on the people-to-call list:
- gurs, who has committed to seeing the cats at michigan, and further debauchery, i hope
- unstadt, who now is owed two calls. saturday afternoon. book it.
- didi, who i spoke with briefly during the night when the alcs and nlcs were both played...game 1 of one series and 2 of the other...i blew her off and haven't called back since
- melissa, another weekend - or maybe friday night - call...twas her birthday on the 22nd, i remembered on monday, and called on tuesday...i haven't returned her callback

i'm generally awful at making calls, although i used to be good at it. i guess you meet some people in three years on a job. or maybe the coworkers are just, in general, cooler. or maybe i've been overconsumed by baseball. or maybe i don't like to call until 9, but then i'm asleep.

i spoke with sister annie, who has changed her last name on emails to peacenik, which i think is funny. i'm not a naturally activist person - i don't thrive on conflict or complaint, which is a necessary trait of an activist type. my sister is, or is among people who are and has been sucked in. (like i learned in psychology a01[a big waste of my time], 'probably some nature and probably some nurture.') annie and 24 other future barbara walters (aka sarah lawrence students...) loaded up the vans and headed to ohio this past weekend to 'get out the vote' and actually go door to door and try to chat up people on issues and arrange for old people to get transportation to the polling places. i don't know if she deemed it a successful trip - i only know that i probaby interrupted to tell her that iron chef was on- but i think it's a real respectable and impressive thing for a 19 year old idiot to do. she's apparently going to pennsylvania on tuesday.

i've got lots of vacation time and an accrued comp day that i'm supposed to cram in before the holidays, so i'm taking tuesday off to watch election coverage.

i haven't followed the election so tightly, and i try not to live and die with the polls, but i think that bush will probably take pennsylvania because if i were from pennsylvania i'd cringe at the thought of theresa (ta-ray-za) heinz kerry representing my state.

an unsubstantiated theory that i've created, and that'll make republicans cringe: if bush does win/litigate his way to this election, the next gop candidate will be running against hillary clinton, who will win in a landslide.

has there ever been a more disappointing world series? absolutely forgettable, and absolutely incredible that st. louis had absolutely zero fight. boston led the entire series. at the end of every inning (perhaps not in game 1?). unbelievable. i thought st. louis won 105 games...ya still need an ace.

i love manny ramirez. he's clueless, but silly about it. he waves to friends while being interviewed. he's got silly hair.

jeannie zelasko is creepy.

not much is planned for this weekend. i'm reading a tremendous book - wonderland, about a pennsylvania high school, by sports illustrated's michael bamberger - that i'll probably finish tomorrow. i'll probably also make my second batch of winter chili tomorrow.

saturday i'll watch the cats...maybe i should have planned a trip in for homecoming. but nobody's really there anymore, except gurs. gurs is generally worth seeing, as are the entire numed crew + the west henderson crew. probably should have gone. saturday i'll also call unstadt. saturday i may be wrangled into working at the ballclub's haunted house, my third straight weekend with one 7-to-midnight shift. i may also get into a gigantic argument with a slacker coworker of mine who's self-important and has not taken a shift on any of the nine nights.

sunday eileen and i are going to my grandpa's 80th birthday party. we went to my grandparents 60th anniversary two weeks before. think about that. different times...pretty amazing.

i talked to my brother briefly today when i learned that steve stone was officially out of the cubs booth for 2005 (one more reason for my slacker ass to finish my freakin' tape and send it along), and i found out that he's officially started operation: sell out. more details to follow. it appears that, come january, he'll be spending a week at disney world for a accountant sellout 'training' session that should primarly include young male sellouts and young female sellouts and few seminars and lots of drinking, probably all paid for by The Man. (tongue partially in cheek. i think he should intern in sports radio instead.)

i'll only be proud of him if, in ten years, he's officially become the first-ever 'non-boring' accountant. or if he's caddying for phil mickelson.

curt schilling, just now, prior to a top ten stint with dave letterman:
"we had four must-win games and we musted."

i think that's particularly well said.

i've got nothing to say that hasn't been blogged or said before, but i'll keep writing anyway. it sure was neat to see the bosox did what they did...it sure was neat to see mariano blow things, and it sure was fascinating to see torre absolutely melt down. is it me, or did he elect to use mariano in two-inning stints - with a 3-0 then 3-1 series lead - and watch as mariano blew the save in both of those ballgames.

