Pictures from St. Kitts

So St. Kitt's was even better than we hoped it would be. The resort was beautiful, it had a wonderful italian restaurant, the weather was perfect, and we spent an entire week during very little and enjoying every minute of it.

Only one problem - we left our fancy-schmancy digital camera at home and had to make do with a couple disposable cameras we bought (for a magnificant sum) at the resort. Which means the pictures are a little fuzzy and some of them didn't turn out very well but we didn't know it until we got back. I love digital cameras.


Here's a picture of Karen learning how to scuba dive in the resort pool. I ended up going scuba diving in the caribbean a couple days later. Karen got a massage instead.








Here's a picture I took from the ocean looking back at the resort. Then I dipped underwater...













... and took this picture.













Here's a poorly-lighted picture of Karen feeding a monkey at the Turtle Beach Bar & Grill. Karen gently touched one of the monkeys and it smacked her. She screamed. Everyone enjoyed it.









Here's Karen and I on top of one of the mountains near the resort. Behind us on the left is the Atlantic ocean and on the right is the Caribbean.







Here's the view from our resort suite. The hill across the bay on the right is the hill we're standing on in the previous picture.







Here's a gratuitous picture of Tyler and Carson (and Sheila) in front of the house after we returned.














And this is me, bald.

One week away from St. Kitt's!

Not that I'm looking forward to lounging on a beach while people bring me drinks or anything.

"The Wicker Man" is good for a laugh

Unfortunately, it's not a comedy, and the laughs are unintentional responses to a profoundly bad movie. It's one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The only reason I sat through the whole thing (other than feeling I was obligated because it cost $8.25 to see it), was because there was an almost perverse appeal to its badness - like watching a train wreck in slow motion, I was almost looking forward to next excrutiating scene. The acting was terrible (even though good actors like Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, and Leelee Sobieski were in it) -- the plot was irritating, implausible, and poorly-paced. And it was directed by Neil LaBute, who directed the wonderful "Nurse Betty" and "In The Company of Men". It makes you wonder how this sort of thing can happen - it's not like this was a B-movie that everyone knew would stink from the beginning. Good actors, good director... awful movie.

Big Ten Wonk interrupts his hiatus

Big Ten Wonk has broken his summer hiatus to post some numbers about pace of play across major conferences, using only inter-conference games in the calculation. Go read it first.

Obviously, given Indiana's coaching situation, there's nothing here specific to Indiana that's particularly interesting, other than noting that Oklahoma (63.7) played at a significantly slower pace than Indiana (66.4). Last season Indiana actually played at an uncharacteristically fast pace for a Mike Davis team.

The Big Ten continues to play at the slowest pace, while the ACC continues to play at the fastest pace (though not nearly as fast as the season before). Also interesting is that neither Florida or UCLA played fast.

Wisconsin's reputation for slow play appears to be overblown.

Now I have a second blog

As if one weren't enough!

Actually, this is a multi-author IBM blog that I helped setup called the WebSphere Community Blog. I'm looking for to it - I think it'll be interesting if enough of the authors participate.

Now you can go read me talk about my job... and get bored out of your skull.

How's it going, eh?

So, I'm in Toronto for a conference and Hertz gave me a Lincoln Towncar to drive around.


This thing is a monster. I don't know why anyone would buy a car this size -- I have to do a 3 point turn everytime I pull out of a parking space. It's longer than our minivan, and has the turning radius of a space satellite. Ugh. As if that's not bad enough, it gets 17 miles to the gallon, so you get to have that on your conscience each day as well.

It's clear I don't know what driving big cars is all aboot.

Speaking of being out of town, we've starting using Skype with a minicam so that I can videoconference with Karen and the kids -- cool! The kids get to make funny faces at me (which apparently never loses its luster), and (other than some audio problems last night) it's a lot easier for the kids to talk to me in front of a computer than on a phone (though Carson seems to have picked up on the whole phone thing quicker than Tyler). And, of course, it's completely FREE, even for international calls. Looking forward to using this in St. Kitt's.

My list of the Top 10 video games of all-time

My opinion only - doesn't include any great games that I haven't played myself. And obviously I don't play every genre of game -- for example first person shooters and team sports games hold no interest for me, yet they are probably the two most popular genres overall. I'd rather mow the lawn in August than play Madden NFL 2006.

