Alex dropped off two loads of wood, each approximately 1.5 cord, to go with the half a rank of wood left over from last year. Should be about right. The big problem is that now we need to haul that large-ass pile of wood into the house and get both the dehumidifiers working overtime to dry it out.
This isn't that big a deal; we figured out a system that worked pretty well for us last year. I hauled wheelbarrows full of wood into the house and M stacked it as high as she could, then I came along and stacked the rest of the way, as needed. This year, however, I won't have much help from M as she's working and would only be able to assist on the weekends, which are pretty full of things to do as it is.
We bought our own wheelbarrow. Got a nifty one with two wheels, self-stabilizers, and bumper on the front. That way we don't have to borrow Alex's again (plus, we could use a wheelbarrow for various other projects during the year).
I started today by moving the existing half-rank to the other side of the room. I am hoping I left enough room for the wheelbarrow to fit through the door (pretty sure I did). That hour and a half wiped me out, however, as I'm still getting over the last dregs of the cold I have had for the last two weeks plus.
The other issue is the weather. We have been having a ton of rain and our temperature has been well-below average for a good long while now. Need it to be dryer if I'm going to be hauling wood into the house (with the door open and coming in and out a bunch). Today would be a good day to start if I hadn't already wiped myself out just moving the inside wood, cleaning up, and preparing for the bigger job ahead. The 14-day forecast looks to have some sunny/dry days upcoming, so hopefully I can get some done in the next few days.
There are also plans for me to strip and repaint the front porch railing this summer. Since I've been working and it looks like the company will offer me a second contract to continue providing documentation for them, I'm not sure when I'll get to that. But it needs to happen or the porch might not weather the next winter so well.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Grill
Our existing grill is not worth salvaging at this point. If M's memory serves her well (and it usually does), that grill is somewhere around 14-15 years old. It just has so much wear and tear on it now that it would cost us nearly as much as a new grill to get it up and running again.
So, we're looking for a new grill. We have researched, decided on our price range, and have shopped around. We finally found a grill at Home Depot that fit our needs, was within our budget AND on sale (so putting it from the higher end to the lower end of the budget), had coated racks (top and bottom), and was made in Canada. Perfect.
We have now attempted to purchase this grill three separate times from Home Depot. We have had poor service (except for partially on this last trip), and Home Depot just doesn't seem concerned about our business. They say that there are 13 of this unit on PEI, yet the SJ store sold out of the two they had the first day of the sale and it is marked as "no auto-reorder" so they won't be getting any more back in stock.
The woman today at Customer Service was fairly helpful; she did her best to find out what was going on, if they could get it for us, and took my name and phone number and was going to have the head of the department or the one in charge of ordering call us back today. It is now 20 till 10pm and I don't think that call is coming. This would be the third time that Lindsay (the one in charge of ordering) has been less than helpful or completely dismissive.
On our way out of the East side, we saw a sign at Harbor City Propane that said "Broil King BBQ, Free Assembly" and decided to stop in. For $50 more than the sale price of the very similar grill at Home Depot, we can get a Canadian-made grill, of similar size, assembled for free, and we are patronizing a local business and will get a far superior warranty on the product with local support. Win-win, in our books.
What Home Depot doesn't understand or is chosing to ignore is that every single disgruntled customer actually represents a total of 10 such customers. So, our complaints to them about this grill not being in stock should indicate to them that there are 9 other people who have wanted that grill and have gone elsewhere or settled for something else. So, when they told us it would cost them $250 to ship a single grill from PEI to SJ for us and, since that grill was on sale for $300, it wasn't worth their effort, what they failed to understand is that shipping ten of those grills would have netted them a $50 profit on ten grills PLUS made ten customers happy and more loyal customers, coming back for things like grill covers, propane tanks, lighters, etc. Instead, they have chosen to drive off those ten customers, made at least a few of them tell their friends of their bad experience, and making even more than the original ten people unhappy.
