Philadelphia: First Weekend

Friday was my first day of work. I didn't actually get to do any real work yet; this was simply a new employee orientation day, where I sat in a classroom for most of the day and got talked at about the company and some common things that I need to do (like how to get in to buildings, etc). We got to go on a small tour of one of the facilities in the afternoon, and I got to eat lunch with my new boss--that was the first time I had met him.

This weekend was really nice! Ben came up from S. Maryland on Saturday evening and spent some time here--we watched some movies that evening, and then went to downtown early Saturday afternoon to look at the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the associated historical district. We also got to tour the original Congress Hall/Capitol Building (ProTip: Philadelphia was the Capital of the U.S. for the first ten years). It was a beautiful day out, so we took some time to just walk around downtown. Unfortunately, most of the historical places around there charge to get in, so we didn't get so see all the things (like Benjamin Franklin's burial place) that we wanted to. Later in the afternoon we came back to my apartment and grilled bratwurst and drank beer in the parking lot; yum!

Monday was my first "real" day of work, where I actually got to sit in my cubicle! I met all of my co-workers, they seem like they're going to be a lot of fun to work with. Most of my day, unfortunately, was pretty boring; I have to spend pretty much this entire week trying to get access to all the computer systems and tools I'll need to do my job, and doing mandatory training on Boeing's policies. The export controls ones (a.k.a. don't give stuff to non-U.S. people) are particularly boring, and of course are the longest.

Today, I worked more on computer systems and training, but also got a few small introductions to the actual work I'll be doing, which was a nice change of pace. I finally got to go over to the Chinook factory across the street and take a look at how they're built; the scale of the operation is simply incredible! Finished off the afternoon with more training and computer systems, but I should be done with that (for the time being...) by the end of tomorrow.

I'm pretty much moved in to my apartment now; there's still a few boxes of miscellaneous stuff that I need to unpack, and my empty TV box that I'm reluctant to throw away (it may join forces with a slab of wood to become a table), but everything else is more or less where it's going to stay for the next few months. It's nice to be able to sit down and relax after coming home from work, instead of always feeling like there's something I need to do.

Philadelphia Day 2

Yesterday:
- Moved in to new apartment. It's better than I expected in some ways, worse in others. It's a first-floor apartment, so that means it's actually half below ground and everyone in the parking lot can see directly in to my apartment. I do, however, have brand-new carpet and reasonably new appliances. Parking (which is a free-for-all) appears to be scarce during the evenings.
- Went to "Pre-Employment Processing" at work. In other words, did 1/2 hour of paperwork and proved I'm a U.S. Citizen, and got my photo taken for my ID badge. Hopefully it's better than my MN drivers' license. I made one new friend there; he worked for Boeing for a few years as an Engineer in L.A., but is now doing contract administration (business).
- Had dinner and a few beers with my Dad at Iron Hill Brewery, a nicer restaurant that brews their own beers (excellent!). It's been a long while since I've had such a long conversation between just the two of us.

Today:
- Went shopping for furniture, since I'm lacking dining room furniture, a coffee table, dresser, and a nightstand. I ended up purchasing a dresser and some dining room chairs at IKEA (found a decent dining table next to the apartment dumpster--claimed!)
- Got an early birthday present from Dad, a GPS for my car! The roads around here are really confusing, since none of them go north/south, not even the major ones. Most of the roads are based on the river, which runs to the south-west, and none of them are straight for very long. They also aren't named in any sequential pattern, so you really have to know the area to know where you're going. Also, the typical street sign is about 2" x 16" and brown, so finding and reading them is nearly impossible.
- With the aforementioned transactions, I triggered a fraud flag on my credit card. It seems buying $400 of gas in a drive across the country and then spending $500 more at stores is suspicious... who knew?
- Dropped Dad off at the airport, which represented the last of my many goodbyes. It was hard, and now I'm all depressed, but I have plenty of things to do to take my mind off things.
- Went "grocery" shopping, which consisted of stopping at the Wawa store on the way home from the airport. These things are everywhere; they're pretty much little convenience stores, except they don't sell gas. I only got bread and milk. I'll buy more food later when it's not rush hour.

Tomorrow is my first day at work!

