1. Doomsville (Rainmakers)
2. Shelia Take a Bow (The Smiths)
3. Love Is The Seventh Wave (Sting)
4. Homesick (Soul Asylum)
5. Disappointed (Public Image Ltd.)
6. Heartland (U2)
7. Lucky (The Dead Milkmen)
8. Welcome To Paradise (Green Day)
9. Axur, Finale (Mozart)
10. I Still Believe (Tim Cappello)
11. Water (Dinosaur Jr)

• Quite the list of downer songs/ song names this week.  Goes nicely with the dreary gray weather.
• I came up with a new drill at basketball practice last night.  The girls have a tendency to hold the ball too long or to try to do too much on their own.  To stop this, before we scrimaged I told them that if they held the ball for more than 3 seconds or dribbled for more than 5 seconds I was going to call a turnover.  After they got burned a few times they did a much better job of keeping the ball moving.  I’ll have to remember that one.

via Afarensis:

[Stegosaurs] have long been identified by the bony plates on their backs, the spikes on their tales, short forelimbs, and stubby little necks.

But now paleontologists have discovered a 150-million-year-old stegosaur in Portugal with a neck that stretched over 5.9 feet (1.8 meters). (Read more about the Jurassic period.)

The neck of the new species, dubbed Miragaia longicollum, is considerably longer than the few inches seen on the average stegosaur neck. Miragaia’s neck is also very long compared to the dinosaur’s 19.6-foot (6-meter) body length.

The newly discovered stegosaur has 17 cervical vertebra, or neck bones-five more than a normal stegosaur and ten more than the modern giraffe. (See pictures of stegosaurs walking.)

“The increase in neck length among stegosaurs demonstrates the evolutionary [flexibility] of dinosaurs and their ability to adapt to change,” said lead author Octavio Mateus at Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal.

1. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart)
2. Blowing It (Dinosaur Jr)
3. ???? [track 13 on More Amadeus] (Mozart)
4. Hot N Cold (Katy Perry)
5. Another Nail In My Heart (Squeeze)
6. All Her Favorite Fruit (Camper Van Beethoven)
7. Dreams Of Home (Ziggy Marley)
8. Cry Little Sister (Gerald MMann)
9. Why Does The Sun Shine (They Might Be Giants)
10. Surround (Dada)
11. The Middle (Jimmy Eat World)

• I played Settlers of Catan three times over the weekend; twice Friday and once Saturday.  It is a bit like playing Civilization as a board game.  Each time you play, the board is different from the last time you played.  On the third game, I managed  second place out of six players, but that was by far my best finish.  In contrast, Justin did okay in the first game, won the second, and took third place in the third game.

1. Guiltiness (Bob Marley)
2. Catch (Cure)
3. Lee and Molly (Ziggy Marley)
4. Burn Down The Sky (Finns)
5. Masonic Funeral Music, K.477 (Mozart)
6. Not Sleeping Around (Ned’s Atomic Dustbin)
7. Rubber Ring (Smiths)
8. Magic Touch (Plimsouls)
9. Two and Two Make Five (Ned’s Atomic Dustbin)
10. Blister in the Sun (Violent Femmes)
11. Girlfriend Is Better (Talking Heads)

• Danielle’s basketball team, the Platypuses, has a double header tomorrow against the two teams we haven’t played yet.  Luckily I have a pretty deep bench, so they shouldn’t’ be TOO tired to play back to back games.  I’ll just have to make sure we slow the game down if the girls are looking tired.
• I felt like an iPhone salesman yesterday as I was showing off all the features to one of Allison’s friend’s mom.  By the end of the conversation, she was thinking about buying one.

1. Never Tear Us Apart (INXS)
2. New Life (Depeche Mode)
3. She Drives Me Crazy (Fine Young Cannibals)
4. Falling Away (Richard Heyman)
5. Good Thing(Fine Young Cannibals)
6. Melloship Slinky In B Major (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
7. Inside Out (Finns)
8. Walk Like An Egyptian (Bangles)
9. I Would Never Want To Be Young Again (Gogol Bordello)
10. Young Offender (New Order)
11. Oscillate Widly (Smiths)

• CAUTION: Taking off a fleece jacket while listening to iPhone via headphones while it is charging can cause you to get shocked in the ears. This is not a pleasant experience.
• The pirate in me has decided that the current project I am working on is no longer project codename Argyl, it be Project Argggghhhhh Isle.
• I’ve started re-editing the book.  It is in a lot better shape than I remember.  Perhaps I was overly critical of it last time I looked at it, or maybe I haven’t regained the sharpness to see the problems with it.  Not that I’m biased or anything, but I think our first two chapters are more engaging than Twilight. I’m just saying…
• BONUS TRACK: Hit (Sugar Cubes)

• Start with the passing game (I do this almost every practice — it get’s their heart pumping, and works on both passing and defense.  Split into two teams.  Girls can move without the ball, but with the ball they can only pivot and pass.) [ 5 minutes ]
• Split into 3 groups: [10- 15 minutes]
  • Forwards in a two on two game under the basket.  Tell them to focus on making the first shot.  If they can’t score within 3 shots it’s a turnover and the other team inbounds from under the basket.
  • Wings playing a dribble/pass keep-away game
  • Point Guards work on dribbling while protecting the ball.  Work on off hand dribbling, changing pace, and getting around a defender.
  • Alternately wings work the same dribble drills with point guards.
• Add 2 wings to the 2 - 2 game, giving them a wing option.  Point guards play a 2 on 2 dribble/passing game. [10 minutes]
• Full scrimage [10+ minutes]
• Sharks and Minnows - the girls seemed to enjoy this last practice.  focuses on dribbling and defense.  All girls get a ball.  There goal is to dribble back and forth across the gym.  If they lose the ball/get it knocked away, they become one of the sharks - I’m the first shark.   [rest of practice]

Ironically, this is how Mrs. Mosquito Eater got me to propose.

XKCD