Author: Stagger Lee

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!)

Continue reading “Minibreak”

Vandy’s got the #2 seed in the SEC tournament, but they’re limping across the finish line. Hope they will straighten up. Meanwhile, women’s hoop has won their conference tournament (again!) and baseball is tightening its grip on #1, so the alumni gathering on Friday should be fun for all. (Yes, I’m actually going to a San Francisco Vanderbilt Club event. I’m 35 now, it’s time to find proper pastimes for someone of my age and deportment that don’t involve closing the pub.)

Meanwhile, my occasional bouts of cellphone glee are making it tougher than ever to wait for the iPhone. I know I don’t NEED a new phone, but I want one anyway. =) However, the necessity of being able to sync it with my MacBook means that almost none of the new hot phones will do for me unless there’s an iSync update or somebody writes a functional 3rd-party plugin (and given the dearth of success getting my old L2 to sync, I am not sanguine about the prospects for that working – even if the carrier-gimped Motos from Cingular were worth buying).

Old so old before my time…;]

V. sick. However, am somewhat improved by Vandy’s win over UK on Senior Day. (Vandy has won the last four against Kentucky. FOUR. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.) They only took the lead at one point, but it was the last point, which is all that matters. Should have thought to go out to the car and listen to it. Meanwhile, I have a chiro appointment and an eye exam on Monday and a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday to see if this is sinus infection, or allergy, or what – and if I need to see an allergist for the first time since the Carter administration and maybe see about getting shots for this.

I gave up soda for Lent, by the way, so I’m going to be grouchy as nobody’s business until…well, probably until Easter.