he's a week late (reruns last week), but dave letterman just did a wonderful tribute to johnny carson. he did his normal monologue, introduced paul, returned to his desk. then he talked about johnny carson. then he mentioned that johnny had been a close friend and that, "in fact, every joke in that monologue was given to me by johnny in the last few months."

neat, i think.

i work in a very small office. i was one of four when i started and, although there has been a large amount of fluctuation in both personnel and total staff members, we are currently up to 12 full time employees (in fact, moved to 12 last week). at just more than three years, i am the second-longest (gasp!) tenured staff member, second only to my boss.

the defining pattern of this employment period has been the increased alienation of my boss, a constant 'moving away' from the entire rest of the staff; there are staff members that go weeks without being spoken directly to by the big fella. the problem was exacerbated by our moving into a new office, with our respective workspaces no longer requiring 'walk-bys' and, therefore, 'mandatory small talk.'

the most obvious (and pathetic) example of this alienation came today, when we received the following 'invitation,' not from our boss, but from our office manager:

subject: super bowl party at [boss'] house

contents:
[boss] wanted me to pass along the invitation for Super Bowl Sunday

When: february 6
Game Time: 5:00
Where: [address]

i hope he's not heartbroken if i don't show...i'll probably have the office manager pass along a 'regrets only'

word is, pierre pierce has committed another felony! woof.

the best things about heading home for a three-day weekend:

- jannero pargo's 14-point outburst in the fourth quarter

- hot sweaty beery dance parties at the gurs pad

- the boy showing up for said party

- watching the cats with gurs and dave and the dude who sits in front of dave (the watching, not the result...ugh)

- a fine meal with slow service at nevin's, particularly my shrimp wrap

- the eyetoy, which qualifies as fairly cool

- eating tapas with my parents and the boy and gurs

- changing my parents' opinions on mr. neil

- eight-item grocery lists becoming four full paper grocery bags on sunday morning


the worst thing about heading home for a three-day weekend:

the return trip. sigh.

regarding the cubs: i really can't believe that hairston and two prospect-types were all the cubs could get for a first-ballot hall of famer. but that's indicative of how far he's fallen (and, in light of 'tougher' steroid restictions, how much farther he could fall). i don't know how disruptive sammy really was (and he certainly was disruptive) for team chemistry, but ... well, i don't know. frustrating for it to end this way.

here are the changes from last year's opening day lineup:
2B: grudzielanek/walker to walker/hairston (even)
SS: gonzalez to nomar (better)
LF: alou to hairston/dubois (far worse)
RF: sosa to hollandsworth/dubois (worse)

no major changes to the bullpen.

i guess, a starting pitching spot goes from clement to tbd (leicester? guzman? new guy crouthers?), which is a solid step down.

pitchers and catchers report in two weeks.

what an odd, odd victory for the cats. and an incredibly satisfying one.

michael jenkins. from three point land. with 2.7 seconds left. 75-74 northwestern, over #24 iowa. woof.

vukusic is the star. pierre "the rapist" pierce is the goat. pierce fouls vukusic on a three-point attempt with 12 seconds left in regulation. vukusic makes all three to tie it up. pierce misses an open jumper on the final play of regulation. up two with ten seconds left, pierce turns it over with an errant inbounds pass. and jenkins hits the three. and all is not well, but all is much better in the story.

down 12 with less than three minutes left, the cats did their part to get back in the game, but the hawkeyes certainly helped out northwestern's cause. the hawkeyes went 4 of 9 from the foul line from that point on, and vukusic scored 13 points in the final two minutes to send the game into ot. (wow...although they turned the ball over down the stretch, the cats did go 5-of-5 from the field after they went down by 12)

and, again, they weren't exactly dominant in ot. only 2-6 from the field, but they made the two field goals count.

coolest stat of the game: final field goal: Iowa - OT, 1:48; NU - OT, 0:00.

that said, vukusic was a machine. and a gutty, impressive one at that.

(maybe my impressions aren't so accurate on this team. the numbers were pretty standard for a game this season. they were outrebounded 34-21, they committed 15 turnovers, they allowed the opposition to hit 43% from three, and the cats went 9-of-19 from three. in fact, the only non-standard thing represented an improvement, as they went 18-26 from the foul line.)

