Month: July 2007

July swoon?  After posting a five game win streak to close out the month of June, the Atlanta Braves have apparently decided to put on the brakes by dropping the first three games in July.  I am not even sure what to say at this point, but Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Marlines could not have made a west coast swing any easier.

The Braves need to right this ship in a hurry, but if there is a silver lining to the current July swoon, it is that once again the Braves struggles coincide with the Mets’ struggles.  The Mets’ have also dropped three games in a row, so Atlanta still remains 4 GB in the NL East, in easy striking distance of the Mets.

After a successful run of 29 posting days in the last 30 days, I had to take a day off. Sorry, but that is the way it goes.

• Copa America – I have not seen any of Team USA’s games, but it sounds like we have not done very well, going down to Argentina 4-1, and Paraguay 3-1. ESPN.com had an interesting story about the MLS, the US National Soccer team, and the absence of Donovan from Copa America. At some point, we will have to make a commitment to these types of tournaments if we ever want to truly turn the corner as a soccer power. The only way you get better is by making commitments to play teams like Argentina. Keepings my fingers crossed to sooner rather than later.
• WoW – I finally made L38, but it was a struggle. I may play some tomorrow, but at this rate it will take me forever and a day to make a serious push towards L70.
• OOTPB 2007 – My team (the Columbus Kudzu) pretty much stinks this year, but I have still managed a 50-50 record, which is only 4 GB of the wild card. I really like this game, but I never seem to have the time to dedicate to getting better. When I first started playing OOPTB (I think v6.0), I enjoyed playing solo, but with 2006 (ouch) and 2007 I only simulated a few historic seasons to see how the engine worked. In a perfect world I would be able to spend enough time playing solo to kick booty in online leagues, but it is not a perfect world.
• Jeff Gordon – As predicted, he did not miss a beat. He is on such a roll that I really do not see anything slowing him down anytime soon. Is it too soon to hand him the Championship? After watching the race Sunday, I kept thinking that maybe I should pick up NASCAR 08, but I am going to try hard to resist temptation. F1CE should be enough to hold my attention, but it is hard to resist the new shiny.
• NCAA Football 2008 – Speaking of the new shiny, I still have not preordered the game, but I assume I will at some point. I need to check again to see if I am going to hate the game if it has 30 frames per second missing (my attempt at sarcasm).

On a personal note, yesterday at my postop appointment, my doctor told me that my biopsy came back clean. Happy days! There is probably some other stuff to write about, but I want to go play a game or watch a moving or have a stiff drink. Or maybe all three.

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

I am having some issues with the PS3 folding@home client; when I check for completion of my work units, I always end up with “ERROR: No Network Connection” after the work unit completes. After digging around a little, I found a thread that hints to a PS3 bug, but to be honest, I am not that interested in reading 5 pages of posts to figure out what is wrong.

Using the PS3 for folding@home sounds like a great idea, but I am not really keen to keep my PS3 on 24/7; I do not do that with my other electronics, with the exception of my computers, which are designed to run 24/7 and have a proven track record. Besides, why would I want to take a chance on compromising the longevity of my $600 wonder box?

It is hard for me to tell what the PS3 is actually doing with my work. To date, I have completed 2-3 work units, but my team and user do not have a score. The score is not that important, but I assume I can use that to tell if the PS3 is actually uploading completed work units.

It has been a while since I posted a “now drinking” entry, so I owe the world at large an update. Chris should be pleased that nothing of the cheap variety is included. While I finished off the SweetWater 420 Extra Pale Ale yesterday, the fridge is stocked well with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Terrapin Rye Pale Ale. All three of these beers are truly wonderful, and worthy of your attention.

In truly classic console war fashion, there is a ton of fodder being aimed squarely at the PS3 by the 360 camp. I stumbled across an article (via N4G.com) that indicates PS3 versions of NCAA Football 2008 and Madden 2008 will run at 30 FPS, while the 360 versions will run at 60 FPS. To be honest, I would not know 30 FPS from 60 FPS. I can see frame rate issues, but I have no idea how to count them, and it is my understanding that most video games, TV broadcasts, and movies run at 30 FPS, so I am not sure why this is a big deal. I can tell 1080p from 480i, so as long as the PS3 games show up in full HD, I am not sure why this is such a big deal.

At this point I have not preordered NCAA Football 2008 or Madden 2008. I will probably wait a while longer; maybe until I see a full PS3 feature list. For the same reasons I said I was holding off on purchasing NASCAR 08 (use the search function to find the post), I may wait another year on the football games. I doubt I can show that much restraint, but $120 for two football games blows.

The Braves have managed to pull off five games in a row, but they almost blew the game last night. I wish the Braves were not so damn dependant on 3-run homeruns, but at least the back of the rotation seems to be picking up the slack.

I hate that FOX is going to have the French GP on tape delay. I could not wait until 1PM, so I already looked at the results. I think we have one more FOX broadcast to go before we are back to live racing.

All for now. Happy Sunday!