what's been accomplished today: not much, but that was expected.

work was slow...the change in climate (actual snow!) affected me a bit, and this doesn't usually happen. but i was a little coughy but, moreso, a little sore throaty and my nose was running when i woke up. of course, this can be partially attributed to the fact that, two winters running, my bedroom window doesn't close completely. this leads to cold, cold winter nights. but, hey, at least i negotiated a lower rental rate when i moved in, and at least i said 'no...let's wait on that' when they tried to charge me $15 more/month last year.

i've added (or am planning to add) a 'now reading' link to the right, not because it's interesting but because i've been reading lots lately. i think the public library is just about the greatest place in the world, and that all should be as lucky as i am, and live across the street from one. they don't always have everything, but they can always get about everything.

spoke with ben harper tonight. outside of the fact that i've ruined his week, it was productive times. shorter than planned, but that's because he's got more going on in his life. he's getting up at 6:30 tomorrow to go swimming, which is 'impressive,' to say the least.

during the course of my ben conversation, i was killing time oddly. you see, i've switched from sugar to the pink stuff, but i'm not necessarily good at throwing away the pink stuff wrappers when i'm done with them. i also significantly enjoy using my sugar bowl (or rather my cylindrical tupperware sugar holder). so, after two months of avoiding sugar, i threw out what was left in the sugar bowl, cleaned it out, and emptied about 60 pink stuff packets into the sugar bowl. this means that i can now spoon unwrapped pink stuff into my coffee or tea, which is nice.

i saved a life today, as gurs, motivated my my post from yesterday, has now purchased health insurance. despite the fact that gurs has purchased approximately 25 percent of the cigarettes that i have smoked in my life, he's writing himself as a non-tobacco user.

xtc is a great lost pop band. i've got the dukes of stratosphear collection, along with nonsuch and their two apple venus records. i guess skylarking would be next. or perhaps mummer. annie has previously burned me oranges and lemons, i believe. word is, you can't go wrong.

also, solomon burke just played letterman. he's obscenely fat, doesn't leave his throne chair, and awkwardly squirms when he sings 'got to get some lovin' in my life,' but he is so great. probably won't purchase anything, but he truly is an incredible vocalist.

i've received several 'compliments' in the last few days about the frequence with which i post. it's not because i'm interesting, it's because i'm bored. and i've come to grips with the fact that i'm boring. that's all.

when honesty is not (always)the best policy:

at the start of the month, i applied for medical insurance not through my place of work. the rate was $56.85/month, which i guess is better...about half the monthly cost of what i had been paying.

i answered all the questions 'correctly:' no major family illnesses that i know of, no surgeries in the last 10 years, non-smoker, recreational drinker. (there weren't any questions about how many push-ups i can do, thankfully.) then we got to the more-specific portion, where i was asked to report any tobacco use in the last eight years or something.

"i don't smoke," i thought, "but i have smoked." so i wrote down "less than 1 cigarette/month." couldn't be a problem, right? no way that "less than 1 cigarette/month" could affect my insurance rate, right?

wrong, of course. on friday, my insurance agent emailed me to let me know that a quarterly payment of 240 was due, due to the fact that my insurer had listed me as a 'tobacco user.'

how to deal with this?

trade approximately six messages with my insurance agent. get the number of the corporate office of my insurer. ask why i'm registered as a tobacco user, when clearly i don't use tobacco to the point where it affects my health. i then glean from her the crucial fact that 'any tobacco use within the last year' affects one's insurance rate.

'how can i change this?' the customer service person.
'the only way would be to resubmit your application.'

so, consider it done. i went back to my insurance agent, we submitted an amendment stating that answer to 28a as 'have not used tobacco since graduating college in 2002' (smooth lie, no?), and now i'm waiting for a response.

a conditional policy has been granted. i'm going to the eye doctor on tuesday afternoon, which could lead to a new report.

- - - - - - -

i made modified rud chili this evening, modifying it by using more tomatoes and no tomato juice, and also modifying by harper-izing it (which is to say, serving it over pasta).

modified rud chili is a fine product, but a fine product that requires the used of numerous canned products. my can opener, which has had good and bad days in the past, had a very bad day this evening. in fact, it had an essentially non-functional day.

with rud chili on the menu and no other immediately available options, this made things difficult. using a knife (a gift from grandma last week), i actually sawed through the side of the can. sawed for quite a fair amount of time, then used a spoon and my hands (buffered with a dish cloth) to pry it open to the point where beans or tomatoes could fine their way out. in some instances, i made some headway with the can opener, and pried the top open.

it worked out, although i wouldn't recommend it.

