Long time fans of ESPN's college basketball Gametracker will note a Billikenesque drought in Dolberry's output since February. But I have called a time out and think we can hits some threes here down the stretch.
Game on, Owl.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Who's the Bloggiest?
It has come to the DCV's attention that I've been outblogged by the Owl in the Pine Tree thus far in 2009. As many of you know, Dolberry can be rather competitive at times. (Rarely, really.) But I am going to win this one. Watch out Owl, you're going to see some serious blogging over the next 7 weeks.
Long time fans of ESPN's college basketball Gametracker will note a Billikenesque drought in Dolberry's output since February. But I have called a time out and think we can hits some threes here down the stretch.
Game on, Owl.
Long time fans of ESPN's college basketball Gametracker will note a Billikenesque drought in Dolberry's output since February. But I have called a time out and think we can hits some threes here down the stretch.
Game on, Owl.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
My entry into the family shamrock contest
I call this first pose "Tiananmen".
The second pose is called "Guantanamo".
Please ship my prize as expeditiously as possible. Thanks.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Doing things the hard way ...
Sorry for the long blog layoff. Will ease back into the DCV journalling exercise w/ that lightest of all blogging activities: the weekend recap. Don't want to pull any muscles right out of the gate ...
(Folks, that is called building suspense ... a lot of bloggers would not have tried that after one month off ... but I did ... and Imma not gonna lie to you ... I felt a twinge in my neck... but I'm going to proceed ... more carefully from here on)
They came out looking good, though spartan. Carving a jack o' lantern is not supposed to be a cardio workout, last I checked. The usual 11 trick-or-treaters came by which was nice.
Friday: Started the day at a conference on weather and technology. A few interesting talks, including one on how you could use Twitter for weather observations to emphasize the qualitative aspects of weather (e.g., "nice") over the quantitative aspects ("75 F, 58% humidity, mostly sunny). As an experiment, here were the Twitter obs for yesterday's City of Oaks half-marathon which will be described later in this post.
(Folks, that is called building suspense ... a lot of bloggers would not have tried that after one month off ... but I did ... and Imma not gonna lie to you ... I felt a twinge in my neck... but I'm going to proceed ... more carefully from here on)
- @tantina: "terrible"
- @llorenzin: "nasty"
- @ edgemultisport: "rough"
The quantitative description was steady rain, 49 F, 15 mph NE wind. Having spent a solid two hours in the aforementioned weather, Dolberry feels qualified to declare both sets of descriptions as accurate, but can see where some would get value out of the former.
Left the weather/technology conference in time for my favorite part of the whole year ... parent-teacher conferences. One of these years I expect some rogue teacher will surprise us w/ the judgment that APD is someone other than an amazing young man. But this year was not that year.
Saturday: Super nice day down here in NC on Saturday. Dawned dreary and foggy, but the warm southerly winds scoured out the clouds and the chill and yielded a supremely beautiful, Indian summer, Halloween. Got a lot of quality yard work done, then decided around 5:00p it was time to go get a pumpkin. Whoa. Not a great selection of pumpkins two hours before trick-or-treaters arrive. Ended up getting two "pie pumpkins" at Krogers. While pie pumpkins share the same color and basic look as a regular pumpkin, they are actually more similar to bowling balls in all other respects. Here's a list of the tools, I used to carve the alleged "pumpkins".
- Ripsaw
- Hammer
- Phillips-head screwdriver
- Two penny nails
They came out looking good, though spartan. Carving a jack o' lantern is not supposed to be a cardio workout, last I checked. The usual 11 trick-or-treaters came by which was nice.
Sunday: Thankfully it was "turn back your clocks an hour night" because we had to get up at 5:30a to head tbKMD off to the starting line for the City of Oaks half-marathon. APD and Dolberry were proudly on road crew duty. A sharp cold front had gone through only hours before which ushered in the nasterrible conditions. We got to cheer tbKMD just before the 1 mile marker where we picked up her wind breaker she'd kept on waiting for the race to start and the 7 mile marker. She was looking great. After she passed, we waited in the same spot to see her at the 10 mile mark (they turned around and came back the other way on Hillsborough St.). APD asked if he could go sit in the car w/ the heat on to warm up and get out of the cold squally downpour. We were parked at an Applebee's where you could easily see the race from the lot. I obliged but stayed outside to cheer on the other runners (one guy from my softball team was about to come by). A few minutes later, APD came out to say he was warm now but that I'd need to get the keys out of the ignition because he didn't know how. Of course, I couldn't do that because the keys were now locked in the running car. (He was worried about the car's safety so locked it on his way out.) This led to what I would guess was one of the most unusual exhortations in 1/2 marathon history when tbKMD came by a few minutes later.
"Hey Babe. Looking great! Um, try to stay warm at the finish line because we're locked out of the car. Keep it up!"
I had visions of us being stuck there for hours while tbKMD shivered miserably three miles away at the finish line, without warm clothes, a cell phone, or any way of knowing where her ride home was. But we were able to walk to a nearby gas station, call the cops, have them Slim Jim it open, and get to the finish line only about 15 minutes after she finished. And while she was shivering in her tanktop and shorts, she wasn't yet hypothermic, so that was good. (BTW: she finished in under 1:50 which is awesome. 13th out of 200 or so in her age group.) The great thing about being a goofball is that tbKMD always thinks Dolberry is joking when he screws something up royally ... so luckily she didn't spend her last 3 miles worrying about her predicament ... figuring I was just joshing. Both the BP operator and the Raleigh police officer were super nice, so the whole event was just a reassertion at how great people can be.
Hope everyone else's weekend was as equally fantabulous.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Yeah ... this will probably come out wrong
This post is not a rebel post ... this post is "Yeah ... this will probably come out wrong"
Fully appreciating the incongruity of feeling the need to "defend" a band that is drawing sixty to eighty thousand people a night to their shows, Dolberry would like to vent a little in general about the harsh reactions that U2 (and Bono, in particular) draws in some corners. You, happy reader, are actually doing me a service here. By venting in advance, I'll be able to avoid direct confrontation w/ any critics at the show tomorrow or afterwards. I'll think to myself ... "Sir or Madam, you were seriously pwn3d on the DCV!" and walk away smugly. That is how the passive-aggressive Dolberry rolls. (Is there any other point to having a blog that only 6 people read?)
To be clear, I don't have a problem w/ people that don't like U2's music. There's something mystical about the combination of poetry and rhythm that affects different people differently. Dolberry personally cannot appreciate the aural value of scores of bands, singers, songs that others do. (I'm looking at you again here ABBA.) There are some frequently cited complaints about U2 that I think are illogical and seek to counter here.
