What a year

Continuing on what seems to be a yearly trend for me, 2015 has been pretty wild. Yes, I say that about every year.

Christmas again

Time sure flies! Another Christmas Day has already arrived. I'm doing the usual celebrations with family members. We're having some bizarre, unseasonable weather though. It's pushing 70 degrees and it's foggy and rainy. That takes a bit out of this holiday season, but not too much. We did the usual opening of presents and I got some great stuff like a Burger King gift card, a large-size NASCAR Diecast and my usual annual U.S. coin set. I have pictures below.

I noticed that in a change from our usual ham, we're having pork tenderloins. Every Christmas seems to be unique to me and this one has surely been extra-special. I would even call these holidays better than 2014.

What I loved about this Thanksgiving

The following were my personal highlights of Thanksgiving 2015:

• We prepared two turkeys - one in the oven and one in an outdoor fryer in peanut oil.
• I actually managed to finish off my entire plate and even have seconds on the peanut oil turkey.
• The Cowboys lost to the Panthers.
• The Eagles lost to the Lions.
• I caught parts of the Macy's parade as well as a little of that dog show after the parade.

"still here" post

Yes, I'm still here and active online, but just not posting on this blog as much since I've been more active with my NASCAR blog lately.

IndyCar driver Justin Wilson dies

English IndyCar driver Justin Wilson has died one day after his involvement in a crash with rookie Sage Karam at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The four-time race winner was 37. This is IndyCar's first death since that of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon, also from England, during the 2011 season finale in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Summer vacation time

I'm off to Myrtle Beach! As I've mentioned elsewhere, my 93-year-old grandmother lives down there (she actually lives in North Myrtle). This is my first trip there in two years and my brothers' first time there in three. We're staying at some Holiday Inn condo place. I hope to take full advantage of this trip.

Windows 10 is here

Microsoft has dropped their new operating system Windows 10. It is the successor to Windows 8.1, and will feature a new Start menu/Start screen-hybrid as its main new feature. It will also include Microsoft Edge, Microsoft's new web browser intended to replace Internet Explorer (Edge was actually codenamed Internet Explorer 12). It was named Windows 10 instead of Windows 9 to avoid compatibility issues with the Windows 9x family (Windows 95, NT 4.0, 98 and ME). A lot of consumers apparently hope that Windows 10 will be "a lot better" than Windows 8.

One year of the DC Silver Line

lol

US women are soccer champion again

Fourth of July should be a time for everyone to celebrate together

2015 is half over

It's crazy that we're already halfway through 2015. Halfway to the year 2016. Tomorrow, July 1, will mark the beginning of the second half of the year. It seems like my life just gets crazier every year. But who cares?!

A week to remember for Supreme Court decisions

Did I get hit by a tornado?

The Warriors have done what no one thought possible

The Golden State Warriors pulled off something of an upset when they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games in the NBA Finals. They may not have been on anyone's watch list for the championship this year.

Blackhawks are champions again

The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 on Monday in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final to get the Cup for the third time in six seasons. The Blackhawks previously defeated the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins in 2010 and 2013. They have some other Cup championships from the Original Six era as well.

Nice changes to Blogger

Blogger has recently updated a couple of their features with new graphics and fonts and I must say it's all a very nice touch.

American Pharaoh did it!

With his win in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, American Pharaoh became the first horse since 1978 to win all three legs of horse racing's Triple Crown.

WTF, Sodahead?!

iPhone cases essentially a necessity now

It seems like cases for iPhones and the like are almost required these days. On Wednesday when I was getting my iPhone, they asked me right off the bat what case I wanted, and then put that case on right away before I even left the Verizon store.

My new iPhone 6

Juan Pablo Montoya wins second Indianapolis 500

Juan Pablo Montoya took the #2 Team Penske Ford to victory in the 99th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. Montoya previously won the prestigious race in 2000 during his first foray into IndyCar. He then moved to Formula 1 and then to NASCAR stock car racing, where he won two races on road courses. Montoya moved back to IndyCar last year and returned to victory lane at Pocono Raceway last summer. He also won the IndyCar season opener in Saint Petersburg, Florida on a street course in March.