(of course, i'm still getting over the fact that they're just not such a good team. in fact, they're a pretty bad team, but we'll sure accept another home victory over a first division big ten team.)

karl ravech just called it the game of the night. they showed three highlights on college gamenight: pierce's miss at the buzzer; parker's turnover on the attempted pass to vukusic in ot; parker's steal; and jenkins' three.

what's not particularly interesting, but still notable, is that people still don't have any understanding that the cats aren't the cats of 20 years ago. "you know things are getting bad when iowa loses to northwestern," is how one local news station's "happy talk" introduced the sports guy. (of course, they fail to notice that the cats swept iowa last season, and that they've beaten iowa in three of the last four in evanston.)

the highlight of another typical misinformed wayne larivee broadcast: "of course, the last two teams a ranked iowa team has visited northwestern, the wildcats came out on top. ironically, last season, the unranked hawkeyes swept northwestern." (wrong)

i wish my thoughts were more cogent about this game. we'll take the win. 9-9 looks a lot nicer than 8-10. the buckeyes squeaked by penn state tonight, so the cats certainly have a chance to move to 3-4 in the conference on saturday.

i'll be taking off for the burbs after work thursday. the gurs pad on friday. who knows what on saturday.

it's been an outstanding last eight days, as conversations have been had with nemo, gurs (X5), f-ler, and didi. that's gotta count for something. a conversation has not been had with rico, and that's 100% my fault.

preface: i was hugely disappointed in most every aspect of the cats' loss to penn state this weekend. saddened over it. frustrated more than i've ever been frustrated in the carmody era.

epilogue: i'm really proud that mike thompson was suspended because of missing class, of all things. (there's a subtext here, of course, where carmody may not be particularly happy with or particularly fond of big mike. nevertheless) in an era when rapists are candidates for big ten player of the year, it makes me proud to support a school that still values the word 'student' among their basketball players.

stories like this one, and figures like 100% graduation rates among football freshman classes, make it a bit easier to deal with 6-6 football seasons and sub-.500 basketball seasons. it seems to me that northwestern is staying true to the university's goals with its athletic department, and that's something that alumni and students and sports fans in general can be proud of. there's not much integrity left in major college athletics, but i think northwestern's got some.

other:
i bought the arcade fire's funeral today. and i'll be buying the new trail of dead album and the folksy bright eyes record tomorrow. the digital ash record received (relative to the other one) poor reviews in spin and rolling stone and on pitchfork. however, i'm previewing it now, and i really like tracks two and three. a 'down the line' purchase, perhaps.

moving on...
a cousin of mine served for two years in the peace corps in peru, and his impression was that the over-arching catholicism of that nation was a great thing; in times of despair, the entire populace could gather at a common place to be with each other, to support each other, to comfort each other. for the united states, the religion was johnny carson, an overarching unifier, and his departure makes things a little less nice.

i haven't seen more than 25 minutes of carson in my life, but it's my sense that the three-network tv structure wasn't so bad when he was king.

gotta go. spike tv's showing violent japanese game shows. take that, leno.

further proof that desperate housewives is taking over the world: a brief conversation with my grandma tonight featured her saying the following thing: "grandpa's watching football, and i'm in the kitchen watching desperate housewives." "you're watching desperate housewives?" "everybody else is watching it, so i figure i should too."

this from a woman for whom the lawrence welk show serves as the highest form of entertainment.

meanwhile, i was doing something else and kept the television on for the debut of numbers on cbs, which featured the 'math genius' proclaiming "decreased population density leads to an increased probability of our man committing a crime," or some such drivel. i give the show a solid six episodes before it's cancelled.

let us all pour out some beer for the steelers tonight, who fought valiantly but ultimately did not have the poise to stick with the mistake-free patriots. let's also pour out some beer for the mighty atlanta falcons, proof that a one-man offense is, sadly, still not ready for prime time.

i believe that fox has the super bowl, and it's a good thing, as cbs telecasts are generally unwatchable. jim nantz should not use his 'masters' voice during football telecasts, and certainly shouldn't intone: 'welcome friends, to the afc championship game from chilly pittsburgh.' but my biggest problem is that the broadcasters' microphones are so high and the crowd mic is so low. pregame coaches interviews generally offer little that is actually interesting, but i wish armen keteyian could do better than "smiple question, coach (belichick). how do you feel about your team?'

i watched the movie the jerk today, and greatly enjoyed it. 'how were you supposed to know that was iron balls mcginty?' woof.

so i messed around with the template a little (a lot), and i'm not sure what i think about it. i added some crap at the right, and for some reason some of that silly text on the right turned red. haven't figured it out, and its perhaps too garish to keep it that way.

the limited recent comments were of course erased as part of the process, so comment like you've never commented before. of course, those'll probably be erased again in the near future, but that's sort of okay.

comments sort of add a modicum of pressure, because what you write needs to be interesting enough to garner a response. for instance, writing about canned asparagus probably isn't a good topic. nor is much else of the stuff that interests me, probably.

