Wow.

That was a great game. I hope we can hold off the Longhorns on Saturday. I haven't seen a game that exciting since the KU v. Florida game, unless you count the last 30 seconds I happened to catch of the OSU v. Texas game from earlier in the season.

Durant is amazing. I was more impressed with Acie Law though tonight, considering his two amazing shots to tie the game. But is it just me, or is his right shoulder tattoo missing some punctuation?

UT v. A&M

It's currently half-time. As a Jayhawk fan, I'm rooting for Texas, because our only shot at sole possession of the Big 12 title depends on a Texas victory. However, because it also depends on us beating Texas this weekend, the way this game is going makes me nervous. Both teams look really good, although A&M fell a bit flat in the last couple of minutes. Texas is looking great, and it's more than just Durant.

We'll see how it shakes out. The real test is Saturday.

Shoe Problems

I recently wore out a pair of shoes that is probably my favorite pair of all time. The soles of both shoes split, within a few days of each other. I'm not happy, but realistically can't complain about them. I've worn them about 3-4 times a week for the last 4 years, and I'm very hard on shoes.

Another pair did the same thing within a couple weeks of the first pair. I am irritated about these. They were only about one year old when this happened, and they hadn't been worn nearly as much as my Kenneth Cole pair.

But as I said earlier, I'm very hard on shoes. Many of my shoes are prematurely worn. The heels wear unevenly, the soles frequently split, and they get scuffs and gouges very quickly. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'd like to find out.

Free 11x14 Poster Print(s)

Details here. Make sure you use the coupon code. You may be able to get two, if you follow one of the commenter's suggestion.

Bright Idea

I think I'm going to switch all of the bulbs in my house over to CFL lighting. If it works half as well as advertised, I'll be pleased. It's one of those ideas that makes both ecological, and economic sense.

In an offhand discussion with a friend a few weeks ago, I suggested that these kinds of bulbs should be mandated. I'm not much of a big-government, heavy regulation kind of guy, but this seemed to make sense. Apparently, Australia agrees.

However, when reading a few of the insightful comments in the Slashdot link above, I realized that there is apparently much more to consider than I had anticipated. For instance, CFL bulbs are more efficient because they don't generate as much waste heat. However, in some applications, the waste heat is more important than the light. (Incubators, french fry heat lamps, etc.) Also, a thoughtful poster said that there is no restriction on the amount of energy an individual used, merely a limit on one potential source. Here's the quote:

"Apparently, if I use CFLs, but keep them on ten times as much -- hey, that's fine! If I want to have a HUGE house with enormous heating/cooling requirements -- hey, that's fine! If I want to drive around for no reason whatsoever -- hey, that's fine! If I want to heat my pool -- have at it!"

I wouldn't support limiting the size of houses, or the amount of driving a person could do, but I see the poster's point. It's an example of how legislation that seeks to fix a problem frequently creates another, or otherwise fails to see the big picture. Ask John McCain and Russ Feingold about that one.

Updates

I haven't posted in a while. I've been pretty tied up at work. I've been in San Francisco and Dallas over the last couple weeks, but I should be less busy for the next week or two. I've got a few things I've been meaning to talk about, so I'll put them here in shorthand form to catch up.

- I'll cover this more in a later post, but I've been thinking about environmentalism. Specifically, actions that make both ecological and economic sense. Something on which tree-huggers and cold, hard capitalists can both agree.

- I picked up that new Tamron 90mm Di lens. I'll try to put up some pictures later.

- I also picked up a Canon SD700 IS. I wanted something that was easier to carry around than my Nikon D80, to replace Hillary's ancient Sony DSC-P50. I haven't played with it much yet, but it looks promising.

- We obtained summary judgment in a very important lawsuit. It's been taking up the majority of my time for the last 3 months, so it's a big relief.

- I now have 2 free flights to any Southwest destination in the United States.

- We picked up some new furniture for our dining room from Nebraska Furniture Mart.

- Britney Spears had a skullet, if only for a short time.

Hopefully I don't fall off the site update bandwagon again. In my defense, I've been pretty busy.

Pandora

Pandora is a great service. Basically, you type the name of a song or artist, and it suggests similar music that you may not have heard of based on recommendations from the Music Genome Project. It's a great way to get new ideas.

If you have a Mac, you'll want to use PandoraBoy to access it. It's a standalone interface for the website.

B+W

I edited the one from yesterday with iPhoto. Desaturated and added contrast.

New Lens

I like this new lens. I'm going to have to get one. Apparently it's great for portraits too, but I haven't messed with that yet.

Great Movie

This is a great movie. I haven't seen any marketing for it, and neither has anyone I've told about it. The only reason I found out about it was by stumbling across it in Front Row. Hillary and I decided to go see it the other night. I'm glad we did.

It's in Spanish, and takes place in Spain during the Civil War. It shares some things with the Chronicles of Narnia, but is much darker, more violent, and better. Not something for little kids. Although it's a fantasy movie, the majority of the movie takes place outside of the fantasy setting. Highly recommended.