Hot off the Press: Billy D Leaving Florida

Wow, what a new mix in SEC basketball. Billy Donovan is apparently accepting a 27.5 million dollar gig to coach Orlando Magic. Good thing, Kentucky wasn't successful in landing him.

What are your thoughts? I am just in shock at the moment. I didn't expect this, but I guess it is not a total surprise. I was shocked to find out that Florida and Donovan hadn't finalized an extension deal yet either. I thought that was completed a long time ago.

Getting in Shape Take 2

As mentioned in the spring, I signed up to have a student personal trainer to assist with a class in the HPER last semester. Now I am officially on the contact list and have signed up for the summer experience. There are 4 sessions in the next week and a half.

Technically this should have been the second session but the young lady got her time messed up and failed to show on Tuesday. I did go ahead and hit the track and the weight room by myself since I was already at the SRSC. It really was not too bad though I did not have a lot of time nor a routine to follow. I need to get the routine from the last trainer or maybe the new one will have a good or better one. We shall see. I am a bit pessimistic about this young lady compared the young gentleman last semester.

I was a little sore yesterday from my own workout plus an extra hr plus walking to campus and back for the rest of my afternoon activities on Tuesday. Yesterday, I was tired and sore so I walked to campus but caught the bus home. My left knee/leg seems to be giving me some problem so we will see how that goes today.

I have found a new motivator to get in shape, which I forgot along the way at some point. I really want to go canoeing again this summer, if we can figure out a good date for everyone. It would be great to have a little more strength in my arms so my canoe partner is not having to do extra work because I am a weakling. In addition, losing a few pounds would assist us in not having as much weight to push around. We will see if this happens.

I better get ready to go workout again. Hopefully I will be able to continue the process this time instead of getting sick, sunburned, and out of commission for a couple weeks.

First Six Weeks of Summer

Currently, I am enjoying my last planned full weekend in Bloomington until mid-August. It is really hard to imagine that I will not be stationary in this location again for nearly 3 months and a brief 9 months after that I will be graduating with a master's degree.

The past 3 weeks and next 3 weeks has mostly been consumed with the summer class on Sociology of Education. I have rather enjoyed this class in particular the small size of the class and easier ability to communicate and learn from one another. I also rather enjoy the subject matter as well. It is interesting to learn about the education system in particular in America. Currently, I am taking an extended break from writing the one paper for this class. The focus of my paper is going to be on gender in higher education and students pursuance of particular degrees. The research materials have been gathered. It is just the matter of putting it all together into a paper very soon.

Besides taking class, I have made two trips to Kentucky in the past few weeks. Derby weekend was a lot of fun minus the horrific sunburn that I received on Sunday. Let's just say, my legs have never been burnt so bad in my life. If you think you don't need sunscreen on a cool day, please put it on anyway because the pain afterwards is not fun.

I returned to Kentucky last weekend as well. Yes, the main purpose was to go racing. I am really not sure why because I performed quite terribly. I am definitely rusty or something these days. The first two events this year have not been very promising though tons of fun. The next event is June 17. I don't know that I will be much more prepared for that one but hopefully, I will be getting back into the groove. I must improve or will get left out to dry by all of my fellow competitors. Besides racing, I caught up with some church friends which was a lot of fun. We played "God Golf" (what my g-town friends coined it back in college). Saturday, I caught up with an old college friend, which was a lot of fun, and actually got a bit of my book for class read.

This past week was another busy and crazy week as my parents came to visit for the first time. Mom was here when I moved but dad had never been up. They got in late Monday. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the local Greek establishment. Tuesday was spent doing some local shopping and eating at Bucceto's Smiling Teeth. It was quite delicious and rather inexpensive.

Wednesday broke me but at least I have some new clothes, which my mother approves of. We headed to Edinburgh to the outlet malls. We left Bloomington around 10:45 am and returned around 8:30 pm. It was one long day of shopping and I rather hate to shop. But hey I have some new clothes for the summer and a couple for the fall, so I suppose all is good until the bills come in and I am not getting paycheck.

The next three weeks wrap up my summer in Bloomington. A college friend is coming up to visit tomorrow, which is rather exciting. My friends never come visit me, especially when they don't happen to be around the area. Good thing my parents were in this week because the apartment is still fairly clean, minus all the research materials floating around the living room.

The rest of the week will be working at work, finishing my paper, preparing to lead class on Thursday night, and planning a trip to Louisville.

This coming weekend will be partially spent in Louisville. How much sort of depends on a couple other things: the status of the paper, the status of other things getting complete before I leave Bloomington in mid-June, and news about potential updates in end of summer plans. I will definitely be in town Saturday night to attend a wedding of past co-workers. I am looking forward to the evening and seeing a lot of people from my previous job. Plus staying with some college friends.

