Non-Super Bowl thoughts on a Super Bowl weekend:

1.  Finally joined the majority of the universe this week and ditched my dial-up for high-speed.  I am satiated. 

2.  Friday's winter storm was LAME.  It petered out a bit and was mostly rain for the bulk of the daylight hours, before begrudgingly switching over to all snow sometime Friday evening.  Woke up this morning to about 3 inches on the ground.

But I'm comfortable saying that, regardless of the outcome, it was a perfectly good waste of a winter storm.  These things are supposed to happen during the week.  Friday winter storms don't do me any good, because I don't get to miss work.  On the bright side, another one is on the horizon; with my winter weather luck, it'll only give us another glancing blow, like the last two or three have.

3.  Signed My Son Cool up for Little League today.  They gave us the option of buying a box of fundraising candy bars on the spot, or taking a box, selling them and giving them the money later.  We chose the former.  It was $77 for a box of 52, and I suggested to my wife that we sell them for $2 apiece (cause I'm a capitalist at heart).  Hell, support the Little League and make a nice little profit.  Everybody wins!

It would have worked, too, except we got the box open at home and found that they all said $1 apiece on the wrapper. 

Rats.

4.  In spite of the inclement weather, Wife had a girls' night out last night with her sisters.  She texted me at one point in the evening and asked, "Would you divorce me if a guy gave me $36,000 to have sex with him?"

I really didn't know it was that kind of girls' night out, but I played along.  As you might know, the Chinese symbols for "challenge" and "opportunity" are the same, and it was the spirit of that tenet that drove me to reply:

"Hell, honey, for 36K, I'll even let you enjoy it."

Her:  "Thanks."

Me:  "Cash only, no personal checks."

Her:  "Lol"

I thought about it for a minute and texted back, "Ummm.  36,000 is a fairly specific amount.  Where did you pull that number from?"  You know, why not $35,000 or $40,000?

I didn't hear anything for a few minutes, which only made me wonder more.  But whatever distress I was feeling regarding her possible infidelity was tempered by the fact that I was also counting the money in my head.

Sadly, it turns out that she and her sisters were discussing the news item from earlier in the week where the girl in Australia or New Zealand auctioned her virginity, and that was the final bid (citation needed).

"But," I texted, "there are no virgins in your party.  Least of all your older sister."  (No response to that one.)

So, yeah, we're still broke.

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But what does the tiny monkey with the turntables really represent?

Children's Television Week at Bramble Tamble continues with ... with ... with ...

I don't even KNOW what the fuck that's supposed to be.
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I like to call it "F**kin-A, Wubbzy!" But I guess that'd be wrong.

Maybe it's quibbling, but I think this is the least descriptive episode description that I've ever seen on the dish's program guide. I mean, of course Wubbzy is excited. It's "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!" for crissakes. It'd be like if there was a show called "Water Is Wet," and the episode description was, "Water is not dry."

Although the accompanying screenshot of the episode above seems to indicate that his excitement is halfhearted. But I guess I would be too, if I had species-identity issues.

Off the record, I think Wubbzy kinda blows. And My Son Cool has never had an overwhelming interest in it, so I can say that without feeling like an ass.
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Got a text message from Goodwill the other day. They wanted me to go through my closet and donate whatever old clothes I could part with to the Haiti earthquake relief effort, because there is such starvation and devastation there.

But if the Haitians could fit into my clothes, then they sure as hell aren't starving.

Besides, they'd probably take one look at my old Napalm Death t-shirt and say, "Thanks, but we'll go shirtless."
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I like their coverage alot

"Fiesty"? What the FUCK is "fiesty"?  Yeah, I wasn't good enough to make it in newspapers, but the largest newspaper in the state of Indiana uses "fiesty" on their website.

(Sorry I didn't post sooner, I had to go to the store to get some grapes and they turned out sour.)

Update: Again, from the Star:

 Farve.  Good gravy.  The future of newspapers is in the very best of hands.

For the record, "Dwayne" Wade is still acceptable (vs. the unbelievably correct "Dwyane"), I believe, but the statute of limitations is starting to run out on that one.  Brett "Farve" has been in the public eye long enough that any headline writer who can rub two sticks together to make a fire can avoid that pitfall.

Sorry; I get pissy.  I like to think that I didn't abandon journalism so much as journalism abandoned me, but I know that's not true.  I think.  (More grapes, sir?)

 

Fun fact:  My high school alma mater, Shoals, has not had a three-game winning streak in boys basketball since the 1997-98 season, when it won its last four regular season games and the first game in sectional.  Until now!

Fun fact #2:  That season was also the last season that the Jug Rox have had a three-game winning streak in conference play.  Until now!

Fun fact #3:  Entering the season, Shoals was on a 22-game losing streak in Blue Chip Conference play, and had not won three games in conference since 2001-02.  The losing streak is history, and at 3-2, they currently reside at 5th place in conference.