1. "U2 is too political. Shut up and sing, Bono.": OK, this one bothers me the most. Excellent article here from Jim Wallis about his DC experience w/ U2 360. In that link and elsewhere (comments in the WaPo review of the concert) there are accounts of people at the show yelling at Bono to shut up as he expounds (for less than 60-90 seconds, mind you) about poverty in Africa, political prisoners in Burma, protecting the environment, or praising Nancy Pelosi and George Bush for their efforts to improve the state of our world. In my opinion, U2's politics are not particularly political. Is anyone really FOR impoverished and starving Africans? Is anyone really FOR maintaining multi-generational Protestant-Catholic grievances and the terrorism that follows? Is anyone really AGAINST promoting freedom in Burma ... are there really big supporters for the Burmaese military junta here in the States? If so, why? Unfortunately, I think politics has gotten so partisan, spin-centered, and just flat-out screwed up that people reflexively turn away from things like this that simply sound political ...
2. "Bono is a raving messianic megalomaniac.": What part of "rock star" are you having a hard time following? Your "egotistical madman" is my "charismatic leader". Semantics, I guess.
3. "U2 is going to hell ": Someone at APD's school expressed alarmed concern to him yesterday that he was attending a U2 concert ... warning against "false prophets" and those that "use God's words for their personal gain". Look as a professing Christian, I don't know if I'm Christian "enough" ... let alone judge other in the faith. (Based on my own "righteous" anger I felt inside when I heard that an adult unloaded all this on a 12 year old yesterday ... I clearly have progress to make on emulating Jesus' example.) My own personal opinion, based on Matthew 25, is that God favors the imperfect among us who do something about injustice, hunger, poverty, and truly loving our neighbors rather than the imperfect among us who are considered "righteous". If one can show one's faith by one's deeds, I see a vibrant one in U2.
4. "U2 are hypocrites.": Typically this refrain goes "How can U2 lecture me on the environment when their tour emits 4 gazillion tons of CO2? How can U2 lecutre me on poverty when they own a castle in France and a hilltop mansion along the Big Sur?" News flash: nearly everyone is a hypocrite. Don't we all have ideals that we may not always live up to? Most of us are fortunate enough not to have these inconsistencies displayed on a worldwide screen. Dolberry is certainly a hypocrite. I claim to care about the poor and the hungry and the hopeless, but I own a big TV and a Playstation and I live in a comfort that numbs me from doing anything substantial about the plight of others. I claim to care about the environment but for 2-3 years I drove around w/ a "smoker" (the Tercel) because I was too lazy/cheap to maintain it properly. I plead guilty to these and scores of others where I say one thing ... but do another. Be honest critics ... you too are hypocrites. So, what is the resolution to this universal tendency toward hypocrisy ... well it can't be to stop trying to do the right thing ... to stop promoting the right thing. We are an imperfect people but we still need leaders everywhere (also imperfect) to step up and show us the way to a better world.
Bottom line: you don't have to like U2 ... some of us do ... Dolberry in particular ... if you don't like U2 for one of the four reasons above ... keep it to yourself when around Dolberry. Thanks! :-)
Am I bugging you? I don't mean to bug you.
Fully appreciating the incongruity of feeling the need to "defend" a band that is drawing sixty to eighty thousand people a night to their shows, Dolberry would like to vent a little in general about the harsh reactions that U2 (and Bono, in particular) draws in some corners. You, happy reader, are actually doing me a service here. By venting in advance, I'll be able to avoid direct confrontation w/ any critics at the show tomorrow or afterwards. I'll think to myself ... "Sir or Madam, you were seriously pwn3d on the DCV!" and walk away smugly. That is how the passive-aggressive Dolberry rolls. (Is there any other point to having a blog that only 6 people read?)
To be clear, I don't have a problem w/ people that don't like U2's music. There's something mystical about the combination of poetry and rhythm that affects different people differently. Dolberry personally cannot appreciate the aural value of scores of bands, singers, songs that others do. (I'm looking at you again here ABBA.) There are some frequently cited complaints about U2 that I think are illogical and seek to counter here.
1. "U2 is too political. Shut up and sing, Bono.": OK, this one bothers me the most. Excellent article here from Jim Wallis about his DC experience w/ U2 360. In that link and elsewhere (comments in the WaPo review of the concert) there are accounts of people at the show yelling at Bono to shut up as he expounds (for less than 60-90 seconds, mind you) about poverty in Africa, political prisoners in Burma, protecting the environment, or praising Nancy Pelosi and George Bush for their efforts to improve the state of our world. In my opinion, U2's politics are not particularly political. Is anyone really FOR impoverished and starving Africans? Is anyone really FOR maintaining multi-generational Protestant-Catholic grievances and the terrorism that follows? Is anyone really AGAINST promoting freedom in Burma ... are there really big supporters for the Burmaese military junta here in the States? If so, why? Unfortunately, I think politics has gotten so partisan, spin-centered, and just flat-out screwed up that people reflexively turn away from things like this that simply sound political ...
2. "Bono is a raving messianic megalomaniac.": What part of "rock star" are you having a hard time following? Your "egotistical madman" is my "charismatic leader". Semantics, I guess.
3. "U2 is going to hell ": Someone at APD's school expressed alarmed concern to him yesterday that he was attending a U2 concert ... warning against "false prophets" and those that "use God's words for their personal gain". Look as a professing Christian, I don't know if I'm Christian "enough" ... let alone judge other in the faith. (Based on my own "righteous" anger I felt inside when I heard that an adult unloaded all this on a 12 year old yesterday ... I clearly have progress to make on emulating Jesus' example.) My own personal opinion, based on Matthew 25, is that God favors the imperfect among us who do something about injustice, hunger, poverty, and truly loving our neighbors rather than the imperfect among us who are considered "righteous". If one can show one's faith by one's deeds, I see a vibrant one in U2.
4. "U2 are hypocrites.": Typically this refrain goes "How can U2 lecture me on the environment when their tour emits 4 gazillion tons of CO2? How can U2 lecutre me on poverty when they own a castle in France and a hilltop mansion along the Big Sur?" News flash: nearly everyone is a hypocrite. Don't we all have ideals that we may not always live up to? Most of us are fortunate enough not to have these inconsistencies displayed on a worldwide screen. Dolberry is certainly a hypocrite. I claim to care about the poor and the hungry and the hopeless, but I own a big TV and a Playstation and I live in a comfort that numbs me from doing anything substantial about the plight of others. I claim to care about the environment but for 2-3 years I drove around w/ a "smoker" (the Tercel) because I was too lazy/cheap to maintain it properly. I plead guilty to these and scores of others where I say one thing ... but do another. Be honest critics ... you too are hypocrites. So, what is the resolution to this universal tendency toward hypocrisy ... well it can't be to stop trying to do the right thing ... to stop promoting the right thing. We are an imperfect people but we still need leaders everywhere (also imperfect) to step up and show us the way to a better world.
