35 Years

Today was my boss’ last day at work. Dan is retiring after 35 years with the State. He’ll probably do some part time consulting work out of his home which will be in Greensboro. His wife is a professor at UNC-G.

Dan’s a very low key person and today was pretty much like any other. No big fuss or anything. Just orange juice and donuts. Which is kind of weird. Every time we have a staff meeting, minor social function, or what have you – it’s almost always OJ and donuts. One healthy and the other not. Odd little thing we have going here.

The group of us that work together went out to lunch with Dan earlier this week and the rest of the office took him out to lunch yesterday.

Mike takes over Monday as the new Deputy Director.

We (Mike, Ross, Ralph and I) have been talking on a regular basis and I think we’ve got the transition covered while Mike gets acclimated to his new position.

Mike and I and Ralph have some ideas we want to try to improve efficiency and provide some added value to our work.

Ralph and I are also working up a project that, if we’re successful, has the potential to save the State some serious money with building operating expenses. As that progresses, I may blog about it later.

Mike told me today he’s a little nervous – but it will work out just fine. There’s a lot of ‘real’ politics that comes with the job – not the ‘office’ variety. That comes with the territory when dealing with large chunks of taxpayer money. Our group is all top notch professionals and we can tackle anything that comes our way.

Bottom line, maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but today was just another day at the office.

Change happens.

No big deal.

West Virginia Wins - Frank Young Smugs

West Virginia beat Clemson 78 - 75 last night in the NIT Finals.

WVa's star player, Frank Young, had his typical, ever so modest post game remarks:

"It was gratifying just to see how far I've come as a player," Young said. "The trophy signifies that I did a pretty good job leading this team."

He really is a gifted athlete.

The game was not as close as the score. WVa was up by 10+ points most of the game. But Clemson did a good job making a late game run. It was fun to watch.

Yard Work

Nuke helped me install fabric and wood chips in part of the back yard a couple of weeks ago. I’m going to plant a vegetable garden in that area. It turned out so nice looking that I’ve decided to do the front yard and side yard the same way.

I’ve done most of the work in the front yard and all that’s left is a bit of trimming.

These areas will become planting beds. I still haven’t decided what to plant yet.

Nuke called last night and said he’ll come up this weekend to help me with the side yard. The side yard is going to be the biggest and most complex of the areas. I expect that it will take both Saturday and Sunday to get it done.

The planting beds really improve the look of the yard and house – even without plants yet.

This is the 'before' shot of the side yard. I'll post an 'after' photo once I get the work finished. The planting bed will be in the front to the drive and down the side of the house wrapping around the back deck. There will still be yard / lawn beyond the planting bed.

I guess it’s about time I finally did some landscaping. After all, I will have only lived here 10 years this August.

I also have to order a flag pole to place in the front. A free standing flag pole will look better than the one I’ve got attached to the front porch.

Plus, Nuke’s been on my back about it ever since I first mentioned it a few months ago. If nothing else, once I get the flag pole and install it – it’ll buy me some peace and quiet.

For a little while anyway.

Wind Chimes

I purchased 3 Corinthian Bells wind chimes from windchime.com. They really sound nice. When I got home last Friday, two tubes from one of the chimes were on the deck. The strings broke. I’m guessing they were nicked when the excess line was trimmed at the factory.

Bummer.

I called windchime.com and they requested that I take photos and email them. This is the digital age. Once they get the photos, which I guess will be the proof that the chime is defective, they will send me a replacement and I’ll send back the defective chime.

Basketball

Sidney Lowe Jr., son of NC State basketball head coach Sidney Lowe, was arrested last night on armed robbery charges. From the news reports, it appears that SL Jr. has taken a wrong turn in life in the past couple of years.

Also in basketball, last night in the NIT, Clemson beat the Air Force Academy by 1 point and West By God Virginia beat Mississippi State by 1 point. Clemson and West Virginia play Thursday night for the NIT Championship.

