Trav's Thoughts

I'm a little frustrated by Duke (17-4, 5-2 ACC). As my sidebar reminds you, I've been a Duke basketball fan for a long time. But lately it's gotten tough and I've been discouraged. I'm still a fan and I try never to miss a game if I can help it, but after years of high level success and deep runs in the NCAA tournament, the Blue Devils have devolved into a second tier program. They attract good players, but not blue chip recruits. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski gets the most he can out of them. There are flashes of outstanding play and big wins that give me a false sense that the program will re-establish itself as an elite contender. Then they get blown out by Georgetown and I realize, yet again, that this isn't the Duke of my younger days. I'm OK with that, I guess. Well, no I'm not really. Plus, I just don't like the harshness with which the media seems to blame the program for not living up to the media's idea of what it should be. The Blue Devils are a good team, but I'll be shocked if they make it out of the second round of the NCAA Tournament this year.

I'm extremely pleased by Indiana (9-10, 3-4 Big 10). As my sidebar does not tell you, I've been an IU hoops fan since about 1977. The Hoosier program had been in decline for quite some time, even before the events leading to Coach Bob Knight's embarrassing exodus. But Coach Tom Crean has brought a renewed perspective and an enthusiasm that had been leached out of the program by scandal. He has recruited some exciting young talent to Assembly Hall. These kids are skilled, court savvy, scrappy, and predisposed to Coach Crean's style. And I like Coach Crean's style, which is predicated on defense and working hard to take utmost advantage of your ability while recognizing and playing within your limits. And he's so positive. I watch him on the sidelines during games. He smiles and claps his hands, encouraging his players' effort. Coach Crean understands that if you play up to your individual capability and work together, you will reach your potential as a group. And he has recruited players that buy readily into that philosophy. This is by no means a Final Four program yet. In fact, the Hoosiers are unlikely to make the NCAA Tournament unless they somehow win the Big 10 tournament. And despite the last second loss at Illinois on Saturday, I'm still encouraged that Indiana is on the right track and will ultimately reclaim a place on the national scene.

Spoiler alert!

I finished First Lord's Fury, the 6th and final book in The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. It ended with more than 100 pages of non-stop action from several directions. Despite some tense moments, all the "good" guys survived. Although the enemy was defeated, it wasn't completely destroyed. The story seems to have ended for this group of characters, but I get a sense that Mr Butcher could re-visit this world at some point in the future for the true final battle.

Now I need to figure out which stack of unread books to pull from next. I think I'll move to non-fiction for awhile, starting with a memoir by World War II Marine E.B. Sledge, With the Old Breed At Peleliu and Okinawa.

Had a nervous moment on Sunday. I plugged in the old hard drive to find some older poetry, and the files kept coming up empty. I started to panic, thinking I had accidentally erased everything on the drive. I thought I lost all my poetry, all my finished stories, all my unfinished stories, all my story ideas...and my novel project, Outlawed.

Yeah.

But I took several deep breaths and counted to 10. I took out the garbage. I swept the front porch. I spoke quietly with Pam. I pushed back the panic.

I went to those disks. Remember when I had the virus problem and Geek Squad cleaned everything out to the tune of $300? Remember how a disk back up was included in that service?

Whew! Am I glad I did that!

Everything is on the disks.

So I'm telling you all. Back up your stuff. And when you've backed it up...do it again on disks or on some other secondary system. Don't rely on a single source to hold all your data.