Hereafter

[Wayne23]

1/16: #11 Villanova, 12-4, 1-2, is here. They score about as many as we do but give up 4.3 more. Stats are pretty even. Their C is a monster, 20.5 and 10.1.

We'll need to play better than we've been playing.

1/17: We fall behind immediately then come back. Up 6 after 10. Their C got in early foul trouble. Up 9 at halftime. 13, 4 for Craw, 11 for Buck, but 3 fouls. +8 RBs, 4 more TOs. Holding them to 24.2%. +10 in the paint. Up only 3 with 10 left.

70-71. Damn! We let this one get away. We blew an 11 point lead. 5 lead changes 3 ties in the last 5 minutes and their C blocked our last shot.

17, 11, 2, 2, 6 for Craw who matched their C. 17, 14 for Dunk. They beat us outside.

+12 RBs but 7 more TOs. We took it in the 1st half and gave it back in the 2nd.

0-2 vs. ranked team in conf., so far and we haven't played Georgetown yet; not good given that they're next, away.

We're 16-3, but 2-2.

The Wixx are interesting. They're very serious- humorless actually. They either don't understand the concept of humor or they don't relate to our sense of humor. I think it's the former. As I've listened to and watched their entertainment there isn't any humor at all in it.

They do appreciate entertainment and relaxation though. They like music- very different from ours but music nonetheless; they dance, a dance that seems extremely weird to us, but of course it would. They are VERY into sports, again very different from ours.

But it's weird that they simply do not laugh, or even smile...

[Wayne23]

1/19: At #2 Georgetown, 17-2, 3-1. We upset them at their place last year in our biggest win of the season. It would be as big a shock if we won this year; they can play. But looking at the stats it is far from hopeless. Their SF is an All American.

1/20: Close early. Down 9 after 10; they're taking control. Not much I can do. I've maxed out the D. Down 20 at the half. They're shooting better and we're -7 at the line. Down 17 with 10 to go. We're in over our heads.

72-77. We had a great 2nd half but the hole we dug in the 1st was too deep.

16, 15 for Dunk, 14, 7 for Craw. -6 RBs. -11 at the line. +16 in the paint.

Wixx mating customs and rituals are a little difficult to understand. Evidently the groups of adults “grow together over time.” That's what they tell us anyway. When they have grown together sufficiently they cohabitate and begin reproducing. We're told that each child must have a minimum of three biological parents. No idea how that works and evidently it doesn't translate in any way that we can understand it.

[Wayne23]

1/23: At 13-6, 4-1 Marquette. It isn't getting much easier. Their starting PF, their best player, is out with a broken hand. We think we're the better team. If we play our game we should be all right.

1/24: Close early. Up 12 after 10. Up 17 at the half. We're playing solid ball so far. 14, 3 for Craw. We're shooting 55.6% to 32%. +14 in the paint. Up 17 with 10 to go.

90-70. Great road win and we needed a win!

26, 9 for Craw, 21, 12 for Dunk, 12, 4, 3 for Doli. +12 RBs. +34 in the paint.

[Wayne23]

1/26: 9-12, 1-5 Butler is here. Good program having a bad year. They have trouble scoring and they turn it over.

1/27: Slow start then we really heated up. Up 10 after 10. Up 18 at the break. 16 for Doli and the other starters all have either 9 or 8. 4 TOs to 17. Shooting %s are about even but we took 13 more shots. Up 26 with 10 left; this is a blowout.

92-69. Doli had a career game, 31 and 4. 16, 2, 16, 3 steals for Buck. 17, 7, 3, 4 steals for Dunk.

10 TOs to 21. +8% shooting.

We're 18-4, 4-3, tied for 5th, but finally turning it around in conference. NET #7.

Lots of talk about food still, even in Council.

“I'm worried about unrealistic expectations until all of the dining areas are fully up and running. Nearly everyone will want to try the new foods and the kitchens won't have the capacity to deal with that load at first. We need some kind of eligibility system.”

“No matter how we set that up people will complain it's unfair.”

“Some kind of a blind lottery, maybe by residence deck. Decks 4 and 12 can go on Tuesday...”

“We'll need to think it through. We're looking at an early April opening for the first two dining areas so we have a little time.”

[Wayne23]

1/30: 15-6, 5-2 Creighton is here. They're 2-3 vs. ranked teams. They have a very good PG. But we score a lot more points. They can play though.

We're ranked #6, which is still too high.

1/31: It's a battle. Up 1 after 10. Down 4 at the half after leading by as many as 9. Thei guards are killing us. Dunk has 3 fouls. -7 RBs but 8 fewer TOs. They have a 10% shooting advantage. We're +12 in the paint. Up 4 with 10 left. This one looks like it will go down to the wire. Then we go on a big late run!

93-75. 26, 14 for Craw, 16, 4, 7 for Buck, 11 each for Rude and Hosi. Dunk was in foul trouble all night and only played 16 minutes. +8 RBs, only 3 TOs to 15. We took 19 more shots. +28 in the paint.

