Mikey D

~I've been listening to a lot of "Third Eye Blind" lately. I tell you what, their stuff just never gets old. I can totally picture myself singing along to 'Motorcycle Drive By' when I'm eighty. Sadly, you mention 3EB to kids today and they have no idea what you're talking about. Yeah, it makes you feel old. My class roster this year is full of kids born in 1999. Justin Beiber is all they know. Anyway, 'Blinded' is the song I'm loving the most right now (with 'Crystal Baller' second). Kind of underrated.

~I'm excited about Guster's new album, but Joe will no longer be touring with Guster. He will be touring with k.d. lang from here on out. There is another multi-instrument specialist joining the group, and his name is Luke. Apparently Luke and Guster go wayyyyyy back and when Joe decided to leave he was the only one they wanted to join. Kevin, I'm not sure if you remember, but there was a group called "Blue Merle" that opened for Guster that night in Clutch Cargos way back when. Luke played for them, which even if you remembered the group, I'm sure you don't remember him. In any case, can't way for the new Guster!

~My dad and I are entering a huge NFL pick em' pool through his work this year. It's a $200 entry fee and we're splitting the cost (and any potential profits). The rules are pretty simple: you pick the winners for the week (no point spreads or any of that jazz), and the guy with the most winners at the end of each week takes home about $700. There's also a cash prize at the end of the year for the guy who picks the most winners. I love picking games and putting a little money down them, so this should be a good time. I figure it all averages out to six or seven bucks a week, which isn't too bad. Unfortunately my track record is less than stellar when it comes to picking games. Total gambling profits: $0.

~For Grace's birthday we went to a casino that's about an hour away from us in West Virginia. The nice thing about Columbia is that it's close to everything, including West Virginia. Anyway, we played the slots and I hit a nice $100 pot on one. Definitely the first time I'd ever won jack at a casino. After that Grace and I spent a lot of time picking numbers together on one of the Keno machines. We ended up plus $2, so it was a success. I do, however, want to learn to play roulette and craps. I have the general idea of roulette, but I'm sure there's some sort of strategy that I'm missing. With craps...it looks pretty fun with all the people gathered around the table. I'd like to be a part of that fun.

~School has been exhausting thus far. Planning is sucking the life out of me. I feel like I'm in school busting ass, which is all fine and good because I really don't mind working hard (I don't prefer it, but hey, I do it), but it's all the planning that is making my days longer. I get home from school and it's out with the curriculum guides, teacher guides, notebooks, and supplementary resources and activities. I sit at my desk and plan. And plan. And plan. And before I know it, it's bedtime, and I've put together just a couple of days worth of plans. I know I tell Grace that I would love a 9-5 job, but seriously, I really do crave that 9-5 sometimes. At least the lessons I've planned are pretty good.

~I'm upset with this assigned parking we've got in our place now. It's unnecessary, and the reasoning, "well now you don't have to worry about a spot because you have one" is dumb because I've never had a problem finding a spot! All they needed to do was paint the lines to define the parking spots and leave well enough alone. Now we have people given two parking spots who only have one car, so there are all these up-close spaces that are not going used. And the people that have more than two cars? Well their extra cars go into the five visitor spots we have. But now where do the visitors park!? Exactly, in the reserved spots! We've already come home and had that happen to us. Luckily we found it was our next door neighbor's friend's car, so they were able to move it quickly, but what if we weren't able to find out who it was? We'd need to call a tow truck! Ridiculous because there were other open spots! And the other reason behind the assigned parking is that in the winter we "can shovel out our space and not have to put something in it to "save it" when we leave". That, again, is bullshit! If I don't put something in my spot to save it, guess who's parking there? The visitors who don't have spots!!! Ugggh...

~Grace's office mate, Ashley, is part of the allocation team at Grace's work, but she's also in charge of the soundtrack that gets played at all the stores. How awesome is that? We were in the mall on Saturday, in the UA store, and all I was thinking about was how cool it was that this girl got to decide what music was going to be played. I am BEGGING Grace to beg her to let me pick the songs for the next month. I think that would be so much fun. "Everyone thinks a good mix should rise and fall. I think it should start high, and get higher!" ~Barney Stinson

~Did anybody see that trick play by Presbyterian against Wake Forest last week? Wake Forest smoked Presbyterian, but Presbyterian had one hell of a trick play. The QB threw a lateral behind the line of scrimmage to the WR on one hop, and on purpose. The WR grabbed the ball and pretended as if the ball was dead. The defenders who were zeroing in on him eased up and began to stop, thinking the pass was incomplete. All of a sudden the WR looks downfield and hits a streaking WR for a TD pass. Beautiful. One of the coolest trick plays I have ever seen.



~Korie Lucious pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving recklessly during MSU's welcome week, but it could have been a lot worse considering he was underage and drunk while behind the wheel. Seriously, when did the basketball team become so much like the football team with so much drama off the field(court)? I'm guessing at least a two game suspension for Lucious. Seems reasonable. Anyway, 67 days until tip off against Eastern Michigan at the Bres. That's Friday night, November 12th, @8:30 on the Big Ten Network, for those of you wanting to mark your calendars.

~Mikey D