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Year: 2007

Parking Places

GMU PinGeorge Mason University’s men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA Tournament Final Four last year.  As a result, the average crowd size at their games this year has been just about double of that of previous years.  I have been a season ticket holder since 1984 and GMU has gone to both the NIT and NCAA tournaments before, but have always lost in the early rounds.  Until now, the average attendance has not really changed that much over the years, no matter how successful or unsuccessful their seasons have been.

This year, GMU is not having the success they did last year.  As I write this, their record is 13-9, and they are in the middle of the pack in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).  Unless they get really lucky and win the CAA Championship Tournament at the end of the season, they will not get invited to play in the NCAA tournament this year.

So, I wonder what the crowds will be like next year?  Will the attendance be as high as this year…or will I once more have my choice of parking places closer to the Patriot Center?

Hasta La Vista, Baby

So long, its been good to know you…

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I’ve tried to keep HR’s halfVAST Blog in compliance with XHTML 1.0 Strict markup since I “remodeled” it back in July 2006.  And up to now I have managed to keep a large portion of it in compliance without too much effort on my part.

Continue reading “Hasta La Vista, Baby”

Today

Its cold (25.8 °F / -3 °C), its snowing and the wind chill factor make it feel like the temperature is 16 °F / -9 °C.  And I just finished updating HR’s halfVAST Blog software to WordPress Version 2.1.  And that’s why what you are looking at right now may be a little screwed up.

Cold Spell!

The local weather forecasters are warning that tonight will bring “bitterly cold” weather.  The temperature is expected to drop all the way down to 26°F (-3°C).  And there may even be “Snow Flurries.”

In the place I was born and raised, this would be considered just another mild Winter day!

100% Pittsburgh

Although you may be long gone from there, I guess you never really forget those things that are peculiar to the place you grew up in.  Here’s my score on the “100% Pittsburgh” Quiz.

You are 100% Pittsburgh.

Great job! There’s nooooo doubt about it.  You’re from Da Burgh.  You deserve a reward, so go have an Ahrn City or two. And GO STILLERS!

How Pittsburgh Are You
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FiOS is Here…

Verizon showed up as scheduled yesterday and installed my FiOS service.  Fiber to the home is now a reality rather than some future technology that is much talked about but never happens.  The installation was problem free.  I got the “low bandwidth” option…5Mbps incoming; 2Mbps outgoing. 😉

I ran a few speed tests using SpeakEasy and got the following results:

  • Vienna, VA to Washington, DC – 5.073 Mbps in/1.791 Mbps out
  • Vienna, VA to Los Angeles, CA – 5.073 Mbps in/1.771 Mbps out
  • Vienna, VA to Dallas, TX – 5.073 Mbps in/1.785 Mbps out

The interface to FiOS is a bit different than that of the DSL line it replaced…it does not use the PPPOE Protocol common to most DSL service providers.  So it is “connectionless,” i.e., no userid and password required and no connection setup time.  And, none of the overhead one incurs when using PPPOE.

One of the side effects of the new FiOS service is that I now have yet one more perfectly good wireless router that is in need of a home.  I got a new router as part of the FiOS install.  I guess I’ll eventually figure out some use for the old router.

In summary, FiOS is a few dollars more per month than DSL, but so far looks like its well worth it.

And, if you have any interest in seeing what HR’s Homenet looks like now that it is “FiOS-Enabled,” take a look here.