The Last Man

[Wayne23]

3/9: We play #8 seed Tulsa, 15-12, 8-10, in the play in for the conf. tourney. They won by 21 there, and we won by 1 here. We need to control their inside game.

75-87, and the worst season ever ends.

3/12: I didn’t even watch the Selection Show. Read about it afterward.

4/3: #3 Kentucky won it all.

4/4: Awards: We were shut out.

4/9: We climbed from 25 to 27 in Team Prestige, which makes less than no sense. We had one goal, which we didn’t reach, and we won 10 games all season. I don’t get it.

Unfortunately, there were no decent coaching offers, so I’m back. Oh well, let’s see what we can do.

4/16: I was able to hire a decent #3 assistant. Pleased.

4/23: We need money. I thought I made a really strong case for it taking money to improve the program. I guess not. Oh well.

10-18, 6-12. Overall I am now 57-33, .633.

We’ve got 7 new people coming in for next season, and 4 adequate players returning. Hoping for improvement.

[Wayne23]

December 2125: Brazil is a big country. I spent a couple of months driving around the country and saw a lot of it. Most of it was unbearably hot, and a real wreck. It was very difficult getting from place to place, the most difficult of any place I’d been so far. But eventually I saw what I wanted to see.

I then went through Uruguay and followed Argentina as far south as I could before running out of land. I stayed on the Atlantic side.

I decided that I would not try to cross into Chile, since all reports indicated that almost all of it was underwater. Instead, I would just see what there was to see in Argentina, which is also a very large country.

The best part of being in the southern areas was that the weather was a lot more bearable. I appreciated it, and so did all of the equipment.

Next time: Heading North.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We buy the national basic.

6/5: No one of interest in the transfer pool.

6/26: 3 scholarships. Probably want 2 bigs.

8/15: We offer to a PG and 2 bigs.

9/18: We seem to be getting close with all 3 recruits.

We have a schedule. Still pretty weak.

9/25: We get the two PFs. Still after the PG.

10/2: We get the Pg. One of the bigs is iffy for the SAT score.

1st day of practice and we are definitely better than last year. Enough to finish above .500? Maybe.

11/6: I have 3 starters and 6, maybe 7, maybe 8 role players.

Junior Jaq Trip starts at PG, junior Gem Barr at SF, and junior John Seal at C.

Junior Dave Jack is the role player starting at SG, and junior Ray Cran is the role player starting at PF.

Soph Beau Ping, and junior Bik Cham back up at SF, PF, and C, and sophs Sean Hall and Luke Robb back up at guard.

We’re better than last season, but I’m not sure how much. Our only goal is to finish above .500, and we’re picked 8th in our 11 team conf. To reach the goal we need to win at least 6 of our 9 pre-conf. games. Of course 6 of the 9 are on the road.

[Wayne23]

March, 2126: I don’t know what I expected to find on this trip, but what I found was heat, humidity, and desolation. Oh, and skeletons- loots and lots of skeletons, skulls, partial skeletons.

If there is any animal life in South America I didn’t run into it. No animals, no corpses or partially eaten corpses- nothing.

The entire continent, until I got way, way south, was completely barren. Eventually there was plant life, but not a lot, and not much variety.

As I headed back north I quickly got back to the desolation… and the heat and humidity.

By this time my truck was tired. I seemed to spend as much time resting ti and repairing it as I did driving.

Finally, after three long months, I was back to where I had left the boat that took us back north to Central America.

I managed to load the pickup and get to Nicaragua.

I decided to look around for a big yacht, maybe a 75 footer. I thought I could manage that in the Gulf of Mexico, and I thought I might like to live on the water for a while.

Next time: In the Gulf.

[Wayne23]

11/20: 2-0 start, including a road win. Our Center, John Seal, a transfer from Cal, has 2 double doubles. We played two very weak teams, but I’ll take it.

One of my recruits, a PF, did not sign, so he won’t hit the SAT score. The only good news there is that he was our lowest ranked recruit.

11/27: 3-1. We’re 2-1 on the road. We make some changes. Bik Cham will start at PF. Dave Jack will get more minutes at guard.

12/4: 5-1 after 2 home wins.

12/25: Great pre-conf. season, 7-2! RPI #119. +8.1 PPG, +3.1 RBs, +1.8 TOs. SF Gem Barr is leading us with 17.0 PPG, and he’s been really consistent. He rebounds, takes care of the ball, and is our best defender. Dave Jack at SG and JohnSeal at C both average more than 11 per game, and Seal is our leading rebounder. Trip has been a disappointment at PG, and Sean Hall is now starting there. Bik Cham is still starting at PF, but Beau Ping is making a strong case. We’re looking good.