The weekend following, I will be headed to South Bend, IN for my first HESA wedding. The wedding should be wonderful, and I have never been to South Bend so that too should be fun. I just wish I could find a ride to South Bend so that I could reduce cost and ride back with another friend. We have plans to run over to Notre Dame to see the campus, which is exciting. I will let you know if I make it there and post a few pictures if I do.

Then the summer session ends with the last class on June 12. The paper will hopefully be complete by then as well and it will be time to finish packing and move to Louisville for a two months. More to come on the second half of the summer, once I actually know what is happening myself. I do know that I will be working and living at Bellarmine, but there are a few other things up in the air.

This is definitely long enough for now and I really should see about eating some dinner and attempting to write a paper.

Have a marvelous Memorial Day Weekend!

What Color Car Should You Drive?

So here is what I got the first time that I took the quiz today:

You Should Drive a Red Car

You're the type of driver who isn't afraid to be the fastest on the road. You have a lot of energy built up, and you tend to get your adrenaline fix from driving. Moving at hyper speed, you tend to be annoyed with slow drivers and slow people. Life's too short to be slowed down by someone else!

Now, I did this quiz several weeks ago and got the following:

You Should Drive a Pink Car

You're the type of driver who really loves your car. You can make a car last for ages - or take good care of a vintage ride. You're independent, creative, and very expressive. You consider your car a part of you ... and you want to make it as funky as possible.

I changed from a sports car to 4-door sedan and got this:

You Should Drive a Black Car

You're the type of driver who's totally dominant and even a bit aggressive. You see the road as a "dog eat dog" world... and you're not about to get eaten! You like to drive a vehicle that conveys power. Big engine. Big price tag. You rule the road - and you like everyone to know it.

What Color Car Should You Drive?

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

You Are a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

You are a traditional person with very simple tastes. In your opinion, the best things in life are free, easy, and fun. You totally go with the flow. And you enjoy every minute of it! Your best friend: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Your mortal enemy: The Ham Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

Poll: Your Opinion Appreciated

Over the past month or so, I have been contemplating cutting my hair short again for varying reasons, including that it just seems to be in bad shape. Granted that is my opinion and probably not the opinion of others. I guess maybe after 2.5 years of letting it grow long, I feel the need for a change. It seems to refuse to get any longer therefore cutting it shorter seems the only other option. Plus the other day a friend of the family's thought that I would look nice with short hair, which has gotten me to really think about this more in depth.

Since the majority of you have seen me in the last few weeks, I am interested in your opinions about should I leave my hair long, cut it shorter, and if so how much shorter.

Leave Long
Cut Shorter
- Shoulder length
- Between shoulder and ear
- Ear length
Other thoughts and opinions

And yes, I will wait until winter to cut it short because shorter hair in the winter is what everyone does, or is it longer hair in the winter for warmth. Oh well.

Quick Update

Before I head out of town again, I thought I would say hi real quick. Hope everyone is doing well. What are your big plans for the Derby? Tomorrow (Derby Day), I am headed back to the grand state of Kentucky. Hopefully, I will not get stuck in any Derby related traffic. I have to make a quick pit-stop at Ken Towery's to check out my slow leaking rear tire. Then it is off to see my friends Ash and Nick and their new house before going to a Derby party with some church folks. Not sure whats happening after Derby except for not a long night.

Sunday is another full day. It all starts with a trip to Old Frankfort Pike for my first autocross since July :-( Oh my that was a long time ago. I really hope I am not rusty from not competing nor driving much in the last 9 months. We will see how things go. Afterwards, it may be to my cousin's hooding ceremony. If I don't make it in time for that, it will just be to the graduation party after the ceremony. Then its off to Louisville for a full Monday.

Monday I will work out more details about my summer, enjoy lunch with some previous coworkers. Hopefully catch up with some G-town folks before heading back either Monday night or Tuesday morning.

Tuesday starts summer session I, which I am taking Sociology of Education course. Yes Spring semester is over. Okay, I must get some rest now. I promise to write again soon, though it may not be until next weekend.

For Basketball Fans

Apparently, I have found a new sports columnist (that is according to my father). But I will have to say here is another great article by Gregg Doyel, CBS Sportsline.

