Author: georgefattell
Visit to Mt. Soledad
I biked to the top of Mt. Soledad in La Jolla on July 4th. Mount Soledad’s summit is at height of 822 ft and biking up or hiking up to the top is a serious physical challenge. I had not done any serious biking in a while and I had to walk up a few steep sections of the route up from the Pacific Beach side of the mountain, but the 360 degree views of the San Diego area and the Pacific Ocean were well worth the effort, as was the opportunity to see the historic National Veterans Memorial again. I highly recommend a visit to Mt. Soledad for those of with plans to visit San Diego. Of course, you don’t have to hike or bike up there if you don’t want to. Driving up to the summit is a bit easier and there is ample parking near the memorial.
Returning to the GMF Journal
Gee, it has been over three weeks since my last blog post. I plan to resume posting on a more frequent basis soon. This last hiatus was not planned, it just happens sometimes, usually when I’m busy with a few different projects. That has been the case this time too, but can’t disclose too much about that at this time. There have been a wide variety of subjects that have crossed my mind in the past few weeks that I’d like to blog about that, including Iraq, the border crisis in Texas, Bitcoin, as well as a few San Diego related topics and other things. I hope to address those subjects and more soon. So, stay tuned……
……….a few more thoughts…..
Ironically, I have not published blog posts about a few of subjects I listed above not because I have too little to say about them, but rather because I have quite a bit to say and it is very challenging to do that in a few sentences. IOW, I don’t want publish posts that are slightly more detailed than a 140 character tweet when the subject is serious. Subjects such as Iraq, the Immigration crisis or Bitcoin are all very complex. I could write the equivalent of a college term paper on all them, but I don’t have the time to do that right now. I would like to condense my thoughts on these topics and others and put together at least a few intelligent paragraphs on them in the not too distant future.
I’m going to be very busy over the course of the next few weeks for a variety of reasons, but I hope to publish at least one or two posts per week.
I hope what I am explaining above doesn’t make me sound self important in any way. I am well aware that readership of this blog is quite small at this stage and that there aren’t too many people just waiting to see what will show up next here, but I still like to keep my audience informed of what is going on in this space.
The NBA Finals: Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs
I must admit that I had my doubts about both the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs reaching the Finals at various points during the playoffs, but here they are and I think these really are the best two teams in the NBA. I actually did pick the Heat to make to the Finals in the preseason, but I thought they would be meeting the L.A. Clippers back then. Well, Heat vs. Clippers may indeed happen within another year or two, but obviously not this year. Instead we have a rematch of the teams that played in the Finals of 2013, which the Heat won in 7, and that is just fine with me.
The Miami Heat (54-28, 22-19 away)
vs
The San Antonio Spurs (62-20, 32-9 away)
San Antonio will have home court advantage by virtue of having the better record in the regular season and the format will be 2-2-1-1-1, instead of 2-3-2. Home court is obviously an advantage for San Antonio and I think the current format gives SA a small added edge.
These teams split their two regular season meetings, with each team winning at home.
After all that we have seen this season I now think that there are only two teams that would be capable of dethroning the Heat and those two teams are the San Antonio Spurs and the OKC Thunder.
I think the starting five for each team are pretty evenly matched. Miami’s LeBron James remains the game’s best all around player, but Kawhi Leonard, SA’s superb 2nd year forward should be able to make things challenging for LBJ.
SA’s old guard, consisting of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili should effectively counter James and the other members of Miami’s Big Three, Wade and Bosh. After many years starting, SG Ginobili now comes off the bench, to lead a very deep and talented bench squad. I think SA’s bench is stronger than Miami’s is and that will be a deciding factor in this series.
I have give a slight edge to SA in the coaching department. Miami Head Coach Eric Spoelstra has proven to be an excellent HC since he was promoted to that position 6 years ago by Pat Riley. He has now guided to Miami to four straight Finals and has two championships to his credit so far. So, Spoelstra is obviously very capable, but he’s once again matching wits with Gregg Popovich, who is even more accomplished, winning 4 championships over 18 years. SA has posted a winning record the last l7 years and that consistency is unmatched in the NBA.