- - - - - - -

very drinky weekend. hungover twice the same weekend for the first time in a long, long time. i made it up by about 10:30 sunday morning, after being out from about 6:30 to 1. made it up at about 1 on saturday morning, after going out from 5:15 until 1. good time had by all, although it's not necessarily recommended, again.

still, the company (work folk both nights) was nice enough. coworker had a fine birthday on friday, and our team finished eighth of 38 at some sort of trivia contest saturday.

which four seas are named for colors? black, red, white (!), yellow (!).

which is the only u.s. state without a straight line among its borders? hawaii.

which four st. louis cardinals won gold gloves in 2002? edmonds (duh). renteria (sort of duh). rolen (he was there?). vina (what the !?). not matheny (03 and 04). not tino martinez (03). sigh.

last week, i brought the yellowmobile to the shop, owing to a squeaking noise and a looseness i felt in the front left tire whenever the automobile went over rough terrain. it went in friday morning at 10 a.m., and i received no update on the service until i called them at 4 p.m. at 4 p.m., joyce went to check on the status of the car, and promptly forgot what she was supposed to be doing. so i was on hold (not hold...the phone was left on the counter) for 10 minutes. after 10 minutes, she picked up the phone and said "are you holding for something?" i said i was. for my car. she said "i completely forgot!"

then joyce checked. then joyce told me that some of the mechanics had gone home sick this morning, and that nobody had been able to look at the car. they had confirmed that it would only be warranty work, so i would not be charged. this had happened at 1030 a.m., but she hadn't felt it was important to call then. 'i won't be at full staff until the middle of next week. do you want to pick it up today, and then bring it in sometime next week?' today was my first available day, so that's when i made the appointment to bring it in.

so i brought it in today. and she called me at about 3:30 to tell me that it was fixed. so i picked it up.

she then showed me the warranty survey i might be getting, and explained that, to gm, the most important question was number 16. she then explained that, if i was 'completely satisfied,' i should check that box. and if i was 'very satisfied,' i should still check the 'completely satisfied' box. she put the letter 'a,' over 'completely satisfied,' and the letter 'd' over 'very satisfied,' explaining that only an 'a' was acceptable to the corporate folks.

if i get the survey, i don't think i'll answer either 'complete satisfied' or 'very satisfied.' perhaps 'somewhat satisfied,' mostly because i really dislike working with joyce. in 1,000 miles, or one week (whichever comes first), my warranty expires. i'm happy i don't have to go to this shop anymore, although i'm upset that i'll have to pay for service. sigh.

i had a wonderful date tonight. dinner was fine. conversation was sharp, and lasted hours. in that streets song, he rambles, 'i told her i thought it was important / that you could get lost in conversation. / chattin' shit, sittin' in oblivion / with that person who's your special one.' (it's rhythmic when he speak-sings it.) and it was like that tonight.

problem is, of course, that it was with a fifty-something male coworker, and that dinner has left my jacket reeking of smoke. i did, however, help him install a wireless card in his desktop pc and a wireless router to his roommate's pc two floors up and, within 90 minutes, we had hooked him up online. which is far more than i expected.

and i got a fine free dinner out of it, so that's got to count for something.

happy hour for a co-worker's birthday tomorrow. some sort of odd trivia night saturday. nothing else planned.

consider my wildcats optimism unfounded. sigh. like watching the women's team 4 years ago (the last time they were foisted upon me). ugly. and awful. but it happens, and it was against the nation's best team.

i should like to say that i think illinois is running the table in the conference season, and i think they'll also win the big ten tournament. i think they have a very realistic shot to go 40-0 this season (my estimation is that it would conceivably 31-0 after the season, then 34-0 after the tourney, then 40-0 after the ncaa's.). i think they're really really good...the only way i see them losing is if two of the three guards have a rough day.

i spoke to three separate groups at a local grade school's career day today. i though that i might have good stories from this event but, sadly, it was fairly short on highlights. i was working with second through fourth graders, which is to say the ranged from 7-10.

the funniest moment:
me: "can anybody think a way besides tickets that baseball team's make money? yes...[child 1's name]"
child 1: "concessions?"
me: "great! anybody else? yes... [child 2's name]"
child 2: "hot dogs?"
me: "good one. anybody else? yes... [child 3's name]"
child 3: (laughing) "all this food talk is making me hungry!"

for three 25-minute-long groups, i think that's a pretty lame highlight.

received sports illustrated's swimsuit issue yesterday. the publication that revolutionized such arts as body painting, and introduced the use of 3D glasses to look at magazine photos. and their introduction this year? swimsuit model trading cards (with the parenthetical 'what will we think of next?')! pretty lame innovation, no?

dinner at the grandparents' house tonight. mashed potatores and creamed peas (who knew?) and corn and a roast of some sort and, more importantly, fine company. i wish there were more highlights that i had to report. probably the best part came during texas-texas tech, when grandma revealed, during a series of quick-cut, low-angle highlights, "i'm never sure when the plays are really happening and when they're [searching] ... [searching] ... they're [searching] ... [searching] ... replays." besides dinner, i got four steak knives, a full-sized coffee pot (pot only), and 'antique' beer ... goblets.

my god ben gordon is incredible. absolutely incredible. i didn't see much of the bulls game (listened from 8:00-3:00 in the car, was in the elevator until the 0:56 point, watched from then on), but i saw enough to understand that he's already a primo nba scorer. i'd expect, despite the fact that he's just over 14 now, him to average about 16 per for the season and win rookie of the year.

i don't care if shaq went down (although i hope he's better), the bulls beat eastern conference favorites miami tonight, and you can't discount them as a contender. sure they're too young, but so were the magic when they went to the finals in the year of the mj comeback.

treem writes that he's one of 12 people who thinks northwestern has a chance against illinois tomorrow, and i similarly am part of the idiot rank. that is, i think the cats can play with 'em.

