my state of mind that I didn't know any of them.

 

"So", I hear you asking, "Mr fully-trained-transportation-engineer, why did the bridge fall down?". It was probably a combination of a lot of things. I've seen many theories put forth in the media, and except for the top-secret-sonar-weapon-being-developed-at-Augsburg-of-all-places, it was probably a little bit of all of them. Oh, and the Mothman..I'm fairly certain the Mothman was not invovled in any significant way. I think when you add 40 years of more traffic loads than it was designed for, add in corrosion caused by pigeons and maybe the de-icer, throw in the additional deadweight and asymmetrical loading caused by the construction, and layer on the really really hot summer that we've had, one of the spans in the truss gave way and that was it.

 

I thought it was quite interesting how the story played out in the media. The spotlight from the national outlets was very intense for the first 3-5 days, but after that it went away almost completely. Locally, there has been quite a bit of coverage of the blame game and the process that is allegedly going to build a replacement bridge by the end of next year. But I think everyone is missing what I think is a huge story: the ongoing devastating impact that this huge whole in our infrastructure is going to have until the new bridge goes up. Consider that our local economy has taken on millions of dollars a week in additional costs borne by trucking firms and the people (ie. everyone) who rely on them to get goods where they need to go. Add in the thousands of cumulative extra commuting hours many people will be enduring. Think of what a circus next summer's RNC is going to be. I don't wish to diminish the loss of those 13 lives, and the injuries suffered by some of the survivors, but the greater impact and more compelling story lies in our ongoing struggle to cope with the fact that the bridge is gone.

 

OK, enough on that depressing topic. The major event of the past few weeks, for me, was the trip to Las Vegas. I won't do a detailed trip report, but let me just emphasize that it's really really hot there. I mean really hot. Things I can heartily recommend: anything about the Wynn (especially the casino which seemed determined to give me money at every opportunity), the buffet at Planet Hollywood, the Wayne Brady show at the Venetian. The biggest downer during the trip was the traffic. Once I adopted the simple strategy of "don't drive on the Strip..ever" I was much better able to cope.

 

For those interested in such things, the auspicious event for our next trip to Vegas is scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday, September 25th, 2008, at the Wynn. Everyone is welcome to attend in person (the room holds about 60 people and I am anticipating not more than 5 or 6 guests) but most of you will probably just want to watch the live webcast. There will be some sort of local reception (by local I mean in Minnesota, not Nevada) to which many of you will be invited. Fortunately we have plenty of time to plan such details.

 

(deft segue) About the only bet at the Wynn that I didn't come out ahead on was the $50 I put on the Gophers to cover against Bowling Green. Whoops. It was a weird game to watch in many ways. This team is going to struggle this year. When you are starting a freshman quarterback, there will be some inconsistency. When you kick your two starting cornerbacks off the team, resulting in 3 true freshmen getting significant playing time in your secondary, you are going to struggle against the pass. I get all that, and my preseason prediction of a bowl trip for this group looks unlikely to come to pass. However, said freshmen are really going to be good players next year, and I can see enough from the new coaching staff and the attitudes of the players that this ship is headed in the right direction. It just might take a bit longer to get there than I originally thought it would, and I'm ok with that. Patience is my watchword.

 

Besides, both Michigan and Notre Dame are 0-2. What's not to love?

 

Important things first: Happy Birthday, Mom.

 

Much of my July has been spent with the two cultural phenomena of the summer: the Simpsons movie and the whole Harry Potter thing. Some brief musings, which may contain spoilers, follow.

 

First, the Simpsons. I found it to be one of those films that gets hyped as being great, so you expect it to be terrible to avoid disappointment, but which actually turns out to be pretty good. I laughed a lot and generally thought it was just what a Simpsons movie should be: basically a long episode of the show. And not even all that long...it wraps up in under 90 minutes.

 

I've heard the comment that, to some, it just seemed like a couple of episodes strung together. There's the "Bart rejects Homer and moves to Flanders after the naked skateboarding incident" story followed by the "Springfield environmental crisis" story and then the "Simpsons in Alaska" story. There's some truth to this, but I think the film does hold together as a cohesive whole. It's interesting to see what the writers can do when they have more than 22 minutes to work with. I would like to see some one-hour episodes of the show that capitalize on the opportunity to extend the storylines.

 

Overall review: quite good. We will be seeing it again, and will definitely own the DVD at some point. Not sure about the soundtrack CD in the exclusive donut-shaped case.

 

Now onto our favorite wizard. I found the book to be a page-turner; we bought it Saturday morning and I was done reading Sunday afternoon. That said, there was definitely a different tone to this book. No more of the set pieces, like quidditch games or visits to Diagon Alley or adventures at the Dursleys. This was a "put your head down and plow through all these plot elements you need to resolve while throwing in a few more" book. So I found it to be much more focused and less light-hearted than the previous books. Not that that's a bad thing.

