Tag: Sports

2023 Week 11 – Have a Seat

WEIRD mix of weather this week with a low temp of 19 Saturday morning. We had 2 dustings of snow, and the temps are expected to be in the 60s mid-week. I did a thing Saturday night and bet against Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Championship. I turned $2 into $42. Fairleigh Dickenson, who I have never heard of, made it a great game and ended up winning 63-58.

I’m still battling some lower back pain and narrowed down one of the contributors to my home office chair. I thought it was adequate, but after healing up and sitting it last weekend for a couple of hours, my lower back pain flared up again. After some research, I decided to move to a “Gaming” style chair.

This is an interesting sub-category with various makes and models that appear similar but are priced entirely differently. Color makes a big difference within the same lineup, with some colors being 50 percent less than others in the same line. Take the AKRacing AK-SX-WT Gaming Chair for example. I purchased the black with white trim version for $283. If I wanted all black, it was going to cost $489. SAME chair, just a different color. As I revisited Amazon to get these prices, they have already changed in a week since I ordered. My black and white is now $384, and the purple-trimmed model is now selling for $287. If you’re interested in this chair & can wait, you might save some serious money.

AKRacing AK-SX-WT Gaming Chair

Overall the chair was delivered quickly, and it only took about 20 minutes to assemble. The hardware appears stainless, and the fit/finish is very nice. It sits like a leather automobile seat and has a large, adjustable lumbar and neck pillow. You can even pull a lever and recline the chair to a flat position (not sure WHY you would want to do this, but you CAN), and the armrests are adjustable up/down, left/right, and forward/back. Overall I’m giving this chair a 9/10. It’s supportive and comfortable and has helped elevate my back pain when sitting in the home office for extended periods of time.

And finally… My son wanted a globe when he was younger, and I was surprised at how expensive it could be. I saw one for a reasonable price at an antique store, only to find out it was old enough not to have the correct names for some countries. Lesson learned. The following video shows what it takes to make some of the most expensive globes in the world.

2023 Week 4 – Championship Weekend

Tonight we’ll find out who’s going to Super Bowl LVII. The 49ers and Eagles start the action at 3 pm with the Bengals and Chiefs playing the second game at 6:30 pm. I’m predicting the Bengals and Eagles are headed to the big dance on February 12, 2023. I have a $5 Draft Kings bet on each matchup today, so just a LITTLE skin in the game to make it interesting.

I took a little trip to McCordsville yesterday to revisit Trax BBQ. I had been craving smoked meat for a few weeks and decided it was time. I ordered a 2-meat platter with pulled pork and brisket. BOTH were very tender and flavorful. For sides, I picked Mac-and-Cheese and Hush Puppies. The mac was nice and cheesy and went well with the pork and beef. The hush puppies looked great but had an off taste that I’m attributing to the oil needing changed in the fryer. I mentioned it to the counter staff on my way out, so hopefully, they were able to do something about it. I decided to try their potato salad and beans on the next visit. Oh, the house-made pickles were delicious, as were the variety of sauces ranging from sweet to vinegar to mustard to hot. You’re sure to find one that hits the spot.

Pulled Pork and Brisket at Trax BBQ in McCordsville

The meal with a fountain soda and tip came out to around $24 which is not bad for the quality of the food (not counting the hush puppies). Trax BBQ is right next to the railroad tracks in McCordsville and shares the space with Scarlet Lane Brewing. Scarlet Lane has some interesting brews. I was initially planning on having BBQ and a Beer but nothing jumped out at me so I opted for the first Diet Coke I’ve had in about 6 months (it was good).

And finally… The boys over at Jolly set the scene for the 2023 Girl Scout Cookie season. These two Brits have a very interesting show on YouTube. They traveled to the United States last year and had quite an adventure learning all about American Cuisine.

2021 Week 25 – Like Golf but Better

Over the winter I watched a lot of YouTube & I stumbled upon some interesting ones regarding Disc Golf. I’d seen the baskets around various parks in the past and had never really seen anyone playing. Enter COVID-19 and Disc Golf becomes one of the fastest growing outdoor sports in the world. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association the sport saw an 84% new player growth in 2020.

There are over 10,000 courses throughout the world and most are completely free to play, unlike Ball Golf that can run you $100 a round (and take up a good chunk of your day). You can get started in Disc Golf with a single Disc that costs $10 or a starter set of 3 Discs for under $30. Scoring is can be a simple as a piece or paper or with the use if an app such as UDisk (also reporting record growth).

UDisk is a mobile app that lists Disc Courses around the world with reviews and course conditions updated by players. It also allows you to see the Disc Course layout and distances to the baskets. Lastly you can use UDisk to keep score and track your progress as you learn the game. For $15 it’s one of the most useful apps I’ve used, let alone pay for.