they've been playing well of late, and they played illinois tight until the final eight minutes or so, and vince scott is a completely different player at this point. you figure thompson sees 15 minutes, and he *has* to be better than he was in the first meeting. while i've followed all, i've only seen one of the last six games, but i've surmised that the press has been a much bigger part of things. what that means? mohamed is active, and when mohamed is active, good things happen.

i think that, ultimately, northwestern'll become victim number 28 for illinois. but, if i were a betting man, i'd take northwestern and the points. (i can't find the line. i'd imagine it's between 11 and 16, which is a wide range. i've now searched for the line for 20 minutes, with no success. i did find covers.com, which has incredible information for the sports gambling addict!)

so, hunter s. thompson shot himself last night, and it sure is sad, although i wish i were sadder about it. he was a truly revolutionary writer, although i never really got so into him. he wrote for espn.com for the last four or so years (probably because his writing was so wacky and, shall we say, dated, that no large publication would take his work), and they did a really good job of compiling his recent work and had a real nice first-person account from one of the espn page 2 editors. they essentially shut down new material on page 2, which was a nice gesture. he was one of the initial columnists for page 2, and, in so doing that, he helped to give legions of american males much more to do at work.

i have nothing actually interesting to say about him, although i did read fear and loathing in las vegas while sitting at the cook county courthouse near old orchard on a jury summons in the summer of 2001, and, later that summer, i could be found reading his espn columns between dubbing bozo tapes at the wgn studios, and i read his pieces on the hell's angels and the kentucky derby for my literary journalism class in the fall of 2001.

former espn.com and current nfl.com columnist gregg easterbrook wrote his final tuesday morning quarterback column of the season last week. i find him to be mostly fascinating although sometimes annoying, and generally worth reading. why am i telling this now, when his next column won't come out for about three months? because he gave fine offseason advice: replace one cup of coffee a day with herbal tea. i've been doing that, and my wide variety of herbal tea tastes just fine.

i've been on an ebay kick lately, and i don't know if it's a good thing. i've checked off a few records from the 'to do' list, getting the plastic constellations' mazatlan for 7.50, and xtc's apple venus v.1 for 6.50. i'm currently bidding on the most recent william elliott whitmore cd.

what i should probably do is only write when i've got something fringe interesting to write. that's all.

i took another step into redneckdom this afternoon, as my television was tuned to fox for 94% of the Daytona 500. That's five scheduled hours of coverage that was extended to 5 1/2 because of the record-tying 11 cautions (racing term), and I'm not going to say I'm proud of myself. However, I'm also not going to say that I'm ashamed of myself.

in general, the television production is outstanding, and the drivers and crew members are accessible and, most importantly, candid. so when jeannie zelasko (how i've missed her for four months) goes to talk to some dude who's just wrecked (racing term) and is out of the race, the driver actually has something to say. this is a huge change from, say, the nfl coach halftime interview, which is always a waste of time. I think NASCAR is to be commended for the fan-friendly emphasis they make with their drivers. (not that this is anything new.) dale earnhardt was interviewed live about 25 minutes before the race and, again, he was on for more than two questions and seemed to have something to say. i'm also oddly riveted by the various on-screen graphics that are used...the throttle-meter, or whatever it's called, is neat. more interesting is the overhead 'pointer' they use on wide angles, essentially taking you through the current running order.

my biggest qualm with the television production is a basically unavoidable one. because they simply have to 'fit commercials in,' it's a fact that they'll miss key moments. they were away at commercial during the wreck that took place at about lap 165 (of 200), and so they cut off the commercial immediately and got to the tail end of the collision. (then, of course, they followed by replaying the eminently interesting driver-spotter conversations that happen, as the spotter tries to steer the driver through the smoke and into the clear. again, neato production, i think.) now, in soccer, they've dealt with the commercial problems with the constant logo graphic and "this action brought to you commercial free by X" drop-in. but, with nascar, everything's already so logo'd up already, there's no way a sponsor would agree to that.

it should be emphasized that, while the tv was on, i wasn't always paying attention. some reading. some mild napping. some cooking. some watching. some phone-talking. but still, it was on.

so, the question becomes: was i riveted enough that i'll follow the season and pick a favorite driver and things of that nature? of course not. (although i have two favorite drivers already: tony stewart, the villain, and kurt busch, the defending champion and certified sarcastic smartass. i'm an awful, awful person, both because i have 'favorite drivers,' and also because i pick villainous favorites.) however, if it's a sunday afternoon in the next month, and my options are big ten game, nba game, golf, and nascar, will nascar get a second look? yes. and if the basketball's over for the day, and it's only golf or nascar, will i choose nascar? probably.

i've just returned home from seeing william elliott whitmore perform at the qc brew and view and, while i actually drifted off (that is, closed my eyes and partially slept) during portions of the performance, it was highly worth it.

a very odd environment to see a show (they've just recently started hosting them) ... it's basically a very tiny movie theater, with seating for about 50 in four or five rows of reclining, cushioned theater seats. then, a balcony at the top (the main bar area), with stools and a counter above the stage/theater area. the oddest part is that there's absolutely no stage lighting. during the openers, odd digital graphics and the film acapulco gold were displayed on the screen; during whitmore's set, the stage was dark but for one candle about six feet to his left.

