The Last Man

[Wayne23]

1/29: 16-5, 7-1. RPI #80. +10.8 PPG, +1.4 RBs, +5.4 TOs. 1 game lead in the WAC, 2 teams are 2 back, and everyone else is at least 4 behind.

Still no luck at all with recruits.

We fell apart toward the end of the season last year. We need to do better this season.

2/19: We end regular season play at 21-6, 12-2, RPI #71. 3 games ahead of 2 teams, 6 or more over the rest. Matt Feld, who has earned more and more playing time, led us in scoring with 16.3. We have a solid starting lineup and a very good #3 guard, but we are woefully thin up front. After the starters at SF, PF, and C, there is one guy who is BARELY adequate. If we stay healthy it could well be enough to get us through to the WAC title, but one injury up front would do us in,

Now let’s get some rest, heal the small injuries, and win the WAC tourney!

[Wayne23]

June, 2125: I spent I don’t know how many hours in a spaceship today- well, in the HC. There are wo basic types of space programs. One is an exploration program, based upon the very latest data the cosmologists and astrophysicists determined about what we know about the universe. That program brings me to various places within the solar system, like other planets and their moons, and shows me what I would see if I really was able to go there, as closely as the science people could figure it. At that point I can adjust so that it gets more speculative and shows me more.

The same program shows all sorts of things beyond the solar system and even beyond the galaxy. That program is way more speculative to begin with, but it tries to stay as close to theory as possible.

There is so much cool stuff to see. I do this one often. And I make the trip part of the adventure, learning what I need to know as we travel. Granted, the speed of light barrier was never crossed by our scientists, and this assumes that it was, but still. I enjoy the “being in space” part of it, the living there. And it would be low ceilings and cramped quarters, and that’s what the simulation provides. I take this one in big chunks, often all but living the simulation for days and days on end, just taking very short breaks to do the few things I need to do. Dan and Hal come along. They adapt very well to space, but then a “ship’s cat” has always been a seagoing tradition so why not!

The other program is a Star Trek adventure program. It’s widely programmable. I stay away from “bug eyed monster” type adventures and lean toward the ones that focus on new discoveries, and on interactions with civilizations. I use several of the various series’ scenarios and personnel, and make myself one of the characters from one of the series, or just a crew member.

I spend lots of time on this program. It’s great fun. I guess McCoy is the character I play most often, followed by Picard. And i do mix genres, and include characters from various series in the same adventure at times.

[Wayne23]

2/28: 1st round WAC tourney game is vs. #8 seed New Mexico ST, 10-17, 4-10.

3/1: 44-29 at the half. +13 RBs. Sub guard Cole Tare leads us with 10, PG Matt Feld has 9, and SF Rob Baer has 8. Only 2 players with 2 fouls. They have 2 with 3, and 3 with 2.

83-65. +22 RBs but 23 TOs (-11). 20 for POG Matt Feld, 15 for Daws, 14 for Baer, 10 for Tare. An easy win.

#5 seed Utah Valley, 11-17, 6-8 in the semis.

3/2: 42-38 at the half. The O is great but we’re not playing D. They’re going in and out successfully, and we’re not reacting quickly enough. I may go more zone in the 2nd.

76-73. Whew! I tried the zone but things got worse. I went back to mostly man and we built a 10 point lead. They got it to 3 with the ball three times, but we stopped them every time. Stats were as even as the game.

The only real edges were in free throws (13-20) and threes (11-5). 20 for Baer, 16, 6, 3 for Daws, 14, 3, 4 for Feld, 11, 4 for Carr.

#6 seed Chicago ST, 14-15, 5-9, for the title, after they scored 2 upsets in a row. We won by 16 here, then lost by 11 there.

3/3: 33-25 at the half. Eric Costa played 2 minutes before picking up foul #2, and I got a T- two minutes into the game. Interestingly enough, the three blind mice only called 23 fouls for the rest of the game, 14 on them, 9 on us.

We jumped on them at the beginning of the 2nd half and built a 22 point lead, and then coasted home.

22, 5, 3, 3 for Matt Feld, 18, 7 for Fred Carr, 11, 7 for Daws, 12 for Baer.

Great tourney! We’re in the Dance!

3/12: 24-6, 12-2, WAC champs, both regular season and tournament. RPI #51. #13?

#12 West. We face #5 seed, #14 ranked Gonzaga, 24-7. Tough draw, but not unfair.

