What? – Page 5 – Legends of the Falls

June 8, 2009December 23, 2009

Coaches vs Cancer

This past weekend was the annual Penn State Coaches vs Cancer golf tournament run by the Nittany Lion basketball team. I used to play in it but the cost has gotten a little prohibitive (I was ok at $250, still played when they went to $325, but when it jumped to $500 three years ago, I elected to retire from competition). My contribution is now limited to volunteering to help out on the course.

You can catch me making a background appearance at the 6:30 mark in this video (I’m the guy in the bright red volunteer shirt – wearing three layers I might add so despite my earlier post about putting weight back on I’m not quite as big as the video would suggest).

The guy who shot the video also took this photo which he just sent to me (I’ve got FOUR layers on here – the weather wasn’t cooperating much). The girl in the photo was my partner on the hole that we worked for the tournament. She is the daughter of a girl that I used to live with (platonically) in Pittsburgh in the late 70s.

June 7, 2009

Oops…

I don’t think there’s any doubt that I’ve got most of my health back – and I most definitely have my appetite back.

Last year I had quite a momentous occasion when I stepped on my digital scale the Friday of Labor Day Weekend and saw that the first digit was a “1” for the first time in probably well over a decade. Yesterday, I had the reverse experience. I stepped on the scale and the first digit was a “2” for the first time in about nine months.

That means that I’ve put all the weight, and more, back on that I lost due to the pneumonia. Tomorrow I’m going to start on an exercise campaign and try to get my weight back down to 190.

May 30, 2009May 30, 2009

A momentous techno-geek moment

I have broken the terabyte barrier.

I had a little technical problem last week which led to this momentous occasion.

I’ve been somewhat in the market for a new computer for quite a while. My computer went down almost a year ago and I had to fall back to an older slower one so I’ve been semi-looking around but never got around to pulling the trigger on a purchase. The inevitable happened last weekend when my backup machine seized up (I still had my IBM ThinkPad so I wasn’t completely cut off from the world) so I suddenly got more serious about getting a new one.

I happened to find a pretty good deal online from Best Buy. A two day Memorial Day Special on an HP machine (IBM sold off their PC business to Lenovo a couple of years ago, so I don’t have the IBM brand loyalty as much anymore – still get an employee discount at Lenovo though so I am a little predisposed to buying from them).

The HP machine came 2.5 GHz Pentium Dual-Core processor, 640 GB hard drive, and a 19 inch widescreen monitor. Best Buy’s Memorial Day special was $180 off which brought its price down to $499. I did my homework on the processor and while it wasn’t the latest Quad-Core, the reviews that I read called the processor a good deal (according to the reviews the processor lacks a couple of video instructions that mean that it wouldn’t be a good choice if you do much video editing but that’s something I haven’t gotten into yet). The $180 off deal got the machine into the price range that I was looking for and it was available at my local store so I jumped at it.

The machine did have a couple of shortcomings (only has one DVD drive and only supports one monitor, for example) but with the parts I have laying around the house, I figured I could address those. And it’s all those parts that led to my terabyte barrier breakthrough. With the purchase of the new computer, I decided it was probably time to do something with all these computers/parts that I have laying around. Some of the stuff works, some doesn’t – but just tossing electronics in the trash isn’t a good idea (and probably against the law to boot).

One thing that I was particularly concerned about was my hard drives. While I’m not normally a paranoid individual there’s undoubtedly information on them that could be put to use by nefarious souls. There’s also possibly stuff on them that I might want to keep (while I do back things up, like most people I don’t do it often nor thoroughly enough). Both of those considerations led me to get an external hard drive enclosure where I could install a drive from one of my other computers, dig through it looking for anything that I might need, then thoroughly erase it.

For a couple of years, I’ve had an 250GB external hard drive that I’ve attached to my computers that I primarily use for backup. It’s USB attached so I can easily move it from machine to machine (or hook it up to my ThinkPad). It was the first thing (after the internet connection) that I hooked up to my new computer. Now with my new enclosure, I just bumped my storage up even higher, It occurred to me that with my largest extra internal drive (120GB) installed, I’d be over the terabyte barrier (640GB + 250GM + 120GB = 1.01TB).

Here’s what makes that number really hit home with me.

Most of my time in IBM was spent marketing mainframe computers. Back in “my day”, a terabyte of storage meant a lot. This photo is of the IBM 3390 Direct Access Storage Device which was a breakthrough drive when we announced it.

