I binged the last 4-5 episodes during break. No spoilers. The way they did the season was good. Each character had a part and they wrapped up the series and we got to see the kids a couple of years after HS.
The writers are talking about a spinoff, which I think is a prequel. That will be interesting if it happens. Meanwhile, I've been seeing so many Stranger Things tie-ins into products. I think Burger King has a Stranger Things meal. I've tried the Stranger Things Doritos (pretty good).
He’s already added his name above Kennedy’s out front. But surprisingly, with the building he went the opposite direction. The building is white marble on the outside and had gold painted pillars all around. Late last year the pillars were painted white. No idea why they did that.
Billy Joel album that produced hits such as Movin Out, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Just the way you are, Only the good die young, She's always a woman. Scenes wasn't a released single, presumably because it's too long to fit on a single side of a 45?
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant is like 7 minutes long as I recall. American Pie is even longer at around 9 minutes.
Another track you didn't list, but is one of my favorite Billy Joel tracks, is Vienna.
Mrs Slug and I attended a wedding in March; our niece was being married. I was shocked when Vienna was played by the DJ. But then again, the parents of the couple are close to me in age, so I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. I didn't think my sister and brother-in-law were Billy Joel fans, so I assumed the request came from the groom's side.
The Baltimore Ravens fired John Harbaugh on Tuesday, ending the run of the most successful coach in franchise history.
His exit came two days after the Ravens lost to the rival Steelers in Pittsburgh 26-24 after missing a last-second field goal attempt, which eliminated them from the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Harbaugh had signed a three-year deal last offseason and was under contract through the 2028 season.
I suspect the Ravens could regret this decision sooner than later. Which they weren't exactly contending for the Super Bowl championship most years, they could do a lot worse. Baltimore could easily resemble the Titans, Jets, Browns, Raiders, Falcons, Cardinals, etc. very easily in a year or two.
Interesting fact of which I was either unaware of or ignoring - Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh became head coaches of the Steelers and Ravens, respectively in 2007 and 2008. Their teams have faced each other in 36 regular season games (Steelers 23-13) and 4 playoff games (tied at 2-2). Clearly, the Steelers won more often than the Ravens, but it was always a competition.
Ravens were already knocked out weren't they? They probably could've fired him earlier if that was the plan, but unless some other coach they absolutely wanted was fired, their plan probably was to wait until the season was over.
Neither team had a stellar W-L record. Pittsburgh got to 10 wins by beating Baltimore. If Baltimore had won, both teams would have had 9 wins, but in that scenario, Baltimore would have won the division title because of a superior record in division play (4 wins for Baltimore vs. 3 wins for Pittsburgh, theoretically).
But that didn't happen and Pittsburgh won the AFC North.
BERKELEY – Solomon Hughes, a three-year starting center for California men's basketball, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Pete Newell Career Achievement Award. Hughes will be honored with the award during Cal's ACC game against North Carolina on January 17 at Haas Pavilion.
BERKELEY - The reigning national champion California rugby team opens their 144th season in program history in January. The Golden Bears look to build off their historic 2025 season which saw them finish the season 15-1 capped off by a 55-38 victory in the national collegiate championship final. The Bears hoisted their 29th XVs championship title in program history, the 25th XVs title under Jack Clark, to go along with five national collegiate 7s titles.
The California women's basketball team (9-7, 0-3 ACC) will host its first set of ACC games this season starting with a matchup against Duke at Haas Pavilion on Thursday at 3 p.m. PT.
This will be just the sixth overall and second meeting as part of the ACC between the two programs with Duke holding a 4-1 series advantage and three-game winning streak. Cal's sole victory in the series came in a 72-66 win at Haas Pavilion on Dec. 21, 1993.
California women's gymnastics collected its first Atlantic Coast Conference weekly recognitions of 2026, with Golden Bears Annalise Newman-Achee and Tonya Paulsson being named the ACC's Gymnast of the Week and Newcomer of the Week, respectively. This is the first conference weekly award of each of their careers.