I have an evening shift again!

My last evening shift at my grocery store was a little over a year ago. Since then, I have been mostly working mornings and early afternoons. This week, I finally got another 4-10pm shift for today (Friday), which I haven't had in a while. It will feel weird working at that time again.

20 years old

I became another year older today. This year, I turned the big 2-0. Still hasn't sunk in yet, just like last year when I turned 19, or the year before when I turned 18, and so on. Two decades I've been on this planet, and next year I'll be old enough to drink. By the way, I'm a triplet so I have two brothers to celebrate with every year.

After my birthday dinner last night at the Japanese steakhouse, we got Happy Birthday sung to us again, and then we ate a homemade ice cream cake (homemade by a nearby ice cream parlor, that is - Carvel can suck it). Then we opened our presents and mine was an Axe kit with deodorant, bodyspray and shower gel. Plus we each got our own $50 Visa gift card that function as debit cards. We all already have our own real debit cards that are part of our bank accounts, whereas there Visa ones are simply purchased with cash. Then today we just relaxed and enjoyed being 20. And there is another celebration on the way from our mom, meaning more cake and presents.

My birthday dinner

Did this year's Preakness help Baltimore?

YouTube rolls out nice new font

YouTube changed the font on every section of every page Wednesday, ditching the typical Arial font it used for practically its entire existence for the more modern font Roboto. A similar font is used on Google+, which YouTube was linked to by Google in the fall of 2013.

A wild week of severe weather in Midwest, Great Plains

States such as Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota have been hit repeatedly this week by strong storms that have produced high winds, damaging hail, floods and even multiple destructive tornadoes. On the other side of the same weather system, parts of Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska got some snow.

Mother's Day becoming just like Thanksgiving, Easter

It seems like Mother's Day, and Father's Day as well, becomes a more legitimate "holiday" each and every year.

Cinco de Mayo not a legit holiday?

A wild weekend

lol

what

Microsoft unveils Edge web browser

The La Plata tornado, 13 years later

On April 28, 2002, an F4 tornado hit the town of La Plata, Maryland, causing major damage to the town, located south of Washington, DC and Baltimore. It was the strongest and most destructive tornado in the history of my state, knocking the Frostburg F4 tornado of 1998 off the top spot.

Disappointed in my Baltimore

The events of the past few days in Baltimore, which I live less than 30 miles north of, has greatly upset me. Never did I imagine that these types of protests and riots would take place so close to my home, in the very city in which I was born. I do not wish to get caught up in any arguments about the situation, but I am very ashamed and also scared about what might be to come in the near future. I do not want to take sides; I just hope that things will be relatively okay again soon. I do not condone this violence in any way and I cannot express my disappointment enough. I only want to feel safe where I live and I wish what started as a "peaceful protest" hadn't erupted into this. This will remain in my mind for days to come.

One decade of YouTube

Ten years ago, the legend of a revolutionary website began. On April 23, 2005, YouTube had its very first video upload, a clip titled "Me at the zoo" depicting one of the site's co-founders standing in front of an elephant at the San Diego Zoo. One decade later, YouTube is one of the world's top websites and one of the leading forces of social media and Web sharing with sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit. YouTube has also been owned by Google since late 2006, which has allowed it to keep a high profile during the majority of its existence.

No music to stream? Guess you'll have to go old-school with CDs

In my drawing class yesterday, nobody had any music to stream on their phones, so we were forced to listen to CDs as we worked. In today's world of online music apps, having to listen to compact discs suddenly seems like such a dated experience. The biggest difference I have realized is that whereas music streaming allows for a theoretically infinite number of songs for your listening pleasure, CDs only have a certain number of songs on them. This meant that the teacher had to change CDs twice during the period. With music streaming, you can just listen to a station over and over and over, or add songs to a playlist one by one and never "run out" of music. Of course, the same limitations of CDs are present to a greater effect in analog mediums like vinyl and cassette, but since CDs are a digital medium like online streaming it makes that "old-school" effect even greater;.

