Europe Trip - Part 3

Carol got me to go up the 400 steps to the top of Notre Dame. This picture was taken at the halfway point. Only halfway up, but high enough for me to get a deathgrip on the safety cage.



Carol with a painting...




Carol with a statue...



...and Scott with a statue.

Europe Trip - Part 2

We saw a lot of fountains in Paris, but this was Carol's favorite. I think we went to see it 3 times.



I think the Eiffel Tower looks good in blue.



We didn't intentionally feed the birds....they were aggressive enough to take the food from you on their own terms. Actually, most waited for crumbs on the ground, but one in particular was willing to go after your dessert whether you offered or not.

Europe Trip Pics -Part 1

Dublin countryside (Wicklow actually.) The land behind us is part of the Guinness Estate. Parts of Braveheart were filmed here.




Carol took this photo of a side of a Wicklow Cemetery that was adjacent to some pasture where sheep were grazing. Nearby stood the oldest Celtic Cross.



We stopped by here and Debbie went in to ask for coasters, but it was a Monday. They said that on the weekends, all the Kennedy's come in and take all their coasters, so they were out.

Argiope Spiders

I was fixing my fence and I noticed some spiders with odd looking webs. They build webs with these zig-zag structures in the middle that I hadn't seen before. Checking online it looks like these structures reflect UV light and are believed to attract insects.

More Michigan Football

....I'm not so worried about Boren's reasoning anymore. Coach Rodriguez's answers to the media helped to put me at easy as did the comments of the equipment manager as reported by Carty.

SI has a nice archive searching feature. 1000 videos on Michigan...

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/topic/article/Michigan/1900-01-01/2100-12-31/mdd/index.htm

More on Boren

The letter he wrote and news that he's considering OSU. That he is leaving is bad, why he is leaving is far worse.

Justin Boren

...is off the team. There's just a blurb right now on MGoBlog and Rivals. MLive says that it was Boren's decision to go. The Free Press has more:

...Boren told much of the story 10 days earlier, following the team's first spring practice. He cited then the change in the offense and the grueling nature of the first workout.

He also mentioned the difficulty the offensive linemen had constantly running back to the line of scrimmage in the no-huddle offense.

"We didn't know what to expect," Boren said that day. "A lot of screaming and yelling, a lot different, but we'll get used to it. It'll just take time."

His departure was not a shock after those comments, but Boren also had a strong affinity for Michigan because his father, Mike, played for the Wolverines under Bo Schembechler.

This is big blow to the small amount of optimism I have for next year. We're down to just Schilling. Nothing against Schilling, but we probably ran to the right side a total of 7 times last year.

Spring in Michigan

Story on spring training at Michigan.

Team Michigan

I know these types of leagues usually flop, but the All American Football League is going to have a Team Michigan. ...and I actually think I'd be a little bit interested. Certainly more interested than I am in the NFL.

McGuffie

Si has an interesting article on McGuffie. Towards the end, the article states that Sam's family had decided to move wherever Sam went....I wonder if Michigan's job market played a role in his last minutes doubts...

Carol's Garden, Part Two

Finished building the boxes today.

How Crayons are Made

I don't know what they show on Sesame Street these days, but I'll bet it's not as good as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMU-wXsgyR8&NR=1

The Glasgow Diamonds

One of the greatest football music videos ever made. 2nd only to the Superbowl Shuffle.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=utsHE5xWges

'The Team! The Team! The Team!'

Bo's speech.

Nice mod: Game and Watch + Cell Phone

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/01/post.html

Carol's Garden

I'm planning on building a raised garden over the next two weekends. I ordered some bolts that won't get here in time to do it all this weekend. It's a good excuse to buy a circular saw and a new drill. Maybe I'll put up a picture once it's finished.

Schembechler Day

The bill is on its way to the House floor.

Forbes: Champions Factory

Forbes put together a list of 'Champion Factories.' They counted the active pros in the NFL, in MLB, in the NBA, in the NHL, and in MLS and listed the top 10. Here are the top 3.

1 - Michigan
2 - OSU
3 - Miami

Big Blue Bike

It seems Mikey Teutul of Orange County Choppers fame is a Michigan fan. He was recently talked into building a bike for an auction benefiting the Mott Children's Hospital. Info can be found here, and pictures can be found here.

Interesting Article

Rivals has an article on Michigan's running QBs. Rick Leach ranks No. 19 for rushing yardage at Michigan. He ran more than he threw his first two years.

It makes the point that Michigan's new coach may not be such a radical departure from its history.

New Toy

After many months of waiting, my reversing lead screw has arrived. I am quite happy.

Thought Training has returned

No, I don't understand the name (6minuteass.wordpress.com) but my thoughts have not been well trained.