Anyway, we plan to go back tomorrow and purchase our new grill from a local store. We're doing our part for the local economy and for the economy in general by buying Canadian (which we both feel is important, especially since the vast majority of grills in our price-range come from China -- a country that is happy to export anything but does not allow more than 1% of its imports from North America). I think we'll be very happy and satisfied with our purchase. And, if we're not, we will have local support to fall back on to make it right.
Addendum:
The new grill works like a champ. We had Jenn and Stew over for steak and, except for me misremembering how they like their and overcooking it a bit for them, the meal was quite good. Last night, M and I made pork loin marinated in red-wine vinaigrette, grilled potatoes, and some veggies. The meat was done a solid medium, was still juicy, and tasted great with either more dressing or with applesauce. Yum!
So, we're looking for a new grill. We have researched, decided on our price range, and have shopped around. We finally found a grill at Home Depot that fit our needs, was within our budget AND on sale (so putting it from the higher end to the lower end of the budget), had coated racks (top and bottom), and was made in Canada. Perfect.
We have now attempted to purchase this grill three separate times from Home Depot. We have had poor service (except for partially on this last trip), and Home Depot just doesn't seem concerned about our business. They say that there are 13 of this unit on PEI, yet the SJ store sold out of the two they had the first day of the sale and it is marked as "no auto-reorder" so they won't be getting any more back in stock.
The woman today at Customer Service was fairly helpful; she did her best to find out what was going on, if they could get it for us, and took my name and phone number and was going to have the head of the department or the one in charge of ordering call us back today. It is now 20 till 10pm and I don't think that call is coming. This would be the third time that Lindsay (the one in charge of ordering) has been less than helpful or completely dismissive.
On our way out of the East side, we saw a sign at Harbor City Propane that said "Broil King BBQ, Free Assembly" and decided to stop in. For $50 more than the sale price of the very similar grill at Home Depot, we can get a Canadian-made grill, of similar size, assembled for free, and we are patronizing a local business and will get a far superior warranty on the product with local support. Win-win, in our books.
What Home Depot doesn't understand or is chosing to ignore is that every single disgruntled customer actually represents a total of 10 such customers. So, our complaints to them about this grill not being in stock should indicate to them that there are 9 other people who have wanted that grill and have gone elsewhere or settled for something else. So, when they told us it would cost them $250 to ship a single grill from PEI to SJ for us and, since that grill was on sale for $300, it wasn't worth their effort, what they failed to understand is that shipping ten of those grills would have netted them a $50 profit on ten grills PLUS made ten customers happy and more loyal customers, coming back for things like grill covers, propane tanks, lighters, etc. Instead, they have chosen to drive off those ten customers, made at least a few of them tell their friends of their bad experience, and making even more than the original ten people unhappy.
Anyway, we plan to go back tomorrow and purchase our new grill from a local store. We're doing our part for the local economy and for the economy in general by buying Canadian (which we both feel is important, especially since the vast majority of grills in our price-range come from China -- a country that is happy to export anything but does not allow more than 1% of its imports from North America). I think we'll be very happy and satisfied with our purchase. And, if we're not, we will have local support to fall back on to make it right.
Addendum:
The new grill works like a champ. We had Jenn and Stew over for steak and, except for me misremembering how they like their and overcooking it a bit for them, the meal was quite good. Last night, M and I made pork loin marinated in red-wine vinaigrette, grilled potatoes, and some veggies. The meat was done a solid medium, was still juicy, and tasted great with either more dressing or with applesauce. Yum!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sick
I wasn't feeling particularly healthy last week. On Thursday midday it struck me down and I didn't even log on to work on Friday. By Saturday I was feeling well enough to go with the gang to one member's trailer about half-way between here and Fredericton. However, the day was scheduled for showers and we wound up playing DnD under an awning on his porch for most of the day.
While we had one of our best sessions to-date, the cold and the damp got to me even though I wore my rain jacket and tried to stay out of the wet. Sunday I was sick and it just kept getting worse.