Double Take: Moving to Philadelphia

A few weeks ago, "moving to Philadelphia" was just another fact about my career trajectory: it was unquestionably the best decision to make; a necessary sacrifice to get to my "dream job;" the next in the series of adventures that make up one's life. Meghan would move out there with me, and I (we) would get to see family and friends often enough to suffice; neither seemed a big problem at the time. I was significantly more at ease with the decision than she was, probably because I had the added excitement of going to start a new job (hopefully one that I like), while all she had to look forward to was me leaving.

However, it did not truly become real until three things occurred:

First: I had to say goodbye to everyone. It started on Sunday, when one of my friends from high school (in fact, the only one that I really stay in contact with that I didn't go to college with) came by on the beginning of his spring break to say hi/goodbye. That didn't really hit me too hard, because he's been away at school on the West Coast for the majority of the past 5 years.

Then was Wednesday, my "official" farewell party. It literally took until I was putting on my shoes to go to the bar to realize that that was the night I would actually have to start saying goodbye to everyone. It wasn't terribly difficult; a lot of the people there were somewhat casual friends, and I had plans to see my closer friends later in the week.

Friday was the night where I went out with my closest friends, for a night of food, drinking, and revelry. It was a little bit harder; since everyone was leaving for the Easter Holiday, that was last time I would get to see them. As most of my current and former roommates were present at one time or another, it was a really nice way to look back at college and what a fantastic experience it has been.

Easter Sunday, however, was the hardest, when saying goodbye to my (extended) family. When they were leaving our Easter gathering, they asked, "when will we see you again?" I already know the answer (for this year, at least) is Christmas. It's hard for me to stomach that, while living out there, I will likely only see my extended family once or twice a year; I'm used to seeing them at least every two months or so; for all the major holidays, birthday and graduation celebrations, and some other miscellaneous gatherings. However, being a 22-hour drive away greatly reduces my ability to attend such things.

Second: This will be the first time that I am living more than 20 minutes from my parents' house. I first realized this in the final stages of packing for the move, when I was making sure that I had everything, similar to when going on vacation. The realization that something I forgot is no longer a "quick run home" really drove the point home: I am moving away, for a significant amount of time.

Third: I just got back from saying goodbye to Meghan, I'm leaving for Philadelphia in the morning. I promised not to cry on the way home, if she didn't cry going to sleep. It felt really awkward and disjointed to not be able to say "see you tomorrow" with a smile. For the next 6 months or so, seeing each other the 3-4 times a week that we grew accustomed to is no longer the norm. Sure, there will be phone calls and web-cam chats and other communication, but nothing can ever replace the feeling of a very special girl falling asleep in your arms. Ever.

Now that the full magnitude of "moving to Philadelphia" has hit me, things no longer seem so clear. To the contrary, everything now seems so uncertain. Although the proverbial "plan" has always been to work in Minnesota, I don't know if that will change, and my present self wouldn't be happy if it did. I don't know what it will be like to have all of my friends and family 1300 miles away. I don't know how I will handle everyday life being away from my girlfriend.

"Life's an adventure," I keep telling myself. We'll see where it leads.

Fun Fact: River Reversal Edition

The Chicago River originally flowed in to Lake Michigan, but was reversed in 1900 to prevent sewage from flowing in to the lake by constructing a canal to the Des Plaines river, part of the Mississippi River watershed. [Wikipedia]

New Job!

After 12+ months of searching and applying, hundreds of rejected applications, and countless gut checks, I finally secured a full-time job with Boeing Rotorcraft Systems in Ridley Park, PA!

Right now, I'm not sure whether I'll be there for a year or a decade, or if this job is specifically something I want to do long-term, but at a minimum, it's a job in the aerospace defense industry. At this point, I don't have a specific job title that I want in 20 years, other than I know I want to design aircraft. Hopefully this experience will at least give me more insight in to where I want to fit in to the process.

I felt the largest obstacle I had to overcome in finding a job was the fact that I still have no actual (relevant?) industry experience--everything on my resume has "University of Minnesota" tacked next to it, and my current job is more or less completely separate from what I want to ultimately do, so getting this job is a huge step in the right direction for me.

Although I don't yet have an official start date, it will probably be about a month from now. Moving out to Ridley Park (a southern suburb of Philadelphia) is an exciting, new, and nerve-wracking experience for me; I've never lived outside of the Twin Cities, and never truly lived on my own--that's an entirely different post, though.

Yay!