Both the NIT and NCAA Tournaments have the top ranked power teams in the final four. In the NIT – it was all number 1 seeds. In the NCAA, it’s the number 1 and number 2 seeds. Both tournaments have been great fun to watch this year.

Erika Graduates +Addendum

Erika graduated from preschool this morning. Or something. I’m not really sure. It was all done in Japanese.

In any event, it was a very nice ceremony as you can see from the program.

I think Erika got a special certificate in recognition for not beating up the other kids this year. Yaaaay Erika.

(just kidding folks)

Here are the proud fathers taking photos and movies.

Believe it or not – I think I had the smallest, most advanced camera in the crowd.

I also took video of Erika and the kids marching in. If I can figure out how to post it – I’ll amend this entry with it.

On the way to Erika’s graduation, I got a haircut. Afterwards, I stopped by the office to do a little work and now I’m home.

I think I’ll work in the yard a little bit before the NCAA basketball games start.

UNC made a huge comeback last night to win over the University of Southern California. Next up for Carolina – Georgetown. That’s going to be a tough game.

Addendum

Carolina had a complete late game meltdown Sunday. Up by 10 points with 7 minutes left - UNC went on to miss 31 out of 41 shots and lost by 12 in overtime.

UNC has lost their last 7 overtime games.

On the plus side for UNC - even if 1 or 2 players turn professional, they'll still have a huge team of blue chip players - mostly sophomores and juniors - who will have learned from this embarrassing and humbling loss.

If they can find some leadership (and Tyler Hansbrough ain't it) - they could go undefeated next season.

On A Sad Note

The student who portrays the UNC Mascot, Rameses, was struck by a car while walking back from a convenience store to his hotel on Friday evening. The mascot and pep band travel with the team and were in New Jersey for the NCAA East Regionals.

Monday morning, Jason Ray died from his injuries.

Jason Ray was from Concord, NC. A senior majoring in Business Management; he would have graduated this spring. Ray was active with campus Christian groups, had participated with missionary trips including Honduras, achieved Dean's List on 3 occasions, and was an Eagle Scout.

Condolences to his family and friends, and to the UNC community.

Thursday Morning +Addendum

Basketball

WVa won the game 71 – 66.

It was a tight, hard played game to the very end. NC State has done far better than anybody thought they would this year. We’re all very proud of our team.

From USA Today - here’s a humble quote from WVa’s star player Frank Young:

“All season long I have been putting this team on my shoulders and as a senior I did it again,” said Young. “It was nice to be able to step up in that kind of situation.”

And a quote from NC State’s star player Engin Atsur:

“They (WVa) made big, crazy shots. They deserved to win.”

I drove over to Taylorsville, about 45 minutes west of Winston-Salem, to watch the game with an old friend Steve L. It was nice to visit and catch up while watching the game.

Family

Nephew ADH, his Japanese wife MIH and daughter EIH live in Cary. ADH works for Red Hat and he’s fluent in Japanese. With his, to be honest (not bragging) world class Linux knowledge and foreign language skills – RH wants him to move back to Tokyo and base out of there. They’ll be moving pretty soon.

Of course, I wish they could stay forever in Cary. But, in today’s global market, especially at the high end of the spectrum, people like my nephew rarely stay in one location forever.

This move is especially hard on his parents, GH and CH. They dote on their 3 grand children and are understandably worried they are going to miss out on EIH’s growing up.

I think there are reasonable options. Such as EIH visiting her grandparents for extended summer visits. And, my sister GH is going to have to take some sort of “Fear of Flying” course so she can go over to Tokyo for visits. If my sister can master her fear of flying, GH and CH will able to take trips over there as they have the time since they are somewhat simi-retired. They write and work out of their home. And, despite their protests to the contrary, they can easily afford such trips.

This will still be hard on them – but that’s the way it is in today’s global world.

I just hope that ADH is making the right move career wise. I hope it’s not just a case of RH moving him around as an asset but as a future potential for very top level management at some point.

