Memories Are Fragile. Long Live Data.

My memory is not what it once was. 

Memories that I thought I would hold onto forever, from college or shortly after, are already fuzzy. As I get older, and I do plan on getting older, this will only increase. The only solution is big data. 

With some inspiration from Niraj, I've started collecting my data on:

Concerts

Movies

Beers

Books

This is of course in addition to tracking my weight and my collection of meals.

I use Yelp to track restaurants, although I fell out of practice. 

I keep my music arranged in Spotify. 

Playstation keeps track of my video games.

And then, of course, there's this entire blog. Which I use to keep track of everything from who wins Calcutta to vacation pics and everything else. 

Weight Loss by Month: March 2022

Let's start with a riddle:

I finished the month at the same weight that I started. I also lost five pounds this month. How is this possible?

Okay, so maybe it's not that hard of a riddle. But after gaining five pounds in the first half of March, I'm back on track with my weight loss plans and goals. 

Eesh, how many months has it been since I've been on track? Uh oh. Time to rip the band-aid off. 

After having a good stretch of 14 months, I fell off the wagon for the last six months. 

The last six months included: a trip to San Fransisco, a work trip to Rome and Greece, Halloween, my birthday, Thanksgiving, a family trip to New York, a work trip to Cancun, Christmas, New Year's, my wife's birthday, football playoffs, Valentine's Day, a work trip to New York, a family trip to Florida, and Spring Break.

Not only did I give myself permission to eat whatever I wanted on vacations and special events, on the days in between I kept compulsively eating snacks and junk food to keep the good times rolling. 

After losing 62 pounds in 14 months, I gained 31 back in five months. 

- - -

It's frustrating and I only have myself to blame. Here I am making the weight-loss recap the best post of 2021 as I'm undoing the progress. 

It's like driving from LA to NY and when you get to Pittsburgh, you turn around and drive back to Denver. 

Or when you're saving up $6000 for a hot tub and then you go and spend half of the money on something else. 

- - -

But it is what it is. I'm back on track and the past six months just means I'll have to be that much more dedicated in the future. As Shea Serrano says, you can't win a game seven without losing three games first.

It's a reminder that even 14 months of continuous action is not enough to change lifelong tendencies to overeat. 

While Brit likes to point out that I become obsessive when I'm eating healthy (checking the calories of everything, weighing, writing down how many calories I have left for the day) I saw that I'm obsessive in the opposite direction when I'm eating unhealthy. My brain sends a signal that I'm not caring how much I eat today so I might as well go to the kitchen and eat three bowls of cereal just because I can. Nevermind that I just had lunch an hour ago. An hour goes by and repeat, what else can I eat?

So yeah, I'm back on track. And posts like this are important to help me stay on track. Right now I can take it one month at a time. Just try to make some progress in April. Keep stacking good months. 

Updated Bracket Scenarios

Could Win:

Grant (needs Kansas to beat Villanova AND Kansas not to win it all)

Brit (needs Villanova to beat Kanas)

Bridget (needs Kansas to win it all )

Cannot Win:

Kirat 

Harrison

Niraj

Leela/Sid

Dave

Mark

Savan

Matt

Adam

Missy

Eve

The Wrong Picture in My Head

Rob Manfred became the Commissioner of Major League Baseball in 2015. I don't follow baseball that much, so I never really see the guy. But occasionally his name will pop up in with new rule changes or labor disputes. When it does, here's who I picture is Rob Manfred:

To me, that's Rob Manfred. He looks like a baseball commissioner. Unfortunately, that's Rob Ford the Toronto mayor who passed away in 2016. 

The real Rob Manfred is a lot more underwhelming:

Talk about a dull person. No thanks.

- - -

Another example. The Creighton basketball coach is Greg McDermott. I had a picture in my head who that is. But when I saw what he actually looks like, I was shook.

The picture is my head was a wimpy, snively man with glasses and slicked back black hair. This guy looks he could play linebacker. So I became slightly obsessed. If the basketball coach that I was thinking of wasn't this guy, who was it.

Not as easy as searching wimpy basketball coach or college basketball coach with glasses.

Maybe the guy I'm thinking of had coached at Creighton before. Or Marquette or Butler or Gonzaga. But nope. 

So then I thought, maybe he's in the Big Ten because I see those coaches more.

Fran McCaffrey at Iowa seemed like it might be him.

He's got the glasses and the punchable face but not the black hair. I started questioned my memories. Was this the guy I was thinking of? After staring at 100s of white college basketball coaches on google images they all start to look the same. 

Then I found Notre Dame's Mike Brey. 

Slicked back black hair. Check. Punchable face. Check. But no glasses.

Now I'm really feeling like an unreliable witness. Is this the guy?

I forgot about it moved on. Five days later, I bumped into a Creighton fan in the office. 