Playing Disc Golf is similar to Ball Golf where each player tries to get their Disc in the basket with the least amount of throws. The holes are rated with Par’s like Ball Golf and other rules such as Water Hazards and Out of Bounds are similar. I’m not nearly ready yet but there are Disc Golf Leagues all over the place & they seem to be very active. I’m going to try my hand at joining one this fall once the summer travel settles down. If you’re looking for a new sport to try & don’t think you can beat Disc Golf as a way to get outside and get some exercise while playing.

And finally, I visited Micro Center in Cincinnati last weekend and picked up a 7-inch touch screen for one of my Raspberry Pi devices. If you like to tinker, or know someone who does, a Raspberry Pi is a great gift. It’s an inexpensive (under $50) computer on a board that can be “hacked” to do just about anything. I’m going to build the real-time weather station shown in the video below.

2021 Week 5 – The Super Bowl is Set!

The American Football Conference champion Kansas City Chiefs will play the National Football Conference champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV (55) on February. SB 55 will NOT be in 4K “because of COVID“. I’m a little disappointed the major networks haven’t upgraded all of their programming to 4k when the industry went digital several years back. The trick of upscaling 1080 to 4k is just that, a trick. Looks awful on a 50″+ setup.

Best Chocolate is back open on Mass Ave! They used to have a storefront along the east end but when they were acquired in 2019 they closed the brick and mortar. This made finding some of the best chocolates in the city really hard to find! Well, I just learned they are back in a physical storefront pretty much across the street from where they were previously. You can find them at 871 Massachusetts Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46204

Hellbender Documentary in Indiana – I was participating in a virtual 1 Million Cups event the other day and before things got started we were put into breakout rooms for some networking. One of our participants was a documentary filmmaker who is currently working a film about the elusive Hellbender salamander in Southern Indiana! You can follow along with the film progress here.

I Million Cups is a really cool program for entrepreneurs to present their ideas and get feedback from the audience. It’s also a way for them to talk about where they’re stuck and ways the audience can help them (through referrals or ideas). The events are held monthly and currently they are online. When things get back to normal they will be back at the SpeakEasy co-working space in Broad Ripple

And finally here is a fun band out of Australia. We saw them live in 2019 at the HiFi in Indianapolis.

2021 Week 3 – Snow!

We’re 3-weeks in & it’s been an interesting start to the year. The political mess and COVID-19 continues to top the news. It’s been cold and cloudy in Indianapolis this past 2 weeks and we finally got some measurable snow! It’s either going to be another “mild” winter or we’re in for something big. Only time will tell. I just put some 3-Peak rated tires on the Subaru so I could go for a big snowstorm right about now.

Some really great football games on last weekend and the CFB national championship goes to Alabama! It was looking like it was going to be a good game at first but Ohio State just couldn’t keep up. Just a few more weekends and the NFL will be over too… BUT NASCAR starts on February 14th! (and we always have soccer).

Do you eat in your car often? I saw this device being used by a mobile food reviewer and had to have it (especially since it’s only $12!). – Laptop Steering Wheel Desk It works surprisingly well and helps the crumbs & sauces off your lap.

You need one of these!

Total Wine & More opened a new store in Nora mid-November (first one in the Indianapolis region) and if you haven’t checked it out you should! It’s one of the largest liquor stores I’ve ever been in and it’s designed very well. Crowds have been heavy but there’s plenty of room to move about and keep your distance from others. If you’re a wine or Bourbon fan you’re sure to find something you like there.

Total Wine & More in Nora

Tried a new recipe this week (Mushroom Bourguignon) and it was a huge hit. There is a lot of prep but the cooking goes pretty fast. Probably something to fix on a weekend and enjoy throughout the week. Looks like the recipe I used from NYT Cooking is behind a paywall but this one is pretty similar.

  • Prep
  • Finished Product

Remix of a 2020 YouTube hit. That cat cracks me up!

2021 Week 2 – One Down, 51 to go!

After almost 2 weeks off work in December I’m ready to get back to work and make it a productive year! This week was going to be heavy on Sports until the attack on the Nation’s Capital. I thought I had seen it all in 2020 and this just topped it. I can’t believe the protesters made it all the way into the gallery. There was talk about an elected official who was part of the crowd so it’s going to be interesting to see if he was the one who opened the doors to get people into the secured areas…

The college football championship was set last week. Notre Dame was blown out by Georgia and Ohio State showed Clemson who’s boss. The Championship game is Monday evening & it’s going to be a good one. My $ is on Ohio State to take home the trophy.