anyway, w.e.w. is a 26-year-old man with the voice of an 80-year-old blues singer. it's a growl, but a pleasant and melodic growl. and he's not much for stage banter ("thank you" and "thanks for listening" were repeated about nine times after each song), although he did respond to questions from the audience. (the two responses to questions: "i'm from lee county iowa. mon-trose. i guess i got a penchant for river towns. we all do." and "those are roach papers.")

generally, though, it was a very impressive performance. i expected "front porch blues," but it was "front porch folk," featuring william and his foot percussion and his banjo or his guitar and his melodic growl. the lyrics were definitely of the genre, and were really nice to hear.

life's mysteries unravel / when my tires hit the gravel / and i leave the paved roads behind

and

i'm digging my grave / [stomp, stomp] i'm digging my grave / [stomp, stomp] / with a pick and a spa-a-ade / i'm digging my grave

this iowa dirt / [stomp, stomp] is very cold [stomp, stomp] / where i rest my sou-ou-oul / it's very cold

and other such sentiments.

the best parts were when he closed songs with an a capella singing of the chorus. without fail, the crowd stomped or clapped along and, if it was easy enough ("our paths will cross / another time"), joined in on the singing.

he reminded me of richard buckner, but without the lyrical depth. perhaps the most appropriate comparison would be the jay farrar-sung tracks on uncle tupelo's march 16-20, 1992. if that's up your alley, i'd highly recommend his music.

william elliott whitmore hereby becomes my favorite singer-songwriter with palindromic initials. (my favorite palindrome, however, is a man, a plan, a canal, panama, or perhaps go hang a salami / i'm a lasagna hog.) his new record, ashes to dust, has just been released on southern records. i would have purchased it at the show, but had only nine bucks when i got there and six bucks when i left (yeah three-dollar cover!). alas, when i went to the atm before the show, i was greeted with the rare "no cash available" sign. i've gotta think that's bad for business.

- - - -

i've been listening to the arcade fire's record quite a bit lately. it's quite good. "every time you close your eyes (lies, lies)" woof.

(before i start, i'd like to say that i think i should make a point to watch charles barkley on tnt more. as they were coming back from break, ernie johnson was plugging the nba all-star experience in denver, and mentioned that children had their chance to learn skills, as the video was showing a boy strapped to bungee cords, jumping on a trampoline, and throwing the ball at the hoop. chuck interrupted: "what kind of skill is that? that's just stupid. aside: i like dwight howard, based on the interview he just gave.)

every wednesday and every thursday, the two primary free publications of the qca are delivered to my apartment building. as is the delivery person's job, the papers are left between the street door, and the key-carded entrance door. it would seem that the leasing agent sitting in the office all day would be the one to get those, but she never does. they're always just left there. (the wednesday publication is delivered at about 11, the thursday after 1. the office closes at 5.) as perhaps the only reader of these free publications (i like picking up free publications, but then end up not really reading much of them.), i'm always the person that brings them into the mailbox annex, where they're kept. it would seem to not be my duty, but i'll continue to take one for the team. i took only one of the two bundles of today's publication. we'll see what happens.

there's a pathological liar in our office. it's awful. he comes up with ridiculous things that make no sense and are obviously not true, things like 'i was personally recruited to play football by lou holtz. i didn't even play high school football. i was just on campus, and he saw my body, and figured i could play tight end' and '...saddest day of my life...when i was pulling bodies out of the trade center...' and he always talks about job offers that never happen (although, i guess i do that as well) and fake sales appointments and things of that nature. of the now 13 people in our office, five are coffee drinkers. i'm a twice-a-week kind of guy, one has his own coffee maker in his own office, and three take from the kitchen coffee pot on a daily basis. today, in the kitchen, somebody (clearly the pl) had started to microwave a cup of coffee (i don't know why), then knocked it over while removing the styrofoam cup (doesn't styrofoam melt?), then left the toppled cup in the open microwave. i noticed this, incredulously alerted our office manager who was standing nearby, and she sent out a not-too-indignant all staff email about respecting people and our kitchen or something. the pl soon responded via his own all staff email, 'i didn't do it, but i decided to clean it up for everyone's sake.' we all know he did it. he could have just quietly cleaned it up. instead, he told another lie. sigh.

i watched the new survivor this evening, and maybe it's finally getting old. being the ninth season, they've had to make some changes and add some 'twists,' but i found myself very disinterested. perhaps it's because the baseball season's coming up, and i know that i won't be able to follow it all the way through. (i'm committing to taping 24 to the end, and i don't know if i'll be able to follow two shows at a time. i'll also do my best to not miss arrested development episodes.)

after no social activity since the end of january (i guess there was the boss' super bowl party, but that's it), this is shaping up like a banner weekend. 50-cent drafts and a four-dollar cover for a crappy 'rock covers' band (a friend of the co-worker with whom i'm probably closest) tonight. saturday brings another night out with co-workers. (saturday afternoon brings laundry, i think.)

and tomorrow, because i like to support good live music, and because it's at sort of an oddball venue, i'm going to see william elliott whitmore. he's a native son (to the great state of iowa), and draws comparisons to iron & wine (who i've never heard) and johnny cash.