bjork and sublime were the 'college rock cuts' of '97 and '96 on vh-1's i love the 90's, respectively.

it has been, shall we say, a very busy and productive week for me.

things that should never be canned and eaten, number 42

today, i ate canned asparagus. it was about the worst thing i've ever eaten. mushy and ... really mushy. and pretty much tasted like asparagus, which i don't particularly like anyway.

however, i can't imagine that anybody who had ever eaten - and mildly enjoyed - fresh asparagus could possibly enjoy the canned stuff.

i don't usually purchase canned items...i'm generally a fresh or frozen kind of guy. thankfully, i only purchased one can of asparagus. eww.

pretty impressive january record release schedule. i'll definitely be purchasing the new ...and you will know us by the trail of dead record, worlds apart on tuesday. i don't know what my plan will be with the dual bright eyes releases, digital ash in a digital urn and i'm wide awake, it's motion sickness. i'll probably just go with the latter one, if any, as i believe the former features conor's electronic noodling.

'cut your hair' was vh-1's college rock hit of 1994. primus (1993) and ween (1992) have also been featured. i forget '95's, and have not seen 1990.

the grand majority (perhaps the entirety?) of those that read this site have had the pleasure (!) of, at some point in their lives, sharing a bedroom or apartment or dorm room or house with me. they tend to know that i am not what one would call an 'early riser,' and some might be familiar with my ability to do what i refer to as 'avoid sleep,' by generally killing time and doing nothing.

certainly, those who have shared living quarters with me are familiar with my cd alarm clock, which is extremely loud, and has been blasting the same elf power song for about four years now. (lucinda williams and the beach boys were other previous regulars, but i do like that elf power cut.)

at this point in time, i set three alarms: my cd clock, which goes off at about 735, my television, which turns on at 7:54, and my cell phone, which rings at 820. (work is at nine, and is no more than five minutes away, depending on the amount of ice scraping to be done.)

anyway, my tendency to not head towards bed (dig the recent post times) until i am approaching delirium probably hurt me this morning.

i headed to bed at about 245 or so last night, setting me up for a fairly short night of sleep. (i then read for another half-hour or so, so it was lights out at 315, because i'm an idiot.) it was peaceful sleep.

and then it was LOUD. very LOUD. and then i looked at the alarm, and shut it off. and then i looked at a clock, and i said "oh crap, it's 42 after." so i sprinted to the shower, and i scrubbed a bit, and i shampooed, and i brushed my teeth, and i neglected to shave (i can go about three days), and i threw on some clothes, and i sprinted out the door, and i rejoiced when there was no scraping to be done, and i pulled out of my lot, and i headed to the stadium, and i parked, and i noted that i was pulling in two minutes late, and i briskly walked to the office door with a sheepish grin, and i was greeted by "what the heck are you doing here rud?" and i responded "what?" and the retort came: "it's 8 o'clock."

sigh.

so i put in an extra hour today, although it did include some time-killing. (bear in mind, i'm usually a 8:58-9:02 arrival kind of guy. for the time being, departure is no later than 5:05. that'll shift within the next month, as things heat up and there's more to do.)

gosh, does anyone suck more than joss stone?

a few notes:

again, i never watched 24 before this season, but i sure find this stuff riveting. i especially like the dramatic fadeouts at the end of the show. my favorite character is the turkish mother (arzi? araz?). she's incredibly sinister-looking, and yet she's also vaguely catherine zeta-jones-ish. (as an aside, i believe zeta-jones is with michael douglas. are their kids' last names zeta-jones-douglas?...ahh, a problem we never foresaw happening, bujt it's about here.)

there was a fairly poor skit on letterman tonight, 'rupert g learns karate.' it involved breaking boards and rupert asking for a black belt and things of that nature...not nearly as strong as your average biff henderson cut.

anyway, the highlight of the skit was the soundtrack, which featured three downright hip songs: the von bondies' 'c'mon, c'mon,' the walkmen's 'the rat,' and 'debaser' by the pixies.

i guess, next to the music coordinator for the oc, the coolest music person in the world works for late night.

related to music, the newest season of vh1's i love the 90's features the 'college rock hit' of 199X, presented by lit. 1991's was sonic youth's 'dirty boots.' i'm hopeful that 'i am a scientist' will score the precious 1994 selection, but i've got to imagine that will be 'cut your hair.'

quick predictions for the years that i can think of a song for:

1993 - liz phair - 'never said'
1994 - pavement - 'cut your hair'
1996 - jon spencer blues explosion - 'wail'
1997 - superchunk - 'marquee'
1999 - magnetic fields - 'i think i need a new heart'

of course, only the first two are solid candidates. (and no, this was not completely off the top of the head...i looked at allmusicguide for hints on 1996 and 1997.

how bout them bulls?

postscript: i did spend some of my points, on newsweek, and espn and spin.

