Axodys

I spent some time today fiddling around with getting “Pivot”:http://pivotlog.net to automatically support “Technorati tags”:http://www.technorati.com/help/tags.html via the built in keywords field that every Pivot entry already has. I ran into some problems early on because the way Pivot handles snippets changed slightly since the last time I experimented with them (each snippet has its own file that resides in a snippets subfolder now) . Once I figured that out I was able to make fairly quick progress despite my lack of php knowledge. I also discovered a similar Technorati snippet had already been whipped up on one of the Pivot forums, but in the end I went with my own custom snippet because it’s a little bit more flexible with optional label and seperator arguments. The end result is now visible at the bottom of all the entries that I’ve assigned keywords to.

Now that I have built in tags support, I think I’m probably less likely to use multiple categories to refer to entries as it ends up being redundant. I doubt I will go back and change too many past entries either, but at least it’s relatively painless if I should choose to. The really nice thing about keyword/tag support is that I can instantly add new tags when I think of them; categories require an additional step to create and at a certain point start to get unwieldy to deal with.

“Gripping Moment”:http://www.spokesmanreview.com/sports/topstory.asp?ID=51286 Cougars’ upset of No. 11 Arizona erases streaks of frustration. Also, “There’s no doubting Thomas after he rains 3’s in the desert”:http://spokesmanreview.com/sports/topstory.asp?ID=51245.

Unfortunately, I missed all but the last few seconds of the game because I didn’t realize it was on television. What a great way to end the 38 straight game losing streak to Arizona. Back during the Kelvin Sampson Era a decade or so ago I got to see the streak nearly end in Pullman in a game the Cougs should have won in regulation, but lost in double OT when they couldn’t overcome a few referee calls that seemed questionable at the time. I remember leaving Beaseley Coliseum in a cold fury and oddly enough, I don’t think I’ve come close to being that incensed over a loss (including Ferris ones) since.

The cold and sore throat that were building earlier this week finally reached the point of full on sickness yesterday morning. I made it through the day, but by evening I was not feeling very well. Mary suggested that I take today off and try to rest up so that’s what I ended up doing.

I’m feeling a lot better at this point thanks to a lot of soup and tea. I kept myself well hydrated yesterday, but today’s warm liquids approach proved far more effective at lessening my sore throat than plain cold water. We’ve got hot water on tap at work and I found my trusty stainless steel Honda mug so I should be able to survive tomorrow if I bring in a couple tea bags. I’ve got a lot of projects to attend to so I’m looking forward to getting back and taking care of them.

“Shadle Thumps CV”:http://www.spokesmanreview.com/sports/topstory.asp?ID=50534 ^1^

Shadle Park 62, Central Valley 52
*Ferris 55, Clarkston 47*
Gonzaga Prep 61, East Valley 39
Lewis and Clark 73, Rogers 50
Mead 63, West Valley 59
Mt. Spokane 57, Cheney 54 (OT)
University 51, North Central 45

G-Prep is still alone in first place at 6-1 after they beat East Valley last night as expected. That leaves Mead, Mt. Spokane, Ferris and University tied for 2nd place at 5-2 with 6 games to go. All four 2nd place teams square off against each at least once in the next 6 games, but with this league as even as it is it wouldn’t shock me if two or three of those teams remained tied for 2nd after the meetings.

Friday’s five games that I can’t immediately predict a winner in: Ferris at Cheney, NC at Mead, University at Mt. Spokane, Clarkston at Shadle Park and East Valley at West Valley (only because it’s their Golden Throne rivalry game).

*1. The “untracked watch”:http://axodys.com/pivot/entry.php?id=1567 continues:*

bq. Sophomore Zack Humphrey got untracked for the Highlanders in that period with eight points and had 13 of his team-high 15 in the second half.