i'm reading blink, a bestseller by malcolm gladwell. he's a generally good writer, very conversational but very informative. he was the visiting writer in a literary journalism class i took senior year, and i also personally liked him very much. he told us, step-by-step, about how he formulated his piece about the diaper industry. and, since then, he's become a two-time bestseller. get it at your local library.

i accomplished something tonight, which is more than i can say for most nights/weeks/months...

for the first time in my life, all by myself, i completed my tax returns. well, not really 'all by myself,' but with the help of turbotax and my dad's previous turbotax files for me and phone calls to him every three minutes. and it took about twohours, but those three hours had various interruptions (a conversation with younger brother, watching the bulls for extended amounts of time, finding various forms that i didn't know i had or needed...)

of course, the filling out of these forms caught me off guard at times... is it worth reporting the $10.58 earned from jury duty? (yes, it was...and, yes, i did keep track of that.) should i report my wnur donation from 2004? (yes.) should i report my previously unreported wnur donation from 2003? (yes.) should i report the 'auto registration deduction,' which is reportable in iowa, where my registration fee is $166? (yes.) if i spend the time reporting this information, will it have any effect on my actual refund? (of course not. but, i guess this is preparing me for the alleged far-off time when i'll be making 'actual money,' and will have 'actual deductions,' or something.)

so, when it was all said and done, i had about 10 pages of printed materials, and then i printed out about 17 more pages that turbotax deemed i should have 'for my records,' and now i'm left trying to figure out what the heck they might be for. so, being that it was post-10:30, and being that i had just said 'hey dad, i understand you're going to sleep, i promise i won't call again until tomorrow,' i guess i'll just have to wait until wednesday evening to give him a call and figure out what exactly i need to send.

we had to take some consumer ed class in high school, and i probably was supposed to learn this, and i probably got an a in the class, but, alas, i'm basically helpless.

in other news, sweet ben gordon is my favorite player on the bulls, overtaking chandler and hinrich. i love the fact that he's no more than 6'3", but is still a pure, pure scorer. and i love the fact that he's at his best in the fourth quarter. and i love the fact that, after he nearly turns the ball over, and with the bulls up by four with about 50 seconds left, he's got the gall to use a screen and hit a 10-foot teardrop to seal the deal.

why are the bulls so fun to watch? because, at 15.7 points per game, kirk hinrich ranks 50th in the nba and first on the bulls. and curry's next at 15.5. and gordon follows at 13.8. and deng's next at 12.5 (and he might already be the best of the bunch. love his aggressiveness and athletic oafiness). and chandler and nocioni and harrington and davis are all between six and eight. and any one of these guys (save harrington) is capable of an explosion any night. and you just don't know who's gonna do it, but you know the points are going to come from someone, and probably someone different from the previous game, every night.

and i'm excited. and probably delusional.

i need a haircut, and pretty bad. i've had one haircut since august (august!?), equalling the boy's recent family record for not-getting-one's-hair-cut.

i've documented my haircut strategy before: rather than the normal three weeks or one month or maybe six weeks that a normal shortish-hair dude might do, i go at least three months between haircuts, and use this to justify buying more cd's.

i've been loyal to a certain barbershop since about august of 2002: cheapish (was $10, now $11) hair cuts, complete with cnn and limited conversation and noyes boys-esque hot shaving cream treatment on the back of the neck. getting pampered, but not in a gay way.

i last visited there in mid-august. rather than going in mid-october for my every-two-months haircut, i continued to hold out. and hold out. and hold out. and finally, when mid-december hit, i was too embarrassed to head over there ('where have you been?' they'd say), so i got a special $5.99 haircut at great clips.

(the thinking was, if asked on my visit, i could explain that i was home over the holidays and went back to my 'old place.')

flash forward to today, and i need a haircut, and i'm still embarrassed to head to my new old place. so it's time to find out how much the local chains are charging. and it's $13. or $12. or $12.79. not $5.99. for a chain-store haircut from a bulgarian woman (at least, that's how the glenview borics did it). it should be noted that bulgarian women do a fine job of cutting hair.

i'll keep you posted on the developments.

- - -

in other news, i received a postcard today letting me know that wnur's annual phoneathon fundraiser kicks off on wednesday, which seems to be earlier than in the past. i don't donate much to northwestern, but this is my cause. if you've got a spare $25, i'd encourage you to do the same. after all, it's responsible for me, which, i guess, is a good thing.

i'm not proud of what i did this weekend, but at least i did not commit a crime.

what i did this weekend, beginning at 10:30 friday night, ending at 6:00 on sunday afternoon, and interrupted only for a mid-saturday walk/hoops watching, a cats game saturday night, some phone time, and some sleep: watched 24. (note: there was not a shower in there.) the entire first season. borrowed from a co-worker friday night, and planned to be returned sometime in the next two weeks, and i couldn't be stopped. it's pretty incredible television.

got quality, quality phone time in with the sister on friday night, minutes into the beginning of my dvd binge. she sounded well, and was quite silly. i can't remember any of her jokes, but i think she was fairly on top of her game.

also had the joy of receiving a phone call from brysi, who is now officially friend number five to be engaged. the gbs crew begins their weddings in november (kevin), and brysi's is now scheduled for april of 2007. (that's 26 months, far more than the 14-month nemo plan, although nemo's took, what, 32 years to happen.)