Work

Still in Winston-Salem this week. We won’t get everything completed as we expected and will have to come back for a couple of days to finish things up.

Evening Addendum

Watching the NCAA's in my hotel room.

I forgot to mention. The final 4 teams in the NIT are all number 1 seeds. Air Force, Clemson, Mississippi State and West Virginia (which beat NC State to get to the NIT Final Four).

Basketball

The vaunted ACC, which at 7 had the most invitations to the NCAA’s, is down to 1 team after the first weekend of play. That’s right – only UNC is in the sweet 16. Boston College, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Virginia and Duke are all out by the second game.

In the NIT, all 3 ACC teams are still alive. That’s 3 of the final 8 teams: NC State, Florida State and Clemson.

Four of the remaining teams are number 1 seeds: Miss State, Clemson, West Virginia and Air Force. The rest are number 2 and 3 seeds except for number 6 seed NC State.

Tonight NC State faces West Virginia.

This is going to be a very tough game for NC State.

I’m in Winston-Salem this week so I’m glad I have basketball to watch after work. NIT on Monday and Tuesday - NCAA’s on Thursday.

What will I do Wednesday night?

Maybe I’ll go out to eat with the people here in W-S.

Anniversary

On to more important things.


Today is the anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.

Support real American Heroes - http://www.anysoldier.com/

Weekend +Addendum

Saturday

Yesterday JN helped me fix up an area next to the porch for a garden.

We cleared out the area and put down fabric topped by pine bark chips. I’ll come behind later and plant a vegetable garden. Don’t know what I want yet besides corn and peppers. Both bell and spice peppers. Plus I’m sure I’ll have the requisite tomato plant. Beyond that, I don’t know.

I want to do the same kind of bedding / mulching in front of the house and the side yard. There I’ll plant landscaping stuff. Again, I don’t know exactly what to put there so I’m open to suggestions.

The work was pretty easy and improves the look of the yard (such as it is) quite a bit.

Later, David Sx came over with a friend. David brought the fixings for Hamantaschen. Sort of like a cookie dough filled with a poppy seed mixture. I went to the store and picked up a roasted chicken and we had dinner and the pastries for dessert. The pastries were really good. Just the right sweetness.

Afterwards, we watched Casino Royal on DVD. I really liked it. In fact, I think it’s one of the best Bond movies made.

Movie Note

Originally we started watching The Aristocrats. It had been highly recommended to me by Dave B.

Ahhhh . . .

I didn't like it. I guess I can see where it's supposed to be funny by virtue of shock value.

Nuke, disgusted, left the room less than 10 minutes in.

For me, I wasn't offended - I thought it just wasn't funny.

Sophomoric at best.

Chip will probably like it. ;-)

We put up with about 20 minutes of it then replaced the DVD with the James Bond movie.

Sunday

Today I’ve got the usual chores to do. Nuke is heading back home to Southport shortly.

This week I’ll be in Winston-Salem for work.

Also – Georgiana H and Chuck H are driving down from NoVa to visit Mami IH and Erika IH. I probably won’t get a chance to see them since I’ve got to get household stuff done and get ready for a week out of town.

And of course, there’s basketball to watch.

NIT Addendum

NC State will play at West By God Virginia in the third round of the NIT. We played the Mountaineers back in December. WVa won 71 - 60.

West Virginia really should have been in the NCAA's so they're out to win the NIT to prove the point. Our guys are itching for the rematch.

It ought to be one heck of a game.

The game will be broadcast on regular ESPN at 9 PM Tuesday - not ESPNUnavailable or The Ocho.

Raccoons Are Back

No pictures yet, but the raccoons are back.

Typically around November or so, the raccoons quit feeding at the bowl of food I put out for them. From what I’ve found on the web, that’s about the time the kits are old enough to go out on their on and establish dens and territory.

Birthing season is in late winter. What I surmise is that the mother raccoons stick close to the den with the newborn kits. Possibly the dens are far enough away that she can’t feed at the house until she feels they can be safely left alone or perhaps hunger finally drives her to the feed bowl.

