"Only about 3 percent of the country's 80,000 dams generate electricity" - Linda Church Ciocci, Executive Director of the National Hydropower Association.

Quote taken from an article titled "Time to Think Hydro" in the Scientific American Earth 3.0 Volume 19 Number 1, 2009

Really?

Odd.

Ouch!

One individual subscription (print only) to the Journal of Conflict Resolution?

$151. I assume that is for an annual subscription in which they publish bi-montly. Want an individual single print issue? $33.

Stuff

I've been a bit under the weather here so no postings since Easter. The Mariners are 6-2 and are the major subject of talk at work. Here is some pretty good analysis of the M's pitching. Lately all of my posts have been about sports. Either the Mariners or the NCAA mens basketball tournament.

Pretty soon I will have some other stuff to post about. The Fall 2009 schedule for college is out and I am working on seeing what is out there. I only have 25 credits left, which is only 2 quarters but it looks like I will be attending all 3 quarters of the school year since 7 of the credits that I need will only be offered in the Spring quarter. I've usually take 17 credits per quarter and it looks like all of that is going to pay off with a little lighter schedule for my senior year. That should be nice, especially after this deployment because maybe I can spend some extra time with the family that I haven't been able to previously.

Easter Thought

If a man die, will he live again?

Today is Easter, a time above all other times to remember that the answer is YES! The Savior has done what man could not do for himself. At church services today we watched an Easter edition of music and the spoken word. I hope everyone has a chance to reflect. I know that holidays can be hectic.

THEY WON! I had the jumbalaya tonight for dinner. If they lose it's my fault.

Perhaps I was a bit premature when ranting about a need for a closer on just the second game of the season but for the record he walked the first batter he faced last night. Here is his after game quote:

"It was kind of a wake-up call," Morrow said of the leadoff walk. "I said I wasn't going to let that happen again."

Defense is strong, bats seem to be getting it done and a closer finds his mental toughness? Sounds like a good year in the making.....

Helping Out

Last Sunday I had hot dogs for lunch to kick off opening day. Hey, what else is there that I would get at the ballpark as I watch the game? On a side note my wife enjoys the chocolate dipped strawberry kabobs and the garlic fries they have at Safeco.

Anyways, back to my story. I eat hot dogs and the M's win their first game. OK, I realize that the M's did't open until Monday but hey it was stil lthe first game they played after I ate the hot dogs. Then the M's drop two games. My solution?

Eat another hot dog. So tinight I ate a hot dog just like last Sunday. Hopefully this will help the M's to win the next one.

If it works I see a lot of hot dogs in my future........

ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT SOMEBODY BETTER FIND A CLOSER

When I woke up this morning for PT I thought I would hop on the internet and check the Mariners score. They were up 5-3, middle of the 9th. I thought I would stick around long enough to see it go final. Bad choice on my part. I haven't read the whole article but I do know that it was 5-3, bottom of the 9th with 2 outs. End result? 6-5 loss.



I just read the Seattle Times article and it seems there were several walks given up. 3 IN A ROW TO BE EXACT!


I guess the good news is that starting pitcher Eric Bedard looked good.

Update: This post is posted late cause the power went out and I lost the internet connection.

More Updates: OK Last nights M's vs Twins game came on AFN today. I knew the outcome and made myself watch it. I figured I needed to see exactly what went on. I thought middle relief looked pretty good. I even went to lunch like an hour and a half late so I could finish out the game.

“People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” - Rogers Hornsby

Well Spring is Finally Here! YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!! AFN Sports is doing 30 teams in 8 days for the opening of baseball season (don't let it fool you it's only 15 games but everyone should get to see their favorite team)

I went into work this morning and on the dry erase board drew a AL West tracker like you see in the newspaper. Of course, one of the guys is from Alabama and asked where the NL East was. I knew he is a Braves fan but we are the WASHINGTON STATE national guard so we are going to keep track of the Mariners.

Later in the day I walked into the office and there was a little tracker for the NL East. Much smaller then the one I put up and off in the corner. Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen.

As I write this ....

....there are 15 hours and 18 minutes until opening day! The Mariners open on the road the next day 5:10PM PDT. To get ready for the occasion I thought I would leave you with a thought or two. My first thought is that President Obama is currently in Europe last I saw on the news. I hope he can make it back in time to throw out the first pitch somewhere, maybe for the nationals or something.

Second thought:



This gives me chills everytime I watch it. So powerful.

So look for a couple of more post here within the next week for more baseball!

Keeping up with "My" Teams

Anyone that knows me knows that I like sports. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest watching the Sonics and Seahawks, rooting for the Huskies and attending Mariners game. As I grow older, I also enjoy high school sports. You can expect to see some amazing plays at every level but those kinds of plays just seem to be a little more special when the younger crowd does them. Maybe it's because the game is more pure at that level or maybe because it's more about teamwork. Coaches teach fundamentals. That is one of the reasons that I have been losing interest in the NBA. Ok, besides that fact that the Sonics left. But seriously, defense is lacking, passing is lacking and general teamwork has disappeared. It has been this way for awhile. Lately some of this has come back. The Celtics did it last year. I will admit that I thought there would be NO way that Paul Pierce would share the ball with KG and Ray Allen. But you know what? He did. AND they played amazing D.

What was my point? Oh yeah, so how have I stayed in touch with "my" teams? Well the Seattle Times has a pretty decent online sports section but I have found that there are certain blogs that I have really enjoyed reading that are just as dedicated to the Pacific Northwest teams as I am (OK, probably more so since they have their own blog!) and if you are a Seattle fan then you really need to check out Sea Town Sports. I've linked to one particular entry, but if you click on the title in the upper left corner you will be taken to the home page. I think they have a great variety and they don't go to into the hard core stats that only the Schwab should know!

Seriously this is a great site and I would highly recommend it. What, you aren't there yet? All the cool kids are doing it. Just this once won't hurt.

Maybe tomorrow I will be back to posting about this desert oasis known as Iraq. Nah, not really since the Final Four is tonight. 1 AM and 3 AM Sunday morning is when the games come on. You guessed it I will be heading to bed here shortly so I can catch a nap and wake up and watch.