This week, one of my last before my contract ends, I have only worked two days out of five due to illness. Monday and Wednesday were horrible days. Tuesday I managed to put pretty much a full day in, although I still wasn't feeling very good. Thursday I started out feeling much improved, and got a couple of minor errands done in the morning, worked for the late morning and afternoon, and then M and I put together our new wheelbarrow and reviewed our options for the grill.
Putting together the grill completely wiped me out. I was sweating and exhausted when we finished, which I shouldn't and wouldn't have been had I not been so sick. It was not very stressful or taxing work, and with M's help should have been a breeze.
Later that evening, after the fog rolled in, M's dad showed up with his trailer filled with the other 1.5 cord of wood; we haven't managed to get the first 1.5 into the house as it has been raining for about a week straight. Standing out talking with Alex in the cold, damp fog seemed to do me entirely in.
When we settled in for the night, the coughing began again in earnest. My throat was burning, and the damned hot/cold flashes were back with gusto. That evening, after heading to bed, I got that familiar feeling in my lower intestines and dashed for the bathroom... a total of three times.
My coughing during the night got so bad that I woke both of us up and M went and got me cough drops to ease it enough we could both go back to sleep.
I've slept today, stayed under the covers (except for during hot flashes) while I watched a movie, and generally not done a hell of a lot. If I move too quickly or speak for more than a couple of words, the coughing returns and it is so violent it makes me feel like throwing up or hurts the hell out of my throat.
We had planned to head down to Calais tomorrow for a package my mother sent, but I think I'll be staying home. I also want to take my bike into Alternatives to get the gears fixed so I can ride it (and to look at grills while we're there), but I don't think that will be happening unless I improve a lot between now and tomorrow.
The lesson learned is that I need to stay out of the cold, damp air. I also need to ease myself back into full action instead of jumping in and further weakening my system.
For now, I think I foresee a lot of hot cocoa and cough drops, a few movies, and maybe a hot bath. And M won't have to put up with my talking very much for the next few days.
While we had one of our best sessions to-date, the cold and the damp got to me even though I wore my rain jacket and tried to stay out of the wet. Sunday I was sick and it just kept getting worse.
This week, one of my last before my contract ends, I have only worked two days out of five due to illness. Monday and Wednesday were horrible days. Tuesday I managed to put pretty much a full day in, although I still wasn't feeling very good. Thursday I started out feeling much improved, and got a couple of minor errands done in the morning, worked for the late morning and afternoon, and then M and I put together our new wheelbarrow and reviewed our options for the grill.
Putting together the grill completely wiped me out. I was sweating and exhausted when we finished, which I shouldn't and wouldn't have been had I not been so sick. It was not very stressful or taxing work, and with M's help should have been a breeze.
Later that evening, after the fog rolled in, M's dad showed up with his trailer filled with the other 1.5 cord of wood; we haven't managed to get the first 1.5 into the house as it has been raining for about a week straight. Standing out talking with Alex in the cold, damp fog seemed to do me entirely in.
When we settled in for the night, the coughing began again in earnest. My throat was burning, and the damned hot/cold flashes were back with gusto. That evening, after heading to bed, I got that familiar feeling in my lower intestines and dashed for the bathroom... a total of three times.
My coughing during the night got so bad that I woke both of us up and M went and got me cough drops to ease it enough we could both go back to sleep.
I've slept today, stayed under the covers (except for during hot flashes) while I watched a movie, and generally not done a hell of a lot. If I move too quickly or speak for more than a couple of words, the coughing returns and it is so violent it makes me feel like throwing up or hurts the hell out of my throat.
We had planned to head down to Calais tomorrow for a package my mother sent, but I think I'll be staying home. I also want to take my bike into Alternatives to get the gears fixed so I can ride it (and to look at grills while we're there), but I don't think that will be happening unless I improve a lot between now and tomorrow.
The lesson learned is that I need to stay out of the cold, damp air. I also need to ease myself back into full action instead of jumping in and further weakening my system.