In any event, they usually show up about this time of year.

Starting about 2 weeks ago I’ve 2 that come up to feed at different times. Just like last year. They both look a bit scrawny so that tells me 1 – their pregnancy is over and they’ve given birth and 2 – they’re in that difficult period of having to search for food plus protect and feed their young. This fits in the pattern for the past few years.

Eventually when the kits are old enough, she’ll (they) will bring their young to feed at the bowl as well. Probably in a couple of months.

Right now, a cup full of peanuts and dog food feeds both. One shows up around 8-ish – the other later in the night.

When they start bringing their young – it takes a full heaping bowl of food and nuts for all of them.

The key is to feed them somewhat randomly. Usually 3 or 4 times a week. I don’t put out food every night so as not to let them get dependent upon the food bowl. That would only hurt them in the long run. My goal is to help them out – but not replace their natural foraging for food.

Basketball


State beat Marist last night in a tough game. Marist refused to give up even when the game was essentially over.

Nuke drove up from Southport to go with me to watch the game at Local Joe’s Tap and Grill in Sanford.

Tuesday we play at West Virginia. WVa should have gone to the NCAA’s so their out to prove their worth by winning the NIT. It will be a tough, tough game for the WolfPack.

Having a good time watching the NCAA’s as well.

I really enjoy this time of year.

A Nice Mention

Roy Williams is a great guy. Carolina athletics has always been a class act. With Roy on one bench and Sidney on the other - I'm looking forward to an intense, friendly rivalry with our friends over in Chapel Thrill for years to come.

Bobby Lee Swagger runs a UNC blog with commentary on just about anything and everything. It helps to be from the south to 'get' some of his humour. To everyone else, it's probably a bit cryptic.

This is an excerpt from Bobby Lee's entry after the ACC Tournament.

Thanks Bobby, for the nice mention.


FIRST …. For any/all UNCers feelin’ kinda narly today because The Unthinkable almost happened ergo it might be seen as a hollow victory. Trust Ol’ Bob on this … a hollow victory ALWAYS trumps a moral victory. Just ask any Wuff fan today. And congrats to The Blue Messiah who now only lacks an Olympic Gold Medal and a Hoop-It-Up 3 On 3 Title to have done it all in his Head Coach career.

SECOND …. Absolute unqualified KUDOS, CONGRATS and HUZZAS to El Sid and his staff and team for a GREAT FOUR GAMES. Hold your heads up high and make those little wuffie hand puppet thingies ….. the future is now for Wolfpack basketball and the alumni office at St Paul’s could not be prouder of their favorite son … and ya gotta think Jimmy V is mighty proud too. Sidney Lowe is FOR REAL. That cagey Ol’ Jed Fowler lucked out, huh. Wonder if at least one State fan has said thanks to Ol’ Jed ??? …. Nahhhh.

OK, so now we’re just going to run thru the sidebars …..

Yesterday at 1:00 PM EDT, everyone in the St Pete Times Forum stood up to ask “Jose” if he could see. The Raycom camera panned the team benches …. Uh oh …

well, uh oh for Carolina because The Wolfpack clearly won the National Anthem.

El Sid, Monte, assorted assistants, managers, trainers and players were all standing in a straight line looking up at the flag with their right hands over their hearts.

NASCAR pit crews do not do it any better.

It looked terrific and obviously is not by accident or optional for anyone on the NC State bench. Whether it’s simply a team solidarity/disciple thing or patriotic … it merits a BobLee AttaBoy.

…. Then the camera panned the Carolina bench … uh oh.

No one was purposefully disrespectful but there were about 20 different poses, looking arounds, shufflin’, checkin’ out cheerleaders, smilin’, frownin’, Now I saw no John Carlos black glove protests, nose-pickin, or genital scratchin nor any overt disrespect to the flag, country, et al. I’m sure a faction of UNC’s infamous atheistic anarchists Islamo-faculty squirrels would prefer a much more overt embarrassment to the University. Anyway …. NC State clearly won the National Anthem.