I have no illusions though. The conference won’t be easy. We need 8 wins to insure a + .500 season.

[Wayne23]

May 2126: It was a lot of work finding the right boat, securing the truck so that it was sheltered and tied down, getting the HC and 3D printer on board… I stayed in the Gulf for three days.

It was just too hot, even on the water.

I loaded everything back into the pickup and headed north.

The plan was to get to Lake Superior and try the boat experiment there. The trip took two months, during which, since I was heading north from the equator, or at least near it, the weather got cooler. While temperatures have moderated from their highest points, as I’ve mentioned, most places are still warmer than they were. Lake Superior will get kind of chilly in winter, but most of the time it will probably be in the 50s. There will likely be times when it gets cold enough to snow, so I’ll be prepared for that.

I got to the Lake a week ago. I finally found the right boat, at the right marina yesterday and now I’m making final preparations to secure the pickup and get on board. The boat is a 65 footer that sleeps six, which is 5 more than I need. It’s roomy, and in great shape, especially considering how long it has been just sitting there. Given that I have a 3D printer and an HC I don’t need to bring much, but I went to some stores and grabbed a really warm parka, some long underwear, and a fur hat, and I stowed them on board. I found a place below deck to keep the HC and the 3D printer. They can be secured in case of bad weather. Actually, I will keep them secured at all times, except when I bring the printer on deck to get it the sun it needs to stay powered. Oh, the boat is completely solar powered.

I’m looking forward to life on the water!

[Wayne23]

1/1/2032: 2-0 start! We beat South FL there and SMU here. While neither is a powerhouse, I will oh so definitely take it! Barr had 20, then 25, and Ping had 22, then 17. Ping will start immediately.

1/8: 4-0.11-2. Loving it! Started with a road win at Tulsa, Seal getting 21 and 13, and 5 in double figures. Then a home win with Seal getting 26 and 8. Jaq Trip had 2 terrific games from the bench.

We only need 4 more wins to guarantee a winning season. Admittedly, the early conf. schedule has been very favorable, but I like the way we’re playing.

3 ranked teams in a row coming up, but 2 are at home. Frankly, I’ll take 1-2.

1/15: We beat UConn by 4, here so we managed to go 1-2 vs. the three ranked teams. Heck of a win. Gem Barr had 26 and 6, and we just kept working all night long.

The next 2 are on the road, but 6 of the 9 after that are at home.

12-4, 5-2.

1/29: 13-6, 6-4. RPI #57. We’re alone in 4th in conf. +4.2 PPG, +3.2 RBs, +1.5 TOs. Two tough road losses then a win at home.

The PF we didn’t expect to hit our SAT score didn’t. We offer to a PF.

[Wayne23]

June 2126: Lake Superior is about 400 miles long by 185 miles wide (longest and widest points). Cruising at a comfortable 25 mph (I know, but I can’t figure out nautical miles) I can cruise all day and never get close to land, especially if I don’t go in a completely straight line. But I don’t cruise all day, and I always dock at night. On the first few days I located and noted carefully twelve places to tie the boat at a marina, or dock or whatever, roughly at the hour placements on an old fashioned clock. And I go to the nearest one at the end of the day, assuming I’ve cruised at all. It’s safer. If a storm comes up I can make the boat extra secure that way.

Some days I just go out far enough so I can’t see land, and I just let the boat drift. I love the feel of being on the water- just love it. I may just sit on deck or even below deck reading, for a while, then cook a meal.

I spend way less time in the HC now that I’m on the water. I want the feel of the water under my feet, and being in the HC eliminates that.

There are all kinds of fish, including some very large ones, in Lake Superior, but I’m not a fisherman. Sometimes fish will come up to the boat, even swim along when I’m cruising. Live and let live.

I could swim on calm days but I don’t do that either. One mistake and some very bad things could happen.

Oh, earthquakes. Because of all the insane fracking that was done, this part of the country turned into a frequent earthquake area. That is somewhat less so now but earthquakes still happen, and they can be a problem. I have a warning system in place, and it will even alert me if I’m in the HC. If the alarm goes, and it’s something I couldn’t miss, I need to find out, if I can, which direction the earthquake struck in, and then cruise at max speed to the docking point furthest away. Why? If the quake actually hit in the Lake, it could result in some very high waves- not a tsunami, exactly, but high enough waves to cause problems.