For now, I think I foresee a lot of hot cocoa and cough drops, a few movies, and maybe a hot bath. And M won't have to put up with my talking very much for the next few days.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
North Korea
I have been told by my parents, PSAs, movies, books, psychologists, ABC After School Specials, Dr. Phil, and just about anyone else who can speak that you ignore bullies. Well, not ignore exactly; you are watchful, you defend yourself if attacked, but you do not provoke them, you do not acknowledge them, and you do not give them what they want. In this way, you take away what they need most-- your attention. Bullies are bullies because they need attention. If a person can't get the positive attention he/she craves from someone or something, he/she attempts to get it through negative practices (i.e., bullying) to get any sort of attention.
North Korea has been a bully for many years. Its leader, Kim Jong-Il, is at it again. He is threatening to start up his nuclear power plant so he can get more weapons-grade nuclear material with which to make weapons. He is doing this to get attention from the UN and the United States so that either will relent and give him attention and "stuff."
But, as we are always taught, you shouldn't give concessions to a bully. You don't acknowledge a bully at all.
So, rather than playing HIS game, how about we treat him like the bully he is? Instead of going into negotiations with him, we stop sending him food. Instead of listening to demands, we stop sending medical supplies. Instead of offering concession if he'll "play nice," how about we stop importing anything into the country of any sort.
North Korea cannot feed its people. Without our food, medical supplies, goods, and services, and the people we send to help them develop these things (including the very same nuclear program that they are now threatening us with), North Korea goes back to being a third-world nation.
I'm not saying we should be stupid; we should monitor North Korea and its weapons program intently. We should protect ourselves and our allies as needed from aggression. But we do NOT acknowledge a dying leader's need to make himself feel powerful and to show his people he can make the mighty USA bow to him. We take that away and what do you have? A pathetic loser who cannot feed his people, who is dying, and who has no real immortality or legacy to his illustrious reign.
If we can go one small step further and somehow let the poor North Koreans know that every day they go without food and medicine is because of their leader and his demands, we might even get the people to rethink their choice of leadership. If we can get the people to understand that we WANT to help, but Jong-Il's saber-rattling and bullying tactics are keeping us from doing it, they might rise up and question that leader.
That, or a sniper's bullet from 1000 yards.
North Korea has been a bully for many years. Its leader, Kim Jong-Il, is at it again. He is threatening to start up his nuclear power plant so he can get more weapons-grade nuclear material with which to make weapons. He is doing this to get attention from the UN and the United States so that either will relent and give him attention and "stuff."
But, as we are always taught, you shouldn't give concessions to a bully. You don't acknowledge a bully at all.
So, rather than playing HIS game, how about we treat him like the bully he is? Instead of going into negotiations with him, we stop sending him food. Instead of listening to demands, we stop sending medical supplies. Instead of offering concession if he'll "play nice," how about we stop importing anything into the country of any sort.
North Korea cannot feed its people. Without our food, medical supplies, goods, and services, and the people we send to help them develop these things (including the very same nuclear program that they are now threatening us with), North Korea goes back to being a third-world nation.
I'm not saying we should be stupid; we should monitor North Korea and its weapons program intently. We should protect ourselves and our allies as needed from aggression. But we do NOT acknowledge a dying leader's need to make himself feel powerful and to show his people he can make the mighty USA bow to him. We take that away and what do you have? A pathetic loser who cannot feed his people, who is dying, and who has no real immortality or legacy to his illustrious reign.
If we can go one small step further and somehow let the poor North Koreans know that every day they go without food and medicine is because of their leader and his demands, we might even get the people to rethink their choice of leadership. If we can get the people to understand that we WANT to help, but Jong-Il's saber-rattling and bullying tactics are keeping us from doing it, they might rise up and question that leader.
That, or a sniper's bullet from 1000 yards.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
One Year Anniversary
On June 17th, I achieved my one year anniversary of the date I arrived in SJ. It is hard to believe it has been a year already!