I was reminded of the whole Greg McDermott debacle. I thought about making a sketch and asking him for any insight, but didn't think my drawing abilities would make that a possibility. 

I went back to google images and for the first time searched mid major basketball coaches. And look who I found:

That's the guy! This who I thought Greg McDermott, coach of Creighton was in my head.

But it's not. It's Gregg Marshall, coach of Wichita State. 

Very interesting that for me, the name similarities play a big role on this whole wrong image thing. 

Rob Manfred/Rob Ford.

Greg McDermott/Gregg Marshall. 

Now I know. Would have been easier to find if I had just searched basketball coaches named Greg.

Bracket Analysis

We started with 14 bracket entries. I think here are the 8 that have a chance of winning. Here's all the possible points for everyone. 

Grant

Elite 8: Gonzaga, Duke, Arizona, Villanova, Kansas
Final 4: Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas
NC: Gonzaga over Kansas

Leela/Sid

Elite 8: Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Villanova, UCLA, Purdue, Providence
Final 4: Gonzaga, Purdue, Providence
NC: ------ over Gonzaga

Brit

Elite 8: Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Arizona, Villanova, Purdue, Kansas
Final 4: Gonzaga, Villanova
NC: Gonzaga over Villanova

Dave

Elite 8: Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Arizona, UCLA, Kansas
Final 4: Gonzaga, Arizona
NC: Gonzaga over Arizona

Savan

Elite 8: Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Arizona, Kansas
Final 4: Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas
NC: Gonzaga over Arizona

Niraj

Elite 8: Gonzaga, Duke, Arizona, Villanova, UCLA, Kansas
Final 4: Gonzaga, Arizona
NC: Gonzaga over Arizona

Kirat

Elite 8: Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Arizona, UCLA, Purdue, Kansas
Final 4: Gonzaga, UCLA, Arizona
NC: Arizona over UCLA

Bridget

Elite 8: Gonzaga, UCLA, Kansas
Final 4: Gonzaga, UCLA, Kansas
NC: Kansas over UCLA

My path to victory is pretty narrow. I need Kansas not to get to the Final Four. I basically need everything to fall my way. 

Kirat and Bridget have simpler paths to focus on: just get your champion correct.
Brit needs Gonzaga over Villanova. Grant needs Gonzaga over Kansas. 

There are 15 games left. A few that really matter.

Calcutta Post-Auction

I've been known to make more than one bracket.

My primary bracket this year has an Elite 8 of:

Gonzaga/Texas Tech

Arizona/Tennessee

UCLA/Kentucky

Kansas/Auburn

My big brain bracket that is a little bolder, taking inspiration from some analytics, swaps out Arizona for Houston. 

So I was pretty surprised that I was able to get Texas Tech, Houston, Tennessee, UCLA, and Kentucky, 5 of my bold Elite 8 teams covering the West, South and East. Then I also got a team in the Midwest that I've got making the Sweet 16. 

- - -

I think Gonzaga is going to win it all. I came in willing to spend $13 on the Zags. When I wasn't willing to bid 13.75, I pivoted. I tried to get Arizona, but was happy to get Kentucky for under $8. Coming in I thought I would be lucky to get 4 of my elite 8 contenders. 

There were teams that I didn't want to spend money on: Baylor, Duke, Kansas, Villanova, Arkansas, Wisconsin. 

In addition to Gonzaga and Arizona and the teams I ended up getting, I also wanted Purdue, Iowa, 11 seeds and 13 seeds but you can't have them all. 

- - -

Of course, it's all a crap shoot. You can have feelings about all kinds of teams that don't come true. 

For example, this is a very likely Elite 8:

Gonzaga/Duke

Arizona/Villanova

Baylor/Purdue

Kansas/Auburn

If that happens, I've got zero teams alive. So who knows. 

Ranking the 2022 Quarterbacks

In ranking the best quarterbacks in the game, you have to weigh a lot of things. You have to look at regular season success and postseason history. You have to look at the most recent season of performance but also a proven track record. You have to factor in is a player improving or declining. You have to look at stats but also the eye test. You have to look at passing numbers but also consider rushing stats.

TOP TIER

1a Mahomes

1b Rodgers

1c Allen

Mahomes has it all. The stats, the eye test, the playoffs, rushing. Only negative for him was that 2021 wasn't his best year and it ended on a sour note. But came out of the Bills game on top. 

Rodgers is the two-time defending MVP but hasn't shined in the playoffs. 

Allen went toe-to-toe with Mahomes and was 13 seconds away from advancing. Not his fault his defense couldn't make one stop. But still, the playoff track record isn't there yet.

SECOND TIER

2a Herbert

2b Stafford

2c Burrow

Herbert sizzles on the eye test and has the numbers. Just needs some playoff success to crack the top tier. 