Colts make the playoffs! It was a game that was a LOT closer than it should have been but the Indianapolis Colts are heading to the playoffs!

Update: Their game against the Bills yesterday was a disaster. Some really questionable plays that will most likely be a topic of discussion for fans in the weeks to come…

Finally the NCAA Tournament is going to be played in its entirety in Indiana. That’s a huge win for the city and state. It’ll be nice to see Indy in the National spotlight again.

21st century predictions. They were close to what we have today!

I didn’t take a lot of pictures this week & what I took isn’t anything that any of you would find interesting. I’ll try & do better next week.

Finally, I’ve been playing with a new (to me) distribution of Linux called “Elementary.io“. I installed it on my old 2012 Mac & it’s brought new life to the old hardware. If you’re used to the Mac OS and have an older MacBook not being used this is worth checking out. Installation is very easy and you can be up and running in 20 minutes.

Are You Ready For Some Futsal?

Went downtown with the boy on Saturday and stopped by Pan Am Plaza to check out some Futsal.  We’re both Soccer (MLS & EPL) fans but neither of us have ever heard of Futsal before!  This was titled the “Mayor’s International Futsal Cup 2015” & there was a pretty large turnout for the event.

In a nutshell this is 5 on 5 soccer played on a small, hard court using a smaller ball.  Unlike he full-sized game scoring is done quite frequently & it’s non-stop action.  We took some pictures and made a few court-side recordings with the GoPro (I’ll post those after I get a chance to edit the footage).

Once the rain stopped it was a great way to spend a few hours downtown!

GoPro Amazement – Part 1

Decided to bite the bullet and purchase a GoPro this past weekend. I keep seeing all of these cool videos with interesting angles and pumping soundtracks. I’m no extreme athlete but I think I can put together some quality material of things I’m involved in and activities around the city.  Hell, driving to work some days is like a scene from an action movie.  Why not put that action to music!

gopro-hero4-lrgAlways a lover of photography I’ve never really done any videography (except for that one time I had a camcorder and my kids were babies). One of the biggest problems I remember about  the camcorder era was all the tapes you had to purchase and keep track of. With everything now being digital it’s not as much of physical space you’re worried about it’s virtual (hard drive) space. Same problem, different decade I guess.

The GoPro series of cameras have evolved pretty steadily since 2005 with the introduction of the “GoPro HERO 35mm, All-Season Sports Camera”. An update was introduced just about every year with the release of the latest “Session” model in 2015.

I picked up the late 2014 model called the Hero4 Silver. It’s not bleeding edge but it’s got some pretty good specs when it comes to shooting video and taking stills. Some features to note are:

  • 2704×1520 at 30 frames a second (2.7k) video*
  • 1920×1080 at 60 frames a second (1080p) video
  • 1280×720 at 120 frames a second (720p) video**
  • 4000 x 3000 12MP photo with a 30/sec frame burst mode***
  • Time Lapse (0.5-60 second intervals)
  • Night Lapse (low light capability)

*The Hero 4 will do 4k video but only 15 frames a second so I don’t see it being that useful.
**This is what I’ll be shooting at while I learn. Gives a decent picture, smaller file size and Slow-Mo capabilities.
***Could be useful for close up fast action sports but there is a noticeable shutter lag

gopro-hero4-lrg backSo after charging the Hero4 and inserting the MicroSD card I took off to shoot some random videos. Filling about half of the memory card with a lot of miscellaneous shots I headed back to the IndyScan HQ to see what I had and what I could do with it.

Then it (finally) hit me. This is nothing like photography where you’re dealing with a single image capturing a fraction of a second of time. This is a living picture (for lack of a better term) that not only has (many) images but audio!

Time to use technology to solve a technological problem (I bet our parents never said that). I hit up the Google Machine and within a few seconds I had all the tutorials I could ask for. One in particular I want to give props too is Village Park Source who has a great 42-part series that walks you through Go Pro Studio. The videos are short and to the point. Easy to follow along and test yourself on what you learned afterwards too.

So what I thought was going to be something I could just pickup and run with turned out to be anything but that. It’s a great opportunity to learn something new and interesting. It’ll be a while before I get up to a jog from this walk.

Time to get back to the tutorials and see what I can learn over the next few nights. I have some activities this weekend I want to shoot both photos and videos of. Look for Part 2 in a few days.  Videos coming soon too I hope!

P.S. I’m trying the “new” (to me) writing style where you don’t put 2 spaces between your sentences. Anyone older than 35 probably does this instinctively but evidently it’s frowned upon in the professional writing community. Thoughts?  Post them in the comments section below.