I’m predicting that the Spurs will win this series in 7 games.
The NHL & NBA Finals
I’m really looking forward to both the NHL and NBA finals. I was hoping for a match up between the LA Kings and the NY Rangers, and we got that. The NHL must be very happy with NY vs LA. Ratings should be huge. I’m not a big hockey fan, but I pay attention during playoffs, particularly the Finals. I admire both of these teams, but I don’t have a strong rooting interest one way or the other. I guess I’m leaning toward the Kings since I’ve become a fan of most SoCal teams after living out here for more than 10 years. However, I also have NY/NJ area roots and I grew up rooting for NY teams so I can’t say I will be disappointed if the underdog Rangers pull off the upset to win the Stanley Cup. I just hope we a nice long series that goes 6 or 7 games and may the best team win.
As far as the NBA Finals go I had a slight preference for the OKC Thunder playing the Miami Heat rather than the San Antonio Spurs, but the match up we have is fine too because both the Spurs and OKC are excellent teams and either one would be a worthy opponent for reigning Champions. Hard to say which Western Conference team is really better. It is too bad OKC Power Forward Serge Ibaka missed the first two games of the Western Conference Finals. The outcome of that series might have been different if he had played. However, the Spurs are an excellent team and I think they have a real shot at dethroning the Heat. We’ll see soon enough.
I am a serious basketball fan and I will post my prediction and analysis of the Heat vs Spurs series by tomorrow, before game 1 starts in San Antonio.
Impressions of The Surface Pro 3
I looked forward to Microsoft’s May 20th Surface event with great anticipation because I was impressed by the 1st and 2nd generation Surface tablets and I was very curious to see what improvements Microsoft would make to their unique tablet computer. I viewed the gen 1 and gen 2 Surface tablets as very imperfect devices, but ones that held great promise because they clearly raised the performance bar substantially for tablet class computers. And I say that as someone who has always been a huge fan of the iPad.
The Surface Pro 3 exceeded my expectations. It is not a perfect tablet, but Microsoft made very significant improvements with the Pro 3, addressing the weaknesses of the Pro 2 and refining an already great design. The screen has grown from 10 inches to 12 inches, but it is now a much thinner tablet. The spec’s blow away other tablets on the market, but this device is really made to go head to head with laptops and ultra books and the prices of the various Surface Pro 3 models are at laptop levels, with the base model (64 GB – i3 chip) going for $799.00 and the top of the line (512 GB – i7 chip) going for nearly $2,000.00. Additional accessories that many will want or need, such as the attachable keyboard, a mouse and a dock will add several hundred dollars to the cost, depending upon what you get. So, the Surface Pro 3 ain’t cheap, that’s for sure, but I think there are a significant number of consumers out there who are willing to pay a premium for a device they think has very quality. Surely Apple, among others, has proven that to be true for many years. Only time will tell if the Pro 3 will be a big sales success, but I think it has a decent shot of being a successful product and carving out a significant niche in the tablet/laptop market.
What I really like about the Surface Pro 3 is that it is the first tablet computer that could realistically serve as the only computer that one would need and at only 1.76 pounds it is a device that can easily be taken everywhere. It is a true all-in-one device. Unfortunately, the Windows 8 operating system is still an OS that needs significant improvement in some areas and is not fully developed in some respects, especially as a mobile/tablet OS. However, Windows 8 is really the only OS that can allow a hybrid device to function as a full blown computer and a fully functional tablet, with an assortment of mobile device style app’s. I’ve played with the gen 1 and gen 2 at the Microsoft Store and my I don’t consider Win 8 a major drawback. In fact, I like it, but I recognize that is a long way behind iOS and Android in terms of the number of app’s developed for it at this stage.
Apple should take notice of just how thoughtful and innovative the design of the Surface Pro 3 is. If Apple produced an iPad with Spec’s similar to those of the Surface Pro 3 and enabled it to dual boot OS X and iOS it would be a HUGE hit in my opinion.