This gives me three weeklies (newsweek, sports illustrated, and one, sporting news, which is godawful and i don't read), a bi-weekly (espn), a monthly (spin, and a, oh, maybe, bi-monthly (magnet). i figure there will be bus hours this summer, and we'll see if i'm able to try to keep up. only si is a cover-to-cover for me, and we'll read what we can of the rest.

gurs had a difficult decision this weekend, and it appears he made the right one (although not the one i would have made). watch the beloved steelers on tv? watch the beloved cats at welsh-ryan and tape the steelers? watch the cats at welsh-ryan and try to somehow follow the steelers via radio? watch only the steelers and tape the cats? very difficult. i would have gone to see the upset in evanston, and attempted to find out nothing of the steelers. but apparently, that wouldn't've worked, sources at the arena say. gurs followed both on tv, and decided that illinois wasn't in striking distance at the half, so he stayed to watch the steelers conclusion. i guess he was right, although welsh-ryan sure would have been fun yesterday. (and here's a question: if eight points and a wouldn't-go-away cats club that seemed to be believing a bit more as it went on wasn't enough, what would it have taken for him to believe the cats were in it? my daddy once taught me (after 'ring in the heroes') 'what though the odds...' and it seemed to me that the odds were fairly good at the half yesterday, better than expected, i think.)

regarding that, let me say that i am really proud of the way the cats played yesterday, one of the few times i've said that in a loss this year. illinois is good. really good. good enough to run the table good. (good enough to destroy wisconsin in one of their toughest games this week good.) and northwestern hung with them until the final four minutes, despite hachad having no impact. we all know he has to play well for the cats to pull a big win, simply because of his energy.

now that i've said i'm proud of their effort yesterday, let me add that the cats are so disappointing this year it makes me want to vomit. 8-8, 1-3. if they win the ones they'll be favored in, extrapolate it to 15-13, 7-9 (maybe), not what was hoped for. this makes the bold assumption of home wins against michigan and iowa, and road wins at penn state and minnesota. the most disappointing facet yesterday was thompson, who looks like he hasn't developed an ounce of a real post game since high school, when he played 6-4 kids. his post game is negligible, and he's got no outside impact, and he can't really defend...but he's big and he's hyped, so he's on the court. i sort of think a duvancic-vukusic-hachad-doyle-parker lineup is the best one the cats have, a change of tune from before.

the good thing is, i still enjoy watching them. they remain easy to cheer for, which is important. (y'know, they better start getting some serious recruits, because parker, hachad, thompson, and vukusic only have 1 1/2 years left. here's a fun though: a doyle-lee-scott led big ten club! haha!)

another situation continued to brew on thursday, in a conversation with former longtime-girlfriend (and now longtime ex-girlfriend) melissa, who's getting married this summer. i've gotta say, we've stayed in regular contact, and i assumed i was a wedding-invite shoe-in from her nu years. however, after small talk last sunday before lost phone batteries, and more small talk on thursday, the conversation went:

her: ummm. so.... ahh... would you... hmmmm... uhhhh.... even want.... blarg... to ... even.... uh... come to .... my wedding?
me: uh, yeah. totally.
her: ummmm. okay...uh...because dustin's...not really sure he's comfortable with you coming...
me: oh. well, tell him it was because of the smell.

so, gurs is on the list, and i'm not - yet. no invitations, although some somewhat-tardy save the date cards have gone out. i'm thinking that i will because, if i'm not, it'll suck for gurs. more on this development later.

finally, our big league affiliate sent some middling 'current' players - triple a-ers adam wainwright and bo hart - and two rebird 'legends' - jack clark and danny cox - to our ballpark on thursday. it was a neat event, with more than 400 people coming out (and paying $10 for the privelege) to get autographs and listen to them talk and have a hot dog and a drink.

the other key was the appearance of cards radio dude wayne hagin, who said 'yeah. send me something. i'd be happy to give it a listen.' and then gave me his home address and phone number. now, all i've got to do is be annoying, but not that annoying.

finally (for real), i know that allen rossum and the defense were probably the biggest stories in the falcons game (i watched the tape without great interest yesterday, having already known the score), but isn't michael-mike vick amazing?

with one day of divisional-round playoffs remaining, you heard it here first: falcons 37, patriots 31 in the super bowl.