The California lacrosse team unveiled its 2026 schedule on Tuesday with the Golden Bears slated to open both their home and ACC ledgers against Florida State at California Memorial Stadium on Feb. 13. The Seminoles will be in their first season as an intercollegiate lacrosse program. Cal begins its entire 2026 regular-season slate a week prior with a pair of nonconference road contests Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 at former Pac-12 foes San Diego State and USC.
Many players coming in through the portal. TE, RB, WR, S, one OL. All improvements on what we had. We need more lineman on both sides of the ball. And I guess LBs since just about all of them entered the portal. Hopefully Uluave comes back unless we get 3 studs. Even then I hope he comes back.
Stranger Things is more in the horror sci-fi category with strange monsters trying to eat people.
Star Trek—Strange New Worlds is mostly classic Star Trek galavanting all over the universe except that they now have this fantastic technology to jump-warp instantaneously really far distances so they run into stranger types of aliens more often.
Gone skiing...back soon
Hoping to go end of Jan, and sometime in Feb and March if I can get a friend's cabin for a couple of weekends.
How soon can one be back from going skiing? Are you texting from the lift?
Have fun!
i am back. just a day trip to Sugarbush from Burlington. about a 1 hour drive.
i only really skied for the afternoon. not bad for first ski day of the season.
plus i have the Ikon Pass so i unlimited days at Sugarbush
Could have looked for you on the webcam!
I think I skied Sugarbush back in the day. When the joints and muscles were in better shape.
DBD AV Club
Stranger Things Season 5 - (18/19 Netflix)
I binged the last 4-5 episodes during break. No spoilers. The way they did the season was good. Each character had a part and they wrapped up the series and we got to see the kids a couple of years after HS.
The writers are talking about a spinoff, which I think is a prequel. That will be interesting if it happens. Meanwhile, I've been seeing so many Stranger Things tie-ins into products. I think Burger King has a Stranger Things meal. I've tried the Stranger Things Doritos (pretty good).
Dumb government
Found out the Kennedy Center was blocked off yesterday for a meeting of the House GOP members. So much for being a performing arts center.
Trump is going to rename it after himself and make it a big beautiful (ugly) gold building.
He’s already added his name above Kennedy’s out front. But surprisingly, with the building he went the opposite direction. The building is white marble on the outside and had gold painted pillars all around. Late last year the pillars were painted white. No idea why they did that.
Stranger
Things
The -
Billy Joel album that produced hits such as Movin Out, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Just the way you are, Only the good die young, She's always a woman. Scenes wasn't a released single, presumably because it's too long to fit on a single side of a 45?
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant is like 7 minutes long as I recall. American Pie is even longer at around 9 minutes.
Another track you didn't list, but is one of my favorite Billy Joel tracks, is Vienna.
Mrs Slug and I attended a wedding in March; our niece was being married. I was shocked when Vienna was played by the DJ. But then again, the parents of the couple are close to me in age, so I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. I didn't think my sister and brother-in-law were Billy Joel fans, so I assumed the request came from the groom's side.
That is also a good song.
PRO
John Harbaugh out as Ravens coach after missing playoffs
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47531459/john-harbaugh-coach-ravens-sources-say
The Baltimore Ravens fired John Harbaugh on Tuesday, ending the run of the most successful coach in franchise history.
His exit came two days after the Ravens lost to the rival Steelers in Pittsburgh 26-24 after missing a last-second field goal attempt, which eliminated them from the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Harbaugh had signed a three-year deal last offseason and was under contract through the 2028 season.
I suspect the Ravens could regret this decision sooner than later. Which they weren't exactly contending for the Super Bowl championship most years, they could do a lot worse. Baltimore could easily resemble the Titans, Jets, Browns, Raiders, Falcons, Cardinals, etc. very easily in a year or two.
Interesting fact of which I was either unaware of or ignoring - Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh became head coaches of the Steelers and Ravens, respectively in 2007 and 2008. Their teams have faced each other in 36 regular season games (Steelers 23-13) and 4 playoff games (tied at 2-2). Clearly, the Steelers won more often than the Ravens, but it was always a competition.
I bet that kicker feels pretty bad. Maybe Harbaugh is fired anyways, but I doubt it.
