It looks like the problems I was having last night are lessening and you all should be able to see an interesting review late tomorrow morning.

I'm cramming to do as much benchmarking as possible before tomorrow as Vinney and I are flying home for Thanksgiving tomorrow afternoon. We won't be back until Saturday, meaning that I really won't have time to benchmark anything until next week. The more testing I can get done before I leave, the more I have to write about while I'm down in NC. I'm hoping to get at least one article published while I'm down there, but on the off chance that I'm able to write more than expected, I may actually be able to publish my second Mac article soon. Don't get your hopes up though, the trip down to NC is supposed to be to spend time with family, not to continue working like a madman :)

I had been planning to spend November working on a series of HDD guides however with the launch of Half Life 2, Derek getting sick and a bunch of other product launches (6600GT, 1066 FSB, P4 570J) I wasn't able to even begin on those articles. I'm hoping to be able to focus on HDDs in December and maybe get the first guides published by the beginning of 2005.

On a more personal note, is anyone else extremely disappointed with the movies out in theaters (and in rentals) these days? I liked The Incredibles but other than that I can't remember the last movie I saw that I thought was really good. This quick little rant was brought to you in part by the release of a sequel to Bridget Jones' Diary. I saw the first one which I absolutely hated and it comforts me to know that the sequel is getting bad reviews so I don't have to put up with people telling me how much they love the second one (which is what happened after everyone saw the first one). Feel free to comment and discuss amongst yourselves, hope I didn't offend too many Jones fans.

Vinney should be home for lunch soon, so I need to figure out a lunch idea. I find that coming up with what to eat is an increasingly more difficult task, especially when we're both incredibly busy. I'm thinking some sort of a calendar of things-to-make might work, but then again that requires attention and maintenance, both of which require time that presently doesn't seem to exist.

Of course the talk of the weekend was the brawl at the Pistons-v-Pacers game. I've been a NBA fan all my life, mostly because I grew up in the North East when the Celtics were at their peak. Moving down to NC for the latter half of my life my views obviously clashed with those of just about every UNC, NCSU and Duke fan in the area. But ever since Jordan left (for the last time), I haven't been much of a fan at all. The games just don't interest me anymore and I'll admit, the first I heard of the weekend's fight was when a friend of mine sent me a link to it, not by watching the game. The NBA doesn't seem to have passion any more and I can't stand watching college basketball, with the exception of a few teams (e.g. Duke) most of them play too sloppily for me to watch; I know I'll probably get flamed for saying that, but it's how I feel. So what's an old Celtics/Bulls fan supposed to do? Bite the bullet and enjoy college ball or hope for more fights as entertainment in watching NBA games?

Benchmarks (and lunch) are calling me away, have a great day everyone.
Comments Locked

8 Comments

View All Comments

  • john - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link

    Anand,
    Please do not waste your money on Alexander the Great. Very interesting critique by the author and lecturer Victor Hanson at

    http://www.victorhanson.com/

    November 27, 2004
    Culling From Among the Mediocre in Hollywood
    A short review of Oliver Stone's Alexander the Great by Victor Davis Hanson
  • Robert - Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - link

    Anand,

    I agree with what you said, generally. Coach K is a great coach and stresses team work to the core. Unfortunately in the NBA, if you wanna score 20+ points a night, you have to be super athletic (there's a difference between that and talent).

    At least you have UConn to watch up there. :) Though I dispise them a bit for beating Duke back in '99 and this past season. :)
  • jake - Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - link

    Hmm... an adversary...

    I too have grown away from the NBA since my youth. However I, having staid in the NE, love UConn, well I went there, so I kinda have to love them.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the first time we won the championship a few years ago against your Blue Devils. And no I wasn't one of those crazy rioting people.

    I'd say the biggest problem with college players going to the pros is something you touched on, sloppy play. In college, with the exception of the major teams, there's a lot of one man teams. There's hardly ever a full squad of high caliber players. Once they get to the pros, even though some pros don't seem to belong there, there's a different style of play and lot less of those sloppy players.

    Plus a lot of pros don't seem to care about defense. That really bothers me, hence my affinity to college ball.
  • Kurt - Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - link

    Anand, have you seen National Treasure yet? The wife and I went to see it this past Saturday and we both thought it was the best entertaiment we'd had in ages.

    Fast moving, entertaining, funny, educational and with no foul language.

    We were both afraid it was going to be one of those movies where all the good stuff was shown in the preview, but we were wrong.
  • Daniel - Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - link

    You should have seen Motorcycle Diaries then...
  • Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, November 22, 2004 - link

    Robert

    I have noticed that about Duke players, it could just be that Duke players are used to playing with a certain type of team and team mentality that simply isn't present with any of the NBA teams these days. Or it could be that the players are great at the college level, but the true peak of their skill isn't far above that. I tend to believe a combination of the two, varying depending on the player, but I'm hardly the expert on Duke players.

    Aquila76

    Ahh I love basketball games, the problem is that up here it's just Vinney and I who are gamers. We've got some folks that we play with down in NC, but for our multiplayer gaming fix we'll have to wait until we move back down.

    Take care,
    Anand
  • Aquila76 - Monday, November 22, 2004 - link

    "what's an old Celtics/Bulls fan supposed to do?"

    Play NBA 2k5. I can't stand watching the overpaid and undertalented posers on the courts today, either. Granted, there are a few players that are in it for love of the game; but on a whole, they're in it for themselves. I find it much more fun and entertaining to play the video games (or even the real thing) with a group of friends.
  • Robert - Monday, November 22, 2004 - link

    I like your thinkin' of basketball, Anand. However, our Duke players do not adjust to the NBA very well...or at least not superstar status. Maybe Boozer is the exception with the most recent crew. Any thoughts as to why?

    Anyway, have a good one. College basketball should be interesting.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now