CALIFORNIA

I arrived in CA last Tuesday with the odometer at 29611. I-80 in Nevada has to be one of the most desolete roads in the country. There were numerous times where the only visible sources of light were from the moon and my Trailblazer. There was no Sprint cell coverage across the entire state until the Reno-Sparks area. Stats from the final leg of the drive: 979 miles in 14:15, an average speed over ground of 68.7 mph.

The rainy season is in full force in Northern California, but I guess I should have expected it since I've frequently enjoyed the great skiing conditions at nearby Lake Tahoe.

COLORADO

It took a long time for me to get to the Mountain Time Zone but I finally made it last Thursday. 1000 miles from New Orleans to Amarillo on Wednesday followed by a 600 mile run to Fort Collins on Thursday. Breckenridge was the ski destination on Fri/Sat/Sun.

New Orleans - Tue - was Mardi Gras Tuesday and the parades were a lot of fun, I made sure to pay attention to the floats so as not to be nailed in the side of the head with a string of beads or other projectile.

Breckenridge - A great ski town and a fun mountain to ski. I rode a T-Bar for the first time since 99... the last time that I was there I think.

PATRIOTS

A typical performance by the Patriots, albeit with some uncharacteristic errors by them early on (7 penalties including some false starts on offense that contributed to making only 1 first down in the first quarter). They took away RB Brian Westbrook in Philly's running game, and never allowed QB Donovan McNabb to maintain balance by scrambling. WR Terrell Owens (9 rec, 122 yds) was outstanding; much better than I thought physically possible. But TO was limited to being a possession receiver, and the Patriots defense was able to force 4 Eagles turnovers by making the Eagles sustain long drives in order to score (the 3 TD drives were 9, 10, and 13 plays in length).

Philadelphia kept New England's highly efficient offense in check. RB Corey Dillon only had 75 yards. The longest passing play by New England was 27 yards on a catch and run by Deoin Branch. The Eagles won the 3rd down battle, 56% to 33%. The key statistics that New England won were turnovers (4 to 1) and rushing yards (112 to 45).

Dynasty: To their credit, none of the players say it. They approach every play of every game with the same focus and attention to detail. Next season will be a greater challenge with the departure of OC Charlie Weis and DC Romeo Crennel, but HC Belichick and the 53 players truly believe that they are equal to the other 31 teams at 0-0 when the 2005 season begins.

HIGHWAY DRIVING

The first lengthy leg of my trip was from Rochester, NY to Dayton, OH. The Trailblazer ran smoothly at 75 mph, enabling me to cover 475 miles in 7.0 hours (including 3 pit stops). Traffic flowed much better in PA and OH than it does in Mass; I didn't need to pass many vehicles on the right. The next leg is to New Orleans, LA. There is a Syracuse game on ESPN that night as well, but I don't think that I'll make it in time for opening tip at 7.

PRO HOCKEY

I had the pleausre of viewing AHL hockey in Rochester Friday evening. Three First Period Goals and a few fights reminded me how enjoyable it is to watch in person, even if the NHL Owners aren't willing to stage games this season.... the NHL may go the way of sports like Cliff Diving and Wrist Wrestling that were featured on Wide World of Sports and now ridiculed on Cheap Seats on ESPN Classic.

SUPER BOWL 39

New England 30 *(-7) Philadelphia 20 over 47.

The Patriots are 1 victory away from equaling the Cowboys' run of 3 championships in 4 seasons. They dismantled two strong AFC opponents, the Colts and the Steelers, in the playoffs. New England took away Indy's downfield open-space passing game, then shut down Pittsburgh's power running game a week later while making big offensive plays against the NFL's #1 defense.

Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb might be a tougher QB for the Patriots to contain then Manning and Roethlisberger were since he is mobile and effective throwing the ball all over the field. Not having WR Terrell Owens at full strength is a huge handicap for the Eagles to try to overcome against the solid Patriots defense. RB Brian Westbrook is the playmaker that McNabb will look for; WR Greg Lewis has the ability to get open downfield; New England has been playing reserves at CB in the playoffs, but that hasn't hurt them yet.

The Eagles are a good football team like the Patriots, but unlike the Colts (offense) or Steelers(defense), they don't have an advantage against the Patriots in one aspect of the game. The hallmark of Bill Belichick's Patriots has been to play hard every play, all 11 players on the field, all the time. I don't see that changing in this game. I thought New England was at risk against the Colts with both coordinators departing, both starting CB's out, DL Seymour out, the 5-yard chuck penalty being enforced, etc., etc. Instead, they dominated the Colts offense and wore down a strong effort by a below average Colts defense. Once the Patriots reminded me how good they are, they went back to being my pick to win the title.

Side Investments: **New England (-2.5) more first downs than Philadelphia. I can't see the Eagles sustaining drives having to throw the ball to Freddie Mitchell and Todd Pinkston.
*Brian Westbrook (under 66.5 yards rushing). The Patriots LB are the strongest part of their defense.

SNOWMOBILING

It was a mild day on Monroe Lake (near East Stroudsburg, PA). Temps were in the upper 30's with a good portion of sun. The snow was a little choppy and slushy on the lake, but that offered the best conditions since snowfall there has been very limited this winter. The open space on the lake enabled full-throttle operation.... I only pushed my sled to 80 and was the slowest one out there! We had 5 riders and 7 sleds and even picked up a guest rider on an off day from a Manhattan job. He got to take a few laps on one of the spare sleds.

Lunch at Squaw Valley 

WELCOME!

I'm embarking on a cross-country trip in the course of accepting a job promotion and that will be the initial subject of this blog. After that, news, politics, sports, coffee, and whatever other subjects are interesting enough to write about and discuss.

24648 - mileage on the Trailblazer at the start of the Trip
1st leg - Merrimack, NH to Tappan, NY. Pit stop in Glastonbry, CT to unload some excess moving material and recaffeinate.

Moving

1. Pile A - what the movers pack
2. Pile B - what I want to take
3. Pile C - not in A or B

Lessons Learned - always schedule the movers to come right before trash pickup day. This allows the size of Pile C to be controlled to fit into my vehicle (I continually think my SUV has the cubic volume of a 15' box truck for some reason). It really does take two days to clear everything out of the house. Empty boxes seem to have something in common with larvae, once they hatch, they're everywhere!