Ten for Tuesday: Best of the Best --- and Worst

Enjoy! I promise to catch everyone up on life soon especially tonight, but after a slight incident, I am home a lot later than expected and have a paper to write, one to revise, and one to peer review for tomorrow :-(

Golf and Basketball - The Final Four

"One day, Rick and Tubby decided to get together and play a round of 18 holes. Later in the round, the two finally reach the 14th hole. Tubby taps in his putt and suddenly, without hesitation, grabs his ball, bag, and begins to walk back to the clubhouse.

Pitino stands at the 15th hole, puzzled and wondering why Tubby just quit playing and left.

Curiously, Pitino yells to Tubby, “Where are you going? We aren’t finished playing yet?!?”

To which Tubby replies, “Rick, you know I don’t do the final four.”

Borrowed from Chris's Site.

Who is the top NCAA Men's Basketball Coach?

Before you click!!!!
Who do you think made the top 10 best coaches as of April 2007, according to Stewart Mandel?

When posed with the question earlier today? I was afraid to answer but some of the names that came to mind: Kelvin Sampson, Billy Gillespie, Billy Donovan, Mike Krzyzewski, John Calipari. Otherwise, I really had no clue or thoughts.

How did you rank up to the expert?

What do you think of who made the list or was considered?
How about those names not appearing on the list? Should anyone be added?

Quick Note on UK Basketball

I have not been neglecting the UK Basketball scene but unfortunately swamped with numerous other high priority items. I've commented on others blogs about what I think and since most of my readers are not huge basketball fans, I will forgo the diatribe at this time. (Plus yes I have to get back to more school work.)

My father ran across this nice post on Kentucky.com that I thought I would share though Article by a Real Journalist. Enjoy!

One day, I will comment more on the Men's Basketball and future Women's Basketball hirings at UK.

If you have not heard, UK Women's basketball coach Mickie Demoss resigned today. Demoss did an outstanding job at UK brining the Women's team back into the rankings while the men's team fell out of the rankings. It will definitely be interesting to see who they bring in to replace her.

Happy Easter!

Rejoice in the Lord! I hope everyone is enjoying time with friends and family on this Easter Sunday.

After a nice Easter service at St. Charles, I spent my afternoon at my apartment with fellow grad school friends. We enjoyed a wonderful potluck lunch and talking about life. Then it was off to finish papers and readings for the upcoming week.

How did you celebrate Easter this year?

Desktop Computer, Fish Tank: What do they have in common?

I just found this alarming news story about a fire being started by a desktop computer and as I reported over Christmas a fire was started though thankfully extinguished by a fish tank.

How much attention do you pay to your electronics, especially when you are headed out of town?

Land Lines vs Cell Phones in Emergency

Have we become to dependent on cell phones? How many people actually still have a land line? Since I moved to Bloomington, I know longer have a land line because of the additional cost that I would occur. Now if I had a full paying job, I might reconsider this option because I do feel a lot safer with a land line versus a cell phone. Granted if all you have are cordless phones in your house attached to land lines, you are in about as bad shape as if you just had a cell phone when the power goes out.

The issue discussed in the article on WKYT talks about the use of cell phones and how you really do not know where your 911 call is being received. Though this is outlining an issue on the river, the same could be true between towns.

Two things to remember:
- When using a cell phone to call in an emergency, remember to give state, town, and then the address.
- If you have a land line, make sure that at least one phone is not cordless or power dependent.

Orlando, Here I come

By this time Thursday, I will have hopefully landed in Orlando, FL. Thursday through Sunday morning will be spent outside of the city in DeLand, FL (home of Stetson University). A Georgetown friend, his girlfriend, and their dog live there, where he works as a Chemistry professor. It has been a couple years since I have seen my friend and since I failed to go see him while he was at UNC, I figure I should take this opportunity to visit him. I am looking forward to a few days of fun in Florida.

Then Sunday through Wed April 4, I will be at the Gaylord and Marriott hotels for the ACPA/NASPA Joint Conference. ACPA and NASPA are the two largest student personnel associations in the country. They hold a joint conference very rarely and are expecting close to 10,000 participants. A ton of things are going on and I hope to learn a lot and meet some outstanding individuals.

Now you know why you most likely will not be hearing much from me the next couple of weeks. I will update you all on my return and look forward to catching up on whats happening with all of you then as well.

Spring Break 2007

It was another return to the grand state of Kentucky for Spring Break, March 10-25. The semester thus far had been very busy therefore the trip was not well planned out, but nonetheless I had lots of fun. It was wonderful catching up with so many friends and hearing about their lives.

Friday - I had dinner in Louisville with a Georgetown friend. We ate at Mimi's Cafe on Hurstbourne. I enjoyed it though ate way too much over the course of the day. Then I drove to Lexington to stay with a church friend.

