let's talk office life.

it's boring. but, i guess that was to be expected. [and, yes, it was boring within the first hour or so, but that was also to be expected.]

a rough summary of what i'm doing:

"basically, we want you to do in the next two weeks what we [a staff or four or five at the time, i think] have been putting off for a year." this was actually, roughly, said to me within the first ten minutes i sat down.

the good:
- i'll be getting paid, and pretty well
- there is something to do during the day
- it's neat to see evanston, in a way
- i've got a fantastic office, with a skyline view
- there's a lot of work to do, so i stay busy
- my current boss hasn't had a bi-weekly explosion yet. i'm hoping for one.
- with something to do, i've gotten motivated, waking up early to use the treadmill two straight days. that's gotta be worth something. i'll likely sleep friday morning.
- because i'm a temp, nothing's actually expected of me. 15 minutes late? ehhh, flexible hours. we're cool.

the bad:
- it's boring
- human resources is boring
- i don't really know what i'm doing
- i'm supposed to write about the company's dental plan and employee policies; i know nothing about the company, so i think i'm supposed to look at other sources and then, you know, "make it up"
- my several-hundred page document will likely never be read
- i don't do a real good job of keeping up on northwestern u. message boards during the day
- it'll probably take longer than two weeks, which is long. but this also means i'll probably make more money than expected.

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speaking of northwestern u. message boards, nu's OT win over purdue tonight was some of the most fun i've ever had watching the cats. they were fun to watch, they were hitting most of their shots, and mo made more great plays than stupid ones.

reasons for down-the-line optimism:
both freshman guards show great promise. craig moore is already a great shooter [although i don't know if he'll develop a completely well-rounded game], and sterling williams shows fantastic defensive instincts and a knack for getting to the basket. and he's not as dumb as mohamed.

well, probably no other reasons for optimism. but moore's three-pointer in the final second was awesome. not more exciting than jenkins' three against iowa last year [i had a personal stake in that one], but more exciting to jitim's five-point possession against minnesota at home in 2002. [i think i remember him making a three, getting fouled, missing the free throw, then scoring a deuce in the scramble - in the final 45 seconds of the game - to beat the gophs, who had rick rickert. but i may have made that up.]

actually, NU's got some taller players coming in next year and, depending on their development, could have a starting lineup of 6-4 (moore), 6-4 (williams), 6-5/7 (GBS'er Jeff Ryan), 6-8 (freshman Coble) and 6-8 (cote). i somehow think cote and scott can be an adequate combination, but that's because i'm fringe-retarded. still, a fun win.

10-8 with 10 games remaining, then the tournament. assuming a one-and-done in the big ten tourney [no guarantee, but a strong possibility based on the conference's strength], that means a 5-5 finish for a potential NIT berth.

Should-wins:
IPFW, home
Minnesota, home [team's fallen apart]

Won't-wins:
at Illinois
at Ohio State

That means they'd need three among the following:
at Indiana
Michigan State
Iowa
Wisconsin
at Penn State
Ohio State

The most likely wins here are Iowa, at Penn State, and ... and ... I don't see it.

4-6 requires two wins in the Big Ten tourney, which is severely unlikely.

I guess Wisconsin is the next-most winnable, then Michigan State. But, not likely.

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Slightly more interesting to a few readers, I think the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album is tremendous. Go find "The Skin of my Yellow Country Teeth" and "In This Home On Ice" and "Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood" and "Is This Love?" now. [You're already four months late, like I was.]

I find it to be curiously back-loaded, but generally fantastic.

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The Bob Pollard album was 11.99 at Dr. Wax in Evanston, which made it neat to be back in Evanston, in its own way.

There are some fantastic songs there, and "single" "I'm a Strong Lion" is 1:08 in length, which makes it cool. It really is sort of sad that he's so irrelevant at this point that Pitchfork didn't review it until [at least] the third day of release. Do we really like the Arctic Monkeys and Jenny Lewis more than him? I guess.

Long, boring, but done.