quite a few things to cover, although i'll only deal with the least important one.

i am not a frequent flyer. however, i did fly american airlines to san francisco last autumn, visiting my pals sumo and dan and generally soaking the entire wonderful bay area in (did that make sense?)

now, i was enrolled in the clumsily named aadvantage program for american airlines frequent flyers when i went to san francisco. i'd imagine that, normally, people use their frequent flyer miles on things like airline miles. (although, if i'm not mistaken, they're now currency that can be used in all walks of life. like an alternate form of semi-legal tender.)

so anyway, my trip to san francisco allowed me to accumulate 5,970 frequent flyer points. not miles, but points. whatever that means.

yesterday, i received an interesting proposal in the mail, although it's one that i'm not sure i should actually consider. anyway, american airlines is trading annual magazine subscriptions in exchange for frequent flyer points. to me, it seems tacky, but i'm nothing if not tacky, or something.

a sample of what i could get:

black enterprise - 500 points
breathe magazine (sophisticated balanced lifestyle) - 400 points
computer shopper - 500 points
diabetes forecast - 600 points
espn the magazine - 600
food & wine - 1,200
golf for women - 500
hollywood reporter weekly - 5,600
latina - 500
modern bride - 400
newsweek - 1,000
nursing made incredibly easy - 800
organic styule - 600
pc world -600
spin - 500
time - 1,800
tips & tricks - 500
us news and world report - 1,800
variety - 5,600
wired -500
the official xbox magazine (without disc) - 600

bear in mind, i have not flown american (or anywhere, i don't think) since my san francisco trip. i don't have any immediate plans to fly anywhere. my miles expire september '06. it would appear that 25,000 points is the minimum necessary to earn any flight anywhere, and a moline-san fran flight got me just under 6,000.

so the questions are:
1) magazine subscriptions? good investment
2) if yes, which ones should i get?
3) if no, is it because magazine subscriptions should only be purchased from recovering crack addicts

(note: i currently subscribe to magnet, the sporting news and sports illustrated. i think magnet's hipper than i am, so i'll probably let that expire in october. i love sports illustrated, and am currently on a three-year plan. sporting news actually makes my week worse, and will do so until that expires in september or so.)

next: on weddings, sports-related dilemmas, and open doors

people's choice awards quiz on letterman tonight.

my favorite letterman quiz is the annual macy's thanksgiving day parade quiz.

the highlight, circa 1995:

this man likes:

a) white meat

b) dark meat

c) white and dark meat

so simple, yet so funny.

i wish there were something more interesting to tell tonight. listened to the cats loss. made some dinner. put away my cds. and now i'm about to finish up my dishes.

brief moss reaction: i heard tony dungy on fox sports radio this morning. (who knew it existed?) as you'll recall, tony dungy was the most puritanical of the puritanical back in november when the bare-backed nicolette sherican jumped into the arms of terrell owens. i expected more of the same this morning, of course, but got nothing of the sort. instead, dungy didn't exactly defend moss, but he certainly justified his actions. apparently, there's a lambeau tradition in which celebrating packers fans line the fence near the visiting team clubhouse. as the bus is on its way out, the victorious packers fans drop their pants, bend over, and add insult to injury by revealing their pale white asses to the losers.

what all this means = besides being the most talented receiver in football, moss is also pretty clever.

also, i've now officially been hooked on 24. i had avoided it for its first three (two?) seasons, because i knew that the next effect would indeed be 'hooking.' so why did i decide to watch it? because the promos told me to. in the past, the words of nemo used to keep me up-to-date (and confused) regarding the goings-on of jack bauer, but, alas, he no longer writes.

other things:
- i've created a mix tape for my sister, at her request. yes, a 90-minute mix tape, complete with epic openers and closers for each side. she needed the tape to drive back to new york next week (yes, she needed a tape). we'll publish a tracklisting as soon as i get confirmation that it's been received.

- i gotta tell you, there's nothing more frustrating than being without a computer at the office. i feel like i've slogged through four straight unproductive work days, probably because i have. hopefully we'll have a repaired one in the next three weeks. hopefully, or i'll probably crack.

