A few nights ago I went outside after some studying to try to catch some of the Leonid Meteor Shower. I guess it was supposed to be sort of a big deal or something, I honestly don't know. I was hoping I could go out somewhere where it was a little darker, but I had a fairly important test the next morning so I figured it wouldn't have been the best idea.
Anyway while I was walking outside I kind of remembered going to Astrocamp in 5th grade. We learned all about planets and spacecrafts and of course the stars. It was really cool just to be out there away from the city and being able to look up into the night sky and see all the stars and constellations clearly. We got to take a closer look at some of these stars and planets with the telescopes and other things they had there which was awesome.
This time was a little different though. There was still a decent amount of light pollution so I wasn't able to see the sky too clearly. I think I may have caught a few shooting stars but that could have easily just been my mind playing tricks on me.
But while I was out there I realized I hadn't gone and just looked at the stars in a while. I marveled at what I could see, picking out any of the constellations I could remember. It really does look like a canvas up there, stretching out infinitely and enveloping the earth.
God's creation is so amazing and incredible and sometimes it takes something like a meteor shower or going out to see the mountains and canyons to remind us of that. But what about what we encounter each day? The night sky or even just a simple tree or plant. These are so commonplace to us that it's easy to forget what a miracle even these little things are.
Our world is pretty messed up and corrupted, but still, it's one of the most beautiful things in this universe, perfectly created and fine-tuned. Sometimes I forget, but all it takes to remind me is a simple look to the sky.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Get Loud pt. 2
This really isn't a two-parter, but it's sort of related to my previous post and I couldn't think of another title so it is what it is.
Anyway, last week at the USC/ASU game, our head coach Dennis Erickson finally made everyone happy when he took out our senior starting QB Danny Sullivan and played our true freshman Brock Osweiler. Sullivan's situation was one I had honestly never seen before. He was hated in Tempe to the extent that we would boo him just because he sucked. I mean I've seen home crowds boo their own players if they said something about the organization or the team or the fans or maybe committed a crime for something, but never just for being bad. As a Dodger fan I don't remember ever booing Hee-Seop Choi for instance. But Sullivan was different. He'd get booed during the announcement of our starting lineup. To put things in perspective, we cheered for our center and other non-skill players and booed our starting quarterback.
If you just look at the numbers, "Sullie" wasn't really all that bad. 54.2 completion percentage, with 8 touchdowns, 1,771 passing yards and a 109.57 passer rating. But this is also a guy who threw 3 of his 9 interceptions to the lowly Washington State Cougars and couldn't find the end zone against Idaho State. Watching him is simply brutal. You'll see screen passes under and overthrown, open receivers having to jump to grab a ball thrown 3 feet over them, and that's on a good day. More often they don't even bother to leap because the ball is so far out of their reach.
So all in all, the move to our backup was long overdue. Maybe some will question the wisdom of throwing a true freshman into the wolves (first significant minutes against USC, now starting against Oregon), but Osweiler is pretty much carrying the hope of our football program on his shoulders along with fellow freshman phenom, linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Osweiler looks to be ready or will be soon. His passes are much crisper and on target than Sullivan and he's a big kid standing at 6'8" 237 lb. And also he kind of looks like Edward from Twilight.
http://phoenix.fanster.com/sundevils/2009/08/25/osweilers-already-got-a-nickname/
Anyway, last week at the USC/ASU game, our head coach Dennis Erickson finally made everyone happy when he took out our senior starting QB Danny Sullivan and played our true freshman Brock Osweiler. Sullivan's situation was one I had honestly never seen before. He was hated in Tempe to the extent that we would boo him just because he sucked. I mean I've seen home crowds boo their own players if they said something about the organization or the team or the fans or maybe committed a crime for something, but never just for being bad. As a Dodger fan I don't remember ever booing Hee-Seop Choi for instance. But Sullivan was different. He'd get booed during the announcement of our starting lineup. To put things in perspective, we cheered for our center and other non-skill players and booed our starting quarterback.