3/17: 32-52 at the half. Tough going. -7 RBs, -4 TOs. They’re getting way too many open shots. 15 for Daws, 8 for Costa.

68-85. We played a lot better in the 2nd half but we were in over our heads. Proud of my guys. 20, 5, 4 for Daws, 11, 7 for Baer, 10, 5, 3 for Costa.

We’re going to miss Daws and Costa.

4/3: #3 Indiana won it all.

4/4: Awards: Frosh PG Matt Feld was WAC POY, Frosh OY and 1st team. Junior PF Fred Carr was Defensive POY and 1st team. Senior guard Joey Daws also made 1st team. I got COY.

Looking to move. Let’s see if we get the opportunity.

4/9: Going to Central Florida. They were 3-25, 1-17 last season so there’s nowhere to go but up!

4/16: I hire a #3 assistant for 1 year- because I don’t want him for 2.

4/23: We badly need budget dollars. No.

This is going to be a huge challenge. Let’s see how we do.

[Wayne23]

July, 2125: Then there’s the detective game- well, there are a bunch of those. I love the Sherlock Holmes one. You get to be Holmes or Watson, and you have to solve the mystery. Very, very well put together. Set in the time period. Whoever put together the maps did a terrific job, and not just London, anywhere Holmes and Watson may have journeyed to, or may journey to, which is, essentially, everywhere. The situations and challenges are excellent. It’s not an easy game, but it is winnable if you work hard and pay very close attention.

The game has all new adventures, not the ones Conan Doyle wrote, but they have the perfect “feel.”

There are other detective games as well. Some are really good, others not so good.

It would be hard to overestimate the amount of fun I’ve had with these things. They have really enriched my life.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Okay, 10 guys on the team. Maybe we can grab a transfer or two.

6/5: I just had a walk on transfer out of the program. How is that even possible?

6/9: We offer to 3.

6/12: We get a C.

6/19: We get an SF.

6/26: 4 scholarships. Ideally we’d get 2 and 2.

8/21: We offer to 2 guards and 2 bigs.

9/25: We have a PF and a PG. 2 to go.

10/2: Still chasing those other two recruits. Lots of prospects.

1st day of practice. The goal is to finish above .500. We loaded our pre-conf. season with soft teams but we’re not very good. Our best player is a walk on.

10/9: We have our 4 recruits. 2 are jucos and the other 2 have good grades, so we should be set until spring when I may cut a couple of players.

11/6: It’s a bit scary that our two starting guards’ names are trip and Fell. Senior Ban Fell is starting at PG, and soph Jaq Trip is at SG. Redshirt frosh Sean Hall backs up.

Frosh Carl Herr is at SF, with frosh Dane Fram behind him.

Senior Marq Owen is at C. Frosh Del Karr and walk on frosh Brad Gebb split time at PF and backing up C, with Karr starting.

We’re inexperienced, to say the least. It could be a rough ride!

[Wayne23]

July, 2125: I’m learning how to operate a yacht, in the HC, of course. There’s this HC program that teaches how to operate a 50 foot yacht. I don’t know that I’m going anywhere. While

I’d love to go to Europe, and then to Asia and Africa, I just don’t see myself doing a solo ocean crossing. Too many things could go wrong. But, hey, let’s learn how to do this. Could be fun.

The other idea I’ve had is trying to make my way down to Central and South America. It would be nice to see what’s there, and if I really am the last person alive. It would be a LONG haul through hellish desert country, probably until getting pretty far into the Southern hemisphere. That’s why I’ve never tried it. Thinking about it, though.

[Wayne23]

11/20: We split 2 at home. Gotta win the home games.

Never mentioned it but we’re picked 10th in our 11 team conf.

11/27: 2-2. Looking at the lineup. We’re getting nothing from SF. Brad Gebb is going to start there. Both he and PF Del Karr will get more minutes.

12/4: 2-4. 2 road losses. It’s going to be a long season.

3 home games coming up.

12/11: 3-4. A 1 point win at home. We almost let an 11 point lead get away, but we hung on. Guards are getting our points, especially Ban Fell, who’s averaging 19.3.

12/25: 4-5 at the end of pre-conf. play. -3.7 PPG, -2.4 RBs, -0.4 TOs. RPI #260. can’t imagine we’ll go .500 in conf.

There really aren’t any moves I can make. My team is my team. My guards, Fell, Trip, and Hall are playing decent ball, but we’re really weak inside.