- i've spent some time in the last two days moving files from old computer to new computer (there are probably more efficient ways than emailing 3 meg music files, but i haven't found them). the old computer was overtaxed in such a way that music was unlistenable, so it's nice to hear the streets' original pirate material for the first time in more than a year. it's a truly fabulous record, although a grand don't come for free is leaps ahead of it.

it should be noted that the site has undergone a minor change. inspired by the revamped gurs website, now here, which features a comments section, i've used haloscan to initiate one myself. of course, mine is quite rudimentary and, for some reason, has made the site look lower-tech thatn it already was, but hopefully i'll give you something to respond to, or something.

not much of much to report. a frozen car led to some great disturbances on thursday morning, leading to me learning that the lock canal on the passenger side of my automobile was broken when the car was broken into 15 months ago. that led to a $200 bill, but we got through it.

our office is getting some new software, which precipitates some major training sessions that have been conducted via some net meeting-like service. point is, our software wasn't installed completely properly, which leads to incredibly long and maddeningly unproductive four-hour sessions.

this frustration has been compounded by the fact that, prior to the break, i brought my office computer into our provider for a minor repair. when i returned in on tuesday, it wasn't ready. (and, in fact, it apparently hadn't been touched, even though it had been there for 10 days.) so i decided to take it back wednesday morning, rather than wait for the repair. after getting into the frozen car, picking up the un-repaired computer, and returning to the office, it was revealed that the computer wouldn't power up. like, it wasn't minorly broken, it was completely broken. so i returned it to the shop, and they're sending it to the manufacturer, and i'll be waiting probably a month to get it back. furthermore, all extra computers have been moved into the 'training room,' meaning that i'm without one. this is frustrating and unproductive, and i sort of felt like the previous three working days were worthless. but, alas, we must soldier through beginning tomorrow to make this worthwhile.

now, two observations from the vikings-packers game, the only game that i watched the majority of this weekend:

1) i've been highly frustrated by the overpraise of brett favre for years, and the reaction to the idiotic underhanded pass beyond the line of scrimmage late in the first half today is the finest example.

if you didn't see it, what happened:
- minnesota leads 24-10, 26 seconds left, 3rd and six from the minnesota 8. favre drops back, scrambles right, and starts downfield. at about the five-yard line (threeyards past scrimmage), he throws and underhanded pass caught in the end zone by jovan walker. of course, the td is called back, and the penalty shifts the pack back five yards and results in a loss of down. longwell misses the field goal, and the packers remain down a pair of td's at the half.

joe buck and his cronies praise favre for his adventurousness and the fact that he's smiling so much on the field...they should have been criticizing his idiotic decision. the pack had third down. the pack sure could have used a touchdown. the pack had two timeouts left in the half. favre was three yards from the first down marker and five from the end zone. it is reasonable to think that he had a chance for the first down. he should have stayed on his feet, taken a dive for the first down, and called the timeout. worst case scenario: he's short of the first down and the packers are close enough to consider going for fourth-and-short. best case scenario: touchdown. but favre made the decision, so he's allowed to skate on it.

it's time to realize that the guy's recklessness on the field, while fun and exciting, makes him a detriment to his team at times. he's playing with a great offensive line and, when healthy, one of the league's best running backs. walker, driver and franks are a fine trio of receivers. i'd say that most nfl quarterbacks could have won the nfc north this season, and that the packers success has been accomplished, at least this season, as much in spite of favre as because of him.

2) my god...i can't believe the reaction to randy moss' latest silly celebration, the 'pantomime full moon.' with 10 minutes left in the game, moss caught a deep pass down the right sideline, scoring a touchdown to give the vikings a 31-17 lead. he proceeded to the base of the goalposts, and pretended to flip up his towel and drop his pants to the crowd.

cris collinsworth had it right, for once: "it looks like he's going for the full moon!!" he exclaimed (or something similar). but then joe buck interrupted and set the tone for what will inevitably be another week of emphasizing non-news: "and randy moss commits an absolutely classless act and i'm embarrassed that we've even had it on our airwaves," he said.

and on the highlights show, berman says "it would be in poor taste to show it" and then he and tom jackson have a grave, solemn conversation as if moss had committed a violent crime of, say, sexual assault.

i mean, really, it's not that big of a deal.

that's all.

congratulations to scott boras, who's once again squeezed an unsuspecting team for more money than his client is worth, thus ensuring that his client won't win at all in his new location. and also, congratulations to the mets, who entered 2003 with a promising, strong system and a commitment to developing for the future and now find themselves having traded their top prospects and overspent on kris benson. and congratulations to carlos beltran, who's an idiot for ever signing with boras and who's a bigger idiot for listening to his 'take the money and run' advice and hightailing it to shea.

let's recap 'the rest of break,' which ended today.

as you'll recall, we left you on the early morning of monday, december 27. as near as i can recall, here's what happened after that:

12/27 - an early-morning trip to hillside, illinois, to watch the first four games of the annual proviso west holiday basketball tournament with coach. i was impressed with gbn's jon scheyer and hf's julian wright, but i was also impressed with some kid named mac on julian, as well as maurice (marcus?) green of leyden's, who's purdue-bound. return home came at about 330, and i soon after headed to watch the quite unimpressive cats in a win over delaware state with dad. the night closed with kevin and coach, taking down a few beers and seeing way too many not-quite-recognizable high school acquaintances at 'the yardhouse.'

