Nevada-Reno beat host San Jose St. 64-56 in their Western Athletic Conference opener Wednesday.

The Wolfpack let a 17-point 2nd half lead shrink to nine with 6:20 left, but UNR guard Tahnee Robinson hit two treys to move the lead back to 13.

UNR forward Shavon Moore led all scorers with 20, while her seven rebounds shared the team lead.

At Ruston, La., Utah State beat Louisiana Tech for the first time 69-66.

***

The WAC has improved enough to make me wish more than San Jose State was nearby. Fresno State is a three-hour drive, but the WAC has four teams in the top 100, while Utah State has moved between Utah and BYU for state bragging rights, and my dear freshman at Idaho is playing 20 minutes. Even San Jose State is better — the Spartans finished #338 and #333 with five wins total in two years, but they're on four wins this season already, and #300 in RPI.

Nevada's young — starting two juniors, three sophomores — and they're adding Danika Sharp, who's averaging 31 points, eight rebounds, seven steals, three assists for West Wendover HS. Of course, you know why she's averaging three assists — she scored 43 of her team's 47 against Lund HS, 37 of 44 against Eureka HS, and so on — she had two assists against Lund and three assists against Eureka. That is, she accounted for *every* basket. (Jenn Jorgensen — who did that for Southwest Webster Grand HS — is first at Grand View University in scoring, rebounds and steals, second in assists and blocks. The Vikings are 13-5, ranked #20 in the NAIA.)

***

In the Big West Conference, Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara are visiting UC Davis this weekend. That is, all the first place votes in the preseason media poll are colliding at Davis.

I'm going to watch both Cal Poly games. The Mustangs visit Pacific Thursday, then Davis Saturday.

Why aren't you going to see your favorite player in the conference, you ask? UCSB coach Lindsay Gottlieb oughtn't want me around — her teams lose when I'm in the building. If my jinx on the Gauchos is real, it can wait for March.

I didn't follow Pacific on their trip to Northridge and Fullerton, which they split. If it turns out that the CSUN Matadors and UOP Tigers are fighting for the #8 tournament seed — gah, heaven forfend — Pacific's win at Northridge could be the difference.

Have you been waiting for me to say something about Pacific's win over St. Mary's, which broke UOP's eight-game losing streak and dropped St. Mary's from the top 100 in RPI?

Pacific installed a press during their Portland trip. St. Mary's — who had four games of 30+ turnovers — was an ideal opponent for the Pacific press. Snapping that losing streak was an important reminder that they could win a game before they won again in Northridge.

Pacific is playing two freshmen at the end of games. Whether they'll make another run at top of the Big West next year or in two or three years, who can say. This season, though, looks like baby tigers are paddling at the deep end of the pool.

If Long Beach State's Karina Figueroa is going to be conference player of the year, I imagine she'll need a big game Thursday against first-place-can-you-believe-it Fullerton.

Northridge and Irvine meet for the first time while they are both 0-2. I thought Northridge would sneak out of the Big West cellar at Irvine's expense, but the UCI Anteaters have added this kid who's averaging 18 points and 11 rebounds in six games. Someone asked me what I thought of Mikah Maly-Karros — I haven't seen her yet. When my postseason awards ballot is punched, I promise not to hold a familial relationship with a Los Angeles Dodger against her.

***

Speaking of Los Angeles, I intended to place a wager on the California men against visiting UCLA Thursday. From everything I've read and heard, the stupid Bruins are suffering from poor recruiting, graduation, injuries. Tom Tolbert said Cal was going to win by bunches. (He's an UA Wildcat and dislikes UCLA a lot. I love Tolbert.)

But when I was using Philz Coffee's wireless, I was playing chess. Then when I got to SJSU, 'net connectivity was broken until game time. So no visit to the online bookie, lucky me.

The other recommendation I've been hearing a lot of is Packers +3 at Cardinals. I've heard so much of that, in fact, that the line moved to Packers +1.

***

The News-Times (Danbury, CT) reported Wednesday that a Bridgeport man was stabbed with a plastic snow shovel following a dispute over a game of chess.

News-Times reporter Noelle Frampton quoted Bridgeport police spokesman Keith Bryant: "These guys were fighting over a chess match that took place several weeks ago. It's a bowl of beef stew."