it seems like, when you've got an all-star in tom gordon, even an all-star who's been a bit less reliable lately, that you might as well stick to what got you here: gordon in the eighth, mariano in the ninth. but torre panicked, in a huge way.

why torre, if he wasn't going to use bubba crosby, elected to keep him on the roster over the somewhat-more-intimidating-even-when-on-steroid-withdrawal jason giambi, i'll not ever understand.

i've got to say, i sort of love watching alex rodriguez with the stunned look on his face. that's a player that absolutly oozes awful karma at this point in time. he left a dominant club to take the money, and this is where it's gotten him four years later. it's notable that his judo chop will probably serve as one of the most lasting images of the alcs. i think arod is the only yankees player i genuinely dislike. jon lieber and flasherino are the only ones i genuinely like.

wonder why david ortiz was so dominant? take a close look at him. dig the droopy eyes...dig the over-wide nose...dig the girth...he's the dominican babe ruth. i'm convinced that the bosox simply needed him back to finally outdo the yankees.

think biggie smalls, then say to yourself, "i love it whenjoo call me big papi." it's pretty cool.

it's neat to see the yankees lose, but only in the i-like-to-see-the-underdog-win kind of way. i don't particularly hate the yankees, but i also don't like the red sox. or rather, i like the red sox, but i absolutely despise their fans. it should be noted that i know one red sox fan, and i find this person's attitude and self-importance annoying.

my favorite moment of the series? every time i saw schilling's bloodied ankle. my least favorite moment? schilling saying "that was god's work out there" or whatever. shut up. god doesn't care.

i wish that the astros had won tonight, only because i think that beltran is deserving of a true national spotlight. as well as he played, he was overshadowed by the east coast bias (!) all week long. am i ridiculous in thinking that there's a chance he'll go anywhere but new york? yes.

phil garner made absolutely the right move by starting former rochester red wing (in fact, a red wing until the beginning of june, when he exercised a not-in-the-big-leagues escape clause) pete munro in game six. all they needed was one more big hit, and it would have worked out perfectly. tonight, they simply got beaten, by jeff suppan.

for reasons of beltran, biggio, bagwell, and brad lidge, i wanted the astros to win this series. i am now rooting for the cards to win the series. nobody named kiko has ever worn a world series ring, i'd imagine.

elliott smith's from a basement on a hill is lush and beautiful, like everything since either/or. i don't know the words exactly, but "pretty (ugly before)" is truly incredible...buoyant, bouncy, strangely a bit uplifting. suicide is a shame.

i've also got interpol's antics. i like it, which is more than i could initially say for turn on the bright lights, which now stands as one of my top 30 or so albums. i just hope interpol switches things up on their next record, which is due in 2009.

dustin hoffman just tried and failed to produce spit bubbles and then release them into the air while on dave letterman. i can do that. in fact, i just did it.

i just dressed as jar-jar binks (well, wore my regular clothing and a mask) and said "meesa jar-jar binks!" and stared at people and then said "may i have your teeeket?...please ignore the human-like hand" for about four hours. i only actually dealt with about 60 people, but it was funnish. two more days. (stadium haunted house. sort of silly, but sort of fun.)

the main reason for this post is the lamest main reason for a post ever: fantasy football...trade talks.

a guy in the league's uber-hot for roy williams. lots of silly deals proposed in recent weeks. today's silly deal was cleveland receiver andre davis and kicker jeff wilkins for roy. we all know kickers aren't sure bets, but wilkins about as sure as they come. certainly, andre davis wouldn't start for me.

i countered with a fair and interesting deal: i send him roy williams, tight end chris cooley (two TDs, but only eight or so catches for Washington, although he's always on the field) and kicker jason hanson for WR jerry porter (reasonable numbers - 45-70 yds a game, no tds yet), TE antonio gates (the best tight end in the league right now) and jeff wilkins.

this is how my lineup would change:
QB from trent green to trent green
RB1 from ahman green to ahman green
RB2 from domanick davis to domanick davis
WR1 from roy williams to eric moulds
WR2 from eric moulds to ashley lelie
TE from freddie jones to antonio gates
RB/WR keary colbert or quincy morgan or jerry porter or michael bennett (if he's healthy/productive)
DEF TBD - kansas city or buffalo
PK from john kasay to jeff wilkins

i think the deal would be great for me...but i think it's a fair deal for him (he's currently starting leonard henry and justin mccareins, although gates' productivity has him at 5-0), especially considering he's so hot for roy williams.