Bottom line: you don't have to like U2 ... some of us do ... Dolberry in particular ... if you don't like U2 for one of the four reasons above ... keep it to yourself when around Dolberry. Thanks! :-)
Am I bugging you? I don't mean to bug you.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
My guess at U2's set list in Raleigh
1. Breathe
2. Magnificent
3. Get on Your Boots
4. Beautiful Day
5. Elevation
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. No Line on the Horizon
8. My Blue Room
9. Unknown Caller
10. New Years Day (or Until the End of the World)
11. Stay
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo
15. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One
20. Where the Streets Have No Name
21. Ultraviolet
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment of Surrender
I'd love it if "The Fly" made an appearance. Gonna be awesome. Super excited for APD to see it.
2. Magnificent
3. Get on Your Boots
4. Beautiful Day
5. Elevation
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. No Line on the Horizon
8. My Blue Room
9. Unknown Caller
10. New Years Day (or Until the End of the World)
11. Stay
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo
15. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One
20. Where the Streets Have No Name
21. Ultraviolet
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment of Surrender
I'd love it if "The Fly" made an appearance. Gonna be awesome. Super excited for APD to see it.
Monday, September 28, 2009
DCV Countdown: My Top 40 U2 songs of all time
40. Electrical Storm
39. Seconds
38. Bullet the Blue Sky
37. The Electric Co.
36. Elevation
35. Mothers of the Disappeared
34. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
33. Staring at the Sun
32. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
31. One Tree Hill
30. October
29. 40
28. Out of Control
27. In God's Country
26. Like a Song
25. Zoo Station
24. Stand Up Comedy
23. Two Hearts Beat as One
22. City of Blinding Lights
21. All I Want Is You
20. Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own
19. Gloria
18. A Sort of Homecoming
17. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
16. One
15. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
14. Bad
13. Magnificent
12. I Will Follow
11. Walk On
10. Vertigo
9. Beautiful Day
8. With or Without You
7. New Year's Day
6. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Pride (In the Name of Love)
4. The Fly
3. Sunday Bloody Sunday
2. Until the End of the World
1. Where the Streets Have No Name
39. Seconds
38. Bullet the Blue Sky
37. The Electric Co.
36. Elevation
35. Mothers of the Disappeared
34. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
33. Staring at the Sun
32. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
31. One Tree Hill
30. October
29. 40
28. Out of Control
27. In God's Country
26. Like a Song
25. Zoo Station
24. Stand Up Comedy
23. Two Hearts Beat as One
22. City of Blinding Lights
21. All I Want Is You
20. Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own
19. Gloria
18. A Sort of Homecoming
17. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
16. One
15. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
14. Bad
13. Magnificent
12. I Will Follow
11. Walk On
10. Vertigo
9. Beautiful Day
8. With or Without You
7. New Year's Day
6. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Pride (In the Name of Love)
4. The Fly
3. Sunday Bloody Sunday
2. Until the End of the World
1. Where the Streets Have No Name
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Quick recap of September
Sorry, I haven't been blogging. Sometimes I just get in a rut where nothing seems interesting enough to blog about. Not much of an excuse given that most of the stuff I do blog about isn't that interesting either. (If you want to read something interesting and actually thought-provoking, go to my G'ma's blog at: http://owlspinetree.blogspot.com/).
Anyway, here's a quick recap of the Life of Dolberry over the last several weeks.
My birthday was really nice. I'm pretty old now (43). Hard to get too worked up about prime number birthdays, so that's good. tbKMD & APD got me a great book, Joe Posnanski's: The Machine. You may remember Joe Posnanski from such great links as the one in the DCV banner. He's a great writer and this book was a great read. Of course, being about the 1975 Reds I'd have probably liked it if it'd been written by one of the Bronte sisters. Posnanski does the near-impossible at the end of the book ... make you feel sorry for Pete Rose. He does this w/o glossing over who Rose is either. Great book.
Our softball team has been taking a pounding this season. We're 2-7 and in last place. And I'm not playing very well. Still have 7 games left, so there's still time to turn it around. Conversely, APD's baseball team is doing very well. They're 6-2 in 2nd place. Don't think he's ever been on a winning team before, in like 7 seasons of baseball, so am happy for him. He's played some real good defense this year at SS, 1B ... and pitched a few innings along the way. Hits like his dad though, unfortunately.
The main thing I'm looking forward to in life is the big U2 show this Saturday in Raleigh. Going to be awesome. 6 days away. There'll be a U2 theme to the blog this week. Apologize in advance.
A few good Bono quotes to get it started:
Anyway, here's a quick recap of the Life of Dolberry over the last several weeks.
My birthday was really nice. I'm pretty old now (43). Hard to get too worked up about prime number birthdays, so that's good. tbKMD & APD got me a great book, Joe Posnanski's: The Machine. You may remember Joe Posnanski from such great links as the one in the DCV banner. He's a great writer and this book was a great read. Of course, being about the 1975 Reds I'd have probably liked it if it'd been written by one of the Bronte sisters. Posnanski does the near-impossible at the end of the book ... make you feel sorry for Pete Rose. He does this w/o glossing over who Rose is either. Great book.
Our softball team has been taking a pounding this season. We're 2-7 and in last place. And I'm not playing very well. Still have 7 games left, so there's still time to turn it around. Conversely, APD's baseball team is doing very well. They're 6-2 in 2nd place. Don't think he's ever been on a winning team before, in like 7 seasons of baseball, so am happy for him. He's played some real good defense this year at SS, 1B ... and pitched a few innings along the way. Hits like his dad though, unfortunately.
The main thing I'm looking forward to in life is the big U2 show this Saturday in Raleigh. Going to be awesome. 6 days away. There'll be a U2 theme to the blog this week. Apologize in advance.
A few good Bono quotes to get it started:
Rock music to me is rebel music. But rebelling against what? What are we rebelling against now? If I am honest I'm rebelling against my own indifference. I am rebelling against the idea that the world is the way the world is and there's not a damned thing I can do about it.
We must allow God to encourage us with His angels, but we must never forget the work is always going to be hard.
This is not a burden. This is an adventure. Do not let anyone tell you it cannot be done. We can be the generation that ends extreme poverty.
But we've got to follow through on our ideals or we betray something at the heart of who we are.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
How to fix the Reds (part 1)
They won today ... but the Cincinnati Reds are flat out awful at this point. Last in all of baseball in batting average (.239), on-base percentage (.308), and slugging percentage (.381) ... despite playing in one of the best hitting parks in baseball. In fact, if you look at their road hitting stats, which are not influenced by the offense-friendly GABP, their stats are a putrid .234/.297/.363. To put this in perspective I looked for the player w/ the closest stats to the Reds road split. The winner ... Astros backup catcher Humberto Quintero (.239/.291/.349). Essentially, you can view the Reds lineup on the road as nine Quinteros (which would be a good name for a metal/salsa band). Not surprisingly, they are dead last in runs scored (470). Big ... Dead ... Machine.
