Obviously by now you’ve realized that this site looks a little different. I decided the other theme was too simple/plain and decided to go with a new one. This one will also have more functionality with widgets and other plugins. There are still some tweaks to be made but soon it should be 100%.

Now, onto my thoughts on the probable Top 5 NBA Draft Picks:

1. Portland Trail Blazers - Greg Oden/Ohio State

While everyone seems to be high on Oden, I’m still not sure. He has a great work ethic and stays motivated, but I can’t see him being “the man” for any team. Speed is a weakness along with rarely having much intensity to take over a game. Word is that Oden has already been notified that he will be the first pick in the draft. The Trail Blazers are getting a fantastic college player, but will it carry over to the pros?

2. Seattle SuperSonics - Kevin Durant/Texas

This is who my number one pick would be if I had my selection. Durant can put it in from just about anywhere. He has the ability to become a franchise player for the SuperSonics. If he bulks up and keeps working on his defensive game, Durant may be remembered as the guy the Trail Blazers missed out on. Sure, Oden will likely be a good player; however, I believe Durant will become the superstar.

3. Atlanta Hawks - Al Horford/Florida

Likely the first of many Florida players to be drafted, Horford has a decent all around game. With a great attitude and fundamentally sound game, he should fit in well with any team. While he may not end up being a huge star, he’ll easily fulfill a role player spot.

4. Memphis Grizzlies - Mike Conley Jr./Ohio State

Conley will be the second OSU freshman to go early in the draft. He, along with Oden, led the Ohio State Buckeyes to NCAA Finals and proved that he is a point guard to be reckoned with. With a polished 3 Point shot, Conley will become tough to beat. The big question that remains is whether he can play the same without his best friend. Conley is a very mature player and I don’t foresee any problems away from Oden.

5. Boston Celtics - Jeff Green/Georgetown

Why Jeff Green came out already I don’t know. He left a lot of opportunity back in Georgetown and I wish I knew why. I shouldn’t criticize him though as I’m sure all of that money waved in my face would affect me, too. He has some great skills but needs to improve his 3 Point shot to make a difference.

It’s certainly been a crazy past 2 days. Sunday I went to Scott’s to hang out. I finally got to play Guitar Hero II! After not playing any Guitar Hero for such a long time, I still didn’t do too bad. If Xbox 360’s weren’t so expensive I’d definitely love to have it. But that’s something I just don’t need. We also watched WWE Vengeance which was cool. My favorite won and Scott’s favorite won, but it still didn’t seem worth the money.

Yesterday was the usual at work. We spent the afternoon finally ghosting those laptops I talked about last week. Other than that it was quiet. I spent most of the morning working on a new and improved Links page so be sure to check that out. It’s much more organized with tons of new links.

Tank Johnson was finally cut from the Chicago Bears yesterday after being arrested yet again last week. He had already been suspended for the first 8 games of this season and is now sure to be suspended for more. I have to say I don’t feel very bad for him. The Bears stuck with him for this long trying to help but he wouldn’t change. General manager Jerry Angelo said:

“We are upset and embarrassed by Tank’s actions last week. He compromised the credibility of our organization. We made it clear to him that he had no room for error. Our goal was to help someone through a difficult period in his life, but the effort needs to come from both sides. It didn’t, and we have decided to move on.”

It’s another sad case of a bright future falling apart. I just wish I could know what in the world players like this are thinking. It makes no sense.

Last night I was updating Wordpress when Scott messaged me to say that wrestler Chris Benoit had been found dead in his home along with his wife and 7-year-old son. It was easily some of the most shocking news I’d heard in awhile. While each of us scoured the internet looking for news, we talked about what could have happened. Tragically, what we had feared is apparently the truth. It is now being reported that Benoit strangled his wife, then smothered his son before hanging himself. It seems unthinkable to believe that to be true. I wish I had more to say but I don’t. I’m speechless.

I went to the dentist today and found out the horrible news that my lifetime streak of not having a cavity came to an end. Luckily it was only a small one which they filled before I left. I’m really glad they did it today because I wouldn’t have wanted to think about it for another couple days. Surprisingly it was painless so it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

I plan to take an in-depth look at the early rounds of the NBA Draft next time. Until then…

So far it’s been a pretty decent weekend. Friday night was uneventful. Andy went to the NHL Draft in Columbus which meant no basketball. Tera was working so I spent the night watching TV. She actually got off of work early but she had a small case of food poisoning so I didn’t want to bother her.