Microsoft has announced that the Pro 3 will hit select Microsoft Surface stores on June 6th, so that people can see it person and get some “hands on” time with it before it officially goes on sale on June 20th.. I will definitely be heading over to the Microsoft Store here in San Diego to see it. I will return to this post and add more impressions of the Pro 3 once I have seen it in person.
Visit to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery
This past Friday I visited Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery for the first time. I’ve lived in San Diego for over 10 years, but I had never before walked the grounds of this historic place. With Memorial Day approaching it seemed like an appropriate time to finally visit.
The cemetery is located high above the Pacific Ocean on the southern end of Point Loma in San Diego. It was established in 1882 and there are over 100,000 graves on the grounds of the 77 acre military cemetery.
Fort Rosecrans is a very solemn place, but also a beautiful place and a fitting resting place for some of our nation’s military heroes.
If you would like to learn more about Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery please see the Wikipedia entry on the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Rosecrans_National_Cemetery
2014 NBA Playoffs: The Conference Finals
Well, there has no shortage on drama in the NBA playoffs this year. And after all the dust has settled we are left with #1 seed Indiana vs #2 Miami in the East and #1 seed San Antonio vs #2 seed Oklahoma City. I guess we should have seen this coming. So much for the upstarts, such as the Trailblazers, Wizards and, of course, the LA Clippers.
I predicted that the Clippers and Heat would meet in the Finals and that the Clippers would win the championship in my earlier 2014 NBA Playoffs prediction post. Well, that clearly ain’t gonna happen this year. I think the Clippers played well, especially in view of the turmoil created by owner Donald Sterling’s publicized racist comments and the uproar that caused. There is no doubt that the Sterling incident was a major distraction for the team and was a blow to team morale. However, I can’t say that I think that the Sterling fiasco was the reason that the Clippers lost to the Thunder in 6 games. The Clippers are clearly close to the Thunder and other top tier teams, but they probably need to add one or two more key pieces to truly challenge for the title. I think they could use an upgrade at SF (Matt Barnes is good good, but he might be more useful coming off the bench) and a very good backup PF/C (A player who can come in and provide rim protection when C DeAndre Jordan is not on the floor.)
I also predicted that the the OKC Thunder would be the Clippers toughest opponent and that if OKC defeated LA that OKC would go on to win the championship. Well, I’m afraid I can’t stand by that prediction now in view of the fact that OKC lost PF Serge Ibaka for the rest of the playoffs due to a calf injury he sustained in the last game vs the Clippers. Ibaka is OKC’s third best player and their best defensive player. OKC is a deep team and they will be able to bring capable players in veteran PF Nick Collison and rookie C Steven Adams to substitute for Ibaka, but I just don’t think that the Thunder will be able to fully compensate for the loss of Ibaka, especially his defense and shot blocking. At this stage of the playoffs none of the remaining teams can afford to lose a key player without their prospects being put in severe jeopardy.
Indiana Pacers vs Miami Heat
Well, I’m a little late here, sorry. This series started yesterday and the Pacers beat Miami pretty easily in game one. I don’t expect the remaining games to be as one-sided. Have I been influenced by a game in this series? A little bit, but not to a great degree. It is not exactly a secret that Indiana is fully capable of defeating Miami when all the of Indiana’s star players are playing well and contributing, as they did yesterday.
It is almost surprising to find that the Pacers are still in the playoffs given their struggles in the 2nd half of the regular season and in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Talk about a team that has been up and down this season. The Pacers keep alternating between looking like a team that that could win the championship this year and a team that barely belongs in the playoffs. And no player on the Pacers has exhibited this inconsistentency more than All-Star Center Roy Hibbert. The Pacers simply can’t advance if Hibbert is playing poorly, but if Hibbert is playing at anything close to his All-Star form the Pacers will be very difficult to beat. Hibbert seems to have broken out of the funk that he was in and he has played well for several consecutive games, including his game against the Heat yesterday. Paul George, Lance Stephenson and George Hill also played very well yesterday and despite the struggles the Pacers have experienced in the last months this team does not seem to lack confidence.
