I’m going to succumb to the Web-wide pressure to reflect on one’s year. Why? Oh, well, I guess it’s because I’m sick and don’t have any better way to pass the evening. Pizza’s on the way [I haven't really eaten anything in two days, mainly because I've had next to no appetite], so I’ll settle in with a warm pie, a cold Gatorade, and a room-temperature keyboard to regale you with fun tales from my year.

Since IJSM.org wasn’t registered until 01/18/2001 [or so my registrar tells me, since I have to renew it soon], you don’t have a complete picture of my year from digging through IJSM’s archives. Heck, before May, you don’t have much content worth reading. The main reason for that is the fact that I was tossing all of my creative energies, writing-wise, at TOTK.com Sports, which taught me a lot about writing regularly. For that, and for many other things from that tenure, I am thankful, even if Ralph doesn’t always believe it.

Here’s how my year started: watching snow fall in Huntsville, a rare enough occurrence, and wondering if it would be enough of an issue to cause me fun whilst driving home. It did.
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Well, it may not sound or look pretty right now to be around me, but my cold is breaking up. Of course, this involves large hunks of phlegm exiting my body, but that’s okay. This is how my colds [when they happen] always end: I sound like I’m about to die, and then six hours later, I feel like a million dollars.

If I had a million dollars, I’d buy your love. :p

[You know, Best Buy had BNL's greatest hits CD on sale. Heather loves BNL. I should go take the Best Buy gift card she gave me for Christmas and go buy that.]

For the record, though, I came to my sanity and decided that it wasn’t worth going to work today. I’ll putter around the apartment and do the things that need doing here as I feel like doing them. Then I get to steel my allergic defenses and brave going to Casa Morrill, where Kat and Sean are going to hold a New Year’s Eve party. While I’m pretty tolerant [allergy-wise] of Edmund and Tenzing, Kudzu and Weaver are still “new” to me.

This is another pasture day, I fear, although there have been some nice bright spots.

Woke up this morning with a powerfully painful leg cramp and my cold back with a vengeance. [Cue AC/DC's "Back in Black" in the background.] I’d gotten the PowerPoint presentation done at about 12:30 this morning, and I couldn’t sleep until almost 2:00. At 6:15, I had the Groin Cramp [yeah, you can get 'em--they hurt like a bitch] from Hell–started at my hips and hurt all the way down to my knee. Compounding this pain was the fact that I had to scramble out of a loft bed to try to walk it off. That requires more gymnastics than a 300-pound man should try at that hour of the morning.

At 7:15 or so, I finally got moving … and saw I had an email from Noah, what we’ve taken to calling The Email–a huge thing that we pass back and forth as he and I discuss a variety of things. This has been one of the two bright spots of the day, and the only one that remains undimmed. Friends are like that–they lift you even on your worst days, in ways they might never realize.
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Well, thanks to Noah, I have a site redesign in my head. I have to see if I can get Indigo to regenerate my graphics with a different background color, but if that can happen, well, I have about an hour of tweaking to do, and then I’m good–real good.

Thanks, Noah, for giving me some feedback when most everyone else was too scared to tell me how much the new design, well, sucked to read.

Well, I’m now feeling the pain from moving earlier today. My back’s stiff [as Sean would guess, it's probably being the sole upsider when we toted "Big Bertha", his massive sleeper sofa, up the stairwell], and my shoulder bothers me right now.

The shoulder is the much more irritating pain; my back hurts because I’m a fat-ass right now. The shoulder isn’t anything I’ve done lately; I first injured it by sleeping wrong when I was at Space Academy here in Huntsville over eight years ago. The top bunks in the Habitat are like half-open coffins, and somehow, I got my shoulder FUBAR then. The problem is behind my shoulder blade, and is either a tendon or a ligament. Either way, it hurts like hell, but I just swallowed a handful of ibuprofen and should feel fine soon.

[Yeah, it takes like four for me to feel any relief. I have a very high tolerance to chemicals, which I inherited from Mom.]

