WikiHero

Long ago my brother coined the term WikiHero to describe someone who corrects inaccuracies, misunderstandings, or otherwise sheds light on information found on Wikipedia. He himself became a WikiHero by adding some key insights to the entry regarding byu football athletics (can you believe that no one had mentioned that to win their national championship they beat a 6-5 Michigan team?). And now I too have become a WikiHero. You see I noticed a certain error in the first sentence on the Wikipage for BBQ. It used to read:

"Barbecue or barbeque is a method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat or vegetables..."

What? That sounds sort of right. I corrected it to:

"Barbecue or barbeque is a method and apparatus for cooking meat..."

It's a subtle difference, but believe me a big one. The key is that this change has lasted for a few weeks now; a true test of a WikiHero's efforts. I just feel good knowing that I have contributed to the general body of knowledge that is out there. This is way more satisfying than publishing any of those science papers and it took way less work. You too can be a WikiHero, but remember that with great power comes great responsibility.

Quick weekend back home

I just got back from a little trip home. For the first time since all the new additions to my family, we were all together for one weekend. I was the first to arrive and the first to depart because I am such a hard working grad student and hot data was calling me back. My brother brought his family from New Orleans and that really was the impetus for getting us all together so we could meet and spend time with these guys.

So far this uncle thing is an easy gig, especially since I am in Seattle and they are in New Orleans. Basically you just have to run when Peter tells you to and Penny is still so young it is like she is drugged up, but if you tilt her back and then bring her forward she smiles and laughs. And I am really good at tilting her back and bringing her forward. Not all the time was spent with the kids (at least not all my time). The Sounders were in town and it was too much a coincidence to not go so we took in a soccer game in RSL's new stadium. The Sounders lost.

We went up the canyon to Silverlake. Not sure I ever stopped by there before, but it was nice. Definitely a place to go take a walk with a sweet girl...if I was in Utah...with a sweet girl. I went with my whole family instead. The ground squirrels there have virtually no fear of man.

And of course while home I was able to take advantage of some of the nicer things in life. I took the Willy's on what, from the sound of things, was likely my last ride with it. Yep thats a brick acting as a parking brake. Gonna miss you Red.

I also managed to take my Dad's slightly more modern car for a spin. The Willy's is in the background there, highlighting the wide range of cars back home.

And of course what trip home would be complete without a few stops at the local eateries? I managed to grab some Crown Burger, Pie Pizza, and last but not least the Red Iguana. I have never had a bad meal at any of these places.

Great trip home. Thanks to Mike and Amanda for the leftover vouchers that made this trip nearly free for me. Happy to spend time with the family. Glad to see that my nephew knows who I am now. Sorry it was so short.

Finally, something worth spending money on

Quick, everyone! I need 10 million dollars! Here's why.

Yeah, that just happened

I was just preparing my lunch (super nachos by the way) and had my iPod going. As always it was set on random. It plays the first song and then selects the second song and you know what? It was the exact same song as the first! Probability of this happening?

(1/6077)² = 0.00000002707831

Amazing! Nearly impossible and I was there. The song...Aha's "Take on Me".

BAD NEWS - Turns out that one of my roommates switched my iPod off of random and so by virtue of Aha starting with an 'A' and having two copies of "Take on Me" (one regular and one extended) this becomes far less impressive. Under these conditions the probability of this amazing feat changes from the very improbable near impossibility to the very probable 100%. I am sure you are just as bummed out as I am.

¡Vamos Messi!

This is Lionel Messi. Pretty cool right? His nickname is "la pulga" which means "the flea". Not only is he regarded as one the best soccer players in the world today, leading FC Barcelona to win the treble, but he is also from Argentina. That launches him to uber cool status. Born in Rosario no less which was my mission home. So when the chance came for me to see him play I took it immediately. Messi, with FC Barcelona, made it to Seattle on Sunday and everyday this week I would come into work and learn about where he was the previous day. He was even down the road from me at UW's football stadium and I had no idea until it was too late (which is really too bad because I am sure if I could just meet him we would be the best of friends, what with the Rosario connection and all). Yesterday I got to see him finally when FC Barcelona played the Sounders as part of their US tour. I was several hundred feet away but I'll count it.

The stadium was filled with nearly 67,000 people, the largest soccer crowd to ever be in Seattle.

Barcelona wore their bright, nearly neon away jerseys to help us never lose sight of them. Thats Messi up near the top with the blue shoes. Frenchman Henry is down near the bottom. He is kind of a big deal, but also from France so not as super cool as Messi.

I got the feeling that Messi was not moving at his full speed as I caught him hanging around like this a few times, just putting out the vibe. Here's the best my camera could do to get a picture of him.

But I wasn't complaining, full speed or not, he managed to put in 2 goals in the first half. I was just hoping to see 1, but Messi being the great guy that he is gave me 2.

After his first golazo.

And after the second one. I am not too sure as I was pretty far away, but I am pretty sure that after each goal I saw him singling me out, probably because I was wearing my Argentina jersey, and giving me a nod. Classy guy I tell you.

Never mind that this Argentina squad was right there off the field. I'm pretty sure he was looking my way and was impressed that I was wearing the albiceleste.

The first half was great. Attacking soccer (mostly by Barcelona), but the Sounders did decently well and nearly had a goal or 2. As expected both teams pulled all their starters at half and the reserves came in for the second half (the Barcelona reserves put in 2 more goals...the Sounders did not). Messi was the player of the game and as he left the field he saluted and clapped for the fans. I suppose he could have just left the stadium at halftime, but that would have been pretty lame and stuck up. I mean who would do that, cough, cough, Beckham, cough, 3 years ago, cough, here with Real Madrid, cough, cough, loser, cough. Boy I never thought I would ever see Messi play in person, let alone score 2 golazos, and maybe he wasn't giving it 100%, but this was still cool. I can check that off my list of soccer dreams. Next I just need to go to an Argentina-Brazil game (and see Argentina beat 'em), and also a World Cup. Then all my soccer dreams will have come true.

Gracias a Messi y a FC Barcelona por venir a Seattle. Que nos visiten otra vez.