Friday, September 16, 2005

Official Sports Teams Following the lead of Dr Steven Taylor...here are the official sports teams of Eye of the Storm: Pro Football: Washington Redskins, first and foremost.  When I was a youngster and my family lived in Italy, I got up at 2 in the morning to watch Super Bowl XXII (the one where Washington scored five touchdowns in the second quarter to thrash Denver).   In the other conference, coming in a distant second, is the Jacksonville Jaguars.  An odd situation with them as I like them for being from Jacksonville, but I don't like the franchise that much, and I am annoyed to no end at how uncritical the local media is of them.  College Football: Florida State, first and foremost.  When I was young I cheered for all of the schools from Florida (before the aforementioned Super Bowl, I got up early in the morning to watch Miami lose to Penn State, an unpleasant experience that made me question whether I wanted to risk a repeat experience).  But by the Charlie Ward days I was an FSU fan to the exclusion of the other two schools.   Coming in second is my father's alma mater, Virginia Tech.  Thanks to family, I've been a fan of them since the Bruce Smith days through their rise to the top thanks to Frank Beamer.   Pro Basketball: No preference.  Back in the days of Parrish, McHale, and Bird, I liked the Celtics, but since, I haven't cared much for professional basketball. Pro Baseball: Baltimore Orioles, first and foremost.  Unfortunately, my family did not move to Maryland until after the '83 season (it was in Maryland that I saw the first baseball games that I remember).  I've been a fan since the days of Eddie Murray, Rick Dempsy, and the young Cal Ripken.  I totally despise Peter Angelos, and was somewhat disgruntled at the thought that every Orioles ticket I bought probably amounted to a small contribution to the Democratic Party of Maryland.  Ah well.  Coming in second is the Washington Nationals.  Definitely helps that the former Oriole great, Frank Robinson, is the manger. College Basketball:  Like football, FSU first and foremost with Virginia Tech second.  Like baseball, the first college basketball games I remember watching, I watched in Maryland.  Because of that I still have a special place in my heart for the Georgetown Hoyas.  I didn't care so much for the Maryland Terrapins, but I did like Len Bias.  Even though I was only eight years old at the time, I remember the exact moment when my mother informed me that he had died (remember that he was the first round pick of the Celtics, so the anguish was amplified).   That had more effect on me than any anti-drug commercial ever produced.  College Baseball: Other than casually watching the College World Series championship, I didn't follow college baseball until going to FSU, so Florida State is the only team I cheer for.  Happiest (and saddest) moment is sneaking into Section B for the final games of the 1999 regional. (Click on the black ribbon towards the bottom of the page for an account of that day). Hockey: Washington Capitals.  Again, a throwback to my living in Maryland during part of my formative years. Soccer: Don't follow it much anymore.  Adopted DC United as my team when the MLS formed, but I haven't paid attention at all in recent years.  On the international level, I tend to cheer for Italy (assuming, of course, that the U.S. isn't facing them). Teams I cheer against: College:  Notre Dame first and foremost.  University of Miami second.  University of Virginia third.  University of Florida fourth.  NFL: Dallas Cowboys Baseball: NY Yankees Jackpotzrebie comment []11:33:13 AM   trackback []

	Saturday, September 10, 2005

Latptop fixed No thanks to Best Buy or the local repair shop, my laptop is now fixed.  Total cost of repair was ~ $15. Compaq laptops have a bad design for the plug that makes it very easy for it to become broken if the computer is not set on a desk.  Putting it in your lap, for example, can put upward or downward pressure on the plug that will cause it to come unconnected from the motherboard (because it is only a dab of solder that holds it in place).  It becomes more and more difficult to keep your laptop plugged in and eventually, it won't effectively plug in at all.  Such was the problem that afflicted mine. So I took it to the local repair place and the kid there said they don't do that sort of repair, all they would do is replace the motherboard (a $600 item unto itself), so he advised taking it elsewhere.  I then took it to Best Buy (where I had purchased it about two years ago) and was advised that I might as well buy a new computer, because all they would do is replace the motherboard.  The person behind the counter also volunteered that they would back up my present computer for $60 (or so).  I politely declined. Took the computer back home and started unscrewing it.  Unlike desktops, laptops aren't entirely intuitive when it comes to disassembly.  Fortunately, Compaq makes their service manuals available online, so I was able to figure out the steps that I couldn't guess myself.  After completely taking it apart, I went to Radio Shack and bought a 15 watt soldering pencil and some solder.  Soldered the damaged area and then put the computer back together.  Didn't work the first time (partial disassembly found something that wasn't connected) but it worked on the second try.  Everything seems to be working fine. Needless to say, I am quite happy at the moment. Jackpotzrebie comment []12:15:30 AM   trackback []

	Friday, August 12, 2005

Site Outage Down while I resolve issues with my laptop. Jackpotzrebie comment []11:14:44 AM   trackback []

	Sunday, July 24, 2005

Status: minimum activity Well, Tropical Storm Gert went ashore this evening, and Franklin is looking sick.  If Franklin doesn't manage to rally himself, we might actually have a few days of quiet in the Atlantic basin as the Tropical Weather Outlook indicates all is quiet elsewhere.  If so, I scheduled my two weeks of active duty for the Naval Reserve quite well.  I am in Pensacola for leadership school.  Blogging will be light and restricted to the evening hours this fortnight. Jackpotzrebie comment []11:16:33 PM   trackback []

	Friday, July 22, 2005

Guilty verdict rescinded against Formula One teams A quick break from storm news to post a story about something I had written about a fair bit at the time.  The governing body of Formula One rescinded the guilty verdict against the teams that boycotted the U.S. Grand Prix. Guilty verdict on USGP cancelled ... The Senate announced on July 14 that the teams could have faced serious legal difficulties had they raced against the orders of their French tyre manufacturers.... FIA said in the statement: "Having examined the new evidence previously submitted to the FIA Senate, the FIA World Motor Sport Council has voted overwhelmingly to accept the recommendation of the FIA Senate regarding events at the 2005 United States Grand Prix. The guilty verdicts of June 29 made against the seven Michelin teams have therefore been cancelled." A wise decision that should not have been necessary. Jackpotzrebie comment []3:21:33 PM   trackback []

	Sunday, July 10, 2005

Belated Blogiversary Just realized that the one year annivesary of this blog was two days ago.  Never would have thought that my one year of blogging would see me writing about  five hurricanes hitting Florida.  2005 Hurricane Season, Jackpotzrebie comment []4:06:06 PM   trackback []