Notes for a Long Week

I'm starting to think the sun doesn't exist anymore. Each day this week I've gone to work early (before the sun was out) and left late (after it had set). Add in the fact that I work in an office without windows, and I've barely seen the damned thing since Sunday. I'm not likely to anytime soon, either. Our catalog deadline is coming up next Wednesday, and only about half of our output of pages has made its way to my desk so far. It's going to get crazy once they finally start piling up--it's entirely possible that I'll find it necessary to put in a few hours this weekend. My brain is going to be fried by the time the deadline finally passes, but my next couple of paychecks should be very nice.

At least I had a long weekend first so I could recharge, knowing what this week was going to be like. Thanksgiving was nice, if not particularly memorable. Lots of food, lots of family...you know the drill. It was just a little weird to have Brandi's mom along, probably more so for Brandi than for anyone else, but it was fine. She mixed with my family well enough, and it seemed like everyone had a good time. So that was good.

It's kind of strange that Thanksgiving is in the past, December is just a few short days away, and yet here in northwest Ohio it's been balmy and in the 60s for the past several days. Normally I'm well along my way toward getting into the Christmas spirit by now, but these springlike temperatures aren't conducive to that at all. Not that I mind--by the time it actually rolls around, I'll be as sick of cold weather and Christmas carols as anyone else. It's just a little bizarre (and sure to be ending soon, as well).

Needless to say, I have no idea yet what I want for Christmas, let alone what I'm getting for anyone else. I'm not a huge fan of giving and/or receiving gifts, so I generally put off thinking about it for as long as possible.

That said...I don't understand why there are commercials and other advertisements for the PlayStation 3. Isn't there a shortage of these things right now? Personally, I think I'd save my advertising money for a time when people can actually go out and buy one without resorting to laying out exorbitant sums on eBay.

So Mark McGwire is eligible for the Hall of Fame this year, and the raging debate over his worthiness has sprung up once again, with a poll seeming to indicate that he won't get the number of votes necessary to make it in due to questions about his use of steroids during his playing career. For me, his possible use of performance-enhancing drugs is beside the point. Do I think he used them? Yeah, probably. I'm willing, however, to give him--and only him--a pass on that subject. Why? Because in 1998, Mark McGwire saved baseball. Major League Baseball was still reeling from the strike that ended the 1994 season, and McGwire's chase of the home run record is what started people coming back as fans. Without that, baseball would still be dead in the water. Do you think people would have come back to watch Barry Bonds chase the record? Fat chance. So I say McGwire should be in the Hall solely on the basis of what he did for the game. Did he cheat to get there? Possibly...but the league gave its implicit consent to such behavior for years. Let it be on their heads, not McGwire's.

I'm getting ready for a trip into some old stomping grounds pretty soon. On December 16, the BGSU Falcons men's basketball team will be playing the Wright State Raiders at the Ervin J. Nutter Center in Dayton. I bought tickets to the game over the weekend. I attended Wright State for two years coming out of high school before I transferred to BGSU. I've been back a couple of times since then, but not for several years. I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably take Brandi down early so we can prowl around campus for a little bit. The game is at 5:00 p.m., and there's a concert afterwards by '80s rock band Survivor (think "Eye of the Tiger"). I was planning to go to the game anyway; when I found out about the concert, that was just icing on the cake.

I had some great times at Wright State. I'm definitely glad I came to BG, for any number of reasons, but I wouldn't trade those two years at WSU for anything.

Finally, I'd just like to give a shout out to my friends Amy and Doug, who welcomed their first child (a daughter, Miranda Nicole) into the world one week ago today. They've been trying to have one for quite some time, and my personal feelings about babies (and children in general) aside, I'm very happy for them. Congrats, Amy and Doug! Now you're on the clock for that house in Troy--I know you're not planning to put that child into the Piqua school system.