I got up Saturday morning to go to church to where they were taking pictures for our new church directory. That turned into a wasted trip. I was supposed to be the first one to go but the photographer’s camera broke the night before. They said a camera was on the way but it never showed up. Saturday evening I went to Zanesville to hang out. We played some Rainbow Six on 360 for awhile and then played poker. Poker was simply amazing. I eliminated every person that played to win. In what was easily the biggest pot we’ve ever had, I beat out Thomas and Zach who each had a full house with my better full house. It was great.

Today marked the end of Pastor Mick’s time at our church after many years. He’s going to be moving on to Damascus, Ohio to preach there. It’s hard to see him go but that’s how the Methodist church works. I don’t agree with moving him now, especially as fast as the church has grown recently. Oh well, nothing I can do about it.

I’m going to get ready and head up to Scott’s for the night.

Yesterday was actually busy at CNS. We spent the entire day attempting to fix an issue with BartPE. The laptop that needed imaged had drivers that were not available on the current BartPE disc that we had. Adding the drivers to the iso and burning a new copy turned out to be much more of a burden than we had thought it would be. By the end of the day Scott told us that Corey and Aaron (two guys that previously worked at CNS) had worked on the same issue before and couldn’t figure out a way to do it. When he told us that, I just felt like I had wasted my day. Corey and Aaron are experts. If they couldn’t figure it out, how in the world would we?!

Pacman Jones surrendered to police this morning on charges on his fight that came before a triple shooting at a strip club. There, he allegedly threatened to kill multiple employees. Jones is a perfect example of talent going to waste. He’s been arrested six times since being drafted in April 2005. Why would someone with so much talent screw up their life like this? After one arrest, you’d think he would get the point that he wasn’t invincible. It’s sad. It really is.

Alaska had the 102nd Midnight Sun game yesterday. For those who haven’t heard of it (I hadn’t until this week) the game is played at midnight under the summer solstice sun. Alaska is the only place that can play a game like this which makes it unique. They also don’t use lights. What a great concept.

Time to get some work done.

Went over to Allen’s last night to watch a movie with some people. We ended up watching “The Prestige” which turned out to be amazing. It was also another movie with a creative and shocking ending. Movies dealing with magic seem to be the best ones out there anymore.

Kobe Bryant apparently had some negative comments for the Lakers organization the other day. While that in itself is newsworthy, someone had a video camera on hand to capture the whole thing. They didn’t just put it online for free though. If you want to watch the short clip, you have to go to their site and pay nearly $2. Selling a video like this online might seem absurd to some people, but I don’t think it’s that crazy at all. Although $2 seems like a bit much, these guys are going to make a good chunk of change out of his 25 seconds of fame. It may seem greedy, but I don’t blame him for protecting it.

Today looks to be another boring day of work followed by basketball.

What a fun day it has been. There has been absolutely nothing going on. I spent most of the morning working on C# stuff. Actually, I spent the entire morning working on C# stuff. I exchanged the shirt I got for my dad for Father’s Day and ate lunch in the Bookstore with Andy. I discovered first hand how this week of ECSTI is going to be the worst of all. For those of you who don’t know, ECSTI is the summer program at Muskingum where graduate students come to pick up some extra hours, usually Education related. Now, there are ECSTI people who are nice and down to earth; however, the majority are the dumbest, most stuck up people I’ve ever met. For example, one came into the Bookstore today, looked at the trash can, and asked “is this a trash can?” These are the people teaching are children. It’s sad.

Yesterday was nothing exciting. Tera came over for lunch before going to work and I spent most of the day at home. My dad seemed to like the Muskingum polo I got him for Father’s day except for the fact that it was too big. Besides that it was a pretty boring day. I watched “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid” on Cartoon Network which shows how bored I was.

I updated the Media page with a link to Media Archives towards the bottom. That way the main Media page won’t become huge.

Tonight Tera and I are going to Zanesville. I figure we’ll go eat at Steak n’ Shake and then to the mall. She’s looking into buying an mp3 player so maybe we’ll find some good deals. I’m going to go lock labs and head out.

Thankfully, the Cavs lost the other night to end the sorry excuse for entertainment that was the NBA Playoffs. Everyone seemed to notice because ratings were down 27% from last year. Maybe if the playoffs were officiated better, more people would care to see how games turn out. I know I would.

