Author: Stagger Lee

Another 12 hour day at the office. For some reason, as soon as there’s a crisis that is somebody else’s problem, I’m a rock star. It’s only my own problems that I can’t seem to sort out. =)
This is also a test of MarsEdit, an aging but still game blog client for Mac OS X. If this works out, I may start using it (in conjunction with NetNewsWire) to handle all my RSS and blogging needs, and can finally start reading feeds the way God intended instead of loading up three or four browser windows with a dozen tabs apiece every time I want to see what’s up in the world.

Vandy beats Ole Miss for 5 in a row, 4 of them against top-25 teams. My fear now is that those teams won’t be top-25 by committee time and Vandy will just miss the tournament because they disarmed a bunch of teams that were otherwise thought good. I don’t think I can stand another trip to the NIT. It’ll be three years this spring since the Sweet 16 run…
Morton drew this weekend, but is still sitting ten points clear at the top of the table. I hope it’s not too early to start thinking about promotion to 1st Division…
I have a birthday coming up, don’t I? All I want for present this year is for the MMS and IM on my phone to start working again without having to pay for it. And maybe a trip to the newly-found pub up the peninsula…

We never beat Kentucky in Rupp Arena…until last year. And now we’ve done it two years in a row.
(25) KENTUCKY 67
VANDERBILT 72
FINAL
Three top-25 teams in three games, beaten by the Commodores. Is it possible that Kevin Stallings is finally finding the range?

(10) ALABAMA 73
VANDY 94
What the phone booth is to Clark Kent, Memorial Gym is to the Vanderbilt Commodores.

“One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law….”

This has actually been a pretty quiet week. Most of the craziness at work was offloaded onto December for the express purpose of giving us a glide path to the finish line. With Roo in Vegas for the week, I thought I would be well-set to spend 12 hour days at my desk, heroically delivering last-minute fixes and deftly maneuvering hundreds of pieces of notional gear…instead, it’s been a steady diet of in by 8:30 and out by 5:30, and a short week at that. I’m not complaining, but I’m sure that within a couple of months I’ll wish I could have banked some of this slow time.
Did I mention Roo is in Vegas? My non-smoking, non-drinking, non-dice-shooting, non-helling-around bride is in Vegas, in the Venetian, on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show, room paid for – and I’m not? This is tantamount to me getting a 3-day spa pass. I don’t even have the confidence to have her put some money down on next years’ Redskins for me.
In a new development, I have found a way to slow-pedal the wakeup process in the morning. I set up the laptop by the bed and use the alarm clock function of Panic’s classic Audion MP3 player to pick up the Virgin Radio stream at 6 AM, just in time for the new Afternoon Tea show with Suggs. Nice glide path to wakefulness, without the mind-searing inanity of the Today Show. The downside is now I have to bring the laptop upstairs every night…

* My stock is wobbly and slipping. BOO!
* Met my niece, a wee slip of a thing in a baby burrito blanket. She is adorable. YAY!
* The Tide game is not on Sirius. BOO!
* I had the BEST STEAK OF MY LIFE last night in Pismo Beach. YAY!
* Motel 6 bed = solid asphalt. BOO!
* Heated seat VW Rabbit = eases back pain. YAY!

..as in, the very first, as in she is one day old today.
Zoe Catherine Hahn Smith was born just after noon on the 12th, earlier than expected but just in time for Christmas. At last check, baby and mommy are breathing normally without help; hopefully daddy is too by now. =)
My first niece. This is a new development after 7 years of nephews…

I feel really bad for Mike Shula. He did exactly what he needed to do under very adverse circumstances – hold the rope and not embarrass the program, and he did that. However, he also managed to only break even in wins, with the exception of last year’s hot run (which was accomplished with the aid of a soft non-con schedule and a down year for the SEC). And Alabama expects better than six wins a year and doesn’t apologize for those expectations – nor, in my opinion, should they. I do think Shula should have been given a chance to add a new offensive coordinator and try one more year, but reports are that he rejected that option…so it’s sad all around, but it’s time to move on.
Thing is, though, it’s not that Alabama is some sort of trap door for coaches – Shula is the first coach to be dismissed by the school for his on-field performance since Ears Whitworth was fired at the end of 1957. Every other coach who left short of retirement did so of his own volition, although some were pushed harder than others (Mike Dubose’s NCAA issues and public marital indiscretions did him in, and Mike Price was just stupid for not signing a contract before getting into an embarrassing scrape). And Dennis Franchione had the enthusiastic support of the entire Alabama community before deciding that Texas A&M was easier than working through probation at Alabama – but then, he’s an ass, so never mind.
Meanwhile, there’s nothing wrong with the BCS system that couldn’t be fixed by blowing it up and going back to the way things were in 1990. Although if they insist on keeping it, there should be some minimum standards for not playing 1-AA opponents and having a minimum number of non-conference games against BCS conference foes (I would say that at least 10 of your opponents should be from a BCS conference and at least 5 of them be road games every year).
I don’t think Vandy’s ever going to see a winning season again, by the way…

I’m thankful that, in 34 years, I have gotten almost everything I ever wished for. I didn’t get it all at once, and I have since lost some of it, and I didn’t get some things I thought I wanted but ultimately didn’t (Vice-President of the United States, anyone?) and I got some things I didn’t realize I wanted until I had them.
But all in all, what the hell, I’m thankful anyway.