The pitching, while fading a bit from April/May, is right around league average which is reasonable considering park effects. The bullpen in particular has been ... well ... very good. Most of the time they are keeping games from getting out of hand rather than preserving leads, unfortunately.
They are 16.5 games out of the wild card lead and very clearly one of the worst 5 0r 6 worst teams in baseball. Their last winning season was 2000 and this decade they have been 116 games under .500. How to fix this mess? Dolberry has the answers.
Before getting to them ... recognize the cure is not going to be an easy one. Barring any massive increases in salary outlay, there are not going to be any easy fixes. You have to start now to build for 2012 or 2013. Yes, that's going to make it hard to sell season tickets next year ... but losing an additional 100-200K in attendance in the short term is worth the potential for an additional 1 to 1.5 million that you'll get when the Dolberry plan has you in the playoffs down the road. Also, realize that it's going to take some luck. The other MLB teams are not idiots, at least the majority of them. There will need to be some calculated risks (zigging when others zag) ... and some of them will have to pan out. But just eliminating the stupid things that the Reds have been doing will help get us started back to respectibility if nothing else.
Salary: Let's assume it's going to stay around $75 million like it's been over the past two years. That's not a problem. It's more than 11 teams, including some playoff candidates. Allocation of those resources has been the problem.
Distribution of salary: I like to view a baseball team as consisting of four parts: 1) the lineup, 2) the rotation, 3) the bullpen, 4) the bench. I'm not sure what the exact optimal allocation of funds should be but certainly you should weight the salary resources against potential contribution towards winning games. Some of this is gut feel ... some is statistical ... some is based on experience in fantasy and tabletop baseball (not a direct translation, admittedly) ... but I think the following distribution is close to right:
Lineup: 45% / Rotation 40% / Bullpen 10% / Bench 5%.
Some of the ideas that are built into this are:
- most of your ABs over a season (~ 70%) come from your top 8-10 players barring injuries
- similarly most of your IP (~60%) will come from your starters
- many relief IP are after the game's already been decided
- most of the bullpen $ should go to a quality pitcher who can be reserved for key situations
- it's easier to find cheap relievers than it is to find cheap position players or starters
- bench can usually be filled w/ useful 1-dimensional cheap pieces (e.g., lefty mashers)
One of the flaws w/ the Reds and their salary allocation this year can be seen in a comparison w/ the St. Louis. The Cardinals have a rotation/bullpen salary ratio of about 4. The Reds' pen of Cordero, Rhodes, & Weathers have pitched great ... but the $17.5 million investment in those three players has not translated to wins because there are few leads to protect ... having shortchanged the more win-relevant parts (lineup and rotation).
Lesson for today ... need to adhere more closely to optimal splits ... Reds bullpen should cost (on average) ~ 7 to 8 million. We'll talk in another installment on how to build a good bullpen w/ that kind of money.
Part 2: Amateur Draft / Free Agents / Minor League Free Agents / Rule 5 Draft / Trades ... general philosophy on how to build a winning roster.
The pitching, while fading a bit from April/May, is right around league average which is reasonable considering park effects. The bullpen in particular has been ... well ... very good. Most of the time they are keeping games from getting out of hand rather than preserving leads, unfortunately.
They are 16.5 games out of the wild card lead and very clearly one of the worst 5 0r 6 worst teams in baseball. Their last winning season was 2000 and this decade they have been 116 games under .500. How to fix this mess? Dolberry has the answers.
Before getting to them ... recognize the cure is not going to be an easy one. Barring any massive increases in salary outlay, there are not going to be any easy fixes. You have to start now to build for 2012 or 2013. Yes, that's going to make it hard to sell season tickets next year ... but losing an additional 100-200K in attendance in the short term is worth the potential for an additional 1 to 1.5 million that you'll get when the Dolberry plan has you in the playoffs down the road. Also, realize that it's going to take some luck. The other MLB teams are not idiots, at least the majority of them. There will need to be some calculated risks (zigging when others zag) ... and some of them will have to pan out. But just eliminating the stupid things that the Reds have been doing will help get us started back to respectibility if nothing else.
Salary: Let's assume it's going to stay around $75 million like it's been over the past two years. That's not a problem. It's more than 11 teams, including some playoff candidates. Allocation of those resources has been the problem.
Distribution of salary: I like to view a baseball team as consisting of four parts: 1) the lineup, 2) the rotation, 3) the bullpen, 4) the bench. I'm not sure what the exact optimal allocation of funds should be but certainly you should weight the salary resources against potential contribution towards winning games. Some of this is gut feel ... some is statistical ... some is based on experience in fantasy and tabletop baseball (not a direct translation, admittedly) ... but I think the following distribution is close to right:
Lineup: 45% / Rotation 40% / Bullpen 10% / Bench 5%.
Some of the ideas that are built into this are:
- most of your ABs over a season (~ 70%) come from your top 8-10 players barring injuries
- similarly most of your IP (~60%) will come from your starters
- many relief IP are after the game's already been decided
- most of the bullpen $ should go to a quality pitcher who can be reserved for key situations
- it's easier to find cheap relievers than it is to find cheap position players or starters
- bench can usually be filled w/ useful 1-dimensional cheap pieces (e.g., lefty mashers)
One of the flaws w/ the Reds and their salary allocation this year can be seen in a comparison w/ the St. Louis. The Cardinals have a rotation/bullpen salary ratio of about 4. The Reds' pen of Cordero, Rhodes, & Weathers have pitched great ... but the $17.5 million investment in those three players has not translated to wins because there are few leads to protect ... having shortchanged the more win-relevant parts (lineup and rotation).
Lesson for today ... need to adhere more closely to optimal splits ... Reds bullpen should cost (on average) ~ 7 to 8 million. We'll talk in another installment on how to build a good bullpen w/ that kind of money.
Part 2: Amateur Draft / Free Agents / Minor League Free Agents / Rule 5 Draft / Trades ... general philosophy on how to build a winning roster.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Pitino thoughts
I don't really know what to think about the whole sordid saga involving Rick Pitino. Dolberry always had the sense that he was a master manipulator. I guess he's usually referred to as a master motivator, but those two terms are close cousins. The difference seems to reflect one's intent and I guess in big-time coaching they can be hard to disentangle.
It'll be interesting to see what it's like in November when Pitino's sitting on the Cardinal bench. I doubt it'll affect his coaching and I doubt it'll affect recruiting. I'm just not sure Dolberry will be able to see him and not think of infidelity, abortion, and that scary extortion lady.
motivator: to provide someone with something that causes a person to actClearly, no one involved in this mess has managed it w/ any thing resembling skill.
manipulator: to utilize something skillfully, so as to serve one's purpose
It'll be interesting to see what it's like in November when Pitino's sitting on the Cardinal bench. I doubt it'll affect his coaching and I doubt it'll affect recruiting. I'm just not sure Dolberry will be able to see him and not think of infidelity, abortion, and that scary extortion lady.
Friday, August 07, 2009
Farewell to a former friend ...
