I just realized I forgot to post this. It’s not pretty, in that it doesn’t look nice. It was done through OfficePoolManager. I couldn’t find an online tool that allowed you to pick your teams like they have for March Madness and the NHL playoffs.

Ovie finally gets a ring.

Despite the title of this post, we didn’t feel anything!

I have not been following the NHL very closely this year, Toronto’s season was just too brutal to watch after they fired Randy Carlyle. I have never been a big Randy fan but you can’t argue with the Leaf’s record with and then without him as coach.

Given the above, here’s my WAG at who will win the Stanley Cup. I’ve thought St. Louis has had a real shot for several years now but have a feeling this is the season they believe they can win and will do something special. I’m also want to see the NYR go deep.

I know this is blasphemous to say but with the NBA playoffs starting soon and with the Warriors and the Raptors having great and very good seasons, I will be tempted to watch as much basketball as hockey probably.

Here’s my NHL Bracket:

While I managed to get onto the Yahoo! website just under the wire and created this before the first games were played, I’ve been working on a project and so am only now posting my bracket. Of course, Baylor lost yesterday in one of the first upsets, so it’s already “blown up”. As I stated last year, I don’t follow NCAA Basketball, so this is more of an exercise in statistics than anything else. Good luck to all the teams competing this year!

As most of the world saw yesterday, Apple announced two new iPhones, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, both of which are larger than the previous iPhone 5/s/c models. If history repeats itself, Apple’s initial supply of these phones will be tight and so pre-ordering your phone this Friday (September 12, 2014) is your best bet at getting your hands on one. [Note: If you are just upgrading your phone, I highly recommend purchasing it via the Apple Store app on your current iPhone!] This of course, presents a bit of a dilemma, which iPhone to choose? This is especially true for those of us with smaller hands (the current iPhone 5s is pushing the limits of what I can reach with one hand). To help myself and now you out, I’ve created mockups of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus so you can determine if the 6 Plus really feels like holding an iPad mini to your head.

NB: These are strictly my mockups based on information available online, I don’t have any inside knowledge!

With a little patience, a pair of scissors, and some Scotch tape, you should be good to go. Here are png files for each phone. Just click on them, download to your computer (right click and save to Downloads), and print them out.

Enjoy!

iPhone 6

iPhone 6 Plus

Have you fallen prey to Warren Buffet’s Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge? I have. Despite knowing the (approximate) odds of winning, it was enough impetus for me to register and fill out a bracket. I’m not a “fantasy” player for any sport but have to say I was incredibly impressed with Yahoo’s bracket website. Brilliantly done guys! The big winner here is, of course, Warren Buffet and Quicken Loans. Brilliant advertising with basically zero probability of having to payout. Math experts may be arguing about the exact odds of picking a perfect bracket but all agree it’s 1 in BILLIONS (a rough calculation puts my bracket at 1 in 7.5 billion). I read ESPN has had over 30 million brackets filled out online over the years and have never seen a perfect one.

Well, enough chit chat. Here’s my bracket:

Norm’s 2014 Bracket

Let March Madness begin!

Since the Leafs finally have a night off, I thought I’d try to put their current season in perspective. As of right now, the Leafs 40 points are only good enough to put them in 4th place in the Northeast Division.

However. There is only one other team in the Eastern Conference, Pittsburgh (who have won 13 in a row!), that has 40 or more points.

Further, there are only 4 teams total (Chicago, Vancouver, Minnesota, and Anaheim) in the Western Conference that have 40 or more points.

So, all-in-all, not a bad season to date. Just like their brethren the Blue Jays in the American League East, they play in a brutal (i.e. very tough) division.

Bring it home boys!!!

P.S. Yes, they have played 34 games and most teams have a game or two in-hand but only 3 more (western) teams (Detroit, St Louis, and LA) can make it to 40 in 34 games.

Welcome to normnorris.com. This site needs a lot of work and is in its infancy but you have to start somewhere. I just sent an email to the SVTC discussion list pointing to my VDOT calculator, so I figure I better get started on updating this site. Next post will point to the VDOT calculator. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Enjoy!