User Manual

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 7:58 AM
There really is no user manual to life. I'm slowly accepting that it is normal to be unsure about my future.

Infrequent posting

Monday, October 3, 2011 at 6:35 PM
I haven't been writing to this blog recently. I guess I haven't had much time. That definitely needs to be remedied though, soon.

Good Mood

Friday, September 2, 2011 at 4:44 AM
Ah...I'm in such a good mood right now. I just woke up from having some bizarre dreams. Then, Maggie tonight, plus moving in to new apartment, plus new classes starting soon...OH AND COLLEGE FOOTBAW.

Hell yes.

Edit: I figure I should write down my dreams, since I so rarely dream. I dreamt I saw the BU space shuttle. I caught three guys walking in to McDonald's, sweating like crazy, and I knew they were gonna rob McDonald's. I fist fought him. I was wearing a neon green high-viz motorcycle jacket. I saw Denise Richards naked while on set. AND SHE WAVED AT ME. And then my first thought was to post it on Face (guysguyscheckthisoutsocool!!)

What a weird night. Then again, this is like the first time I went to sleep before 1am in weeks. Maybe I should do this more often.

Getting Paid to Help

Monday, August 1, 2011 at 9:44 AM
I read somewhere, that people are more inclined to help when there is no promise of reward afterwards. The logic being, if you're offered rewards, you feel indignant at the implication that incentives are needed for you to offer your time. Which made sense, when I thought about it.

I just got an email asking for volunteers to do a decision-research experiment, with an offer of a $10 Amazon gift card as a reward. I immediately felt like I didn't want to do the experiment, at the thought of seeming like I care about the $10 gift card. Yet, I had earlier asked my friend to help me move out of my apartment this fall, and I said we could go out for dinner afterwards. I did it to show my appreciation, but I hadn't considered how he would view the idea. I guess depending on what side of the transaction you're on, people have very different views.

- Howitzer

Sitting on the steps of MIT

Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 8:43 PM
Sitting on the steps of MIT, eating ice cream cake. Dusk gives the sky a deep blue color, with highlights of gold from the setting sun. I had a long day today, and just being able to pause and enjoy some ice cream feels really good. I watch the people pass through the busy intersection, in between the cars that whiz through. For now at least, it feels like life has been put on pause.

Happy Fourth of July

Monday, July 4, 2011 at 11:31 AM
Happy Fourth of July!

Today represents more than just the birth of a nation. A remembrance of the courage of the Founders is in order. 235 years ago, a repressed, powerless people had the courage to decide that life was more than just being alive. Life meant having free will and liberty. The power to decide your own fate. These people decided that life meant controlling your own destiny rather than being controlled. Instead of cowering before a greater power, like wolves running from fire, the American people rose up to fight and extinguish the external threat.

There's something admirable about this. Our forefathers shucked any dependence on worldly security, and decided that their freedom was more important than having physical possessions and security from peril.

I tried to put my feelings into words, but as is often the case lately, what I write down pales in comparison to what I feel inside.

- Howitzer

Chevy Volt

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 5:10 AM
Saw a Chevrolet Volt on MIT campus yesterday! I wasn't even aware they were out yet. That was a cool experience.

All American Kicks

Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 2:34 PM
Got these bad boys the other day. I love 'em, always wanted a pair of Converse shoes. I don't know why I never bothered to buy any. Probably cause I never shopped for clothes.

Summertime

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 11:39 AM
I'm in a really good mood today. No homework to work on today, and I have some time tonight to cook. Maybe a little starcraft with Eric to cap my day. It helps that Boston is warming up now. Temperatures are reaching into the 70'sF, and the trees are in full bloom. There are lots of peach or cherry blossom trees now. I took a walk on the Charles river the other day, after a lazy lunch, and viewed the flowering trees on the other side. Truly beautiful. I should try to get a picture of them tomorrow, before all the blossoms wither away.

Words of Wisdom

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 1:58 PM
"Discipline is what you do when no one else is looking." - We are all accountable to ourselves for our conduct.


"The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour." - This is a bit unfair. Nonetheless, you can not justify disappointing conduct with prior admirable conduct.