We're in a 5 way tie for 3rd, 1 back of 1st.

We're getting a tour of all of the inhabited planets and moons in the Wixx system. When we said we were also interested in seeing the uninhabited planets and moons they balked for some reason. No idea why. We didn't push it but we will revisit it.

[Wayne23]

2/2: 11-10, 5-3 Provokation College Fryers here. We're a big favorite.

2/3: Slow start, then we pick it up. Up 10 after 10. Up 17 at the half. 15, 5 for C Doy Craw, 8, 5 for Dunk. +7 RBs, only 1 TO. Dominating inside and we've taken 11 more shots. Up 23 with 10 left; running away with it.

93-66. 21, 7, 3 for Craw, 16, 10, 3 for Dunk, all 5 starters had 14 or more. +10 RBs, 5 TOs.

20-4, 6-3. In a 3 way tie for 3rd, 1 back of 1st.

2/4: “You damn people think you know everything and you don't ask. You're making all of these plans and you've never once asked the people what they think. I move that Jed Clark and his numbers people devise, distribute, collect, and collate data on a survey of what foods people want and how often they want them and what kinds of choices they want, and all of that kind of thing.”

“Mick, you've been told before that being insulting and confrontational is not allowed in these meetings.”

“I made a damn motion and it was seconded.”

“Calm down or I'll have you removed.”

“Madam Chair, if I may?”

“Go ahead, Jed.”

“Mick's motion is a very good one. I support it and I hope the Council will. If we do I'll begin work with my team. We'll work carefully on what questions to ask and we'll reach out to people before finalizing the survey.”

“But there is so much in process.”

“Yes, and none of that needs to be changed in any major way. I mean construction, or rather renovation of kitchens and dining halls can be ongoing. The décor may change but that won't happen until near the end of the process anyway.”

After a fairly brief discussion the motion passed 12-0, and we were commissioned to come up with the survey.

I'm way too busy, and adding one more major chore won't help that situation. As well as my regular duties as head of statistics, I'm a negotiator with the Wixx and a member of the Council. Not sure how I'm going to find the time to exercise, run my team, play some piano, and spend time with Hali and June.

[Wayne23]

2/6: Three game road trip coming up. 1st is 7-15, 2-7 DePaul. They have a very good SG, but we score 20 a game more, and give up 2.4 fewer.

2/7: It's close early. Tied after 10. Up 6 at the break. 19, 4 for Craw, who's hot these days; he's helped by the fact that teams are overplaying Dunk. +8 RBs, +15% shooting, +18 in the paint. Down 1 with 10 left; I max out the D and go to man-to-man.

81-74. They came back strong and never quit. 27, 6 for Craw, 17, 12, 3, 3 steals, 5 blocks for Dunk.

Our outside D could have been better. +8 RBs but 16 TOs. +7.7% shooting. +18 in the paint.

Hali and I, you remember she's my second in command in stats, are compiling the survey and talking to as many people as we can regarding what they want the new dining experience to be like. We're maybe a week away from having the survey ready.

Not much new regarding the Wixx and our exploration of their system. They still don't want us to see the unexplored planet and moons, and we have no idea why. When we bring in up they shut down the conversation, so we're not really pushing.

[Wayne23]

2/9: At 11-12, 3-7 Xavier. We score 20 more a game and give up 3 more. They're 0-4 vs. ranked teams.

2/10: Back and forth. Down 5 after 10. We're sluggish. Up 6 at the half. +10 in the paint, +6 shots made, +14% shooting but they're hanging in.

“40 points! You gave up 40 points to a team that gets 63 a game! PLAY SOME D!!!”

Up 19 with 10 left; we gave up 7 points in 10 minutes.

80-64. 19, 10 for Dar Dunk, 16, 11 for Craw, 25 combined for the starting guards.

+7 RBs. +18 in the paint.

"MUCH better 2nd half, but you need to play 40 minutes!"

[Wayne23]

2/13: In a 4 way tie for 2nd in the Big East, 1 back of 1st. 5 left to play, 2 of them tough road games including the next one, at #12 Vermont, 20-5, 8-3.
They beat us by 2 at our place. Solid outside game and a very good Center. They're 3-1 vs. ranked teams, all on the road and they're home for this one. The first game was a ref dominated game with 45 fouls called and 68 free throws taken. They hit 4 more than we did and that was the difference. We were only slightly better inside, and foul trouble really hurt us. Hopefully the refs will let us play.

2/14: They take an early lead. Down 5 after 10. Down 11 at the half. Craw has 10 and 3, but 3 fouls. Hosi has 12 from the bench. No one else has more than 3. -4 RBs, 11 TOs! -6 at the line.

“You're not taking care of the ball and you're definitely not playing D!”

Down only 2 with 10 to go. Still close late!

77-83. They took control in the last 90 seconds. We lost it at the line, -11. Part of that was shooting 7-15 from the line, and part was that they had 13 more free throws. -7 RBs, only +6 in the paint, and 16 TOs. Sub Ash Hosi led us with 15 and 3. Our starters weren't very impressive tonight.

Alone in 5th in the Big East, 1 back of 3 teams, 2 back of 1st place.

The survey is ready. The Council sees it tomorrow.

2/15: “Generally, I like it, Jed. Give us a summary.”

“Well, you're looking at the results. 798 of our 884 people took the survey. That's an amazingly high percent. They clearly want lots of Indian and Asian food, some Italian and Greek, comfort food, and junk. I'd ask our head of the dining department to comment.”

“Thanks Jed. Yes. This survey is very helpful. I think we need to go with not one but two Indian restaurants, serving Indian food every day. Also two Asian restaurants doing the same, one American, one Italian. Each of those can provide a reasonable number of choices at every meal, say three main courses. Our other restaurants can focus on comfort food and junk food. People clearly want desserts of all kinds at whichever restaurants they choose to dine in, so we can provide that.”

“Will this mean a delay in opening our first two specialty restaurants?”

“No. I think we can open one Indian and one Asian restaurant by about April 1. The décor may not be authentic but that's in the hands of our artistic community, mostly. We can then add one restaurant each month until all 20 are operational.”

“How does that work?”

“Well, we have 10 dining halls operational now and we're going to 20. I think we add all of the new ones, then close a given dining hall and renovate it, then the next, and so on.”

“So a year and a half before the project is completed?”

“About that.”

“That's too long. I move that we allocate more personnel to this project so that we can open three new dining halls every month.”

“Now hang on. I'm not sure-”

“It's just teasing people to do this so slowly.”

“Yes, but-”

“I think this is important.”

“Mick, stop interrupting.”

“I made a valid motion and it was seconded.”

“Yes, but-”

“Our rules say that we discuss a motion that was made and seconded.”

“Madam Chair?”

“Yes, Jed.”

“Mick has a valid point. Can we proceed according to our rules of order please.”

“Yes, yes. I would ask Chan to speak regarding the feasibility of the motion. Can this be done?”

“I'm not sure. It's not simply a matter of personnel. Having more people on the job will help but our 3D printers only work so fast, and expert management help can't be just ordered by the Council. My assistant and I are really the only people with the expertise and experience to supervise-”

“Train people!”

“Damn it, Mick, there are only 24 hours in a day. I need to sleep and eat!”

It kind of got out of control for awhile. Then the Chair managed to calm everybody down.

“Chan, give us your best estimate. What's a reasonable time frame?”

“If we dedicate all available, non-essential 3D printers to the job of manufacturing kitchen equipment, dining hall furniture, etcetera, and if we can double our personnel, I think we can do three new dining halls every two months and maybe keep me marginally sane. BUT... that may not happen in May. We'll need some time to hire and train our new personnel.”

“Mick?”

“I amend my motion accordingly. And I understand that you may not get three done every single time within two months.”

“Thank you, Mick. All in favor?”

The motion passed 12-0. First two dining halls up in April of this year, all 20 by March of next year.

[Wayne23]

2/16: St Johns, 13-13, 4-8, is here. We won by 12 there. This is a game we should win easily. Not many of those left so we'd better!

2/17: “Keep your focus!”

Early lead. Up 8 after 10. Up 21 at halftime. Balanced scoring. +10 RBs, +17% shooting. +10 in the paint.

“Don't lose your focus!”

Up 20 with 10 to play.

87-62. A rout. 17, 9, 2, 4 steals for Craw. 14, 5 for Dunk, 11 each for Doli and Hosi.

+25 RBs, 11 TOs. +22 in the paint.

“The Council will come to order. The Chair has received two petitions. I'll read them.

“Here's the first: Intro blah blah blah. We, the Indian subcontinent crew members do hereby request that there be four dining halls devoted exclusively to the food from our part of the home planet. We number 211 people, 23.9% of the crew. 20% of 20 dining halls equals 4 restaurants. This does not take into account the many people who will wish to eat our food upon occasion though their ancestry is not from our part of the home planet.'”

“The second, is similar, I'll read the germane section. '... Asian people number 262 of the 884 on board. This is 29.64%. This should entitle us to six dining halls. We are asking for 5...' etcetera, etcetera. Comments.”

“They have a point.”

“Yes, but 9 out of 20 restaurants? It's unrealistic.”

“Really? As an Asian crew member it does not seem unrealistic to me.”

“Nor to me, as a Pakistani.”

The discussion went on for some time. The Chair summed it up:

“The general consensus of the Council seems to be that we should definitely devote more dining halls to both Indian and Asian foods. Dining Hall Supervisor Chan says this can be done with minimal delays if any. Now it is only left to decide how many dining halls to devote to each.”

A motion was made to have 4 Indian and 5 Asian restaurants. After considerable discussion the motion was passed 9-3.

“Supervisor Chan will devise a schedule as to which dining halls will be opened in which order.”

“My plan is for the Asian and Indian in April, of course, then one general theme, one Italian in June. Then an Asian and a Chinese in August. Then a general and an American in October. I'll work the rest out later.”

There was no opposition.