i doubt it'll go through.

if there were an award for most blogtastic family in the world, it'd be the nemo's. four kids, four blogs. and there's a rumored uncle. i'm waiting for mrnemo.blogspot.com to begin publication.

i think dave's might qualify as the best, due to its regularity of high-quality updates. pete's is probably second-best, because it's pithy*. nemo's is generally most pertinent to me. c's is unmemorable.

rating the nemo kids (a four's the best score...blog rating, plus cuteness rating = total rating)
d - 4+2 = 6
p - 3+1 = 4
b - 2+3 = 5
c - 1+4 = 5

according to this system, dave wins because of the 'cuteness' upset based on the 1991 family portrait. however, i'll give the nod to b-nemo (1.1 bonus points, as he wins by a nose over d), because he's more accomodating in terms of 'couch' space, and also because he only hit me with pillows, and nothing harder, when i snored.


*(pete thinks 'more community college' is a good thing, while i disagree. i think that lots of people in this country are far more educated that is required. i'm a big proponent of public education, but i think many people in community colleges are often better-served in the work force. a former coworker is an adjunct at scott community college, teaching 'business communitcation' or something like that, and 0 of his 18 students scored better than a 7/10 on some assignment about writing a proper memo...seems like they'd be better spending their time and money somewhere else. don't get me started on college grads living with their parents.)

i should really go to sleep.

aces weekend.

eileen and i made the postwork trip to chicago friday afternoon, arriving by 830 or so to the gurs pad. mayhem ensued.

neil was there. dave was there. with minnesota losing it's second in a row to the yankees, we were tuned to the debate. one guy looked confused, the other just looked pretentious. i don't think we paid a whole lot of attention. eric, our reason for coming, arrived from o'hare about 10 or so. he ordered dinner and the group made small talk for awhile. eric, in town for the marathon (running, not yelling), went to sleep while gurs, dave (with some prodding), neil, eileen and i went to the hungry brain, which will heretofore be referred to as heaven. beer was cheap ($3), the company (soon to include jim wysock and ac slater and roomie pete) was tremendous, and we overstayed our welcome.

saturday saw my parents picking eileen and i up in wrigleyville at 8, for a trip to south bend to see the irish and the lil brother. while interstate 80's untimely construction kept us from arriving as early as planned, dad did managed to squeeze in an ultra-fast tour for aunt, uncle and two cousins who met us there. game was a nice irish win, a pretty well-played 23-15 victory over stanford (if one without big plays or any turnovers, i think). we returned to the boy's apartment, which is large enough and quite nice (i think a two-bedroom, one-bathroom that currently houses three tenants) , and my mom and the boy's friend's mom got all 'mom' on us, setting out vegetables and pretzels and cooking hot dogs and hamburgers and (four) chicken breasts while we watched the twins blow their lead. i'd say we spent a solid two hours there, and i didn't find myself wanting to leave any earlier. that's something.

we got back to gursland at 1030 or so, and spent about an hour or so hanging with mwysock and tex before it was time to sleep.

sunday was an adventure. up by 730, out of the house with neil, eileen and eric's friend dave by 800. stopped by a friend of governor paymer, who was also running the marathon, and headed out to the sixth milepost to look for eric and robby. didn't see 'em. headed to the eighth milepost (other side of the block) to look for eric and robby. didn't see 'em. (actually, i waited a bit longer to see eric...others saw robby.) after the 5:30 (that is, five hours and thirty minutes) pace crew came by, we dispersed.

neil home. dave to find eric at the finish line. me and eileen to see sharon. woof, sharon! brunch was fantastic and, after a return trip to the neil-gurs-wilson-dave apartment, it was time to head back to glenview for 'senior-style' early bird dinner. chicken. and ribs. and salad. and corn. and potatoes. and some sort of dessert. my mom's absolutely ridiculous.

and then it was home, around 830, and then it was to sleep, by midnight. (actually, i fell asleep with lights on.)

other things:
- my dad was kind enough to tape the cats victory over indiana for me. he got all of the double-overtime victory on tape, with at least four minutes to spare. (it was a four-hour game, after all.)

