Another Day in Paradise

Today is a beautiful day for February. The sun is out, there isn't a cloud in the sky (although you can see the smog on the horizon, if you want something to be picky about), and it's warm. Not April-warm, you know, but February-warm. It's currently 41° where I work (according to weather.com), which is downright agreeable when you consider that I had to defrost my car before I could go anywhere this morning.

Unfortunately, for the next 3.5 hours I'm only going to be able to enjoy this beautiful day through the large window in my office. Of course, I can't really complain too much. If I wasn't at work, I'd likely be enjoying this beautiful day through the windows of my apartment, as I sat on the couch playing NCAA Football on PlayStation2.

I did get to enjoy the day for a few minutes on my lunch break, at least. I still had a few minutes left when I got back from Wendy's, so I rolled down the windows on my car to feel the breeze while I listened to some music. The CD in my car stereo right now is the greatest hits of Huey Lewis and the News, which I think is perfect for days like this. It's feel-good music. I only had a few minutes, but it was nice to have those few minutes to myself, to sit and revel in the music and the day.

I just wish the rest of my lunch hour was like that.

Today I ate at Wendy's, which generally makes for a good lunch break no matter what else happens. The food and service was good today, so I have no complaints about that. What got on my nerves is that today was apparently "Bring Your Three-Year-Old to Wendy's" Day, and no, I didn't get that memo. If I had, I would have visited another Wendy's (lucky me, there are two of them nearby).

Children drive me crazy. The high-pitched voice of a toddler is piercing: it cuts through the din of a crowded restaurant and assails my ears like fingernails on a chalkboard. That's just when they talk, which they rarely do. Normally they scream and yell, which makes me want to puncture my own eardrums to lessen the suffering.

Never, even if I sat in front of my computer screen for a million years, could I describe my feelings about children any better than ESPN's Sports Guy, Bill Simmons. Take it away, Bill:

Here's the deal with kids: When you get married, your other friends who have kids tell you, "It's great, you have to do it, it's the best experience you'll ever have."

And then they spend the next 15 minutes telling you how they don't sleep, they get up three times a night, their kids keep getting them sick, they haven't left the house in three months, they stink like diapers, they can't find a good babysitter, they never have sex, and they don't have time to watch TV, follow sports, play sports, go to the movies or basically do anything at all. Really, it sounds fantastic.

I have a theory on this: I think 90 percent of parents can't believe how miserable they are, so they make a secret pact and try to get everyone else to have kids, just so everyone else is in the same boat and they don't have to hear stories about four-course dinners, Vegas trips, romantic getaway weekends and everything else. They're like Jim Jones in Guyana -- "Drink the Kool-Aid, seriously, it's phenomenal! You have to try this!"

Bill Simmons, ladies and gentlemen.

While there are exceptions, it is my solemn contention that children aren't really people until they're maybe twelve or so. Until that point, any line-crossing should cause them to be dispatched with extreme prejudice. Okay, I'm kidding about that, but come on, what's wrong with some discipline? It just seems like so many parents take their kids in public and then become totally oblivious to them, while the kids are running around, screaming, banging into things and people, and generally being as horrible and annoying as is humanly possible.

Now I'll let you in on a little secret, which compounds my problem: babies stare at me. By babies, I mean anyone under, say, five years old. Most guys want to be babe magnets; I appear to be a baby magnet. For some inexplicable reason, they're attracted to me. Not in any sort of reverse-pedophilic sort of way, but in the sort of way that insects are attracted to light fixtures. Or like cats always seem to flock to the person who is allergic to them. They just know I don't like them, and delight in making me as uncomfortable as they can.

As a sidenote, animals also tend to really like me. I don't mind that, though, as I actually like animals.

And okay, I really don't mind it when babies stare at me. I think it's funny. Everything else I talked about is truly annoying, though.

The House That Roars

BG Tops Toledo in OT

Well, it wasn't the 50-point beating I was hoping we would lay on them, considering they're our biggest rival and (as much as it pains me to type it) they've owned us lately. It was, however, the type of game I wish Brandi could have come to, as Anderson Arena lived up to its nickname for the first time this season.

First, let me say that I had to sneak into the student section. Occasionally they'll check student IDs to "make sure" that only BG students are sitting in the student section. I hate it when they do that, because for the most part it's a general admission section, with the understanding that it's mostly students down there, and that most people will stand through the whole game, and be loud and crude. Granted, I graduated from BGSU almost four full years ago, so I'm most assuredly no longer a student, and I get the concept of saving the student section for the students. I get it. On the other hand...the season is almost over, and the fact that the student section was somewhere close to full tells me that there were plenty of kids there for the first time, despite the fact that they've had all season to come out. I, on the other hand, have been sitting in the same spot for the past seven seasons, and I've missed only a handful of games in that time (probably less than a handful). A lot of kids end up in that section and don't want to stand and yell with the rest of us anyway. I like getting loud and crazy--it's why I sit down there. Hey, I've got season tickets for a reserved seat in a great spot. If ever there comes a time when I don't want to stand and scream the whole time, I'll go sit up there. I like sitting with the students, though. It's not like I'm too old to fit in. Hell, I'm louder than most of them (which would surprise many people who have never been to a basketball game with me).

Anyway, I ended up going upstairs and climbing over the guardrail down into the student section. The event staff didn't seem to mind. By the time the game started, they had realized the students weren't going to fill the section, and had started letting civilians in anyway. I was already in there by then, though. I wasn't about to wait until gametime and hope there were still seats left.

The student section, when it's close to capacity and pumped up, is what gives Anderson Arena its nickname. The first row of students is pressed right up against the sideline (hence the "Sideline Squad" t-shirts that are given away once a year), and let me tell you, opposing players do NOT want to inbounds the ball from our side of the court. There are no boundaries in between fans and players. Our fans don't touch them, but they're right there in their ears. It definitely creates an advantage, and when the crowd singles out one player on the other team to harass, it can really get into his head (are you listening, Andy Hipsher? We still hate you. We hope to see you at Anderson in the MAC Tournament). That's why Anderson is known as one of the toughest places in the country for an opposing team to play.

At any rate, it was a good game. The rivalry, the closeness of the game, and the charged atmosphere made it a lot of fun. As I said, this is the type of game I wish Brandi could have come to for her first game at Anderson Arena, so she could have a better feel for why I love it so much.

Old Haunts and New

Being around a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a long time yesterday at Grandma's funeral, I started missing Troy quite a bit. Feeling a bit nostalgic anyway, I decided to just cruise around town while I was there, visiting some memories from the past. Here are some of the highlights.

First off, I was part of the funeral procession and went to the cemetery for a brief graveside service. Troy is an interesting place, in that I wouldn't exactly call it a small town (population > 20,000), but it really does have a small-town feel to it. It's a community. Driving through Riverside cemetery, I saw a lot of names I recognized. Not that I knew the people personally, but I recognized the family names, just through growing up in Troy, going to high school there, and keeping up with local news even now that I live elsewhere. I found it pretty interesting. Sometime when I'm home for a weekend, perhaps this spring, I think I'd like to take a walk through the cemetery and just look around at the names on the markers.

The post-funeral lunch gathering was held at a church in Tipp City. That particular town happens to be home to Spring Hill Nurseries, which is where I used to be employed. I decided to drive by and check it out. The garden center was in full swing. The parking lot was full, and the store seemed to be doing a brisk business. They're probably doing a lot of shipping right now, getting bulbs and plants out so people can plant them for this fall. The building where our Merchandising Department was located, though, was not so prosperous. It's vacant and up for sale, and I'd be surprised if it's been used since SHN went out of business. Sad, but not entirely unexpected.

When I came back into Troy, one of the first places I drove past was Troy Memorial Stadium, where the Trojans play on Friday nights during the fall. I never miss an opportunity to visit the stadium when I'm in town. I love Troy football, and the stadium holds lots of good memories for me. It's undergone some significant renovation in the past year, and I'm still getting used to the new look. I started going to Troy games with Rachel when she was in high school and I was in junior high. I haven't missed a Trojan home game since 1991, when I was a freshman in high school. That's where my love of football began. I've taken plenty of friends there with me, and I've gone to plenty of games by myself. I love being there.

Directly across the street from the stadium is Troy High School itself, from which I graduated in 1995. It doesn't seem like I spent only four years there, or that it was over almost nine years ago. I still have a pretty fair number of friends from high school. I have a lot of memories there as well. Not all of them are good, of course, but I would say the vast majority of them are. I know very few people who can say this, but if I was given the opportunity to go back to high school, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Essentially next door to the stadium is Hobart Arena. The THS hockey team plays there now, and it's also where graduation ceremonies are held. I spent a lot of time there when I was younger, as Troy used to be home to a semi-professional hockey team (the Troy Sabres, who later became the Miami Valley Sabres). Uncle Clarence and Aunt Lou would always take Rachel and me to the games. My favorite player was #77, Bernie Chivarelli (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). The games were a blast. The THS hockey coach is Rick Szabo, and he was the Sabres' goalie. I like going to the high school games now when I can. Just being in the arena and experiencing the way sights, sounds, and smells of hockey bring back a lot. The arena, like the stadium, has undergone quite a lot of renovation, but the heart of it is still the same. I'm glad to report that "The Pissing Man" is still there. On top of the arena, above the entryway, there is a small structure that looks, in profile, like a man taking a leak. I can't explain it, but it's there. It was pointed out to me by a classmate on the bus on the way home from junior high one day, and now I can't drive by the arena without looking for it.