Not Much New +Addendum

I just happened to have my camera with me today. Needed to download some work photos onto my office computer. Snapped this shot on the way home. Zoom in and check out the license plate frame.

Nothing much new at work. Next week I’ll be working in Winston-Salem at the NC School of the Arts.

Roomie JN is spending most of his time in Southport where his folks live so it’s been pretty quiet on the home front.

State beat Drexel in an exciting up and down game last night. Had to listen to it the old fashioned way – on the radio. TV broadcast was on ESPNUnavailable - which isn't carried by local cable. Surprisingly, most people at work seemed to like listening to the game on the radio. It was sort of nostalgic and a nice change of pace.

Next game in the NIT is at home versus Marist. Since the RBC has a concert scheduled for Friday the game will be played at our old home Reynolds Coliseum. I haven’t been in that place in almost 2 decades.

Tried to get tickets on line but the WolfPack Club / Ticket Office website just plain sucks and never works. I’ll stop by the ticket office first thing in the morning.

Marist College alumni of note is Bill O’Reilly. Marist is a liberal arts college. BO’R got the Arts part down. His version of ‘fair and balanced’ is pretty darn creative and imaginative. But I don’t think the Liberal part ‘took’ when he was in school.

The NCAA's start tomorrow (Thursday). Of course I'll be cheering for the ACC teams. Even Dook.

Addendum

The NCSU - Marist game sold out in less than 4 hours! I wasn't able to get tickets. Tickets were only available to us WolfPack Club members so I guess the other old geezers like myself really wanted to see the game. Of course there weren't as many tickets available since Reynolds holds about 8,000 vs the RBC's 20,000. Plus - we had to give an allotment of tickets to Marist College - and there's the press demand that will be higher than usual. I bet that old gym will be rocking!

On the plus side - the WolfPack Club held back two thousand tickets that will be made available to students. Which is the right thing to do. You gotta have the kids in there yelling, standing and cheering the whole game.

So - now I'll need to find a sports bar that has ESPNUnavailabe on satellite.

Welcome to the Marist Red Foxes.

Go WolfPack!

Had a Good Time This Year

I’ve always liked college basketball since high school.

I have very clear memories of some great games.

NCSU – Maryland in 1973 – triple overtime. NCSU – UCLA in 1974. UNC – Tulane – triple overtime in, what, 1980? UNC – Duke in the infamous 4-corners game. What was the half-time score on that one? 12 to 8 or something like that? And UVA winning the ACC Tournament in 1976. I went to that ACC Tournament in Landover Maryland.

Of course the improbable NCSU run to the NCAA championship in 1983 was the best of all. State had to win the ACC Tournament to get to the NCAA’s. Then – shipped out west to play. Virginia with Ralph Sampson. UNLV and Houston. One of those 3 schools were supposed to win it all. Instead, we beat them and won it all.

Mom and Dad started getting into college basketball when I went to NC State. They were always big time baseball fans and it took a while for them to really get into basketball. You know, where you enjoyed all the games – not just the games your team played.

We used to call each other during games and give each other running commentary.

In fact – in the above mentioned UNC – Tulane triple overtime game – regular season – played in the Superdome – I think we were on the phone throughout all 3 overtimes. I remember Mom calling – “Are you watching this?” Oh yeah.

Mom died in 1999.

I got the call during halftime of the Duke – Michigan State game.

I don’t remember much anything else after that. I didn’t even find out that UConn beat Duke for the Championship until weeks later.

For the next few years all our time was taken up with taking care of Dad. Lots of time spent on the road. Things to do at Dad’s on weekends. No time to watch basketball. Tired all the time anyway. If I had sat down to watch a game – I’d have fallen asleep.

Plus – Dad didn’t want to watch sports anymore. It reminded him of all the years he spent with Mom watching baseball and basketball games. I fully understood that. After 1999 – when college basketball tournament time came around – it just reminded me of the car accident and brought up really bad feelings and memories.

