Down 6-0 after two innings, the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors have battled back to take a 12-7 lead over George Fox through seven! If ECSU can complete the comeback, they will earn the right to play for the Division III national championship in the nightcap, again against those Fox-y Bruins. And since he hasn’t pitched in this game, I’m guessing NHS ‘99 grad Joe Serfass would be the starting pitcher in that decisive game.

GO WARRIORS!

UPDATE: Eastern wins!!! Now it’s a winner-take-all battle for the championship, starting in a half hour. GO, ECSU, GO!

UPDATE: They’re underway in Wisconsin, with the national championship at stake. Ryan DiPietro, not Joe Serfass, is starting for Eastern — oh, well. Serfass earned a save in the victory that clinched Eastern’s appearance in the championships, so a relief appearance is certainly possible.

Anyway, LET’S GO WARRIORS!!!

UPDATE: Eastern trails, 6-3, going into the ninth inning. Break out the rally caps!

UPDATE: The Warriors dodge a bullet as George Fox leaves the bases loaded in the top of the ninth. Still 6-3, heading into the bottom of the ninth.

FINAL UPDATE: ECSU loses, 6-3. :( George Fox is the 2004 NCAA Division III national champion.

In the wake of my dad’s epic Mowing of the Lawn :), the AdollyaCam is now pointed more downward, so you can see more of the driveway and our front lawn. Also, it’s in focus:

(The above is a static, archived image; for a live view, click here!)

(more…)

Newington High School Principal Paul Hoey is retiring at the end of this school year.

This story broke on Thursday, but it’s new to me: Connecticut’s darling governor, John Rowland, has sued the House impeachment committee, alleging that their subpoena demanding his testimony violates separation of powers.

Predictably, this move by Rowland does not sit well with, well, anyone. House Minority Leader Robert Ward was quite blunt in criticizing his fellow Republican:

“His refusal to testify is an affront to the General Assembly. It also is an affront to the people of Connecticut. The governor should be less concerned with legal wrangling and more concerned with putting the truth in front of the committee and the public.”

Whether or not the governor’s legal argument is sound, his political strategy here strikes me as profoundly stupid. The court may overturn a subpoena, but it cannot overrule an impeachment — now that would be a separation-of-powers breach — so in the end, it’s still going to be the House’s decision whether to impeach Rowland. And now he’s pissed off his jury… by suing them.

Good call, John.

This from a man with approval ratings in the low 20s, credibility ratings in negative numbers, and virtually no support from his own party. This from a man whose resignation is desired by a majority of the state’s residents. It’s a typical Rowland move: unbelievably, mind-numbingly arrogant.

Actually, the arrogance gets even worse, because it seems Rowland really does want the court to intrude on the legislative branch even as it’s defending the executive branch from intrusion. Hello, hypocrisy:

The lawsuit goes far beyond an attempt to quash a subpoena for Rowland to testify as the first public witness in his own impeachment inquiry.

The 18-page suit and accompanying 56-page legal memorandum give the court a scathing, point-by-point assessment of what the governor contends are unjust and constitutionally flawed procedures employed in Connecticut’s first gubernatorial impeachment inquiry.

So the legislature has no right to call the governor to testify, but the judiciary has every right to interfere in the legislature’s impeachment proceedings. In other words, separation of powers is good when it helps Rowland, and bad when it hurts him.

Like I said, typical Rowland.

I’ve decided not to fly to Chicago to watch next Tuesday’s transit of Venus, after all. Becky gently suggested that one crazy, whirlwind, just-to-be-there trip per year is probably enough — and I already met my quota when I flew to L.A. for the presidential debate at USC. :)

Anyway, I can’t really afford it, and if I’m going to spend that $200+, I’d rather use it to buy a new memory chip for my PowerBook, a Bluetooth mouse, and something nice for Becky. :) So, no transit for me. Hey, there’s always 2012.

I will, however, very probably watch some of the transit webcasts next Monday evening / early Tuesday morning. The transit begins around 10:30 PM Phoenix time, peaks around 1:20 AM, and ends around 4:15 AM, so watching at least the beginning part of it won’t be too much of a hardship.

I also hope to live vicariously through my Mom and Dad — a.k.a. BrendanLoy.com’s Special Venus Transit Correspondents — who will have the opportunity, weather permitting, to watch the transit from New York City and Connecticut, respectively. I’ve sent an order of Eclipse Shades(tm) Safe Solar Glasses to their house (”Absolutely Safe for Direct Solar Viewing of Solar Eclipses, Sun Spots and the upcoming Venus Transit”), and I’m pondering the possibility of shipping my digital camcorder home — along with a metalized-mylar lens cover thingy that I rigged for an eclipse back in 1999 — since I suspect that their digital camera’s zoom lens may not be strong enough to get a picture of a visible Venus, but I know the camcorder’s lens would definitely work (I’ve been able to see sunspots through the camcorder before, and Venus will appear bigger than a sunspot).

By the way, if any other readers in the eastern half of the country (or Europe!) are interested in being a BrendanLoy.com Venus Transit Correspondent, please let me know. :) All manner of reports (photo, audio, text) are welcome; if you want to make an audio report, I’ll be happy give you the Audblog codes.

In other transit-related news, here’s a fascinating account of a British naval vessel’s dramatic ocean voyage to watch the June 3, 1769 transit of Venus from the newly discovered island of Tahiti.

And then there’s this:

Does the Venus Transit of 2004 relate to the Return of the Energy of Christ and of Quetzalcoatl?

I hate to spoil the suspense, but… no.

It’s Eastern Connecticut State University vs. George Fox University for the Division III NCAA baseball championship.

The Warriors, led by Newington High School Class of 1999 grad and star pitcher Joe Serfass, must beat the Bruins of George Fox — that’s right, the Bruins — twice today in order to win the title. Fox needs only to beat ECSU once. (They already beat ‘em once yesterday.)

The first ECSU-Fox game is underway now, and should be wrapping up soon; I dunno how it’s going. If Fox wins, they’ll clinch the championship right then and there. But if Eastern wins, there will be a second and decisive game between the Warriors and Bruins at 2:30 PM Phoenix time.

Prior to the tournament, ECSU was ranked #1; George Fox was ranked #5. But the Bruins defeated the Warriors yesterday, 9-8, handing Serfass his first loss of the season.

ECSU is the defending champ. Last year, Serfass pitched the Warriors to the title with a complete-game, five-hit shutout, 8-0 over Marietta of Ohio.

UPDATE: Aha! Live coverage of the game! But the news is bad: Fox leads, 6-1, in the top of the third. D’oh! C’mon Warriors, you can do it! Come back! Beat the Bruins!

With the exception of a brief heat wave early in the month, May was unusually temperate for Phoenix: highs were typically in the 80s or low 90s, often with a nice breeze. It was altogether tolerable.

But now it’s June, and “tolerable” is officially out the window. The heat is on, for real this time:

Ugh.

Must be that global warming. :)

In other weather-related news, today is the first day of the Atlantic hurricane season. The esteemed forecaster Dr. Gray is predicting an above-average year: 14 named storms (vs. 9 or 10 in a normal year), 8 hurricanes (vs. 6), and 3 intense hurricanes (vs. 2).

For now, though, “Tropical storm formation is not expected through Wednesday,” according to the NHC.

The first name on this year’s hurricane list is “Alex.” After that, BrendanLoy.com’s resident Scotland enthusiasts will be intrigued to know that the next two names are “Bonnie” and “Charley.” Heh.

Hehe.

(Then there’s this…)