Sunny California

Sure, we went to the beach a couple days ago. Sure, it was so sunny and warm I was in my short sleeve shirt. Sure, Ash ran around in her shorts.

I still wish I was back in Utah for the upcoming snow storm. I lived there ten years--and Child lived there her entire life--without seeing a snow day. And here BYU is closing.

I'm jealous.

Pop-yuuUUU-ler

I would never have guessed, but according to US News and World Report, BYU is currently the most popular school in the nation.

Now what's better: that distinction, or our annual winning of the "#1 Stone-cold sober school" award?

Ups and downs

BYU lost.

On the other hand, my two-year-old retirement account is in the black for the first time ever, thanks to the strong market over the past week.

In the grand scheme of things, I probably came out ahead.

Football Rankings

I'm not a huge football fan, but I enjoy following BYU football. It seems like one of the recurring debates in college football (and probably most sports) is about the best way to rank teams.

If A beats B by 10 points, and the next week B turns around and beats A by 10 points, who is better?

If A beats B, and B beats C, and C beats A, who is better?

Anyway, it's only two weeks into the football season, but we can already start to compare teams with each other. BYU has only played two teams (Oklahoma and Tulane), but those teams have each played one other team, and those teams have each played one other, etc. Our network begins to come together.

If we take all the connections we can make and look strictly at the scores, we can come up with an initial ranking. It doesn't tell us much, because if BYU beats Oklahoma by 1 point and Utah beats Utah State by 18, Utah might look better strictly based on the score, but it really depends on how Oklahoma compares to Utah State.

As the network starts to fill out (e.g. as Oklahoma is eventually connected to Utah State) I think the numbers will make more sense, but just for kicks here's my own top 25 rankings after two weeks:

Florida: 40.8 (same)
California: 39 (same)
Nebraska: 37.5 (same)
Texas: 35 (same)
Brigham Young: 33.2 (same)
Iowa: 32
Cincinnati: 32 (same)
Oklahoma: 32 (same)
Texas Tech: 31
UCLA: 30.3
Boise State: 29.4 (same)
Alabama: 29.3 (same)
USC: 27.4 (same)
Boston College: 27
Auburn: 26.3
Tennessee: 25.3
Ohio State: 24 (same)
Duke: 23.7
Houston: 23.5 (same)
LSU: 22.8 (same)
Kentucky: 22.6
Pittsburgh: 22
Penn State: 22 (same)
Michigan: 21.8 (same)
Georgia Tech: 21

The numbers are the average points they beat other teams by (directly, or indirectly through intermediate teams). If it says "(same)" afterwards, then it was also on the AP top 25 rankings (although not necessarily at the same rank).

Surprisingly, the AP poll and I had 15 of the 25 teams in common, although all this really tells me is that my method isn't totally flawed. I'd still trust the AP poll over my technique because they're taking (most likely) better things into account than I am, but I'll be interested to see how we compare once more games are played.

AP ranking:

1 Florida
2 Texas
3 USC
4 Alabama
5 Mississippi
5 Penn State
7 Brigham Young
8 California
9 LSU
10 Boise State
11 Ohio State
12 Oklahoma
13 Virginia Tech
14 Georgia Tech
15 TCU
16 Oklahoma State
17 Cincinnati
18 Utah
19 Nebraska
20 Miami (FL)
21 Houston
22 Kansas
23 Georgia
24 North Carolina
25 Michigan

Great Day

Yesterday was a great day. I just have to post about how great it was. It started off with Frisbee in the morning, under a cool, cloudy sky. Our team worked together really well and we kept the edge over the other team most of the game.

Afterwards, I went to a writing meeting and got some good comments on my submission.

After that, Child and I ate sushi with an old friend.

After that, I came home and took a nap, then watched the BYU-Oklahoma game on espn.com, where BYU pulled off a stunning victory.

Doesn't get much better than that.

(Oh, and Child and I also watched the latest Psych episode on Hulu.com -- great show.)

BYU WON!!! Yes, that deserves three exclamation points!

22-something point underdogs and we beat Oklahoma, 14-13!

Yee-haw!

Journey to the Center of...Acadamia?

Today in the newspaper I read a heartwarming story about a young man struggling through amazing challenges and overcoming almost insurmountable obstacles. Here's what he said:

"There were times where it felt hard but I never doubted myself," [Manase Tonga] said. "My coaches all had confidence in me and my fellow players had confidence in me. My wife and family were always behind me and helped me along through the hard times."

His struggle? Passing two summer school classes with a B- or better so he could play football.

Sheesh. He makes it sound like he was summiting Everest or something.

Minorities

This is a picture that a school photograph took of our lab about a year ago. I believe it was for an alumni magazine or brochure that talked about advances in the Computer Science department.

Either way, the picture found its way to the BYU homepage, where it now links to an article about mentored learning, where undergraduates work with faculty on research. Rather amusing, since none of the people in the picture are undergraduates.

Another funny thing: the girl in the background doesn't even belong in our lab. She works up the hall, but anytime public pictures are taken, they call her in as a matter of form. She's female, Muslim, Indian, and (although you can't tell from this picture) is in a wheelchair. That's four minorities right there, and the department wants to display her whenever possible. Not to mention she pretty much has her pick of scholarships. She's a great person, and I've worked with her on several projects in classes we've taken together.

UCPets.com News Article

The local newspapers picked up the story on the UCPets website.

• Daily Herald
• Deseret News
• BYU Newsnet

Notice how the BYU paper doesn't have a link. That's because the article never got published. Yeah, funny story about that. Child hates BYU and everything BYU related. When the newspaper called, she answered my phone. When the caller said who they were, she put the phone against her chest and said "It's that crappy newspaper."

I talked to the girl at the other end, answered all her questions, then hung up and looked at Child. "Um, if you put the phone against your chest, the person at the other end can hear quite clearly what you're saying."

"Oh," she said.

The article never appeared in the paper.

Not that I mind; my thesis adviser has been "strongly encouraging" me to get my thesis done, and I'd just as soon he didn't see I've been spending time working on another website.

BYU for the Win!

UCLA was down by one point with only seconds left on the clock. However, they were lining up for an easy 28-yard field goal attempt. They had already scored three other field goals during the game, including to 50-yarders. This was going to be a piece of cake. The whistle blows, they kick the ball, one of our players lunges into the air...blocked! The field goal spins away and misses the posts! Time expires! BYU with the win!

Go Cougars!

(Although that's about as close as you can get to a loss and still manage to pull it off...)

Vegetarian Cookies, Anyway?

My wife first noticed this quite a while ago, and tried to point out to the clerk that while technically correct (since ALL cookies are vegetarian), the sign's intent was probably "vegan" cookies. The clerk was adamant that vegetarian was correct, and Child finally gave up.

So I finally decided to go down and take a picture of the sign. Afterwards, while walking back to my lab, I called up the store and asked for a manager. I finally got one, and was able to raise the question of why the sign said "vegetarian" instead of "vegan."

Apparently the lady thought I was some sort of PETA organizer standing poised outside the door with several hundred sign-carrying protesters ready to start marching if the sign wasn't resolved immediately, because she was extremely apologetic, and hastened to assure me she would leave a note for the "guy in charge" to get the sign changed post-haste. That wasn't really my intent, but I knew it would make Child happy, so I cheerfully thanked her and hung up.

Remind me, and I'll check back in a couple weeks to see if they really did fix it.