made the right choice

As my undergraduate education was coming to a close, I decided to pursue a master's degree in mathematics on a teaching assistantship. After interviewing and applying with a few schools, I received offers from two universities.

Texas A&M offered me a pretty good offer. The University of Arkansas made an offer that was almost as good as that. The third school I was most interested in (Rice) did not make me an offer. So, basically, my choice came down to A&M or Arkansas. It was a very difficult choice.

Exacerbating the problem was the fact that my girlfriend would still be in school at Harding in Searcy, Ark. for one more year. At the time, Searcy was about 10 or 11 hours from College Station, TX and only about three hours from Fayetteville, Ark.

In my mind, the choice was 50/50. Pick one school much closer to my girlfriend or the other school with the better offer. I picked Arkansas. This led to weekend trips between Searcy and Fayetteville, a fall engagement, a May wedding, 20 years (and still counting) of marriage to my girlfriend and one beautiful daughter.

This weekend as Texas A&M and Arkansas (6:30 Saturday on ESPN2) renew their rivalry for the first time since their Southwest Conference days, GO HOGS!

aussome football

I was a freshman in college in 1984-5. That year was the year they installed cable TV in the dorms. The women's dorms, that is. We guys had to wait until the fall of 1985 to watch cable.

College guys and cable TV seemed like a perfect partnership in 1985. ESPN was relatively new and getting established. At that time, Australian rules football was a staple in ESPN's programming. In the guys' dorms, we watched a lot of Aussie rules. It was one of my favorite sports.

Still is. Thing is, we haven't much watched Aussie rules since then. Nope, ESPN has become the world leader in sports and some of the enjoyable programming they had in the early days had to go away to make room for American football and baseball and...

Tonight, ESPN Classic will broadcast the Aussie rules championship at 11:30 CDT. I'm really looking forward to it.

It's ironic that the sport that filled so many hours back in the "classic" days of ESPN will air live tonight on ESPN's Classic channel.

hp calculators as iPhone and iTouch apps

Did you know that hp sells their calculators as apps?

I'm not an iAnything user, but if you are, you can get the 12c, 12c Platinum and the 15c (that's the one I'd want) for your iPhone.

Just search for hewlett packard in the app store.

Thank me later.

phinedroids and ferbots

It's amazing how having a 6-year old in the house changes your entertainment options. DVR doesn't help. The Disney Channel doesn't help very much either. What I have noticed is that I now spend an inordinate amount of time watching Phineas and Ferb.

Three months ago, I'd never even heard of Phineas and Ferb. Two months from now, we'll probably be past it. But for the moment, we watch a lot of P&F.

Now, the question is, how can the 6-year old and I get her mother (mrs. kcrazorback) to stop making us watch that show so often? She's addicted.

eternally optimistic

Generally speaking, I'm an optimist. I believe that if the final out of the baseball game hasn't yet been made, my team can still win--even if they are down by a bunch of runs. I believe that if the team hasn't been eliminated from playoff contention yet, they still have a chance--like the Kansas City Royals, who are 23.5 games back in the AL Central right now.

As the inevitable fall approaches, however, optimism gives way to pragmatism. In fact, I become so pragmatic that each September (or even late August), I keep a spreadsheet that forecasts when my team will be eliminated from the playoffs that year. This year, the earliest possible date that the Royals can be eliminated from playoff contention is, drumroll(?), TODAY. In fact, if Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago all win their respective games, the Royals will be done. The most likely date of elimination is tomorrow (09/09/09). Regardless, my pragmatism forces me to accept the outcome and defeats my optimism today. Yes, you can say I was stupid for sticking with the team to the very end.

The worst part is now we have to start rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs. As baseball season turns into football season, my pragmatism becomes depression. I am already longing for baseball spring training when I can be optimistic again.

Wait a second, if Detroit can lose all of their remaining games except one to Minnesota and then Minnesota can lose all of their remaining games except five to Chicago and then Chicago loses all of their remaining games and, of course, Cleveland would have to lose almost all of their remaining games, the Royals could still win the division. Optimism springs eternal!!! (for a few hours)