Hockey playoffs!

The NHL playoffs are underway, with 16 teams currently competing in the first round. One of these teams is my Washington Capitals. They are playing the New York Islanders, with the first two games of the series down in Washington. The series is currently tied 1-1 after the Capitals rallied back to win game 2 on Friday evening.

Post coming eventually...

Tornadoes level Illinois towns

A large severe weather system produced several tornadoes in Midwestern states such as Illinois, Indiana and Ohio on Thursday afternoon and evening, One town, Fairdale, in Illinois was effectively destroyed by what was preliminarily rated as an EF4 tornado, that killed at least one person. The same tornado also struck the small town of Rochelle in the northern part of the state. The Chicago metro area got hammered with strong storms, heavy winds as flooding, as did portions of northern Indiana and Ohio, eastern Missouri - particularly the St. Louis area - and southern Wisconsin and Michigan, The same system even dumped some snow and freezing rain onto small portions of Iowa, Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. There were also reports of flooding in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, central West Virginia and extreme western Maryland. More than 100 severe thunderstorm, tornado and flood warnings were issued across the affected areas on Thursday. It was the country's first major severe weather event of the season.

Is Duke's latest national title really a big deal?

Back on Monday, in the NCAA basketball title game in Indianapolis, first-seeded ACC team Duke outplayed fellow first seed, the Big Ten's Wisconsin in a close battle to win yet another national championship. It's safe to say that it was something of an upset, as many people picked Kentucky, who Wisconsin defeated in the Final Four, to win the title for the second time in four years. There was even some controversy as people have accused the referees of making wrong calls against Wisconsin to allow Duke to win. But aside from that, was Duke's win the big deal people are proclaiming it to be? As the ACC powerhouse has won the championship many times before, I would say not really.

Easter

Today was Easter, one of my beloved "candy holidays." Even though I shouldn't be eating that stuff, I just can't resist on a day like Easter. Plus I had Easter dinner and dyed a couple of eggs "with food coloring) and all of that typical Easter stuff. Now I have some of that candy to go eat.

My ponies are back!

Season 5 of the animated show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic premiered on Saturday morning, to the delight of me and other "bronies" around the world. The show had been in hiatus since the season 4 finale around Memorial Day last year. It really wasn't a true hiatus, as reruns of older episodes kept airing during the time and the fifth season was confirmed just a few months after the fourth one ended, but it was still a waiting game from there. Still, our favorite cartoon horses are back and the fandom is happy.

Websites play wide range of April Fools' pranks

The Internet loves to play pranks on April Fools Day, and this year many websites were at it again playing tricks on users. Google provided a link to a literal (and figurative) mirror website that displayed the whole home page and search results backward, as well as the results on every search on each page. The link has actually existed for several years, as have similar sites that allow people to mess with Google. It was pretty low-key compared to Google's April Fools tricks in the past.

One-quarter through 2015

Busy life

Once again my life is busy and I am left with a lot of outdated posts. I will try to update them eventually.

More Asian cooking adventures

Maryland Day

Good to be back in the NCAA torunament

My Maryland Terrapins were back in the NCAA basketball tournament for the first time in five years and it was good while it lasted. We only made it to the round of 32 but we did win one game.

Spring is here - now will the snow leave?

Internet Explorer name to be retired

Microsoft has said that their new Spartan web browser project will be the replacement to their long-running, once widely-used browser Internet Explorer, which debuted in 1995 soon after the emergence of Windows 95. Spartan is expected to ship with the upcoming Windows 10, which will still support Internet Explorer, but possibly only the current version, IE11.