3390 DASD

The 3390 is the device in the front next to the man. He’s standing by a string of 3390s (three of them) which are attached to the controller just to the left of the string. Behind the 3390s is a string of 3380s which the 90s replaced. The 3390 was introduced in November of 1989 so it’s just about 20 years ago (it was one of the products that I had responsibility for marketing when I lived in Chicago back then).

Here’s where things start to get mind boggling. The string of 3390 DASD that the guy in the photo is standing next to would typically sell for about $750,000. The string would hold a max of 68.1GB. To store a terabyte of data, you would need a string of 15 of these devices at a cost of well over $10,000,000. You’d also need a large well air conditioned room to hold them (they usually sat in a darkened room just off of the main computer room typically called the DASD farm). If I remember correctly, Sears/Allstate and State Farm were the first customers in the area to break through the terabyte barrier.

Today, you can buy a terabyte of storage that will sit on your desk for under $100.

In my wildest dreams I never would have imagined that I’d have a home computer with a terabyte of data storage.

May 24, 2009May 24, 2009

Weird Journey

No – I’m not talking about a strange trip that I’ve made. I’m referring to the rock band Journey – or more specifically their song “Don’t Stop Believing”.

First some background.

In case the song doesn’t ring a bell (it should because it’s one of the most popular, and overplayed, hits ever), here’s Journey doing the original.

One of the reasons, that I enjoy the song so much is that my oft mentioned favorite local band, JR and Natalie, covers the song. Here’s the band doing part of the song during Penn State’s THON Dance Marathon.

A momentarily detour on the Journey

Having a thing for the song sometimes has an unfortunate side effect. In case you don’t remember, the song was an integral part of the final scene of “The Sopranos”. Unfortunately, it ruined the scene for me, because the whole time that I’m watching it, I can’t help but think of JR and Natalie singing the song. Here’s the scene.

So where’s this Journey headed?

I’m a big fan of using RSS feeds to follow various blogs/websites that I have an interest in. I use Feedly to manage the 113 sites that I subscribe to. Feedly helps present the latest info to me in somewhat of a structured manner without it I’d be lost. I usually check Feedly a couple of times a day to see what’s going on.

As is usual, one of the first things I did this morning was to check Feedly. Low and behold, within minutes of each other, two of the most prolific sites that I follow, Julia Allison’s “Non Society” and John Dvorak’s “Dvorak Uncensored” made posts on two unrelated “Don’t Stop Believing” videos.

I thought that was quite weird.

Follow–up

By the way, both of the videos are worth sharing.

First. Julia posted this video from the new TV show “Glee”.

Then Dvorak posted this hilarious spoof of the song.

March 18, 2009December 23, 2009

Good News – Bad News

First the good news.Â Last night Lex & I finished building his 1st skateboard.Â We actually laminated 7 layers of wood, sanded, painted 2 colors, cut out a graphic for the grip surface, attached trucks, bearings and wheels.

The maiden voyage came at about 8pm last night and I don’t think the board has left his side since.

skate01

skate02

The bad news: I’m having surgery to repair a classic groin hernia tomorrow.

March 18, 2009March 18, 2009

Props to Talor Battle…

Who you ask?

Talor is Penn State’s sophomore point guard. He was an unherald recruit (at least on the national scene) but, before he’s done, might go down as Penn State’s best ever basketball player (heck, some think he already is).

Halfway through the Big Ten season, Talor was the odds on favorite to be named the Big Ten Player of the Year. He faltered a little coming down the stretch (quite possibly due to worrying about his mom who suffered a mild heart attach right at the point that Talor began to struggle) but still managed to make first team all Big Ten.

Unfortunately, PSU came up just short of getting an invite to the NCAAs (despite finishing fourth in the conference and just missing a win in our last game at Iowa, two OTs and we had shots at the end of regulation and the first OT to win it, which would have put us in second place in the Big Ten and locked up a bid for sure).

We did, however, receive a bid to the NIT and the first game was last night. In the game, Talor came up with one his miraculous finishes that he’s starting to become famous for on campus. First, to set the stage, here’s what he did at the end of our game with Illinois when we were down one with seconds to go. He dribbled the length of the court, passed all five Illinois defenders and scored the winning bucket with .3 seconds left.

Here’s a fans video from the upper deck.

