Goodbye, coach
Sometimes it's both good and bad that I currently live close to work. That really came into play when I caught the news of Randy Walker's sudden death on ESPN News when I got home last night. I eventually rushed back to the office to get that story up and then deal with a second fire of the latest Tour de France doping scandal.
But back to Walker. He provided lots of ups and downs for NU fans during his seven years at the helm, but at least he got the team to at least a certain level of consistent respectability, further building on Gary Barnett's legacy (remember that I was an undergrad during the Rose Bowl days) and then adding his own twists, especially the now much copied spread offense. While I'm a pretty avid fan no matter what, Walker kept things interesting, that's for sure. It's a huge loss for the university.
For more on Walker, you can also check out my colleague Stewart Mandel's take, which also talks about a whole spat of tragedies hitting the university in recent history.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
On the road again
On the road again
Posting has been plenty infrequent lately as I prepare for the move to Gotham. I've been up here at home in Jersey for most of the past week -- my brother's birthday party served as a good reason to drive up a ton of my stuff and get ready for jumping into the fray in just under a month.
And in a few hours I'll be starting another 16-hour road trip back to the ATL. The drive up was actually very good until I got slammed with traffic on I-95 around Alexandria and parts of the Beltway (including getting stuck in some bizarro traffic line near Andrews AFB after getting smacked around on gas) before cruising into Baltimore to see Dave, Jessie, Justin and Kristin (major props and thanks for letting me crash there).
The car got awesome mileage despite zipping through much of the mid-Atlantic with a ton of my crap piled in the back.
Even better, I amused myself by playing all the songs I had on the WOXY Top 500 Modern Rock countdown -- I had 224 of the 500 songs, and I didn't finish it off until I was driving around New Jersey and traveling to the city. (I started the shuffle with Radiohead's "Creep." Anyone want to take a guess at what was last?)
The drive back will involve the Blender 500 greatest songs since 1980. I've got 201 of those already loaded on (with a few more hiding away on CDs back in Atlanta).
FWIW, I was reasonably productive in New York as well, seeing the U.S.-Ghana game at the ESPNZone in Times Square, followed by Pedro pitching against the Reds for a matinee at Shea. Then doing some stuff at the new office. In a way, it was practicing the commute to and from my folks' place, so I had that going for me as well.
Posting has been plenty infrequent lately as I prepare for the move to Gotham. I've been up here at home in Jersey for most of the past week -- my brother's birthday party served as a good reason to drive up a ton of my stuff and get ready for jumping into the fray in just under a month.
And in a few hours I'll be starting another 16-hour road trip back to the ATL. The drive up was actually very good until I got slammed with traffic on I-95 around Alexandria and parts of the Beltway (including getting stuck in some bizarro traffic line near Andrews AFB after getting smacked around on gas) before cruising into Baltimore to see Dave, Jessie, Justin and Kristin (major props and thanks for letting me crash there).
The car got awesome mileage despite zipping through much of the mid-Atlantic with a ton of my crap piled in the back.
Even better, I amused myself by playing all the songs I had on the WOXY Top 500 Modern Rock countdown -- I had 224 of the 500 songs, and I didn't finish it off until I was driving around New Jersey and traveling to the city. (I started the shuffle with Radiohead's "Creep." Anyone want to take a guess at what was last?)
The drive back will involve the Blender 500 greatest songs since 1980. I've got 201 of those already loaded on (with a few more hiding away on CDs back in Atlanta).
FWIW, I was reasonably productive in New York as well, seeing the U.S.-Ghana game at the ESPNZone in Times Square, followed by Pedro pitching against the Reds for a matinee at Shea. Then doing some stuff at the new office. In a way, it was practicing the commute to and from my folks' place, so I had that going for me as well.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
The list
For your reading enjoyment, here's the 2006 WOXY.com Modern Rock 500 list. I've been trying to figure out how many of these songs I already have -- it looks like 200 with a few more not ripped from my CDs. Not a bad ratio, especially with a handful of artists/songs I'm used to seeing on these lists not mentioned.
Now to do a similar project with 99X's Top 1000 countdown from last year. At least this will give me some good long-term playlists for my upcoming long drives.
Now to do a similar project with 99X's Top 1000 countdown from last year. At least this will give me some good long-term playlists for my upcoming long drives.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Slacking off
Slacking off
Time to get cracking on the updates. There are some good excuses, but laziness is the easy one ...