Stafford just won a ring by coming through in the clutch. His numbers are great but tends to make more mistakes then you want for a top-3 guy.

Burrow shows that one playoff run can vault you pretty far up the rankings.

THIRD TIER

3a Wilson

3b Prescott

3c Jackson

Feels like quite the drop off to this level. Wilson has been that guy before but his 2021 season gives doubt to whether he'll be that guy again in Denver. 

Dak impresses on the eye test and numbers but it hasn't translated into playoff wins.

Lamar has one league MVP to his credit but not the playoff success. There's a debate about whether he deserves that franchise QB contract.

FOURTH TIER

4a Murray

4b Cousins

4c Carr

Oof. Kyler can be the most electric player in the league for the first half of the season. He needs to prove he can do it when it matters most.

Cousins has the numbers but not the eye test. Not a guy that people are excited to build around. 

Carr's numbers are better than I thought. He's 12th but still a better option than a lot of teams have.

- - -

What did I get wrong? Let me know in the comments.

Edit: March 13, looks like Brady and Watson will be on the field in 2022. I'd put Brady as 1d and Watson as 2d.

State of Sports

It's been a minute since I've done one of these. 

CHIEFS

Since the last one of these, the Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes, he won MVP, they've hosted four straight AFC Championship games, appeared in two Super Bowls, and raised the Lombardi. The road ahead is only getting tougher with a stacked AFC: Wilson, Herbert, Burrow, Allen and Jackson are all competing with Mahomes for one Super Bowl spot every year. Still though.

ILLINI BASKETBALL

Last year, Illinois went 16-4 in the Big Ten while Michigan went 14-3. Michigan got the regular season title but Illinois went out and won the tournament championship. They earned an NCAA 1-seed but flamed out in the second round. Ayo left but Kofi stayed and this year Illinois went out and won the Big Ten regular season title. They're the 1-seed in the Big Ten Tournament and won't play until Friday in Indianapolis. It remains to be seen where they get placed in the NCAA bracket, but a Chicago regional is a possibility. 

AVALANCHE

Speaking of flaming out in the 2nd round, that's what the Avs have done in 2019, 2020 and 2021. They're currently the best team in the NHL. Will that still be the case in June?

ILLINI FOOTBALL

Last year they finished 4-5 in the Big Ten but only 1-2 in their nonconference games, so they didn't get a bowl game. But 4-5 in the Big Ten for Illinois is about as good as you can hope for. 

BULLS

Speaking of Ayo, just a few weeks ago it was a storybook season for Ayo and the Bulls. They were the best team in the East and Ayo was putting up big performances as a rookie. At the moment, Chicago is on a 5-game losing streak and can't seem to beat any good team. Still a chance to go on a playoff run if they get healthy but likely need some more pieces in play to be a serious contender. 

USMNT

The US won the 2021 Gold Cup and should qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Also, Kansas City is in the running to be a host city in the 2026 World Cup. 

Pretty wild that there's either success or optimism for all my teams, a stark contrast to some previous state of sports entries. 

bowling

rolled on shabbos, got 147 and 126

Daily Favorites: Buffalo Pulled Pork

A simple formula to creating new delicious healthy meals: combine two established healthy ingredients into a new dish. In this case, the Trader Joe's carnitas which I've used to make traditional barbecue pulled pork before, with my zero-calorie buffalo sauce (Frank's Red Hot Wings.)

I measured out 100 grams of carnitas (235 cals) microwaved and shredded. Seasoned with salt, pepper, and some garlic+. Then covered with the buffalo sauce. 

Meanwhile I've got a bun (150 cals) toasting on my electric griddle. 

I tried two different creamy sauces to finish the sandwich. The first was a quick combination of greek yogurt, onion and herb seasoning and ranch powder. Delicious for sure. But the winner was the Bolthouse Farms Chunky Blue Cheese dressing. It's also yogurt-based so its only 35 calories per serving. 

So we're looking at 400 calories for an entire filling sandwich that would fit on any bar menu. 

I was a little afraid that the buffalo sauce that's so good on chicken somehow wouldn't mesh with the pulled pork. But it worked great. 

When I how consider how delicious the buffalo sauce is and that it's zero calories, it makes it easy to look for new meals to create with it.

Alternate Super Bowl LIV Logos

You may or may not know this, but the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV. It's true. 

Here's the logo from that Super Bowl:

It's not awful, but it's pretty bland.

As it happens, people across the internet have created alternate logos with more pizzazz:

My favorite is the top alternate design. I don't love the sun that almost reads like a period in LI.V but I like the GTA Vice City vibes it's giving off.

Local Specialties

Whenever I go to a city, I like to eat the food that they're famous for. So I built a list of some local specialties that appeal to me. I'm sure I've missed more and there's plenty of ones that I didn't include because I'm not interested in them. 

Here's the link so I can keep this as a living document in the future.