Guess all of us of a certain age have had friendships that we once really treasured ... but ... for one reason or another (distance, drift, etc.) ... seen steadily fade w/ time until at some point the relationship no longer existed. Dolberry! has made the decision to drop our subscription to the News and Observer and I feel really conflicted about this.
I grew up in household where the morning paper was treasured. My favorite stories about me (are there really any other any kind of stories?) are the ones about how I was reading the newspaper at 3 or how I knew all the current batting averages of MLB players by the age whatever. It used to be a battle for me to get the Sports page before Dad could get to it. The comics section was a consolation prize if the Sports page was gone. In middle school and high school, one of the joys of waking up (besides the cold potato soup breakfast) was knowing that you were but a 4 minute shower, 45 second teeth brushing, and maybe 3o seconds of garb-assembling away from that day's Calvin and Hobbes. In middle school we had current events quizzes that Dolberry always nailed thanks to the newspaper. Even Dolberry's first public writing was published in the newspaper ... a hard-hitting letter to the editor against political action committees. (I'm still agin' 'em.).
By all accounts, the Louisville Courier-Journal was one of the best papers in a medium-sized city back in the day. (Now it appears to be mostly a mechanism to present Belk's ads.) I can't really remember if I had a Post-Dispatch subscription but do know I read it whenever practical. Of course the Chicago Tribune was an awesome paper for our days in and around the Windy City. And the News and Observer down here has been a great paper at least 11 of the last 12 years. Basically, I would guess that 50-75% of my days since Dolberry was five have started w/ a perusal of the newspaper.
Sadly, the newspaper industry contracted a fatal illness sometime over the last 10 years or so. It's been painful to watch. A few corporations bought up a bunch of newspapers and started careful monitoring of the profit margin often at the expense of quality. Many people started getting their news from cable networks or the internet. I think a lot of people (mostly younger) tuned out news for the most part ... staying informed via alternate media / social networks / more effective word of mouth. Circulation numbers started falling. Ad revenue dropped. Production costs rose. Further steps to reduce cost were made and quality suffered further. More people dropped their subscription. Rinse and repeat.
I probably would have kept ponying up the $200 a year for home delivery, but my once close friend started sending signals that he didn't really care about Dolberry! that much any more. And I don't really blame him ... he had to worry about other things ... namely survival. So, not to make it more acrimonious than it needs to be, but I didn't appreciate what my friend started doing:
1) Printing articles in our paper that were originally written for the Charlotte Observer. Dolberry does not care about the Panthers or the Bobcats or PGA events in Charlotte any more than I care about local events in Richmond or Atlanta.
2) The Monday paper became a mini-paper ... one that doesn't even last me the whole bus ride to work.
3) The number of individual voices (sportswriters, columnists, features writers) kept getting whittled down to where the paper seems 75% wire services. What's the point of a local paper that doesn't have a set of distinctive voices that you can enter in to a relationship with?
4) Most damaging to our friendship ... the newspaper quit getting the west coast baseball scores into the next day's paper. There are more "Late Yesterday" boxscores in our paper now than actual ones. Any game that ends after 9:45p is not getting in the next day's paper. I challenge anyone to offer up anything more useless than a 36 hour old boxscore. It's not old enough to be of historical interest and it's not new enough to be news. If you can't get the game in the paper the next day, just skip it.
But really, I'm not really angry about it. I understand why it's happened. But ... it's time to move on. This week I've been reading novels or work stuff on the bus and I haven't missed the paper. A 10 second glance at Google News keeps me up to date w/ all that anyone could ever care to know about cash for clunkers, homicidal maniacs, Russian-Georgian relations, or Paula Abdul. Meanwhile my favorite writers are available via the web: here, here (though he's retiring), here, and here.
So ... newspapers ... thanks ... I'll miss what we had.
I grew up in household where the morning paper was treasured. My favorite stories about me (are there really any other any kind of stories?) are the ones about how I was reading the newspaper at 3 or how I knew all the current batting averages of MLB players by the age whatever. It used to be a battle for me to get the Sports page before Dad could get to it. The comics section was a consolation prize if the Sports page was gone. In middle school and high school, one of the joys of waking up (besides the cold potato soup breakfast) was knowing that you were but a 4 minute shower, 45 second teeth brushing, and maybe 3o seconds of garb-assembling away from that day's Calvin and Hobbes. In middle school we had current events quizzes that Dolberry always nailed thanks to the newspaper. Even Dolberry's first public writing was published in the newspaper ... a hard-hitting letter to the editor against political action committees. (I'm still agin' 'em.).
By all accounts, the Louisville Courier-Journal was one of the best papers in a medium-sized city back in the day. (Now it appears to be mostly a mechanism to present Belk's ads.) I can't really remember if I had a Post-Dispatch subscription but do know I read it whenever practical. Of course the Chicago Tribune was an awesome paper for our days in and around the Windy City. And the News and Observer down here has been a great paper at least 11 of the last 12 years. Basically, I would guess that 50-75% of my days since Dolberry was five have started w/ a perusal of the newspaper.
Sadly, the newspaper industry contracted a fatal illness sometime over the last 10 years or so. It's been painful to watch. A few corporations bought up a bunch of newspapers and started careful monitoring of the profit margin often at the expense of quality. Many people started getting their news from cable networks or the internet. I think a lot of people (mostly younger) tuned out news for the most part ... staying informed via alternate media / social networks / more effective word of mouth. Circulation numbers started falling. Ad revenue dropped. Production costs rose. Further steps to reduce cost were made and quality suffered further. More people dropped their subscription. Rinse and repeat.
I probably would have kept ponying up the $200 a year for home delivery, but my once close friend started sending signals that he didn't really care about Dolberry! that much any more. And I don't really blame him ... he had to worry about other things ... namely survival. So, not to make it more acrimonious than it needs to be, but I didn't appreciate what my friend started doing:
1) Printing articles in our paper that were originally written for the Charlotte Observer. Dolberry does not care about the Panthers or the Bobcats or PGA events in Charlotte any more than I care about local events in Richmond or Atlanta.
2) The Monday paper became a mini-paper ... one that doesn't even last me the whole bus ride to work.
3) The number of individual voices (sportswriters, columnists, features writers) kept getting whittled down to where the paper seems 75% wire services. What's the point of a local paper that doesn't have a set of distinctive voices that you can enter in to a relationship with?
4) Most damaging to our friendship ... the newspaper quit getting the west coast baseball scores into the next day's paper. There are more "Late Yesterday" boxscores in our paper now than actual ones. Any game that ends after 9:45p is not getting in the next day's paper. I challenge anyone to offer up anything more useless than a 36 hour old boxscore. It's not old enough to be of historical interest and it's not new enough to be news. If you can't get the game in the paper the next day, just skip it.
