January 3, 2012 — The University of Virginia retained its No. 3 ranking for the sixth time in seven years in the "100 Best Values in Public Colleges" list, released today by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.

"As states cut funding for higher education and tuition continues to climb, the word 'value' becomes more significant than ever," said Jane Bennett Clark, senior editor at Kiplinger's Personal Finance. "This year's top 100 public schools deliver strong academics at reasonable prices. We applaud these institutions for tightening their belts without compromising quality."

According to its press release, Kiplinger's assesses quality and affordability based on a number of measurable standards. This year, rankings were revamped to give more weight to academic value, such as the percentage of students who return for sophomore year and the four-year graduation rate. Cost criteria include low sticker prices, abundant financial aid and low average debt at graduation.

The article says of U.Va.: "This elite institution not only has a competitive admission rate (33 percent), but also the highest graduation rate. And it stands out for its generous financial aid: U.Va. is one of the two schools in our rankings that meet the full financial need of enrolled students (the other is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Students who qualify for need-based aid pay an average annual cost of only $5,138."

For out-of-state students, U.Va. remained the No. 5 best value among public colleges and universities.

UNC at Chapel Hill was ranked first overall for the 11th straight year, followed by the University of Florida and U.Va. The College of William & Mary retained its No. 4 ranking. Rounding out the top 10: New College of Florida; University of Georgia; University of California, Berkeley; University of Maryland, College Park; University of California, Los Angeles; and the University of California, San Diego.

Other Virginia universities ranked in the top 100 were James Madison University, No. 28; Virginia Tech, No. 32; University of Mary Washington, No. 44; George Mason University, No. 50; and Christopher Newport University, No. 94.

Prince William County, Virginia ranks among the top ten of the wealthiest counties in America according to the latest U.S. census figures released September 22, 2011.

With a median household income of $92,655 Prince William is ranked ninth in the nation. Prince William was also recently named CNN/Money's No. 13 among all jurisdictions in the nation in job growth. This is up from the previous year when the County was ranked 17th nationally.

"This ranking reflects the pro-business reforms that the County has implemented," Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart said in a press release on Thursday. "We have made a concerted effort to attract high quality jobs to Prince William County and the results speak for themselves."

Prince William also just earned its third AAA Bond rating status even as Standard and Poor’s downgraded the Federal Government.

"ExxonMobil's earnings reflect continued leadership in operational performance during a period of strong commodity prices. Earnings were $10.7 billion, up 69% from the first quarter of 2010, reflecting higher crude oil and natural gas realizations, increased refining margins and record Chemical performance."

Meanwhile, I am paying $4.00/gal. for gas which is almost 69% higher than what I paid for gas last year. Does not seem fair.

It's Spring, sunny and warm and I have not had time to post anything since Winter. Got to do a better job job in the future. Anyway, belated Happy Easter and Wecome Spring!!!

1) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

2) Josh Ritter - So Runs The World Away

3) Bruno Mars - Doo-Waps & Hooligans

4) The National - High Violet

5) Beach House - Teen Dream

6) Lissie - Catching A Tiger

7) Interpol - Interpol

8 ) Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

9) Grace Potter - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

10) Warpaint - The Fool

11) Taylor Swift - Speak Now

12) Lost In The Trees - All Alone In An Empty House 　　　

Congratulations to the Virginia colleges making Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list of the 100 best values in public high education, based on in-state tuition.

The University of Virginia was ranked third, with the College of William & Mary right behind at fourth. These two schools have been in Kiplinger’s top five since 1998, and were praised for drawing high-scoring freshmen and having the best graduation rates. James Madison’s value was ranked 19th; Virginia Tech, 24th; University of Mary Washington, 26th; George Mason University, 61st.

Virginia truly does have some of the best colleges in the nation, at the best prices.