Going into this series Miami have looked like the defending champ’s that they are and I think they are highly motivated to win their third consecutive title. The threepeat would mean a lot to the legacy of the team and especially to Lebron James because it would be a very significant feather in his cap. LBJ is now being compared to the Greatest of All Time and justifiably so, but he needs a few more rings to support the argument that his career has been equal to or greater than Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and few other players that are always in the GOAT conversation.
Who wins this series? I guess that will largely depend upon which Pacers team shows up for this series. As I noted above, the key to the series is Pacers Center Roy Hibbert. Miami will have to double the 7’2′ Hibbert if he is hitting his shots which will leave other Pacers open on the perimeter. Miami’s big three, James, Wade and Bosh will all have to play exceptionally well in order for the Heat to win this series because Indiana is the better all around team, with a deeper bench.
Pacers win in 7 games.
San Antonio Spurs vs Oklahoma City Thunder
In my earlier prediction post I stated that I thought the Spurs, with most of their star players north of 30 yrs old, might not be able to keep with the younger players on other playoff at this stage of the long NBA season. Well, Duncan, Parker, Ginobili & Company dispatched of the aggressive young Portland squad pretty easily, so, so much for that theory, at least so far. I think OKC, even without Ibaka, does have a real chance to prevail in the this series because they still have league MVP Kevin Durant and All-Star guard Kevin Westbrook, as well as a very strong supporting cast. OKC did defeat SA all four times the teams met during the regular season, although it would be wise not to attach too much significance to that set of victories because the playoffs are played at an entirely different level of intensity. The Brooklyn Nets beat the Miami Heat all four times during the regular season and then got rolled over by the Heat in 2nd round of the playoffs. However, one thing that can’t be overlooked about the Thunder games against the Spurs is the contribution that Serge Ibaka made in each of those games. Ibaka played a big role in all Thunder wins over the Spurs, averaging 14 pts, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks in those games. As I noted above, I find it hard to believe that Steven Adams and Nick Collison will be able to completely make up for those stat’s and I think that will likely prove to be the deciding factor in this series. Beyond that, it will be impossible to replace the ability that Ibaka has to intimidate and discourage opposing players with his rugged defense.
The Spurs win in 7 games.
Which team will win the championship? Frankly, I don’t have strong opinion about that right now. OK, I already picked the Spurs and Pacers to advance. I’m leaning toward the Spurs right now, but I will revisit that question once we know which teams will actually be in the Finals.
Manhattan’s new “Supertall” Skyscrapers
“The New York skyline is a medieval atrocity. … Good architecture shouldn’t have to depend on distance or the dark for its effects.”
Frank Lloyd Wright
I ran across the Frank Lloyd Wright quote above over the weekend and I could not help but wonder what he would think of the new crop of new “Supertall”, ultra high end luxury residential buildings that are scheduled to be completed in midtown Manhattan over the course of the next few years? I think it is safe to say he would not be lavishing praise on most of them.
The first of these buildings, One57, located on West 57th street, just recently opened, but there are at least half a dozen more of these towers on the way along 57th street as well as other parts of midtown north. Several of the these buildings will be significantly taller than the 90 story One57, believe it or not. I saw the completed One57 for the first time during my visit to NYC last February. I must admit I was a bit stunned by the shear height of the tower as I emerged from the subway stop at Columbus Circle. I have mixed feelings about the design of the building. I don’t mind the height, but I wish it was located 3 to 5 blocks south of where it is now located so it didn’t loom over the significantly shorter buildings that occupy Central Park South and 58th street.
In the May 2014 edition of Vanity Fair there is a very interesting article about these next gen skyscrapers appropriately titled Too Rich, Too Tall, Too Thin?
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/05/condo-towers-architecture-new-york-city
Updated Super Bowl odds | National Football Post
Updated Super Bowl odds | National Football Post.
Although I’m totally engaged by NBA playoffs right now I must admit that I’m already looking ahead to the return of pro football. The NFL draft was interesting, but it does not appear there was a significant change in the balance of power post draft.
gmf journal 