Just Trying to Kill the Day

Just a few notes on a Friday afternoon...

The high school football playoffs begin tonight here in Ohio. With Troy's season over, I knew I wanted to go to a game this week nonetheless. It worked out that Piqua, Troy's archenemy, is playing their first-round game tonight here in Toledo, against Central Catholic High School. With it being so close (it's probably the closest playoff game to Bowling Green, although I haven't checked on that to make sure), that's the game I've selected to attend. I'm heading over there right after work, as the stadium (at Lake High School in Millbury) isn't very big and there will probably be a lot of people there. It should be a great game--Central Catholic was the state champion last year in Division II, and I know firsthand how good Piqua is. I'm looking forward to it. Anyone in-state who's interested in catching the game without actually attending it, the Ohio News Network (ONN) is televising it on a tape-delayed basis beginning at 9:30 p.m. tonight.

Speaking of football, I caught a fair portion of the West Virginia-Louisville game last night on ESPN. Let me start by saying that I think any team that goes undefeated from a BCS conference should have an opportunity to play for the national championship over teams that have losses. That said, and for what it's worth, I don't see either of these teams standing up to either Ohio State or Michigan (should one of those teams make it). I think an SEC team would have a much better chance and make a more interesting championship game. But if Louisville or Rutgers manages to stay undefeated through the remainder of the schedule, they've earned their shot.

I'm really looking forward to getting into Anderson Arena next week for the tipoff of another season of Falcon hoops. There was a good article about senior center Matt Lefeld in today's Blade. I've met and talked to Matt a little bit, and he's a nice kid. He's definitely tough, and a hard worker. Hopefully the Falcons can send him out in style this season.

Earlier this week I sent an email to the satellite radio station we listen to here at work, requesting a song. I made a simple request for any song by Edwin McCain EXCEPT "I'll Be." I'll let you guess which song of his they played.

I didn't leave work until almost 7:00 p.m. yesterday. When I left the building, it was full dark outside and there was snow on my car. I started to be irritated, until I noticed how quiet and peaceful it was. Then I liked it. It's nice every now and then to be able to enjoy a moment of stillness, particularly when it comes upon you unbidden.

The reason I was at work so late is because deadline is coming up and I had a bunch of catalog pages stacked up, waiting for my attention. The reason I had a backlog of pages is because I spent a good amount of time and effort this week working up text for a full-page spread for our December catalog, thanking our customers for a great year. I got it all written up to a point where everyone was happy with it, our graphics department laid it out, I proofed it, and it was all ready to go. Then I found out just a minute ago that it was nixed by upper management because "we don't like to boast about ourselves." Hi, I wrote the damned thing, and there was no boasting AT ALL. It was all about the customers and how we really appreciate their business. I was really excited to get it into the catalog, both because I wrote it and because I thought it was a nice touch for our customers. Now that it's been killed, and for the reasons they gave, I'm highly, HIGHLY irritated. I'm still keeping a copy of it to add to my copywriting portfolio.

I'm currently in the middle of reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves, which was given to me by a co-worker. It's a fantastic book. It's not often that you can say a book on punctuation is "hilarious," but that's exactly what I would say about this book. I recommend it to anyone who gives a damn about the English language. Given the slop I see on a day-to-day basis, I would say that is very few people, but here's hoping.

I went out for lunch today and was absolutely astounded by how stupid people are when they drive. It's almost to the point where it's not worth it to go out on Fridays anymore.

On a more amusing note...we didn't end up doing it until Halloween night, but Brandi and I did carve a pumpkin this year. Check out some pictures, because it is absolutely hilarious. I crack up every time I look at it.