Besides – NC State wasn’t doing much in hoops anymore. It used to be UNC – NCSU was THE rivalry. Now it was Duke – UNC. State wasn’t even on the map anymore.

For the past couple of years though – I’ve been getting some of those old good feelings back around tournament time. I really enjoyed watching George Mason make that Cinderella run last year.

State had been getting into the NCAA’s the past few years. Never making it past the second round – but with Herb Sendek – we were resigned to that fate.

Sendek left for Arizona State and we brought back one of our own. Sidney Lowe. From the 1993 Championship team. Not our first choice. Or second. Or – who the hell knows. Kind of a consolation prize.

Oh man – what a stroke of luck that we got him.

I’ve had more fun watching State basketball this year than I’ve had since the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Win or lose – our boys play their hearts out. Sidney – on the sidelines – it’s about all he can do to contain himself. He wants to suit up and run out there on the floor and play too.

The 2007 ACC Tournament run was just phenomenal.

Friends

I want to thank Nuke for going to the games with me. It was pretty cool finding out that God really is on our side!

The bumper stickers saying “If God is not a Tarheel, Then Why is the Sky Carolina Blue?” are wrong. God pulls for the Wolfpack and sits in Section 129 Row X Seat 3.

Mike and Ross at work used the tickets for games I couldn’t make it to and they took their kids, Clayton and Andrew. They always had a blast.

Thanks to Ward for using the tickets while I was on vacation. I don’t like empty seats and Ward drove up from Southport to go to the game with his brother-in-law.

The regular season Carolina game was fun. The seats next to us were used by a Carolina guy and his 7 year old kid. They were decked out in matching blue and white jogging suits. Just a little too precious. Nuke had a blast with the kid. Holding up the kid’s arms when State scored and going yaaaaay. Good fans and gracious in defeat.

The guy who has seats behind us didn’t start any fights this year. He says he’s taking his meds on a regular basis now. LOL

The retired couple to our left drive 3 hours from the coast and made it to every game save one at the end of the season. His mother passed away and our sympathies are with them.

The couple that sit directly in front of us have a brand new baby boy. They still made it to most of the games. Sometimes the seats to our right (seats 1 and 2) are empty. The guy who has them travels a lot for work and can’t make all the games. So – when those seats were empty – we (Nuke and I) would trade seats with couple and their baby. That gave them 4 seats to spread out in with all the baby stuff they had to haul around.

Thanks to Fritz for getting on line and discussing the games in real time. It's good to have someone knowledgable to talk about strategy, players and such. Even though Fritz is - gasp! - a Dook fan. He knows his stuff. Also - thank you Fritz for going to football games with us. (Fritz is a Nebraska alumnus so football is his forte.)

Thanks Chip for the email Sunday. I was feeling a little morose Sunday morning. I was enjoying the ACC Tournament on TV but was feeling a little down missing the knowledgeable calls I would have gotten from Mom and Dad. Your email popped up right before the game and was just the thing I needed. Thanks again.

Post Season

State is in the NIT. First game is against Drexel tomorrow night. Drexel is probably the best team in the NIT. They got hosed by the NCAA for not getting an at large bid to the Tournament. Our bracket looks pretty tough. West Virginia, Oklahoma State, UMass, and Alabama are in it. All were just on the edge of getting in the NCAA Tournament. It’s going to be very, very tough.

Florida State should have gotten into the Big Dance as well. This makes 2 years in a row that FSU should have been invited but got left out. FSU and Clemson are both in the NIT along with State.

MidEastern Athletic Conference

The MEAC held their Conference Tournament in Raleigh this year at State's Arena - The RBC.

Florida A&M University won the tournament on a last second shot.

The FAMU Rattlers have to play Niagara in the 'play in' game of the NCAA tournament.

Then - Kansas awaits.

Memo +Addendum

At best - I was hoping for a 9 and 20 season.