The cold has dropped right into my nasal passages, and I’ve been sneezing a lot. Really irritating; this is the part of a cold that I well and truly hate. The good news is that this is usually the last stage, and by tomorrow, I should feel fine.

But wait! More complaints!

UAH played another crappy game. UAH was 5-on-3 for about ten minutes of ice time this weekend, and they never scored. They probably only got five good shots on net. That’s … pathetic. I really wish Coach Ross would change his lines; it would make for better combinations. But injuries are really hurting the Chargers; I think both Ian Fletcher and Mike Funk are going to redshirt this season. You don’t lose one of your top defensemen and one of your good wingers and expect to not miss a beat. UAH lost the conference lead tonight, and honestly, I don’t think they’ll get it back.

But there are two positive things from tonight:

1. Because the student body just isn’t showing up for games, for the next two series, I’ll be doing color for UAH games. They’re broadcast on the ‘net; if you’re curious to hear what I sound like, I’ll be happy to post a link to the UAH Radio Web site that’ll get you linked up to the broadcast. I might return to Section 25 for the final two home series against Findlay and Bemidji State, but … I just don’t know. It’s hard to admit, but for once, UAH’s rampant apathy has beaten me down. I tire of growing hoarse at games and being the only one stirring things up.

2. Because I’m dissatisfied with the current layout, and because I had a revelation of how to do it better, I’ll probably tweak the base IJSM design this week. The three-column thing on the front page is, well, not really doing it for me, although I like the sidebar | content for the Weblog and journal. I’m going to play with this and also work on my RSS feed, because Heather’s pointing Wondergeeks at the least-interesting RSS feed, and I haven’t worked out quite how to make it work without having two feeds on WG, which seems a bit egregious.

I’m going to stop babbling. I have to finish the slide show for tomorrow morning’s church service. I finally have all the info I need, and in 12 hours, I’ll be closing the laptop down and be done with it, so I guess I best get cracking on fleshing this out.

Well, the cold cleared up a little more overnight, and I was able to help Kat and Sean move a lot of the big stuff today. All of it’s moved, really, save for Jessica’s old bookshelves that Kat’s inheriting. I’m going to give a hand on the transport of trash to the dumpster and boxes on the morrow, but right now, Casa Morrill is outfitted with stuff.

I don’t know who’s happiest: me, because I got something done today; Kat and Sean, who’re happy to have their condo outfitted with their furniture; or Kudzu, Sean’s female cat, who had glorious fun sniffing everything.

And why is it my luck that I’m allergic to cats? I mean, Amy and Jeff have Edmund and Tenzing, Kat and Sean have Kudzu and Weaver, and heck, Rick has Chad. My friends are cat people, and all cats do is make me sneeze my fool head off.

Oh well, I like dogs better anyway.

I have a saying I picked up and like: “Some days, you’re the cow; some days, you’re the pasture.”

Today, I was the pasture. I pegged today almost perfectly:

1. I never did get that Ethics training, meaning that I’ll probably get yelled at soon about something that’s not my fault.

2. I didn’t get to help Kat and Sean move, and with Kat’s dad’s truck DOA, they really could have used me.

3. I felt like crap most of the day [which, if you read the day's entries, you can tell], but I finally perked up around 4:00. I never did lose my voice, but on the one night that UAH’s music guy fails to show for the game, and when I could sing the national anthem at a game, I can’t.

4. I was quieter than normal at the game.

5. UAH played so badly that I left with a minute left in the game.

But, you know, despite the fact that today hasn’t gone well, I have enough optimism to realize that tomorrow will be a better day. I’m feeling better; I won’t have to work; I will be able to help Kat and Sean move; I should have my voice back for the game; and UAH probably won’t put forth another lackluster effort again.

So, I’m going to let the Dave Brubeck Trio soothe me off to sleep as I read C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce a second time through. I wasn’t perfectly clear on it the first time, but this time I feel better about it, because I’m slowing down in the reading and parsing the allegory as I go. I think it’s helping.