Pi day

Today is March 14, otherwise known as Pi Day (3.1415...) and this year it has added significance because the actual date is 3-14-15, the first five digits of the special number.

YouTube sinks to another new low

YouTube has decided to be like Twitter and display likes and dislikes greater than 999 with "K", the abbreviation for thousand, or "M" for million, at the end instead of the full number like they've done ever since they rolled out the like/dislike bar to replace the old star rating system in 2010.

Pictures from my latest snowstorm

One year of Real Racing 3 adventures

This week marks one year since I started playing the mobile racing game Real Racing 3. I have had a lot of fun playing it during the past year.

Rain now, snow later

Already the end of February

The year 2015 is already going by fast, with two months gone now.

My impromptu rice dish

Update

I've been spending a lot of time on my NASCAR blog lately, giving me almost no time to update this one. Plus I gaven't had many non-NASCAR-related things to blog about anyway. I'm sure something will come up for me to blog about soon.

A free week for my homework

Thanks to the latest round of snow I got, I now don't have to do one of the weekly homework assignment for my drawing class, because the class was cancelled since the college opened after it would have ended. I also don't think I have to turn in last week's homework, which I was a bit unprepared for.

Getting excited for NASCAR again

The NASCAR season has kicked off at Daytona, where the Daytona 500 is being held on Sunday, and I am excited to see some racing again.

Winter weather wreaks havoc on south, Appalachians

A winter storm has brought several inches of snow as well as freezing rain and ice to states like Tennesssee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. The storm has dumped more than a foot of snow in some parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, who aren't usually associated with snowfalls of that magnitude.

Valentine's Day

Today was Valentine's Day, which for me simply means another candy holiday, rather than all of that love stuff. I've always spent Valentine's Day single.

Return of low wind chills

It's a sad time for fans of popular YouTubers

I love spending all day at college

Having two classes with the first ending six hours before the second begins every other week means I get to hang out and do whatever on my college campus during my long break, or maybe go out and do other things, on those weeks. But during the other weeks of this semester, my evening class (a digital media class, in which we learn a lot about Photoshop) simply meets online, and even then it isn't even a proper class, because we can do the work at our own pace. But my class schedule for those certain weeks this semester gives me a well-deserved break from sitting around at home all day.

Avocados are the new cool fruit

It appears that the avocado is a cool food right now in this country, with many people buying and eating them, and making them into things such as guacamole.

How many of each flavor is in a box of Mike and Ikes?

I did a little test today to see which is the most common flavor in a regular box of Mike and Ike candies - cherry, strawberry, lemon, lime or orange. Out of 85 total candies, strawberry (my least favorite) was the winner with 30.

Accidentally turned left at a red light

On Saturday I made a quick trip to a gas station to put air in one of my tires. There's a traffic light on the way to and from the station where a few months ago, I was planning to turn left but didn't have a green left arrow. However, cross traffic also had a red light, and people going straight had green, which I failed to notice. After waiting about 30 seconds, two people behind me drove around me to make their left turns. That's when I realized the coast had been clear all along for me to turn left.


So then on Saturday I went to the gas station for my tire fill and on the way back, I had a red light at the aforementioned intersection. Not wanting to hold anyone up again, I waited for any cross traffic to get out of the way, and then I turned left. Except, I didn't have a green arrow, and turning left on red is forbidden (where I live you can turn right on red after stopping and yielding to any oncoming traffic). When I noticed the car behind me pull up to the stopline and then stop, I realized my mistake. What was more, I could have gotten into a crash with someone who actually had a green light, and since I only have my provisional license right now it would have been bad for my driving record. The people behind me were probably thinking "What an idiot, turning left on red!" Luckily there isn't a red light camera at that intersection; only at a few intersections in the town proper have them and I don't even think they have turn sensors. But the point is, I was stupid the other day and really should have caused a crash.

