1. Ed and I agreed today that rural life has some minuses that come with the pluses. One of those minuses is internet service. Every day on Facebook, for example, I read another tale from someone whose internet went on the blink and read others who lament the absence of high speed internet here in the Valley and its absence stymies economic development here.
We were talking about this because Ed was ready to purchase airline tickets for his and Mike's late spring trip to Iceland, but didn't trust his internet service in Kingston to make the purchase online at home. His service is spotty and mine here in Kellogg is not fast, but it's mostly reliable.
So, I plugged a wire from my router directly into my computer -- my wi-fi can sometimes fade in and out -- and Ed and I got it done. They're set: tickets purchased and seats assigned.
Ed and Mike invited me to join them, but I am going to travel back east in the USA later this year instead.
2. Debbie fixed a delicious dinner tonight. She made the meatloaf casserole again, this time lining the bottom the casserole with sweet potatoes rather than russets.
The meatloaf casserole dinner was simple, but episode 3 of the first season of Inspector Morse was complex, complicated, and convoluted. The story centered on a rash of murders -- and a suicide -- of a vicar and several parishioners who worshiped at St. Oswald's church. After one viewing, I would never dream of either trying to untangle all of the threads of this plot -- nor do I want to spoil the episode if you've never seen it. Suffice it to say that St. Oswald's was the setting for a story bursting with greed, lust, mendacity, covetousness, cold-heartedness, and adultery. Morse's involvement in this case not only tests his acumen, but calls his ethical discernment into question.
3. About half way through the first half, as Georgetown was really laying a lick on St. John's, Byrdman texted me a vital question: was I wearing my St. John's hoodie? I wasn't. I uttered a mild profanity and immediately dashed to my closet, pulled the hoodie off the rack, and slipped into it. Within seconds, a Johnnie hit a three point jumper. But, my lucky charm didn't last much longer. The Johnnies hustled, hounded the Hoyas, made steals, forced turnovers, but, at this juncture in the season, they just don't handle the ball very well and just can't score. Georgetown pasted the Johnnies, 87-66.
Next up, Seton Hall played Xavier in the raucous Cintas Center in Cincinnati.
This promised to be a fascinating matchup. Xavier defends its home court fiercely, rarely losing, but Seton Hall is an emerging powerhouse; not only are they led by Myles Powell, one of the nation's very best players, but other players like Quincy McKnight and Jared Rhoden are proving to be dependable scorers and the Pirates' two big guys, who sub in and out for each other, Romaro Gill and Ike Obiagu jealously protect the iron on defense in support of the superb perimeter defense the other guys play.
Xavier is a strong team, too. Their pillar in the pivot, Tyrique Jones, averages over ten rebounds and ten points a game. Naji Marshall and Paul Scruggs are premier players and, game by game, transfer Jason Carter is carving out his place as a scorer and a complement to Marshall and Scruggs.
Tonight, Seton Hall was the superior squad. Naji Marshall and Paul Scruggs both took a while to get going. Xavier fell behind early. Xavier's coach assigned Naji Marshall to guard Myles Powell, an exhausting task that seemed to drain Marshall of energy on offense. As hard as he defended Powell, he could neither contain nor stop him. Powell led the Pirates in scoring with 24 points, scoring as usually does, on a dizzying array of jumpers, drives to the cup, and free throws.
Xavier's sluggish start to this game was its demise. They gamely clawed back, but never could equal nor surpass Seton Hall's game long lead, and Seton Hall won this game, 83-71.
No comments:
Post a Comment