I'd like to make this more than a once-a-week thing, as it's been lately, but sometimes you want to sleep or sometimes you unintentionally fall asleep or sometimes whatever weekend or weeknight hijinks I've been involved in don't really warrant recounting here. Sigh.

For instance, my hijinks this weekend included another "fall asleep at 9 watching hoops on the couch, and don't wake up until 5ish the next morning and then, furthermore, don't get out of bed until 10:50 or so, a total of about 14 hours of sleep" Friday night, which just doesn't feel healthy. Right? That can't be healthy.

I was better Saturday night - on the couch at about midnight, and up by 9 (in time to see Tim Russert, thankfully) - though I wound up asleep for perhaps an hour during the Florida-Oregon game.

There's a part of me that thinks this weekend schedule, in combination with an unintentional hour-long, post-run nap on Tuesday night, and in combination with an unintentional two-hour evening nap on Wednesday, is grounds for actual concern. Is it grounds for actual concern? I don't know. If it continues, it probably is.

Of course, perhaps the bigger grounds for concern is that I've got nothing to do during weeknight evenings, though that's not that much of a problem, right?

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Let's talk about awesome things to receive in the mail. All were received in the mail by me this past week. These are listed chronologically, not in order of preference. Cubic birthdays are awesome.

1) Cards, with a check
Received last weekend from my Grandma. And Monday from my parents. We all like checks.

2) New Shoes
These were ordered by me, the previous Friday. My confirmation email said that they'd be here in three to seven business days. However, they arrived Wednesday, which was rainy. So I got 'em out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday was the best - seven miles, in shorts, at a near eight-minute pace. Shorts! Badass.

Thursday was a huge day. On Wednesday, I got the note from my mailman that there was a package in the office for me. So I called Thursday and asked them to drop it inside my door.

And then, not one, but two packages. Siblings rule, except for The Boy, who sucks.

3) TFB's effin' domestic Granola
I'll be honest, the homemade canister, featuring the above inscription in light blue against a navy background, was almost as good as its contents. Though the contents, it should be noted, were half gone by breakfast on Friday morning and completely gone by lunch on Sunday. That kid's a talent.

4) Yoko Ono's Yes, I'm a Ghost, in burned and Sharpie'd form
Granted, I've read about it, but not yet listened. So I can't vouch for its quality.

5) Homemade vegan (I'm assuming) mint chocolate cupcakes
From the entire Dave-Rud clan, as indicated by the D J B B on the return address label. I had a cupcake on Thursday, then another, then I mentioned on the phone with my brother that I'd probably bring the other four into work for people that'd appreciate them, though that might be awkward. He encouraged me to just eat them myself, so I did, two more on Thursday and two more Friday morning.

And so my gluttony was done.

Also, it should be noted that this package arrived in a Milwaukee pizza box, maintaining the smell of its previous goodness. Yum.

And then, it turned out, my gluttony was not done.

6) Gingerbread-y sugar cookies, and coconut-y chocolate chip bars
Oh, sweet Jesus, what a fantastic surprise! From my sister's roommates, and about the best in the world. So, so many cookies, and such nice plans to distribute in the break room at work on Monday. And then a "Thank You" email. And then I placed them in properly-sized airtight containers, and then I placed the properly-sized airtight containers atop the refrigerator. And then I opened and took "just one." And then I did it again. And then, a few hours later, I took "just four," and a glass of milk. And then I did that again. And then, I changed course, determining that I'd just bring them in for my departmental meeting on Wednesday afternoon. Think that worked? Nope. Yum. Almost gone, I'd say gone by Tuesday afternoon, though more likely breakfast on Monday. Sigh.

7) Mix CDs!
My favorite? Still, probably, yes. Mix CDs are the best, and these were clearly well-constructed, clearly several-hours'-work productions. One from each. (If they weren't several-hours'-worth productions, these kids certainly faked it well.) The highlights: It's always a highlight when The Go! Team makes an appearance, because they make all mixes more fun, it seems. Sunset Rubdown b-sides (I think, as I didn't recognize the song) are certainly badass as well. The other? Well, you can't boil a geographical journey into a single highlight, except to be grateful that, yes, "Crazy in Love" does appear. And there was a geographical stretch made in the interests of including Ted Leo, but we know there's no such thing as a bad reason to include Ted Leo. Also, the liners end in three consecutive one-word sentences: "Cheesy? Maybe. Whatever." Beautiful.

8) Photo booth reprints in an eight-track box
Duly placed in a position of honor atop the fridge. A well-trafficked location, to be sure.

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Let's talk about why it's a good thing to read books.

Let's say you're talking to your older brother and, regretfully, you don't talk that much. Due to the nature of a conversation such as this, then, with not much in the way of shared recent experiences to discuss, these conversations can hit a lag. You can only make fun of your parents so much, for instance. There are only so many ways to say that the dog smells, for instance.

Well, somehow, something triggered me to ask a question: "Have you read Freakonomics?" And he hadn't. (I know what triggered the question: We were debating whether Raul's named is spelled 'Raoul,' or 'Raul.' Something tells me that, in this case, the non-traditional spelling was chosen.)

I had, so I proceeded to tell him about the final chapter of the book, the fantastically interesting chapter about names chosen by well-off and highly-educated families, and names chosen by the poorer families or the least-educated families, and how it divides out names according to 'whiteness' or 'blackness,' and it really is quite interesting. Migration of names from the rich to the poor over a generation's time, for instance.

It also discussed the 'mistake' names given by the poorly-educated, somewhat tragic, but mostly tragicomic.

Why's that?

Because of the little girl...her name was to be "sha-TEED," or perhaps "sha-THEED," and it appeared on the birth certificate as "Shithead."

