Crosby and Gretzky comparison
I just saw this sidebar item on TSN’s site called “When I was 19″, which compares Sidney Crosby’s numbers with those of Wayne Gretzky the year he was 19, as Crosby is now.
I knew Crosby was special, but I didn’t realize just how special:
Sidney Crosby is tearing up the NHL scoring race with a healthy lead for the Art Ross Trophy. See how the phenom’s torrid pace compares to that of another superstar who had similar numbers when he was 19.
Sidney Crosby (2006-07):
57 GP, 26 G, 70 A, 96 PTS
Sidney Crosby (On Pace):
79 GP, 37 G, 98 A, 135 PTS
Wayne Gretzky (1979-80):
79 GP, 51 G, 86 A, 137 PTS
Holy crap.
Tags: hockey, Gretzky, Wayne Gretzky, Crosby, Sidney Crosby, TSN
Clark, the Canadian goalie
The only problem with this video is that the hockey player is actually taking an interest in baseball. Otherwise, it’s hysterical:
Thanks to my buddy Brad for the link.
Tags: hockey, goalie, baseball, shortstop, Canadian, comedy, funny
A real note
Francesca, my wife, decided to write me an actual note on paper tonight while she was at her micro-economics class. Hell, if I was taking micro-economics, I’d be looking for some way to waste time too. Anyway, here’s the full content of her note (with permission, of course):
Dear Jay,
I feel like chatting with you - but I don’t have email or IM in this class. I guess I’ll have to resort to a good old note. Funny - I don’t think I’ve written a note in class in a very long time!
So… howz it going - damn! This is different than IM.
Yep, that’s it. The whole thing. And, to be honest - I know exactly how she was feeling.
On another note, during this particular class, Fran mentioned that they received their marks back, and overall the class did not do too well. When the time came for a break, everyone heads to the cafeteria to get a coffee or something to snack on - when she arrived there were about ten people from her class, all mumbling angrily into their cell phones. Fran commented that this is an interesting societal change we’re seeing; 10 years ago (and probably even less), those angry students would be talking to each other, commiserating about their marks and possibly even planning study sessions. Today, none of them even know each other’s names.
As someone who is a huge technology enthusiast and supporter, I find this sort of trend troubling; I’m not sure we as a society gain enough from online interactions to counteract the negative influences, like this one.
Inspector Gadget theme - beatboxing on a flute
Before watching this video, if you’d have told me that I was going to see a guy playing the flute and it was going to be cool, I’d have laughed in your face. I’m not much of a fan of the flute. This guy, however, has surprised me. Make sure to watch the whole thing, as it gets better as he goes.
Hat tip to LifeDev.
Tags: beatbox, beatboxing, flute, flautist, beatboxing flute, beatboxing flautist
Outlook Slowness
Clearly I’m not the only person in the world that has experienced slowness in Microsoft Outlook; “Outlook slow” is the second most searched-for phrase that leads people to this site, behind “eye twitch”. I have to say that although I’m somewhat happier with Outlook 2007, it’s still not as good as it ought to be. In fact, on a daily use basis, I find Gmail is noticeably snappier.
This includes when I shut off the Outlook add-ons that I have come to rely on; I know that adding things on to an application that I find to be already somewhat slow isn’t all that smart, but there’s no way I’d live without ClearContext or NEO Pro, never mind Anagram.
And in terms of Gmail, it’s not like I don’t add functionality on there too; using greasemonkey, I’m able to add on saved searches, added hotkeys and even conversation previews. But the speed difference is still somewhat astounding.
Although I’m comparing Outlook 2007 to Outlook 2003, I have to keep in mind that I’m using 2007 on a faster computer that has a true dual-core processor. So in fact, it’s probably more than likely that Outlook hasn’t gotten any faster at all between the 2003 and 2007 versions.
The worst slow-down I experience is when Outlook is actually checking my POP mail account, which is the only way that I actually receive email into Outlook. The problem is FAR worse if I’m checking multiple accounts, but it’s really bad even with one, particularly when there are a lot of messages to download. I can’t for the life of me figure out why such a modern application can’t handle the rigors of checking mail, something that email clients have been doing forever.
Colour me frustrated.
Drop me a note if you also have trouble with Outlook slowness, and if you’ve had any success speeding it up I’m all ears!
Tags: Outlook, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook 2007, Outlook slowness, Outlook slow, MS Outlook, email