But really, I'm not really angry about it. I understand why it's happened. But ... it's time to move on. This week I've been reading novels or work stuff on the bus and I haven't missed the paper. A 10 second glance at Google News keeps me up to date w/ all that anyone could ever care to know about cash for clunkers, homicidal maniacs, Russian-Georgian relations, or Paula Abdul. Meanwhile my favorite writers are available via the web: here, here (though he's retiring), here, and here.
So ... newspapers ... thanks ... I'll miss what we had.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Welcome to the fallout
Looks like the non-toxic fallout from the big Apex EQ plant explosion is finally settling out. A federal judge gave the ok to a 7.8 million dollar settlement between EQ and those affected by the resulting evacuation. The Dolberries share of this fortune is expected to be a cool $750. Sheesh, I got out of a day of work ... I should be paying EQ.
Other stories from Apex lately have not been nearly as pleasant. This one (about 1 mile away) and this one (about 1/2 mile away) are unpleasant reminders about the transient quality of life.
On the brighter side, Forbes magazine voted Apex the third best place to move to in the U.S. Presumably, the voting closed before people started shooting and running over people.
Sarasota landed the Orioles for $31 million of public money ... to be funded by a tourism tax. Great ... so when Dolberry comes down for Spring Training he'll be taxed to see the team that replaced the team that he started coming down to see in the first place. I'm staying in Manatee county.
Things are ok w/ Dolberry and his affiliates. APD got scalped and is no worse the wear for it. tbKMD has been running a whole bunch and is also no worse the wear for it. This week Dolberry worked a five day week for the first time since the Taft administration and am the worse for wear. And I wore the worst.
It's time for softball to start.
Other stories from Apex lately have not been nearly as pleasant. This one (about 1 mile away) and this one (about 1/2 mile away) are unpleasant reminders about the transient quality of life.
On the brighter side, Forbes magazine voted Apex the third best place to move to in the U.S. Presumably, the voting closed before people started shooting and running over people.
Sarasota landed the Orioles for $31 million of public money ... to be funded by a tourism tax. Great ... so when Dolberry comes down for Spring Training he'll be taxed to see the team that replaced the team that he started coming down to see in the first place. I'm staying in Manatee county.
Things are ok w/ Dolberry and his affiliates. APD got scalped and is no worse the wear for it. tbKMD has been running a whole bunch and is also no worse the wear for it. This week Dolberry worked a five day week for the first time since the Taft administration and am the worse for wear. And I wore the worst.
It's time for softball to start.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Small wedding
The Dolberries had a great time out in Asheboro on Thursday night at the Small wedding (Shelly and Cleve). Always great to see the Asheboro kin. It was a really nice ceremony ... held under a big tree just off the 9th green at Tot Hill Farm golf course. Interestingly, the THF course is rated the 7th hardest in the whole country by Golf Digest. Dolberry estimates he'd shoot about a 140 there.
Anyway, here are some pictures ...
Anyway, here are some pictures ...
Sunday, July 12, 2009
This needle in a haystack life
Great time yesterday w/ the youth group up at KingsFest at Kings Dominion. Conversations w/ good friends, wooden roller coasters, and the refueling of my soul that is a Switchfoot show ... that's a great day. (Even if it takes being awake 26 hours to get all that done. Then my 6 hour nap has me up at 12:30a)
Here's the highlight of each of those 26 hours (approximately):
4a: Waking up to tbKMD accidentally dropping a boisterously noisy dish on the kitchen floor.
5a: Getting a free water from Enterprise when renting the "sketch van"
6a: Heading up to Virginia basically on time
7a: Picking up the awesomeness that is Suzy Q in Durham
8a: Listening to Skillet and Fireflight on the drive up.
9a: Seeing blue lights in the rearview and having VA State Police nab someone other than me.
10a: Getting pics of the youth group in front of the KD fountains and Eiffel Tower.
11a: Riding the Log Ride w/ Chowda & JR32
12p: Getting soaked on the Whitewater Canyon (but not as soaked ...)
1p: Seeing Chowda's face when his uncle & cousin met him for lunch.
2p: Riding the coasters and chatting w/ the crew in the lines.
3p: Watching John's $4 103 F "grape"drink melt a cup of ice in around 90 seconds.
4p: Getting a thumbs up from Jon Foreman and Drew Shirley outside the indoor coaster*.
5p: Being able to get tbKMD into the pavillion despite her having lost her ticket**.
6p: Soaking in Hawk Nelson while lying on cool grass under partly cloudy skies.
7p: Really good talk from a pastor from Queens. Learned a lot about Rdy2Ride.
8p: Am starting to like Skillet more. Adding the violin & cello were a great call.
9p: Switchfoot's Beyonce/Rhiannon version of "Gone".
10p: First ever listen to an incredibly uplifting song "Needle and Haystack Life" (see left)
11p: Watching 9 hungry youth try unsuccessfully walk-thru McDonalds drive-thru.
12a: Drinking 2 X-large diet cokes to stay awake for the drive back.
1a: Finding a open reststop to pee.
2a: Getting back to church safe and sound.
3a: The world's groggiest Monopoly game ever w/ Ry, APD, Chowda, and JR32
4a: Trying to stay awake and be banker at same time.
5a: Getting the rental van back & finding our car in the RDU lot.
6a: Returning to church for 120 minutes of sleep before pickup.
* - Dolberry conducted one of his famous interviews of Switchfoot's guitarist Drew Shirley who was wearing the same shirt I was (a lowercase people shirt). As always, Dolberry interviews are not a lot of fluff.
** - It should be noted that she successfully managed about 1000 other things throughout the course of the day.
Switchfoot introduced their new song "Needle in a Haystack Life" w/ a quote from Einstein: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. This is a song about being that second type of a person." Check out the song to the left. It's better than "Hello Hurricane" ... which held the title best song ever for about a week and a half. We are all "once in a lifetime" people.
Here's the highlight of each of those 26 hours (approximately):
4a: Waking up to tbKMD accidentally dropping a boisterously noisy dish on the kitchen floor.
5a: Getting a free water from Enterprise when renting the "sketch van"
6a: Heading up to Virginia basically on time
7a: Picking up the awesomeness that is Suzy Q in Durham
8a: Listening to Skillet and Fireflight on the drive up.
9a: Seeing blue lights in the rearview and having VA State Police nab someone other than me.
10a: Getting pics of the youth group in front of the KD fountains and Eiffel Tower.
11a: Riding the Log Ride w/ Chowda & JR32
12p: Getting soaked on the Whitewater Canyon (but not as soaked ...)
1p: Seeing Chowda's face when his uncle & cousin met him for lunch.
2p: Riding the coasters and chatting w/ the crew in the lines.
3p: Watching John's $4 103 F "grape"drink melt a cup of ice in around 90 seconds.
4p: Getting a thumbs up from Jon Foreman and Drew Shirley outside the indoor coaster*.
5p: Being able to get tbKMD into the pavillion despite her having lost her ticket**.