Two random things happened, one as we left our meeting spot at Sam's Club-Blankenbaker. A car was stopped at the stoplight crossing Blankenbaker on Bluegrass Pkwy. On Tuesday, I found out that the individual who owned that car was past co-worker from SHPS. An hour later the car was towed and fortunately was fixed by Tuesday. The other misfortune was that I left my jacket in my friends car. Luckily, it was not too cold the remaining part of the weekend.

Saturday was a rather relaxing day and after Kentucky, Indiana, and Louisville had all lost in their respective tournaments. I was not as determined to watch basketball the rest of the weekend. Instead, we rented two movies: Annapolis and ?????.

Saturday evening, I joined YAACK for dinner and bowling. I enjoyed meeting some new people and bowling a couple rounds. My team at least improved the second game with Chris getting 150 or something close to that.

Sunday was another relaxing day. Jeanine and I went to church and then lunch at Ramsey's. That evening I went to Georgetown to hang out with a friend and we watched Something New. If you have not watched this movie, I strongly suggest doing so. It is a very good movie about a young black woman who works too much and then falls in love with a white man. After that, I headed to Louisville to stay with another Georgetown friend.

Monday included lunch with my SHPS lunch partners at our usual Mexican Restaurant, El Caperol. Then I had a meeting at Bellarmine University with the Director of Student Activities to talk about a potential internship there for the summer. The conversation went very well and I liked the possibilities.

After my meeting, I had several hours before my dinner date. So I headed to the public library in J-town, where the librarian was kind enough to let me on the computer for an hour. I checked my email quickly but the main goal was to fill out as many brackets as I possibly could. I was unsure if I would be at a computer again prior to the tournament starting. I succeeded in completing: 5 ESPN, 1 Yahoo, 1 WPSD, 1 WKYT, 1 CBS plus 1 Round by Round at CBS. I believe those are all of them. Needless to say, I could not tell you who I picked, but at least brackets were completed.

Then the most random event occurred, I still had 3 hrs before dinner and could find no friends in town that were free. So remember the jacket that was left in the car, it was in Shelbyville and luckily my friend works from home and was there. So I took off for a nice drive to Shelbyville to get my jacket. Thankfully, it was a beautiful spring day and wonderful weather for a drive.

Monday evening, I had dinner at my cousin's sister-in-laws house and finally met her husband. We actually went out for dinner at Bristol, which too was very good. I even got to talk a little database and technology, which was fun. And smidgen of me missed it, but the rest remembers what else is involved.

Tuesday was another meeting at Bellarmine University. This time with the VP of Student Affairs talking about internship possibilities with him. Again, I left very excited about the possibilities and unsure of what I wanted to do. Plans are being finalized now for me to work part-time this summer at Bellarmine.

After the meeting, it was off to my favorite Japanese restaurant Ichiban to meet a couple other individuals from SHPS for lunch. We had a wonderful conversation catching up. Then I was again free with nothing to do until about 6 pm. First, I headed over to Sam's Club to fill up the tank again. Amazing how many miles I had put on the car in such few days. I also went in and did a bit of shopping before heading to a park in J-town to read.

Yes, I actually read for several hours and caught up on some schoolwork in the process. It was a beautiful day and it was fun reading and watching the children play.

Tuesday evening, my friend and I enjoyed a relaxing evening at her place. Where she fixed a nice taco soup full of ingredients that I do not like, but truthfully it was quite good and filling. So filling that I think I proceeded to take a nap on the couch after dinner.

Wednesday, we hung out all day at her place, worked on the crossword puzzle, watched a movie, chatted, and thought about going for a walk until we realized it was about to pour.

Wednesday evening, I headed back to Lexington for YAACK's reorganization meeting which went quite well. It was great to see so many new faces there. I left there and headed to Sawyer's for CKRSCCA member mtg. There were few there and they didnt stay long. Afterwards, I went and stayed with another church friend. We stayed up way too late talking and catching up. She was telling me all about wedding plans. We updated the YAACK blog and so much more. It was also nice to pray the Rosary with her and her fiancee.

Thursday - I stopped by the ODK office briefly to say hello and pass on some information. Then I went into Georgetown, where I headed to the Library to check my email and work some more on my brackets before the tournament started. Again, you had to sign in to use the computers and my library card was outdated and since I dont live in town anymore I couldnt get a new card without paying. Thankfully the man at the desk signed me in as a visitor and let me enjoy about 2 hrs on the computer. I checked all my brackets, found out I could complete 5 brackets at Yahoo so proceeded to do so. I also received word about a SHPS pool on Yahoo and had to make sure I liked my bracket for the one and only pool that I would be apart of this year. It was ok but I had no clue what I didn't like about it.