-- Played tour guide for my brother his fiancee over Memorial Day weekend. Good times all around, even if we couldn't make it to the aquarium (I hope to do that before leaving town). I'll need to really brush up on my places to go in New Jersey and New York when I inevitably have my first guests visiting me up north.
-- Also spent part of Memorial Day watching minor league hockey. For the second straight year, I've seen a finals match featuring a Thrashers affiliate. Each time was a loss, but each time was very entertaining. And hey, I finally got to see a game with my favorite hockey fan.
And while it's unfortunate the Gladiators were downed in the finals, at least they didn't have to make a return trip to Anchorage to finish the series. Talk about some rough road tripping. That also means I've seen teams from Idaho and Alaska play in the Atlanta suburbs. No wonder the EC in ECHL doesn't stand for East Coast anymore.
-- Speaking of fringeish sporting events, all of a sudden I've become a softball fan thanks to the alma mater reaching the NCAA finals. Of course, even though the women have now won a second straight lacrosse title, a doubles tennis title and possibly a softball title, all anyone will remember is the soccer hazing stuff.
-- Also got caught up in the prime-time National Spelling Bee where "Jersey represent!" While it's nice to see the "up close and personal" profiles, you can see it wreaking some havoc with the timing and pace of the competition. And of course, there's that odd feeling of "I've actually heard of that word" -- but that was only in the daytime ESPN rounds and supposedly were the "easy" words.
What I wonder, though, is when ESPN Classic replays these bees in a few years (either on its own or on Cheap Seats), will some of the competitors get the same attention as this girl.
-- Speaking of spelling, I've had to moderate a bunch of comments for a blog at work. And while I'm blown away by the words these kids have to spell, I'm similarly baffled at how badly people spell in these comments. Forget "ursprache," try spelling "backfield" correctly.
-- In some ways, I'd prefer if people just spelled in internet/text message shorthand. At least there's some rhyme or reason to it. But before you learn how to post on any message board, be sure to check this helpful instructional video.
-- While digging up a new icon for some IM applications, I stumbled across something I'm stunned I didn't know before since it's just a couple of counties away. Check out the Cherokee County school board. Yup, that's the Dog-Faced Gremlin and famed Michigan alum.
Time to get cracking on the updates. There are some good excuses, but laziness is the easy one ...
-- Played tour guide for my brother his fiancee over Memorial Day weekend. Good times all around, even if we couldn't make it to the aquarium (I hope to do that before leaving town). I'll need to really brush up on my places to go in New Jersey and New York when I inevitably have my first guests visiting me up north.
-- Also spent part of Memorial Day watching minor league hockey. For the second straight year, I've seen a finals match featuring a Thrashers affiliate. Each time was a loss, but each time was very entertaining. And hey, I finally got to see a game with my favorite hockey fan.
And while it's unfortunate the Gladiators were downed in the finals, at least they didn't have to make a return trip to Anchorage to finish the series. Talk about some rough road tripping. That also means I've seen teams from Idaho and Alaska play in the Atlanta suburbs. No wonder the EC in ECHL doesn't stand for East Coast anymore.
-- Speaking of fringeish sporting events, all of a sudden I've become a softball fan thanks to the alma mater reaching the NCAA finals. Of course, even though the women have now won a second straight lacrosse title, a doubles tennis title and possibly a softball title, all anyone will remember is the soccer hazing stuff.
-- Also got caught up in the prime-time National Spelling Bee where "Jersey represent!" While it's nice to see the "up close and personal" profiles, you can see it wreaking some havoc with the timing and pace of the competition. And of course, there's that odd feeling of "I've actually heard of that word" -- but that was only in the daytime ESPN rounds and supposedly were the "easy" words.
What I wonder, though, is when ESPN Classic replays these bees in a few years (either on its own or on Cheap Seats), will some of the competitors get the same attention as this girl.
-- Speaking of spelling, I've had to moderate a bunch of comments for a blog at work. And while I'm blown away by the words these kids have to spell, I'm similarly baffled at how badly people spell in these comments. Forget "ursprache," try spelling "backfield" correctly.
-- In some ways, I'd prefer if people just spelled in internet/text message shorthand. At least there's some rhyme or reason to it. But before you learn how to post on any message board, be sure to check this helpful instructional video.
-- While digging up a new icon for some IM applications, I stumbled across something I'm stunned I didn't know before since it's just a couple of counties away. Check out the Cherokee County school board. Yup, that's the Dog-Faced Gremlin and famed Michigan alum.
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