I mean, that's funny. He giggled for a solid two minutes. And then two more.

It's not as funny as the "Mr. Asswipe Jones" sketch featuring Victoria Jackson and Kevin Nealon, but it's pretty funny.

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At one point, this blog went from short, poorly-punctuated comments, to longer, poorly-punctuated stories, to longer, well-punctuated stories and comments and opinions about nothing of import. I would think that, in its current state, there's never been a post for which everything written was properly comprehended by anyone except its author. "Know your audience," which is, in this case, me. I guess.

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A couple of links of interest, mostly to me:

Here's the most recent blog entry from Gilbert Arenas, posted on NBA.com. It's amazing. Not because it's zany or crazy or funny, thought it's all of those things, but because it's so damn sincere. You wonder if athletes appreciate what they've got and if they appreciate the awesomeness of their lives, and most, I think, don't. (And, to be sure, hoops is still a job, with all the sometimes-suckiness that that can entail.) But Gilbert clearly does appreciate it, and this is about the most elegant thing I've ever read from an athlete. This is a guy who, in a New York Times article a few weeks ago, admitted that he changed his free throw routine this year "to give kids something to imitate," which is just awesome. And here, he simply writes about how lucky it is for him, to be a fan given the chance to play the game for a living. I don't watch the NBA at all - I don't think I've seen a game since late-January, and maybe no others since the season's opening week - but I sure like Gil.

Here's my favorite part, perhaps:
To understand me is to understand a fan.
To understand a fan is to love the sport you're watching.
I love the game of basketball.
I am a fan of the game of basketball, and that's why I enjoy it.
Growing up, it wasn't about the money. It wasn't about the cars. It wasn't about the bling-blau that it is today.
It was simple.
It was, "How did MJ feel? How did he feel right at this moment after he hit that game-winner?"
That's what I wanted to know. Like, "What's going through his mind?" Like, "How does he feel crying, kissing that trophy, with the champagne on his head?"
That's what I wanted to know about.

He writes about loving Lil' Penny, and loving his position as an entertainer, and about how, when he jumped on the trampoline and dunked at the All-Star game, it was because he'd always wondered what that felt like. Kind of like the blue duck, you know?

Here's a two-month-old link to to a Slate article whose thesis is basically "Jim Nantz and Joe Buck are boring. I sure wish they weren't the guys calling our biggest sporting events." In fact, the first paragraph ends, "Is that really the best we can do?"

It calls Buck "the definition of occupational mediocrity" and mentions his "sneering condescension that screams 'obey authority.' " As for Nantz: "No one projects an image of country-club piety and blandness quite like him."

How uncomfortable is that Circuit City commercial where they try to turn Nantz' "Hello friends" into some kind of "Hey! Look! We've got The. Jim. Nantz. in a commercial!" catchphrase. Awkward.

Give me Gus! (James Brown did a hatchet-job on every broadcast he was a part of this tournament, by the way. He clearly doesn't follow the sport, and was clearly trying to fit in stories that showed he did, and this led to an embarrassing incident in which he mistook the dying-dad backstory on Florida's Taurean Green for that of Butler's Mike Green. Also, he stumbled over just about every call. He sucked. Give me Gus!)

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Usually, you end a fantasy baseball draft totally geeked, then, upon reflection, realize that your lineup kind of sucks.

However, I left my draft disappointed, remained disappointed, then looked back an hour later and realized it was pretty good. Why? Mashers, everywhere, which is what I was going for.

We kept four from last year. We start nine position players, three starting pitchers, and two relievers. We count OBP but not batting average (explaining the mashers in my outfield), and we, inexplicably, don't count strikeouts for pitchers. Batters: OBP, Runs, RBI, TB, HR, SB. Pitchers: W, Sv, ERA, WHIP. That's it.

Here's the lineup:

C: Joe Mauer (keeper)
1B: Nick Swisher, most likely (2nd round)
2B: Howie Kendrick, who I was thrilled to get (7th round)
3B: Miguel Cabrera (keeper)
SS: Stephen Drew (9th round, the final SS starter taken)
OF: Adam Dunn (1st round)
OF: Rocco Baldelli (3rd round, overdrafted)
OF: Pat Burrell (6th round)
Util: Travis Hafner (keeper)

SP: Johan Santana (keeper)
SP: Jered Weaver (an overdraft? 5th round)
SP: Cole Hamels (8th round)
RP: Trevor Hoffman (4th round. I was on the wrong side of a run on relievers here, as he was the last good one after Huston Street and BJ Ryan went off the board. I could've taken Jenks, or F. Cordero, or Saito. The greats had just left the board, and I panicked. That said, he's awesome.)
RP: Adam Wainwright (ensuring I won't win the saves category. 10th round)

Bench:
I didn't draft another starting pitcher. So many mediocre, interchangeable ones are left - Freddy Garcia, David Bush, Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson, perhaps, Zach Duke. They're there.

RP: Mike Gonzalez (14th / last round. Could have value if Wickman's fat gets in the way for Atlanta)
SS/2B: Dustin Pedroia (13th round / high-ceiling rookie starting in a good lineup)
OF: Mike Cameron (12th round / 20/20 potential)
1B: Adrian Gonzalez (11th round / had a nice run at times with SD, and he's only 25)

Some versatility on the club - my only backupless spots are 3B and OF, and Pedroia should be good and Kendrick or Gonzalez can play first if I want to move Baldelli or Burrell out of the lineup.

I'm happy. And now I'm done.

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I'm not sure I love the new Modest Mouse album, but those generally take time to seep in. I know I love "Missed the Boat" and "Fire It Up."