As Far As You Know

Okay, I've been pretty negligent about updating this site. A busy end of term in February, capped by the organization and execution of both the New England squash tournament and a team tour of Great Britain have kept me pretty flat out since early February. Now I am in Florida with the Choate tennis team and the pace of life is fairly relaxed for the first time in many weeks. So I am back to cyberspace for the first time in a while.

I will be tinkering with the whole web site in the coming days and weeks. Among the upgrade projects on my "to do" list are a new CSS design, some more graphics (I've got a new Canon 20D digital SLR camera heading my way!), and perhaps an RSS dimension as well. So stay tuned . . .

I've been borrowing a G4 iBook from the school to use as a laptop on the road the last couple of weeks and have decided I'll order one later this spring (once the Tiger OS revision is released) so that I can get the up-to-date operating system as well as iLife '05 with the new machine.

The coolest accessory for a portable Mac can be seen here: www.foofbag.com. This site features some funky-looking covers for iBooks and PowerBooks from a purveyor Down Under. I've already ordered one as well as an iPod cover, which will be a gift, from the companion foofpod.com site.

Here's some artwork commemmorating the assassination of Julius Caesar. It seemed to fit the occasion today!

I caught the new trailer for the final Star Wars installment last night while checking e-mail on an AOL account (turns out AOL members have exclusive access to the trailer for a while). It looks pretty promising. Hopefully I'll see this trailer again on the silver screen tonight; I am heading out to the movies for the first time in over two months--which surely is a record drought for me since the age of about 12!

Like the terrific current run of 24, this season's The West Wing is reinvigorated. I just ordered the Season 4 DVD package, but the current episodes featuring Jimmy Smits, Alan Alda, Tim Matheson, and Gary Cole playing characters vying for the White House have provided a much-welcomed breath of fresh air as the Bartlet Administration nears its end. The infusion of new characters and election storylines has enabled the writers to explore virgin territory. Though Aaron Sorkin is still sorely missed--no one nails dialogue like the scribe behind A Few Good Men, The American President, and Sports Night--I am far more interested in this show than I was a year ago.

Apparently the plan is to inaugurate a new president halfway through the 2005-2006 season, assuming the show is renewed, of course. Whether Bartlet's successor will be a Republican (Alda) or a Democrat (Smits, most likely) is yet to be seen. In any case I will miss Martin Sheen's Jed Bartlet.

Next week NBC will be airing the premiere episode of the American version of the brilliant British show "The Office." Having become a fan of the original, I hope the Peacock doesn't screw this up. Apparently the pilot is a faithful recreation of its counterpart, then the rest of the episodes are new scripts. Check it out here.

I checked out Robots last night, the latest in computer-generated animation films. The movie was cute in terms of story and character--appropriate for kids, with enough knowing pop culture references worked in for the benefit of older viewers. What was amazing was the eye candy; the refinement of this sort of animation has continued to develop impressively. The metallic surfaces that dominated the look of the film worked really well when rendered by computer.

While my own tennis team was engaged in spring training on court this morning, I drove down the road a bit to check out the New York Yankees gearing up for the season ahead. The Bronx Bombers practice and play at Legends Field, a pleasantly accessible and intimate ballpark in Tampa (unfortunately situated at 1 Steinbrenner Drive!). I enjoyed a bit of late morning batting practice.

Ay, and 'tis St. Paddy's Day, wouldn't ya know it. Top o' the morning to all ye fellow Hibernians out there. And the rest of ye, don't ye be usin' the day as an excuse f'r any foolishness, now.

I watched three former world #1 players on the courts at Saddlebrook this morning: Jim Courier, Martina Hingis, and Justine Henin-Hardenne. Courier is retired but competes some on the senior tour, Hingis is kinda retired but certainly looked like she was gearing up to play again (and she's hardly over the hill!), and Henin-Hardenne is coming back from injury. There were a few other pros (Mardy Fish, Chanda Rubin) training as well, in addition to some very impressive junior players. It was fun just watching them hit in drill sessions and practice sets.

The days are getting longer. The weather is getting warmer. Even though I (reluctantly) left beautiful Florida sunshine this afternoon to endure a miserable Delta flight back to Connecticut (no wonder the airline is flirting with bankruptcy!), the promise of the new spring is upon us.

I got a new toy today. This is the Canon 20D. I chose this model over cheaper digital SLRs like the Canon Rebel line and the solid Nikon D70 model mostly because this camera is capable of continuous shooting at around 5 frames per second, up to 24 shots at a burst--perfect for sports action. Rather than getting the standard lens kit, I opted for Canon's 28-135mm, which features a nice basic range for a zoom lens. I'll probably add a more powerful (and expensive!) telephoto in a few months as well as a wide angle lens. But shooting at 8+ megapixels will give me the ability to crop judiciously and still keep high resolution shots in the meantime.

I had posted this last year, and it's so funny, I am presenting it again:

(Thanks to defectiveyeti.com)