I am blogging personified

If I had seen this months ago, this blog would be much much shorter.

Sunday, 1/29/2006 [Pearls Before Swine]

An open letter to The Universe and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling

Dear All Things and Madam,

I have a problem that I think one or both of you can help me with. The following TV shows are all on at 8pm (central time) on Wednesdays: Lost (ABC), Criminal Minds (CBS), Veronica Mars (UPN), and Bones (FOX). I have the capability to record two shows at once on my DVR; or I can watch one and record one. I have a TV tuner for my computer, so I can watch or record one show there. I also have a TV-VCR combo deal, so I guess I could record the fourth show on that, but we live in a digital age and I refuse to "slum it" with inferior media.

More after the jump.

Here is where the two of you come in. As you will have realized -- as will any other readers of this letter; sorry to make it open, but I was unsure of the address for The Universe. Do you have Gmail? I bet you have something better with unlimited storage. -- the simplest solution here is for me to repeat the hour of 8pm central time as needed. J.K., (can I call you that? Everyone else does, it seems.) maybe you can tell me how to get my hands on a time turner. I'm not sure how I'd avoid seeing my multiple selves, but I can figure it out by next week. The Universe, you could probably open some wormhole or other space-time whateverness suitable for my situation.

I realize this is short notice, so I don't expect a reply in the next hour. If you can help me out by next week, I'd really appreciate it. After the Olympics start, I guess that will screw up scheduling and there will be few new episodes, so I will think some more while I watch the action in Torino.

Oh one more thing. Thanks for making the the Cats game at 6 tonight, so that doesn't conflict with my already large problem. I guess that's thanks to The Universe, but if you had a hand it that, J.K., I'm in more awe than I already was!

Sincerely,
Josh Eats Birds

Update: I discovered that I can hook the cable up to another connection on my TV to watch a regular cable channel while recording two other show. Problem solved for now. At least until NBC gets something good in that slot.

Kinnick Stadium, we hardly contained our disdain for thee.

Check out Tom's Kinnick press box remix and get your Tarzan Boy on.

Distilled Destruction! [CDogWeblog]

Actual factual car pictures

More car pictures. The angles aren't great, but there you go. Bonus points if you can name the location where I took these.

Update: Extra bonus points if you don't use my plates to steal my identity!

Update update: Ha! Now my pictures use superior blurring technology. Take that nobody!

Wild Side Slide

Oh yeah, I should have mentioned this on Wednesday or Thursday, but I was depressed by the basketball loss to Penn State.

Thank you to all the NU students that made up the Wild Side on Wednesday night. Specifically, thanks for NOT participating in the suggested "Cha Cha Slide" dance during the first media timeout in the second half. It would have been half-assed -- witness that some of the Ladycats didn't know the dance; namely all but one of them -- and dumb.

I do salute the basketball event planners that wanted to get the crowd jumping during a timeout. They even put out little purple flyers with advance notice of the dance-portunity. Keep trying fun things, and maybe something will really catch on.

But no more line dances, I'm thinking.

NFL Europe Jersey

I know what you're saying: "Josh, you don't already have an NFL Europe replica jersey?"

It's sad but true. But, that may come to an end with this discovery. Kitbag.com has Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt and Rhein jerseys for sale. 45 dollar-ee-doos. This I may not be able to pass up. I will hit up eBay to make sure there's no better deal.

They key question here is which team shall I support? Are there any NU players over there? Which is the most awesome or the most awesomely ugly? I welcome any and all advice.

New car

It's been two weeks since I brought home my new car, but I haven't gotten off my ass to take a photo yet. I will post a stock photo, for all you to see. My new car is a silver 2006 Saturn VUE. It's a front wheel drive, 4-cylinder automatic: a.k.a. the base model plus auto. I did get side airbags and ABS. Here is a photo from saturn.com. (My VUE does not have the roof rails or fog lamps or alloy wheels.)
Saturn
Saturn of Glenview

2 good wins, 1 good channel

The NU Basketball Wildcats had two good wins this week. Wednesday night we beat Purdue in a sort of rout. For Northwestern, 66-53 is a rout, because 60 is almost always enough points to win. This afternoon, the ApostroCats went to 2-0 in the Big Ten (for the first time since the early 80s) with a win at Minnesota.

Freshman guards Craig Moore and Sterling Williams (so fun to say!) each poured in 15 points in todays game, and Double-V had a sub-par 17 to -- say it with me -- lead the team in scoring.

Another pleasant development was my discovery of today's game on MeTV. This is channel 223 on my Comcast digital cable. In case you were wondering what's on after NU on Me? Sanford & Son, Starsky & Hutch, A-Team, Batman. It's like Nick-at-Nite meets the Big Ten. Who could ask for anything more?

Raise your hand if you think Keith Jackson reads Harry Potter.

Reggie Bush's TD run in the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl caused Dan Fouts to compare Bush's game to Quidditch. There were brooms and snitches and such in this comparison. Granted, he did make a mighty leap into the end zone.

The best part is that Keith Jackson didn't really react. I really wanted him to mention Bush's Firebolt or Cleansweep. I guess I'll be satisfied with no-reaction version of his probable astonishment.

What to look for

Well, with the Cats' football season over, I probably won't post here quite as much. I will be at most of the basketball games, so maybe I'll mention them. Or other sports and non-sports things at random.

If you haven't already checked it out, I recommend Deadspin for your sports-nuttery needs. If you can handle their pro-Illini slant. Which I almost always can.

UCLA 50, NU 38 (also an interspersed year-in-review)

Well. It came down to the end, and it was a shoot-out of sorts. Just like we all thought it would. If you'd told me before-hand that our kicking game would be such a big factor, I would have probably told you to shut up and not to scare me. I don't really blame Joel Howells as much as some people do, though. Sutton's fumble deep in our territory was a back-breaker -- just as bad as the onside kick nonsense.

Anyways. I guess if Baz has to leave (someone check if there's a loophole), he may as well go out throwing a thousand passes. He's had a great career here at Northwestern, and I agree with Mark Murphy that he will probably be drafted on the 2nd day in the spring. He had a good game, and good showings in all-star appearances will be great for him.

The defense looked improved against the pass, which was very heartening. If they hadn't killed us with the run, we really could have kept the game in hand long before the end of the 4th. A healthier D-line will improve that for next year. Losing Timmy will be a tough one in the 2ndary, but I think the backups will step in at linebacker well.

More after the jump.

Josh's StatWatch vs. Coach Walker's StatWatch
Josh - NU Passing yards/attempt: 5.9 yds/att (better than 6.5 = good)
Walker - NU Turnover margin: 4-3 = +1 (positive = good)

Standings after Game 12: The goal here is to see which of our benchmarks is a better predictor of wins.
Josh: 8 wins (11-1 predicting individual outcomes)
Randy: 7 wins (5-4 predicting individual outcomes, 0 turnover margin is not a predictor)
NU Record: 7-4

And
In My Opinion:
Cats' O: Nice of you to give the defense some glory. Too much sharing is too much, unfortunately. We needed the offense to really shine.
Cats' D: The passing defense was very improved. I'm guessing Schultz was big loss up front.
Cats' Special Teams: Oh God. Let's not talk about that until next year, please.

Nice year. Let's start getting ready for those Red Hawks!

Doug Flutie, if you didn't play for the Patriots you would be my absolute fave. You were already up there in my book, and now this? Too much good!

For those who didn't know, Flutie completed a drop kick today. It was the first successful DK in the NFL in 65 years.

Now I can die happy.

Flutie Converts Drop Kick [ESPN.com]