After that I headed to campus to meet up with an administrator for lunch. After lunch, I decided it was time to head back to Bloomington to get ready for the upcoming months. I arrived in Bloomington just in time to watch some more basketball.

The rest of the weekend was rather personally productive though not necessarily school productive. Taxes are almost complete and the refund is very exciting since I earned about 2/3 of what I was being taxed at. I also did laundry, cleaned, and went to the grocery. Who knows what else I did over the rest of the break except listen to a lot of basketball and watch the end of several games.

That is the very, very long version of Spring Break.

Bill Gates on Technology in 1989

Click on the title to learn more about what Bill Gates thought about the past, present, and future of computing in 1989.

Tubby headed to the Twin Cities

Shortly before 5 pm ET, I received a phone call from a former co-worker in Kentucky. He said, "Tubby is headed to Minnesota." I think it took me a good five minutes to a) understand what the heck he was talking about, b) to actually believe the statement was true. I was in shock and disbelief until I saw it with my own eyes on ESPN.com, Smith leaving Kentucky to coach Minnesota.

I proceeded to call my father afterwards to see if he had heard the story. He had not heard anything about it and did not believe me. After hanging up with my mother, he called me back to ask where it was published. He was certain it wasn't on ESPN yet. When I proceeded to tell him that yes it was on ESPN and the senior ESPN writer Andy Katz wrote the article, he finally decided that it must be true. According to that article, we will all know for sure at 1 pm tomorrow afternoon from the Twin Cities, where Tubby will be announced the new coach.

Speculations have already started about who will fulfill Tubby's shoes. I think it will be very interesting to see what is said by commentators and such during tonight's NCAA regional tournaments and throughout the weekend. Even more reason to watch basketball the next few days.

I might just tune into WVLK 590 AM Sports call in show tonight starting at 6 pm. At least, I believe they still have nightly sports radio at 6 pm. The bad thing about moving out of state is you can't stay as abreast on all of the happenings.

What do you think?

Tomorrow will be agony

To my surprise, I awoke this morning a bit sore in the quads and lower back but nothing too terrible. Then just under three hours ago, I improved my chances of not wanting to move after day two. I played basketball for an 1.5, 3 on 3 guys versus ladies and then a mix. My lower back is definitely feeling the pain now and I am sure my legs are going to be 100% stiff by the time I finish writing my case study analysis tonight. There are definitely 2 purple toes and 4 on the verge of purpleness. I hope my left hand is okay after jamming the entire pinky finger at one point. Otherwise, I believe I came out unscathed in the first episode of basketball in a long, long, long time.

I'm afraid I might have overdone it in the first couple days of trying to get into shape. Lucky thing is I have a personal trainer to keep me motivated through the rest of the semester. Another update to come, but for now I must sign off and go write a paper.

Before I Wake in Pain

As mentioned in a previous post, today started my 6 personal training sessions with an underclassman student who is learning to be a personal trainer. My personal trainer is great and I am going to feel it tomorrow. I am still moving fairly well tonight though very exhausted. I definitely can tell that I will be feeling pain tomorrow morning, which is okay. If I don't feel pain tomorrow then, the workout was definitely not enough because I am way out of shape not to feel it.

Overall, the session went great. My trainer is very encouraging and was impressed with my success on day one. I actually met or exceeded his expectations across the board which was great.

Quick run down of the hr:
- Brisk lap around the track, followed by an even brisker second lap, and a third lap of jogging.
- Then it was a slight cool down with some stretching.
- Next it was off for some lower-body weight lifting, not too bad.
- Ab and back workout...that is what I am feeling the most at this point in time.
- Elliptical machine was next for a 10 minute workout. I was sure that I was going to die on this machine within the first minute. He covered up the time and made me focus just on the speed, which helped tremendously. At one point when I thought I was about done for, he suggested rotating the legs in the other direction. That helped though was a lot more taxing on my legs. Next thing, I knew the 10 mins were coming to a conclusion and it was time for cooling down.
- Next was some upper-body workout. Alright, definitely not great though.
- Lastly, he had me run my best for 1.5 mins to see where I was. He had a goal for how far we should get around the track. I exceeded his goal of making one lap by another quarter of a lap. I couldn't breath when we got done and my legs felt luck mush but it was a lot more impressive than I ever thought.
- Then we did a cool down lap, followed by some stretching.

I survived my first of 6 training sessions. I have another one next Monday and then I have a week and half between sessions because of the upcoming trip to Orlando.

PS I promise to post soon about spring break, NCAA basketball tournament, and how sore I really am when I wake in the morning.