A Tale from a North Carolina Twister

Monday, April 18, 2011 at 5:46 AM
Jonathan Robinson saw the tornado moving toward his mobile home in Dunn, grabbed his cousin's 3-month-old son and dashed for a closet in his bedroom. But as he dove for safety, the twister took his home apart around him and swept the baby into the dark, swirling afternoon sky.

"As soon as I jumped in the closet, it came down and that little baby flew out of my hand," he said. "I seen him leave my arms. That's how strong the wind was."

Immediately after digging himself out, Robinson joined family members at the Cedar Creek Mobile Home Park frantically digging through the rubble all around them for little Ayden.

"I thought he was lost," Robinson said.

Several long minutes later, someone found the boy under a wooden board, unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital, where miraculously emergency room workers found only minor injuries. "He's really blessed to be here right now," said Ayden's mom, Ciera Robinson, as the boy's grandmother sat nearby giving the baby a bottle. "He's good now. He ended up with a lump on his head. It wasn't nothing major."

I'm trying to imagine the fear and desperation Jonathan would have felt after seeing the baby leave his arms, and disappear into the windstorm of debris. Certainly, the whole family was desperate enough to search through the rubble for the baby, despite the seemingly impossible odds of finding Ayden.

- Howitzer

Always Time For Michigan Football

Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 10:42 AM
No matter how much pressure there is at school, there's always time for Michigan Football. Here's a clip from the Big 10 blog at ESPN:


This is a great video, and it shows how much coaching goes into technique in football.

Pressure

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 5:26 PM
There's a lot of pressure at school right now. I can describe myself as "managing" my work. I'm unable to finish everything on my plate right now, so I have to leave parts of homework unfinished every week. Meanwhile, I still haven't finished my quantum exam, which I need to do to finish up my class from my first semester at MIT. Also, I got chewed out by my advisor today.

Lastly, my brother's not doing so well at school, and I haven't had any time to call him to talk to him about it. Cue guilty big brother feelings.

- Howitzer

First New Jeans..since 2008!

Monday, April 4, 2011 at 10:49 PM
My wardrobe of jeans have been with me for a long time, with the newest addition in 2008(!). However, they are starting to really fall apart. Holes formed in front of both pockets of one pair of jeans. Another pair had a small tear from a motorcycle accident(non-serious), which grew larger over time. And most pairs of my jeans have rips at the bottom of the inseam, probably because I walk with my feet balanced beneath me. I probably rub my jeans with every step I take.

It was time to go shopping for jeans.

I finally got some financial breathing room, after a grueling January/February paying for outrageous Boston apartment fees for my next lease. I headed over to a mall in Natick one sunny day, in search of the closest JCPenney's. I had always bought my jeans from their low-cost Arizona brand. And by low-cost, I mean it. Their bootcut jeans cost $12-$15. I'm not sure why there's price variation on pants that are exactly the same, but different colors. I don't even think the price difference is due to the color difference. In any case, the previous set of Arizona jeans I bought lasted through all kinds of damage. They started out kind of rough and thick, but after 3 years they were soft and warm to wear. They still didn't thin out though, through wear and tear. I liked that they felt thick and protective when I put them on, so I felt like I should replace both of them with the same "model". Which I did, for $12 and $15. Sweet.

Since I was spending so little on those two jeans, I decided to try on some more expensive jeans. Expensive, meaning Levi's, which aren't that expensive compared to some other designer stores, like Express. The first thing I noticed was that the Levi's bootcut jeans were a lot tighter on me. I didn't like it at first, but then I saw in the mirror that the jeans fit me a lot better. It was like the jeans were cut for my legs, and not in an emo-punk-tight-as-leather-jeans way. I never realized that jeans could fit like this. I'm glad that I tried on the Levi's, and they're now sitting on my chair, to be worn tomorrow. $35, which isn't too bad.

Objects as a Companions

at 10:24 PM
I spend so much time with my motorcycle that from time to time, I feel a connection with it. I almost look at it lovingly, like a pet...or a friend. It takes me places that I'm unable to go on my own. My motorcycle and I roam the streets of Boston late at night when everyone else is sleeping. We visit nearby bays and beaches on sunny days.

