Stanford is a special place, a picturesque oasis in Silicon Valley attended by some of the most fascinating and brilliant people I’ve ever met. I was an undergraduate there at a particularly special time, when Jerry Yang and David Filo were founding Yahoo, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were starting Google, Tiger Woods could be seen walking on campus, and Stanford was beating Cal every year in the Big Game. The year after I graduated, Chelsea Clinton moved into my freshman dorm complex.
Hmmm, it looks like yesterday was a big day for my alma mater. In addition to being featured in the new Knight Rider last night, Stanford was the venue of the prologue in America’s premier bicycle stage race, the Tour of California. Too bad I did not know this yesterday, otherwise I would have watched the live video feeds for that online instead of wasting 15 minutes of my life watching Fox’s NASCAR commentators try to put together coherent sentences while drivers went round ‘n’ round in left-hand ovals. Continue reading »
I have to admit, when I was kid, one of my favorite television shows aside from The A-Team and The Fall Guy was Knight Rider. It only ran for four years (from 1982-1986), but reruns remained popular long after that — something I was reminded of in 2003 when I watched a French-dubbed version in Paris (where the show was called K-2000).
Therefore, when I heard a new made-for-TV Knight Rider movie was coming out, I was pretty excited. Tonight it will be shown on NBC (8:00pm MST). Continue reading »
Now that baseball is off television, it seems like the sports world has suddenly become a lot more interesting.
Last weekend was classic. Continue reading »
Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe, but a whole decade has elapsed since I graduated from Stanford. How do I know this? My 10-year reunion is this weekend!
Unfortunately, I will be missing it due to running in the Boulder 100. Instead, I’ll have to listen to The Beach Boy’s “Be True to Your School” song and cheer on the Cardinal from afar. Continue reading »
Seems like my alma mater has been in the news quite a bit lately (read about the DARPA robotic vehicle and a wild jet-powered VW Beetle). This latest story by SF Gate was particularly comical, however.
As it turns out, the Stanford tree was caught drinking at one of the Cal-Stanford basketball games. She (yes, our mascot is female this year; we do not discriminate) apparently got caught after she was “jumping and dancing” in a manner “consistent with that of someone who’s had something to drink.” It didn’t help that the authorities claimed to see her drinking a flask through her costume. Reminded me of when the 1996 tree was attacked by rabid Cal fans, which at first I thought was pretty funny until I realized that the tree that year was Chris Cary, someone I went to high school with in Stockton, CA. Continue reading »
“Look at what Stanford mechanical engineering PhDs do in their spare time,” advised my friend Tom B.
Apparently, Ron Patrick likes to “smoke” other sports cars on the street. He also could “burn” high-performance vehicles on the drag strip.
How? With his jet-powered/4-cylinder hybrid VW Beetle. Continue reading »
&title=Tour of California "Kim Kirchen of the High Road team heads to the finish line. In the background is Hoover Tower on the Stanford campus. (Photo: Michael Maloney, SF Chronicle)")
&title=Knight Rider Returns "KITT is back! But as a Ford Shelby Mustang GT500KR. I suppose the producers could have done worse... (Photo: NBC)")
&title=A Wonderful Weekend of Sports "Paula Radcliffe and Gete Wami at the 2007 NYC Marathon. (Photo by bbc.com)")
&title=Go, Stanford! "Stanford's second-string quarterback Tavita Pritchard celebrates after throwing the winning touchdown in a big upset against USC. (Photo: ESPN)")
&title=The Mischievous Stanford Tree "The Stanford tree takes a breather. (Photo: Stanford University)")
&title=Jet-Powered VW Beetles "Volkswagen does not currently make any jet-engined hybrid cars. So, Ron Patrick created his own. (Photo by Ron Patrick's sidekick.)")