District attorney Mike Nifong has said that he will resign because the “community has suffered enough.” He is most known for his part in the Duke Lacrosse case. He also said that he regretted making improper statements about the players in the case and that he wanted to own up to his mistakes. It’s nice to see him realize how wrong he was and to see him admit it.

Bob Barker is officially done with The Price Is Right. Wow that sucks. I have so many memories of watching him on that show. If Rosie O’ Donnell takes over for him, I swear I will never watch the show again. I don’t think it will happen, too many people can’t stand her. I’m going to post up some clips from his last show on the Media page so check it out.

Yesterday was alright. Played some basketball in the afternoon and went to Zanesville last night. It was a pretty boring night. I don’t know what I’m doing this afternoon/evening. I’ll probably find something.

We ended up playing basketball last night for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Combine that with not much sleep and you have dead tired. It was worth it though. But I’ve never played basketball in the same gym where people are trying to do yoga. Yeah, you read that right. I don’t know how/why they stayed there, but they did. O well, didn’t bother us any.

Today has been uber boring at work. There is nothing going on. Beth will be out of the office tomorrow and next week which normally would leave us with a bunch of work to do while she’s gone; however, the list that she gave us has 2 jobs to get done. That’s it. I could probably go do them in the next hour if we had the parts here. Ugh…boredom sucks. I’ll have to be sure to bring my tablet in next week to work on some programming or else set up UltraVNC so that I can get to it from work. I figure I’ll probably try that and see.

Well, tonight may be the end of a terrible playoff final in the NBA. I’d like to say that I hope Cleveland wins, but I don’t. Thankfully Lebron James’ girlfriend had his second baby earlier today so that he won’t have to miss the game. Oh wait, he wasn’t going to miss the game. He said “I was there for my first one. It’s definitely going to be tough on me but I think she (James’ girlfriend, Savannah) understands how much I love my teammates and how much they need me.” Dude, this coming from the guy that said “it’s just basketball”? C’mon. By saying you were there for the first one seems like you think it’s ok to miss the rest.

Time to go close up labs and head home for the day.

Yesterday was very uneventful. I finally watched “Cars” last night with Tera. Great movie. The funny thing is that I remember seeing it advertised like a year before it was released and thought it looked good. Somehow I never made it around to seeing it.

After watching the movie, I went home to watch the Cavs game. Lebron once again passed the ball at the end when he should have taken a shot. Z had a nice game to help out but they could not shoot the ball to save their lives. 36.7% will not win you an NBA title. The Cavs (as I’ve said time and time again) can’t handle the big one yet. At least if they lose in 4 we won’t be subjected to unnecessary suffering.

2006 AL Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander struck out 12 hitters yesterday on his way to the first no-hitter for the Detroit Tigers since 1984. While he needed some help to get there, it’s still an impressive feat for any pitcher in the majors. Hopefully it won’t be another 23+ years until they do it again.

Today work has been boring as usual. Andy is back from Canada so we’re going to play some basketball after work. My foot/leg should be good to go since we haven’t played in over a week.

Be sure to check out the Media page every day for updates!

I’ve been way too busy lately. Sunday I went up to Columbus with Chad, Danielle, and Allen to see Mark and hang out. We went to the Festival of Roses, then played some tennis and ultimate frisbee. The weather wasn’t too hot so it was comfortable. For dinner we went to Buca di Beppo. Don’t let the name fool you. Even though none of us could figure out how to say it, that place was amazing. It was by far the best italian restaurant I’ve ever been to.

Yesterday was a typical day at work. I was incredibly irritable so I decided to go do hardware checks in all of the labs since I knew I wouldn’t have to deal with people that way. It went quick since there were not many bad drives or other problems. Last night I went to Denny’s with Tera, her brother, and Tera’s friend from Wendy’s. Fun fun.

The Cavs got trampled the other night to lose Game 2. The Spurs are simply too good for them. Cavs fans shouldn’t be too disappointed though. It’s been a great season with the players they have. There’s just no way they can defeat the Spurs this year. Maybe next time.

Barry Bonds hit his first home run in 13 games yesterday to get back on track. With 747 home runs, Bonds is only 8 away from Hank Aaron’s record. I can’t wait for him to break the record. Of course it will be a big deal and a great milestone, but I want it to be over. If it wasn’t for all of the steroids talk, I’d be excited for him. But with the controversy that has surrounded him, I’m not going to cheer for what I can’t believe.

I decided to forget about having a Photos page and instead created a Media page. I plan to post all of the great videos and pictures I can find online. So go check it out!