If you just look at the numbers, "Sullie" wasn't really all that bad. 54.2 completion percentage, with 8 touchdowns, 1,771 passing yards and a 109.57 passer rating. But this is also a guy who threw 3 of his 9 interceptions to the lowly Washington State Cougars and couldn't find the end zone against Idaho State. Watching him is simply brutal. You'll see screen passes under and overthrown, open receivers having to jump to grab a ball thrown 3 feet over them, and that's on a good day. More often they don't even bother to leap because the ball is so far out of their reach.
So all in all, the move to our backup was long overdue. Maybe some will question the wisdom of throwing a true freshman into the wolves (first significant minutes against USC, now starting against Oregon), but Osweiler is pretty much carrying the hope of our football program on his shoulders along with fellow freshman phenom, linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Osweiler looks to be ready or will be soon. His passes are much crisper and on target than Sullivan and he's a big kid standing at 6'8" 237 lb. And also he kind of looks like Edward from Twilight.
http://phoenix.fanster.com/sundevils/2009/08/25/osweilers-already-got-a-nickname/
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Get Loud!!!
I think it's funny how crazy and sheep-like people get at athletic events. All the chanting and cheering and yelling and general hoopla surrounded with supporting your favorite team is wild and fun both to watch and be a part of.
One of my favorite aspects of the fan mentality is how a fan will follow and go nuts over just about anything that's on the scoreboard. You all know what I'm talking about. Any time the huge screens implore the fans to "make noise" or "get crazy" they always do even if they have no idea what's going on in the game or even if the moment is not really appropriate for a bunch of noise. And let's not forget those little games they have like having an animated race between three anthropomorphized objects. Whether it's cars or condiments, it seems like everyone has a favorite and roots loudly throughout the race. The enthusiasm is so much that it's easy to forget that it's completely predetermined. Then there's always the hidden ball shuffle game or some variation on it which is another classic.
The other thing that comes to mind when I'm thinking about fans is how badly people want free things. Whether it's a mascot throwing out items or cheerleaders launching them from air cannons, crowds never fail to congregate around the general area where the souvenirs are being aimed. Everyone jumps up and down waving their arms desperately hoping to get their fingers on some shirt or stuffed object or whatever happens to be up for grabs. It always amuses me to see people sitting in hundred dollar seats going wild over the possibility of getting a $10 t-shirt for free.
Fans are funny, silly, dumb, and awesome, separately and all at once. They, or we rather, are a vital part of the experience of going to a live sporting event. I wouldn't have it any other way.
One of my favorite aspects of the fan mentality is how a fan will follow and go nuts over just about anything that's on the scoreboard. You all know what I'm talking about. Any time the huge screens implore the fans to "make noise" or "get crazy" they always do even if they have no idea what's going on in the game or even if the moment is not really appropriate for a bunch of noise. And let's not forget those little games they have like having an animated race between three anthropomorphized objects. Whether it's cars or condiments, it seems like everyone has a favorite and roots loudly throughout the race. The enthusiasm is so much that it's easy to forget that it's completely predetermined. Then there's always the hidden ball shuffle game or some variation on it which is another classic.
The other thing that comes to mind when I'm thinking about fans is how badly people want free things. Whether it's a mascot throwing out items or cheerleaders launching them from air cannons, crowds never fail to congregate around the general area where the souvenirs are being aimed. Everyone jumps up and down waving their arms desperately hoping to get their fingers on some shirt or stuffed object or whatever happens to be up for grabs. It always amuses me to see people sitting in hundred dollar seats going wild over the possibility of getting a $10 t-shirt for free.
Fans are funny, silly, dumb, and awesome, separately and all at once. They, or we rather, are a vital part of the experience of going to a live sporting event. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb
http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103933
Being in college, it's weird to think about what a smaller scale high school was on. I went to a high school with maybe a few hundred people in each class and that combined with the fact that I took mostly honors classes, I pretty much saw the same people each day and knew all of them. With that, it's pretty easy to get a sense of what each person is like, especially intelligence-wise since a lot of our interactions were in a classroom setting.
Basically what I'm trying to get at is in high school, you can tell if someone is just a little slower or maybe just having a little trouble with a concept or something. And then you also know if someone has a learning disability of some sort.