We pulled off some upsets during the regular season - Michigan State and UNC plus a couple others.

The ACC tournament has been icing on the cake.

Used to be only the Tournament winner went to the NCAA Tournament. Everybody else went to the NIT. So the ACC Tournament was huge - you had to win or you went home.

With the expanded NCAA format - the ACC Tournament is now mostly for bragging rights.

Unless you're a team like NC State - who has to win it all to get to the NCAA's or else go to the NIT or home.

Which, bye the way, the NIT is going to be great fun.

These kids had no chance.

They were supposed to get knocked out the first night by Duke. Then by number 2 seed Virginia. And yesterday - it's pretty much impossible to beat a team 3 times in one season - but they won again over Virginia Tech.

2 of the guys in our rotation were originally walk on's for Pete's sake.

Except for Atsur - our players could have been good solid bench players for any other ACC team - but not starters.

They are / were supposed to fold up against the competition this year. No depth. No real 'premier' players. No chance.

I guess they didn't get the memo.

Carolina Wins

State brought their best game but UNC just has too many horses in the barn. Still – it was a great game. State got pretty far behind and looked like they might get blown out. But they came back and pushed UNC to the limit.

We’ll be in the NIT which is probably pretty good. We could possibly go deep in the NIT. Atsur is limping with his chronic hamstring injury. The other guys are banged up as well. Winning and thus playing more games takes its toll.

Good luck to all the schools that get to play in the post season. If there’s games played in your area – I highly recommend that you catch a game.

Salt Lick

This morning I put up a salt lick in the back yard on a stump.

Actually, the block in the holder is a mineral block - salt plus other essential minerals that wildlife need.

For a fact - I know Deer, Coyote, Fox, Raccoon, Squirrel, etc. travel through my yard.

Bobcat are also in the area.

Basketball

Now watching the ACC Semi-Finals on TV. UNC - Boston College on now. State - Virginia Tech up next.

Go WolfPack!

State Beats Dook +UVA Addendum

State beat Dook last night in OT.

It was a tough, emotional win.

Second round game vs Virginia just starting.

I wonder if State has anything left?

The only way we'll get into the NCAA's is if we win the ACC Tournament and get the automatic bid.

But - we're in the NIT for sure and possibly will have home court advantage.

Coach Lowe has these boys believing they can win any game they play.

Addendum

State comes back from a 14 point second half deficit to beat Virginia 79 - 71

Tomorrow's game will be against the winner of the Wake Forest - Virginia Tech game - going on right now.

Democracy in Action +Addendum

Amendment 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Halifax Mall is a large grass lawn that stretches for 2 blocks from the General Assembly Building to the Archdale Building. Actually, it’s the roof of an underground parking deck.

It’s named Halifax Mall to commemorate the Halifax Resolves; the first official action by a colony calling for independence from Great Britain. The vote by the 83 delegates was unanimous.

My building is on one side of the Mall (parking deck). The white building across the lawn (parking deck) is the Legislative Office Building – where State Representatives and Senators have their offices.

When the General Assembly is “In Session” – Halifax Mall is a popular place for groups and organizations to gather and rally. The Mall has electricity and water hook ups – and multiple easy access points for delivery vehicles and pedestrians.

Groups bring in porta potties, stages, speaker systems, sometimes huge tents and mobile catering kitchens, exhibits – you name it.

Halifax Mall is where the traveling Vietnam Memorial was set up last year.

I like it when high dollar lobbying / special interest organizations use Halifax Mall. They usually bring food (to entice the lawmakers to attend). And of course, I feel it’s my duty to help them not let any food go to waste.

On weekends when the General Assembly is home for the weekend or not in session and the office buildings are empty - Halifax Mall then becomes a magnet for people with Frisbee dogs. Since it’s a nice big grass area with no obstructions – it’s a great place to throw the Frisbee for Fido to catch.

I took these photos around noon today. This was one of the larger groups I’ve seen on the Mall in a while. The slight refection glare is from the office window.