It's quite odd that I've built this connection with my motorcycle, but I did the same thing with my car back home. I guess I tend to connect with my mode of transportation. Come to think of it, I've built the same connection with my skates. I think of them like an old buddy. Whenever I hold them, they're like an extension of my body. I feel content when I touch them. That said, I don't hesitate to lay them on the ground (blades covered, of course), whereas other people buy special bags to hold their skates.

I used to think it was vain of people to grow attached to their possessions. You know how there are countless stories/fairy tales of greedy rich men who die surrounded by their wealth, but miserably alone? Those stories stressed the importance of non-material wealth, and dismissed material wealth. Well, I now realize why I grow attached to my objects, and I'm not ashamed to say that it happens. I'm able to enjoy many activities with my objects, and share many experiences with them. While I certainly wouldn't sacrifice life and limb for my things, I do feel a certain amount of emotional attachment.

I am..

Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 8:35 PM
I am the stone that the builder refused
I am the visual,
the inspiration,
that made lady sing the blues

I'm the spark that makes your idea bright
the same spark
that lights the dark
so that you can know your left from your right

I am the ballot in your box
the bullet in the gun
that inner glow
that lets you know
to call your brother "son"

The story that just begun
the promise of what's to come
and imma remain a soldier
til' the war is won (won)

Every Once In A While...

Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 9:29 PM
...I feel very aware of my alone-ness. What made me realize that was the absence of any night time activities (the bar.) this weekend. A few friends happened to be out of town this week, and another friend who was supposed to visit couldn't make it to town, so I ended up having no real plans. Even though I was satisfied with the things I did this weekend (eat BBQ, workshop, motorcycle), I still felt twinges of not belonging anywhere. Hence, my feeling of loneliness. I guess most people feel like they have their family? I don't really have that feeling for my family, and I've always believed the disconnection isolated me from everyone around me. In any case, whenever I feel lonely, there's a desperation in me, to find a place where I belong. Of course, the reason I feel lonely in the first place is because I don't feel like I belong. So I end up shutting out everything beyond myself, and after a short while I don't feel lonely anymore. I guess self-focus is important here.

I'm about to doze off right now, so I'll finish the analysis later. Or more likely, not. I had a workshop today about my research area, which was really enlightening. I met people that had a similar area of study as me. It was also really good to talk to people one on one, to find out what they do. I get a stronger sense of belonging (there it is again), which makes me more motivated.

I also rode 20 miles to MIT Endicott House in sub-freezing temperatures. Man, that was cold; I think I still felt cold at lunch time. The people at the workshop kept commenting on my bike. They thought I was crazy for riding in these temperatures. Guilty as charged. I was seriously questioning my reasoning for riding that morning. ZZZzzzzzz......*sleep*

- Howitzer

Bleeding Maize n' Blue

Monday, March 21, 2011 at 6:57 AM
I went back to Ann Arbor to visit this past weekend. Actually, I'm still here, but I'm leaving in the evening for Boston. Being back is in some ways stressful, because I have to struggle to schedule time to meet friends. UM isn't on spring break right now, and so the people here are only really free during the weekend. Also, I never feel completely "at home", mostly because there's the constant need of filling up my time with activities. That way I don't "waste" my precious time here.

Still, I love this town, and I love this university.

Memories of the Media Union, Art Museum, South University, State Street, Ashley's, Yost Arena, and north campus in general. Sometimes I wish I could turn back time a few years, and go back to being an undergrad. Then I see actual undergrads walking around, and I think that they're kids.

Japan Crisis

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 8:30 AM
This turned out to be pretty serious, after all. I remember when I woke up the morning of the earthquake, the headlines quoted "dozens" may be dead. Today, five days after, the news reports show more than 10,000. Not to mention, there's an enormous nuclear crisis now, which is what I'm really scared of. Tokyo is only a few hundred miles from one of the nuclear plants. It doesn't take much radiation to make an area unsustainable for life. Imagine if the life expectancy in Tokyo were dropped 10%, due to cancer and other radiation related hazards. Who would want to live there? Unsustainable radiation levels could cause Tokyo to wither and die off in the long term. What a tragic thought. Tokyo is a massive mega city, basically multiple major cities combined into one big metropolis.

