"Hi. My name is R..."
"Hello R."
"...and I have neglected my blog for almost a month."
"That's okay. We've all done it."
There's a lot to cover folks. So let's get to it. In no particular order...
Football:
My Horns lost to OSU at home. Horrible play-calling by Greg Davis. What little confidence Colt had from those two first-half drives was scuttled by the "Let's hold down the margin of defeat" attitude that plagued us for so many years during the Mack Brown Administration. Our secondary got exposed. They didn't bump at the line like I told them to and we paid dearly for it. Tarell Brown wouldn't have been much help. Chizik really lost some luster with me after that performance. I think Colt will become a top-notch QB in the next few seasons. I mused that we should make the field soggy to minimize OSU's speed. That came to fruition this past weekend against Penn State. Oh well. That's what they get for not listening to me. I'm actually a little scared about the OU game. Not that they have a defense either. I'm not saying we're gonna lose; just scared.
A hardy "Get Well Soon" goes out to the Blonde Blunder that is Chris Simms. I'm sure he's happy knowing that he has a bosom buddy with my boy Sarge; or should I say a spleen buddy. In all seriousness though, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. To take all the garbage we gave him at UT and not whine about it shows you his character. Here's wishing him a speedy recovery.
Work:
Well, it could be worse, right? There's this one drug product that our company bulk manufactures and we've had lots of problems with it. A good Doctor that has spent many years dealing with this compound class once said to my lab manager "I hate XYZ!" Needless to say, this last batch ran into a large problem yesterday and put us behind schedule. Well, not put us behind schedule, but the GMP group. It's just that QC is essentially the last stop and most of the blame and vitriol gets thrown our way. It doesn't matter that the folks upstream have done all the getting behind. It's up to us to get it out three days ago, and when there are problems, and inevitable if something is 'RUSH' or 'BACKORDER' it has problems, the question is "What's the holdup?" and the answer is "QC." And it seems that 90% of the prodcuts coming into QC are rush or backorder. And there's this cute little trend starting of not one, but two bright green BACKORDER stickers.
But things are looking up. The first reason is that we are in the process of interviewing candidates to take over part of what I'm doing. Let's review the hats that Ryan wears at work:
1. Running/Maintaining 3 Gas Chromatographs (GCs)
2. Running/Maintaining 2 Gas Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometers (GCMSs)
3. Sampling of GMP raw materials
4. Sending Outsourced Analyticals.
Most of our instruments are purchased from Agilent and you can see what a GC looks like in the upper lefthand corner of their Gas Chromatography page.
The candidate we will hire will take over Hat #1...which will free me up to do special projects. Don't get me wrong. It'll be nice to have someone take that over for me. The thing is, it really hasn't been busy enough to need that 2nd person. I've been able to handle this workload for the most part and I think I've done more than a bang-up job of it. But when I get our new hire trained, whenever they do hire someone, I will be foisting Hat #4 on that person as well. Devious, I know, but that's what happens to the rook.
The second thing I'm happy about it that I just finished the annual OQ (Operational Qualification) on GCMS#2. It takes two days if everything goes right. Well, last Friday something went wrong. Terribly wrong. There are these things called filaments in the Mass Spec that provide the electrons to make things happen. Well, one broke. And it's best to replace both filaments, not just one. So I rush-ordered some filaments and got them yesterday morning. In the meantime I cleaned the ion source and put in a new column, so everything is pretty much brand spankin' new. And it passed with flying colors today!! What a relief. Especially since last year's calibration expires in four days. I know, I know. It's hard to kick the habit, but I excel under pressure.
Third, I won Scrabble today. Ended quite a drought. We―me, Red, D$ and G-Ray―all have comparable vocabularies, so the saying has been "Whoever draws well, wins." Except the prior three weeks I've drawn two 7-letter words during the course of play, but had nowhere to play them. So it's been frustrating to me, and the game has lost some of its luster. Today I didn't draw exceedlingly well, but I managed to get 'nettled'. I tried to play it twice and the combo word was challenged and I lost my turn. Brian throws out an innocent enough word in 'rice' on the line above the bottom. During D$'s turn I see him staring at the top-right corner of the board, where he ends up playing. G-Ray thinks about throwing back, but wants to get some points in hopes of drawing a consonant to make his 7-letter word. He plays in a different part of the board, and I get 83 points for 'nettled', 're' and 'id'. It's all academic from there folks.
And there's usually Spades going down the rest of the week, which is tons of fun. It gives us two things to look forward to each day instead of one, because it gives us a break from all the muck and mire of the day.
Last, but first in priority, Family:
C looks so beautiful carrying our next daughter. We still haven't completely decided on her name, but we've been calling her Abby for the past month-ish. She just has this glow about her that you'll only understand if your wife or a close friend is pregnant. I'm vehemently hoping that the December 31st due date holds up so we can get our tax break. It's the little things in life. Thanks to all the wonderful ladies who come to playgroup and especially to MP, TO and AF, who are flexible to make playdates on the fly. I appreciate y'all just as much as C does.