 

As the death toll began to mount I was thinking that it was a wizarding version of Titus freaking Andronicus. There were also a couple of moments where I caught myself thinking "this is right out of Star Wars". Again, not necessarily a bad thing.

 

I will give JK credit for tying off most of the loose ends. I was saddened by the deaths of some beloved characters, but they were appropriate in the context of the story. It just wouldn't have been believable (he says about a book where everyone uses a magic wand) if the epic struggle had been resolved without some measure of suffering on both sides.

 

Anyway, if you haven't read the books, do so. I would start from the beginning; they really are a lot of fun.

 

As we move toward fall, I can safely put thoughts of such summery things behind me and focus on the really important things. The college football season kicks off one month from today!

 

Came home yesterday to find that a small mouse, or possibly a vole or some other rodent, had fallen into our window well. Not wishing him to die in there (a fate which befell one of his ancestors before we moved in) I set about trying to get him out of there. Since the well is quite deep this was a tool-requiring problem analogous to one faced by Homo habilis at some point in his development.

 

Plan A (reach in there and grab him) was rejected almost immediately. For one thing, it would have required me to lay down flat in the wet grass (it was raining). Additionally, it ran the risk of a bite, and I try very hard to make sure that the phrase "rabies shots" has no need to enter my vocabulary. Plan B (open the window from the inside and grab him that way) was also rejected for the same needle-related reason. Plus, it had the additional drawback of the potential for a live mouse loose in the house should he wriggle away.

 

Plan C was to scoop him out with a snow shovel, the only suitably long-handled implement we have around. Unfortunately, the shovel was too wide to really maneuver in the window well, so when the mouse backed into the corner I really couldn't get at him.

 

Plan D involved a small wastebasket lowered into the well with string. Actually, we didn't have any string, so we used one of those flexible measuring tapes that tailors use. I tied it around the lip of the basket. While I could lower it into the well and move it around just fine, I couldn't get my furry friend to actually climb in. I needed a prod of some kind, and thus was the final, successful Plan E born.

 

I lowered the basket into the well and basically pinned the mouse to the wall with it. Then, using the tip of a sword, I nudged him into the basket. I then lifted it up and set him on his way.

 

OK, I know that's not much of a story. It was just fun to be able to put a sword to some practical use. No household should be without one!

 

So we played in yesterday's annual "how old can we make ourselves feel" event, otherwise known as MASQUE.

 

We lost in the finals. (I think we lost in the semis last year, so that's progress). Surprisingly, we entered the (8-team, single elim) playoffs as the top seed, having swept the round robin at 11-0. This was unexpected, given that the Chaska alumni team of Carson/Hart/Guyton was very strong. Needless to say, that's who we met in the finals. One of them blew up, scoring 7 powers, and we never knew what hit us.

 

Overall, though, it was a pretty fun day. Since most of the local top HS teams actually played at the HSNCT this year, we weren't beating up on teams of 14 year olds. Most of the teams were current college students or older. A notable exception was the team from St. Anthony, who were the strongest opposition (save the eventual winners) we faced all day. Full props to them.

 

It was also a long day. 14 rounds over about 10 hours is grueling, at least it is for me. I know we were both dragging by the end of the day. When the two of us had a higher combined age than the 3 person team we were playing, fatigue might be a factor.

 

I find myself wishing for more "for fun" type events. The so-called "masters" events, such as they are, are just way too intense for my tastes. I'm not looking for a testosterone-fueled fight to the death against the latest ACF badasses, I just want to play some fun rounds on some fairly easy questions. That's not so much to ask, is it?

 

So we took a little road trip yesterday. The ostensible reason was to hit one of the (not very) local casinos, but mainly it was just an excuse to spend a few hours together and see some sights. Our route home took us through exurban Isanti county.

 

Much like here in town, they've apparently adopted a scheme where consecutive streets are named with words beginning consecutive letters of the alphabet. The first street starts with A, then B, etc. The fine folks in Isanti county have taken it a step further, so the streets are not just in alphabetical order but each alphabet worth of streets is thematically related.

 

We were driving from Z towards A, and the first group of streets were animals. I'm not sure if they were all supposed to be predators; the first one I noticed was Puma, and then later there was Jackal. Fun names for streets to be sure. One of the advantages of being out in the middle of nowhere is that they don't have a regular street grid, so there might have been a large gap where Ocelot Avenue and Marmoset Boulevard might otherwise have gone.

 

Then we moved into chemical elements. The first one I saw was Xenon (always tough to come up with those X words) and later I saw Tungsten and Helium. Reasonable street names I thought. But the street I really want to live on is Dysprosium Avenue.

 

Not much point to this discussion, other than for me to formally nominate Dysprosium as one of the coolest street names I've ever seen.

 

I was hit by a strange coincidence early this week. As I've mentioned previously, I have a number of compilation CDs ($9.99 at Target). The two that I've been listening to most recently are Doo-Wop classics and a collection of 70's pop. I know you're shocked to hear that this is what I listen to.