Boiled Dinner

Sunday, March 13, 2011 at 11:07 PM
In the spirit of St. Patrick's day coming up soon, Starmarket is having a sale on everything you need to make a boiled dinner. $1.49/lb corned beef, and similar prices for 5lb bags of potatoes and carrots. It's ridiculous. I think I just may have 4-5 meals for about $8.

The first time I had a boiled dinner was from the Blue Leprechaun in Ann Arbor. One night, I suddenly remembered hearing about this "boiled dinner" as being someone's favorite meal. I thought it was interesting, since the meal certainly didn't sound that great. It wasn't. The boiled potatoes, carrots, and cabbage were tasteless. I'm pretty sure they boiled it in water, and heated up some corned beef for me. I was pretty disappointed, and never thought of the boiled dinner again.

Until last week, when Starmarket began having their aforementioned sale. Saturday night, after drinking at the bar, I popped over to the grocery store (open 24/7). What a bad idea. As I walked around, seeing the boiled dinner sale, I caved in and bought things to make a boiled dinner on impulse. As soon as I got home, I started to regret myself. "Never again am I going shopping after drinking."

Well, today, I actually made a boiled dinner, and I have to say, the smell of corned beef in my apartment is driving me crazy. The stuff was freaking amazing. The potatoes and vegetables actually have the taste of beef in them, because I cooked them with the corned beef broth. Oh man, I'm having such a hard time going to sleep right now, because I want to eat the food I just finished making. So instead, I'm writing a blog post about it.

My first meal from the corned beef will be lunch tomorrow. I'm hoping my Bostonian labmate will see what I'm eating.

- Howitzer

Sucked Under

Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 8:54 PM
Sometimes I'm working on classwork, and I'm really just not understanding the material. I read the book, I see the equations, and somehow it just doesn't make sense to me. And finally, after a lot of stumbling around, I ask someone for help, and the explanation makes sense. I get a "duh." moment, and I start to wonder why it seemed so easy after hearing the explanation. To make matters worse, the equations start to make sense, but in a bad way. It's as if you were dyslexic, and were trying to spell the word "Physics". It just doesn't come to you, until suddenly, it does. This is a very frustrating feeling.

Even worse, I start to think that I'm having a hard time because everything at MIT is so esoteric, and requires extremely smart people to understand it. I guess I put the people and the school on a pedestal. This is a bad situation to be in, because I start to second guess myself, and I'm unable to be creative and think for myself. I think it also hampers my ability to read the questions and take what they ask for at face value. I'm always grasping for second meanings behind the literal meaning, which leads me in the wrong direction.

Sigh.

- Howitzer

Motorcycle Battery = Resurrected

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 7:49 AM
Turns out after leaving my "dead"motorcycle battery on the battery tender for 3 days, it was finally fully charged. Not sure why it took my battery tender so long to charge up my battery. The tender charges at 750mA, and the battery has a capacity of 14A, so I figured it would just take 18 hours to do a full charge. In any case, I have an extra battery coming in the mail, along with a torque wrench and Harley muffler :D.

I've also been listening to some older punk rock that I used to listen to in middle school. sum41, Bowling for Soup, Yellowcard. Listening to this stuff now reminds me of memories from highschool. Some people associate smells with places and past memories, but I associate music with those things. It's nice, because I can carry all my music in my pocket.

Motorcycle Battery = Dead

Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 8:45 AM
Gah..charged it all overnight, and it only reads 7V, instead of 12V. I need to order a new battery now, and it won't get here until at least next week. At least it's going to rain 3 days this weekend...*sob*

- Howitzer

Left the Lights Running = Dead Motorcycle Battery

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 3:28 PM
Yesterday, as I went out for a late snack (~10pm), I shockingly realized that I left my keys in my motorcycle. Worse, I left the lights on all day, and the battery was dead by the time I got to it. Oh man...I was stuck at school with my poor motorcycle gasping for juice. Crap. To make matters worse, I had to meet a friend back at my apartment, because he was staying the night while visiting Boston. Crap.

