NJIT Math Professor Bruce Bukiet Predicts The Mets Will Win 98 Games in 2016

Bruce Bukiet, seen above is a Professor of Mathematics at NJIT and an avid baseball fans.  He told me that he is a member of SABR.  He just announced his predictions for the baseball season using a mathematical model as he has done for many season.  He predicts that the Mets will win 98 games and win the National League East.  His model predicts the Yankees will finish at 78-84.

Mathematical models are obviously not perfect and sometimes players under or overachieve.  It can not predict injuries to significant players which change the picture.

I certainly hope he is correct.

Random Comments of the Day

It was another trip to the periodontist (gum specialist) today for a cleaning.  She wants me to come back in a month for a full series of X-rays followed by a deep cleaning.  One of my dentists told me that most problems are caused by gums and not by teeth.

When I got home I received my 13 pack of tickets for the Mets this season.  I will be going to a total of 16 Met games and 2 Yankee games this season.

Back to work tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Mr. Lee

Lee with his Superman Shirt

My son Lee is 28 years old today.  Where did all these years go?  He too is a fan of Superman, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Mets, and Johnny Cash.  Happy Birthday Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee.

Watched a Mets Preseason Games Instead of Batman vs Superman

George Reeves is My Superman

There was a lot of hype about the new movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Certainly the Man of Steel has appeared many times in Bruce's Journal as I have been a fan since the 1950s.  I was still a fan of the Caped Crusader, but somewhat lesser than Superman.

The review in AM/NY, a free newspaper that is distributed in the NYC subway system was very negative giving it one star out of a possible four.  The reviewer said "There’s about five minutes of actual story buried in a two-and-a-half hour mélange of booming clashes marked by melodramatic sound design, inexplicable narrative digressions to fill in the many empty spots."  In any event the late George Reeves seen above is my Superman.

We walked over to the local multiplex to try to get into the 1:20 show, but were shut out.  I thought that since it was Easter Sunday and with the bad reviews, we could get in.  It is no big deal as we can try to get in next week.  It is common that everyone has to go the first week, and then especially after bad reviews, the demand goes down.

Instead we went home and turned on the Mets vs Nationals preseason game.  Since it is just a week away from opening day in Kansas City I thought I should see what the 2016 team looked like.  Steven Matz pitched well for 5 2/3 innings and there were home runs by David Wright and Michael Conforto.  An error by reliever Jerry Blevins lead to some runs by the Nationals.  The game ended as a 4-4 tie at the end of 9 innings.  This is the third Met preseason game in a row that ended in a tie.  I guess this is normal for spring training.

2016 Walk Around Rego Park Was Uneventful

Rego Park has appeared in Bruce's Journal many times as I grew up in this neighborhood in Queens.  Every so often I take a walk around the old neighborhood to see how it has changed.  Since alternate side of the street parking rules were not in effect today, I thought it would be a good day to drive and walk around.

I parked right by 64-12 Wetherole Street where I lived from 1980-83.  The new landlord cleaned up the lawn as it was a mess in the 1980s.  I walked to 63rd Drive and passed by P.S, 139 and then walked down Saunders Street and stopped by 61-40 where I lived with my parents.  Back then it was a rental, but years later converted to a co-op.  It too was much cleaner than it was years ago.  I saw one familiar name in the building's directory.

I then walked to Eliot Avenue and then down Queens Blvd to 67th Avenue and walked down Saunders Street and back to my car.  Ben's Best Deli was the only retail establishment that was there since the 1960s.  The Rego Park Jewish Center was still there although the demographics of the neighborhood have changed over the year.

The only change that I observed was that many store fronts on Queens Blvd. were vacant.  Perhaps the rents have gone up and merchants just can't afford them.  This time I did not encounter any friends or acquaintances as I did on my 2014 trip.  I did pass by the former residences of:

• Ellen and Linda Dule
• Ronald Blum
• Dr. Forray (my pediatrician)
• Roy Herschaft
• Steven Gaber
• Rysee Katz
• Fran Cohan
• Ron Freisenger
• Rich Jacoby

King Harvest Has Surely Come by The Band

There is only one Band

IOS 9.3 is No Big Deal

Last night it took me abut 25 minutes to download IOS 9.3 for my iPhone.  It really was no big deal as the only "enhancement" is the ability for the phone screen to automatically dim during the night hours.  I assume that before we know it there will be an iPhone 7 and IOS 10.