Either Colin Pedicini or David Whelan will take sole possession of the lead with a 10-0 prediction record in the Irish Trojan bowl pick ‘em contest, depending on the outcome of the Independence Bowl between Oklahoma State and Alabama, which is tied 7-7 at the beginning of the second quarter.

Pedicini picked Oklahoma State; Whelan picked Alabama. The two are currently tied for first place with 9-0 records after moving ahead of previous co-leaders Marty West (a.k.a. ironlionOROKU) and A.J. St. John when Florida State beat UCLA yesterday. West and St. John are now in a five-way tie at 8-1 with Joe McDade (Texasyank), Chris Healey and Bill Reising. 32 contestants, including defending champion Brian Dupuis (DUP), are tied at 7-2.

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Heh:

A fence-building company in Southern California agrees to pay nearly $5 million in fines for hiring illegal immigrants. Two executives from the company may also serve jail time. The Golden State Fence Company’s work includes some of the border fence between San Diego and Mexico.

(Hat tip: dcl.)

Crap-ass Bruins beat USC, then give up 44 points to even crappier-ass Florida State, sending the Pac-10 down to 0-3 in bowls. God, I hate UCLA.

I haven’t said a lot about my new iPod, but I’ve been playing with it almost nonstop since yesterday evening, and it’s really cool. Me like.

I have a few minor quibbles/complaints (most of them revolving around the ease, or lack thereof, of entering and exiting shuffle mode), but overall it’s awesome. My major issue is with the case I bought, the Marware Sportsuit Convertible. I like that it can switch from a belt clip (which is what I’ll primarily use it for) to a hand strap (though I haven’t figured out how to attach that yet) to an armband. I don’t, however, like that once you put the iPod in the case, it’s almost impossible to take it out — when I tried yesterday, I felt as if the attempt was going to warp the plastic cover of the case, so I eventually gave up. I also don’t like the way the plastic cover often sticks to the screen, as described in this review: “[the] front clear plastic protector…has a tendency to look ‘wet’ on the iPod’s front surface.” And the click wheel feels like it has gotten a little more difficult to operate through the case since I first put it in there yesterday, possibly because it too is sticking to the plastic cover. So I’m thinking I might buy a different case. Any suggestions?

I just got an e-mail from Southwest Airlines saying I’ve earned a free round-trip ticket to “just about anywhere” with my Rapid Rewards account. Woohoo!

Well, that’s one way to get revenge for a dirty hit against your captain (video). More here.

I never saw Fantastic Four, but I got the vague impression that it was kinda lame — and the title of the sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. But Andrew Hiller is right: the trailer is really freakin’ awesome. It does exactly what trailers should do: it takes people with no initial interest in seeing the movie and makes them think, “Hey, that looks cool.”

Central Michigan’s Motor City Bowl win Tuesday knocked Lisa Velte and Dan Port out of first place in the 2nd annual Irish Trojan bowl pick ‘em contest, narrowing the list of undefeated co-leaders to four: Marty West (a.k.a. ironlionOROKU), David Whelan, Colin Pedicini and A.J. St. John. They are all 8-0.

Only two contestants will remain perfect after Wednesday’s Emerald Bowl. Whelan and Pedicini picked Florida State; West and St. John picked UCLA.

Velte and Port join 25 other contestants at 7-1. Included in that group is “Aaanold Terminatorschmidt,” better known as my brother-in-law Soren, who I made fun of after the Poinsettia Bowl for his 0-1 start. He’s a perfect 7-0 since then, and is doing better than anyone else in the Zak/Boeckler/Caplin/Hammerschmidt/Loy family, despite being an avid non-fan who concededly knows virtually nothing about college football. Or at least, that’s what he claims, but after two consecutive years of this, I think some of us are starting to wonder. ;)

Defending champion Brian Dupuis (DUP) is also among the 27 contestants tied at 7-1. Starting on Thursday, those folks will potentially have the ability to leapfrog the contestants above them, as the bowls will become worth more (2 points starting with the Independence Bowl, then 3 for the non-BCS New Year’s Day bowls, 5 for the BCS bowls and 8 for the title game).

Complete standings here.

Just saw the news on Drudge. Former President Gerald Ford, the “Accidental President,” has died at age 93.

It's the day after Christmas, and the mall is a little bit crazy. In other news, I'm about to get an iPod. Woohoo!

Just got back from golfing on the Prospector Course here at Superstition Mountain. I teamed up with Ginny in a friendly scramble against Ted and Casey, and we won by four strokes, thanks mostly to my amazing golf skills. :) Okay, okay, the vast majority of the shots we used were Ginny’s (that would be the same Ginny who competed in the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur earlier this year), but I did make a few putts — and gave Ginny a good “read” on several other putts that I almost hit — and I even got in a couple of decent drives, despite being generally pretty awful (and, perhaps more to the point, inexperienced; I’ve only golfed a few times in my life, and not at all in the last couple of years).

For some reason, I was much better with the pitching wedge today than with any other club; it got to the point where I was using it to tee off on par-3s and short part-4s. (The preceding sentence is gibberish to non-golf types, but I think it will be hilarious to avid golfers.) With the driver and other long clubs, I was more liable to either whiff or seriously mis-hit the ball, or else make solid contact but hit it waaaay off to the right. (Apropos of which, I hit a house off the right fairway of one hole, and almost hit another. Hehe. Luckily, no damage was done.)

Anyway, it was fun. Here’s a photo of Casey teeing off, with Ginny watching in the foreground, and the Superstition Mountains in the background:

A brief update on the possibility of a Pacific tsunami …

From the NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center:

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 1226Z 26 DEC 2006
COORDINATES - 21.8 NORTH 120.6 EAST
LOCATION - TAIWAN REGION
MAGNITUDE - 7.2

EVALUATION

NO DESTRUCTIVE PACIFIC-WIDE TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA.

HOWEVER - EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE SOMETIMES GENERATE LOCAL TSUNAMIS THAT CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS LOCATED WITHIN A HUNDRED KILOMETERS OF THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. AUTHORITIES IN THE REGION OF THE EPICENTER SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS POSSIBILITY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

THE JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY MAY ALSO ISSUE TSUNAMI MESSAGES FOR THIS EVENT TO COUNTRIES IN THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC AND SOUTH CHINA SEA REGION. IN CASE OF CONFLICTING INFORMATION… THE MORE CONSERVATIVE INFORMATION SHOULD BE USED FOR SAFETY.

Also, there’s information on the USGS Earthquake page about the event, including a map of the epicenter, and here’s an AP article.

The media may be overplaying this, especially because it’s the second anniversary of the great Indian Ocean tsunami. Today’s earthquake was magnitude 7.2, versus 9.1 two years ago, and that’s a big difference. But I’m not familiar with the seafloor in this region, and in any case caution is always a good idea when dealing with tsunami risk. The main areas that should be paying close attention are the Philippines and Taiwan.

UPDATE: CNN says that “An official with the Japanese Meteorological Agency says the danger of a destructive tsunami from today’s earthquake off Taiwan ‘has passed,’ The Associated Press reports.”

Japan's Meteorogical Agency says an earthquake off Taiwan had a prelimary magnitude of 7.2 and that a 3-foot high tsunami is headed for the east coast of Philippines, The Associated Press reports. Visit CNN for the latest.

Thieves trying to steal fuel from a pipeline outside Lagos, Nigeria, triggered an explosion and fire that killed at least 200 people, a Nigerian Red Cross spokesman told CNN. Visit CNN for the latest.