In the same neck of the woods is the house where Uncle Clarence, Aunt Lou, and Rachel used to live. I spent a lot of time there as a kid, so I drove by to check it out. I almost didn't recognize it, to be honest. One of the houses next door is now gone. The house itself has been re-sided. The garage behind the house is still blue, though, and the driveway is still lined with stone. I always had a lot of fun there when I was younger. Since I was in the neighborhood, I drove by Grandma's old house as well. It looked the same as it always has, except I'm pretty sure there's a different fence around the yard now.

From there, I drove through Duke Park, where I had my first job, working the concession stand for softball games during the summer after I graduated from high school. That was a decent job, for the most part. My main complaint was just dealing with kids whose parents were too occupied to pay them much mind. Other than that, it was fun. I was outside in the summer, but not out in the sun. I got to watch some softball, and often I knew some of the people playing. I got all the pop, candy, and hot dogs I could handle. Also, the boss didn't mind if I had friends join me, so I often did. I really like being at the park. It's one of my favorite places in Troy.

After that I headed over to Troy's west side, where there are a lot of changes being made. After immersing myself in the past for a while, I wanted to go over there and see some new stuff, some of the progress that's happening. Our local Wal-Mart is becoming a Super Wal-Mart, and I wanted to see the construction and what it was doing to the rest of the plaza. I was dismayed to see that the plaza's bookstore, Little Professor, was no longer there. Otherwise, not much was changed. There are some new apartment buildings going up behind Wal-Mart, so I went that way to check them out, and I discovered that Little Professor had put up their own building and was now housed back there as well. The opportunity to check out a new bookstore was too much for me to pass up, so I went inside. I was immediately faced with a book called Schoolboy Trojans, which seems to pertain to Troy football in the 50s. I picked that up, of course, and I'm excited to read it. I'm sure I'll be writing about it in detail at a later date, once I've finished it.

There was a time, when those apartment buildings were first announced, that I could see myself looking there for housing. While that's still a possibility on some level, I think that by the time I could possibly be ready to move back to Troy, I would be looking for an actual house. And I can't say with any type of certainty that a move to Troy is forthcoming at any point in the future, as I've also grown quite fond of Bowling Green. At this point, though, I have to say that it's a possibility.

Funeral and Family

My abstention from writing yesterday was due to spending the day in Troy for a funeral.

First off, let's get the familial explanations out of the way, so I can proceed without running around in circles trying to explain exactly how everyone is or is not related. Frankie Vanover, the deceased, is not actually my grandmother, but I've called her "Grandma" all my life. Her daughters are Billie and Louise, who are known to me as Aunt Bill and Aunt Lou. Aunt Bill is married to my Uncle Mike, who is my dad's brother, so she actually is my aunt. Aunt Lou, being her sister, is not technically a relation, since the connection is by marriage. However, Aunt Bill is the one who took care of me when I was younger while my parents were at work, and she and Aunt Lou are very close, so I spent a lot of time with both of them. Aunt Lou and her husband (Uncle Clarence) have a daughter (Rachel) who is a just a few years older than I am, and we grew up together. The point I'm trying to get across is this: technically, I'm not related to Aunt Lou, Uncle Clarence, and/or Rachel, but they are all family, in the more important sense of the word. Also, Uncle Mike and Aunt Bill have a son named Mike, who also has a son named Mike. For clarity's sake, although he isn't nearly as crazy as he used to be, the middle Mike will henceforth be referred to by his old nickname, "Crazy Mike," and his son Mike, who is only a few years younger than me and is a close friend as well as an actual blood relative, will just be known as Mike.

Now that we're all clear on that (sure we are), a story. A couple of years ago, my mom and I went with Aunt Bill and Aunt Lou to go visit Grandma at the nursing home. She had Alzheimer's disease, and it had been a while since I had seen her. They told me she probably wouldn't recognize me, as she often didn't recognize people, even the people she saw frequently. So we went in and walked into her room, and she got a big smile on her face and said, "Well, there's Jon!"

Being around that side of the family as much as I was when I was younger, I was one of her favorites. Spending so much time with Rachel, who actually was her granddaughter, I was like one of the grandchildren. In fact, I found out yesterday that I was actually counted among the grandchildren. That made me feel pretty good.

At any rate, I took the day off from work and drove down to Troy for the funeral. I'm really glad I did. I wanted to be there for my family, and I could tell it meant a lot to them that I made it. We get together only rarely, and it was good to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time. It just sucks that someone had to die for it to happen.

I make it into Troy only infrequently now, so I don't see Aunt Bill and Uncle Mike or Aunt Lou and Uncle Clarence and Rachel nearly as much as I used to. Crazy Mike lives in Pennsylvania now, I think, so I definitely don't see him very often. Also present was my cousin Dave (another son of Uncle Mike and Aunt Bill), who lives in the area but is mostly MIA. These guys are quite a bit older than I am, and because of the age difference, this was the first time I can recall that I could sit down and talk to them and actually relate to them. Rachel, Mike, and I used to play Atari games with Dave years ago, but that wasn't quite the same.

Another person I saw for the first time in quite a while was Rachel's cousin Tonia. Tonia and I are exactly one week apart in age (she being the older), and as she was also around fairly often when we were younger, we were always teased about having crushes on each other. I can't speak for Tonia (although I do think it was true at one point or another), but as for myself, I think enough time has passed now that I feel comfortable admitting that it was true through junior high and into the early part of high school. Nothing ever came of it, but we were close friends while we were in high school. I hadn't seen her since Rachel got married a few years ago, and now she's married and pregnant.

I'm glad I could be there for everyone, and I did enjoy seeing them, despite the circumstances. Being with everyone brought back a lot of good memories of my youth, and the time I spent with Uncle Mike and Aunt Bill, and with Uncle Clarence, Aunt Lou, and Rachel, often with Mike and Tonia. It's really amazing to think back on times like that and think about how much stuff has changed, and how much has stayed the same. At one point I saw Crazy Mike and Dave exchange a private joke, and just look at each other and laugh, and it reminded me so much of how it is now between me, Rachel, and Mike. We don't see each other often, but we shared so much growing up and have so many common experiences that even now we can just exchange glances and private jokes and be right back on the same wavelength.

It all made me feel really lucky for the circumstances that allowed me to be so close to these people and consider them family even when they aren't all blood relations. Blood is overrated. It's shared experiences and love that makes a real family, and nothing else. All of these people have meant so much to my life, and I'm grateful for that. I didn't always feel lucky as a kid, but that's the nature of youth. Now that I can look back on it I realize how great it was to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

Being there, surrounded by these people and memories for my childhood, I spent a good portion of the afternoon just cruising the streets of Troy, visiting old haunts and revisiting old times. More on that later.

A Sad Day

Frances ''Frankie'' Vanover

It seems as though this week may be taking a bit of a detour. If I can swing it, I'll probably be driving down to Troy tonight for the funeral tomorrow. Although I hadn't seen her lately, she was often an important part of my growing up. I want to be there to pay my respects, to both her and to my family.

Lonely, Lonely, Lonely Monday Morning

Okay, who besides me remembers rapper/one-hit wonder Snow? His one hit, "Informer," was popular at some point in the early 90s. I was one of the lucky ones who actually paid money for the CD, 12" of Snow (which includes the song "Lonely Monday Morning," which provided the title for this entry). Over the years, I've thinned my CD collection a couple of times by selling some of them to used CD stores, but I've kept that one, and I still listen to it from time to time. The songs are so terrible, lyrically, that you can't help but find them amusing. When you can understand what he's saying, of course.

And a lonely Monday morning it is. Monday mornings are always a little rough. I hate getting up at 7:00 a.m. anytime, let alone after two days of sleeping in. Getting out of bed and leaving for work this morning brought about the end of a good weekend with Brandi, and I likely won't see her again until Saturday. There are certainly better ways for a week to start.

I really can't complain too much, though, because as I said, the weekend that ended this morning was a good one. It started, for all intents and purposes, on Thursday evening. Brandi had a bit of a financial windfall, and thus decided to come to Bowling Green that night and stay for the weekend. That was nice: I certainly don't mind driving to Stow, but it's good to occasionally have a weekend when I don't have to. Besides that, I wasn't planning to go to Stow until Saturday afternoon, after the BGSU basketball game. With Brandi deciding to come on Thursday, we got two extra days.

Weekend highlights:

We went out to dinner on Friday night at Easystreet Cafe in downtown Bowling Green. It's one of our favorite places to eat, and since Brandi is in BG so infrequently, I didn't want to miss the opportunity. We went pretty late--it was after 9:00--but we still had to wait for a table. That was fine, because it gave us a chance to sit at the bar and have a glass of wine.

Through dinner, we debated whether or not we wanted to go out afterwards for drinks. About halfway through her second glass of wine, Brandi decided she was ready to go. So, after dinner we headed over to BW3, intending just to kick back and relax, listen to some tunes and have a few drinks. As it happened, we ran into some friends (Adam, Jamie, and Mike and Charissa), so we ended up joining them. We hung out there for a while, then went en masse to another bar called Downtown. It was pretty crowded there--that can make it fun, but it can also make it a real pain to get a drink, especially when you've got a jackass behind the bar who only waits on females. That aside, it was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone for a while. Brandi and I finished the night at Uptown, which is a dance club right above Downtown (clever, yes?).