New England Patriots win wild Super Bowl

The AFC champion New England Patriots have defeated the NFC champion and defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX (49) by a score of 28-24 to win their fourth championship and first since Super Bowl XXXIX (39) in 2005 (2004 season). The game took place at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Patriots won despite the "DeflateGate" scandal that arose in the days after their victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game.


The whole game and particularly the fourth quarter were wild. There was no scoring at all in the first quarter, and the Patriots and Seahawks traded the lead throughout the next two quarters. The Seahawks were up 24-14 after three quarters, but after each team scored a touchdown, the Patriots gained another seven points to make the score 28-24 in their favor. The Patriots then intercepted a Seahawks second-down touchdown pass just one yard from the end zone. This was with 20 seconds left in the game. After a pair of timeouts, a scrum erupted between members of both teams. Finally, everything was sorted out and after one final snap, the Patriots were champions for the first time in a decade. Their first three Super Bowl wins came in Super Bowls XXXVI (36), XXXVIII (38) and XXXIX (39) in 2002, 2004 and 2005 ('01, '03 and '04 seasons, respectively). Tom Brady was named the MVP, an honor he also won in Super Bowl XXXVI.

It's Super Bowl Weekend

This weekend is one of the most anticipated of the year in this country, because it's the weekend of the Super Bowl. We now get to look forward to seeing whether the Patriots or Seahawks are better, along with stuff like Super Bowl parties, the halftime show, the commericals, side events like the "Puppy Bowl" and so on. This weekend and especially the day of the Super Bowl is a huge part of American culture. I love some parts of Super Bowl weekend, but others I just can't stand. But Super Bowl Sunday is still one of my favorite days of the year because of all the fanfare.

Snowstorm proves huge in Boston, not so much New York

A blizzard dumped more than a foot of snow in coastal areas of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine on Monday and Tuesday. The winter storm, nicknamed "Juno", was supposed to bring similar impacts to the New York City and Long Island areas, but it ended up moving further offshore before producing any massive effects.

I survived my first day of spring semester

Today was the first day of my two art classes for the spring semester at my college, and I did pretty well in both of them.

Our one-two punch of snow

Today we had a slow-moving band of snow that was the part of the lower end of a system that is bringing blizzard and nor'easter conditions to parts of New England, mainly coastal areas. Now we are getting a second band of moderate snow with a bit of sleet in the mix. Luckily, I was home all day, but I did have to clean the snow off my car (while it was still snowing). It looks like after a slow start, winter in Maryland is in full force with these latest snow and ice events.

My car partially removed of snow

For once, I'm busy

I made it to work today!

Back on Sunday I aborted my drive to work about a third of the way there because the roads were so icy from freezing rain and I even spun. Yesterday evening it snowed and I was afraid I would have to ride to work with my mom or her guy friend (who both have cars with better tires). But this morning my mom said it was probably safe for me to drive myself. My driveway was slushy and a bit icy, but the roads were all fine except for a little slush. I slowed down while driving across the two short bridges along the way in case they were icy. I had also checked traffic online before I left and also a local fire station's Facebook page but the roads were mostly problem-free. Needless to say I made it all the way to work this time. Oh, and I did already drive once since Sunday, and that was going to the bank on Tuesday when the roads were much better.

Maryland's new gubernatorial administration has begun

My state of Maryland today swore in its 62nd governor, Republican Larry Hogan. This is a state with a fairly Democrat majority.

My reaction to the State of the Union address

I watched the annual State of the Union address (#SOTU) via a live stream on YouTube, and (these are my own thoughts) I thought it was really amazing and encouraging. People can say what they want about it and our current politics in general, but I appreciated it because it really helped me open up to our current issues and what is the best way for us to come up with solutions to our problems.

It's Patriots-Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX

The NFL conference championship games have been played and two victors have been determined to play each other in Super Bowl XLIX (49) in Glendale, Arizona on February 1.

Surprise ice storm!