1. Fable (XBox)
It's hard to put my finger on what exactly made this game such a blast. The thing that made the game unique was that you decided whether your character was good or evil based on the decisions you made throughout the game, and that was certainly cool. But it still would have failed if they had don't basically everything else right in the game - the visuals, the voice acting, the pace, everything. I've played it all the way through 3 times, and I'm sure I'll be playing it again. Bring on Fable 2!

2. Civilization (PC))
The original turn-based strategy game and still the best. This is the kind of game where you'd find yourself muttering at 3 a.m., "...just one more turn...just one more turn..." The sequels have also been excellent, but there's still a special place in my heart for my first time.

3. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (XBox 360))
Wow. The scale of this game is simply massive, yet unlike the previous Elder Scrolls games, you don't ever feel lost and aimless... and it also seems to be much less buggy. I would find myself exploring the mountains in the game just because you never know what you're going to see around the next vista, and yet the combat and quests are engaging as well. Only a couple minor warts kept this from being #1 on the list.

4. Shining Force II (Nintendo NES))
This was an old school RPG in the mold of Final Fantasy, yet superior in every way, IMO. In particular, the turn-based combat included moving characters around the field of combat, which was shockingly addictive. I discovered this game in grad school and I remember playing it 18 hours a day through Christmas break. To this day, I still haven't found a similar game that is as good.

5. Warcraft II (PC))
I thought this was a pretty good game... then I started playing it online and lost several months of my life. I literally had to give the game up because it was affecting my performance in grad school. Complete obsession. I was in California and I'd partner with a buddy in Indiana to go up against other teams, and every time out it was a thrilling experience with the outcome in doubt. I got really, really good at it (I once took on five newbies single-handedly and they didn't stand a chance), yet there were still plenty of guys online who could crush me without breaking a sweat. The range of skill from newbie to master was enormous.

6. Grand Theft Auto III (PS2))
Forget all the silly media attention this game got because it dared to be unrepentently targeted at adults - this game was successful because it was fun. Tons of missions that were actually challenging, tons of cool stuff to explore, tons of interesting characters... I was disappointed when I completed the game because I didn't want it to end.

7. Master of Magic (PC))
Another Civilization-style turn-based strategy game, it had crappy graphics and no story to speak of. But it was still loads of fun because it had a bunch of different races to play, each with special abilities and armies, and as soon as you finished one game you couldn't wait to start the next one with a different map and a different race to see what would happen next. It caused me to pull many all-nighters.

8. Might & Magic V: The Darkside of Xeen (PC))
In retrospect, this is kind of a hokey game. The graphics aren't 3-D, the story lines and quests were often silly, but this was the first computer RPG game I played that I really enjoyed. I played D&D when I was a kid and loved it, and I thought CRPGs were going to rock. But mostly they stunk... until I discovered M&M, which managed to be cheesy and enjoyable at the same time.

9. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (PS2))
This is the TW that introduced the Game Face feature, as well as tons of great courses to play. Developing your golfer was endlessly satisfying, and I feel like I know every nook and cranny at Pebble Beach. I recently got TW PGA Tour 2006 for the XBox 360, and what a disappointment -- there's only 8 courses now to choose from, and the Pro Shop system makes no sense. At least I waited till it dropped in price to $40 from it's original $60. I hope the 2007 makes up for it.

10. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP))
Okay, so this game is mostly a replay of GTA III, but what causes this to make the list is that I played it on the Sony PSP, and it's simply amazing to me what that little handheld machine is capable of doing. Obviously, given how much I loved GTA III, the idea of doing a sequel isn't a bad thing to me, and I would have paid money to play this on the PS2. But instead they did it on the PSP and it looks just as good as the original did on the PS2. I wish the PSP had more good games available, because functionally it's an amazing piece of hardware.

Good Night, and Good Luck

We watched "Good Night, and Good Luck" last night. It's the story of Ed Murrow taking on and helping to bring down Joe McCarthy. It's a really good movie, mostly because it's so incredibly relevant to events that are taking place right now. It's almost frightening to watch a movie about Joe McCarthy accusing newsmen of being communists and then read an article the next morning about Republicans (including the President of the United States) attacking the NYTimes for being on the side of terrorists because they published an article about a secret program of questionable legality intended to monitor "terrorists". They are even suggesting the the NYT editors should be prosecuted. Scary. Really scary.