As a sidenote, I'm discovering that I have a higher alcohol tolerance than I have any business having, given the size of my body and my relative inexperience with drinking. I had seven drinks on Friday night, and never a hint of a buzz.

Saturday essentially began with Brandi's first trip to Anderson Arena, as the Bowling Green Falcons took on the Youngstown State Penguins in an ESPN Bracket Buster game. It was fun, as games at Anderson have a tendency to be, but it could have been better. The Falcons won going away, despite a couple of injuries, and the crowd was small and lackluster. I wanted it to be more exciting so Brandi could get the full effect, but it was not to be. I think she had fun, but it could have been better. I wish she could make it to the game coming up this Wednesday, which is against our hated archrivals, the great unwashed, the Toledo Rockets. I sincerely hope we can pack "The House That Roars" for that one, at least.

The game was followed by a trip to Wal-Mart for some necessities. That was quite irritating. Apparently Wal-Mart has stopped allowing debit MasterCards to be used as credit cards, which is how they're supposed to be used. They now make you enter your PIN number to use them. The kicker, of course, is that my card, for whatever reason, won't allow itself to be used that way, so it kept rejecting my PIN, and I ended up having to use an actual credit card. Something is going to have to be done about this--the great thing about such a debit card is that it can be used so easily, and if it's going to be such a pain in the ass, we might as well go back to writing checks.

Anyway, that night we ended up going out to dinner again. We thought about going to Olive Garden, which is another of our favorites, but didn't really feel like driving to Toledo. Eventually we remembered that there's a new Italian place in downtown Bowling Green, so we decided to check it out. First, though, we stumbled into another place, called Cohen & Cooke--it's another new place downtown, so we thought it was what we were looking for. It wasn't: too high priced, and you didn't seem to be able to choose what you got. Once we got a look at the menu, we were out of there. The Italian place was a few doors down, and it's called Cucina di Betto.

Trust me, this place deserves a paragraph all to itself. It was incredible. The service was great, and the food was awesome. As usual, we started with a glass of wine. Then they brought out a basket of bread, with a seasoned olive oil dipping sauce, and our salads. I love a good salad, and this one was really good--a good variety of vegetables, including some yellow pepper, which was excellent. All the veggies were fresh and crispy, as were the croutons. For dinner, I ordered chicken marsala, and I got the best chicken marsala I've ever had (and that's saying something). The chicken was very tender, the dish was covered in mushrooms, and the sauce had a slightly nutty flavor. Brandi was equally pleased with her dinner, which was portabella ravioli. My only critique is that their menu could offer a bit more selection. Other than that, it was outstanding, and I highly recommend this place.

No, I'm not a professional restaurant reviewer, but apparently I play one on the internet.

Sunday was a pretty laid-back kind of day, which is what Sundays are for. I watched the first half of the Cavs-Knicks game, as I always try to catch Lebron when I get a chance. After that we went over to the Wood County Humane Society to hang out with some cats. Brandi really loves cats, and I like them pretty well myself, although I tend to identify myself as more of a dog person. Unfortunately, neither of us is allowed to have pets in our respective apartments, so we visit the Humane Society from time to time to get our fix. Animals are just funny, and even moreso when there's an entire room full of them (two rooms, actually). At one point, Brandi crouched down to pet one cat, and another cat leapt up onto her back, and was thinking about climbing on top of her head before I plucked it off (the cat, that is; not Brandi's head). Another cat was hanging out in the sink. Some of this stuff you just have to see to know how funny it is. There was one cat we both really liked, a gray one named Doc. He was sleeping when we first got there, but Brandi eventually petted him awake. He was pretty calm and lovable, and sat on both of our laps for a while. Of course, that meant Brandi talked about him for the rest of the day.

The only other really notable thing about Sunday (besides a nice long nap upon arriving home from the Humane Society) was the weather. Mostly sunny, calm (which is a big deal for Bowling Green, which is normally extremely windy), and pretty warm for a day in February. It inspired a trip to Dairy Queen, and we took a walk later in the evening, onto campus and around town.

After all that, I had to come to work today. What a letdown. This should be a good week, though. Tonight I'm just going to chill out and relax; on Tuesday night, I think I'm hitting the town with a friend for Mardi Gras; Wednesday I get to watch the Falcons defuse the Rockets; Thursday is a possible roadtrip to go see the Troy Trojans play in the first round of the Ohio High School Division I tournament. On Friday, of course, I get the rev the whole thing up again.

Notes, Quotes, and Sailboats

Since there's nothing demanding my attention this afternoon, you get another installment of randomness. What a treat.

Colorado University head football coach Gary Barnett...is there any question this guy needs to go? Seven incidents of alleged sexual assault by football players under his watch, including one against another player (female or not)--this gives, at the very least, the appearance of a program out of control. Barnett can plead ignorance all he wants, but ultimately, the responsibility for the overall health of the football program lies with the head coach. His callousness toward the situation doesn't help matters either. It seems to me that CU's administration has no choice other than to fire him, if for no other reason than public relations.

Baseball's spring training has started. Individual game tickets for the Cincinnati Reds go on sale tomorrow. Life is good.

As baseball winds up, the college basketball season is winding down. The BGSU Falcons have five more games (four at home) before the MAC Tournament begins on March 8. The first round of the tournament is played at campus sites, so I'm hoping the Falcons play well enough in the meantime to turn that into another home game.

One of BG's remaining home games is tomorrow afternoon vs. the Youngstown State Penguins. I'm hoping to get Brandi to come with me, as she's never been to a game at Anderson Arena. I'm also hoping a lot of people show up, so she can see how much fun a game there can be.

The high school basketball regular season is also coming to a close. My Troy Trojans are 18-1 heading into their final contest tonight at Huber Heights Wayne. They've earned a #1 seed in the upcoming state tournament, which begins next Thursday. Living over a hundred miles away, I haven't seen them play yet this year, but I'm hoping to make it to see them play at least once in the tournament.

I caught a show on SpikeTV last night called Most Extreme Elimination Challenge. I couldn't describe it adequately if I tried, so I'll just say that it was incredibly funny. They were actually showing a marathon, and I think Brandi and I ended up watching three episodes in a row.

A wrestling match with my stapler this afternoon reminded me of another aspect of my former job at Spring Hill. I seemed to be the de facto repairman for staplers and the copy machine. Whenever someone was having issues with one of these items, they would come to me for help. I'm not entirely sure why. I did always seem to fix the problem...maybe that's why.

It's raining pretty hard right now. I can hear it pounding on the window in my office. One of my co-workers has been complaining about the rain, loudly, for about an hour. What's to complain about? Anytime it's precipitating in February in a liquid rather than a solid form, I figure it's a good thing.

Anyone else like pineapple on pizza? I love it, but I seem to be in the minority.

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Once again, I was listening to "The Tony Kornheiser Show" on ESPN Radio while I drove to get some lunch this afternoon.

The best thing about Tony's show is that it's not always about sports. I love sports, of course, but I can only take so much. I want to hear stuff about the sports and teams I like, and that's about it. When I get some local yahoo talking about the Detroit Red Wings, for instance, I switch over to my CD player. Tony talks about plenty of stuff besides sports, though, and even when he does talk about sports I don't care about, he's generally entertaining/insightful/funny enough that I enjoy listening anyway.

Today he was talking about how much he loves his job as a columnist for the Washington Post. He said he still gets a special feeling each time he walks into the building, and he can't imagine what he'll be feeling when the time comes for him to walk out of it for the last time.

This goes without saying, but I would love to have a job like that. I'd be highly surprised if it ever happens, just because I'm not the sort of person for whom a job will likely ever be the center of the universe, and it would take a lot to make me that passionate about it. Still, considering that I'm probably going to be working for the next, oh, forty years or so, it would be wonderful to find a job that made me feel so alive every day.

The job I currently have...well, let's just say that it's pretty far from being my dream job. I have pretty much no feeling when I come in here each morning. Believe it or not, that's an improvement. There was a time when I hated this place, and dreaded coming here with every ounce of my being. My current position in purchasing is definitely not related to my background, so I was way out of my comfort zone for some time after taking it on. As I've progressed, I've learned a lot, and I've even gotten to a point where I feel I'm pretty decent at what I do. I get no particular pride from it, though. This is just what I do to pay the bills. I come in each day and do my thing, and when I leave here at 5:00 I forget this place exists until I have to come in the next day. Rinse and repeat.

So far the best job I've had was when I worked as a proofreader in the Merchandising department of Spring Hill Nurseries, which is a mail-order horticulture company. I got to indulge my passion for editing (as well as utilizing my degree), as I proofread the catalogs and mailings. I also got involved in other things I ended up enjoying, such as writing planting guides, and choosing photography. There were only ten people in our department, and we had a building to ourselves. I liked almost everyone I worked with, and a couple of them I liked really well--one of whom I'm still close friends with now. We had a limited form of flextime, which came in handy. Best of all, we were a newly formed department, which meant that we were building from the ground up, and we all had a chance to really be involved with how things evolved. The pay sucked, and not every day was a good one, but I did like it quite a bit. Unfortunately, Spring Hill's parent company went out of business in June of 2001, after I had been there for only four months (SHN was later bought by another company and has resumed operations, but our department's functions were outsourced).