speaking of nemo, i heard him do the first 10 or so minutes of emu-wmu women's hoops, and i'm proud to call myself the only internet listener without a family connection to the game (i'd imagine). nemo's quite impressive. very conversational. solid variation on his descriptive verbs. he had a great verb for "point guard does nothing," "scans the scene," or something. he's very very natural, and very good. jcf, meanwhile, is far more atuned to the stats monitor than i would've expected, given his experience level. while nemo's had the stats monitor for 100% of his broadcasting career, jcf's number is probably closer to 1%. Cool that the curmudgeon has adjusted, though. my connection got choppy at about the 10 minute point, so i gave up to watch the fairly disappointing cats.

saw pieces of the grammys tonight. happy for kanye winning rap album of the year, although i certainly think he - or anybody - should have won album of the year instead of the ray charles thing. but, of course, the grammys are pretty disposable, as we all know. i mean, the last steely dan album won album of the year...sigh. i was beyond happy to see loretta lynn win country album of the year, bucking the 'guy performs and is immediately given an award' trend (tim mcgraw seemed destined to win, and his 'live like you're dying' song is the most contrived, cliched, and awful song i've ever heard, even by country standards.). loretta lynn was outstanding on her acceptance speech, doing a wonderful job (with the help of jack white) on the bossy grandma persona.

and the 'choral performance' of 'across the universe' was beyond awful. and steven tyler got a major verse on it. and they ended it by singing 'something's gonna change the world.' (a tsunami benefit, of course.) the highlight was brian wilson - confused as always - getting a one-bar solo. the lowlight was the rest.

update, 11:35 monday night: my god, i forgot to mention how bad the opening act sucked. franz and maroon 5 and black eyed peas and los lonely boys just sort of yelling their choruses. ugh.

reading is generally a positive thing, i think, but it's been detrimental to my physical health (not my intellectual health). i start reading at night, late, as i've just headed to bed. as i usually head to bed anticipating 7 1/2 hours of sleep, the 90 minutes of reading i tend to do tends to decrease this number to less healthy levels. i need to only read in the afternoon, or something.

i ordered jonathan fire*eater's wolf songs for lambs for like seven bucks via half.com on sunday, and it arrived yesterday. bearing in mind that i've only been through it, for the most part, at low-volume work levels, i think i like it a lot. the guitar-organs-bass unit remains in the walkmen, and jf*e's singer is oddly similar to mr. lefthauser, or whatever the walkmen's singer's name is. to those who like the walkmen, i'd strongly recommend listening to this record (perhaps jf*e's only widely-available full length. apparently they put out two tremendous ep's).

my coworker with iowa tickets doesn't have 'em this weekend. i probably don't want to talk to my boss. and i definitely don't want to drop $26 plus service charge on a ticket. i think i'll watch saturday night from the rud couch, perhaps while eating rud wings.

(two weekends ago, back in the 'burbs, i called about the availability of cats-bucks tickets. i was planning to order over the phone, until i was told that my $16 bleacher ticket would also have a 6.50 handling charge and 1.00 phone charge. in person, at the window, the charge would 16. i think this should be illegal. or, perhaps, it should be legal, but ticket sellers should be required to publish - up front - the service charges before the purchase even begins.)

update on my third resolution, a goal of general tidiness:
a) i've done my dishes every night
b) i'm still generally poor in putting my mail away
c) i've been good about not leaving random clothing on the floor
d) i received a new sports illustrated today, but have not thrown out the old one (which i finished reading tuesday). this seems like a generally weak si (and i'm disappointed that the magazine elected to not put the illini on the cover last week, instead opting for the second of what would be three straight patriots covers).

good victory for the cats. down ten after a lame technical foul with 7:10 remaining, they finally arrived to come from behind down the stretch for a victory at the gophers (only their third home loss of the year, and their 7th overall).

and what was the key? stellar play of t.j. parker, shouldering the load all game long? nope. vedran finally shaking off the cobwebs and hitting a three down the stretch? no. mohamed getting in the passing lanes and making plays and being a general long-armed pest? no. vince scott (vince scott!) hitting a three from the corner to tie it up late? no.

the key was, of course, that yours truly was playing free cell for the comeback.

the game wasn't televised, so it was strictly dave and bob on 720 for this guy.

listening breakdown:
1st half
20:00 - 13:00 - on the couch, reading a bit about the gophs
13:00 - 7:00 - in my bedroom
7:00 - 3:00 - in my bedroom, sleeping and drooling
3:00 - 0:00 - awake; cats down by 5 at the half
halftime: dishes
2nd half
20:00 - 16:00 - still dishes and the like
16:00 - 7:10 - in the bedroom, struggling to deal with the fact that 'the door's open, they just aren't walking through'
7:10 - 0:00 - freecelling on the couch...i perform poorly as the clock winds down

it's worth noting that i didn't actually know what happened on the final shot until a minute after it happened. as it was going through, bob yelled "oh," covering up dave's "good," but we eventually got through it.

