People usually say "playing the percentages" with respect to baseball decisions mid-game, and they usually have no idea what they mean by that. In fact, they sometimes say that when the percentages actually say otherwise.

I'm currently taking a class at UAH called Engineering Reliability. It's all about failure of systems and components. How fun is that?

The sooner people realize that hitting with runners in scoring position is not a separate skill from hitting itself, the better our ears will be when listening to play-by-play announcers and analysts. What, do they really think batters get pumped up and try harder when they see a teammate on second base?

Test Post

I have a new idea. Test post.

Brew Blog

Might be interesting to kind of turn this blog into a brewing blog. It's hard to convey ideas, ingredients, inventions using only 140 characters on Twitter.

I can't believe I forgot this

My last post was about great events happening next week. How on God's green Earth did I forgot the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show!?

I really don't care what you think. Watching this show with my mom is one of my oldest(and fondest) memories. I'm pretty sure this is where my complete adoration for the German Shephard breed stemmed from. Not sure why I was transfixed on the Shephard given that there were tons of great breeds there, but I did. (It also may be because there were countless reruns of Rin Tin Tin: K9 Cop on tv during my childhood).

I learned alot about dogs just from watching the show (or asking mom). My family has always been animal-friendly, but we have always had a special place for dogs. My mom grew up with Brittany dogs(all named Dan), we had a St. Bernard when I was teeny-tiny, I spent most of my childhood alongside our Yellow Lab Odie, and ever since I've been in college we've had Greta (Grace passed away a few years ago), who is mix of Lab, Chesapeake Retriever, and Rottweiler. 

It's  a treat(at least to me) to see the absolute best of every breed in the country in one place. I can't see who wouldn't enjoy that. And more to the point...who can't like dogs, period?

the sweetest dog on the planet (Greta)

great week coming up

First to preface. We have a HUGE deadline coming up at work on Monday. I've been working late this whole week, and I shall be working be late all through the weekend. But rest assured that after Monday, things start looking much rosier...

• -Tuesday. Kentucky @ Vanderbilt basketball. Kentucky just got steamrolled by my Dawgs, so hopefully the Dores can take advantage. They need a home SEC win, and they need to string together some W's to get back in the crazy SEC East race. I love having a Vanderbilt ID.
• -Wenesday. LSU @ MSU basketball on tv. Time for a little payback. This game gets bigger with each passing day, and sure enough it will probably decide who sits atop the SEC West at the end of the season.
• -Thursday. Some of my favorite words: Pitchers and Catchers report. Yes, yes....and yes. Let the almost unlimited baseball coverage begin...and not end until November.
• At this point of the week I expect my income tax refund to be deposited into my bank account. At which point I will be purchasing our tickets to the 2009 MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis, getting them delivered straight to our hotel room :). Wait, where are we staying, you ask? HERE. I...can't...wait.
• -Friday. MSU hockey playing against Vanderbilt at Centennial Park(at a weird 10:45pm start time. wtf?). I played inline hockey with most of these guys, so it'll be great to see them(and even greater to see them win).
• -Friday part 2. Friday the 13th comes out in theaters. Yeh, I'm stoked to see this re-imagining of the horror flick. But you all know me...what do I like even more than the movies themselves? The trailers. And yes, the FULL Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer will be shown before this movie. Not that 30 second bullshit they displayed during the Super Bowl.
• -Saturday. V-day. Very excited. It's on a weekend this year, so I get to spend the whole day with the special lady. Capped off by dinner at the wonderfully romantic Restaurant Zola.

So yeh, I'm looking forward to next week (after Monday).

it's Mississippi State...NOT the University of Mississippi

Okay, I'm sorry. But it has become increasingly VERY frustating/annoying/aggravating to have people confuse Mississippi State and the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss" as some call it). It's really not that hard, people.

I bring this up because although I have been at my job now for 8 months or so now, I'm still meeting new people there all the time. Most of them ask me where I went to school; my natural reply is, "Mississippi State University." The replies I get over 50% of the time (not an exaggeration):

-"Oh, that's in Oxford, right?"

-"Ah, the Rebels. Well, alright."

Or some variation. Now, normally I wouldn't be offended if these people lived in Washington state their whole lives. But almost all of these people have LIVED in the SOUTH their WHOLE lives. They've been around SEC football since they were toddlers. How do you NOT know the difference between Mississippi State and the University of Mississippi yet?! 

Like I said, if you haven't lived in this conference or part of the country for more than a year, I can understand missing the difference. Heck, I remember asking Mallory not too long ago if Christina went to Iowa State or the University of Iowa(yes, I know the correct answer now, Lex, no worries). But I have not lived in Big 10 country at any point in my life, so I'm exempt.

This all just really returns to the fact that people raised in this great state of Tennessee(yes, I love this place, not the school) are almost completely shut off from anything other than their beloved University of Tennesse in Knoxville. (Did you notice how I didn't say Tennessee State in Nashville? Using Tennessean logic, they are basically the same schools.) 

If something is colored orange, then they'll drool over it or buy the souvenir right then and there. They've never known anything else. Heck, I'm surprised they know any other schools exist outside of Florida.

Granted, not all the people that confuse my MSU with UM are Tennessee fans, but the ones I've met at work have all been. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Maybe not. Either way, it's annoying as hell.