M's vocabulary has just exploded. She tries to say almost every word we give her. One of my daily duties that has come with C's ever-expanding belly is bath-time. It's been loads of fun as we have made our own routines. Whenever we're heading out of the bathroom she has to turn the light off. And when we get into her bedroom, she turns the fan and light on. Momma was giving her a bath the other night and didn't know this and M made sure that she got to do the lights and fan. She's been trying to pick up water with her fists and eat it. She's into going down the slide on her belly. Tonight she climbed up into the cradle in our room. She's been getting better at using soft hands with us and with friends. Mealtime has gotten a little better, too. But it's still hard to realize that her diet will balance out over the course of a month.
Gramma and Opa came down this past weekend and we had a fun time with them. M showed them she knew the sign for W (Opa's name) and said Opa and Gramma repeatedly. Tonight she stood at the window saying "Gramma. Gramma. Gramma." They also helped us do some housework, which we are very grateful for.
Well, that about sums it up. If you can call it a sum. I know there are many things I've forgotten, but this'll have to do.
I hope you have a great rest of the week.
God bless,
R
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Week 1 Recap
So, we don't have cable; therefore I had to listen to the game on KVET.
From the highlights I saw and from what I heard on the radio, I still think we're in good shape against OSU this Saturday.
1. Our stable of horses ground out over 200 yards.
2. Colt managed the game well. Sure he didn't throw for 250+ yards, but he didn't get picked either.
3. Our defense smothered UNT's offense. Granted, it's UNT, but still, 95 total yards is exceptional, with most of that coming on the initial drive of the second half.
4. 6/12 3rd down conversion and 2/2 on 4th down.
5. Only 4 penalties.
6. Of the two turnovers, both were fluke plays: one a weird hop on a punt that nicked Aaron Ross and the other on a ball that could've been caught being intercepted.
7. Decent special teams: Greg Johnson averaged 43.5 on two punts. Only 5/9 kickoffs were returnable.
In summation, great balance on offense, a smothering D and solid special teams.
A preview for Saturday:
1. Although Colt distributed the ball to 6 different receivers, none were to tight ends. They need to be involved against a much faster, stronger Buckeye D.
2. I really would've liked for our place kicker to have gotten a couple of tries to get him battle tested, even though this game will again be in the friendly confines of DKR/Memorial Stadium.
3. Whither Lyle Sendlein? I know he injured/tweaked an ankle in the first half. He needs to be 100% on Saturday.
4. We can exploit the left side of OSU's offensive line which starts two rookies this year.
5. You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him: Troy Smith, Teddy Ginn Jr and Antonio Pittman. We could probably do a box-and-one on Ginn and limit his damage.
6. I think OSU got a better taste of a good rushing attack than we did this week, and they could punch us in the mouth early.
7. I think we have the advantage in that we can throw more fresh, talented bodies at OSU than they can throw at us.
My prediction:
Special teams, special teams, special teams. I think Robison and Michael Griffin will be disruptive enough in the kicking game. If our kickoff guy can consistently put it through the end zone, we can limit Ginn there. Colt McCoy will manage the game well enough to keep it close throughout, with a final score of Texas 28 - OSU 24.
From the highlights I saw and from what I heard on the radio, I still think we're in good shape against OSU this Saturday.
1. Our stable of horses ground out over 200 yards.
2. Colt managed the game well. Sure he didn't throw for 250+ yards, but he didn't get picked either.
3. Our defense smothered UNT's offense. Granted, it's UNT, but still, 95 total yards is exceptional, with most of that coming on the initial drive of the second half.
4. 6/12 3rd down conversion and 2/2 on 4th down.
5. Only 4 penalties.
6. Of the two turnovers, both were fluke plays: one a weird hop on a punt that nicked Aaron Ross and the other on a ball that could've been caught being intercepted.
7. Decent special teams: Greg Johnson averaged 43.5 on two punts. Only 5/9 kickoffs were returnable.
In summation, great balance on offense, a smothering D and solid special teams.
A preview for Saturday:
1. Although Colt distributed the ball to 6 different receivers, none were to tight ends. They need to be involved against a much faster, stronger Buckeye D.
2. I really would've liked for our place kicker to have gotten a couple of tries to get him battle tested, even though this game will again be in the friendly confines of DKR/Memorial Stadium.
3. Whither Lyle Sendlein? I know he injured/tweaked an ankle in the first half. He needs to be 100% on Saturday.
4. We can exploit the left side of OSU's offensive line which starts two rookies this year.
5. You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him: Troy Smith, Teddy Ginn Jr and Antonio Pittman. We could probably do a box-and-one on Ginn and limit his damage.
6. I think OSU got a better taste of a good rushing attack than we did this week, and they could punch us in the mouth early.
