Playoff Basketball

I have no ties to either team, but...Grizz-Thunder...what a game! Nuts! Chuck is right. Westbrook, pass the ball. Preferably not after dribbling for 6 seconds. Zbo, battling. Ridiculous 3 by Vasquez. Who are these guys? OJ Mayo, selfish, but those were some clutch 3's. Love it when the bench guys are so into it. Playoff basketball Westbrook, still going strong. These guys must be exhausted. Zbo sure is. Durant? He's probably not tired but he is pretty much invisible. Get the man the ball. Know your role. The Grizzlies do. I feel bad for Vancouver and Seattle. Particularly Seattle. And Greg Oden. Was that Big Country Bryant Reeves?

The NBA Playoffs! It's FANtastic!

Don't drink the water

Unless you like the taste of rust.

Some seriously rusty galvanized pipes in the new (old) house. Again another post soliciting help of the GardenWeb forums -- got some great advice on the lemon tree, hoping to repeat, this time for plumbing.

When life gives you lemons

We are fortunate to have a big and bountiful lemon tree in our front yard -- the thing is a lemon producing maniac. A few years down the road our daughter is going to have the world's most prolific lemonade stand.

That is, if the tree makes it a few more years. I've posted a few pictures below, as you can see, the trunk is looking rather unhealthy. It has looked that way for all of the 1.5 years we've lived here, and is not looking any worse, but still I want to ensure the tree's life and longevity are not at risk. I posted the pictures here primarily for the help of the GardenWeb forum (where I posted a thread) but if any of you long time Horace readers are also part time arborists I of course welcome your input as well.

Thanks for looking, and for any suggestions.

Don't get your hopes up

I'm just dumping a few photos here for some friends, file size is too large to email so this is an easier way for them to see 'em...

But who knows...maybe this post will revitalize Horace. Only time will tell.

Regardless, it was a lovely winter morning at the beach.

Don't miss out! Craigslist deal of the day

Hooray, I've been looking for a dinged, yellowed, old, beat-up backyard board for the bargain price of only $250! Even better it looks like the fins are glassed on the nose -- perfect for those fins-first takeoffs I've been working on. Stoked!

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Surfboard – Troy Peters design - $250 (palo alto)

Date: 2010-07-19, 10:21AM PDT
Reply to: sale-ytxaw-1850421487@craigslist.org

Troy Peters Surfboard. Dimensions 78” x 18” at widest point and ~1.75” thick at thickest point. In very good shape. It is a Tri-fin board that has not been used in 3 years and used sparingly before that. Or will trade and add cash for a higher end road bicycle 52-54cm.

The American Way

Woman Suing Google for Dangerous Walking Directions

I'm sure this is exactly what our Veterans had in mind when fighting for our country.

RAIN

Seriously is it ever going to stop raining down here and start to warm up?? I dislike rain to start but I really dislike rain when I am trying to renovate and move in to a new house, and it inevitably decides to downpour when I have all the moving boxes and other projects outside. Enough already!!!

Addictions

I have resisted for many, many years...

But at the age of 30 I fear I am developing an addiction to caffeine, in the form of morning coffee.

I don't care what people say, to me, caffeine is a drug, just like anything else. Of course it is accepted in society and the side-effects are minimal, but it is an addiction just like anything else -- cocaine, heroin, marijuana...caffeine.

Rant over.

Maybe I'll be able to surf this weekend. The cold Pacific ocean water is a good caffeine alternative, I've found.

Go Suns

As soon as Jerryd Bayless tried to go for the highlight dunk instead of actually making points...and got sent packing in the process...this one was over.



Sad to see the Blazers season end but really, I'm not all that disappointed to see Phoenix moving on. Is there a more likable bunch in the NBA? Nash and Hill -- class acts. That video above is great. He got a bit fired up there. GIMME THAT ISH!!!! Watch the replay again and you'll hear him yelling after his block. I like to consider myself a pretty classy sportsman on the court myself but I woulda done the same. Bayless...gimme a break. Who do you think you are? Lebron? "King Bayless" I don't see that catching on.

Dwight Jaynes, an old columnist for the Oregonian and other Portland papers, has a good blog that is my main go-to for Blazers nuggets. I agree with much of what he says. McMillan -- COY?? Not even close. Guy is a disciplinarian and control-freak, and didn't make an adjustment all series. Of course I also know it is the players on the floor that ultimately decide what happens, and it's easy for a coach to look good when you have Nash running the show, making the right decisions. But I think all in all Miller makes pretty good decisions too -- as a coach he needs to realize that and give him some rein to do his thing. The whole fiasco with the whole first half of the season and coming off the bench, ridiculous. The player rotation and minutes? Also bizarre. As a player it's extremely difficult to make any sort of consistent contribution when you're getting only 15 minutes of PT yanked around all over the place willy-nilly. Shorten the rotation. This isn't the high-school JV where everybody should get some minutes (another analogy previously made by Dwight). Anyways all in all a frustrating season, insane injuries, and really rather demoralizing watching my team play. Read Dwight Jaynes blog for more, and, hopefully, next season, Blazers basketball actually is fun again. Even I have to admit it's gotten pretty stagnant and boring and, well, unappealing.

Go Suns.

sugar for breakfast

Cinnamon Toast Crunch is basically sugar...and wheat.

Yep just confirmed from the side of the box:

INGREDIENTS:
WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, SUGAR...and then about 5 or 6 other things that basically also sound like chemical names for...well, sugar.

I feel sick.