Anyway, I highly recommend the movie.

Back to work!

*sigh*

The kids had a great time with their friends at the beach.

Me? I think I need a vacation.

To the beach!

We're leaving later this morning to go to Emerald Isle for a week. Yee haw!

And I need it. I've been working my tuckus off the last couple weeks on an urgent project -- nights and weekends included. A week lounging on the beach is just what I need.

And the kids'll be in heaven. First, the house is right on the beach AND it has a pool -- their two favorite activities. Second, they both have friends coming. Tyler has two friends, Miles and Brandon, who are going with us today. Brandon is staying the whole week and Miles is staying till Tuesday. And then Carson has Morgan coming up with her family later tonight, though it's still unclear to me whether Morgan will be there the whole week or not.

Should be a lot of fun. And completely unrelated to work.

Carson's dance recital

Carson and her best friend Morgan at their dance recital. We also have video, but haven't been able to figure out how to upload it to the blog yet. As always, click the pictures for the full-size image.

Sampson

Did you read Bob Kravitz's column this morning? Quite scathing assessment of Greenspan and Herbert. Course the whole article is based on the assumption that we could have had any coach we wanted to.
Mom

They say admitting you have a problem...

...is the first step to recovery.

Well, we have an XBox360...


... and a Sony PS2...


... and a Nintendo Gamecube...


... and a Sony PSP...


... and a Nintendo Gameboy...


... and a Nintendo DS...


... and we have two laptops and a desktop computer that also get used for games.

Clearly, we have a problem. What problem, you ask?

Why is it taking so long for the Sony PS3 to come out!!

Worth two minutes of your day

Click here:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/honda.php

Here's the background on the commercial:

People that set up roomfuls of dominos to knock over have great patience. But how about this: a two minute Honda advertisement that doesn't use no computer graphics, digital tricks or fancy film editing. Everything you see
happened in real time ... exactly as you see it.

The film took 606 takes. Usually, on the first 605 takes, something very minor didn't work. The film crew and engineers would then have to set the whole thing up again. The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, one would think they were ready to change professions.

The cost to film this ad ran six million dollars, took three months to complete (including full engineering of the sequence) and lasts two minutes.

Every time Honda airs the ad on British television, they're shelling out enough money to keep any one of us in clover for a lifetime.

However, this Honda Ad is fast becoming the most downloaded advertisement in Internet history. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free viewings" because Honda doesn't paying a dime to have you watch this commercial on the Internet.

At the time of filming, there were only six hand-made Honda Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers not working on this project, the filmmakers disassembled two of these priceless cars to make this film.

Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and one complete Honda Accord) is parts from those two cars.

When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation and commented on how realistic computer graphics have become.

When they found out the entire ad was real (i.e. no editing, computer generated graphics, or trick photography of any kind) the Honda execs were stunned! They had to watch it again and again to see how amazing their product and this commercial really were.

And how about those funky windshield wipers? On the European Honda Accords the windshield wipers have sensors designed to start working automatically as soon as the sensors detect water. (There's a cut off switch to use when entering a car wash).

Home page

I just added Blogzeffer to my home page. Aren't I the technological wizard? Have you tried Zillow.com yet? It's a lot of fun if you can overcome your guilt about being so snoopy.

Football game and basketball practice

Still no definitive word on when we're going to the beach.

On a separate topic, we're thinking about flying up in October for the first basketball practice and the Indiana-Iowa football game. As luck would have it, this year's midnight madness is on the same weekend as a home football game, so I figure we should take advantage of that and come up to see Josie as well.

Sound good? Anything going on in October that would make that a problem? (Like a fishing trip)

Rebuilding Indiana - Part 2

Here's a link to "Rebuilding Indiana - Part 1" from awhile back. Basically I laid out what I thought it meant for Indiana to be considered "rebuilt". My summary was this:

Based on the above, being the best team in the B10 means:
- Winning B10 titles about every other year
- Making the NCAA tournament every season (with perhaps a once-a-decade miss)
- Making the Sweet Sixteen about every other year
- Making the Final Four every 4 seasons or so
- Winning a title every decade or so

I expected to get to Part 2 much quicker, but hey, I've been busy.