NFL Overtime: A Flawed System

Disclaimer: I am a Minnesota Vikings fan, and Sunday's NFC Championship game most definitely "inspired" me to write this article. Yes, I'm bitterly disappointed, but my points stand independent of the result of that game.

Different sports have different overtimes: soccer simply plays an extra 30 minutes, and then goes to a shootout if the game is still tied. Baseball is similar, adding innings one at a time until the tie is broken. The "sudden death" or "golden goal" model is perhaps the simplest of all: the next team to score wins the game, period. It's unquestionably the most thrilling time in all of sports; every subsequent play has the potential to end the game. Leagues that use sudden death include the NHL, FIFA (until recently), and the NFL.

In light of Sunday's NFC Championship Game between the Vikings and Saints, the blog-o-sphere has exploded with editorials about how NFL overtime is or is not flawed. Here are most of the arguments that I have heard in favor of the current NFL overtime system (and why they're wrong):

WHY PEOPLE WANT TO KEEP THE CURRENT SYSTEM

1) Them's the rules. I've read countless articles and comments today that say "the defense should have played better," "they should have won the game in regulation," or ultimately come down to "they didn't deserve to win the game." Let me be perfectly clear: I am not here to say "The Vikings got jobbed." With 5 turnovers, they certainly didn't deserve to win Sunday's game.

2) Winning the coin flip does not mean a team will win. History has shown that taking the opening drive of overtime for a score does not happen nearly as often as one would think. The statistics vary, but the figure I have heard quoted the most is the team that wins the coin toss will win 60% of overtime games, In the complete history of the NFL, the team that won the coin toss has won 54% (239 of 445) of overtime games, and in 2000-2007, that number increases to 60%. Many fans (and apparently the NFL) deem this "close enough" to half-and-half to not warrant a change.

3) Sudden death works well in other sports. Hockey and soccer both implement a sudden death overtime format, and nobody ever complains about overtime in those sports (except the shootout, which is an entirely different can of worms).

WHY THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS FLAWED

1) The coin flip provides a statistical advantage. If 60% of teams that win the coin toss go on to win the game, the team that loses the toss will only win 40% of the time, which means the team that wins the toss is 1.5 times more likely to win the game. If an average NFL team were to go in to overtime in every regular-season game and lose every coin toss, they would go 6-10 or 7-9 on the season. To put it in perspective: the home team won 56% of games in the 2000-2007 season. So, winning the coin flip in overtime is almost as big an a larger advantage than being the home team. That's hardly a fair system; the rules should never give such an advantage to a team, especially in a way so arbitrary as a coin flip.

1b) Teams always elect to receive the ball in overtime. The opposite has happened only 7 times in the history of the NFL. Clearly, everyone that has ever played professional football (except for a few adventurous souls) perceives there's an advantage to going first, and since all those players and coaches are pretty good at what they do, I'm inclined to believe that there is.

Again, the the question here is, why should such an advantage be given out in the first place, let alone be awarded by a coin toss? Instead, what if the visiting team always got the first possession in overtime? Or, what if the team that lost the coin toss could only play with 10 players on defense? Surely such a rule would not stand for long.

2) Sudden death is not fair, given the nature of football. Sudden death is only fair in sports where changes in possession are significantly more frequent than scoring. As an example, let's compare hockey and football, both of which use sudden death overtime. I will estimate that in hockey, a possession lasts 30 seconds, for a total of 120 possessions per game, and that an average game has 5 goals scored. That works out to about 0.04 scores per possession. On the other hand, an average football game will see about 24 possessions (3 per quarter per team), and probably about 8 scores (2 TDs, 2 FGs per team), giving about 0.33 scores per possession.

What does this mean? According to our numbers, an average sudden-death hockey overtime will last about 24 possessions, which virtually guarantees that both teams will have an opportunity to make the winning score. However, the average overtime in football will only last 3 possessions; basic statistics tells us that quite a few football overtimes will be a one-possession affair, with the losing team never getting an opportunity to score (Update: the actual figure in 2000-2007 was 30%). What if baseball were to implement true sudden death, and the home team never got a chance to re-tie or win the game? Nobody in their right mind can argue that a high probability of a one-possession overtime is in the best interest of fairness.

3) Sudden death overtime in football changes the nature of the game. In other sports that use sudden death, a team can only score in one way: by putting the ball (or puck) in to the goal. The fact that the next score will instantly end the game does not change the ultimate strategy of the game, other than teams possibly playing more conservatively to avoid a loss.