Maryland football coah Ralph Friedgen choked back tears as his players embraced him on the last night of his Maryland career, as the Terps beat East Carolina University 51-20 in the Military Bowl at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

And at the exact same time the 63-year-old was coaching his final game at his alma mater, Mike Leach, the former Texas Tech coach was being courted around campus as possibly the new football coach at Maryland.

The Maryland team playing their last game for Friedgen played with high emotion and intensity. The defense forced four turnovers, made two fourth-down stops and contained an explosive spread offense. On offense, Senior running back Da'Rel Scott scored on two touchdown runs of more than 60 yards and rushed for a career-high 200 yards. D.J. Adams became the first Maryland player in eight years to score four rushing touchdowns in a game. In all, Maryland rushed for a season-high 297 yards.

"I have three daughters and 120 sons," Friedgen said amid the postgame celebration as his 120-player extended family encircled the patriarch of Maryland football for one more night. "I am going to miss these kids." "My legacy is what it is," Friedgen said. "It is 75-50"(in ten seasons as head coach).

Mike Wise of the Washington Post summed up my feelings all to well.

"The body wasn't even cold. You couldn't have at least waited until he cleaned out his office at Gossett Team House on Thursday? It was just too much to let the ACC coach of the year have one more day before the mail-order bride from Texas arrived?

But when the athletic director guarantees your job security for 2011, then rescinds that pledge a month later;...when his hoped-for replacement(Leach) is in College Park the very day he is taking the Terrapins to their seventh bowl game in his 10 years and their fifth postseason victory, well, that's just about as classless as it comes.

They can't debate this: Forty years after his old man swore he would change the locks if his disenchanted kid left College Park - because, as his father said, "quitters don't live in my house" - Ralph Friedgen never quit on Maryland.

It's a damn shame that on the night of his last triumph, in the cold at RFK where they chanted his name and he sang the alma mater as the band played, the university he continues to love can't say the same".

The first half ended with a fumble returned for a touchdown. The second half ended with a touchdown that didn’t count. Nothing less should be expected from a game between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys. The cast might change with new quarterback Donovan McNabb and new head coah Mike Shanahan into the mix, but one thing is eternal: This Redskin/Cowboy rivalry will always have some memorable finishes.

The Redskins came out on top this time, winning 13-7 in Sunday night’s opener even though Tony Romo completed a 13-yard pass to Roy Williams in the end zone on the game’s last play. Alas, the score was negated because tackle Alex Barron was whistled for holding linebacker Brian Orakpo, stopping the Dallas celebrations in their tracks and giving Washington a victorious start in its new era with quarterback McNabb and coach Shanahan.

"I knew he held me, but as soon as I seen him throw it to Roy, I’m like `Are they gonna call it?"’ Orakpo said. "Then I looked up and saw the yellow flag on the floor. Hey, it’s game, set and match. Game over, it’s celebrating time."

The Redskins didn’t get to celebrate much last year, going 4-12 under coach Jim Zorn and 0-6 in the NFC East. They didn’t score a touchdown in either game against the dreaded Cowboys. For that matter, they didn’t score an offensive touchdown Sunday night— cornerback DeAngelo Hall was the only Redskins player to find the end zone—but that hardly seemed to matter.

The National Marine Museum in Quantico, Virginia is worth a visit. The displays are great and life-like of U.S. Marine history.

It's Spring and almost time for baseball to start, so time to look at how the winter sports have done.

The Maryland Terps Men's basketball team had a very good year, finishing the regular season with six wins in a row and a tie for the ACC Championship(13-4) and 24-9 overall.. The Terps did OK in the NCAA's and should have beaten Michigan State(they were lucky to hit a 3-pointer with just .3 seconds left in the game). Michigan State is now in the Fnal Four, and it should have been Maryland.

Gary Williams earned "Coach of the Year" and Greivas Vasquez was "Player of the Year" in ACC basketball and both were very deserving of the honors.

