Skip to content

Five Things – 24 January 2016

Published January 24, 2016

Five Things – 24 January 2016

Didn’t do a Five Things the past couple of weeks. Lots of reasons I could use as excuses, but in the end, I didn’t make the decision to sit down and do them. But we need to move on, so a special weekend Five Things.

1.

I hate snow. I could never overstate how much I hate snow and this weekend, we have #Blizzard2016 all over the east coast. Back home, the word is snow plows might not get to most places until sometime Monday. In some places in my neck of the woods, we might be lucky to see a plow at all. One of those winters, there simply was no plowing done by local government. None. I was anticipating having a 3 day weekend, but since I won’t, I won’t be going outside and frolicking like this guy:

That is, however, how I plan to act when I get into a pool this summer and if the Ravens win the Super Bowl a year from now. Perhaps even if it does snow.

2.

I was listening to Mike Francesa on Friday afternoon and he remarked that the news stations love snow. Snow gets viewers and listeners tuned in. People hear snow and they panic and they get glued to information.

As usual, I fell victim to the hype and watched a bunch of snow coverage — lots of local news, CNN, and AccuWeather, since FiOS doesn’t have the Weather Channel anymore. I miss Weather Channel. AccuWeather isn’t as good. They’re just a continuous loop of the same exact information, with a different meteorologist reading it, over and over again. At least Weather Channel breaks things up with people stationed locally to show how things are on the ground.

I was wondering what was missing with this storm and it was Jim Cantore. I didn’t get to see where the world was ending from, as I wasn’t able to see where Jim Cantore was. CNN was down at the Jersey Shore and they got some shots of local flooding there, to satisfy the storm porn fix. Fortunately, they only had some beach erosion there and no loss of life.

This video from Ocean City, NJ was worth a 5 on the Winter Storm Porn-O-Meter.

I can’t find the video from the police car. In that one, the water sloshing up onto the windshield gives it an 8.

3.

No thundersnow. Forecasters had said to expect some, but I either missed it or it never materialized. That was the only part of the storm I was looking forward to. I talk about my love of thundersnow in a post from last year.

4.

Often on sale on Groupon is the Nexus 7 (2013) Wi-Fi. I have the 2012 version of the slate, which will no longer be receiving any more OS upgrades, just security updates. The 2013 version has better hardware, is already on Marshmallow and with it priced low, it’s seemed like a good buy.

However, I haven’t pulled the trigger.

Just before #Blizzard2016, I was pretty much set to order one; then I decided I wanted the 4G/LTE variant. I figured if the power went off, it was good to have another device that didn’t require Wi-Fi to get online. Hurricane Sandy drives that decision-making. During Sandy, I had no Wi-Fi and I had to use the relatively weak signal from my phone to stay connected. I’d rather hedge my bets and be able to use either.

The LTE version is around $50-$100 more than the Wi-Fi only version, on par with newer, albeit, less impressive tablets in cost. Still, the 2013 Nexus holds its own in terms of hardware, except against higher priced Samsung tablets, too. But are those Samsung devices running the latest version of Android?

Regardless of how enticing the price and value are, 2013 is 3 years ago and I keep reading that Marshmallow is the end of the line for updates for this slate. Unlike the 2012, which I’m still using, the 2013 would likely be a shorter relationship, maybe even just a year. Rumors say Google will be releasing a refreshed Nexus 7 this year.

I wish the NVidia Shield K1 had LTE.

5.

Unexpected things on championship Sunday. I thought the Cardinals/Panthers game would be much closer. Thought the Patriots would beat the Broncos pretty easily.

But Cam and the Panthers offense had their way with the Cardinals defense. DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller played most of the game in the Pats backfield. Reminded me of Super Bowl 42, how much they stayed in Brady’s face.

I do fall into the “anybody but the Patriots” camp, with some caveats (Steelers and Indy didn’t make me have to think about it), so I’m happy no matter who wins the game. But I am pulling for Cam and the Panthers. Cam has gotten a lot of undue criticism for his style of play, his celebrations, and any other bullshit some people have seen fit to say. And we know why this nonsense has come his way. So I’m happy to see him shut up his detractors in the biggest game of the year.

Also, for what it’s worth, as a Ravens fan, I do owe a debt of gratitude to Panthers owner Jerry Richardson. As part of the 20th Anniversary of the Ravens, WBAL Radio interviewed former Maryland Stadium Authority head John Moag, who discusses the role Jerry Richardson played in Baltimore landing another NFL team.

According to Moag, Richardson mentored him, got him into the room, and helped guide him through the process, with the end result being the Baltimore Ravens.

Also, once upon a time, Jerry Richardson played for the Baltimore Colts and when you’ve played for the Baltimore Colts, you’re always remembered in Baltimore. He didn’t have a long Colts career, but that tends not to matter. He played in Baltimore and that’s often enough for us to love you. That he would later help us get a new team, means he’ll always have some appreciation in the Land of Pleasant Living (at least among those of us in the know what role he played for us).

Even if he’s more known for owning the Panthers. And for dabbing in the locker room.

Categories:blog five things

Tags: