Friday, December 29, 2006

Thursday, December 28, 2006

A Pre-emptive strike

880 wins, 3 national titles, and not fit to shine Dean's shoes. Congratulations, Knight. I salute you.



Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Whirlwind holiday

Here's the brief rundown of the "Arranging your lamp" family trip to NC for Christmas. This post is sponsored by Xanax, palindromic alleviator of Pteromerhanophobia.

K and I took the redeye to Dulles on Friday, connecting to RDU at about lunchtime. Many people at SFO were trying to reach Denver and were being told that they probably wouldn't get there. Funny how it sometimes takes a holiday blizzard a time zone away to remind us how interdependent we are these days. Anyway, it was a sad scene, and I hope they found a way home.

Our first Triangle stop was K's father's house, for a celebration with that side of the family. From there, we headed to K's mom's farm, for another great family visit. Christmas Eve at the Advocate was beautiful; a reminder that I really do like church. It was great to see a bunch of people we've missed, at least those who were not in MS. Church was followed by the traditional dinner at a Japanese steak house- always good times. While there, I ordered bourbons for K and myself. After about 10 minutes, we noticed a fly in my bourbon, and five (5!) in K's. Back at the bar, the bartender asked what bourbon I had ordered. Knob Creek. His reply: "Knob Creek? No wonder." My reply: "Why do you keep a bottle at your bar if you know it's slap full of insects?" He had no answer, but I was happy to return to the table carrying a couple of drams of the bourbon for which I am an ambassador.

After a fine Christmas morning and brunch with K's family, we headed to the 'boro, center of hotness, to visit my folks. We had a good time with them, including checking out the new 'boro hotness, which consists of hanging a ton of lighted balls in trees, turning the whole neighborhood into something out of a sci-fi movie. Almost certainly not unique to Greensboro, but very cool. Enjoy.


The trip home was highlighted by a 2-hour delay at O'Hare caused by a diaper lodged in the plane's plumbing system. A device called the Super Sucker was summoned, and was partially effective. We made the flight to San Francisco with only half of the lavatories fully operational. My good friend S generously picked us up at the airport, and we returned home to our cats, our bed, and our sweet-ass new TV.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Buster Olney at ESPN.com, who is an excellent baseball writer, has published a column stating that he thinks Tony Gwynn ought to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Thanks for stepping out on a limb, Buster. As a Ripken fan, what do you think his chances are? Do you think he'll make it? I'm going to roll the dice and suggest that Roger Clemens will be elected first-ballot as well, if he ever retires.

Thirty pages of writing to do this week, on a paper that has been giving me fits. I think people who are not subject to the whims of institutes of higher learning enjoy Christmas more than people like me. My Christmas looks like this: overnight flight to NC, Day and a half with K's family, Day with my family, flight back to CA. That's not a holiday. That's a punishment. This will absolutely be the last time I move to CA to work on my Master's.

Every couple I know is now officially pregnant, or has pulled the goalie. For those who are anxious about such issues, the "Arranging your lamp" household has left its goalie in the game, and is counting on him to do what he is paid to do. Big Country and his wife make me happy. I've not been this excited about a pair of parents and the kid who gets to be raised by them.

Oh yeah, let me say this for the record: I do not think Borat is funny.