We Have Had the Onion Snow

Well this is it folks. A bit of light snow mixing in with the rain today that I believe was the onion snow. Therefore, we can officially say it is over and move on to spring! Although today didn't feel much like a spring day, tomorrow should be better... 60s possibly? Maybe close to 70? Either way I'm hoping for no rain on Saturday when I tour the ballpark.

And speaking of baseball, this summer may bring this local 3-1 baseball team a little bit closer to me. Details on that if it actually pans out. I'll keep you posted as always. We'll watch them face the Cardinals in St. Louis tomorrow night at 8:15.

Oh and another thing: the Sabres missed the playoffs, forcing me to cover up the Sabres logo that adorns the wall with a message that reads: SOME REAL HOCKEY TEAM THAT IS NOT A JOKE AND HAS A GOOD LOGO. Tomorrow I plan on changing it to just a black background, in mourning of this terrible season. Maybe next year.

Big Plans for the Swim Team

Well now that it's April, it means that next year is the start of the swim season for the NVSL and my team the Virginia Hills Tidal Wave! I'm assistant coach, and there's a lot of things I want to see implemented this year. They'll have to be run by our great new head coach who is also excited to start. Some of the things I want to see from this season include:

- New logo

- Return to tradition

- VH Newsletter

- Increase in team identity, sportsmanship, cheering

I'm working on the new logo and have some design ideas in my head that I want to see happen, and I think that a new logo thats better than the current "designer" wave would definitely help. I have yet to come up with any ideas on paper and have rejected my own design that I made last summer.

The Hibernation Has Ended

Well, I've come out of hibernation from this blog, having written nothing since March 9th. A lot has happened in that time period, with two emotional breakdowns and all. But I swear I'm a new person, and basically it's been a few people who have brought me back up when I've been down, and I thank them profusely.

So, the Nats are 2-0!!! I know it is very early in the season, but it's exciting to see your team on top, especially considering how poorly the Sabres have done this year, with a late season collapse to keep them just out of playoff reach (although I still have some hopes that they can grab 7th or 8th). The stadium is amazing, and so beautiful. So many food options and it's just great to see a ballpark that really opens itself to DC fans. Speaking of which, my review can be found on DCSportsFan.com. You might have to look around a bit but thanks to Brian for the edits.

And now I just realized when my cursor isn't in the body text, and I press Enter, it publishes the post. So that explains the half-post for a bit.

Also, I believe that winter is now over, so that should be declared once and for all, and it's good that it is over, because I was getting tired of cold and no snow. I believe that when it's cold it has to be snowing to be enjoyable. So we are warm now, and it's a beautiful day, so I have my window open and I'm waiting for the 7:05 start for my undefeated Nats to take on the winless Phillies. Should be interesting!

And today is when I start to tag my post with labels... it's something new I'm trying out to keep some of the posts organized. So now I will start to label all the old posts and we'll see how that goes.

On the Bubble

So Maryland is on the bubble and needs to win at Virginia tonight to be helped out. Of course, UNC beating Duke last night and American winning again today helps the RPI, which may be the thing we need to get into the tournament. Of course, I will say that losing to American may be the one thing that saved our season. It woke our team up and now we are playing a lot better. What may have killed us, however, was the collapse against Clemson, when we were up by 20 points and still managed to throw the game. That brought me to remember a recent e-mail that my mom got from her co-worker, who graduated from Maryland, who said:

Maryland could be up by 20 points and still find a way to lose.

That was after the home game against Duke. So of course, I as the optimist said that will never happen, and then of course, last week, I probably experienced perhaps the most heartbreaking sports moment of my life so far. I threw my hat, hit it against the chair, stomped on the ground, what have you. It was disgusting, and it really just was not a good way to give the seniors the proper tribute they deserved. Of course, that whole debacle prompted an Uncyclopedia user to post this as the UMD fight song:

Beat Duke, Lose to Clemson, Miss the Tournament!

Too bad we didn't beat Duke this year, or maybe we would actually have a shot nowadays at actually making the tournament. Just might be the NIT for us, along with our nearby "rivals" at American University. Unless of course, they make the Big Dance, and we miss it. That would be really humiliating.

Quasi Flash Freeze

We are experiencing a quasi flash freeze... temperatures that were once in the 60s have fallen dramatically. Expect temperatures to keep dropping as the next round of t'storms comes through. Very windy outside with tropical storm force winds... power outages are possible, as are trees coming down. Next round of storms is rolling through the DC metro as we speak. Winter is not over yet...

Tomorrow is going to be cold as well, but already we will see a warming trend into next week, so the cold will be short lived. But just remember that we are yet to reach spring, and this will be a reminder for a lot of people.

Nationals Opener

Well, I was able to get tickets... but for the exhibition opener, and it's thanks to StubHub that I got them. Two 200 level tickets. But the real farce was when I tried to get tickets for the opener against Atlanta, a process in which I was unsuccessful. I had both of my browsers online waiting to get in for tickets (which it turns out they let people in BEFORE 9 am) and I was calling the hotline. I finally got a computer on the hotline... which said there were a bunch of sections open. Then I heard the computer say something about a technical difficulty. Then I was linked over to a guy who told me that they were all sold out. So then my next step was to try StubHub... which was ridiculously overpriced, so I figured I'd try the exhibition. And I was successful!!! I believe Section 228, Row N... so I am very excited!

That's it from here. Enjoy the amazing weather outside (just ignore the spot of wind).

Tornado Watch (no longer) in Effect

2:00 am update: Tornado Watch has been discontinued for the DC area. Rain will end from east to west between 2 and 4 am.

Live, local radar from Weather Underground

The folks over at the NWS have issued a Tornado Watch on top of the Flood Warning that's already out for us. Tornado Watch goes until 3 am Wednesday morning... full coverage can be found by clicking on the Capital Weather Gang link on my blogroll.

The map below will update as alerts are issued or changed by the National Weather Service (refresh your browser for the latest map).

Image credit: National Weather Service, Sterling, VA

Legend: Yellow = Tornado Watch, Red = Tornado Warning, Purplish-Red = Severe Thunderstorm Watch, Dark Green = Flood Watch or Flash Flood Watch, Light Green = Flood or Flash Flood Warning