Wow. Every state in the United States (except Florida!) had some sort of snow on the ground today … even Hawaii! It was chilly here, but no snow. If only the panhandle had gotten a little dusting, how cool (no pun intended) would that have been?
Bucs finish strong, but miss out on the playoffs
After finishing with only 3 wins last year, my Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints 23-13 to close out the regular season with a 10-6 record. Unfortunately, with the Bears losing to the Packers and the Giants defeating the Redskins, there will be no playoff games for the Bucs (I blame the OT loss against the Lions two weeks ago … thanks for the apology but I’d prefer the 11-5 record and a trip to the post-season instead).
The turnaround from a 3-13 season to 10-6 is a franchise record. Too bad a lot of local folks didn’t get to see a lot of those victories. Unfortunately, the Bucs set another record this year: the only team to have every home game blacked out.
And my Cleveland Browns had another disappointing season, finishing 5-11 just like last year. 🙁
Time to switch to winter sports … the Tampa Bay Lightning are currently leading the Southeast Division and are #2 in the Eastern Conference. I’ll be heading to a game in Chicago in early April to see them play the Blackhawks, but next up is Spring Training … only 74 days until my annual trip.
1-1-11
Happy New Year!!
Like last year, we did our traditional dinner New Year’s Eve dinner at Melting Pot and then headed to First Night for some activities and fireworks before watching the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort of our living room. I can’t believe Dick Clark is still hanging in there!
After spending last week up in cold northwest Florida with family for Christmas, it was nice to be back home and the weather was beautiful (low 70s). Watching the winter storm in the northeast on TV was enough snow for me this year. I like being able to take the Christmas lights off of my house in shorts. 🙂
What a cool date: 1/1/11. And in a few days on another cool date, 1/11/11, the Dali Museum here in St. Pete opens up in its brand new home.
And what would a new year be without a new tech problem? iPhone users might have overslept today due to a software bug that caused one-time alarms not to ring today. Oops!
Full moon + lunar eclipse + winter solstice = wow
Did you catch the lunar eclipse this morning? My daughter and I got up at 3am to check out the red moon through the telescope.
I think the coolest thing was being able to see stars around the moon through the telescope. Usually it’s so bright it will block out everything else nearby, but this morning there was an amazing amount of visible stars. This was also the first lunar eclipse during a full moon that occured on the winter solstice since 1638. The next time that will happen will be in 2094.
TRON Legacy
Ever since I saw the first trailer back in July of 2009 I’ve been waiting for this weekend. Last night, my daughter and I watched the original “TRON” together and then caught the matinee of “TRON Legacy” this afternoon.
Baseball off-season: training and trades
Usually around this time of year my mind turns to baseball. Spring training is only three months away and I’ve already started planning for my third annual trip out to Arizona in March to see my Cleveland Indians (I’ve already got tickets to two games in-hand!).
But this past week I watched the Rays start to disintegrate before my eyes.
First, Carlos Pena signed with the Chicago Cubs.
Then Carl Crawford was acquired by, ugh, the Boston Red Sox.
And finally Jason Bartlett went back to the San Diego Padres.
OK, yes, that’s only three players (although we lost some pitchers as well) and the Rays still have players like Longoria, Upton, and Zobrist. But it’s still sad to see those other guys move on. Looks like both of my teams will be rebuilding next season (a mode the Indians have been stuck in for quite a while, unfortunately).
Those birds … they’re so angry!
I have been hooked on Angry Birds since I first played the lite version on my iPhone back in April (and then immediately purchased the full version). I started over from scratch when I bought the HD version for my iPad in October. The other week I finally completed all of the released levels with three stars and found 17 golden eggs! Take that, piggies!
Now, someone is trying to broker a peace agreement between the birds and pigs. You can guess how it turns out. 🙂
Rumor has it Angry Birds 2 will be told from the pigs’ point of view (Angry Pigs?) and support multi-player! It might be out by the end of the year … just what I need.
Epcot International Food & Wine Festival
My wife and I were at Disney World for our honeymoon when Epcot held the first International Food & Wine Festival back in 1996. And yet, with all the times we’ve been to Disney World since then (which also was my first time ever), we’ve never been there again during the festival … until this weekend, celebrating its 15th year.
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WIJFR: Watership Down
Set in England’s Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of rabbits on their flight from the intrusion of men and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.
It’d been a while since my daughter and I read a book together after I abandoned the Redwall series last year. I decided to introduce her to one of my favorite novels from my own childhood, “Watership Down” by Richard Adams, and we just finished it today.
WIJFR: The Ringworld Throne
The human, Louis Wu; the puppeteer known as the Hindmost; Acolyte, son of the Kzin called Chmeee . . . legendary beings brought together once again in the defense of the Ringworld. Something is going on with the Protectors. Incoming spacecraft are being destroyed before they can reach the Ringworld. Vampires are massing. And the Ghouls have their own agenda–if anyone dares approach them to learn. Each race on the Ringworld has always had its own Protector. Now it looks as if the Ringworld itself needs a Protector. But who will sit on the Ringworld Throne?
It’s been almost two years since I read “The Ringworld Engineers” and back then I wrote here that I probably wouldn’t bother with the remaining two books in the series. I probably should have listened to myself, but I just finished “The Ringworld Throne” … the first e-book I’ve read entirely on my new iPad.