Nothing really to say

I feel like post, but don't really have anything in particular to go on about. I guess I'll do a bunch of little thoughts.

After over a month, I finally have my turntables back. I first brought them into the temple of boom to get tuned up on Oct. 12th (give or take a day or two). A week and a half later they were all tuned up and ready for me. That was a long enough wait by itself, but that was only the beginning. When I got my turntables home I found that one of them has some sort of wiring/grounding issue such that the low end would drop out when both the left and right out cables were plugged in (though the bass was just fine when only one of the two was plugged in). It was another week before I was able to bring the tables back in (I'm a busy guy). Two weeks later, after not hearing back from them I call up temple of boom and am like "hey, I want my tables back." Fortunately the tables were there and ready to be picked up. Unfortunately (in a sense), the tables had actually been ready for a while and nobody had bothered to call to tell me. Bah. Well, at least I have my turntables back. Of course, I haven't actually tested the previously-dysfunctional turntable, so I may be speaking too soon. Hopefully not...

If there's a silver lining to the turntable delay it's that it gave me time to get my Ikea table set up. I got my table around the same time I initially brought my turntables in. It's one of the Gallant tables, with all of the interchangeable pieces that allow you to customize your table layout. I put together a table that would give me room for my turntables and my laptop (with the laptop use doubling for VirtualDJ and programming/internet). I should post a picture of it, now that it's all set up - It really is perfect for my room. Anyway, I picked out the A-legs in place of the T-legs, and I have to say that those A-legs made setting up my table way more difficult than it should have been. Basically the A-legs come with no instructions as to how to adjust them to a certain height and the way to do so isn't particularly intuitive. It wasn't until I accidentally pulled apart one of the A-legs and saw how the height-setting mechanism worked that I was able to successfully put my table at the height I wanted it at (and even then was a bitch to put together). But, as of last night, my table is completely put together and at exactly the height I want it at. I'm gonna be spinnin' tonight. :-)

A couple of posts ago I put up my predictions for the Sonics. Oops. I actually had completely flipped to the point of thinking they won't make the playoffs, but after tonight's victory of the Celtics I'm going to back off that a little... but only a little. The Sonics have some serious problems, mostly that they don't have a valid replacement for Antonio Daniels. That's not to say we should have matched the deal Washington gave him - he's old, has bad knees, and wants to start (and we have Ridnour for that) - but we didn't adequately replace his value. Looks like Collison is getting moved into the starting lineup. That makes the starting lineup better (especially since Reggie Evans, whom Collison is replacing, had been shooting waaay more than he should have), but it makes the bench weaker, possible more so than it makes the starters stronger. Vlady got 16 minutes tonight. Hmm. I want to know what Weiss is thinking there. Vlady was a fairly significant 3rd or 4th option last year, and given we no longer have Daniels I would figure that Vlady would get more playing time, not less. I like seeing Damien Wilkins (Gerald's kid, Dominique's nephew) and Mateen Cleaves getting some minutes of the bench, almost as much as I like seeing Flip Murray stuck to the bench. Anyway, I think the Sonics can still make the playoffs, but they're going to have to scrap to do it. The West is just too good. What's up with the Clippers and the Warriors having good teams? Heh, ok, I just noticed that the Sonics are only a half game out of first in the Northwest Division, currently tied with the Nuggets. Maybe things aren't as bad as they seem.

I'm pumped about the Seahawks. This is the year. We've already got the NFC west wrapped up, and have a realistic shot at finishing #1 or #2 in the NFC and earning a bye in the playoffs. Hell yes. Looking ahead, figure the winner of the NFC North won't contend for a bye (come on, Chicago is the crappiest 6-3 team we've seen in a while). I'll put Tampa and Washington as possible wild-card threats, leaving Carolina and Atlanta in the South and NY and Dallas in the East. We've already got tie-breakers against Atlanta and Dallas, and could potentially earn one against NY next Sunday. That game is in Seattle, so chances are we'll get that one too. That leaves Carolina, who looks to be the class of the NFC. Anyway, I figure 13-3 guarantees a first-round bye, possibly home-field throughout. 13-3 means beating everybody except Indy. 12-4 is probably still a bye (given all of the tiebreakers we have). 11-5 is really pushing it but could still produce a bye. 11-5 is basically assured, given that four of the remaining seven games come against San Francisco (twice), Tennessee, and Green Bay. The three other games will determine everything. First, home against the Giants. The Seahawks should win this game because it's at home, and especially because the Giants have to fly across the country. This will be the game that will determine if the Giants are contenders or pretenders - should be a good one. Second, at Phili. Although Phili made the right long-term decision in getting rid of T.O., they're a bad team in the short run because of it. On top of that McNabb is all kinds of beat up. Come on, the guy is playing with a sports hernia! This past weekend McNabb injured his groin. He may play later in the year, but he won't be Donovan McNabb. Eagles - McNabb - T.O. = bad team = Seahawks victory. Third, home against the Colts. I'm really looking forward to this one. It's really not that unreasonable to envision the Seahawks going into that game at 12-2. Can you say Superbowl preview? Honestly, the Colts are ridiculous and should be the Seahawks, even with the game being in Seattle... but it'll be an incredible game, either way.