That's the sort of job I'm looking for now. I know that it's not going to be perfect. I just want to be in a position that I can enjoy most of the time. Preferably, I'm looking for an editing job, because that's something I love doing. I've got inquiries out now on other types of jobs, but to be honest, I don't want them. Not any more than I want the job I have now, at any rate. Like as not, I'm going to end up taking another job like that, as I'm planning to move in May.

So what's my dream job? What's the job that would get me excited to go to work every day? I don't know for sure, but I have a couple of ideas. I would love to be able to make a living as a writer of fiction. I don't know if that exactly qualifies as a day job, though. Besides that, the only thing I can think of that I would absolutely love would be working (in any capacity, really) in the BGSU Athletic Department. If they called and made an offer right now, I'd take it.

As a sidenote, walking out of Spring Hill on the last day was quite an experience. All the employees met on the main campus one morning and were informed that operations were being halted. The people in my department knew, but not everyone on the main campus did. As for myself, I was mostly indifferent, as I had been planning to quit at the end of the summer anyway (and if they hadn't gone out of business, and I had ended up leaving that job to move to BG and take this job, I would have been highly irritated with myself). A lot of the employees were devastated, though. Some of them (my boss among them) had worked there their entire adult lives, and now it was gone.

Compared to that, I'm sure my last day here will be a picnic.

A Milestone

I just realized I've been at my current job two years as of today. This means I should shoot myself.

In honor of this momentous occasion, I thought I would list some of the things I like about my job. You know, since I mostly bitch about it.

I work very close to the airport. Airplanes fascinate me, and sometimes I get to see them up close as they're coming in to land. Sometimes Air Force jets do maneuvers over there, and that's pretty cool to watch. I have a big window in my office that looks in that direction, and that's nice.

I have a lot of free time here, so I can do a lot of writing (as you've noticed), internet surfing, etc. This is all stuff I don't have to spend time doing at home, which leaves me free to do other things I need or want to do.

I like some of my co-workers.

Yeah, that's about it.

On the Road Again

I made another trip to Stow to visit Brandi last night, and thus another trip back to Toledo this morning. This, of course, meant another $9.60 in tolls ($4.80 each way, for 128 miles) and another four hours spent on the Ohio Turnpike.

I've paid a pretty significant amount of money in tolls since Brandi moved to Stow, but I find that I don't mind so much. I think the tolls help to keep the traffic down, as people find alternate routes to avoid paying if possible. That makes for a more pleasant drive. They also take really good care of the turnpike, which has been a definite plus this winter. There was never much fear of being unable to make the drive due to snow or ice, because the road crews are always out in force whenever there's a threat of adverse conditions. Also--and I have no idea if this is toll-related or not, although I tend to think it is, at least to a point--there generally aren't too many state troopers checking your speed on the turnpike. Besides being able to worry a little less about being pulled over myself, this is another factor that helps traffic flow much more quickly.

One thing that is clear on these frequent trips is that spring is definitely approaching. As we get closer to the Spring Equinox (one month from this coming Friday), I'm doing less and less driving in the dark. The days are getting longer: the sun is setting later and rising earlier, and I have a chance to mark the changes since I make this drive in the evenings and mornings.

I'm glad to be doing more of the drive under the sunlight. Driving in the dark doesn't bother me per se, but in the daylight there's more to see. Some may not consider the plains of northern Ohio to be all that scenic, but I happen to enjoy it quite a bit.

One thing I saw yesterday--something else that indicates the coming of spring--was birds. A lot of birds. At one point, I saw two flocks of Canadian geese flying next to each other. Canadian geese always fly in a V-formation, which fascinates me. These two flocks were next to each other, and some individual birds on the fringes of each flock kept switching back and forth, and the formations kept re-forming to accommodate them. It was quite a sight.

To me, there's just something cool about being able to look out over the flatlands when the sun is rising or setting. You can see pretty far, and the horizon is filled with color. In Ohio, you look out over a lot of farmland and small towns--plenty of country roads and water towers. I like that; it's peaceful.

Of course, I have a thing for the sky, especially during dusk or dawn. The layers of color just blow me away. The setting sun was glowing a fierce red in my rearview mirror as I drove east last night. The swirls of cloud running through everything just put on the finishing touches. This is the sort of thing I would love to be able to take photographs of. Unfortunately, driving along at 70 mph (this number has been changed to protect the innocent) barely offers me enough time to look around, let alone take pictures.

For more thoughts inspired by the Ohio Turnpike, check out this post.

An Item of Note

Brewer ready to play in NFL Europe

I'm sure I'll write more about Mr. Brewer at some point, but for now I just wanted to note this here for anyone who may be interested.

Damn Yankees

As of right now, there is no cable television, internet service, or newspaper delivery at Brandi's apartment. Anything that happens in the news while I'm at her place often escapes my attention until I get back to Toledo.

Thus it was that I heard nothing of Alex Rodriguez being traded from the Texas Rangers to the New York Yankees all weekend. Apparently the trade went down on Saturday; I didn't hear about it until Monday morning, as I was driving back to Toledo to go to work from Brandi's place in Stow. I switched over to listen to "Mike and Mike in the Morning" on ESPN Radio, and they were talking about it. At first, I thought they were joking. A-Rod to the Yankees...are you kidding me?

The fact that I thought they were joking, I think, says a lot about how ludicrous this whole situation is. I hate the Yankees more than any other professional sports organization, because they're ruining the competitive balance of a sport I love. It seems like a joke because it's so blatant. When the Yankees need or want someone, they just go get him, and price is no object. Most other teams don't have that luxury.

If you want to look at it in terms of numbers, it goes something like this. New York's payroll for this upcoming season will reportedly approach $200 million. Contrast that with my own favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds, who may or may not approach $50 million. That won't be the lowest in the league, either. The huge gap in payroll sizes means that each year some teams open spring training essentially knowing that they won't be competing for the World Series. No other major sport has this problem.

I can't fault the Yankees for doing what they're doing. George Steinbrenner wants to win all the time, and he has the money to spend to make this more likely. Good for him. The main problem is that baseball's rules allow this to happen, and I hate the Yankees because they're the most visible symbol of the game's problems, and because it always bothers me after a while when a certain team wins all the time.

The success (popularity and profitability) of any sport depends naturally upon competition. That's what sports are all about, after all. That's why the NFL is so wildly popular right now: all teams start the season on level ground, knowing they have a chance to win it all, and even a losing team can beat a winning team on any given day. Major League Baseball doesn't have that right now. Sure, every now and then a team like the Marlins will sneak up on everyone, but if you look at World Series appearances and victories over the past decade, it's overwhelmingly dominated by the Yankees.

One major issue, of course, is that this problem feeds itself. Fans support winners, so the Yankees just keep making more money, which they can turn around and spend on better players. On the other hand, teams like the Reds keep struggling through mediocre seasons, and the money dries up. Not as many fans come to the games or watch on television, and it snowballs from there: advertising revenues drop, concession sales, merchandise, parking, etc. You have to spend money to make money, and nowhere is that more true than in baseball. However, the reverse as also true, as obvious as it seems: you have to make money to spend money.

I hate arguing this way, because we live in a capitalist society, and this is the way it's supposed to work in other businesses: the quality product will thrive while others die off. Sports aren't like other businesses, though. In sports, your own product depends to a certain extent on the product of others. Sure, Yankees fans think everything is wonderful, but if teams have to start folding up because they can't afford to compete, that's not going to be so great. In baseball, you can't drive your competitors out of business, because then your own product goes away.

Baseball needs a salary cap in place to prevent this worst-case scenario from happening. Of course, they probably should also institute a salary floor, to make sure teams are spending a certain amount of money on payroll for their team. Right now baseball does have a luxury tax, where teams spending more than a certain amount have to pay a penalty which is shared among the other teams (as of now, the Yankees are the only ones paying this tax). There's no rule stating that such money has to be spent by those teams on payroll, however; the Reds, for instance, put their portion toward paying off their new stadium. That's fiscally responsible, but the fans would have appreciated an upgrade in, say, starting pitching.

President's Day and the Preceding Weekend

Happy President's Day, everyone! Of course, if you aren't a student, or someone who works at a bank or a post office, that probably doesn't mean much. It certainly doesn't to me. I'm sitting here at my desk once again, just like every other Monday. I'd much rather be still in bed. This blog aside, I'd probably be just as productive there--at least I'd be getting some rest. Our company's manufacturing software has crashed (again), so I'm just sitting here with nothing to do until someone tells me the software is okay.

At any rate, President's Day is by far the less significant "holiday" of the past three days, so let's focus on the other one.

I do not love Valentine's Day. For the most part, I feel it's a shameless marketing ploy by Hallmark (etc.) to get consumers to spend money on cards and gifts during the stretch of time between Christmas and Easter, which is otherwise barren of significant holidays. For what it's worth, Sweetest Day is the same, only worse. The unreformed idealist in me would like to think that it's not really necessary to have one or two days to set aside to make your loved one feel special, because you should aim for that every day. Of course, in reality, it probably is necessary, but that same part of me says that one or two days shouldn't make up for the other three hundred and sixty-some.