A few days ago, I heard that it was supposed to rain today. Just rain. Nothing wintry involved. But this morning as I was leaving to go to work, I soon noticed that it was in fact freezing rain. The roads were really slick and I had to go really slow. I live north of Baltimore and I work part-time at a store right by the Pennsylvania line. After a couple of nervous miles of icy driving, struggling to go up slick hills and almost losing control of my car multiple times (I even got sideways and brushed a guardrail), I decided to just turn around and go back home. I used extreme caution going back home, and when I got back I called work and told them I would not be showing up because I could barely drive and I had all but spun out while attempting to get there. They understood and said I made a good choice. I only made it about a third of the way there and only spent a little under 40 minutes away from home.

A couple of hours later, I heard that all of the roads by my store were closed, so I wasn't really needed up there anyway. My mom said she would have made me stay home and call out if she had been up when I left (she actually works at the same store and she was scheduled to be off). She also said I made a wise choice and was glad I did not get into a serious crash and badly hurt. Other people in the area weren't so lucky, as there were over 100 reported crashes in the northern Baltimore suburbs, some with injuries and even unfortunately a fatal one. There was also a 49-car pileup up in Philadelphia that happened right around the time I turned around and went home. Not long after that, I heard that there were 32 cars that had slid off a section of U.S. Route 1 back down here. So I should feel lucky that I got home safely in this surprise ice storm, and that I didn't get in a big crash.

My late holiday party

Cream of potato soup

We made cream of potato soup today that also had celery and mushrooms in it. It was a little thick but still tasted great. As always, I took pictures as we made the soup.

 Potatoes after peeling

 Celery and onions

 Diced potatoes

 Stirring in cheese

 Cheese in a measuring cup

The soup almost done cooking

Oh man

The real reasons I like being in college

Ever since I graduated from high school I've been happy to be in college, even if it's just community college. And I have my own reasons for that.

NFL conference championship games set

All four NFL divisional playoff games have been played, and now the field is down to four teams, two in each conference, who will play in the NFC and AFC championship games on Sunday to determine who will represent each conference in Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona. The games were plagued by disputed calls by referees that has sparked intense debates across the Internet.

On Saturday, the Baltimore Ravens once again visited the first-seeded New England Patriots in Foxborough, Massachusetts for the first AFC game. The Ravens were off a 30-17 win against their rival Steelers, the AFC North champions, in Pittsburgh; it was the Ravens' first playoff win against the Steelers in a series dating back to the 2001 season. Baltimore held two 14-point leads against New England during the game. In the third quarter, Ravens coach John Harbaugh was penalized for walking onto the field, apparently unhappy with a referee's call. In the last minutes, the Patriots stole the lead thanks to a touchdown pass by Tom Brady and won 35-31, denying the Ravens an upset. The Patriots are now going to their fourth straight AFC Championship Game; they played the Ravens two years in a row in that game, in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

The first NFC game was between the first-seeded Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers, who got into the playoffs with a losing record (7-8-1) because they won the NFC South, and their three rivals (Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) finished even worse. The Seahawks happened to be the first team to do this in 2010. Like that Seahawks team, this year's Panthers also managed to win their wild card game against the Arizona Cardinals (the hosts of this year's Super Bowl). The Panthers were favored to pull off an upset in Seattle, but the Seahawks ultimately took a 31-17 win. The Panthers and Seahawks previously played each other in the 2005-06 NFC Championship Game, which produced the Seahawks' first Super Bowl trip. This coincides with a potentially historic payment deal for Russell Wilson.

On Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys took on the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in the second NFC game. The Cowboys beats the Packers' rivals the Detroit Lions 24-20 last week after an overturned call in their favor. The Packers scored the first touchdown, but the Cowboys soon took the lead after Aaron Rodgers turned the ball over, and kept it for most of the game. Near the end of the game, with the Packers up 26-21, the Cowboys' Dez Bryant appeared to catch a touchdown pass in the end zone, but the refs ruled the pass incomplete, and the Packers would go on to win, much to the dismay of Cowboys fans who had been enjoying a stellar season. (However, as I am a Washington Redskins fan, I couldn't be happier that the Packers won.)