I ended up waking up at 6:30am today with him, because he had to catch a flight. Meanwhile, I left for school with my battery tender in hand, hoping to get my motorcycle charged up quickly. I tore down the bike, pulled the battery, and linked it to the battery tender to be charged. Today was supposed to be a warm day, in the 40'sF, so I wanted to get in a good ride in the afternoon. 3 hours later, I check the power light, and notice that it's still charging. Dang. The voltmeter showed only 6V, with 12V being fully charged. After further research online and some calculations, I realized that it can take a long time to fully charge a motorcycle battery. Specifically, 18 hours using the combination of my battery tender and battery. Crap.

I'm now in motorcycle withdrawal mode. I have to take the subway back home tonight, and tomorrow morning. At least now I know, it takes a long time to charge a motorcycle battery.

Edit: It ended up taking 3-4 days for my battery to fully charge to 12.6V, using a 750mA battery tender. Afterwards, from researching online, people told me that battery tenders are not built for fully charging a battery, hence the long recharging times. Also, jump starting my motorcycle battery with a car engine was NOT RECOMMENDED. Something about likely destroying the puny motorcycle battery with too much current.

-Howitzer

Pasta with Pesto, Green Beans, and Potatoes

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 2:44 PM
I made this dish following the recipe below on Sunday. It was a simple, yet filling dish. I didn't add enough green beans, and the potatoes need to be diced up into smaller pieces. I think the red potatoes I used didn't have enough starch. The commenters on that website recommended against using Idaho or Russet potatoes, but I might try that next time. Also, I think adding some Italian sausage to this dish would have been perfect. Not sure how that would mix with the pesto though. The spiciness might overpower the basil in the pesto.


In other food related news, I recently discovered apple butter. Browsing through the bread spread section at the grocery store, I noticed a jar of this stuff sitting there. Hm..butter + apples I thought..it sounded delicious. Actually, apple butter doesn't contain any butter, but is rather a concentrated sauce of sugar and apples. That didn't prevent me from spreading butter first on my toast though :) The combination of hot toast, butter, and apple butter is delicious.

- Howitzer

Pasta all Amatriciana

Friday, February 25, 2011 at 5:01 PM
I made this pasta tonight for dinner. It looked promising at first, mainly because the ingredients seemed simple. Basically, onion, canned tomatoes, and bacon. Along with other basic kitchen staples like garlic and olive oil. Actually, it turned out to be slightly more complicated, requiring half caramelizing the onions, and then cooking with the chopped bacon. Mostly, it just took a lot more stirring than I expected. I had to fry the bacon much longer than the recipe said for (2o vs. 5 mins).

Taste-wise, I expected something close to bacon sauce for this. The description of all Amatriciana basically told of a classic Roman(the city) dish made of bacon and tomatoes. With great anticipation, I tasted it...and found only tomatoes. Huh. Well the pasta was good at least.

Actually, my initial disappointment gave away to delight as the bacon flavor became more apparent. The more I ate it, the more I tasted the subtle bacon flavor. By the end of the bowl, I wanted more. My bacon craving was not satisfied. Sigh. At least I have leftover sauce that I can use later.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/02/pasta-with-onion-bacon-and-tomato-pasta-all-amatriciana-recipe.html

- Howitzer

White Chocolate Ice Cream, End of Winter Updates

Monday, February 21, 2011 at 8:37 PM
For my second batch of ice cream, I selected this recipe from Serious Eats: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/11/white-chocolate-ice-cream-with-nerds-recipe.html, except I altered it. Instead of adding Nerds, I put in frozen raspberries. I thought that white chocolate and raspberries would be a great combination, except I was wrong. The raspberries were frozen, and so there was barely any raspberry flavor in the ice cream. I guess you need to have raspberry syrup or something, so that you can actually taste it. The Nerds woulds have been a better addition after all. Also, something weird happened with the ice cream base before I froze it. I let it sit in the refrigerator to cool all night, before freezing it with the ice cream machine. By the next day, bits of white cocoa butter or something had coagulated in the mix. At first, I thought it was white chocolate that came and formed, but nope. These bits tasted kind of chalky. Surprisingly, the ice cream turned out ok. It was actually really creamy and delicious, so much so that I'm going to make another batch with Nerds.