 

So Sunday night I'm on the way to bridge and listening to the Doo-Wop. I stop for dinner on the way, and in the restaurant they are playing the song I just heard on the CD! ("So Much In Love" for those of you scoring at home.) Weird. Then, on my way home I listened to the replay of American Top 40 from sometime in 1970 or 1971. Monday morning, I put in the 70's pop CD for the first time, without looking at the track list, and lo and behold there's one of the songs I'd just heard on AT40!

 

Then I go to Wendy's for lunch and they are playing another of the Doo-Wop songs! I am not complaining about hearing all this great music, but it's a bit eerie.

 

But wait, there's more! This morning I read in the paper that we have a new radio station. Drive 105, aka our alternative station, aka a station that I had no reason to ever listen to, is no more. It is now Love 105. The article wasn't clear on exactly what that means; it speculated about classic Luther Vandross and Barry White numbers. Turns out (after listening) that it's basically love songs and other suchlike from the 60s thru the 80s. When I turned it on this morning they were playing "Happy Together", followed by "You're So Vain". So far so good. Then they played "Key Largo" and I knew I'd found radio heaven.

 

Then, a few tracks later they played the same song I'd just heard on my CD and on AT40. So, three times in 36 hours I got to hear "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo". I can think of worse things.

 

The fine folks at TRASH have posted the stats from TRASHionals, and man, they are wronger than wrong.

 

Team Stats: In the prelims, they show us going 5-2, scoring 245 PPG and a bonus conversion of 15.59 PPB. That record is odd, condsidering we played 8 prelim rounds. The real numbers should be: 6-2, 237.5 PPG, 15.00 PPB.

 

For the playoffs, they show us at 0-6 (hey, that's right), 109.2 PPG and 19.57 PPB. I thought that bonus conversion looked pretty solid until I saw that The Last Buzz had converted over 56 points per 30 point bonus. The real numbers should be 0-6, 109.2 PPG (hey, they got another one right!) and 13.45 PPB.

 

Individual stats: For the prelims, TRASH has for us (all based on 7 games played):

Mark: 23/1 for 32.14 PPG

Tim: 13/0 for 18.57 PPG

Brian: 19/3 for 25.00 PPG

Tia: 13/1 for 17.86 PPG

 

So in total they gave us 68 TUs and 5 negs in 7 games. The real stats, over 8 games this time:

|

Just a few quick notes here..

 

In response to JD's question, for TRASHionals we stayed at a Marriott Suites in Bethesda. In our 8 trips to TRASHionals we've stayed at the "official" hotel a total of zero times. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, we like to stay somewhere a little more upscale than the usual official hotel, which is generally selected to appeal to college students on a budget. You can generally get pretty good weekend rates at business-oriented hotels. We paid $70 per room per night for the Marriott, which had to be a lot nicer than the "fundome" which went for, I think, $99. Priceline can be a wonderful thing.

 

The other reason we avoid the official hotel is that, frankly, we don't really want to spend the weekend in a hotel with a bunch of drunken college kids. Now, I actually like most of the people we play against, but I think I like them a lot better in a game room on a Saturday afternoon than I would walking down the hallway outside my hotel room at midnight on Friday night.

 

As to the reason for Bethesda, it's somewhat midway between Dulles and College Park. Once we determined that we were flying into IAD (because it's about $200 per person cheaper than BWI or DCA from here), the do-everything-via-Metro option kinda went away, and so we picked an area that was at least semi-convenient by car. The fact that there was a dearth of obvious restaurantage nearby was the only drawback.

 

Over on the usual forums, there is some critique of TRASHionals, including some comments from me. After playing in a mirror of RC Cola on Sunday, if I said anything negative about TRASH I take it all back.

 

Not that the tournament was horrible. I mean, we won. We went undefeated, even. With only half our team there. Go us! But the question set was very ragged. The difference in question consistency between (centrally produced and edited) TRASH and a packet-submission event like this is stark, especially when you are playing them on back-to-back weekends. Most of the questions were actually pretty good, but from round to round you just don't know what to expect. I guess that's inevitable when you're cobbling together a set from various sites around the country. I'm not trying to be critical of Charlie or Kilby or whoever was doing the editing; I'm sure the packets as-submitted were much worse than those we ended up playing on. I'm just pointing out that those people (including me) who like to point out what they hate about TRASH don't know how good we have it.

 

There were some other negatives from the weekend: the game rooms were uncomfortably warm, one room was consistently slow (causing the whole tournament to run about an hour longer than it needed to) and the quality of moderators was average to poor. St Olaf was running a house team, and to be fair some of them quit playing and started reading when some of the staffers started fading away during the afternoon. But if you're going to charge me $85 to play 10 rounds of quizbowl, you should at least make sure that the people reading the questions have some experience.

 

Then again, we won the tournament, so who am I to complain?