Needless to say, these arguments don't exactly go over well with the female portion of my relationship, so Brandi and I did Valentine's Day this weekend, and it was a pretty good one.

I drove over to Stow from Toledo immediately after work on Friday, arriving around 7:00. Brandi and I went to dinner that night at the Cheesecake Factory. Original plans called for Olive Garden, but she was planning to make pasta for us on Saturday night, so we decided to forego the Italian food on Friday. The Cheesecake Factory is set in the middle of a pretty big shopping district near Cleveland, and it was pretty busy. We had to wait over 45 minutes in the foyer for a table, and it was very cold. We waited it out, though, and had a good time. We got goofy, as we tend to do, and laughed a lot. That's always good. The food was decent, if not spectacular, but the cheesecake (Godiva chocolate) lived up to its billing, considering the place is named for it.

Saturday was Valentine's Day proper, of course. For all intents and purposes, it started with a basketball game, as my beloved BG Falcons played at Kent State. Kent State is only about five minutes from Brandi's place, so there was no chance I was missing this one since I was in the area anyway. I'm sorry to say that this was Brandi's first time seeing BG's basketball team, but hopefully I can coax her to more games now that she's seen what it's all about. Alas, the Falcons lost, but it was a pretty good game. On a sidenote, Brandi and I managed by pure accident to stumble immediately into a section where a group of BG students were sitting. Wearing orange, we were greeted with a round of applause, which is probably the first and last time I'll be applauded just for coming in somewhere to find a seat.

From the game, we proceeded through some incomprehensible traffic snags back to Brandi's apartment, where we exchanged our gifts. I tend to look for practical or useful gifts, so I do flowers only rarely--this was met with some disappointment, but I think I acquitted myself nicely. I may be the only one with that view, but so be it. I gave Brandi a Sony Discman that she can use when she works out, along with a pair of rechargeable batteries so she doesn't have to buy them once a week. In return, I was given a BG football jersey #21, which is currently being worn by wide receiver Cole Magner. BG sports paraphernalia always goes over quite well with me.

After that was dinner, which was awesome. Brandi is a heck of a cook, which I enjoy quite a bit. She made chicken fettucine alfredo, which was really, really good. We originally planned to go see a movie after dinner, but we ended up drinking quite a bit of wine, so we stayed home instead.

Sunday was a day just to get some things taken care of, at least to start with. We ran around for a bit doing laundry, getting haircuts, shopping, etc. We finally got around to eating at about 4:00, when we went to BW3s in Kent. Lo and behold, the Daytona 500 was on. I just don't understand the NASCAR phenomenon; I know a lot of people dig it, but it's just not my thing. Seriously. I'll say this about BW3s on a race day: it didn't feel like a college bar anymore, and Brandi and I will be checking our local listings before going in there on a Sunday in the future.

That night we went to a local Borders, which is always a good time for me. I love books, and I love bookstores. I hate haircuts, hate them--I'm using the word hate about haircuts--so it was nice to balance it out with a book-buying binge. I managed to keep myself pretty much under control. I got four books for myself, plus one for Brandi. You'll be seeing them listed in my "What I'm Reading Now" section in the coming weeks.

All in all, it was quite a nice weekend--filled with lots of laughs, which is always my main interest. Also, I got a sweet BG jersey, which will go nicely with my BG helmet when it finally arrives.

Where Do I Sign Up For This?

Movieoke: like karaoke...but different!

I seriously hope this catches on and spreads through the U.S. like wildfire. I can't even tell you how incredibly fun this sounds to me.

Brandi loves to sing karaoke, as do some of our other friends. We go out for it occasionally, and I sit and watch everyone else sing. I enjoy it, because I love listening to Brandi sing, and it's pretty entertaining to see other people do it as well. Sometimes it's entertaining because the person can really sing, and sometimes it's entertaining because they really can't. You just never know.

As for me? I've tried karaoke one time. I love to sing, but I've got one small problem: I can't. Trust me, my "talent" is best confined to my car, where I can belt it out as loud as I want without harming anyone's sensibilities (except Brandi's). I'm not saying I'll never do it again, but I have very little desire to go up there and suck. Maybe I should say I'll never do it again sober. Even that may not necessarily be true.

But karaoke for movie dialogue? Wow, that's a different story altogether. I would be all over that. I quote movie dialogue all the time now, sometimes to the point of distracting (a.k.a. "annoying") the people around me. Anyone who read the post from a day or two ago will not be surprised to know that I can pretty much run with the original Star Wars movies, verbatim, from beginning to end. I just have a memory for that sort of thing. I don't put it on my resume or anything.

Ay Ziggy Zoomba (Zoomba, Zoomba...)

You gotta love Anderson Arena.

Actually, I guess you don't have to, because apparently a lot of people don't. The official attendance for last night was 2,146. Between students (around 20,000), faculty and staff, and locals, I wouldn't think it would be too hard to fill a 4,700-seat arena, but it looks like I would be wrong about that.

On one hand, I can understand it. The Falcons have a lot of talent but are struggling so far this season--the win last night puts them at 10-12, 6-6 in the MAC. The plain truth is that people want to come support a winner, and right now we don't fit the bill. We're too inconsistent. Besides that, parking for the game can be a problem, particularly on a weeknight when there are classes going on. The arena itself is a little old and outdated, and doesn't have any of the bells and whistles that newer places do.

Beyond that, I just don't know. The arena is right in the middle of campus, which is a pretty short walk for any students who live in the dorms. The team, while inconsistent, is talented and fun to watch. Head coach Dan Dakich is one of the most animated guys around, and he puts on a show all by himself. Then there's the arena itself. No, it's not fancy, but it doesn't need to be.

For several years, Anderson Arena has been known as "The House That Roars." When it does get full, it gets loud in there in a hurry. It's packed pretty tight in there. The student section (where I still sit, despite the fact that I graduated four long years ago) starts right on the floor, literally inches away from the sideline, with no barrier in between. They're loud and obnoxious, and being right there in an opposing player's face can start to get in that player's head as well. Ask Akron's Andy Hipsher, but ask him from a distance--he's liable to get violent, as he's done with our fans on at least two occasions (fortunately for Hipsher, this year--his senior year--his team didn't have to make the trip to Anderson).

I've heard it said that home court advantage in college basketball is generally worth five points. In Anderson Arena, when it's loud and rocking, I truly believe it's worth fifteen. I've never seen a team feed off the crowd's energy as much as some Falcon teams of the past few years. It's unbelievable. When it gets like that, the atmosphere is simply electric, and I rarely feel quite so alive as I do when I'm in that environment.

Needless to say, with less than half of the seats filled, it was nothing like that last night. Still, I love being in Anderson, and I love watching the Falcons play.

I have to start off by saying that this game featured the most incredible dunk I have ever seen in person, and I've been to a lot of basketball games. I'm happy to say that it was a Falcon who put it down. It started with small forward Cory Eyink making a three-point attempt from the corner, right in front of where I was standing. As the ball came down on the back of the rim, my eyes barely registered a flash coming through the lane, and as the ball bounced up, shooting guard Ronald Lewis took off, grabbed the rebound and tomahawked it down in one motion. It was simply incredible. I hope someone has video of it, or even a photo, because there are no words that can do it justice. If I can find it online, I'll post it.

That was definitely the high point of the game. Despite the fact that BG won 81-71, it was not a particularly good game. Basketball games generally take around two hours, maybe a shade under; last night's was two hours and fifteen minutes. I looked at my watch with ten minutes left in the game, and it was 8:30. I remember thinking there was no way the final ten minutes would take half an hour. I was right: it took forty-five minutes. The pace of the game was terrible. OU decided to start fouling with about five minutes left, and it took forever for the game to end.

The officiating was pretty bad also. Not biased or anything, just bad. Unfortunately, this is pretty typical for MAC games, although I must say that last night's officials took it to a new level of suckiness. There's one totally bald official who, every time I see him on the floor, I just cringe because I know he's bad. Look, I know that every official, in every sport, will miss a call sometimes. It's part of the game, and I accept that. Hell, I embrace it--I'm not a huge fan of instant replay in the NFL, because the human element is part of the game. Some of the calls this guy makes, though, are just outrageously horrible. I saw a guy get elbowed in the face last night, and the foul was called on the guy who got elbowed. I saw a foul called on a player who was at least a foot away from anyone. I think he rubs off on the other officials too.

One thing that has always driven me crazy about BG basketball games is our pep band. For a couple of years, the band was just bad, and painful to listen to. It was a relief when the band went home for Christmas break and their place was taken by local high school bands, or by the Falcon alumni band. I'm pleased to say that isn't the case anymore. The band got a new director, and the musicianship has improved greatly. Sadly, their song selection has not grown along with it. The "Hey" song, from what I understand, has been banned by the Athletic Department due to the mildly vulgar little twist our students like to give to it. During a game's stretch run, you can be assured that the only songs you will hear from the pep band will be "Forward Falcons" (our fight song), "Ay Ziggy Zoomba" (our unofficial fight song), or "Go Team Go." It would be nice to have some variety. "The Imperial March" (a.k.a. Darth Vader's theme) would be nice, as would "The Final Countdown." I'm sure there are plenty of others they could play to offer some variety. Hopefully that's on the agenda for next year.

