A Week Later...

Ok, it took a lot longer for me to post than I expected. Needless to say my schedule remains just as busy as it was before. I suppose that is life though. From now on I will not make any promises on posting, I will just do the best I can, when I can. A lot has happened lately so I am not really sure where to begin. In time I will backtrack and comment on various things that happened over the past month or so, but not now. For now I will briefly comment on how life is treating me lately.

Like every one else there have been ups and downs, probably more ups though. I really like my schedule of classes this semester, primarily because 4/5 are weather related. Finally!!! The other class is a basic computer science class which seems pretty simple so far. In addition to college classes, I am still working at the bookstore and at HSTV for my internship, albeit lesser work hours for both. I am fortunate to have two bosses that are willing to work around my schedule to allow me to focus as much time on my education as needed. Everything is still going well at the bookstore. As for the internship, I have learned a lot over the last few weeks. I can not put a price on the experience I have gained at the station. It has been wonderful to get my feet wet in broadcast meteorology. Hopefully my time there will give me the extra edge I need when the time comes to send out resume tapes. Another thing I have learned is that the television industry can be brutal. I was told this before, but I truly understand now that I have experienced a taste of it. This is a field where you have to be a jerk and selfish at times. I hate that but that is just the way it is. I suppose if you are not a jerk you will eventually get screwed, and probably often too. So I guess I will pretend I am Alice Cooper at work ("No More Mr. Nice Guy") and revert back to my normal self away from work. Hmm, I don't know what else to say now.

I am happy that when I leave Cal U. I will specialize in both broadcast meteorology and operational meteorology. If there comes a point in time where I just can not stand being a tailhole and want to grab meteorology by the balls, I can always re-direct my interests towards the operational aspect of things. Either way I will still be a meteorologist; that remains unchanged. I feel this is what I was born to do and no matter what I will stick with it.

That's all for now, I won't bore you as much next time. I plan on talking more about sports over the next few days as it is arguably the best time of year to be a sports fan.

My 2006 College Football Rankings

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my rankings, I began doing this a few years ago for both college football and college basketball after being disappointed with the "more popular" rankings. I found that the bigger polls are slow to respond to drastic changes in a team's performance and are hellbent to stick with their original preseason rankings as much as possible. Also, especially with the coaches poll, it is obvious to see that the coaches who vote obviously do not have the time to carefully evaluate all teams worthy of being ranked. Well, I guess I don't either, but I have had a favorable response to my rankings in the past, so I guess I know what I am doing! Here are my inaugural 2006 rankings:

Rank...Team.............Record..........Last Week's Result.....Prev. Rank

1. Ohio State.....(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. N. Illinois, 35-12...---
2. Texas.............(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. N. Texas, 56-7......---
3. Auburn..........(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. Wash. St., 40-14...---
4. USC................(1-0, 0-0)...Won @ Arkansas, 50-14....---
5. Notre Dame...(1-0, 0-0)...Won @ GA Tech, 14-10.....---
6. LSU.................(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. LA-Laf., 45-3.......---
7. West Virginia.(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. Marshall, 42-10...---
8. Florida............(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. Sou. Miss., 34-7....---
9. Florida State..(1-0, 1-0)...Won @ Miami (FL), 13-10.---
10. Miami (FL).....(0-1, 0-1)...Lost vs. Florida St., 13-10..---
11. Virginia Tech..(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. N'eastern, 38-0....---
12. Louisville.........(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. Kentucky, 59-28..---
13. Georgia............(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. West. KY, 48-12...---
14. Iowa.................(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. Montana, 41-7......---
15. Penn State.......(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. Akron, 34-16.........---
16. Oregon.............(1-0, 1-0)...Won vs. Stanford, 48-10....---
17. Nebraska.........(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. LA Tech, 49-10....---
18. Tennessee........(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. California, 35-18..---
19. Michigan...........(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. Vanderbilt, 27-7..---
20. Clemson............(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. FL Atlantic, 54-6.---
21. TCU...................(1-0, 0-0)...Won @ Baylor, 17-7...........---
22. Texas Tech.......(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. SMU, 35-3............---
23. Alabama............(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. Hawaii, 25-17.......---
24. Arizona State....(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. North. AZ, 35-14.---
25. Oklahoma..........(1-0, 0-0)...Won vs. UAB, 17-10..........---

Here are the teams I have ranked #26-#50, in order: Georgia Tech, Boise State, UCLA, Tulsa, Minnesota, South Carolina, California, Texas A&M, Rutgers, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Fresno State, UNLV, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Purdue, Arizona, South Florida, Oregon State, Northwestern, Utah, Iowa State, UAB, Toledo, Northern Illinois

Updates are coming

It has been a month since my last post, but I assure you updates are coming in the near future. Life has been a little hectic with college starting back up, work, intenship, and other stuff. Actually it has been the "other stuff" that has taken up much of my free time.