Ravens were already knocked out weren't they? They probably could've fired him earlier if that was the plan, but unless some other coach they absolutely wanted was fired, their plan probably was to wait until the season was over.
Ravens, had they won, would have gone to the playoffs and the Steelers would have been watching.
Oh I thought they were knocked out earlier.
Neither team had a stellar W-L record. Pittsburgh got to 10 wins by beating Baltimore. If Baltimore had won, both teams would have had 9 wins, but in that scenario, Baltimore would have won the division title because of a superior record in division play (4 wins for Baltimore vs. 3 wins for Pittsburgh, theoretically).
But that didn't happen and Pittsburgh won the AFC North.
CAL
[MBB] Solomon Hughes Selected As Recipient Of 2026 Pete Newell Career Achievement Award
https://calbears.com/news/2026/1/6/mens-basketball-solomon-hughes-selected-as-recipient-of-2026-pete-newell-career-achievement-award.aspx
BERKELEY – Solomon Hughes, a three-year starting center for California men's basketball, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Pete Newell Career Achievement Award. Hughes will be honored with the award during Cal's ACC game against North Carolina on January 17 at Haas Pavilion.
[RUGBY] Cal Rugby Spring Season Preview
https://calbears.com/news/2026/1/6/cal-rugby-spring-season-preview.aspx
BERKELEY - The reigning national champion California rugby team opens their 144th season in program history in January. The Golden Bears look to build off their historic 2025 season which saw them finish the season 15-1 capped off by a 55-38 victory in the national collegiate championship final. The Bears hoisted their 29th XVs championship title in program history, the 25th XVs title under Jack Clark, to go along with five national collegiate 7s titles.
[WBB] Cal Hosts First ACC Game On Thursday
https://calbears.com/news/2026/1/6/womens-basketball-cal-hosts-first-acc-game-on-thursday.aspx
The California women's basketball team (9-7, 0-3 ACC) will host its first set of ACC games this season starting with a matchup against Duke at Haas Pavilion on Thursday at 3 p.m. PT.
This will be just the sixth overall and second meeting as part of the ACC between the two programs with Duke holding a 4-1 series advantage and three-game winning streak. Cal's sole victory in the series came in a 72-66 win at Haas Pavilion on Dec. 21, 1993.
[WGYM] Cal Collects Pair Of ACC Weekly Honors
https://calbears.com/news/2026/1/6/womens-gymnastics-cal-collects-pair-of-acc-weekly-honors.aspx
California women's gymnastics collected its first Atlantic Coast Conference weekly recognitions of 2026, with Golden Bears Annalise Newman-Achee and Tonya Paulsson being named the ACC's Gymnast of the Week and Newcomer of the Week, respectively. This is the first conference weekly award of each of their careers.
[LAX] Cal Announces 2026 Lacrosse Schedule
https://calbears.com/news/2026/1/6/cal-announces-2026-lacrosse-schedule.aspx
The California lacrosse team unveiled its 2026 schedule on Tuesday with the Golden Bears slated to open both their home and ACC ledgers against Florida State at California Memorial Stadium on Feb. 13. The Seminoles will be in their first season as an intercollegiate lacrosse program. Cal begins its entire 2026 regular-season slate a week prior with a pair of nonconference road contests Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 at former Pac-12 foes San Diego State and USC.
Many players coming in through the portal. TE, RB, WR, S, one OL. All improvements on what we had. We need more lineman on both sides of the ball. And I guess LBs since just about all of them entered the portal. Hopefully Uluave comes back unless we get 3 studs. Even then I hope he comes back.
Never watched Stranger Things—lost my taste for horror in my old age.
I did wonder if Star Trek—Strange New Worlds had a similar sort of theme. But haven’t watched that either.
i have seen both but not all of either one.
Stranger Things is more in the horror sci-fi category with strange monsters trying to eat people.
Star Trek—Strange New Worlds is mostly classic Star Trek galavanting all over the universe except that they now have this fantastic technology to jump-warp instantaneously really far distances so they run into stranger types of aliens more often.
I really enjoyed it. No 3 and his mom watched and told me to check it out so I think before season 3 I binged seasons 1 and 2 and loved it.