Er, what does that mean? Bryant analogized the matter as a "bowl of beef stew" — is that a euphemism that Bridgeport and Danbury residents use so often that it bears quoting but without explanation?

According to Frampton's story: "[The alleged shovel wielder] contended that [the victim] owes him money for the game … while [victim] claims he won fair and square."

If this were a scholastic chess tournament — and who could argue that these two are not behaving like 6-year-olds — the game would be ruled a double forfeit. They didn't call an arbiter to verify the result at the end of the game, so both of their winning claims are moot. At some kiddie events, they'd let the little pricks replay the game, but I don't think that's viable in this instance.

http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/In-dispute-over-chess-Bridgeport-man-stabs-310935.php

http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2538.html

Today's theme: Space

[Note that] I'm getting more and more annoyed with the apparent explosion of writing being perpetrated with the words "Note that" being used to introduce sentences. [Note that] This is superfluous verbiage that adds no meaning.

[Note that] To pick an example more or less at random: Wikipedia's page on Western dress code contains the following sentences:

• Note that the local interpretation of casual codes may look very little as illustrated.
• Note that the definitions listed above are the strict, traditional definitions, which may not be followed in common use.
• Note that the use of white tie and morning dress has become fairly rare in some countries [...]
• (note that the term morning dress is fairly undescriptive and has not always meant our modern morning dress)

[Note that] Every one of these sentences can be written more simply and succinctly as follows:

• The local interpretation of casual codes may look very little as illustrated. (Let's leave aside the other grammatical weirdness in this sentence.)
• The definitions listed above are the strict, traditional definitions, which may not be followed in common use.
• The use of white tie and morning dress has become fairly rare in some countries [...]
• (the term morning dress is fairly undescriptive and has not always meant our modern morning dress)

[Note that] It is never necessary to say "note that" at the front of a sentence. [Note that] The very fact that you are writing it down means that the reader should be paying attention and noting everything that you're writing.

[Note that] If you're writing "Note that" at the front of a sentence, you're wasting your time and the reader's time. [Note that] If you really want the reader to pay particular attention to a point you're making in a specific sentence, there are better, and more specifically informative ways to do so.

[Note that] If you ever find yourself introducing a sentence with "Note that", remove it. [Note that] Your writing will be improved markedly.

Happy birthday, rowanf and kindredsgirl! I hope it's been a terrific one, and that the year ahead is even better!

http://www.snopes.com/photos/signs/camera.asp

Is making faces into security cameras now a federal crime?

Should I get a Facebook page?

Really, that's it.  I just want to know what you think, and if I could trouble you for a few seconds more, perhaps some reasoning behind your suggestion.

I've resisted to this point because I am a curmudgeon, but since Apex sent me a Facebook request after I submitted to them, I began to rethink my strategy of going through life like one of the heckling muppet audience members.  It's not like being a throwback is actually doing anything for me.

Then again, I have a low tolerance for annoying crap.  This is the other side of the "why I don't have one yet" coin.  I'm undecided.  Please sway me.

Why do we always come here, I guess we'll never know; it's like some kind of torture...

Yesterday, I made up a bowl containing the last of the coconut sorbet Amanda gave me in New York and the last of the brownies Lincoln and I made in Chicago. It was a well-traveled dessert. It was also a fairly large dessert, and I got sick of sugar halfway through and stuck the rest of it in the freezer, still in the bowl and with the spoon for easy access later.

Just now, I removed it from the freezer and took a bite. Immediately, I knew something was wrong.

"Cwap," I said, the metal spoon stuck to my tongue.

Mike, confused, began to applaud.

I breathed on the spoon until it warmed up enough to dislodge from my tongue, sadly still taking a few taste buds with it. "Crap," I repeated.

"Oh," said Mike.

Well, the badges are printed, the lists are made, the bags are packed. Tomorrow, hawklady comes by about lunchtime with her truck to carry the big bulky stuff to the hotel for us, and we head on down.

Everyone who will be there, see you soon! Everyone who won't be there, we will miss you.

It's gonna be a great weekend.

I read this in high school and found it completely incomprehensible.  I couldn't even begin to imagine why a high school student should be forced to endure this book.  When my nearly 17 year old son said he had to read it over winter break I resolved to help him by reading it out loud to him, which I did.  (He read along on a computer screen as I read it.)