24 is off to a great start this season. After five hours worth of build up, the payoff in last night’s opening 15 minutes was huge. Jack Bauer kicked some serious butt when he single handedly broke into the terrorist’s warehouse hideout and saved the Secretary of Defense^1^ from certain death after his “internet trial by terrorist.” But even better, it turns out that the kidnapping plot and trial was just a clever feint to flood the internet with data and distract the NRC(Nuclear Regulatory Commission) while the terrorist group took control of the 104(!) nuclear reactors in the United States (actually it’s not clear to me a this point if the group took control of all 104 reactors or could have taken control of any one of the 104 available). Plus at the end of the episode it became clear that there’s yet another mole in CTU. Things just got really interesting.

1. I’d take James Heller over Donald Rumsfeld any day.

I didn’t get a chance to do this last week:

University 60, Cheney 41
Clarkston 62, Mead 51
*North Central 69, Ferris 64*
Gonzaga Prep 62, Rogers 46
Mt. Spokane 61, Lewis and Clark 44
West Valley 59, Shadle Park 54

Gonzaga Prep is now in first place with a 5-1 record, while West Valley, Ferris, University, Mead and Mt. Spokane are all tied for second at 4-2. Things should start shaking out more tomorrow though as West Valley plays Mead leaving at most four teams tied for 2nd. Ferris, Mt. Spokane and University certainly don’t have it easy tomorrow and could lose ground with losses of their own if they’re not careful. At this point G-Prep definitely has the inside track on the GSL title having already beaten Ferris and University, but West Valley and Mt. Spokane loom for the Bullpups in February, and Central Valley, Clarkston and Cheney are all capable of an upset on any given night.

I think today is actually the sixth anniversary of Axodys. Of course there were a lot more entries during the first three years than the last three which is kind of unfortunate, but it should be evident (despite my lack of posting over the last few days) that I’m starting to get back on track^1^ with regular updates again. As busy as this time of year is for me, I’m fairly pleased with how productive I’ve been this month in the weblog department. If I can just survive until March or so when the basketball season ends it should be smooth sailing for a while.

1. Random aside/peeve while I’m thinking about it. Why the heck do sports reporters always write articles and quote athletes and coaches using the phrase, “get untracked” when the majority of the time they actually said or meant something like “get on track”. According to dictionary.com “untracked”:http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=untracked means pretty much means the opposite of “on track” so getting untracked essentially means heading off the beaten path. In my mind you want to get back on track because you were untracked! Metaphorically speaking, as a coach you don’t want your team running around out in the wilderness, you want them to stay on the path to success that you’ve established for them. So how the heck did all these sportswriters manage to come up with such a “rampant”:http://www.google.com/search?q=untracked&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 misuse of the word “untracked”? Irritating.

This unseasonably warm weather has made a sloppy mess of all that snow we accumulated last week. In past years I would have appreciated the warmth, but with two dogs that like to go in and out of the house and into the backyard to play it means a lot more work just keeping the floors of our house somewhat clean. Hopefully it will stay warm enough just long enough to dry off the streets and then we’ll drop back to a more typical sub 32° January. Frozen ground just means less mess when you have dogs. Unfortunately as I look at the forecast for the next couple days it looks like things are going to stay warm and damp.

“Ferris uses hot start, fast finish to top WV”:http://spokesmanreview.com/sports/topstory.asp?ID=49154

Mead 58, Central Valley 57
*Ferris 65, West Valley 54*
Lewis and Clark 69, East Valley 57
Cheney 87, North Central 79 (2OT)
Mt. Spokane 50, Rogers 43
Gonzaga Prep 44, Shadle Park 40
University 61, Clarkston 58 (OT)

The parity in the GSL continues without much chance of letup. I’m betting the average margin of victory this year is as low as it’s every been.

I just caught my “first episode”:http://www.mtv.com/onair/dyn/pimp_my_ride/episode.jhtml?episodeID=81710 of “Pimp My Ride”:http://www.mtv.com/onair/dyn/pimp_my_ride/series.jhtml?_requestid=428110, MTV’s extreme car renovation show. The end results are pretty sweet, but the pathetic state of the cars and their embarassed (and embarassing!) owners are definitely entertaining in their own right.