Anyway, the second part is asking how long it should take for Indiana to get there. The first problem with the question is that being the best team in the Big Ten is something that you measure over time - not in a single season. So no matter how well Indiana does the next two seasons, we won't be able to conclude that we're back. But since this is all conjecture anyway, I'll just blaze ignorantly along, as usual.

First, what's in store next season.

My guess is that Calloway, Wilmont, AJ Ratliff, DJ White, and Ben Allen will start. That's a decent lineup, but not great. Calloway showed flashes last season, but didn't even play starter minutes consistently until the last 3rd of the season. Wilmont is tough, inspiring, and streaky. Ratliff struggled a LOT. DJ is the star, but obviously we have to worry about his health. Allen didn't play much and was a big defensive liability.

Off the bench we'll have Armon Basset and Erek Suhr as ballhandlers -- Basset is a frosh and Suhr is a former walk-on. I think both will be positive contributers, but not major contributers. On the wing will be Joey Shaw and Xavier Keeling - both freshman, and neither should be expected to be difference makers their first season. In the post we'll have Mike White and Lance Stemler -- both are JUCOs and it'll be a bit disappointing if both of them don't see plenty of minutes inside with DJ and Ben Allen. Which is fortunate because we desparately needed depth inside (kudos to Coach Sampson for effectively filling that hole).

I'm really excited about next season, but mostly just because it's the start of the Kelvin Sampson era, and that'll make it interesting. But I really don't expect Indiana to be anything more than "pretty good". I think we'll make the NCAA tournament, but we'll spend some time on the bubble and I don't think we'll really be in the hunt for the B10 title - or a danger to advance much in the NCAAs. In other words, Indiana will not be "back" next season.

Given that we'll be starting two seniors in the backcourt and our other guard/wings are not especially well-regarded, I suspect that the following season will not be a B10-title-type season either. After that, it comes down to recruiting, and if Indiana is ever going to be back, Sampson has to recruit well. Assuming he does, I think we'll start to see the Indiana teams we desire in Sampson's third year. If not, I'll start to wonder whether we'll be back anytime in the next decade.

A word from our sponsors...

And just when I thought my punk rock music days were over, Green Day puts out American Idiot, which is absolutely brilliant. Idiot is one of those rare albums that is so incredible that it leaves you in awe that such a thing was even possible.

Like Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Everclear's Sparkle and Fade, or U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind, it reminds me that there's still a lot of great music left to be made.

The Big Three-Seven

Okay, so that was sarcasm. On the list of notable birthdays, 37 is pretty close to the bottom, I'm guessing. Other than being a prime number, 37 is as forgettable as, um, you know... whatchamacallit? Hold on, it'll come to me.

On the other hand, I'm at an interesting stage in my life. At work, I've finally reached the point where advancement is not given. Throughout my time at IBM, my strategy has been simple. I figure out what is expected of the band above me and I try to do that job. Eventually IBM realizes that I'm performing at the next band level and they promote me. But now I look at the people in the bands above me and I'm not sure how to do that job. Those folks can be pretty amazing. They are either smarter, more driven, more knowledgeable, more politically savvy, or better leaders than I am - and sometimes all of those things at once. Plenty of good employees end their career at my current band level. To be honest, it's kind of a nice feeling. If I do make it to the next band, it'll be an accomplishment that I'd be genuinely proud of.

(Aside: Speaking on dangling prepositions, it reminds me of a good story. A freshman at Harvard stopped an upperclassman and asked, "Excuse me, can you tell me where the library is at?" The upperclassman sneered back at the frosh and replied, "This is Harvard. We do not end our sentences in prepositions here." The frosh thought for a moment and said, "Okay, well, can you tell me where the library is at, asshole?")

And of course in Real Life, Tyler and Carson are both in school now, which is an exciting and scary time. Exciting because you can see them growing by leaps and bounds, and scary because it's relinquishing a level of control over them, and we all know that kids can be mean to each other (except our kids, who are angels, needless to say). Tyler is almost 8 years old. In another 8 years, he'll be driving. That's hard to get my head around. Time to start saving for the 2014 Volvo Impervio.

So 37 might not be noteworthy, but it's not a bad place to be.

Las Vegas!

There are worse places to be sent for a business conference, no doubt.

My room at the Rio is approximately five times as big as my room in Lisbon. I love America. Live free or die! Live mostly free or get a bad cold!