The weather has recently turned a bit colder, hovering under 32F the past few days. Last week, we got a few days of 40's-50's weather, which was awesome for motorcycling. Now though, I have to wear double layers of pants, and try to prevent my fingers from freezing by hugging the engine block at traffic lights. Sometimes, it's kind of bad when I hit a greenlight before a long stretch of open cruising. I'm starting to worry my joints might suffer from this periodic freezing and thawing. Thankfully, the weather should be warming up soon. This week there will be a few days of 40'sF weather, during which I'll try to get my bike washed again. The salt spray from the roads are starting to build up on my bike.

Hockey

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 12:37 PM
So, today was my second hockey class at MIT. I touched a puck on ice for the first time, and it was a blast. Hockey is a pretty intense sport. I was sweating more than I have for awhile after an hour of passing drills. We weren't even doing skating drills today, which we did the first lesson.

In recent news, I also took my motorcycle out from hibernation over the winter. It took awhile before it could start up, but once it did, the motorcycle ran beautifully. Man it feels so good to be out riding it again. On Monday, temperatures reached 40'sF, and I took my bike out for some joy riding. Unfortunately, all the melting snow main the roads wet, and I had taken off my front fenders. As a result, I was splattered with street water (gross). I'll need to install that fender tonight or something.

Also, I got an ice cream maker. My first batch turned out alright. I made mint ice cream from a recipe on Serious Eats: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/06/fresh-mint-chocolate-chip-ice-cream-recipe.html It taste a bit overcooked though. I think I oversteeped the mint in the ice cream base, and the leaves got overcooked. Oh well. Next up I think I'll try coconut ice cream.

Christina Aguilera: Stripped (2002)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 3:34 PM
Christina Aguilera. I always knew she was a good singer, but I never realized how good her songs were, especially the none radio released ones on her album. I picked up Stripped and took a listen. Amazing. She got soul.

- Howitzer

Snow, Snow, and Snowboarding

Friday, February 4, 2011 at 10:04 PM
I'm currently in Connecticut, visiting my cousin for the weekend. That means, lots of snowboarding, and not a lot of sleep (the girl just does not sleep!). Tonight, we started off with a firepit party at one of her friends. I think I just had like 2 pounds of chicken and steak, which I barbecued myself with a kebob stick. Delicious. On top of that, lots of onion kebobs, toasted marshmallows, and chocolate pieces. Even more delicious.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to get up at 6am (!!!), and then drive to Vermont to go snowboarding. I'm really psyched about going. My first time going, I ended up getting bruises in all sorts of spots on my body, but it was a blast. The only bad things this time is that we will be getting very little sleep, and my knees are already sore from skating too much. I don't imagine tomorrow to be any better for my knees. Funny that I'm saying this. My skating friend says that I'm getting old. Damn youngsters.

Oh, and another thing about snow. I read a statistic about the enormous snowfall we've been getting here in the northeast. Something like New York getting 58 inches of snow, whereas normally they would only have had 12 inches so far. And somewhere, I think there was over 70 inches of snowfall already. That's six feet.

-Howitzer

Unable to Sleep

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 10:43 PM
I've had exactly one good night's sleep in the past two months. Every night, I always kick off the covers, wake up too hot, or have a dry mouth. Some how, my sleep is interrupted, and I can't imagine how much more energy I'd have if I were able to sleep well all this time.

Sigh.

- Howitzer

Open Letter to Michigan Fans: DJ Walker

Friday, January 14, 2011 at 11:57 AM
I think this letter is spot on about the state of Wolverine nation.

In 1969 Bo Schembechler was brought in from Miami University (yes, that Miami) to be the 15th head coach at the University of Michigan. He was to succeed Bump Elliott, a former Michigan alumn who had played on the un-defeated 1947 team under Fitz Crisler and won the Big 9 MVP. Schembechler was a protege of the great Ohio State coach Woody Hayes and was, understandably, not a popular hire.

It was really time for change. Michigan was pulling in a guy from outside to take over for a guy who was barely better that .500 in his 10-year career. Before that, Bennie Oosterbaan was the heir of the legendary Fitz Crisler (for whom the basketball court is named after) and was not only a Michigan alumn, he received nine letters in three sports. Oosterbaan won the national title in his first year and went to the Rose Bowl in his second year but, after Crisler's team had graduated, Oosterbaan's record started to slump and Elliott was named the new head coach.