Fun fact #4:  2005-06 was the last season the Rox had won 5 or more games in a season.  They now sit at 5-6 on the year.

Wow!

Update:  At 5-6, the Rox aren't even at .500 yet.  But to give you an idea of how surprising the last week has been for Shoals - to go from 2-6 to 5-6 - take what I heard this morning from WITZ sportscaster Walt Ferber.  He was reading basketball scores from last night, and when he got to the Shoals game - a 35-27 win over North Knox in overtime - he said, "Shoals, having a really nice season ..."  

We can't keep this violent pace.

Work has been, well, work the last month or so.  When I've not been celebrating holidays or inclement winter weather, 10-, 11- and 12-hour days have been the norm.  The staff is overloaded, and while there is a light at the end of the tunnel as we wrap up our fiscal year in the coming weeks, I can't help but wonder if I'm cut out for this.

I'm struggling with two types of balance in my life right now.  The first is trying to maintain a balance between responsibilities to Corporate and responsibilities to the project managers of the programs I have fiduciary responsibility for.  That's something that we all deal with, and I don't think there's a correct answer, even though my personal feeling is that my time would be better served by providing local support to my managers ... but it's Corporate who signs my checks.

The second type of balance is work-home.  This hit me as I left work at 7:30 last night.

The company I work for is top dog in the local market.  Whether you look at revenue recognized or employment numbers, we are number one.  We do amazing work for the customer, and the customer recognizes this, as they continue to award high-dollar contracts to our company based on our past performance.

And as I left work last night, it hit me.  There were about 10 or 12 cars still in the parking lot of our company.  I looked across the street at our main competitor - parking lot was empty.  I scanned the lots of the other two buildings across from us - no one was there.  It warmed me to know that even though we're number one, we were still working hard instead of resting on our laurels.

But at what cost?

I worry about work-home balance, and I wonder how much I really give a shit about being number one.  I love the company I work for, and I don't mind working hard to help achieve my own personal financial goals (more long-term than short-term, as I'm salaried and, by the rules of my company, not eligible for overtime), but I worry about my priorities and what these insane hours mean for my relationships at home, not to mention my overall health.

It's not as though things would be *that* different at home if I came home at 5 instead of 6:30, 7, 8 o'clock at night.  Because of the way things are arranged right now with My Son Cool after school, it's not as though I'm missing a lot of time with him.  But doesn't he deserve better than this?  Doesn't he deserve better than a daddy who is tired and irritable?

I will grant that my company is VERY good to me as far as family-type responsibilities go.  Last week, when we got The Weather, school was called off for Thursday and Friday, and I stayed home with him both days instead of dumping him off at a sitter or daycare.  And not a cross word was uttered at work.  This is how it normally goes; I never have caught any crap for keeping my family as my ultimate first focus.

I don't really know what the correct answer is - check that; the correct answer is always "family first" - but I do also recognize that we live in the real world.  Even though I do concurrently recognize that in the world of business, I'm just a worker drone that will get discarded when my "use by" date is up.  I know that I don't make a difference on a personal level to corporate types - I'm just an employee ID and a badge photo.  But I will always make a difference to my wife and my son.  And I want to give them as comfortable and wonderful a life as is within my power.  So where to draw the line?

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The coolest (or saddest) thing I realized yesterday

Standing outside at work yesterday, smoking a cigarette in a wind chill of 0, I was told that I was a dedicated smoker for enduring such bitterly cold conditions in pursuit of my nicotine fix.

I realized that you can't spell "dedicated" without "addict."

(Or "addicted"!)

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For the Captain:

F**k you, 2009. Hey, 2010, how you doin'?

* If there was an elderly person that would have been best served by a "death panel," it would have been Old Man 2009. I hated that old bastard. He always smelled like Old Spice and kept on grabbing my junk.

* Trying to break My Son Cool of the habit of saying "two thousand and ten." Cause you wouldn't say that I was born in "one thousand nine hundred and seventy-four." Ticky-tacky, I know, and really, we have bigger fish to fry as far as he is concerned. He wants to quit karate, which breaks my heart - not because he comes from a long line of accomplished martial artists (you should see my crouching snake), but because I still think that it can instill the proper discipline that's been so sorely lacking in him to date. (Read: it can instill the proper discipline in him where I have failed.)

And he's not going to be a quitter.

And besides, Wife and I went and watched him yesterday. The class has progressed into fighting. And he was DAMN impressive, moreso than I would have expected. He doesn't realize it, but all of the practicing before this point - think "wax on, wax off" from The Karate Kid - has set in, and even though he is bored by it, it served him well. You could have knocked me over with a feather. He even kicked another little kid in the chin. Solid, too! I turned to Wife and whispered a celebratory expletive.

