marathon training progress i.; my bracket.

This morning (1am): Run: 8.00 mi: 1:06:38.

Tomorrow morning (9am): Run: 5 km.

I’m really pushing myself this weekend, but, with a determined effort, ibuprofen, and ice, it will all come together just fine.

As for my bracket, as of this posting, my champion in my bracket, UCLA, has made the Final Four. UNC is leading, and Texas and Kansas play tomorrow. If I can get all 4 of my Final Four correct, there’s a chance I do well in my pool… for a change.

Time to ice down my calves.

–jl–

music presentation.

I’m presenting today in my Masterworks of Music class on Choral and Dramatic Forms of the 19th Century. There will also be an added section on the roots and development of Barbershop. I figure you probably can’t make it (it’s short notice) but if you want a copy of my presentation, I can always e-mail it to you. There’s some very interesting stuff in there, especially on barbershop, that I’m eager to present to my class and my audience this afternoon!

–jl–

good friday.

How is it that no church in the entire city has Good Friday service at 3pm, the actual time (quote the Bible) that Jesus died? Instead the Services are at 6:30, 7, and 7, respectively. That’s odd… I’m so used to going to church at 3pm on Good Friday, but I guess I’ll have to go tonight.

 As for the holiest day itself, the words of Martin Doman sum it up quite nicely…

–jl–

it’s tourney time!

You know what that means: I’ll be sitting here in my lovely dorm room for the next 4 days studying calling in sick watching the first two rounds of the tournament! For all you college basketball lovers, I recommend getting March Madness On Demand: It’s free, and you can watch every game that’s not being covered by CBS the next four days.

 As for the glory of March Madness itself, everyone knows that what comes with 63 games of intriguing college basketball to determine a national champion are the brackets. And with 9.22 E18 ways to predict a bracket (just plugged that one into my calculator…) the possibilities are endless. Here’s my take on how it will go down…

Starting in the East (upper left of the bracket), I see no big surprises to start.

(1) UNC / (8) Indiana / (5) Notre Dame / (4) Wash. St. / (11) St. Joseph’s / (3) Louisville / (7) Butler / (2) Tennessee will advance to the second round.

Again, nothing bad in the Midwest (lower left) through the first round.

Advancing are (1) Kansas / (8) UNLV / (5) Clemson / (4) Vandy / (6) USC / (3) Wisconsin / (10) Davidson / (2) Georgetown.

The right side of my bracket has the bolder upsets in the first round. Starting with the South (upper right):

(1) Memphis / (8) Miss. St. / (12) Temple / (4) Pitt / (6) Marquette / (3) Stanford / (10) St. Mary’s / (2) Texas

And, again, getting a little bold in the West (lower right), which holds my biggest upset of the first round:

(1) UCLA / (9) A&M / (5) Drake / (13) San Diego / (11) Baylor / (3) Xavier / (10) Arizona / (2) Duke

All in all, not a big first-round upset in the pack, with the exceptions being Temple and San Diego, a 12 and a 13, respectively. I have two 11’s, 3 10’s, 1 9, which amounts to only 8 “upsets”.

The second round’s a little different…

Heading to Charlotte in my bracket are: (1) UNC / (5) Notre Dame / (3) Louisville / (7) Butler.

Heading to Detroit: (1) Kansas / (5) Clemson / (6) USC / (10) Davidson

Making the sixteen in Houston, I have: (1) Memphis / (4) Pitt / (3) Stanford / (2) Texas

And going to Phoenix: (1) UCLA / (5) Drake / (3) Xavier / (2) Duke.

One bracket holds true to seed lines. Another replaces a 5 with a 4. The two left-side brackets hold the big upsets for me, with Butler defeating Tennessee, USC over Wisconsin, and Davidson as my cinderella over Georgetown.

Now, to the regional semifinals…

Advancing from the East are (1) UNC / (7) Butler.

From the Midwest: (1) Kansas / (6) USC

From the South: (4) Pitt / (2) Texas

And from the West: (1) UCLA / (3) Xavier

USC defeats Davidson in a battle of two of the three lowest seeds remaining. Pitt takes out Memphis, the first of the 1-seeds to go. And Butler moves into the 8 with a win over Louisville.

Still dancing in San Antonio:

From Charlotte: (1) UNC.

From Detroit: (1) Kansas.

From Houston: (2) Texas.

From Phoenix: (1) UCLA.

I don’t like the fact that I have three 1-seeds in the final four, but I believe that each team will make it through, as it’s that kind of year in college basketball, where the best 5 or 6 teams are so far ahead of the pack than the others. I have had (and still do have) my qualms about Kansas over USC, but I don’t think that OJ Mayo alone can carry the Trojans all the way to the four.

So now, going from four to one in San Antonio…

The Championship game will be a contest pitting (arguably) the two best teams in the nation against each other. North Carolina will defeat Kansas in a hard-fought battle. UCLA will get revenge upon Texas from beating them at home early in the year, and beat them near their own home.

UCLA will take down the nets, following a thrilling, 70-65 victory over the Heels.

Send me your brackets. I’ll put you in my pool, complete with my revised, strike-style scoring system, that gives you some credit for being bold, predicting upsets, and forgives you if your bracket is busted. More on that in a post to come… but I’m off to bed. Enjoy the games this coming weekend!

–jl–

the typical 2 am dabble.

I have been accepted into all three SIBS programs as of this writing, and will very likely be attending Boston University this summer for six weeks. If anyone wants to visit (catch a Sox game) with me, you’re more than welcome.

Many people had plenty of beer, including Ireland’s favorite, Guinness, on Monday. The luck shines down on quite a select few… =D 

My NCAA predictions will come out tomorrow, as I will be tinkering until then.