12/28 - errands. actually, first, i watched i am trying to break your heart with annie, which is a fascinating film. then, errands. withdrew some cash. had a passport photo taken at walgreen's. (i hadn't shaved. i wore a 10-year-old gray flannel shirt (not pictured, i don't think). i intentionally messed my hair. i'm hoping i'm one day a crime suspect, because this is an unflattering picture.) filled out the passport forms. returned home. watched some more arrested development. watched nd's awful insight bowl performance against oregon state. ugly, but not completely unexpected.

12/29 - killed some time. went to nevin's with jenny and didi, along with adolphus and the j-man. a good time was had by all. also, saw high school acquaintances who were worth seeing, which was exciting. the 'entering the restroom double take' was quite cool, and led to about 4 minutes of solid conversation with people i never really talked to.

12/30 - went to chipotle with annie. played rummikub with annie and steve and mom. headed to the city for two days of rock. arrived in lake view at about 515, with j-dub, m-dub, and betty arriving soon after. ate pizza. drank beer. watched watch me jumpstart and part of the who went home and cried, a pair of gbv documentaries. prepared for night one of the two greatest nights in rock and roll history. (more on the show in a moment...)

12/31 - saw the cats, who played much better in a victory over texas-pan american. ate a corned beef sandwich with robby and neil and gurs. slept much while watching the boise state-louisville game, which i had been looking forward to. rocked again. (again, more in a moment...)

1/1 - not hungover, but quite tired, i drowsily recovered on the basement couch at 1206. up at about 2 p.m. to see the thrilling conclusion to the iowa game. (argh.) headed over to the boy's hip lincoln park apartment at about 530, watching the rose bowl and the first quarter of the fiesta bowl. greatly enjoyed the boy's company, although moreso before his non-sports-liking roommate came home and therefore made things more boring. (i mean, you can't have a two-person 'is mike hart better than adrian peterson' conversation when the third person is left out.) did not particularly like his pizza, although i can now confirm that pineapple pizza is officially my favorite. returned home to watch the remainder of the utah win with my dad, falling asleep part-way through. recovered in time to watch the final five episodes of arrested development's first season.

1/2 - on a sunday morning, up early for mass with the whole family (except d and the boy). ate a black bean chicken chili omelet at breakfast, the second time i've had the greatest breakfast ever (the first included unstadt.) went to costco to buy various things that i'd never buy myself, including a six-pack of bell peppers and this wicked-great rotisserie chicken. watched the bears disappointment at brysi's house, along with kevin, coach and the hoosier express. returned to glenview for dinner with all but d (the boy had returned to glenview, disillusioned by his roommate watching a&e). played a sleepy game of rummikub with mom, dad and annie (another annie victory). packed some. agreed to make a mix tape for annie, who's driving back to new york soon enough.

1/3 - monday morning. got to the dentist's office just in time to find out that the hygenist was out sick. returned home to finish packing. headed for the port at about 1130, driving through some freezing rain and the like. upon my return, i unpacked. napped some. that's about it.

1/4 - slept through a blood donation appointment (haven't set a makeup time yet...possibly thursday. a few more errands. bought the futureheads cd with a gift card. the borders employee snidely called the arcade fire 'the new indie it band,' like she was a hipster, what with being a qca borders employee and all. purchased a wireless router, and am now typing from the comfort of my couch.

1/5 - today. returned to work. with about a foot of snow falling in the area, i was 'frozen-out' of my car. that is, the doors would not open, not because they would not unlock, but because they were literally frozen shut. i got a ride to work, and tried unsuccessfully to open them after work. the outlook for tomorrow is not good. after work, i debuted my new wok, making leftover chicken with vegetables. this wok'll be great.

i also listened to the cats. this is scary, but they're at the point where i'm expecting victory over indiana. that should never happen, but indiana's bad and the cats played great again. i don't study game lines, but i wouldn't be surprised if the cats were favored. (i just checked. they were, by 1 1/2.) thompson seemed to play his best game ever, and jenkins made another bid for more playing time. also, doyle played well for the second straight time. i'm dumb, but it's far too early to count this team out of the postseason. there's some talent there. (during the iowa game that's no tv, the color guy just said "northwestern is now a team that nobody wants to play.")