But hey, despite the game's relative ugliness, it was a Falcon victory, and that makes it a great game in my eyes.

My next visit to Anderson Arena will be on February 21, when the Youngstown State Penguins come to town for the ESPN Bracket Buster game. I'll be seeing the Falcons play this weekend, though, as I'm going to the game at Kent State on Saturday. Happy Valentine's Day to me!

Inconceivable!

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Something strange happened this afternoon at work. I actually got...busy. It was weird. I had real, actual work to do. That hasn't happened for quite some time. I had so much to do, in fact, that I couldn't do the writing that I planned while I was there. You are now reading my first-ever blog post written from my home computer instead of the one at work.

As much as I hate going random two days in a row, here goes:

* I just got back from Anderson Arena, where my beloved BGSU Falcons pulled out a ten-point victory over the Ohio Bobcats. More on that later, probably tomorrow.

* Not only was I busy with real work this afternoon, but I actually have some of it left over to do in the morning. This is seriously a new development. Sometimes I leave things on purpose so I have something to start with in the morning, but this is the first time in a while that it's happened on its own. Apparently we've gotten a couple of orders in the past few days. This is a good thing.

* I was talking to a guy at work today, and he told me he wishes he had never met his wife. Woohoo! Let's all give a cheer for the sanctity of marriage, shall we? At any rate, all soapboxing aside, I thought that was a pretty dickhead thing to say. Well, let me amend that...it's a pretty dickhead way to feel. I guess if it's true, it's true. Hearing stuff like that just makes me wonder about people. Sitting here thinking about it, I can't come up with anyone that I honestly wish I had never met, let alone anyone close to me.

* I also want to amend some of the nice things I said yesterday about Waldenbooks. I went there after work yesterday and they didn't have any of the books I was looking for. Looks like I'll be paying a visit to Amazon after all.

* I had an e-mail read by Tony Kornheiser on his ESPN Radio show this afternoon. Basically I just said I liked his Old Guy Radio segment, and talked about the reasons why. It was nice of him to read it, and it made me feel like a celebrity for the rest of the day.

* Today was supposed to be a day for eating healthy at Wendy's, but it just didn't happen. Look, everyone, you just can't be clogging up the line in Wendy's when I go in there with the intention of ordering something that isn't totally bad for me. If I have to stand in line, that gives me time to be subjected to the way the place smells. I love everything at Wendy's, and if I have to smell it, there's no way I can order a salad, a potato, and chili. I like those things too, but if I can smell meat and French fries, then dammit, I'm getting meat and French fries.

* Besides the fact that the snow on the ground is finally beginning to melt, I can tell that spring isn't too far off because the stupid beetles that have been infesting Ohio for the past several years are starting to come back to life. I say we have a few days of nice, warm weather to get them all revved up again, then have one more hard, solid freeze to kill them all off. I don't know whose bright idea it was to introduce these bugs to this area (and yes, it was done on purpose), but I hope that person is suffering.

* If you're going shopping at Wal-Mart, please do everyone else in the world a favor and LEAVE YOUR STUPID KIDS AT HOME!!! It's bad enough with all the slow people clogging up the aisles, but I hate it when the place is also crawling with kids who a) keep screaming and won't shut up, which usually just prompts the parents to scream back, which makes it worse; or b) step in front of me while I'm looking at something and then just stand there. People who know me will sign statements swearing that I'm the most laid-back person on the planet, but when faced with idiot children, I want to go berserk. Someday I'm going to start throwing elbows.

* Needless to say, I found myself at Wal-Mart yesterday evening. They didn't have the books I wanted either, but I didn't go in there expecting to find them. I bought a Dustbuster. More than a full day later, I haven't taken it out of the box yet. People who know me won't be surprised. Actually, they may be surprised that I bought one in the first place.

* Most of the lights in Wal-Mart's parking lot were burned out or turned off for some mysterious reason as I was on my way out of the store. I was extremely surprised by how dark it was. I had a hard time finding my car.

* A lot of times, streetlights turn off as I get near them, or they turn on if they were off before. Does this happen to anyone else?

I Have to Wait Until September?

The Star Wars Trilogy on DVD

The good news is that it's finally happening: the Star Wars Classic Trilogy is coming to DVD.

There were rumors, of course, that this would never happen. I never especially believed those rumors, considering that the prequels were made for DVD (although there was a period of time when The Phantom Menace was only available on VHS, and that made me nervous). When Lucasfilm produced the Indiana Jones films for DVD, I figured it was a slam dunk for the Star Wars movies to be next. Everyone just needed to be patient.

Now that I know for sure it's coming, though, I'm going to have a hard time waiting.

Call me a dork if it'll make you feel better, but these movies have had a huge influence on my life. The first film was released in May of 1977; I was born two months later. I grew up watching these films, playing with the action figures, wishing I had the Force.

Hell, I still wish I had the Force.

Even now, Star Wars is huge in my life. I've seen both prequels on opening day and own both on DVD; I read the novels; I occasionally even indulge in video games or the roleplaying game. Again, you can call me a dork if you wish, but I still find great enjoyment in the spirit and imagination of the films and the related media spinoffs. It's a mythic struggle between good and evil, much like Lord of the Rings, and I truly think there's something about it that everyone can enjoy.

Sure, George Lucas could use Peter Jackson's flair for portraying raw emotion in the story along with all the flashy effects...but then again, Jackson was bringing to life a pre-existing text, whereas Lucas is coming up with this all on his own.

At any rate, the original trilogy coming to DVD will be a watershed moment both for fans of Star Wars and for fans of the DVD format. These are some of the most popular and celebrated movies of all time, and DVD will really make the visual and audio effects come alive. I can't wait.

Now I just need to get that big-screen HDTV.

Converting America, One Fast Food Restaurant at a Time

I saw a man reading at Subway today.

I read on my lunch break. It's just what I do. I keep a book in my car, and I take it with me to whichever cholesterol dealer I decide to visit during the hour I'm given for lunch on any given day. Today it was Subway.

Reading while I eat is hardly a new phenomenon. I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. Even when I was pretty young, I would often bring a book with me to the dinner table, or read the newspaper. Not always, but fairly often.

Taking a book with me on my lunch break started a while ago as well, probably about three years ago. I was working as an editor in the merchandising department of Spring Hill Nurseries. I worked there with my friend Erin, and we used to eat lunch together every day. After she quit, I needed something to do while I ate--I couldn't see myself just sitting there, staring off into space. I love to read, obviously, so I started taking a book along.

An hour a day (less, when you take into consideration drive time each way, and standing-in-line time) doesn't sound like much, but when you do it five days a week, you can pound some pages. I've lost count of how many books I've read over the past two years (since I started my current job), but it's quite a few.

I try to make sure my lunchtime books are books that I wouldn't necessarily read otherwise. Star Wars novels, Harry Potter novels, anything by Stephen King--I'm going to read those anyway, so I read them at home. At lunch, I try to read classic (Nabokov's Lolita, Joyce's Ulysses) or contemporary literature (Pam Houston's Waltzing the Cat, Anthony Doerr's The Shell Collector), or stuff I want to read but probably wouldn't get around to otherwise (Clive Barker's Books of Blood, the Lord of the Rings trilogy). I indulge myself occasionally with something I'd read at home, particularly if I've got a couple in the queue, but I try not to. It's helped me to broaden my horizons considerably.

Incidentally, I had Tony Doerr as one of my creative writing profs at BGSU. He's a great teacher and a hell of a nice guy. It turns out he's a hell of a writer as well. Check out The Shell Collector if you're looking for something to read, and remember the name.

Anyway, getting back to the guy I saw reading today....

When I first started taking books with me to lunch, I felt just the tiniest bit self-conscious. I was the only one doing it. Sure, I'd see people sitting and eating by themselves, but they were generally just zoned out, shovelling food into their mouths. I never understood that. Trust me, I'm as introspective as the next guy, and probably more so, but I always thought that sitting there in a daze was a bit of a waste of time. That's what driving is for.

As I said, I've been doing this for quite a while now, and it seems to me that it's catching on a little bit. I definitely wouldn't go so far as to call it a craze or anything, but occasionally I do now see people reading while they eat lunch. It makes me smile, and even though I probably didn't, I'd like to think I had something to do with it. You know, someone saw me reading and said to themselves "hmm, that's a good idea."

In fact, I find that it makes good policy just to keep a book with you wherever you go. You never know when you'll find a few spare moments to dip into it.

Notes, Quotes, and Root Beer Floats

Some thoughts while I wait for the Internet to catch up with me...

* I'm falling back into an old habit lately. For a while, I had a very hard time making it to work by 8:00. It wasn't exactly a New Year's resolution, but I stopped being late around the first of the year. I've been continuing that trend up until this week, in which I've been fifteen minutes late both days so far. It doesn't especially matter, because there's really nothing to do here right now anyway. Besides, the only person who might actually care that I show up late (our payroll person) shows up even later than I do.