M has, of course, made it well worth the trip here. She's been a saint, putting up with me this long with all of the changes I have wrought on her life. She does not like change, even in small amounts, and having an entire person and his life show up on her doorstep was emotionally disturbing and a bit overwhelming for her.
Then we moved all my stuff into the house and started working on places to put it all (and we're still working on it, a year later!). Throw in moving the furniture around, the "messiness" of another person to a house she only ever had to worry about her own self in, a new toilet, a shed, and, last but not least, a cat!
Meanwhile, the stress on me has been hard, too; a lot of the job prospects we thought I had dried up as the economic woes hit this area pretty much just as I arrived. I'm getting used to a whole new routine, living with a new person, house/yard responsibilities, the weather, the taxes, and a whole new set of politics. Not to mention missing my friends, family, and life in SoCal... a place I had never left for longer than a few weeks until now.
After a year, I finally have a general practice doctor (yay!) and my two specialists lined up and working on my case. I have some contract work bringing in some extra money to help pay for things. We seem to be hitting a decent routine of things she does without me, things I do without her, and things we like to do together. I survived my first winter in SJ, and am stronger for it- but also learned a lot, and mostly about what I don't know about winter! My truck also survived not only the trip here and the bad roads throughout the province, but also its first winter. We are, however, looking to get a remote started added for the coming winter.
I also have a whole new set of friends and (extended) family helping make the transition much easier than it otherwise could have or would have been without them.
And did I mention the new cat? >;-)
Romy seems, overall, to be working out. He is just starting to connect the sound "roam-ee" to petting and attention, but it will take, likely, a few more months before he is consistent and comfortable with it. He does like "bedtime" as he gets to sleep in the bed and curl up on M's feet or along her back (which she likes, too, as it keeps her snuggly warm) and gets a lot of attention and petting. M is still transitioning to having cat hair in the house and on the couches, but it isn't as bad as she feared and we're being a bit more diligent about vacuuming (central vac for the win!).
We also picked up a circular cat toy (the one with the ball in the middle) for him from friends whose cat didn't use it, and he seems to enjoy it. It's the first toy he seems to really like. He also LOVES his cardboard with catnip scratchers-- he goes ape-shit scratching at them and even falls asleep on them. Which keeps him from scratching anything else, so that's good.
They say that the first year of marriage is the hardest. Well, our first year was spent predominantly apart, which was very hard. It is difficult to be away from the one you love for short trips, let alone for months at a time. However, our second year was spent adjusting to life together, and was difficult for a whole different set of reasons; adjusting to having a living, breathing person in your life is a challenge. However, I feel like we have successfully navigated both of those hurdles, so we can move on to the challenges of the third year... whatever they may be.
M has, of course, made it well worth the trip here. She's been a saint, putting up with me this long with all of the changes I have wrought on her life. She does not like change, even in small amounts, and having an entire person and his life show up on her doorstep was emotionally disturbing and a bit overwhelming for her.
Then we moved all my stuff into the house and started working on places to put it all (and we're still working on it, a year later!). Throw in moving the furniture around, the "messiness" of another person to a house she only ever had to worry about her own self in, a new toilet, a shed, and, last but not least, a cat!
Meanwhile, the stress on me has been hard, too; a lot of the job prospects we thought I had dried up as the economic woes hit this area pretty much just as I arrived. I'm getting used to a whole new routine, living with a new person, house/yard responsibilities, the weather, the taxes, and a whole new set of politics. Not to mention missing my friends, family, and life in SoCal... a place I had never left for longer than a few weeks until now.
After a year, I finally have a general practice doctor (yay!) and my two specialists lined up and working on my case. I have some contract work bringing in some extra money to help pay for things. We seem to be hitting a decent routine of things she does without me, things I do without her, and things we like to do together. I survived my first winter in SJ, and am stronger for it- but also learned a lot, and mostly about what I don't know about winter! My truck also survived not only the trip here and the bad roads throughout the province, but also its first winter. We are, however, looking to get a remote started added for the coming winter.