what does this mean? not so much. it means that they're 11-11 with seven regular season games left. it's still an uphill battle to finish over .500 for the season (wins anticipated home vs. txamcc, home vs. michigan, home vs. psu; losses anticipated home vs. illinois, home vs. michigan state, at indiana; questions this sat. at iowa. and, of course, msu and iu are potential wins as well, i guess...)

but still, it's a nice one to have...a good upset in a disappointing season.

oh yeah, this also means that "northwestern" will be listed in the "bad losses" category when we see the "bubble profiles" or "depaul," "iowa," and "minnesota." and i guess that counts for something.

options for saturday's game:
1) ask the boss for tickets
2) try to tag along with a co-worker, who i believe does have tickets
3) watch on tv
4) listen and freecell

i'll probably settle for 3), although 2) and 1) are possible.

that's all i got.

tales from the hardest working sports business reporter in the world, here and here.

need further proof that i'm way behind in just about everything: i've been reading a heartbreaking work of staggering genius by dave eggers since saturday afternoon, and i'm utterly fascinated by it.

great win for the bulls tonight. and i've got comcast sports net (replacing fox sports chicago, which means that i'll no longer get friday night college hockey) so i got to watch it all. woof.

as part of the team's elementary school reading program, i've been in contact with a principal named mr. pagel. prounounced like bagel.

so his school was in our program last year, and it's in our program this year. and we were over there with the gigantic monkey today. (it's a small school...like four rooms, and then a church across the parking lot.) so one of the teachers greets me, and says, 'mr. pagel (pronounced pah-gull) will be right out.'

so then, in less than four minutes of conversation with mr. pagel the rest of the visit, i said 'mr. pagel' (pronounced pah-gull) no less than 14 times. or at least seven.

... ... ... ... ...

i've been thinking that i've been writing some pretty comment-able material lately, and i've been stunned that i've gotten nothing. except for a (since-deleted, due to template-twiddling) gurs comment featuring the word 'hott.'

enter rico, who emails today:
"wanted to tell you that i still check for updates on redhothalos daily, but the one thing that gets to me is how i can't enter a comment w/o signing into blogger. unfortunately, i don't have a blog login. is there a way for me to leave you comments like before? or should i just email you my comments?"

enter me, now realizing "i should have probably re-added the comments section when re-selecting the template."

and now, enter the new comments link.

let the three-way dialogue begin!

... ... ... ...

two final super bowl comments:
1) i sort of wish that terrell owens had gotten the mvp award. after all, peyton manning got the season's mvp, and he's a loser. t.o. was by far the best player on the field, even without considering the impressive injury comeback.

2) the 'wing-flapping' done by the patriots, methinks, cheapens everything they've been about. watching harrison and givens (go irish) and vrabel-bruschi (i get confused which is which, and i know at least one of them did it) waving their arms seemed to fly in the face of the 'team-first, go-about-our-business, we-just-want-to-win' attitude that has been their trademark throughout the run. it was what set them apart. (there's a parallel to the irish firing ty before his contract was up...no longer are the patriots necessarily *different* from everybody else.)

... ... ... ...

finally, i don't believe jose canseco. that said, i wouldn't be completely surprised if there were more than just a shred of truth to what he's written. raffy? no. big mac. probably.

and when he says that 'there's no way former rangers president bush couldn't have known,' i don't think he's taken into account that president bush is really, really dumb.

wow. i just saw the final ten minutes of the post-super bowl simpsons. the show has officially joined the franco harris-mark messier-joe paterno-sammy sosa-michael jordan pantheon of 'things that stuck around too long' (can't believe those were the best examples i could come up with.)

(after four minutes of 'watching while typing,' this american dad program seems promising, but probably too odd to stick around so long.)

good game. enjoyable time at the boss'. a turnout of five co-workers, one co-workers' wife, one boss, and one boss' wife. the game was worth watching through the end. i only with the eagles had managed the clock properly on their final scoring drive.

i also said, at the time, that philly should have either a) kicked long or b) lined up for a long kick and use the 'kicker dribbles a grounder and recovers himself' after making it a three-point game. but, i guess you can't fault the decision to onside kick. (you can fault the timeout they used in the third quarter, however.)

still, that makes it three of four and four of six super bowls worth watching, which is far better than when we had the dallas-buffalo, dallas-buffalo, san fran-san diego triple threat.

new update on the treem page, and a good one. dig the link at right.

why two weeks is far too long between the championship game and the super bowl: as of 1045 super bowl morning, espn's headline article is "who is the key if the patriots want to win on sunday? it's kevin faulk, says espn's len pasquarelli."

when you start getting stories on a guy who'll be in for 15 plays or so, i think it's overkill. (of course, i stand corrected and place the genius stamp on mr. pasquarelli if faulk breaks a couple of long touchdown runs.)

my prediction: sadly, i don't think it'll be close. if i were a betting man, i'd take the patriots minus as much as ten points or so. new england 34, philadelphia 17.

of course, above all, i'm hoping for a good, interesting game. (and yes, i'll be at the boss' house...) if i had a choice, i'd cheer for mcnabb and the superfreak.

other things i hope happen:

- i hope the nfl would mandate that the patriots starters get announced individually. this 'we're a team...names don't matter' is cliched at this point, and also robs me of one of my favorite parts of the game.

- i hope t.o. makes six catches and scores a touchdown.