6p: Soaking in Hawk Nelson while lying on cool grass under partly cloudy skies.
7p: Really good talk from a pastor from Queens. Learned a lot about Rdy2Ride.
8p: Am starting to like Skillet more. Adding the violin & cello were a great call.
9p: Switchfoot's Beyonce/Rhiannon version of "Gone".
10p: First ever listen to an incredibly uplifting song "Needle and Haystack Life" (see left)
11p: Watching 9 hungry youth try unsuccessfully walk-thru McDonalds drive-thru.
12a: Drinking 2 X-large diet cokes to stay awake for the drive back.
1a: Finding a open reststop to pee.
2a: Getting back to church safe and sound.
3a: The world's groggiest Monopoly game ever w/ Ry, APD, Chowda, and JR32
4a: Trying to stay awake and be banker at same time.
5a: Getting the rental van back & finding our car in the RDU lot.
6a: Returning to church for 120 minutes of sleep before pickup.
* - Dolberry conducted one of his famous interviews of Switchfoot's guitarist Drew Shirley who was wearing the same shirt I was (a lowercase people shirt). As always, Dolberry interviews are not a lot of fluff.
Dolberry: Hey Drew! Nice shirt.
Drew Shirley (pointing at my shirt and giving a victory hand gesture): "Awesome!"
** - It should be noted that she successfully managed about 1000 other things throughout the course of the day.
Switchfoot introduced their new song "Needle in a Haystack Life" w/ a quote from Einstein: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. This is a song about being that second type of a person." Check out the song to the left. It's better than "Hello Hurricane" ... which held the title best song ever for about a week and a half. We are all "once in a lifetime" people.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Back from vacation
Great time at Emerald Isle w/ the folks, Lallys, and G'ma Fitz. Only thing that kept it from perfection was absence of Boards and Harley's owner (& maybe a nightime t-storm).
Only took one day at work to re-realize how great vacation was.
Here's a few pics. APD did a fine job manning the camera.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Hello Hurricane - Best song ever!
OK ... hyperbolic much, Dolberry? But this song rocks. Can't imagine the studio version being better than this initial live effort from Switchfoot. I've listened to it 10 times here this evening (still on Mountain time). Check out the You Tube link to the right if you're reading from Blogger.
I've been watching new skies
They've been turning blood red.
Not a doubt in my mind anymore.
There's a storm up ahead.
Hello Hurricane.
You're not enough,
Hello Hurricane.
You can't silence my love.
I've got doors and windows boarded up,
All your dead fury is not enough,
You can't silence my love
Everything I have becomes lost
Everything I have has been stripped away
Before I started building
I've counted up these costs
There's nothing left for you to take away
Hello Hurricane.
You're not enough,
Hello Hurricane.
You can't silence my love.
I've got doors and windows boarded up,
All your dead fury is not enough,
You can't silence my love
All this time fighting for control
All this time fighting for my soul
Everything inside of me surrenders
You can't silence my love
You can't silence my love
Hello Hurricane.
You're not enough,
Hello Hurricane.
You can't silence my love.
I've got doors and windows boarded up,
All your dead fury is not enough,
You can't silence my love
I've been watching new skies
They've been turning blood red.
Not a doubt in my mind anymore.
There's a storm up ahead.
Hello Hurricane.
You're not enough,
Hello Hurricane.
You can't silence my love.
I've got doors and windows boarded up,
All your dead fury is not enough,
You can't silence my love
Everything I have becomes lost
Everything I have has been stripped away
Before I started building
I've counted up these costs
There's nothing left for you to take away
Hello Hurricane.
You're not enough,
Hello Hurricane.
You can't silence my love.
I've got doors and windows boarded up,
All your dead fury is not enough,
You can't silence my love
All this time fighting for control
All this time fighting for my soul
Everything inside of me surrenders
You can't silence my love
You can't silence my love
Hello Hurricane.
You're not enough,
Hello Hurricane.
You can't silence my love.
I've got doors and windows boarded up,
All your dead fury is not enough,
You can't silence my love
Thursday, June 25, 2009
From thunder to tundra
After the presentations today, Dolberry headed northeast to Rocky Mountain National Park. Just like last year, there was a little bit of squally sun-rain heading out of Boulder, but by the time I hit Estes Park, it was basically broad blue sky.
Drove up the Trail Ridge road to the Tundra Nature Trail. It starts at 12, 115 feet and climbs another 250 feet on the 1 mile walk. Wow, the air is thin up that high. Hard to breathe and walk at the same time sort of thin. And despite being pre-hydrated to past flood stage, I had a bit of a headache as well getting started. Thankfully they have little information signs every 50 yards or so that you can stop and read (e.g., "lichen is a fascinating example of tundra adaptation") ... while not betraying you would have had to stop to catch your breath anyway. It was a wee bit chilly up there ... maybe mid-50's and breezy. Unlike the other trail folk, Dolberry was dressed uncomfortably in a t-shirt and shorts.
I'm not sure if it was the oxygen-deficit or natural goofiness, but I did the last stages of the "out" portion of the trail as Gollum ... cursing the nasty hobbitses while searching for my precious. You had to be there. At the end, you can climb up these rocks and cast a near-sunset shadow about a quarter of a mile down and maybe 200 yards long.
Sitting up there ... saw a herd of elk cross the road and head across the snowfields below me. Beautiful glacier lakes, humorous-looking marmots, and even higher mountain tops shining in the sun were no match for the best sight of all ... the restrooms at the trailhead. I probably peed for 3 minutes.
Anyway, great day. Wish you guys were there as well. Am guessing that Dolberry was the only person in a 50-mile radius w/o a camera, but these ones off the interwebs were pretty much what it looked like (except w/o the hunched over hobbit-like creature skulking up the trail). Thanks to the photographer at the interwebs for making them available.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Votto, part II
It turns out ... and this happens very infrequently ... that I was right about what was bugging Joey Votto. He returned to the Reds yesterday after missing three weeks. It sounds like after his dad died last August at the young age of 52 ... the sadness of that coupled w/ a realization that "we are not infinite, we are not permanent" ... pretty much got him in a bad state. At one point while on the DL, he called 911 at 3am fearful he was dying,
"I could not take it," he said. "I thought I was going to die."
So glad he's doing better and hope he realizes that it's a really a perverse sort of gift to know that life doesn't last forever.
"I could not take it," he said. "I thought I was going to die."
So glad he's doing better and hope he realizes that it's a really a perverse sort of gift to know that life doesn't last forever.
A life spent chasing tornadoes?
So, I'm out here in the foothills of the Rockies ... attending the WRF workshop. Some of the talks were interesting; others were not (to me anyway). Coming out of the meeting after the last presentation, I was reminded of why I got into meteorology in the first place ... the sky was darkening to the north and thunder murmured from above. Having no real plans for the evening (other than to skip the conference reception) ... I decided to chase the storm like all those cool dudes and dudettes on the Discovery Channel. The radio indicated that it was severe, was over the airport, and was heading northeast.