[Wayne23]

July, 2125: Screw it, I decided to head south. I knew it was about 1000 miles to the Mexican border. I figured, if I was lucky, about 2-3 weeks, driving about 4 hours a day, 5-6 days a week.

The first week was fairly easy. I’d already been as far south as almost the Colorado/New Mexico border, so that stretch of 400 miles or so only took a week.

Then it took 12 days to get to Monterey, Mexico. I had to pick my way, and it was slow going in some places, and very slow going in others. I averaged about 50 miles a day, but some days I made more than 100, and one day I made 7.

The heat was unbelievable, as high as 130 F from New Mexico on. I changed things up and drove from sunrise, for two hours, and then the last two hours of daylight. That helped a little with the heat.

I took good care of my truck. Starting WAY back when I learned how to fix the thing, and I haven’t yet found anything I can’t fix. This is my 5th truck, but they are all exactly the same year, make, and model. Of course I can get parts, tires, tools… out of the 3D printer.

Anyway, I did have a breakdown on that day I only did 7 miles, and I spent the rest of the day fixing the truck.

Next time: Monterey to Bogota.

[Wayne23]

1/8: 5-8, 1-3. We’re in over our heads in this conference. Again, I have no lineup changes. This is our team.

Little used big man Joe Mohr strained abdominals. Out 2 weeks.

-6.5 PPG- changes

1/29: 7-12, 3-7, RPI #215. In 9th place (out of 11). We tightened up the D 3 games ago. It has made no difference so far but we’ll stay with it.

Never felt so helpless. We’ll be better next year, but that seems a long way off. A friend from back in California asked if I’d take another job offer if one came along. Hell yeah!

2/12: 9-15, 5-10, RPI #222. 10th place.

I’ve managed to stay positive with the team. As bad as things are, and they’re bad, along with everything else, our best big and our best guard are both seniors, I’m still trying to build something here.

2/26: We finish a horrible regular season at 10-17, 6-12, RPI #223. Tied for 9th. In all likelihood we have one game left in our season.

[Wayne23]

October, 2125: Monterey to Bogota was a LONG haul. I stopped and explored in lots of places along the way, even though I knew it was way too hot for there to be much around. And due to the heat, I had to be careful with the truck. I really babied it along.

And then, early on in this part of the trip, I got to Oaxaca, and it was underwater. Villahermosa was too. There was a very, VERY narrow strip of land. I walked it- all of it, maybe 2-3 miles. It felt a tiny bit spongy, but I thought I could get the truck over it if I unloaded the 3D printer and the HC, and then carried them across one at a time.

There was a very scary moment when one truck tire seemed to sink in, and I could see the truck sliding into the Gulf. I gunned it and got through.

Then I walked the 3D printer, and then the HC across. I always carry a hand truck in the pickup, which helped. I stayed to the absolute middle of the path.

Once I was safely through I set up for the night. It was 11:15 a.m., at least 120 degrees, and I was absolutely done for the day. AND I took the next day off.

Of course I realized that undoubtedly parts of Guatemala and Honduras, and maybe ALL of Costa Rica and Panama would be under water, but that was a problem for another day.

I squeezed through a narrow passage in Honduras, and ran out of land near the Costa Rica border in southern Nicaragua.

I mulled things over for another day at that point and realized I had two options. I could either turn back and give it up, or I could find a way to get the pickup and everything in it into a boat, and navigate across this stretch and hope there would be a place to unload in Colombia.

Since I had been studying how to operate a boat for some time, that’s the option I chose.

It took 4 days of searching to find a boat I could manage, and a docking set up that would allow me to load the pickup onto the boat.

I was rolling the dice that I would find a place to dock and unload.

I did, on my first try. But first the trip.

If I hadn’t been stressed about actually finding a place to unload I would really have enjoyed the few hundred miles I traversed on the Gulf. I enjoyed it anyway, part of the time. It was a little cooler on the water, and most of the time there was a breeze. I love being on the water, and it was calm.

I got ideas for later on, when I finished this adventure. It would be crazy to spend much time on an actual ocean, too many things could go badly wrong. But I started to consider other possibilities regarding relocating to living on water.

Anyway, I got to just west of where Baranquilla once was. It was underwater now. I found a little marina and sure enough, there was an all but perfect place to unload, and I unloaded with no hassles.

In two days I was in Bogota.

But this stretch, and the next couple were about suffocating heat and humidity.

Next up: Brazil.