Author: Stagger Lee

Despite a 2-0 loss on the road, Morton FC have clenched promotion to the Scottish First Division. They will start next year playing only one division down from Celtic. This after sinking to the Third Division only a few years ago when the financial situation of the club was in doubt.

UP THE TON!!! MORTON FC 2007 SCOTTISH SECOND DIVISION CHAMPS!!!

Remind me next year to give up something a little less trying for Lent. Before long I will be pounding an entire six of cane-sugar Dr Pepper and that will be just fine. Who knows, I might even fire up one of the cigars…

Meanwhile, Vandy is back at #1 in the baseball polls. Omaha? Maybe? Ever since I disowned my undergrad alma mater, the Dores have done a good job of picking up the slack. I am very pleased with this.

We’re starting the evaluation process for a TV upgrade – it’s time to join the 21st century. However, this is more complicated than it sounds – it’s not just HDTV, but a new DVR, a new DVD player, probably some speakers, and definitely an AppleTV – and there will have to be some sort of accommodation with DirecTV. And that ain’t hay. Given the process that went into picking my new car, it will be a low-grade miracle if I wind up with a new TV before the analog switchoff.

If the wife gets the week of Christmas off, I’m tempted to make another run to New Orleans. (By way of Mobile and Biloxi, of course, to keep peace in the family. The wife needs more amusement than can be provided by just pounding Sazeracs at Jean Laffite’s Blacksmith Shop.)

One guy gives me a serial number. Another gives me an install disc. Another gives me a replacement hard drive and a site from which I can download, burn, and install a disk image. Another three or four post on websites with technical gotchas and information.

And with all that help, a little screwdriver work and a few scattered free moments later, I have three – THREE! – operating systems on the metal on my MacBook. OS X 10.4.9, WIndows XP, and Ubuntu Linux 6.10.

And just like that, I’m ready to start learning again. My eyelids are heavy, the clock is running, I have somewhere to be at 8:30 tomorrow morning…and yet, I’m not going nowhere. It’s as if the clock rolled back 12 years, and here I am again, trying to find the bits I need to squeeze out another K of free RAM or another few blocks of disk space. I can learn. I can teach myself. I can still do this.

It’s going to be a *really* good spring.

Taking a few days’ vacation in DC with the old donkeys. VERY good to see the old crowd again, although tales of how things are rolling at National G these days only serve to confirm that I was right to get out when I did. But I sure do miss having the Metro to get around.

I think the fact that it’s been nearly 2 years caused the same sort of breach in time that I had with Vanderbilt from 1998-2000 or so. It’s much less of a feeling that “I was just here” and much more of a “I saw this movie long ago” thing. Which is fine, I suppose…all the more reason to work on getting things in order in California; that’s home now and no fooling. If only I could get a proper pub close to home…

O’Neill’s, across from the ballpark in the City.

A little muddy, but this was taken through a plexiglas window with a camera phone, so whaddya expect?

(6) VANDERBILT 78

(3) WASHINGTON ST 74

FINAL – 2OT

Don’t say I didn’t tell you that the 6 seed is our sweet spot!!

(more later)

…especially if you’re an 11 seed. =)
DYNAMITE!!!!!!!!
NCAA WEST REGIONAL
(6) VANDERBILT 77
(11) GWU 44

The last time the Dores were in the Big Dance, they were a 6 seed, and rode it all the way into the Sweet Sixteen. This time, they get 11th-seed George Washington in the opener, and then the winner of Washington State-Oral Roberts.

If the shots are falling, I think this is going to be another Sweet 16 year. If they’re not, I think they could go out in the first round. It’s hard to believe that this is the same team that could knock off six of seven ranked opponents and then lose twice in a week to Arkansas, especially with seniors at the helm – I expect this kind of inconsistencies from diaper dandies, not proven commodities – but it is what it is. Hopefully Stallings can coach ’em up enough to get through the first weekend.

Also, it’s a SHOW that Duke still rates a 6. That’s a reputation seed, not a merit seed, and I don’t see them getting past the second round…

I think Ohio State looks like the easiest road thus far – and if they stay hot off their Big Ten tournament win, they could run the table.

More later when I have time to digest the brackets…

Down the coast to see Mark & Cindy. And Zoe, who has gotten bigger and adorable and personable. Nice to get away for a bit, and I even got a couple of nice pictures with a borrowed w810i which will be my new phone (and hopefully lead me to take more pictures!)

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