* Nothing better than moving heavy stuff with a New Year's hangover. And so we inherited a new (to us) HE washer. Cleared out a spot in the garage for the old (LE) one, awaiting the new one, which is in transit as I write. It is red. This is the only thing I know about it.

If we build in five years as planned (it's been "five years" for about the last three), I'm not going to settle for secondhand stuff or hand-me-downs. That method of obtaining appliances has been ok for us to this point, but I'll admit that sometimes I feel like we deserve better.
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And now, a quick word about WordArt:

All I can say is that Indianapolis had damn well better win the Super Bowl this year - throwing away a perfect season must pay off this year, or I think we can finally put to rest this idea that Tony Dungy was a genius.  Great man, yes.  Great football coach - probably.  But one Super Bowl ring while subscribing to this "big picture" philosophy - if you clinch early, rest the starters in preparation for a playoff run - when, really, the Colts should have had at least two and probably more championships in that span is an indictment of that philosophy. 

It's common knowledge now that the year of the Super Bowl win was the year the starters played all the way through the final week of the regular season because nothing certain outside of a playoff berth was clinched.  I can't think it's coincidence.

And there was a tiny part of me this afternoon secretly hoping that Peyton Manning would just tweak a knee or something on some loose turf while watching Curtis Painter play.  Ultimately nothing significant, just a little sprain, but still a complete freak accident - and an entirely just one if you're going to just piss away a run at history.

I mean, how often do you get the opportunity to go 19-0?  Something that no one in the history of the NFL has EVER done?  "Perfection is not the goal," the Colts' braintrust says. "The ring is the goal."

Really?  All well and good, but

(Editor's note: Effective immediately, the dark overlords/proprietors of Bramble Tamble are pulling Brandon G. from this blog for the remainder of the year. He's accomplished all that he's going to accomplish with this blog in 2009, and we'd rather not risk an injury to the person who, quite frankly, makes this blog go.  We're thinking "big picture" here, and with a new year in front of us, we'd much rather have him fresh for a great run at Blog of the Year in 2010.  And he can't do that with a brain sprain or carpal tunnel.  In his stead, we're proud to offer My Son Cool's teacher.)

How about those Colts today!  I thought that they would come out refreshed and beat the Jets!!!  But they didn't!!.  Opps!

I hope that my students are enjoying their Crhistmas vaction!!!

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An open letter to the University of Florida's athletic director:

Dear Florida AD Jeremy Foley:

I know that you have a wish list of names to whom you would like to offer your school's football head coaching position now that it appears you're in the market for one. The usual names are popping up all over the interwebs - Stoops, Petrino, Mullen, Whittingham, Shanahan. And while any of those could no doubt continue the success that Urban Meyer achieved in his short time at your institution, both you and I know that you've never followed the conventional wisdom; it was that very departure from conventional wisdom that brought Meyer to Gainesville from Utah a few years back.

With that said, may I present to you a name that has not even been whispered, a name that would turn the rumor mill completely on its side and destroy any credibility that those who are supposedly "in the know" might wield.

Please offer Indiana's Bill Lynch the position of UF's head coach.

I know, you're saying "Who?" Believe me, we were saying it too after the unfortunate series of events that led to his hire as Indiana's head football coach. And now every Hoosier fan worth his foam finger knows Lynch's name.

Bill Lynch brings many fine attributes to the table. He has shown the ability to coach both in Muncie and Bloomington, so you know from the get-go that you're getting a man who is flexible. That adaptability was no more evident than this season, in which he coached the Hoosiers to several fantastic first-half victories - did you see the first-half whipping they laid on Northwestern? - and modified his team's strategy accordingly in the second half. What a phenomenal coach!

In Bill Lynch, you'll be getting a man who exudes passion and enthusiasm for the game of football. Did you see the passion and enthusiasm with which he threw that piece of gum after that admittedly-bogus "interception" call at Michigan this sason? I thought, "Wow. Here is a grown man who is showing his passion and enthusiasm for the game in front of 100,000 enemy fans." Just think of the zest he will exude in front of similarly-sized home crowds. Florida fans will LOVE him.

Lastly, if you're concerned that such a radical change will lead to mediocrity in what even I, as a Big Ten fan, admit is the toughest football conference in the country, rest assured that Bill Lynch will maintain the same level of excellence at your university - just as he has at Indiana. Statistics don't lie! There has been NO appreciable change in performance in his tenure at Indiana from that of his predecessors. In fact, he performed above expectations his first year as coach of the Hoosiers!

In closing, Mr. Foley, I think it's obvious that Bill Lynch is the perfect man for the job. And I think that no less an authority than the SEC coaching fraternity would agree. It's rare that you would get those men to agree on lunch, and they would be unanimous in their support for the hire of Lynch as your school's next head football coach.

Thank you for your time. Please, make the call to Bill Lynch. PLEASE. For the love of all that is good and holy.

Please.

Sincerely,
--Brandon G.
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Merry Christmas!

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