* I walked through the shop this morning, and it's like a frickin' ghost town out there. There's almost no one left. They've been consistently laying people off since I started here, and there still isn't enough work to keep everyone busy. The guys out there are just wandering around, waiting for something to happen. I hate to break it to them, but it could be a long wait. All manufacturing jobs come through me (by way of Engineering), and I haven't seen anything yet this week. I have no idea how this place is still in business, and I don't know how much longer it can be. Personally, all I ask is a few more weeks. If this place is still viable by the end of the year, I'll be astonished. Unless some sales start coming through soon, that is.

* The reason I was walking through the shop this morning was, obviously, to get to the other side. On the other side of the shop is where they keep the vending machine that dispenses candy. I wanted to purchase for myself some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which I'm currently eating. Mmm.

* Speaking of work and the Internet...the reason it's so slow here is because there are eight of us sharing a single dial-up connection. Welcome to the 90s; too bad it's now 2004.

* What happened to Amazon? They used to offer unbeatable pricing on books, and I ordered from them all the time. Now it seems like they offer everything at cover price. Sure, if you order enough stuff, you can get free shipping, but then you have to wait over a week to receive it. I've been doing all my book-buying lately at Waldenbooks. At least there I get a 10% discount for being a Preferred Reader (a status you have to pay for, but in my case, it pays for itself rather quickly), and I get my books right away. Still, if you're looking for something that's even a little bit hard to find, Amazon is the way to go--they have (or can get) everything.

* My mouth region is in bad shape lately. I've got chapped lips which no amount of Chap Stick has been able to prevent, and there's a scab at one side for reasons unknown. I also have a cold sore inside my bottom lip, and another unidentified sore underneath my tongue, which keeps scraping across my chapped lips. Most unpleasant, and I'm hoping it all clears up shortly.

* On the bright side, I get to go to Anderson Arena tomorrow night, and that always makes things better, at least for a little while. Well...provided the officiating is decent, anyway.

"This is not a law of intolerance"

Taft signs measure banning same-sex marriage

I'm so glad that Ohio's legislators and administrators are looking out for my best interests. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't even know about some of the perils that face me every day. I'll certainly sleep better tonight knowing that the sanctity of marriage has been successfully defended here in Ohio.

I'm also glad to know that this isn't a law of intolerance. If Governor Taft hadn't said that, I can see how there may have been some confusion. Thanks for clearing that up, Bob.

Call me crazy, but when a law is signed into action whose sole purpose clearly is to marginalize a certain segment of the population, yep, my first thought is that it may be a law of intolerance. If Mr. Taft hadn't clearly stated otherwise, I may have had some not-so-nice thoughts about our state's esteemed elected officials.

Of course, he neglected to mention exactly how it isn't a law of intolerance. All that really seems clear is that gay marriage won't be recognized in Ohio under any circumstances. Nope, I sure can't see any discrimination or--whoops--intolerance inherent in that.

Sarcasm aside (for the moment), this is a giant step backwards, and it's overkill at that. Ohio already had a law on the books that gay couples couldn't marry in Ohio. Now their unions won't even be recognized if they managed to have it done in one of the few places that will actually do it. I suppose if we're going to legislate bigotry, we might as well be thorough about it: we'd hate to see anyone slip through the cracks.

I wonder how much laughter took place while this bill was under debate. I know personally I can't even consider the term "sanctity of marriage" without a certain degree of amusement. With high divorce rates, shows like "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?", and the widespread availability of pornography and sexually related material both online and off, it's clear that the institution of marriage is no longer what it once was. Just to be clear, I'm not demonizing any of these things; I'm just pointing out that they exist in our society, and all suggest in their own way that marriage is not nearly the sacred thing that so many people want to make it out to be.

I can only hope that someday this law will go away, as have so many other laws that mandated discrimination and marginalized people that only wanted to be treated with the equality that's supposedly a hallmark of our nation. In the meantime, it appears we all have to suffer the leadership of people who are too small-minded to see that this truly is "a law of intolerance."

The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

So. Maurice Clarett decided to challenge the NFL's early-entry rule in court, and won. Now underclassmen will be able to declare for the NFL draft at any point they choose. Previously, players had to wait three seasons after their high school class graduation, meaning they generally played three (or two, with a redshirt year) seasons of college football.

The general consensus on several message boards I visit is that this is a bad thing for both college football and for the NFL. Several journalistic outlets have published this same opinion.

Watch out, everyone! The sky is falling!

I was initially on the same bandwagon, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's not that big of a deal. Let's take a look at a couple of points.

Let's get this out of the way to start: this was the right ruling. The NFL will appeal, and it will almost certainly lose. In a free market society, I don't think you can justify a rule prohibiting kids from playing professional football solely because of their age. Being a football player isn't like being a doctor. You don't need a special degree or certification.

That being said, I do think the three-year rule is a good guideline. There are very few players who are ready for the NFL before those years have passed. I watch a lot of football at all levels, and the difference between high school and professional football is almost literally unbelieveable. The time spent in college--adjusting to a higher level of play, and getting their bodies ready for the punishment--is time that most players simply cannot do without.

In part, I think this is why the rule change isn't going to be a very big deal. Most players aren't ready for the NFL before they've been in college for three years, and they would have to be stupid or seriously misguided to not realize that. I don't think there will be a mass exodus of players who think they're ready. There will be a few. Some will make it, and some won't.

If a large number of previously ineligible underclassmen do leave their teams and declare for the draft, then that will certainly hurt college football. However, NFL scouts get paid to evaluate whether or not guys are ready to contribute right away. There are only so many spots on each team's roster, and they can't waste them on players who need more time to develop. There will definitely be players who think they're ready to make the jump, only to find themselves undrafted. There will be very little watering down of the NFL's talent level.

I think that's where the real problem lies with this ruling. Rest assured, there will be players who think they're ready for the NFL and give up their college eligibility to enter the draft, and end up out in the cold. Players will definitely need to think long and hard about leaving college, and they'll have to think about it earlier than before. They'll have to make sure they're getting and taking advice from people they can trust and people who will be honest about their chances, because there will be others trying to draw them out of school. That's just the way it is.

And there are the rare kids who actually are ready before those three years have elapsed. Those players should celebrate this ruling. There's no need for these kids to continue playing against others who don't provide enough competition to make them better. Imagine if this rule was in place for the NBA, and Lebron James was essentially forced to play in college this year instead of playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He would be wasting his time. There aren't many football players in the same boat, due to the extreme physical nature of the sport, but there are some.

I'm a little surprised that Maurice Clarett is the one who managed to bring this rule down. In all honesty, I don't think he's one of the few that is ready for the NFL at an early age. He hasn't yet proved that he can play a full season of even college or high school football without being injured. I'm sure he'll end up getting drafted, but not nearly as high as he would if he would go back to Ohio State and have another successful season on the field.

That's assuming he declares for the draft, of course. According to his attorney, the mere fact that he's won the lawsuit doesn't automatically mean he's leaving. Yeah, right.

More Randomness

Mostly sports items today.

* It's nice to see former BG Falcon Antonio Daniels doing well in the NBA:
Daniels offers Sonics some options

* I only saw Daniels play once as a collegian; Bowling Green played at Wright State when I went to school there before transferring to BGSU. Although still a Wright State student, I was quietly cheering for BG, because I had already decided to transfer.

* Right now, there is one former Falcon in the NBA (Daniels, although Keith McLeod will hopefully be rejoining the league before long) and one former Wright State Raider (Vitaly Potapenko). As it happens, both are now on the same team (the Seattle Supersonics). This is good for me.

* Something that's just kind of funny: at WSU, Potapenko's last name was pronounced pah-ta-PEEN-ko; now, in the NBA, it's poe-TAH-pen-ko.

* Listening to a local radio station on my drive to work this morning, there was an equipment malfunction during the traffic report, and the reporter's voice changed. Suddenly it sounded like we were getting a traffic report from the Dark One himself.

* I don't care about boxing at all, but I did hear part of Lennox Lewis's retirement press conference on the radio this morning. Let me tell you, I would love to have a British accent like his. He just sounds so cool.

* Believe it or not, it's almost time for baseball to start gearing up again. Spring training starts in a little over a week. I'm already marking my calendar with the dates that tickets go on sale so I can see the Reds play in person a time or two this year--including, hopefully, my first visit to Jacobs Field in Cleveland.

* Reds shortstop Barry Larkin has announced that he will retire after this season. Larkin has been my favorite player for a long time, and he's played his entire 19-year career with Cincinnati. You just don't see that anymore. We'll miss you, Barry.

Bed, Books, and Beyond

I'm very tired today, so I want to talk about books.

Huh?

Don't worry, I haven't totally lost my mind: there really is a connection. I stayed up much later than I should have last night because I was reading, and now I'm paying the price.

I do this often. There are very few things I like better than crawling into bed with a snack (usually popcorn) and a book, to read a little bit before turning in for the night. The problem with this is that I have no self control once I start reading. I just lay there and keep turning pages long into the night, constantly telling myself "okay, at the end of this chapter, that's it, I've gotta get some sleep." That doesn't work too well.

If you think about it, though, this really isn't a big deal at all. Being a little tired the next day is a small price to pay. As far as addictions go, this is one of the good ones. Give me a fix of story anytime--anyone want to argue that it's bad for you? I kick ass at Jeopardy, and it's almost totally because I read so much. You'd be amazed at the "useless" trivia you can pick up by reading fiction. Also, I'd be willing to lay down large sums of money (if I had any) that the reason I'm such a good writer (technically, at least--as far as the content is concerned, you can be the judge) is because I've always loved to read. Being exposed to the written word so much had to rub off.