- i needed a large performance by ahman green tonight to avoid an 0-5 start to the fantasy football season. i didn't get it. i'm getting nervous at this point.

- it sure looks to me like brett favre doesn't have the accuracy (although he still has the zip) that he once had. this packers performance was, in a word, pathetic. (while i've enjoyed watching favre, i'm also rather enjoying them being awful.)

- i extended my phone plan by two more years today. i got some sort of $100 credit towards a new phone, so i purchased a sub-$100 phone, which is to say that i paid nothing. i think there's some sort of audiovox promotion going on, so i took the one that the guy recommended. he assured me that it'll get me my voicemail and things like that. when i told my customer service person that i didn't want the fifty-buck accesories pack, she got all angry at me. i hope she realizes that it's not because she's a bad person.

- i would have been better off starting antowain smith tonight than ahman green, although i still would have lost.

- i hope that wisconsin beats purdue on saturday. then the cats ruin undefeated wisconsin's season the following week.

what a shocking, beautiful win for the cats on saturday night. i sort of had a feeling that they'd keep it close, but i always have that feeling. i don't put too much stock in that. but it was so nice to see that, after taking a lead and blowing it, the cats were able to respond and come up with the late plays.

the defense was downright stifling, i thought. ohio state isn't oklahoma offensively, but i think they're better than recent additions of the buckeyes. but they were absolutely not a consistent threat all night long.

problem is, the schedule ahead remains rough. 'should-win' games include this week at indiana (the plan is to be there, although they've not been confirmed), senior day against illinois, and the final game of the year at hawaii. the 'probably-should-win' game is at penn state. that's six wins, which gets the cats to detroit (and perhaps gets me a uaw motor city bowl discount...?). the 'could-win' games are, i guess, at wisconsin, and i hope, against purdue at home. i think the game at michigan is about unwinnable.

it's too bad the hawkeyes dodged the cats this season. it's fun beating the hawks.

in other news...
i'm not sure if other people have this problem, but i find that my laundry is always - always - damp. sure, i overload the washer, but i also compensate by using the "washer+1" theory of dryer usage. that is to say, if i use two washers (which i generally do), i use three dryers.

my theory has now changed. last night, in between stints of watching trent green and company carve up the baltimore defense, i put in two loads of "washer" and then four loads of dryer. and, let me tell you, 'dry as a bone' doesn't even begin to describe the clothing. which is to say, they were dry and warm.

when in doubt, spend the extra 75 cents, i say.

i don't know if you make use of the public library, but i think you should. i'm constantly stunned by the quality of newish books that the fine d'port library has in stock. used to be, i'd go to the sports non-fiction section and simply search for one i had heard about. john feinsten books were sometimes checked out. thomas boswell compilations. things like that.

at some point, i decided that i just wasn't moved enough by reading exclusively sports books. i've since checked out things from the "suggested reading" list of a literary journalism class that i took. yesterday, i headed to look for a book that i had read about called wonderland, written by michael bamberger of sports illustrated (i guess i can't avoid the sports thing entirely). they didn't have it, but they will in the next two weeks or so. (it's checked out at a nearby library, but the inter-library loan system will be here to help!)

mildly unsuccessful and in search of something to read (i was bored a bit, what with no cleaning and only football, this weekend), i headed to the new fiction shelf. i browsed the titles, found nothing completely exciting. i wound up pulling a book about the criminals of the nba, and some other faceless political title. i walked to the checkout counter, first walking by the "new - just returned" cart. right there, in its hardback beauty, was the against all enemies book written by richard c. clarke. so i checked that out, and it's pretty fascinating. i'm about 20 pages in.

my fantasy football team is now a disputed 0-4 (disputed because week three should have been a tie). my fantasy football team is the only winless team in the league. my fantasy football team is also the sixth highest scoring team in the league. my confidence is shaken, but not shattered. problem is, we're only a 13-week league, so i've got a large uphill climb coming.

i also finished fourth - and out of the money - in fantasy baseball. argh. one other ill-effect of the cubs tumble (i'll elect not to analyze) was kerry's chokejob. cost me 50 bucks, which isn't much, but it's 50 bucks more than i have right now.

big ups to rico chenowith. we'll see that bastard on friday. or perhaps saturday.