In college with so many people, you don't really know what the case is. I mean you can still sort of tell if someone just needs to have that "light bulb" moment, but then sometimes it does seem like a learning disability is the only explanation.
One of the hardest things to do is get into someone else's mindset since we all learn and process things differently. And I don't like to really say anything or judge anyone based on that because there might be something going that I don't know about, but at the same time it can be hard to feel bad when it seems like they're just not putting in the time or effort.
I don't know, I think I have a different perspective because school has been something I've considered important for most of my life. I guess that's natural since it's really one of the only things I'm good at. On the other hand it's sort of a cultural thing as well since we've been encouraged to go to school and do well so we can get a good job and so on and so forth. But there are definitely those for whom school is a real burden and probably just not the best option.
Is there a medium that lies between what we have now when it seems like you need an education to have a career and the past where apprenticeships were the way to go and you were pretty much born into an occupation.
Just throwing down some thoughts, hope no one was offended as that was definitely not my intent.
Being in college, it's weird to think about what a smaller scale high school was on. I went to a high school with maybe a few hundred people in each class and that combined with the fact that I took mostly honors classes, I pretty much saw the same people each day and knew all of them. With that, it's pretty easy to get a sense of what each person is like, especially intelligence-wise since a lot of our interactions were in a classroom setting.
Basically what I'm trying to get at is in high school, you can tell if someone is just a little slower or maybe just having a little trouble with a concept or something. And then you also know if someone has a learning disability of some sort.
In college with so many people, you don't really know what the case is. I mean you can still sort of tell if someone just needs to have that "light bulb" moment, but then sometimes it does seem like a learning disability is the only explanation.
One of the hardest things to do is get into someone else's mindset since we all learn and process things differently. And I don't like to really say anything or judge anyone based on that because there might be something going that I don't know about, but at the same time it can be hard to feel bad when it seems like they're just not putting in the time or effort.
I don't know, I think I have a different perspective because school has been something I've considered important for most of my life. I guess that's natural since it's really one of the only things I'm good at. On the other hand it's sort of a cultural thing as well since we've been encouraged to go to school and do well so we can get a good job and so on and so forth. But there are definitely those for whom school is a real burden and probably just not the best option.
Is there a medium that lies between what we have now when it seems like you need an education to have a career and the past where apprenticeships were the way to go and you were pretty much born into an occupation.
Just throwing down some thoughts, hope no one was offended as that was definitely not my intent.
Back in the Game
Honestly I never intended to post just once a month when I decided to stop posting every day. I was shooting for a couple times a week or at least a once a week rate. Actually I didn't even really notice how long it had been until a certain Christian Man mentioned it to me this past weekend.
He told me I had "tapped out hardcore" from blogging and he was right. Maybe I'm going to have to bring back the once a day to get me writing again. Seems to be kind of an all or nothing deal at the moment.
Anyway, just felt the need to get back on here. I wanted to write a post tonight but it got kind of late and I'm a bit tired now. Not sure my thoughts would be as coherent as I'd like right now. I'll post it tomorrow though and you can count on that. I've been meaning to write this one for a couple weeks actually but I got sick in the middle of October and there's still a lingering cough that's been bothering me too so I've had that on my mind.
Well that's all for now. I'll hit you again tomorrow (or later today I guess) with my first real post in a while. And it will be about a subject near and dear to my heart: stupidity and stupid people. Fun stuff.
He told me I had "tapped out hardcore" from blogging and he was right. Maybe I'm going to have to bring back the once a day to get me writing again. Seems to be kind of an all or nothing deal at the moment.
Anyway, just felt the need to get back on here. I wanted to write a post tonight but it got kind of late and I'm a bit tired now. Not sure my thoughts would be as coherent as I'd like right now. I'll post it tomorrow though and you can count on that. I've been meaning to write this one for a couple weeks actually but I got sick in the middle of October and there's still a lingering cough that's been bothering me too so I've had that on my mind.
Well that's all for now. I'll hit you again tomorrow (or later today I guess) with my first real post in a while. And it will be about a subject near and dear to my heart: stupidity and stupid people. Fun stuff.
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