( It was a really good idea to read it out loud to him. )

( It was a completely different book when read as a grown up. )

All in all, skip it unless you have a compelling reason to read it.  Helping a beloved high school student through it was the exact correct reason to read this.  A better idea would be to get it banned in high school.  This is a novel for people turning 30.

I highlighted Todd Lockwood's work over the summer and as I review the Locus Directory of Cover Artists for 2009 I continue to find that his work this year holds its own compared to the work of other artists in the field. If you haven't seen it, I also encourage you to check out the detail of Todd Lockwood's Stormcaller from sketch to finish which Irene Gallo posted last year, with input from Lou Anders and Todd Lockwood.

Looking through the Locus directory I was also reminded that I really like Melanie Delon's cover of Libyrinth by Pearl North, as well as her covers of Alison Sinclair's Darkborn and Kirsten Imani Kasai' Ice Song. The covers that feature a single character and not much else are becoming more common these days and I think it might be easy to discount that work for lack of complexity, but to do so would be to overlook the question of how effective and provocative the artwork is. With so much focus on a single figure and face it is especially important to make those images strong and I think Delon does a great job with her portraits. I am unsurprised to find that her work has been featured for years in such collections as Spectrum (she had the Cover of Spectrum 16), Exotique, Exposé and Fantasy Art Now and she was selected to be one of the authors in Ballistic's masterwork series on how to do digital art.

Finally, I particularly admire the breadth of Stephan Martiniere's work this year. He has done a few of his now-familiar visionscapes (always framed with an interesting foreground piece), but he also did the quiet personal cover of Jo Walton's Lifelode for NESFA Press, and the stunning cover of Ian McDonald's Desolation Road for Pyr's reprint.

So far these are the artists I'm sure I'll be nominating for Best Professional Artist for this year's Hugo Award, and I commend them to your attention.

Fun with Work In Progress:

Chapter the Third, in Which A Certain Morbid Orchard Entraps a Pilgrim, Whereupon He Devours An Entire Cannon and Engages In Debate With a Number of Sheep.

Prester John is really an ornery little bastard of a book, but man, sometimes I do get to have fun.

I'm going in for surgery next Monday. So happy that we were able to move this forward. Currently looking at a night or two in recovery if things go according to plan. Longer if they need to really open me up.

Repino (form. Kuokkala), St-Petersburg, Russia

So today I woke up feeling very ill, that scratchy back-of-throat kind of Imma Get Sick Soon, Ok? thing. So I decided to let my body sleep as long as it needed to.

Which was apparently til a briar thicket sprang up around the house. Paging local princes and princesses and their weedwhackers of destiny.

Anyway.

I feel somewhat better now, though the throat is still making disgruntled noises. 

Changing subject, for those of you who don't know, I will be at Arisia on Friday the 15th and ONLY Friday the 15th. I am not going to the con, as I have a novel due and can't spare two weekends in a row, but I will be performing Friday night with s00j  and stealthcello --if you missed our Giant Palimpsest Tour, here's a chance to catch it!

So, I would like to take the train to Boston, because trains are at the heart of our show, and also because I could work on the train. If I did that, could anyone pick me up at the North Station and bring me to the con? Possibly bring me back in the morning?

Does anyone have spare room in their hotel room or someplace close to the con?

The next weekend, I will be pulling my first Guest of Honor gig at ConFusion. I am SO FREAKING EXCITED. I have TONS of programming, such that others worry about my sanity and I just say HOORAY! I get to talk about awesome stuff for hours! I have a panel on cartography! On folkloric symbols! On authorial passion! I am thrilled. Also, if you want to see me at ConFusion in a non-panel capacity, make your requests now. My schedule is filling. (I'll be performing with Sooj on Saturday at 10--with a special first-time-anywhere song/reading!)

I'll be in MI on Tuesday to hang with earthgoat and her clan. I have some social time, thus. And I'll be at con parties, and hopefully a luncheyklatsch on Sunday. Dance card is in the comments.

Also, I have the most kick ass outfit for judging the masquerade! Maybe I'll bring my wings to Arisia, too...

Finally, check out karnythia 's new crowdfunded serial Mirroring the Monsters. She's in unemployment hell--read and give if you can!

With another fantasy football season having come to an end, it's time to run down those who lived up to expectations, those who exceeded them and those who failed to live up to them.
( Read more... )

Just general observations here...I've noticed that geeks in general don't tend to do fitness as fitness that well. For myself, it has to be something *fun*. If I'm playing basketball, I'll gladly "exercise" all day, but put me in front of a weigh machine or tell me I *have* to do it on a regular basis, and I rebel.