–jl–

some good news, some bad news, and some venting.

Good news: I have two opportunities set up for me to be in a six-week internship program in Biostatistics: One at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and another in the Research Triangle, at NC State and Duke’s medical program. The jury is still out on Boston University, and Massachusetts General Hospital, but expect that decision in a couple of weeks. If I get into Boston, I’m definitely going there… as for now, between NC State and Wisconsin, it’s kind of a tough decision, as I haven’t really thought about the other two programs, with Boston on my mind.

I also found out today that I’m getting a new car sometime over the summer! It will likely be something (like a Honda or a Toyota) that doesn’t guzzle gas (like a Ford). I’ll keep you posted…

Bad news: My beloved Gators lost tonight to Alabama in basketball, making it very likely that Florida will not make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in ten years. This team will be on the rise next year, but just faded down the stretch of the season, losing quite a few games that they should have won (vs. LSU, at Arkansas, vs. Miss. St., etc.). Here comes the NIT, where I think we’ll do fairly well, if the right team decides to show up.

Also found out that I’m getting my upper wisdom teeth pulled out in May. It figures– they’re coming in at enough of an angle to screw up my smile– but I definitely did not want to go through another round of sitting on the couch, doing nothing for a couple of days, with the ice packs around my jaw (see Christmas Break, 2004).

Venting: I met up with some friends last night, and a few different friends tonight. It’s been good seeing all of these people who I was so close to in high school now all on Spring Break from college, and it’s been a great week filled with fun. But, eventually, it just gets to a point where it stops being fun sometimes, and you can wish that it were already Sunday, driving back to college, and the regular life. I don’t know if I, myself, have gotten to that point yet, but I can most certainly point out some instances where I was there.

Take Wednesday night, for instance. I’m with friends, sitting in our local Irish pub. I’m sitting there, talking, having a good time, and I’m watching some others at the table– others who I know and who I love– behave so naively… it was just strange. I felt older than everyone else, even though we’re all around the same age. I don’t understand what causes ordinary people to behave like children when around their friends. All I ask for is some level of maturity… and I would hope that one’s own integrity would ask for the same.

 Being around friends that you haven’t seen in forever is always good. But maybe it’s been too much around them. Maybe I need separation, time with myself to clear my head, level my head, and delve back into the things that I’m in college for.

–jl–

Vero Beach to Athens to Infinity and Beyond…

Scratch pictures from the shuttle launch yesterday morning. Someone didn’t get up… but did run 3.5 miles today, and took pictures at a Spring Training game! They’ll get posted soon enough, either on facebook or here. 

One step in getting to 26 miles, 385 yards is to go 3.5. I will be attempting to train for a marathon in Cocoa, FL on 30 November over the course of the next 9 months. I’ll be tracking my progress right here, and that’s two-fold: I can see how far I’ve come using this blog, and you, the people, can encourage me, give me tips, etc. I’m looking for any and all encouragement!

So far, so Spring Break-ly good! Should be meeting up with friends tomorrow night for coffee, and need to get onto my work that needs to get done over the break. It’ll all get done… it’s just a matter of quality.

Jason Smith says Florida’s “magic number” to make the NCAA tournament is 2, as is the same for all bubble teams. Then 2 would be a victory over Alabama and a victory over Mississippi State. The Gators beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa to open SEC play, but played very poorly against Mississippi State at home. We’ll see on Thursday and Friday just how quickly the baby Gators can grow up.

–jl–

i will relay.

I’ve never done Relay for Life before, but a friend of mine (actually, multiple friends of mine) have convinced me to participate this year. I’m actually looking forward to it. It’s a good and noble cause, and has really gained popularity in recent years. I’ll be spending quite a bit of time (overnight) in the O-Dome with friends, old and new, from church and otherwise. It should be a good chance to have fun and raise some money. If you’re in town, there’s a Game Night at Mark’s place on Friday to raise money for the team. If you’re not in town, and wish to donate, you can do so by going to the Relay website… find our team, “The Crusaders Against Cancer.”

T-minus two hours to the nighttime launch of Endeavour… expect pictures when I can upload to my laptop.

–jl–

Barbershop, Baseball, and Bubble Talk.

Max Q did not disappoint this weekend. Neither did On Demand. Had a great show, had a lot of fun. My quartet, unfortunately, will not be singing in the Spring Contest in Jacksonville (Josh- family graduation) but I will certainly be there, singing with the chorus. Actually, the quartet sounded pretty good… some spots where there were flaws, but things like that happen when you haven’t sung together for four months.

Saw Dice-K, Big Papi, Manny, and some of the Red Sox this afternoon in Vero Beach. Matsuzaka looked pretty good, besides the one huge blemish (3-run homer in the first) he seemed to get ahead of hitters. He couldn’t put them away though… that drove up the pitch count, which is why he hit 70 after only 3 1/3. Great seats… third row down the right field line, which gave me a great opportunity to take pictures. Also gave me a great opportunity to become the color of a lobster from the cheeks down.

The Gators lost on Wednesday in a hard-fought game with Tennessee. At that point in time, I said that it would take two wins to make it to the NCAA’s. After losing against Kentucky, the Florida-Kentucky semifinal that could come from Florida winning two games in the tournament could be an elimination game for them. I believe that two games, won convincingly, could suffice, especially if the Boys play well, again, in all of the remaining games. Otherwise, it’s more games at the O-Dome, in the NIT.

–jl–

texas and ohio

What does Barack do now? He needs to stop the bleeding and the Hillary momentum.

–jl–