However, you can expect some sort of blog from me tomorrow. I have a couple of ideas floating around now, it should be a good read for you. Stay tuned...

Hot Hot Hot!!!

I am being dared to say that on television, hahaha. I would love too but I couldn't get away with it. As for the purpose of this post, I decided to make a forecast for back home since it is hot and only going to get hotter. Here is the downright disgusting forecast for Cambridge, MD:

Currently listening to: "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry...what an awesome intro!

I was just thinking about the trading deadline approaching in baseball and decided to post a blog on some Orioles that really need to be traded (if they have any trade value). So here it goes, the following players need to go away ASAP:

1. Bruce Chen (no one laughs at his jokes anymore, just him)
2. Todd Williams (gives up as many big hits as the not-so-great Todd Frohwirth...ARGH!)
3. Russ Ortiz (1-16 in his last 17 decisions! quite possibly the biggest piece of crap in MLB)
   
4. LaTroy Hawkins (4 teams in 2 years would be incredible!)
   
5. Rodrigo Lopez (togh call, I have some lingering sentiment for R-Lo, but he may be the only one on this list with significant trade value. some pitching-hungry team will surely overpay for him. heck the phillies even dangled abreu as a possibility.)
   

What a surprise! All five of those guys are pitchers which we lack the depth in. If the Orioles can somehow get rid of all of these guys this year (which we all know will never happen), I may resume rooting for the O's. Most likely that won't happen though because Angelos and his cronies are very good at keeping worthless players around long enough to piss people off.

Dem O's......really suck

It really pains me to do this, but I have to live up to an ultimatum I placed on myself earlier this season. At 12:49AM on June 13, here were my exact words:

On July 4, if the Orioles are below .500 and/or at least 8 games back in the division, I will prematurely throw in the towel for the 2006 season.

So, here were the AL East standings on Independence Day:

Boston.....(50-31, .617, 0 GB)
NY Yankees.....(46-35, .568, 4 GB)
Toronto.....(47-36, .566, 4 GB)
Baltimore.....(39-46, .459, 13 GB)
Tampa Bay.....(37-47, .440, 14.5 GB)

And after tonight's 15-1 arse-kicking by the Silver Spring native Mark Teixeira and his Texas Rangers, here are the current AL East standings:

Boston.....(53-34, .609, 0 GB)
NY Yankees.....(50-36, .581, 2.5 GB)
Toronto.....(49-39, .557, 4.5 GB)
Baltimore.....(41-50, .451, 14 GB)
Tampa Bay.....(39-50, .438, 15 GB)

So unfortunataly, without further ado, I am throwing in the towel and giving up on the O's for 2006. This is a sad day for me and I hate to do this, but I issued an ultimatum and the Orioles could not live up to it. I wasn't asking for much, heck I wasn't even asking for anything better than mediocrity. Once again for the ninth season in a row, that damn Peter Angelos and his cohorts have assured us fans of another miserable, losing season. Not that you give a sh*t Angelos, but you have lost yet another faithful fan. Here's to 2007 and the ongoing hope for a .500 record.

Pearl Jam Setlist

Nearly a month later, here's the setlist from the best concert I have ever seen:

Pearl Jam - Pittsburgh, PA - June 23, 2006

1. Throw Your Arms Around Me (Eddie Vedder solo acoustic pre-opener, Hunters and Collectors Cover)
2. Release (Beginning of Set 1)
3. Life Wasted
4. Severed Hand
5. Corduroy
6. Do The Evolution
7. Dissident
8. Evenflow
9. Marker In The Sand
10. In Hiding
11. Better Man
12. Daughter/With My Own Two Hands (Ben Harper Cover)
    
13. Garden
14. I Got Id
15. State Of Love And Trust
16. Inside Jobe
17. Worldwide Suicide
18. Porch (End of Set 1)
19. Wasted Reprise (Beginning of Encore 1)
20. Man Of The Hour
21. Waiting On A Friend (Rolling Stones Cover, 1st Time Ever Played)
    
22. Elderly Woman Behind A Counter In A Small Town
23. Black
24. Alive (End of Encore 1)
25. Go (Beginning of Encore 2)
26. Why Go
27. Comatose
28. Smile
29. Rockin' In The Free World (Neil Young Cover)
30. Yellow Ledbetter

There is no other band out there that can come close to putting on a show as well as Pearl Jam. By the way, the previous best show I had seen was also Pearl Jam at Bristow, VA. Rock on!