However, in football, there are multiple ways to score, and naturally there is a trade-off between their ease of execution and their value. As a result, in regulation play, a team will obviously prefer a touchdown to a field goal, because it earns them more points. However, in sudden death overtime, a field goal and a touchdown have precisely the same value: a win. Clearly, it's not in a team's best interest to try to score a touchdown. Case and point: in the 2009 NFL regular season (by my count), there were 13 overtime games. Only two of these were decided by touchdowns. 70% of all overtime games have been won by kicking a field goal. You'd be crazy to say that's an accurate representation of the actual game.

If teams only need a field goal to win, the entire game changes. In regulation, holding an opponent to a field goal and then scoring a touchdown on the ensuing possession is a legitimate strategy; why shouldn't it be the same during overtime? In order to effectively win the overtime, an offense only needs to get to their opponents' 35-yard line; the defense is more or less playing on a 50-yard field with the game on the line.

4) The rules should work all of the time, not just most of the time. Using Sunday's game as an example, consider that it's equally likely that the Vikings could have won the coin toss and the "undeserving" team could score and advance to the Super Bowl. Perhaps some would say the Vikings deserved it because they won the overtime, but could you honestly say they were "deserving" when they committed 5 turnovers, and the #1 offense in the league sat on the sidelines, helpless to do anything to win the game?

Just because a rule works every once in a while (or even most of the time) doesn't mean it's not flawed; rules should work all of the time. For an example of this, look up the play that caused the 2003 Vikings to miss the playoffs (the rule was in fact eliminated in the off-season due to that very play).

WHAT SHOULD REPLACE SUDDEN DEATH?

1) Use the NCAA's overtime rules. This system has each team trade drives, starting on their opponents' 25-yard line. It's unquestionably fair in the sense that it gives both teams opportunities to score, but if we're trying to keep the nature of the game identical to regulation play, this is clearly not the way to go.

2) Add additional quarters as needed. This goes the furthest toward accomplishing the goal of not changing the game. Unfortunately, with an average overtime currently lasting about 7 minutes on the clock (by our calculations above), this would greatly extend the length of the game. Concerns about injuries and game broadcast length have prevented its implementation.

3) Require a team to score 4 points in overtime to win. This is my favorite, as a compromise between preserving the nature of the game and keeping game length to a minimum. In this system, the incentive to score a touchdown is not removed. Yes, there would still be one-possession overtimes, but only if a team scores a touchdown on the opening drive, at which point it's a much more convincing win. In order to win on field goals, a team would need to score two of them and prevent their opponents from scoring a touchdown in the intervening possession.

4) Hold a closed bid for possession. In this system, both coaches would secretly write down what yard line they would like to start on to begin overtime; the team that has volunteered to start further back would be awarded the ball, and the overtime would proceed as normal. I don't like this one because, as with the current system, it is played on a shorter field than regulation play, and it's very difficult to predict what would actually happen were this implemented.

4b) Choose where the opening kickoff/possession begins. One team (determined by a coin toss) would choose what yard line the opening drive (or kickoff) would start on, and the other team would choose whether they would like to kick or receive the opening possession. Again, I'm not a fan of this option, because while it's an interesting way to get teams to not automatically choose to receive the kick, it's still played on a short field.

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Whatever is chosen to replace the current system, the point remains: the current NFL overtime system is flawed and ultimately unfair to the teams that play the game. Unfortunately, the league has not seen enough of a need for change to do anything about it; countless games that were decided by only giving one team a chance to score are apparently not enough of a reason.

It will probably take until a (possibly "undeserving") team kicks a field goal in the opening possession of overtime in the Super Bowl for the league to have a serious chance of changing the overtime rules. Until that happens, we can all hope that our team just wins the coin toss.

On the Origin of "Indians"

The Trombones' "Indians" section feature is music from "Go Go Gophers," a short-lived cartoon show from the late 1960's featuring two Dogs in the U.S. Army that are constantly after two Gophers that are, yes, Indians.

The actual tune is a combination of the introduction music and the actual theme for the Indians/Gophers.

An Episode of the Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH7TXnFJNeE
(for the impatient, watch the first 10 seconds and then skip to 3:30 for the music in question)

Wikipedia Article on the Show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Go_Gophers