At the beginning, it was more of a drive than a chase. Drove east through the towns of Dacono and Fort Lupton seeing only one (very cool) bolt of lightning. But as I merged onto I-76 East and could go the 75 mph speed limit ... there was a rapid narrowing of the gap between Dolberry and the darkest skies. Frigthening pulses of lightning surged from cloud to earth at 15 second intervals just to the south of the highway. I was trying to get out ahead of the storm ... to get to a point where I could watch it roll in.
I stopped in Roggen ... on a little hill ... but it was clear that the real action was further south and east. Got back on the interstate and sped on to the little town of Wiggins CO. Several miles before the exit, I saw a small shelf cloud off to the left. Called my radar back in NC (thanks Kyle) who confirmed what was becoming apparent ... I'd gotten right in the path of a big storm. Drove south down a narrow road, just like the one you see real StormChasers drive on all the time ... finally stopping when I saw some clouds lower than the rest.
I watched them for a while ... they seemed a long way off at first ... but then they seemed really close. The wind started to gust ... maybe 40 mph ... and then the rain began blowing sideways. I'll admit I was a little scared even though there was no real hints of a tornado ... just a nice sized Great Plains thunderstorm. I did a U-turn ... really a sideways T-turn ... and headed back to the interstate in a driving rain.
(There eventually was a tornado from the storm ... 80 miles downwind.)
When I was scared there ... for those first adrenelin-fueled seconds that accompany any good downdraft ... I wondered why in the world I'd driven some 70 miles to get in the path of a storm. Driving back to Boulder, wondered further if the evening was a little metaphor for life on Earth ... and whether one should chase highly-transient objects that can be both really cool (popularity, success, wins, wins, wins) yet are often suddenly destructive.
It'd be cliched if it weren't true ... but I saw a beautiful rainbow on the way back ... heading away from the storm ... heading back to a temporary home.
At the beginning, it was more of a drive than a chase. Drove east through the towns of Dacono and Fort Lupton seeing only one (very cool) bolt of lightning. But as I merged onto I-76 East and could go the 75 mph speed limit ... there was a rapid narrowing of the gap between Dolberry and the darkest skies. Frigthening pulses of lightning surged from cloud to earth at 15 second intervals just to the south of the highway. I was trying to get out ahead of the storm ... to get to a point where I could watch it roll in.
I stopped in Roggen ... on a little hill ... but it was clear that the real action was further south and east. Got back on the interstate and sped on to the little town of Wiggins CO. Several miles before the exit, I saw a small shelf cloud off to the left. Called my radar back in NC (thanks Kyle) who confirmed what was becoming apparent ... I'd gotten right in the path of a big storm. Drove south down a narrow road, just like the one you see real StormChasers drive on all the time ... finally stopping when I saw some clouds lower than the rest.
I watched them for a while ... they seemed a long way off at first ... but then they seemed really close. The wind started to gust ... maybe 40 mph ... and then the rain began blowing sideways. I'll admit I was a little scared even though there was no real hints of a tornado ... just a nice sized Great Plains thunderstorm. I did a U-turn ... really a sideways T-turn ... and headed back to the interstate in a driving rain.
(There eventually was a tornado from the storm ... 80 miles downwind.)
When I was scared there ... for those first adrenelin-fueled seconds that accompany any good downdraft ... I wondered why in the world I'd driven some 70 miles to get in the path of a storm. Driving back to Boulder, wondered further if the evening was a little metaphor for life on Earth ... and whether one should chase highly-transient objects that can be both really cool (popularity, success, wins, wins, wins) yet are often suddenly destructive.
It'd be cliched if it weren't true ... but I saw a beautiful rainbow on the way back ... heading away from the storm ... heading back to a temporary home.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Dolberry Doused in D.C.
Got to go to D.C. last week ... fun experience. Honors award ceremony was nice. Got to shake Lisa Jackson's hand. (Will post picture when I get it.) Afterward we were eating lunch outside at a restaurant on Pennsylvania Ave. when numerous Homeland Security cars came racing by w/ sirens blaring ... for the Holocaust shooting less than a mile away. (I seriously don't understand how somebody can hold that much hate for that long. At some point don't you have to find something better to do w/ your life.)
After checking into my hotel, rode the Metro over to the new Nationals Park to see the Reds play the Nats. Very cool place. Right along the Potomac.
Caught a lot of BP and caught a ball on a carom. Some pre-game pics of the park.
Not many people at the game ... maybe about 30% full. Got $29 tix on the street for $20. It was a hot day, but as game time approached it started to get darker and darker.
The Reds only got two hits through the first 7 innings, but fortunately one of them was a 2-run bomb from Jay Bruce. Even better, Aaron Harang was pitching a gem and the Reds led 2-0 going into the bottom of the 9th. It had been raining off and on since about the 4th, but it got serious by the end w/ lightning and torrential rain eventually chasing everyone off the field.
I stuck around for about 45 minutes, but because I had been up since 4:20a ... had a train ride back to the hotel (in Virginia) ... and an 8:30a meeting the next morning ... ... I decided to bail before the end of the rain delay. They started baseball again a little before midnight and the Reds blew the lead, only to win it in the 12th at 12:45a. Apparently, less than 100 fans were left at the game's end.
My meeting the next day was good and I got back home in time for a softball DH in which the second game was postponed due to lightning (that was about 30 miles away).
Busy week next week (big briefings on Mon and Thurs) ... then the travels continue: Louisville, Colorado, Emerald Isle. Should be fun. Life is good.
After checking into my hotel, rode the Metro over to the new Nationals Park to see the Reds play the Nats. Very cool place. Right along the Potomac.
Caught a lot of BP and caught a ball on a carom. Some pre-game pics of the park.
Not many people at the game ... maybe about 30% full. Got $29 tix on the street for $20. It was a hot day, but as game time approached it started to get darker and darker.
The Reds only got two hits through the first 7 innings, but fortunately one of them was a 2-run bomb from Jay Bruce. Even better, Aaron Harang was pitching a gem and the Reds led 2-0 going into the bottom of the 9th. It had been raining off and on since about the 4th, but it got serious by the end w/ lightning and torrential rain eventually chasing everyone off the field.
I stuck around for about 45 minutes, but because I had been up since 4:20a ... had a train ride back to the hotel (in Virginia) ... and an 8:30a meeting the next morning ... ... I decided to bail before the end of the rain delay. They started baseball again a little before midnight and the Reds blew the lead, only to win it in the 12th at 12:45a. Apparently, less than 100 fans were left at the game's end.
My meeting the next day was good and I got back home in time for a softball DH in which the second game was postponed due to lightning (that was about 30 miles away).
Busy week next week (big briefings on Mon and Thurs) ... then the travels continue: Louisville, Colorado, Emerald Isle. Should be fun. Life is good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)