The Maryland Terps Women basketball team were very young this year with three freshman and a sophomore starting most games. They still finished wih a 21-13 record and should be back in the playoff picture next year with an excellent recruiting class for 2011.

The Washington Wizards had a diaster of a season both on the court and off the court. The team never played to its potential. Owner Abe Polen passed away and star player Gilbert Arenas got into a lot of trouble for bringing guns into the locker room and was suspended for the rest of the season. The team decided to trade away all-stars Antwan Jamison and Caron Butler along with cneter Brendon Haywood. The future does not look good for the Wizards.

The Washington Capitals ice hockey team continues to dominate the NHL and are seriously looking to make a run at the Stanley Cup in April. Ovie Ovetchkin looks to win his league MVP for third year ina row.

And the football team Washington Redskins always make news during the winter off-season. They have a new cach in Mike Shanahan and a new approach to building a winning team. Making slower and not as "splashy" moves as they did in past off-seasons. We'll see how this goes.

Back to Spring and baseball. The Washington Nationals signed the best college pitcher of the past decade, Steven Strasburg, and he pitched like it during Spring Training. So, The Nats decided to send him to the minors for "seasoning". He should be "sesasoned" by May and up in the big leagues. The Nats didn't improve the team from last year so I am not expecting them to do much better than last year when they lost 102 games. Going to be a long summer, except on days that Strawsburg pitches.

On one glorious night, Maryland bid farewell to its three standout seniors, avenged a bitter loss to Duke and moved into a tie with the Blue Devils atop the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Greivis Vasquez scored 20 points, including a clutch basket with 37 seconds left, and 22nd-ranked Maryland beat No. 4 Duke 79-72 Wednesday for its sixth straight win. It was the final home game for Vasquez, who was honored with seniors Landon Milbourne and Eric Hayes before the game.

Afterward, fans stormed the court to celebrate Maryland's first win over Duke in seven tries. "You couldn't really ask for a better script than that," said Hayes, who scored 13 points. "The ACC regular-season title was on the line; it was just a real special night."

Jordan Williams had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Terrapins (22-7, 12-3), who haven't lost since falling to the Blue Devils by 21 on Feb. 13.

Top 10 Albums 2009

1. The Fame - Lady Gaga

2. Wilco the Album - Wilco

3. Fearless - Taylor Swift

4. Only by the Night - Kings of Leon

5. 21st Century Breakdown - Green Day

6. The Resistance - Muse

7. It's Bliz - Yeah Yeah yeahs

8. Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King - Dave Mathews Band

9. No Line on the Horizon - U2

10. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear

11. Lungs - Florence and the Machine

12. It's Not Me, It's You - Lily Allen

It's official. This is the snowiest winter on record in Washington, DC, breaking the total snowfall for a winter set in 1888-89

NBC4 chief meteorologist Bob Ryan broke the news at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 10, 2010 that the District officially has recorded 54.9 inches of snow this winter -- thanks in part to two blizzards.

The frist blizzard was on December 18, 2009 and gave the area 22 inches of snow. The second blizzard was on February 5, 2010 with another 22 inches of snow followed by a second punch on February 10th with an additional 10(or more) inches of snow.

The old record was set in 1888-89 of 54.4 inches.

1. 2009-10 54.9

2. 1898-99 54.4

3. 1995-96 46.0

4. 1921-22 42.5

5. 1891-92 41.7

6. 1904-05 41.0

7. 1957-58 40.4

The largest snow in Washington was 36 inches in 1772 and was recorded in the diaries of both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It is still the "unofficial" record for a single snowstorm.

The "official" record is 28 inches on January 28, 1922(the "Knickerbocker" snow). Other large snows were the 20.5 inches on February 14, 1899; the 18.7 inches on February 18-19, 1979; the 17.1 inches on January 7-13, 1996; and the 16.7 inches on February 15-18, 2003.

The two snowstorms this season now rank second and third on the list of snowstorms in Washington, DC.