In the aforementioned Iowa game, Battle almost topped that. We were down nine points with 2:23 to play. Over the next two minutes Battle scored 12 straight points to tie the game up, then just missed a three point at the buzzer that would have won it (sorry no video).

But he did top it last night. We were down three with 4.8 second left when the following happened.

We went on to win it in overtime.

The kid is just amazing and we get to watch him for two more years.

March 4, 2009March 4, 2009

THON on NBC’s Today Show

The Today Show did a nice story on THON.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

March 3, 2009December 23, 2009

C. Tod Jeffers (1941-2009)

tod-jeffers My long time friend Tod Jeffers passed away after suffering a sudden heart attack in his sleep Saturday night. Â Tod had a previous attack about ten years ago but had hoped that was all in his past.

The radio station in Wheeling WV that Tod has been working for the last few years ran several tributes to him yesterday. Â Here’s the local TV news announcement of Tod’s passing.

Tod Jeffers in memorium

Here’s his obituary as it appears this morning in several papers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Charles Tod Jeffers

April 22, 1941 – March 1, 2009 Charles Tod Jeffers, 67, of Wheeling, W.V., died suddenly at home, on Sunday, March 1, 2009. He was born on April 22, 1941, in Glen Dale, W.V., the son of the late Charles W. and Hazel Baker Jeffers.

Tod was a 1959 graduate of Moundsville High School and attended WLSC and Penn State University. He was U.S. Army Veteran serving in Greece, where he learned to speak the language fluently. Tod lived for the radio, broadcasting for over 45 years. He began his radio career while serving in Athens, Greece. After returning to the states, he continued that career at WMOD in Moundsville, WHLL-1600 in Wheeling (currently WKKX-1600), WWVA in Wheeling, WMAJ in State College, Pa., KLNK in Oklahoma City, Okla., WBNS in Columbus, Ohio, KOOL-94FM, then Z107FM in Harrisburg, Pa. He then made his final journey back to his roots in the Ohio Valley at AM1600-WKKX, where he hosted “Jeffers and Company”.

Throughout his career, he has interviewed many celebrities. Tod loved the people in the Ohio Valley. He was a pilot, an avid golfer, and quite a storyteller. He was a big West Virginia Mountaineer Fan; but Penn State held a large part of his heart. He was a season ticket holder at Beaver Stadium since 1965. He was “the voice” of the Penn State Men’s Basketball and Wrestling Programs.

Tod is survived by his daughter, Vicki Hoak (Russ Allen), of Chippewa Township, Pa.; a son, Andy Jeffers, of State College, Pa.; his grandchildren, Matt Hoak, of Vienna, Va., Danielle Hoak, of Chippewa Township, and Jasa Jeffers, of State College; his brothers, Toby (Kathy) Jeffers, of Beaver, Pa., and Jay (Kathy) Jeffers, of Moundsville; a sister, Marla (Ed) Rogerson, of Lake Arrowhead, Calif.; and his beloved pet and companion, Mikey, who will be lost without his faithful friend.

Tod will be deeply missed by all his family, friends, co-workers, and his many devoted listeners. Family will receive friends on Wednesday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at Grisell Funeral Home & Crematory, 400 Jefferson Avenue, Moundsville, where Memorial Services will be held on Thursday at 4 p.m., with Mike Eskridge officiating. Private interment will be held at the convenience of the family. Sympathy expressions at grisellfuneralhomes.com.

Tod will be sorely missed. He had an incredible ability to be at home in just about any environment. Wherever he went, he would quickly become the center of attention as he would hold court with his tales. As tall as they seemed to many, having been an integral part of more than just a few, I must admit that he stuck pretty much to the truth yet still managed to make them seem wildly entertaining.

Listeners to his radio show, in response to a poll asking how Tod would be remembered, overwhelming described answered as a “storyteller”. Nothing could be more accurate.

My condolences go out to his brothers and sister, his children, and his grandchildren. His oldest grandson, Matt, graduated from Penn State two years ago. Tod and I used to joke about how he was apt to soon become a great grandfather. Sadly he won’t see that day.

February 24, 2009

Updated software

The next time you go to enter a post, things might look a little different. That’s because I’ve updated the WordPress software which runs the blog. Everything should still be pretty straightforward but use the help function in the right sidebar if you have any problems.

February 23, 2009December 23, 2009