I also have a whole new set of friends and (extended) family helping make the transition much easier than it otherwise could have or would have been without them.
And did I mention the new cat? >;-)
Romy seems, overall, to be working out. He is just starting to connect the sound "roam-ee" to petting and attention, but it will take, likely, a few more months before he is consistent and comfortable with it. He does like "bedtime" as he gets to sleep in the bed and curl up on M's feet or along her back (which she likes, too, as it keeps her snuggly warm) and gets a lot of attention and petting. M is still transitioning to having cat hair in the house and on the couches, but it isn't as bad as she feared and we're being a bit more diligent about vacuuming (central vac for the win!).
We also picked up a circular cat toy (the one with the ball in the middle) for him from friends whose cat didn't use it, and he seems to enjoy it. It's the first toy he seems to really like. He also LOVES his cardboard with catnip scratchers-- he goes ape-shit scratching at them and even falls asleep on them. Which keeps him from scratching anything else, so that's good.
They say that the first year of marriage is the hardest. Well, our first year was spent predominantly apart, which was very hard. It is difficult to be away from the one you love for short trips, let alone for months at a time. However, our second year was spent adjusting to life together, and was difficult for a whole different set of reasons; adjusting to having a living, breathing person in your life is a challenge. However, I feel like we have successfully navigated both of those hurdles, so we can move on to the challenges of the third year... whatever they may be.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Back Up and Running
About 10 before 8 am, I heard the beeping sound of a truck backing up. I looked out the window as the guy from the delivery service got back into his truck and drove off. Sure enough, my new motherboard was on the doorstep when I opened the door.
I bought the ASRock A780GXE/128M board. I have now completely installed and I am back up and running.
I am very impressed with the layout on the board. It was easy to plug everything in and not too many of the cables/connection were conflicting, so the board is fairly clean. It had connectors for my front-panel USB ports, which my last board did not, so my front panel is fully functioning now.
The sound drivers are far superior to what I had on the last two boards. Everything is clearer and louder, so I won't always be turning up the actual speaker volume, but can use the Windows volume control more often.
This board came with an obscene amount of USB ports available. There are six plugs on the back, plus a total of six more on the board (for things like the front panel). It also has SLI/Crossfire port directly on the motherboard, so no daughter card is needed. I don't have the second SLI card to use right now, but it is there and rar'n to go should I choose to go down that path.
The driver disks were also easy to use and simple. Installed the LAN and sound drivers and Windows immediately started using them. Has a bunch of overclocking features that I may install at some later date, but I've always been pretty happy with my system as-is, so may not touch those. We'll see.
For being an Asus boy for the last, oh, about 10 years or so, I am very pleased with the layout, cost, features, and installation of the ASRock motherboard. I would likely recommend it as a solid board if a friend was looking for a new one.
I bought the ASRock A780GXE/128M board. I have now completely installed and I am back up and running.
I am very impressed with the layout on the board. It was easy to plug everything in and not too many of the cables/connection were conflicting, so the board is fairly clean. It had connectors for my front-panel USB ports, which my last board did not, so my front panel is fully functioning now.
The sound drivers are far superior to what I had on the last two boards. Everything is clearer and louder, so I won't always be turning up the actual speaker volume, but can use the Windows volume control more often.
This board came with an obscene amount of USB ports available. There are six plugs on the back, plus a total of six more on the board (for things like the front panel). It also has SLI/Crossfire port directly on the motherboard, so no daughter card is needed. I don't have the second SLI card to use right now, but it is there and rar'n to go should I choose to go down that path.
The driver disks were also easy to use and simple. Installed the LAN and sound drivers and Windows immediately started using them. Has a bunch of overclocking features that I may install at some later date, but I've always been pretty happy with my system as-is, so may not touch those. We'll see.