So now we're back to Bo. If you follow Michigan football at all you've heard this name time and time again, especially when it related to the search for the 19th head coach of football. Schembechler was a legend and only Joe Paterno and Tom Osborne have recorded 200 victories in fewer games as a coach in major college football. While he never won a national championship, Bo Schembechler is widely regarded as the greatest coach in Michigan football history.

In high school I always wondered why we studied history. It's in the past, why don't we focus on today and tomorrow and let what's done come to rest? I was always told that we can learn great lessons from our past so that we might not repeat the same mistakes we made yesterday. While that wasn't the answer I was looking for, I understood the logic of that statement and continued on my day.

2008 and 1969 were very similar. Lloyd Carr was from Michigan and had been an assistant under Bo; he was a "Michigan Man." He had won a national championship and a few Big 10 titles but, in recent years, he seemed like he was losing his touch. He couldn't manage to beat the hated Buckeyes and his team lost to a Division 1AA school for the first time in program history.

It felt like it was time for change again. Michigan fans were no longer happy with going 9-3 and beating Ohio State 30 percent of the time. Enter Rich Rodriguez.

Rich Rodriguez was a guy from outside the program that was brought in to install his new hip and cool offense and return the program to the forefront of the national scene. Since he lacked any sort of ties to Michigan or Bo, many Michigan fans were not happy. Why not Jim Harbaugh? Why not Les Miles? These were Michigan men and understood the program traditions and the pressure. They were proteges, in one aspect or another, of Bo.

The main differences between Bo and Rich-Rod are that Bo had a winning record in each of his first three seasons and that media coverage in 1969 wasn't what it is present day and Rich Rod couldn't discipline his children without it being front-page news on the Detroit Free Press (freep).

Rich Rodriguez never had a chance as far as Michigan fans were concerned.

I'm not saying that Michigan was wrong to fire Rich-Rod but I am saying that maybe we should have looked to the past a little bit and gave the guy a chance (cue the "yeah, we gave him three years" response) before we ran him out of Ann Arbor.

So we tried the new guy, what now? Now we bring back Brady Hoke. A lot of fans ranked their coaching dream sheet differently than I did but he was (and maybe still is) near the bottom of my list. Brady Hoke seems to me like a desperate attempt at bringing back a "Michigan man" to appease the masses and unify Ann Arbor (which is still important but that will come with wins, not heritage).

By now you've all seen the run-down of this guys career (mediocre) so you know this isn't the sexy pick. This guy isn't even a proven winner at a big-time school. So why is everyone in the freep and Ann Arbor.com behind this guy when they weren't Rich Rodriguez?

Brian Cook puts it best:

**WARNING: This next part will be extremely difficult to swallow for Michigan fans. Read at your own risk.

"...But I think the way this went down proves that all the things rivals say about Michigan are true. This is an unbelievably arrogant program convinced its past glories are greater and more recent than they are, certain outsiders have nothing to teach it. We will enter bowl games against opponents that say "boy, that Michigan just lines up and comes after you," and we probably won't win many of them. We never have, and trying to out-execute Alabama or Oregon seems like a tall order these days.

I hoped we could be block-M Michigan without that, that we could have an exciting, modern offense that pumped out Michigan Men and maybe shredded Oklahoma for 48 points in a BCS game. I hoped we could reboot the program, keeping the things we treasure about it but maybe leaving the dismal bowl record and recent inability to compete with Ohio State behind. For a lot of reasons we can't. We are who we are."

I do think there is a measure of truth to that. It would seem that Michigan fans are more concerned with hiring someone that has ties to their great "legacy" than hiring someone that might be more qualified for the job. It's like when Dave does his job better but, because the boss like Carl more, Carl is going to get promoted. It's not right or fair but neither is life.

There's a million other names out there that I would have rather have seen than "Brady Hoke" just on a qualification standpoint. People will argue (and have argued) that "well, he's turned programs around" but there's a lot of hypocrisy in that statement that needs to be evaluated right now before you posters start firing away rebuttals.

