My other love

...Though I don't think "other" is correct. I just wrote about computers, which isn't really a love, it's more of an interest. Whatever it is, I'm on to the next thing: sports. You are getting an idea of what I do on my day off and how I go through my Reader: news then sports.

I love basketball. I will watch any game no matter who is playing and will follow March Madness though I don't have a team or follow the Playoffs when I don't care who wins. That's how it was for me this year. But come on, it was the Lakers vs Celtics, a classic matchup. "The NBA Finals games were the six highest-rated and most-watched programs so far in June, the first time that has happened in seven years." Sadly, being in the DR without a TV I was unable to be one of the 16.9 million viewers (on average), though I did watch the stats, courtesy of ESPN GameCast.

I'm not sure how long this will be up, but currently, my love in baseball is the topic of the front ESPN page. I owe many of my sports alliances to my father and brother, but I can say truly, I own this one passed on from them. This one even has roots in my grandpa- "Pop"; if only he could be around for this season. I am talking about the team that has the best record in baseball. The team which has had many curses. The team which has a great outfield. A team which may soon be sold. I'm talking about the Chicago Cubs. Here are a few things that ESPN has to say about this team:

• Some terms it would be helpful to know if you want to join the bandwagon. You should know these if you are a fan.


• Speaking of real vs bandwagon fans


• Wait no longer: 10 reasons this is our year


• If you have time and love baseball and history (or maybe even fashion) you should check out this take on the Cubs uniforms over the years. You think I'm link happy in this blog? Check out this guy; but his links are great.


• And lastly, there have been some good memories in Cubs history.

With a season like this, there has been very little of this.

Go Cubs!!

Happy 60th, "Modern Computer"

Sitting on a bench at school was a little, old-school laptop. I forget what kind it was, but when you opened it up, there was a card with 4MB inserted into the computer. This 2x2 inch card was adding to whatever the internal memory was. The screen was tiny and obviously not color. It was a funny sight; I don't know why it was there. But at least I recognized it and it didn't look too different from what I am using right now.

I came across this article as I was scanning my Google Reader. Now that computer was much different than mine here. How far have computers come in these 60 years? Well, I can't quite say to the extreme, since I don't know the figures on the newest and coolest computer. However, even a comparison to my laptop is amazing.

"Baby" had 128 bytes of memory, weighed one ton, took up a whole room, and used a cathode ray tube for memory. My Acer Aspire laptop here has 2 gigabytes RAM, weighs a few pounds, fits on my lap (hence a lap-top), and uses dynamic random access memory. I'm not sure how long it would take to program or compute "whether 2 to the power 127 minus 1 is a prime number" on my computer, but I can tell you, it's not one week programming and 25 minutes computing. Heck, at least both are better than 6 months for the human brain.

Thank you and congratulations to Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill for your work on the Small-Scale Experimental Machine. And thanks to all those who took that work and continued to add and refine computing into the amazing machines we have today!

Interesting News

I am my father's daughter. He loves to email little links to news articles he reads or the days trivia to the rest of the family. I have followed this pattern. Today, I am taking that idea and copying off of a friend. I am sharing my cool news stories with you today. Warning, they are quite random.

• The discovery of an OLD church.
• Arrests at a graduation... for cheering too loud. Ah, reminds me of the airhorn that went off at my graduation...indoors.
• Ever wanted a large impact on your country? How about having your song chosen for the national anthem?
• The Sudoku fad is growing. It's become a great time-filler for everyone, including bored jurors.
• Have you helped the victims of the China earthquake? How would you if you were an NBA player? How about giving 2 million dollars to your home country and starting a foundation to rebuild schools? I always knew I liked Yao Ming

Exciting things of the day

1. I started to paint my room. I only got the primer coats up, but those are quite important when the previous paint was green and blue and Winnie-the-Pooh (and friends). I'm having to sleep in the living room b/c I fear I might die off the fumes in the night.
2. I got to ride the bike which I am buying off a staff member who is leaving tomorrow. I never took it out of second gear, but it was still fun. I am excited to learn how to change gears and all so I will have my own transportation.
3. I went out to eat with some friends and had some delicious chesse-stuffed pork with a chinola (passion fruit) sauce on it. I loved it.
4. I just made a post where every sentence started with "I." I'm selfish I know. I wish you all goodnight!

Movie Review- Prince Caspian

About 5 months ago I went to go see National Treasure 2 in theaters with my family. At the very start of one of the previews, my eyes got big and my body froze. It was the rock skipping across the water. It was the logo for Walden Media. It was the preview for the next Chronicles of Narnia movie. It was the first time I had seen the Prince Caspian preview in theaters. It looked good, though with a little more fighting than I remembered in the book and I wasn't sure why I saw the White Witch. The best part, though, was the date it was coming out. I would be home on May 16th for my graduation the next day. PERFECT!