Being diabetic, I don't really have a choice. I *have* to exercise 5 days a week. When I started exercising it was with a recumbent bicycle in front of the TV, so at least I was integrating it rather than taking time away to exercise. Later on I got a miniature stair-stepper, but again, both of those activities can carry with them a certain drudgery. And to me, health clubs are equally torturous. I'm not the kind of person who wants to take time to go to a health club, and for the most part running is too hard on my knees and ankles.

For the last five years most of my regular exercise has been of the walking variety...it helps to have an office that's 20 minutes away from the train station. Toyboat has helped since drumming is an aerobic activity all its own. However, I do wind up not exercising as much as I should on weekends, and some strength training that went away.

So going back to geeks and exercise. Having an exercise toy that's *fun* makes a huge difference. The only exercise I did in the health club at one job was an exercise bike that was a game in front of a large TV screen...so for me, I was playing the game, not exercising. Another important thing for me...I could get my 30 minutes of reasonably aerobic exercise without having to do a bunch of training or unlocking.

The Wii Fit experience is enhanced, IMO, with some additional exercise devices. Having a small trampoline helps with the running, since it reduces the impact of running in place. Some ankle or wrist weights are on my list of things to get, and getting the step add-on to the balance board changed the freestep from 30 minutes of what felt like walking to an "OMG I'm *dying* in a good way" exercise activity. I'd definitely recommend the step add-on to anyone who is using the Wii for aerobic exercise.

I wrote this at the end of November and thought I'd link to it here: http://allisona.livejournal.com/445669.html

Looking forward to hearing what other Wii exercisers have to say in this community!

After a long, hard battle with Cancer, G's Dad passed away last night. The visitation is tomorrow and the Funeral is Friday morning.

(I won't be able to answer all of the comments, but thank you in advance for your condolences.)

I love Hua Xing market on Michigan Ave in Ypsilanti. It is the closest thing I have found to that huge Chinese supermarket in Seattle's Chinatown (forgot the name of it). It's nowhere near that size, of course, but they do have the biggest selection of Chinese seafood, meats, produce, and other products that I've seen around here, and it seems fresh and good quality. Very fresh. In fact, some of their offerings are live fish, frogs, and turtles. This is kind of a fun novelty, but can result in...unexpected incidents.

For example, today I was perusing the pig uteri when I glanced up in time to see a large turtle climb out of a tank, drop to the floor, flip over from his back, and begin to disappear under the pallet supporting the tanks. By the time I picked my jaw up off the floor, only one scaly little foot was sticking out. If I hadn't been looking, he'd have gotten away clean. I looked around for an employee, but the thing is, as far as I can tell, nobody who works at that place speaks a word of English. This is why I generally just *look* at the meat and seafood rather than buying it. I can't ask questions or communicate or even indicate how much I want. The older Chinese lady behind the meat counter was studiously ignoring me, so I accosted a customer. "The turtle is getting away! There, there! Look!"

Fortunately, she did see it, and also fortunately, she speaks Chinese. She went back to where the older woman was and had rather protracted conversation with her, in Chinese. Did it really take that many words to explain that some of their food was running away? Who knows? Alas, I didn't have a camera with me, and at any rate the critter was probably too quick for me to get a shot.

This is why I like my food kilt before I take it home. My little heart just can't take the excitement.

Check out my story!

Per the geocaching.com twitter, the Android version of the Geocaching App is supposed to be released Q1 2010.

I missed a lunch date with sarahmichigan this afternoon. I feel bad about not contacting her until it was too late. It would have been nice to catch up with her.

I will attend to business this afternoon. I need to stay focused and complete all the tasks on my to-do list.

These were taken while I was shooting on the set of "The Message". Those pictures are at picasaweb.google.com/stareagle/TheMessage, but here are some extras:

MSNBC reported in its scrolling banner yesterday that Soundgarden has reunited and perhaps will announce tour dates this year.

I still remember going up to vylar_kaftan and royhuggins on campus and letting them know the band had broken up. Vy was especially disappointed. So this post is mostly for her. :)

Edit: Not many big-ticket news outlets saying much about this, but I did find a small article. Oh, and here's something from SF Gate.