**If you wish to use that argument please read this first:

No. 1: If you are someone who said "The Big East is not the Big 10" when Rich Rodriguez was coach just do me a favor and navigate away from this page right now. Brady Hoke's coaching experience comes from the MAC (the Big 10's traditional whipping-boy) and the Mountain West.

No 2: It took Hoke four seasons to get a winning record at Ball State. Michigan gave Rich Rodriguez three seasons and fired him after his first winning season.

In spite of myself, I do really wish him the best. Regardless of whether or not I like this hire remains irrelevant. Brady Hoke is now the head coach of football at the University of Michigan and that's just something I'm going to have to live with. I'll still be at football games in 2011, I'll still wear my customized jersey with "WALKER" printed on the back every Saturday, and my block-M Michigan flag will still fly from the front of my house, rain, snow, sleet, or shine.

I do believe that Michigan fans need to rally around Brady Hoke, but not because we didn't do that with Rich Rodriguez, but because we should have done that with Rich Rodriguez. I don't like being wrong but I sincerely hope I'm wrong about this guy. I hope he makes me look like an idiot and wins the Big 10 over and over again. I hope Brady Hoke makes Dave Brandon look like a genius. I hope somebody digs up this article two years from now and says, "Man, you were way wrong about this guy."

And now we've come full-circle. I think it's wrong to compare Hoke to Bo because Bo was the outsider and Hoke is the insider. I think the more accurate comparison to make and maybe the one that will come true is: "Is Hoke going to be the next Carr?" I think he might be. He's inheriting a team that's returning just about everyone and has a significantly softer schedule in 2011. I think he'll be good enough to go 9-3 every year and maybe beat Ohio State 30 percent of the time. But if Michigan was looking to win National Championships then I don't think this was the droid you were looking for.

If you were at Michigan football games in 2010 you probably heard clips of current and former players reciting one of Bo Schembechler's famous speeches. I think this was maybe a little bit of a ploy by Rich-Rod to try and save his job by making us think that there's more to a program than just one man but it's apparent that people didn't listen.

As a fan, as a fellow sportswriter/blogger, as someone who has a voice in this program, however small it may be, think of yourself as part of the team. Everytime something was written or said about Rich Rodriguez in the news it almost always came with some reference to "the fans" and what they thought about what was going on at the time. All of us here on bleacher report, on our blogs, on twitter, made enough noise to drown out 110,000 cheering fans at the big house to have an impact on the coach and, therefore, the program.

Because of that collective noise, all of us are a part of the team. We have a say in what happens to Brady Hoke in the next couple of years. Yes, we are Michigan, but I think we need to curb our expectations for the first couple of years and actually give this guy a shot. I know it's a cliche but we've proven that we cannot win when we are so divided. If we are truly part of a team, if we truly want to continue on Bo's legacy, if we want to win we need to listen to Bo's message, the same message that Rich Rodriguez was trying to pass on to us at Michigan's football games this past year:

"We want the Big Ten championship and we're gonna win it as a Team. They can throw out all those great backs, and great quarterbacks, and great defensive players, throughout the country and in this conference, but there's gonna be one Team that's gonna play solely as a Team. No man is more important than The Team. No coach is more important than The Team. The Team, The Team, The Team! And if we think that way, all of us, everything that you do, you take into consideration what effect does it have on my Team?"

- DJ Walker, guest writer on Bleacher Report

Sleepless Months

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 6:22 PM
So a new year. And that's enough of that. It's too much work to update everything since my last post.

I've been sleepless for over a month now, ever since the beginning of December. I can fall asleep pretty quickly, within five minutes or so. But invariably, I'll wake up 2-3 throughout the night. Each time I wake up I feel unrested, as if I haven't slept at all. I can't for the life of me figure out why I'm like this. I tried changing diet (cooking more, more fruits), drinking more water, and making sure that I was comfortable at night (not too hot). I tried to sleep early, maintain a steady sleep cycle. Different things, but they all didn't work.

Finally someone suggested today that I might be affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder. Maybe the lack of sunlight is screwing up my body cycle. God I hope that's the case. I'm so tired everyday I can't skate properly anymore.

- Howitzer

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