The book I was reading last night was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Yeah, I'm 26 and reading kids' books. Laugh if you want, but the Potter books are outstanding. J.K. Rowling is a great storyteller. Sure, these books may be intended for kids, but I think older readers will get even more out of them, because they'll notice things that younger readers will miss.

Anyway, the whole topic of the Harry Potter books serves as a nice bridge into a related topic: book banning.

I was reading in the Toledo Blade this morning a story about a local school district in which a parent was challenging The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison being taught in an advanced English class. The parent's objection dealt with some descriptions of "explicit sex."

Keep in mind, this book is being taught to a group of "advanced" high school seniors. For me, high school wasn't all that long ago (my ten-year reunion should be coming up next year), and I remember it fairly well. I had some fairly clear ideas about "explicit sex," and reading some descriptions in a book would not have fazed me in the slightest. I know that probably isn't true for every high school student, but it was for me, and I would imagine so for most of the people I knew at the time.

Also, this is a class for "advanced" students. Naturally, the definition of "advanced" is going to vary from place to place, but I would like to think it would mean that the students participating in such a class are intelligent and mature enough to be able to read something like that and understand its context in the story. In a book such as this, any sex is not going to be gratuitous sex for its own sake. It serves a purpose.

I think it's a good thing for kids to read stuff like this. Why? Because the very fact that it's being challenged suggests to me that it's something that is outside of the world view typical to their part of the world. I think it's always good to look at things from outside your own perspective, to get different angles and ideas about life in general. Shutting yourself off from things you don't agree with invites stagnation.

I would imagine that the kids in a high school advanced English course are probably making plans to go to college, for the most part. Once they get to college, they will be in a totally new environment, with people of many different backgrounds, and I hardly think that the worst thing for them will be to have read about "explicit sex." Will that in itself make a difference in how they adapt to college? Of course not. It will, however, be part of their education in opening their minds, in experiencing things they wouldn't have if they were forced to stay the course and never see/hear/read anything that was considered mildly objectionable in their hometown.

How Harry Potter ties into all of this, of course, is that Rowling's series of kids' books is on the list of most frequently banned/challenged books. As much good as these books are doing by getting kids interested in reading, there is a faction out there which would like nothing more than to see these books removed from libraries. Trust me, I've tried all the spells in these books, and they don't work--no witchcraft involved. Apparently I'm just not a wizard.

In keeping with all of this, I'd just like to encourage everyone to pick up a book and read. I don't care what you read, just read something. If you don't know what to pick, well, why not read a banned book? Get a look at something that someone thought was too dangerous for you to see.

The Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books
‘Explicit’ book faces scrutiny

Turnpikin'

Another visit to Brandi last night meant another two-hour trip from Stow to Toledo on the Ohio Turnpike this morning.

For the most part, I really like to drive. I always have, ever since I turned sixteen and got my license. Even that embarrassing incident with the tree didn't diminish my enthusiasm for too long. It's a simple pleasure. Even before I was old enough to drive, I enjoyed taking long car trips. They say that getting there is half the fun, and I've always found that to be true. Well, maybe not half, but I can dig the spirit of the cliché.

I remember going on trips with my family when I was younger...it was always fun to sit in the back of the van with my headphones on and gaze out at the scenery, or read (I'm one of the lucky ones who doesn't get carsick if I read in the car), or sleep, or collect license plates from different states as we passed other cars.

Now things are a little bit different. I haven't been on a real travel-intense vacation since I was 14, and I think the farthest I've traveled from home in that time was a weekend trip to Chicago with some friends a couple of years ago, or maybe a couple of trips to West Virginia. Instead of piling in the back of the van with my cousins and a Game Boy, travel now means grabbing some CDs, getting in my Neon, and hopping on the turnpike or I-75 for an hour or two.

That isn't a bad thing. Granted, I definitely miss the old days--a lot of fun was had on those trips, even before we got wherever we were going. I still get the same basic pleasure, though. This morning I got on the turnpike around 6:00 a.m., put on some tunes (John Mayer), set the cruise control at 73, and just let my mind wander. It's harder now to check out the scenery, since I'm doing the driving myself, but that's okay--I just think about different things, and check out the scenery in my mind.

Yeah, that was a pretty lame line.

At any rate, I still manage to see some pretty cool stuff. This morning I came around a curve and saw the moon setting on the northwest horizon. It was almost full, enormous, and dark orange. Pretty eerie.

Alas, it used to be that travel meant vacation and adventure. Today it just meant one more day at work.

Notes, Quotes, and Billy Goats

Just some random items on my mind this morning:

* First and foremost, the title of this post is something that I read in a newspaper a long time ago. I think it was probably the Dayton Daily News. I can't remember who the columnist was who always used it to introduce his notes section. At any rate, I just want to make it known that I appropriated it for my own usage, because I think it's funny. I'll change it up from time to time, if I do quick-hitters like this often, which I probably will.

* I heard yesterday a perfect comment to sum up my comments about Janet Jackson's breast being (gasp!) exposed on network television, courtesty of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption," featuring Washington Post columnists Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. Both agreed that it was no big deal, and Tony said sarcastically, "But Mike, what will we tell the kids?" Mike responded (I'm paraphrasing here, but it's close), "Here's what I'd be happy to tell any kid: 'Kid, that was a breast. If you're really cool, by the time you're 17, 18, 19 years old, maybe you'll see some more.'"

* Let's all give a nice warm welcome to February. I stopped to put gas in my car this morning on my way to work, and it actually wasn't excruciating to be outside for once. I checked when I got to work, and the temperature was reported as being 39°F. It's amazing how downright balmy that seems after several weeks with highs in the teens and a lot of wind and snow.

* Speaking of gasoline, what's up with the recent trend of prices going up in the middle of the week? I thought it was supposed to be higher toward the weekends, and drop through the week. Lately it seems to be working the other way around, at least somewhat.

* I wore all black yesterday to mourn the passing of the football season. To help soothe the pain of my loss, I purchased an authentic BGSU Falcons football helmet from eBay. I've been wanting one for quite some time. Eventually I hope to have a jersey to go with it. Man, I love football. BG's spring game is on April 10, and I'm already looking forward to it. In the meantime, I'll be filling the void with Falcon hoops, which I love just as much (and maybe more).

* I was watching a college basketball game on television last night. It was Miami at Ohio--those are both MAC teams, for anyone who may be inclined to confuse them with Miami (FL) and/or Ohio State--on Fox Sports Ohio. With OU leading by 3 and only a few seconds left IN OVERTIME, they cut away from the game to show a pregame show for the Columbus Blue Jackets. That's NHL hockey, by the way. Would it have killed Fox Sports Ohio to show the last couple seconds of a great overtime rivalry game? If that's an automated switch, I would think they could at least have someone review it before it happens. OU did manage to hold on for the three-point victory, but it was certainly still in doubt when the coverage switched.

Oh No, It's a Boob!!!

Something unprecedented and shocking took place during the halftime show at last night's Super Bowl.

I found myself enjoying a Justin Timberlake song.

Let's get this straight from the outset. Normally I'm not very much into bubblegum pop acts, particularly anyone recently escaped from a "boy band." However, Mr. Timberlake's performance last night was fairly enjoyable. The other performers were P. Diddy, Nelly, Kid Rock, and Janet Jackson. I generally like the rest of them, so enjoying Justin's song was an added bonus. In addition to some pretty good music, the theatrics and staging were also incredible. I found myself marveling at how elaborate it was, given how little time they had to set up and perform.

Don't get me wrong: I watch the game because I like football. This, though, is the first time I can remember that the halftime show was actually worth watching. Didn't Shania Twain lip-synch her way through the show last year? I can't quite remember.

Oh yeah, there also seemed to be some issue this year with one of Janet Jackson's breasts being exposed by the aforementioned Mr. Timberlake. This was all over the news last night, the radio shows this morning, and most of my co-workers were talking about it when I arrived at work this morning.

Give me a break. I can't believe this is even a story, or that I'm taking the time to respond to it. Are there really people out there who are offended by this? Seriously?

* Her breast was in view on-screen for probably less than one full second. CBS cut away from it very quickly. That was barely enough time for most people to even see it, let alone to be upset by it.

* The camera angle was such that it was almost impossible to see anything anyway. For all I could tell (and I saw the replay at least ten times, shown on the local network news that night), she could have been wearing a flesh-colored bodysuit underneath her leather outfit. I heard later that she was wearing something to cover her nipple.

* If her nipple was covered, then what's the big deal anyway?

Finally...being aware that this is a fight I'm never going to win, I feel compelled to mention it anyway. Does anyone ever get offended about seeing a guy with his shirt off? You see it all the time--on network television, in everyday life. Why no uproar about this? It's an inexplicable double standard, and I'd be interested to hear any RATIONAL explanations for it. The only explanation I've heard for anyone being offended by Janet's (Miss Jackson, if you're nasty) boob flash is "my kids were watching!" So? Listen, the best thing you can do for your kids--indeed, for the future of America--is let them know that this is no big deal. Trust me on this one.