Set up started very early – around 0730. About 1130 – as Jed Clampett would say – they commenced to speechifying.

Unfortunately, these people didn’t bring any food.

Addendum


This photo was in Wednesday's News & Observer in a story about the same rally. The building shown is my office building. Our offices are on the left half of the 4th floor from which I took my photos.

BTW

The colors, writing and stuff you see on the large 3 story panel on the side of the building is "art" that was etched into the granite walls.

This "art" was commissioned under a State Statute (Law) requiring that 0.5% of building construction budgets be spent on "public art".

Our elected State Representatives and State Senators get to enjoy this particular example of "public art" every time they come out of their office building located across the green lawn (where this photo was taken).

Shortly after my building, with it's wall size "public art", was completed - that particular State Statute was repealed.

Duke Plays State Thursday

It took all 6 games this weekend to determine seeding for the ACC Tournament.

Of course, now that the NCAA has 65 teams - Conference Tournaments aren't nearly as important as they used to be when only the Conference Tournament winner went to the NCAA's.

Still, Conference Tournaments can make or break a team that's "on the bubble" - good play and advance will get you an at large bid. Get bounced out in the first round and you're headed for the NIT.

Number 7 seed Dook plays number 10 seed NCSU Thursday night at 7 PM.

Unfortunately, Duke's Gerald Henderson will be suspended for the game. While his not being in the game Thursday will help State's chances of victory - Henderson should not have been thrown out of the UNC - Duke game for a 'flagrant intentional foul' - which means he's also automatically suspended for the next game.

It was a hard foul to be sure - but it was not a flagrant intentional foul.

Tyler Hansbrough was trying to go up for a slam dunk in a crowd under the basket - Henderson was in position to block the shot - the ball was knocked away before Henderson hand got to it - and bam! Hansbrough ends up with a whacked nose.

The real question is - Why was all this going on with 15 seconds left in a game that was long over?

Hansbaby was trying to show off with an impossible dunk - In fact - what was he even doing in the game with less than 20 seconds left? As a matter of fact, Roy, why were any of your starters still in the game with at this point? Roy? Roy?

All Henderson did was make a hard defensive play.



Anyway - End Result - Hansbaby's nose is not broken (Monday afternoon news reports a 'slight' fracture - he'll be fitted with a face guard) and Henderson has to sit out Thursday's game.

March Madness begins.

Maryland Beats Up on State

Maryland just won the last game of the regular season against State. They won by 20!

And - this year Maryland swept the Tobacco Road Big Four.

Yep - Maryland beat Duke (twice), UNC, NC State (twice) and Wake Forest.

My my my.

Maryland is 7 - 0 going into the post season.

They are playing red hot and I think they will go deep in the NCAA Tournament.

Congratulations Terrapins.

Friday Evening +Photo Addendum

Quiet evening around the house.

Nothing planned for this weekend other than watching ACC basketball on TV. The teams are all so close that seeding for the ACC Tournament next week will be decided by the 6 games left to play Saturday and Sunday.

March Madness is my favorite time of the year. I really love the do or die nature of the NCAA Tournament.

On A Light Note

It was discovered this week that the Virginia Tech Logo had been precision engraved in the floor of the new University of Virgina basketball arena. It's very small, about the size of a silver dollar, and can only be seen at a certain angle with the right light.

These floors are each custom made so it was obviously done by a VT fan at the fabrication shop.

UVA officials vow to get rid of it.

I think they ought to leave it. It's kind of a pretty neat / cool rivalry thing.

If a photo gets posted on the web, I'll snag it and put it here.

Now what can we State guys do to Carolina . . . . .

Photo Addendum

Found a shot of the UVA basketball floor with the VT logo. Best bet is to click on the photo and then zoom in. The logo is under the 'finish' of the floor so it was professionally done by someone during fabrication.

Way to go VT!!

LOL

Apropos of Nothing

I found this website on a friends blog. It's pretty neat. Some of the questions were darn hard choices. My score was 19.