Priority one would be to get the printer below and battened, if it happened to be on deck, and then cruise at max speed, keeping my eyes open. Worst case scenario I can actually secure myself at the helm. Living alone, I came to realize very early on that I needed to try to think of every eventuality and potential problem.

Oh, the boat has a shower but I shower in the HC. Why? I can take a 3-5 minute shower in the boat and why would I do that when I can take a full shower in the HC.

A word about the HC. What happens in the HC stays in the HC. Yes, I can eat in there, and the food actually reacts in my body the way food would in the “real world.” The same holds for anything else- if it happens in there it is real- in there. I can’t take anything out of the HC. There are times when I forget that. I’ll have, say, a bowl of chili. I’ve eaten half of it. I end the program without thinking, to go get a magazine, and the chili just disappears. Can’t tell you how many times of done that with food and drink. Oh, and yes, I can freeze a program rather than ending it, but when I open the door to leave, the stuff disappears anyway. But freezing a program works. I can come back to it a minute or a month later, and it will pick up right where I left off- without the chili or the vodka and lime, or whatever.

Next time: More of life on Lake Superior.

[Wayne23]

2/5: 15-6, 8-4, and we have met our goal. No matter what, we will finish above .500. I’m thrilled with the progress we’ve made in such a short time. We’re actually tied for 3rd in conf, and our RPI is 50.

Gem Barr continues to be our go to guy, but he gets lots of help, inside from John Seal, and outside from Dave Jack, Sean Hall, and Jaq Trip. Beau Ping keeps getting better at PF.

2/26: We end the regular season beating #1 in conf., #5 ranked Temple, to finish tied for 3rd at 19-8, 12-6, RPI #45. +4.3 PPG, +2.9 RBs, +1.3 TOs. Gem Barr finishes 2nd in conf. in scoring, and John Seal 2nd in RBs. I’m overjoyed! 10-18 last season, 19-8 so far this season.

[Wayne23]

January, 2127: Winter on Lake Superior. It’s colder than I expected, mostly because of the wind, of which there is a lot. There are days when I simply don’t untie the boat.

I’ve made myself as weather wise as I can. There are no weather satellites any more, and if there were there would be no way to contact them so I need to rely on thermometers, barometers, wind gauges, wind socks, rain gauges- the old fashioned tools. That means there’s no real early warning system, so I need to play it safe. Any sign of a storm brewing and I batten down as securely as possible.

We got a real snowstorm yesterday. I wouldn’t call it a blizzard, the winds were only in the 15-25 range, but it was what we used to call not fit for man nor beast. I’m the only man and there are no beasts, but it wasn’t fit for me. The cold got down into the cabin, and I wore that heavy parka I told you about a while back- the fur hat, too. Kept them on for- well, I’m coming to that. It stays dry down there as long as I batten down securely, but the cold comes through. I use the heaters but I don’t like to tax them; it’s not that cold. But it gets down to 62, even 60 in the cabin on the coldest and windiest days and nights.

I didn’t want to get into the HC during nasty weather because you never know, so I did some much needed clean up, tidy up, and washing. I actually washed the cabin floor, and even the walls. That did a good job of warming me up, so it wasn’t a bad thing at all. I made a beef stew that turned out to be hearty and delicious, and there’s enough for tomorrow; having the stove on for several hours also took the chill out. The 3D printer provided the ingredients, of course. Once I got everything cooked I let it all simmer for a few hours while I did the chores, and then I printed out a small loaf of the best damn pumpernickel bread you ever tasted, and had a meal fit for a king. A nice thick slab of apple pie finished it off. I spent the evening reading, and the storm kind of quieted about midnight. I slept in the cabin, but I always do.

I haven’t mentioned that I don’t sleep in the HC on board. I just feel like I need to be alert. I’ll nap in the HC, but I try not to be in there for more than 2 hours at a time. Even with the warning systems in place, it’s best to stay in the boat- yes, I know. The HC is right there in the boat, but still. A good Captain is always aware of what’s going on. Even if he hasn’t looked out for a while his ears and his nose are keeping him on top of things. Can’t do that in the HC.

And when I put the printer on deck in the sun I stay topside, again, just to be sure.

I have to say that I couldn’t be happier. I’d go so far as to say that my 7 months on Lake Superior are the happiest I’ve been since I’ve been alone.