Dearest All,
Another generous application of the definition "vacation" later, and I find myself successfully embracing the year 2009.
So much to I've discussed, but will not bore you here. For another day (perhaps never). But in case you were wondering what they were, in no order or ranking:
1) Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service - Here in College Station, there are zero (that's 0) volunteering opportunities tomorrow. I like the idea, but need some others to do a little extra volunteering to get me to volunteer. Otherwise, I'll just drive around for a few hours before I end up at Best Buy. And this is not the month to end up at Best Buy. Unless they're giving me the tv.
2) College football's bowl season. I engaged in a long email or two with friends who work in the sports broadcasting industry, and I developed a thesis that: polls are grossly inaccurate and should be either abolished until the end of the season if they're going to rank teams for the purported national championship game since a season-long ranking exercise unfairly rewards teams starting at the top of the ladder (see: Florida and Oklahoma) while making other teams (see: Utah, Oregon State, Penn State, Alabama) either can't make it all the way to the top since they have to leapfrog other purported "better" teams or they get unfairly pushed up to the top without proving themselves, or (worst of all) the voters feel obligated to keep undefeated teams near the top but can't wait to push them aside once they lose. In a season where losing a game is practically inevitable, the penalty of losing the first game should not be as severe (see: USC, Penn State, Texas). Anyhow, I summed up roughly 10,000 words into "USC should have played Florida". I'll repeat this next year, although with Mark Sanchez leaving and a young defense again, it should be an interesting campaign for the Trojans.
3) NFL Playoffs: I can't believe they're almost over already. Having spent the month in the islands, I think I watched half of one half of one game to this point. And now the Arizona Cardinals are in the Super Bowl to face the Steelers. So me and my fellow Cubs fans have all this to rub in our wounds: Red Sox winning 2 World Series, Patriots winning several Super Bowls, Phillies win World Series, Tampa Bay in a World Series, Detroit in World Series, Chicago White Sox win World Series, and I'm sure there's been some odd teams winning the Stanley Cup, not that I've been paying attention. If the Cardinals win the Super Bowl in two weeks, consider me vengeful.
4) Obama's inauguration. Simply put, can't wait. It should be an interesting couple of days. Concerts, parades, talking heads, whinging Republicans (not the politicians these days, just the talking heads), and hopefully one Rick Roll moment in the speech. I don't ask for much.
5) Football and the Super Bowl means that I'm taking my comprehensive exams soon. I really should be studying a bit more.
6) Which brings us to an amusing video I saw online. It has it all: a pet, amusing soundtrack, and generally amusing effect. Let's see if I can successfully imbed it
here:
I probably should ask Minter how he drops the videos in. Alas.
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! Go volunteer your time at something worthwhile!
--Goose
February Shout-Outs: My tivo! Thanks for keeping all the relevant Daily Show episodes! How do I miss thee? Let me count the ways...