7. I think we have the advantage in that we can throw more fresh, talented bodies at OSU than they can throw at us.
My prediction:
Special teams, special teams, special teams. I think Robison and Michael Griffin will be disruptive enough in the kicking game. If our kickoff guy can consistently put it through the end zone, we can limit Ginn there. Colt McCoy will manage the game well enough to keep it close throughout, with a final score of Texas 28 - OSU 24.
Title Defense Preview
This is the email I sent to my boys about our chances this year on August 28th:
This is going to be a crazy year. Since Mack now has a National Championship under his belt, he can do a little dabbling without too much ruckus from the Longhorn rabble. I just hope he doesn't get all Phil Fulmer on us and play two QBs so that neither can get a feel. I don't think that's going to happen, however, as many reports out of Austin and in national media believe that it's Colt McCoy's job. I think that will go a long way in providing stability to the program, even though neither he nor Jevan have taken a college snap.
I actually really like our chances this year. Yes, we lost a lot on both sides of the ball, but there are players with game experience that are in place to take over. Our D will be in fine shape because there is stability on the line, with the backers and with the secondary. And it has another year and off-season with Gene Chizik's schemes. We still have a fine stable of receivers and running backs. I REALLY like our O-line. I think that whoever is under center/in shotgun will have plenty of time to scan the field and make good decisions. If not, it could be a rough year (see: Miami-Florida, University of; see also: Wright, Kyle). I think it's possible that we can lose the Ohio State game by a close margin, which wouldn't drop us too far in the polls, run the table to rest of the way and have a rematch in the Fiesta Bowl if everyone else loses a game. Call me crazy.
But this team is going to be focused. It desperately wants an identity outside of VY. This weekend I saw that Mack's team motto this year is "Do what you can do." It's simple, but powerful at the same time. It says don't try to be Vince. It says Be Smart. And oddly enough, that was Ohio State's game plan in 2001. Great D, great special teams, and have a QB who may not be spectacular, but won't get you killed.
I guess what worries me the most this year is special teams and the fullback position. Both our kickers and our FB are gone from last year. It's one of those things with the fullback that you don't realize what you had until it's gone. I still think that our RBs will be able to move the ball because our O-line will open up some nice holes in the trenches. But what scares me is the kicking game. A punter can be minimalized since we'll have a good cover team, but you can't have inconsistency with your PK. I think the one game that'll rear it's head the most is with Ohio State.
I wish I had tix to that game. The atmosphere will be arguably the most electric in the history of DKR/Memorial stadium. And have you seen the size of the "Godzillatron"? Wow. Heck, I'll just put a lawn chair and a minifridge up on the roof and watch the game from Round Rock.
This is going to be a crazy year. Since Mack now has a National Championship under his belt, he can do a little dabbling without too much ruckus from the Longhorn rabble. I just hope he doesn't get all Phil Fulmer on us and play two QBs so that neither can get a feel. I don't think that's going to happen, however, as many reports out of Austin and in national media believe that it's Colt McCoy's job. I think that will go a long way in providing stability to the program, even though neither he nor Jevan have taken a college snap.
I actually really like our chances this year. Yes, we lost a lot on both sides of the ball, but there are players with game experience that are in place to take over. Our D will be in fine shape because there is stability on the line, with the backers and with the secondary. And it has another year and off-season with Gene Chizik's schemes. We still have a fine stable of receivers and running backs. I REALLY like our O-line. I think that whoever is under center/in shotgun will have plenty of time to scan the field and make good decisions. If not, it could be a rough year (see: Miami-Florida, University of; see also: Wright, Kyle). I think it's possible that we can lose the Ohio State game by a close margin, which wouldn't drop us too far in the polls, run the table to rest of the way and have a rematch in the Fiesta Bowl if everyone else loses a game. Call me crazy.
But this team is going to be focused. It desperately wants an identity outside of VY. This weekend I saw that Mack's team motto this year is "Do what you can do." It's simple, but powerful at the same time. It says don't try to be Vince. It says Be Smart. And oddly enough, that was Ohio State's game plan in 2001. Great D, great special teams, and have a QB who may not be spectacular, but won't get you killed.
I guess what worries me the most this year is special teams and the fullback position. Both our kickers and our FB are gone from last year. It's one of those things with the fullback that you don't realize what you had until it's gone. I still think that our RBs will be able to move the ball because our O-line will open up some nice holes in the trenches. But what scares me is the kicking game. A punter can be minimalized since we'll have a good cover team, but you can't have inconsistency with your PK. I think the one game that'll rear it's head the most is with Ohio State.
I wish I had tix to that game. The atmosphere will be arguably the most electric in the history of DKR/Memorial stadium. And have you seen the size of the "Godzillatron"? Wow. Heck, I'll just put a lawn chair and a minifridge up on the roof and watch the game from Round Rock.
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