In preparation for watching the movie two weeks ago, I read the book on the plane ride home. I was raised reading and loving the tales of Narnia from C. S. Lewis. The thought of the movies coming out is both exciting and a little scary. How far from the books will they make the movies? How much of the Christian parallels will be removed? Those two questions are the two main things I ask when evaluating the movie. Along with “Did they include some of the funny quotes?” And with that in place, here is my take on the movie.

• They did a great job of telling the story of Caspian before even getting to England and the Pevensies, though Prince Caspian is a lot older than I expected. Also, the pulling of the magic into Narnia was well done.

• Quotes (from the book, but they made it into the movie in some fashion) 4 of my 6 favorites made it in.

  1. “That’s the worst of girls,” said Edmund to Peter and the Dwarf. “They never can carry a map in their heads.” “That’s because our heads have something inside them,” said Lucy
  2. “Welcome, child,” he said “Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.” “That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are?” “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”
  3. “How could I- I couldn’t have left the others and come up to you alone, how could I? Don’t look at me like that…oh well, I suppose I could. Yes, and it wouldn’t have been alone, I know, not if I was with you. But what would have been the good?” Aslan said nothing. “You mean,” said Lucy rather faintly, “that it would have turned out all right-somehow? But how? Please, Aslan! Am I not to know?” “To know what would have happened, child?” said Aslan. “No. Nobody is ever told that.” “Oh dear,” said Lucy. “But anyone can find out what will happen.” (Aslan)
  4. “Welcome, Prince,” said Aslan. “Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?” “I- I don’t think I do, Sir,” said Caspian. “I’m only a kid.” “Good,” said Aslan. “If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been proof that you were not.”

• I felt the movie missed a couple of the main themes or styles of the book. This one was more of a mystery/ adventure at the beginning as they try to figure out where they are, what year it is, where Susan's horn is and what is going on. In an attempt to get to the fighting (and an extra fight scene), this was rushed. Also in focusing on the war, you miss a lot of the history of Narnia. This is a slower book than the first; it should have been a slower movie. But the makers were obviously completing with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and needed to make Prince Caspian more intense. The fairy tale-ness in this book was lost.

• Also, the movie made Aslan a much smaller part. The blind faith of Lucy was minimal. And High King Peter doubted his King's ability to help them. That hurt me. There was also a big section that was cut out (yes, it fit the more fairy tale theme, not the war theme) in which we see more of Aslan power, help and relationship with Narnia. The book shows his love and justice.

• I will say I was GREATLY impressed with the scene that included the White Witch. The took the scene from the book and added to it well (except for pulling Peter into the temptation). Good job, writers and producers.

• Lastly but certainly not least, the romance between Susan and Caspian. I cringed when he first looked at her as if he wanted her as his queen. And at the kiss I lost it. I'm sure some people in the theater (my sister included) thought I was just a little crazy. Or 5 years old and didn't like people kissing. Honestly, why add that?!

Ok, well, that's nice and long, but I did have a lot to say about it. Overall, a well made movie but I didn't like it. It was too different from the book where it really matters.

Cubs update: top of the 7th, Cubs up 5-3
Music update: Sons of Korah, Psalm 63
And the power is on and Moca is asleep.

Welcome to Hurricane Season

Today is the first day of the 2008 hurricane season. In the past, this meant a new interest in the Weather Channel to see if any of these systems of powerful wind and rain would make their way into the Gulf of Mexico and head towards Galveston and Houston. This year brings a slightly different interest. Living in the Dominican Republic, I will have to keep track of any storms heading into the Caribbean. The good news is that people who have worked and lived here for a while say that it is not too bad here. Which makes sense Jarabacoa is inland and in the mountains. We'll see how it goes; I may get to meet Bertha or Gustav or Hanna or Teddy.

Cubs update: Top of the 4th, tied 1-1 and not looking good.
Music update: now playing 116 Clique Intro
Oh, and power just went off....

Preface

I don't know if I have mentioned this before (and frankly I don't care enough to go see and link to it), but I am a perfectionist. That is my excuse for not blogging as often. I have plenty of ideas and things to say, but I fear they won't come out right. And if they will, it's only due to lots of time spent on them. I don't want to take the time to write something that won't turn it out the way I want it too.

We'll I figure it has been long enough and so I am going to take this Sunday afternoon to sit a blog, with my puppy in my lap, the Cubs' game on in the background, and my music on to sing along with.