Sucks to be a Terp

So I guess that now means it sucks to be me. As I get ready to head up to UMD in the fall, I had planned on using my new school as an excuse to become an ACC basketball fan, but it may not be such a great idea now, as apparently Gary Williams is having trouble forming a squad.

With Gilchrist leaving and several recruits potentially not coming, the Terp's program looks to be in shambles. It's incredible to think that 6 years ago they won the national title. I'm not sure how much I want to pay for tickets now, maybe nothing...

Not a snowball's chance...

So the playoffs in baseball are four months away, but it's never too soon to start talking about October, right? Well, that's the theory the good folks over at Cool Standings ascribe to. The site gives a teams odds of making the playoffs in terms of percentages, broken down by Divisional Winner, Wild Card, and Overall.

The results right now are hardly surprising. The best team in baseball (in a fairly weak division) has the best chance of making it. The Cubbies, according to Cool Standings, have an 88.9% chance of making the tournament. And, also not surprising, my Seattle Mariners currently have the least chance of making the playoffs of any team in baseball, coming in at less than .1% But hey, we could always repeat '95! Or not...

But the fun part of Cool Standings is the individual team pages. Here you can track the day by day change in the odds of any team making the playoffs. And want that magic number? They have that too. The White Sox only have to win 108 games to guarantee themselves a spot! C'mon, cheer up Ozzie.

The algorithm that Cool Standings uses is fairly simple, but it's best just to read it over there. So enjoy tracking your team over the summer, it's pretty fun.

Stanley Cup

Good lord, that game lasted about four and a half hours. Congrats, Penguins, on staying in good fight!

The Counter, Palo Alto, Califonia

Well, sup blag. This is contributor K, actually making a post. Since I have spent the past couple months traveling and eating, I have a backlog of posts about food I could be making, so I'll start with a delicious burger place because nothing says summer like a delicious burger.

Restaurant name: The Counter
Wobsite: The Counter Burger dot Com

The Counter appears to be a franchise that is located mostly in California, though there are locations in Plano, TX and Charlotte, NC. It's goal is to serve you a gigantic burger of your own making -- the menu is attached to a clipboard and you get to denote what toppings, size, rareness, sides, etc. you want out of lists of the possibilities. The usual choices are all present, but this is the burger that I came up with:



2/3rd pound of medium rare beef,
honey-cured bacon,
Tillamook cheddar,
sprouts,
hardboiled eggs,
peanut sauce,
honeywheat bun.
& sweet potato fries.

I know the hardboiled eggs are a little weird, but it was Easter weekend when I was there, so I was feelin' it. Anyway, it was decadent, and they have a ton of really fun and intriguing sauces and toppings and things to try, and outdoor seating nestled into Santana Row. So uh, it was delicious.

Speaking of burgers, for Memorial Day my roommates and I made some delicious burgers, about 3/4 of a pound of beef each loving fileld with green apples and bacon, with a slice of Tillamook cheddar on top. It was pretty phenom.

Music of the Spring

So if you check out Kat's LiveJournal, you'll see that she was tagged, and then left an open-invite tag for everyone. I'm accepting that challenge. Here is the description: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your spring.

So here they are, my seven songs and some explanation. In no particular order

1. The Astronaut - Something Corporate: Victoria got me into these guys, and yes, I know I am behind the curve. That's just how I roll when it comes to "new" music. Regardless, this is my favorite song of theirs, and I've been listening to it obsessively.
2. Violet Hill - Coldplay: Their first single from the new album "Viva la Vida, or, Death and all His Friends." Pretty catchy, not their best song, but I've been listening to it a lot.
3. Symphony No. 2 - Sergei Rachmaninoff: So I heard this in concert once, and listened to it a ton right afterward and then promptly forgot it. I rediscovered it the other day at work. It's not the best symphony ever (really overly, hammer-to-the-head romantic) but it's really catchy and just altogether good to listen to.
4. Peter Grimes - Benjamin Britten: I'd be remiss if I didn't put this here, as it was the basis for my senior capstone project and pretty much defined my spring.
5. Heaven - Bitter:Sweet : Another recommendation from Victoria, the group (?) is kind of electronic, smooth, lounge-music. Very enjoyable, and this is one of my favorite songs of theirs. Props for featuring some bass clarinet on the album.
6. Nantes - Beirut: This is a band that Kat introduced me to. Zach Conlon has an amazing warble of a voice and is backed by some melange of a Gypsy band. Hard to categorize, but they rock. The first album was great, but the new album ("Flying Club Cup") kicks all sorts of ass. This is my "Rob says go buy it" album of the year thus far.
7. See you Again - Miley Cyrus: Alright, I just died inside typing that, but I cannot get this damn song out of my head. It's terrible, it's bad, but it's so freaking catchy. There, I admitted to it. I tried figuring out a song I could justify over this, and I couldn't. I am so ashamed...

Alright, there are my seven. Go ahead, put yours in the comments.