For being an Asus boy for the last, oh, about 10 years or so, I am very pleased with the layout, cost, features, and installation of the ASRock motherboard. I would likely recommend it as a solid board if a friend was looking for a new one.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Lakers/Magic
Well, Magic apologists certainly can't be complaining about the calls after game 3 of the finals. While a Lakers fan, I was willing to concede that there were more than a few questionable calls throughout games one and two, on both sides. However, the calls seemed egregiously in favor of the Magic in game 3. I used TiVo to rewind and look at nearly every foul called and there were very, very few that were even close to legit. Most should have been called the other way.
Aside: Matter of fact, that is a point that I hate about the NBA today; whenever you hear the announcer(s) say, "He did a good job of initiating contact..." that means the person with the ball should have been called for the foul. If you read the NBA rules, it is the person who initiates contact that is supposed to be the guilty party.
Of the four fouls that Lamar Odom finished with, three should have been called on the offensive player (twice being Howard) and one the other was a questionable/close call that could have gone either way. Hell, at one point Odom was standing with his arms up and his feet planted and Howard just barreled straight into him, hitting Odom in the chest with his lead shoulder and somehow it was a blocking foul on Odom. On another, Odom flew through the air, avoided all contact with Howard(?) as he went for a dunk, managed to block the shot cleanly, and was whistled for a foul.
Another egregious call. Howard got the ball, turned into Bryant, who wrapped up the ball and held onto it. Jump ball, right? Wrong. Although he held onto it for a full, slow two count and Howard was unable to raise the ball above his waist, not only was this somehow a foul on Kobe but also a shooting foul because "Howard's shoulders had been moving toward the basket" according to announcer Mark Jackson. Uh, so? Shoulders moving toward the basket is not "act of shooting."
And two of Howard's blocked shots were clearly goal tending, but were not called. One of which happened in the closing minutes and should have been a three point play.
The Magic shot lights-out and did a good job frustrating Kobe after the first quarter explosion. They set a record for a half in the finals by shooting 75% (and, even more strangely, the Lakers played decent defense-- they just couldn't miss a shot). I don't think the Magic can play a better game than that... and they only won by 2 points. I think the Magic should be very worried about their chances in this series.
A series doesn't really get interesting until a team wins on the road. So far, both teams have done what is expected... win on their home court. Should be an entertaining series from now on.
Aside: Matter of fact, that is a point that I hate about the NBA today; whenever you hear the announcer(s) say, "He did a good job of initiating contact..." that means the person with the ball should have been called for the foul. If you read the NBA rules, it is the person who initiates contact that is supposed to be the guilty party.
Of the four fouls that Lamar Odom finished with, three should have been called on the offensive player (twice being Howard) and one the other was a questionable/close call that could have gone either way. Hell, at one point Odom was standing with his arms up and his feet planted and Howard just barreled straight into him, hitting Odom in the chest with his lead shoulder and somehow it was a blocking foul on Odom. On another, Odom flew through the air, avoided all contact with Howard(?) as he went for a dunk, managed to block the shot cleanly, and was whistled for a foul.
Another egregious call. Howard got the ball, turned into Bryant, who wrapped up the ball and held onto it. Jump ball, right? Wrong. Although he held onto it for a full, slow two count and Howard was unable to raise the ball above his waist, not only was this somehow a foul on Kobe but also a shooting foul because "Howard's shoulders had been moving toward the basket" according to announcer Mark Jackson. Uh, so? Shoulders moving toward the basket is not "act of shooting."
And two of Howard's blocked shots were clearly goal tending, but were not called. One of which happened in the closing minutes and should have been a three point play.
The Magic shot lights-out and did a good job frustrating Kobe after the first quarter explosion. They set a record for a half in the finals by shooting 75% (and, even more strangely, the Lakers played decent defense-- they just couldn't miss a shot). I don't think the Magic can play a better game than that... and they only won by 2 points. I think the Magic should be very worried about their chances in this series.
A series doesn't really get interesting until a team wins on the road. So far, both teams have done what is expected... win on their home court. Should be an entertaining series from now on.
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