I try to reserve this space for actual news (not true), but, lacking in actual news (true), I'll just write again.

I think I've spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone lately, but I kind of covered that last time. But I got to talk with Gurs for the first time in, it seems like, ages last night, and that was really nice. I think about an hour combined between two calls, with a break for him to fill up his gas tank and for me to make lunch and do some dishes. And it was all semi-substantive stuff.

Tina and I have a conversation that we never seem to finish, so it's like one long epic. I think it started probably in September or so. I'm happy that I talk to Tina again. She encourages me to think big, and I respond by choking. Or, rather, misreading, perhaps. Or, rather, being misled. Or, rather, well, I'm not sure, but I appreciate her for it. And I'm confident I've made it better, perhaps. And I got a real nice dinner out of it, and I got to sit on the floor and listen to some silly music and I got to drink some somewhat free wine.

I got to talk to my friend Cookie from The 'Port over the weekend, though we got hung up on serious stuff. And then we got to talking about the new Gophs football coach and college football recruiting. A strong finish to a somewhat sad conversation.

My friend Dirtbag called last night - I used the disingenuous-but-truthful excuse - "You were totally on my list of people to call this week," and he was - but it always makes one look like a dork. He sent me some pictures of his son, who is now, shockingly, six months old. 18 months ago, he was just raking an infield and microwaving broccoli for lunch, and now he's a daddy to two, which is pretty wild and fantastic, it seems, from my secondhand perspective. He asked if I'm ready to do not-baseball this summer, and I said there hasn't been a day that I've missed it since I've started my new gig, but that I had no idea if that would change over the summer, and he said, "It won't. Get there in the first. Leave in the seventh. It's a beautiful thing."

I got a really, really nice email from a former colleague two days ago. You'll recall, perhaps, that I had what I considered a pretty big opportunity to call Triple-A baseball two summers ago, and I was beyond excited about it, though I kind of choked on my nerves and didn't sound particularly...professional...when I was calling the game. I mean, at the time I thought I sounded okay, but I didn't. Nerves kept me quiet.

Anyway, the former colleague through whom I finagled the opportunity contacted me a few days ago, just to tell me that I had been under consideration for a job that they never posted. One of a few names that they bandied about in their office. Bear in mind, I hadn't seen him in 18 months, and I hadn't had contact with him since a few back-and-forth emails this summer, so it was flattering. I got to write "Thanks for the consideration. Now stop considering me." And I explained what had transpired since our last contact in, probably, July or so. He was generally happy for me.

So it feels like I've got more friends in different time zones than I do here, and that's probably true, but it seems like that's starting to actually change. In the past four days, I've spent quality social time with four different locals on three separate occasions, plus a nearly two-hour phone conversation with a local, and that's pretty good in a town of 15,000 or so. It looks like I'm officially part of a Tuesday Night All-Weather Outdoor Running Club, which is nice. Or, while I'm not officially part of it, I've been invited back for a third time next week. I don't really have proper gear, though my Alamo Bowl long-sleeved t-shirt and my "Get One Free" kind-of purple gloves are pretty cool. Next week we're running on the side of the road, and it's been recommended that I get something reflective. I think I'll just rely on the free rider problem.

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I've already got St. Patrick's Day plans, and they're taking me on the road. Columbus, Ohio. Newport Music Hall. The Thermals. The Hold Steady. It'll be amazing. You should totally come.

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I absolutely found myself enthralled - again - by Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea this weekend. It never disappoints. Jeff Mangum's singing backup on the new Apples In Stereo record, out in a few weeks. It'll be the first Apples In Stereo record that I purchase.

Besides the wild imagery and the psychedelic orchestra featured on ITAOTS, I noticed the rhythm of Jeff Mangum's delivery this weekend. "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1" has about the most amazing, Eminem-like (!) internal rhyme in its crucial lyric - "And this is the room one afternoon I knew I could love you." Just haunting and fantastic.

But everything's fantastic about the album, we know.

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It's tough to believe, but I've been at my job for almost four months now. I'm a veteran, already on my second desk. Also, on my second water glass, as the first one developed a leak in the past few days. I've had to move to a glass glass, sadly, rather than my preferred rustic blue plastic.

I've also learned euchre, kind of, in the past week or so, and have gone 2-1. I kind of prefer our scrappy Texas Hold 'Em games, but those seem to have fallen by the wayside, and it's a shame.

We switched desks about 10 days ago, and I was pretty bummed about the dissolution of my pod of three. But the new pod of three has worked out, as it turns out that one of my new mates is absolutely hilarious. He just needed to find deskmates willing to talk. He's taken to using The Boy's fantastic post-joke drumbeat-cymbal-crash-silence-with-the-hand trademark, which makes me a bit uncomfortable, but also draws uproarious laughter. We've gone from "I'm gonna get you fired for being too loud" to "You're gonna get me fired," neither of which is true, I don't think. And he's roadtripping to Columbus with me in a few months.

Speaking of The Boy, I miss him. I wonder what he's up to. (Work. Lots of it. No sleep.)

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I head to New York a week from Thursday. I'm pretty geeked to see my sister.

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Is it my duty to watch the State of the Union address? Is it your duty? For all it's ridiculousness, it's a pretty neat tradition. Standing ovations, and one night where everyone pretends to get along. Personally, I wish the minority party didn't even get its rebuttal opportunity - let's honor the tradition and let the President have his moment.

Nice touch to emphasize the "Madam Speaker" thing, I think, though he probably didn't come up with it. But it got everything off on a nice note, I thought.

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Bears Analysis: They were far better, and I knew that they'd be better. (I really did, because Sean Salisbury disagreed with me.) I'm pretty excited for Super Bowl XLI. I don't know who will win yet, though I have an inclination on who will win, and maybe I'll offer an analysis next Wednesday before I depart for Detroit-then-New York. I'm quite happy that I thought of the Super Bowl while booking my tickets. Maybe Skipper will wear a "You've Been Urlacher'd" shirt, because it's a pretty effin' cool shirt. I'm 2-0 with the YBU shirt in the playoffs.

I only wish I were spending more time (any time) listening to Bernstein and Boers over these next weeks.