- i hope the boss orders dinner in advance. pizza takes far too long on super bowl sunday otherwise. (i know for a fact he hasn't.)

- i hope the other super bowl company (three of the top five coworkers, and perhaps that's it) makes for a good time.

- i hope chris berman somehow gets maimed by a sharp object.

in other news:

- the apartment has been tidied. i'm vacuuming within the next four minutes.

- the oldest rud kid celebrated a birthday on thursday. i called him during dinner...he said he'd call back when he was done. odds of actually receiving a callback: 14-1. (the odds of me calling him back in a similar situation would be better, although the odds of him knowing my birthday are far longer, hehee!)

- after much deliberation, i've determined that the greatest band recording today is ... ... ... the walkmen. if anybody has any jonathan fire*eater recommendations (nobody does), i'd like to hear them.

- after no deliberation, i've determined that 'the rat' is the greatest song in the world.

it's early february, and i've come up with three new year's resolutions:

1) find and purchase affordable health insurance to replace my overpriced plan through work. mission accomplished, as i've cut my monthly expense for health insurance approximately in half, while also receiving a quarterly (and extremely shady) bonus as thanks from the office for leaving the plan. of course, it would be a lot nicer if healthcare were free, but i guess no modernized country could possibly provide that necessity for free, could they?

2) lose some freakin' weight already. we started that at the outset of the year, and it has been working. eating better, and walking up the stairs for exercise. per a co-worker's suggestion, i'm planning early morning ymca visits next week (the better to metabolize, my dear), but i put the odds of them actually happening at approximately 42-1. (and, of course, the real challenge comes during the season, when ballpark food and subway are about my only sources of nourishment. or i could just bring my own salad along...)

3) keep things tidy already! i get my mail. i dump it on the table in the corner. i take off my tie and belt when i get in. i leave them in the middle of the floor. i finish with a magazine. i leave it on the floor next to my bed. these are things that happen. therefore, i resolve to a) do my dishes immediately after eating, b) file or trash my mail when i receive it, c) put away my clothing, be it in the laundry basket or back in the closet, after taking it off, and d) throwing out an old magazine the instant i get the next issue [if there's a particularly great article, cut it out and file it somewhere; exceptions made for magnet magazine, which is a gift that keeps on giving for years].

of this four-pronged resolution, i'd say none are likely to occur. however, d) has the best chance of happening, followed by a), c), then b).

today was incredibly beautiful. 55 degrees beautiful. mid-march and not early-february beautiful. sing loudly while jamming to the ipod on the way home from work beautiful. making stupid comments like 'don't'cha just love february?' to fellow walkers or joggers beautiful (i actually did that). smile for the sake of smiling beautiful.

it looks like tomorrow's supposed to be even better.

however, last sunday's 14-day forecast (!) on one of the local news stations projected that this coming thursday will hit a high of 14 degrees. yes, 14 days! (word is, it's all really guesswork after about 60 hours.)

think espn could use some hockey right about now?

tonight's prime time lineup:

espn: unc at nc state; tilt marathon
espn2: high school basketball featuring a kid who may head to the nba named louis stevenson; d3 hoops: beloit college at grinell

grinell plays an odd system: full-court pressure all the time, nearly all three pointers, a 'give two to get three' approach that leads to lots of uncontested layups - and lots of turnovers - for the opposition. the novelty of it all was fun to watch initially, but then it got a big nauseating.

i've been very very bad about dishes and cleaning and the like. i've decided that this is my new goal for the weekend. i've also been quite tired lately...off to bed.

two odd stories from the life of a guy who visits elementary schools with a gigantic monkey (in this case, both involve the schools, and neither involves the monkey):

first one, about three this afternoon...
i've been working with an elementary school teacher via the phone for about 3 months or so, and i was meeting this person for the first time today, speaking at his weekly teachers meeting.

so anyway, i met him, and introduced myself, and he said 'kevin, it's so good to meet you.' ...

and i let it pass...

and the meeting was getting started, and he said to the teachers: 'kevin's here to ...'

and so, while normally, i begin things like this by introducing myself, this time i just cut to the chase...what's a dude to do?

- - - -

this morning, i was at a small christian school - 26 students in five (K-4) grade levels small, that is. and i was there for their day-opening assembly, which begins with 'who wants to make the first prayer request?' and things of that nature. so they made their prayer requests (tsunami victims, their families, military people, things in need of prayers, y'know?) and, before the pledge, the principal explained that they should also try to pray for 'a very special person to replace me. i was on the phone last night, and i heard about another school in iowa who needs my help. so let's pray that we find a very special person to come to our school.'

and, before they did the pledge, and before they introduced me (and, by extension, the monkey), they sang an incredible 'happy birthday to you' to a fellow student:

happy birthday to you.
happy birthday to you.
happy birthday dear magnus (editor: yes, magnus)
happy birthday to you.

how o-old are you?
how o-old are you?
how o-old are you-ou?
how o-old are you?

'10.'

may you have many more.
may you have many more.
may you have many mo-o-re.
may you have many more.

and then they applauded.

and then the oddly hypnotic song, combined with the foreign environment and the odd farewell address, creeped me out.

but then we brought the monkey out, and everyone was happy. (although, it should be noted, not as happy as other schools sometimes are.)