now, let's get back to the guided by voices shows, the final two they'll ever play, at least until their reunion.

the company - dave, marc, gurs, mike, jim and betty for show one, the final four for the grand finale - was tremendous, but the show was better.

both shows opened with "over the neptune/mesh gear fox." both featured "pendulum." (all three of these songs are the types that dreams are made of...you've never heard 'em, and you're just hoping for the chance.)

i'm not eloquent enough to really put into words how amazing these two nights were, but suffice to say that they were absolutely incredible. the thursday night show was the greatest crowd i had ever been a part of. the wild bunch at the front was ten deep. i had broken into a full sweat by about the sixth song (demons are real, perhaps). there were some bob witticisms, such as "why do we play pink gun instead of (insert pop song here)? because i fucking like pink gun better" and "so do we rip on franz ferdinand and modest mouse because they get more attention than us? hell yeah we do." or something like that.

the stage was adorned with the customary crates of cold beer, as well as white buckets inviting both vomit and liquid waste. at stage right, a bar tended by trader vic. he was generous with shots all night long. bob felt the affects of it. For me, the highlight was probably the Greg Demos and Jimmy MacPherson-assisted back-to-back assault of "I Drove a Tank" and "Shocker in Gloomtown." and the smiles, all around. and the slurpee afterwards.

i was completely beat after the first show, but also completely overjoyed.

oh yeah. tobin sprout opened. he led singalongs of 'atom eyes' and 'straw dogs' (which was awesome) and 'awful bliss' and 'mincer ray' and, most impressively, 'gleemer (the deeds of fertile jim).'

the second show was even more wonderful. like ten times as wonderful. like four hours of rock and roll. like, 63 songs. like the most amazing crowd i've ever been around, with the entire place pogoing and singing and fist-pumping and sweating and wishing happy new year and exchanging kisses on the cheek (usually initiated by me).

gurs and jim and i generated the perfect drinking schedule. with the go (a tremendous opener) scheduled for 10, gurs and i had a few beers at about 815. we then walked to jim's place, where we had a few shots. then, during the go's performance, we had a few more beers. it was a real nice buzz, nice enough to last us through most of gbv, but limited enough so that were fully engaged for the final portions of the gbv performance.

again, an 'over the neptune/mesh gear fox' medley to open it up. 'things i will keep' and 'the best of jill hives' early in the set. (it was during jill hives that i ripped apart my undershirt, hulk hogan-style, simply caught in the moment. i'll keep that shirt.) 'Red Ink Superman' (WE'LL EVEN THE SCORE IN WORLD WAR FOUR!) followed by a not completely unexpected but absolutely well-executed version of '14 Cheerleader Coldfront.) Other songs missing from night one played during the finale included 'Beg for a Wheelbarrow' and the sublime 'Tropical Robots' and the more-sublime 'goldheart mountaintop queen directory.' 'i am a tree' rocked the house for the second straight night.

and, bear in mind, this was the first third of the show.

we got the traditional two encores, although the second seemed almost-unexpected.

the first encore had an incredible punch: my impression now (my first time seeing it), hunting knife, queen of cans and jars (absolutely scorching when they do it), hot freaks, motor away, i am a scientist (not a quiet voice in the place...everyone knew every word), teenage fbi (ditto), echos myron (absolutely bounce-tastic), and smothered in hugs (a classic closing-type song...i'm not sure there was a dry eye in the house).

and then, it seemed like it was over. beatle bob came out to thank everyone. but the 'g-b-v's wouldn't stop. and, after five minutes of chanting and screaming and yelling, bob and nate and doug and chris and kevin came out for one final bow, and blitzed through the final seven songs that they'll ever play as a unit.

the encore started fittingly, with 'a salty salute.' it continued violently, with 'postal blowfish' (never released on an official lp). the next stop was pop, with 'pendulum' again (you feel like you're part of an ingroup when you know the song, which is a synapse-sticker. 'Dayton, Ohio, 19-something and 5' felt like it would be the grand finale, but it wouldn't have been appropriate (it's not one that everybody knows). the next track, the unreleased 'he's the uncle,' wouldn't have been a good choice either. 'exit flagger' certainly would have been, and we all bounced and rocked and jumped (and, in my case, broke up a potential fight) like it was the end.

but it was not.

bob thanked us again, and announced the final song, "the anthem of guided by voices."

and there it was, plain and simple, 'don't stop now.'

this big daddy was beyond happy.

and it was truly unforgettable and, after the show, i was convinced that this band is the greatest to ever exist. isn't it great to exist at this time?