i wish deron williams had more stones down the stretch. i think he passed up too many open shots. it's a shame, because the best player has to hit the biggest shot (or should at least take it) and, in this humble observer's opinion, luther head has not been one of the top three players since january, and probably not better than the fifth-best (think the rest of the starting five) for the tournament. of course, i've never much trusted luther's jumper, and it came back to bite 'em tonight.

still, carolina's a pretty darn good team, and i can't imagine that may will stay for another year. if he does, he'll perhaps go down as the best college player of the 2000's (the decade, not the millennium). so steady, so smooth and, if he stays, probably a two-time ncaa tourney mop.

i've got to imagine that, if i were a real illini fan, i'd be really, really empty right now. probably not worse than me after game six of the 2003 nlcs (after all, there *was* a chance, be we all knew how it was going to go), but pretty bad. there's nowhere to go but down, at this point, sadly.

- - - -

a slice from my sometimes office space like existence.

scene: my cluttered cubicle
time: about 9:45 a.m.

bill (my name for the purposes of the scene), overworked from a long weekend and a fairly intense previous week, is rapidly typing away on clearly important work in a crowded and cluttered cubicle when he is interrupted from behind by his weasel-like boss .

boss: uhh...bill?
bill: (turning) yes?
boss: i tried calling you on your cell phone this weekend. i went straight to voicemail.
bill: yeah?
boss: (using the tone of voice that one generally uses with a misbehaving four-year-old you see. the reason we have the cell phones is so that we can reach you in important situations. it sort of defeats the purpose when you keep it off.
bill: hmmm...i had it on all weekend. it was right next to me, and i didn't miss a call. [note: that is 100% true] (pauses, then quizically) ... are you sure you have the right number.
boss: hmmm...let me check. (reading from cell phone display) XXX-XXXX?
bill: oh, no. that's my old verizon phone number. we lost that contract back in september, so i've got a new team phone now.
boss: what's that number?
bill: (reading from staff list) XXX-XXXX.
boss: oh. sorry. thanks for the number.

it should be noted that i've known he had the incorrect number since i first checked the old voice mail and received a message from him in mid-october. i just figured it was humorous to let it pass and, indeed, this was a pretty satisfying situation. problem is, i wish it had been resolved a few months later. as it is, i'm now officially "reachable."

particularly satisfying was reading it from the staff list, as he seems to demand a new, updated one (new interns always coming in) every three weeks.

team arrived tonight. meet the team dinner. do i buy the hot hot heat record tomrorow? bus leaves at 9:00 on thursday and, having just lost the ebay auction, i've just dropped 220 on a new minidisc player. good news is, my parents gave me a check for the b-day.