Found this in the Charleston Daily Mail today:
WVU basketball attendance climb ranks 10th
The NCAA 2005-06 men’s basketball attendance report placed West Virginia 10th in Division I.
The Mountaineers, coming off an NCAA Tournament regional finals berth in 2004-05, had a WVU Coliseum attendance rise from 8,510 to 10,401 per game last season. The game average 1,891 climb ranked 10th nationally.
Well it’s starting to happen. I’m getting old. Saturday I turned 25. 1/4 century. Ouch. It actually doesn’t bother me much. Now I can get cheaper car insurance and get rental cars. Plus when I get down about it I just think about my parents. It must really suck to have a kid that is as old as I am. They must really feel old!
I had a good birthday weekend, with a few bumps along the way.
Saturday started with a couple of bumps. I got calls from work at 6:15 and 8:00. I ended up having to go in to our 2nd data center until about noon. Jason came along too.
I got home and Treah surprised me with a cookie cake, banana bread, and an xbox 360. I had to agree to put any birthday money I got towards the xbox though. Chris and Deborah also stopped by for a couple minutes. I spent the rest of the day playing video games and eating. Treah also made dinner for me.
Sunday I got up and mowed the grass (bump 3), then in the afternoon Treah and I headed to Pittsburgh. We went to Dave and Buster’s. It’s basically an arcade/restaurant/bar for grown ups. It was a lot of fun. I cashed in all of the tickets I earned for a pen that is shaped like a finger. When you pull on the end of it, it plays a farting noise. I couldn’t resist. The funniest part about it is when I was checking out, the lady at the counter asked me why I was buying this.
So far 25 feels like 24. 25 should be an interesting year.
You may or may not know that the original xbox can be used as a linux server with a little bit of tweaking. It is basically an 800mhz pentium 3 computer. So a lot of people use there xbox as a sub $200 linux server, much to Microsoft’s dismay. Anyway, on to my point. I found this article about a university using an xbox as a web server for a class. I thought it was funny what the “IT manager” did with it. Enjoy.
Taken from here:
The website is down because someone removed the X-Box
Public Universities are always running on a limited budget which means they sometimes come up with “innovative” solutions. A couple of years back, an X-Box with some variant of Linux installed had been put in the server room to support a subject designed to teach computer-illiterate Philosophy students how to build their own web pages. This unorthodox platform was chosen because one of the techs was a Linux enthusiast and had convinced “the powers that be” that a cheap web server solution for this subject could be implemented using an X-Box rather than a standard PC or server. Grateful to save money where they could, the project was approved.
Several years later and most of the staff in the department had moved on to bigger and better things. There was a new manager and a brand new set of helpdesk techs. The department’s Unix administrator was one of the few people left who knew what the X-Box was used for. Each year before the second semester class began he powered up the X-Box and updated its software. Few of the other staff ventured into the server room so there was little reason to wonder why an X-Box was sitting on the rack.
Five weeks into the “Web pages for Philosophy students” class the excrement encountered the rotary cooling device. The IT department’s help desk started receiving calls from Philosophy students who were unable to access their web projects.
Flummoxed, the help desk staff escalated the job ticket to the Unix administrator. Unable to remotely access the X-Box, he trotted off to the server room. He was surprised to find that the X-Box was no longer present. He did a quick search of the room but failed to find it. As it did not look as though someone had broken in to the room, there had to be another explanation.
The administrator went down to the new manager’s office to report the missing X-Box. The new manager was quiet for a moment and then sheepishly informed the administrator that it was he who had removed the X-Box. The manager had thought the X-Box was just a games console that the IT departments staff used for recreation when it got quiet. Noticing that the X-Box hadn’t been moved from the server room for some time and that his son was going to be at home on school holidays for the next two weeks, the manager decided to take the X-Box home so that his son would have something to entertain himself with. The manager then drove home and retrieved the X-Box. The administrator got a labeling machine and plastered the words “This is actually a server” all across the console.
I came across this article about the new JD Power and Associates rankings in automobile quality rankings. Below is a table from the article. It basically sums up the entire thing. I was surprised to see how most of the “big names” in the auto industry ranked so low.
2006 initial quality rankings
Nameplate Nameplate Porsche Dodge Lexus Pontiac Hyundai Volvo Toyota Buick Jaguar Mitsubishi Honda Kia Cadillac Mercedes-Benz Infiniti Scion GMC BMW Acura Subaru Chrysler Mazda Lincoln Mini Nissan Jeep Chevrolet Saab Industry average Suzuki Ford Hummer Mercury Volkswagen Saturn Isuzu Audi Land Rover Source: J.D. Power and Associates
Treah and I have a Jeep and a Hyundai. Before owning the Hyundai I would have thought that the Jeep would rank much higher in the rankings. I must say that in the couple of months that we have owned it we haven’t had a complaint. Within the first month of owning our Jeep it was in the shop three times before they figured out what was wrong. It is also nice to see a manufacturer standing behind their product. Hyundai gave us a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty.
Tuesday night I’m heading up to Pittsburgh to go to the Jimmy Buffett Concert. I’m going to be meeting my buddy Drew at the show. I can’t think of a better way to be spending 6/6/06.
You can listen to the show 2 ways if you don’t have tickets. You can listen live on Radio Margaritaville either on Sirius (channel 31) or on the Radio Margaritaville website.
Here’s a countdown clock until the show starts:
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jan | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
