Sunday, March 25, 2007

I saw the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis a couple of weeks ago. It was really good. I had seen them a few years ago too; this time was similar, except I actually recognized two or three of the songs. (Although one of the songs was Rhapsody in Blue, which I recognized because United Airlines used to use it in their commercials).

I read the book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. This is the guy who wrote Moneyball. This book is maybe 40% about how the left tackle position, though it doesn't have much visibility on TV, has become really important in football (on average, left tackle salaries are second only to those of quarterbacks), and disproportionately so compared to the other linemen. The other 60% of the book is the interesting part though. It's about a specific left tackle, Michael Oher, who grew up extremely poor in a Memphis ghetto. Through a series of fortunate events, he is taken in by a rich family during high school, starts playing football, gets "discovered", raises his grades enough to qualify for the NCAA (even though he has a learning disability), gets offered scholarships by a lot of schools, and is now playing at Ole Miss. It's a true story, and a pretty good one.

Switching gears... last weekend I had to replace my car battery. For some reason it stopped holding charge; every time I started my car, it would crank slower and slower. Finally when I was about to drive to get my battery replaced, the car wouldn't start and I had to jump start it. Anyway, I got a new battery, and it turns out I had an 8-year prorated warranty on the old battery so I got a $45 refund on that. Pretty good deal.

Today I went to the Ann Arbor Film Festival for a little while. I didn't see that many films, but I did see a short by Don Hertzfeldt, which was pretty funny. If you're a long time reader of my website, you might remember a few years ago when I used to allow file attachments on the message board, someone uploaded one of his early films, which was the stick figure guy repeatedly getting his heart ripped out (or head bitten off, or eyes stabbed, etc.) by various monster women.

Yesterday (Saturday) was my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday Laurie!

UCLA is in the Final Four! Go Bruins!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Check this out. Today (Tuesday) it was really warm, 71 degrees. Just one week ago, the high was 20 degrees. Is that crazy or what?

I also read that some places in SoCal reached 97 degrees last weekend. This weather, I tell ya.

Jenny told me about the show "My Life as a Child" on TLC, and I watched an episode earlier this week. It's really good.

I went rock climbing last week. Fun. It had been quite a while since I last went, but somehow I remembered how to tie the knots and how to belay. Much to the benefit of the person I was belaying.

I'm trying to get back into flying lessons. I found out that my flying club is offering free ground school on the U of M campus, so I started attending that. I also bought my own headset, and have gotten in touch with my old instructor, so hopefully I'll get to fly again sometime soon. It's been a year and a half since I last flew...

I have been buying a bunch of stuff for my car, which I plan to install when I get some time. Here's a list:

• H&R springs: to lower my car slightly and improve the handling.
• Tokico Illumina struts: my existing struts are shot. Supposedly these replacements will go well with the new springs. They are adjustable, so that's nice.
• Misc. suspension stuff (dust boots, strut mounting hardware)
• Spring compressor. I need it to install the springs and struts. I was going to rent or borrow one, but then I found out they are only $13.
• Windshield wiper switch. This will give me variable intermittent wipers.
• Oil and oil filter. It's time to replace them...
• New front brake rotors, pads, and hardware. It isn't urgent to replace these, but I thought I'd order them so when I get a chance I can install them.
• Also, I had a mechanic weld a broken exhaust bracket in order to fix this clunking noise that was coming from under my car.