The second AFC game was held in Denver shortly afterward. It pitted Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts against Peyton Manning and the defending AFC champion Denver Broncos. Manning of course used to be be a Colt and won Super Bowl XLI with them in 2007 ('06 season); he and the Broncos also lost the Super Bowl to the Seahawks last year. The Colts defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in Indy in their wild card game. Luck performed very well and the Colts won 24-13. There were rumors that Broncos coach John Fox would be fired if they lost, but some sources denied that the Broncos ever said this. Like two of the previous three games, this one contained what some believed to be questionable calls by the refs.

Next week, the AFC Championship Game will be hosted by the Patriots and feature a highly anticipated showdown, three-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady vs. Andrew Luck. The NFC Championship Game will be hosted by the Seahawks and pit Russell Wilson against Aaron Rodgers, both of whom have one Super Bowl win to their credit.

Need an NFL score? Just check Twitter

Twitter has a special NFL scoring feature where you can type the hashtag #NFL or a specific matchup (#XvsY) to find out the score of a game in progress. The feature also displays final scores of earlier games and start times of later games. So if you're on Twitter on a day of NFL action, you can just search #NFL or #(your team's game) to find out the score without having to go to the NFL website or Google. The scores come up in a box to the left of the screen, in place of the menu that is usually there. Twitter's scoring feature is really helpful during the playoffs, and especially the Super Bowl, which as far as I know is the most tweeted-about NFL game during the whole year.

It finally snowed again

After a month, we got another round of measurable snow in Maryland, mostly on Tuesday. At my house, it was only about two inches, but the roads were covered in some of the snow and also ice. Yesterday, although the sun was out for most of the day, there were a couple more brief snow showers.Then, the wind chills got down into the negatives last night and this morning, and we were under a wind chill advisory. But the sun was out most of the day today, except for a brief overcast period.

Desktop Ponies fails to disappoint

Desktop Ponies is a computer program made by and for bronies, older fans of the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, that displays a bunch of moving pony pixel sprites with a huge variety of animations and movements on a user's desktop. Some of the sprites even interact with each other, and they can "talk" in the form of tooltips on the desktop with accompanying audio clips taken from actual episodes. The sprites are also programmed to re-enact several scenes from these episodes. Desktop Ponies is a few years old now and it's popularity has diminished a little, but it's still being updated with new versions and is still enjoyed by people in the fandom.

A strange weather pattern

My town will go from unseasonably warm to potentially snowy in the next couple of days. Today the temperature got up to the lower 60s. It's been even warmer than that at this time of the year in recent years, up to the lower 70s. But tomorrow things should settle down, with clear skies and normal temperatures. Snow is in the forecast from mid-morning to early afternoon on Tuesday. That would be our first measurable snowfall in a while. Several snowstorms have been forecast during the past month here, but ultimately amounted to rain, wintry mix or just plain overcast skies.

NFL playoffs are starting

The road to Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona has now opened to 12 NFL teams - six in each conference.

My 2015 Winter Classic story

Today I went to the NHL Winter Classic in Washington, DC. The Winter Classic is an outdoor hockey game held annually on New Year's Day, and this time Washington was hosting it. My Washington Capitals were playing the Chicago Blackhawks at the baseball stadium Nationals Park. The Capitals previously won the 2011 Classic against the Penguins in Pittsburgh and I went to that one too. But unlike that game, where I spent two nights in Pittsburgh, this was just a day trip to Washington. The Capitals won 3-2 and there was plenty of action on the way there.

2015 is upon us

It's now the year 2015. I can hardly believe it. It seems like the time is just flying by. I'm going to be 20 years old this year and (hopefully) halfway through college, which is hard for me to fathom. But I'm sure I'll get used to another new year, and I hope it will be even better than 2014, which for me didn't start as well, but things eventually got better for me and I became happier. Here's to a happy new year.