Good night, all.

No, really. It’s all of a sudden like, “Wow, damn, I feel pretty good.”

These throat lozenges also tend to loosen up the crap in my sinuses. That’s why I like them so much.

Now, I want to feel even better in the morning. That would be wonderful, because I have been stewing about feeling like a slackass and not helping Sean out with the heavy stuff all day. -growl-

I watched Vanilla Sky last night. It’s a pretty good flick. It made me want to drink heavily afterwards, but hey.

Anyhow, in the middle of it all, I got this really, really interesting thought:

John, you look like Jason Lee, except for the backwards-hat thing he usually has going on in movies [well, that I've seen].

I think you could tell me you were going to shoot me right now, and I wouldn’t really care.

I’m going to the hockey game tonight, but yet I just told Amy and Jess that I wouldn’t come out to dinner because I didn’t want them to get this.

I realize that I’m internally inconsistent. But I’m not going to complain if I lose my voice. It’s not like it doesn’t happen from time to time.

Yeah, well, so the stats say that the number of available women is declining.

It’s days like these that make me wish I were Catholic. I’d probably just become a monk and get away from it all.

I’ve been thinking about writing a “want ad” for a woman. Guess what: in all the various thoughts I’ve had about this [whether morning, noon, night, or 3:54 a.m.], looks rarely comes into the picture. Sure, there has to be some physical attraction there–it’s Nature’s way of getting you interested. But yeesh, it’s all about the relationship.

Either that, or it’s the fact that I’m running a low-grade fever and generally feel like crap.

Blah. Blah. No word on training. Not feeling heaps better. Throat hurts like hell.

Must do Friday Five and not feel like I’m fading …

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?

Easily, learning to say “no” and cutting myself back. I still do a bit too much for most people’s tastes, but really it’s much, much better.

2. What was your biggest disappointment?

Easily, my own reactions to September 11th. Blessedly, I have come around.

3. Will you be making any New Year’s resolutions?

Probably so.

4. Where do you wish you were celebrating?

Down at the farm with Todd. Alas, work is going to keep that from happening.

5. What do you plan to do for New Year’s Eve?

I will be at Kat and Sean’s New Year’s party. Some of Sean’s friends will be there. Katharine will probably hogtie someone before it’s overwith.

Here’s something that, frankly, just doesn’t happen: me getting a cold. Sure, I get sniffles every once in a while, but that’s no big deal. They’re usually related to allergy and/or sinus issues.

So when I woke up five minutes ago with a frog in my throat and crap in my sinuses, I uttered a few mild expletives. I have too much to do today to be sick: I have a hockey game to scream and yell at tonight, friends to help move, and work to slog through, since I still haven’t gotten things squared away at work.

I have the current gut feeling about my day:

1. Work will get FUBAR, as I can’t find the person [again] I need to contact in order to take Ethics Training.

2. Because work is FUBAR, I will never get free to help Kat and Sean.

3. My cold won’t get a hell of a lot better today, and even the magical power of Vick’s Chloraseptic throat lozenges won’t render my voice to something approaching normality.

4. My throat’s inability to let my voice be normal will shutter me at the hockey game.

5. UAH will, just for spite, really get that series split I predicted for this week, but instead of losing tomorrow night, they will lose tonight, just because it’s today.

Only illness and depression can sap my natural optimism.

I think I’m going to rummage around for a lozenge and get my fat ass back in bed. I am really not ready to face the world this morning just yet.

“The Mobility Denial System consists of a milky-white, non-hazardous anti-traction gel that is sprayed out over the desired area in 1/8-inch thickness to form an impenetrable barrier.”

You may feel to make dirty jokes about this modern military marvel.

I think I hear Mommy calling …

I guess I think of myself as a warm-hearted person, but not literally.

However, I just took my ChapStick out of my shirt pocket, and it was quite, quite warm.

I was like, “Wow, I didn’t know I really was that warm of a person. That contradicts all those SGA people who say I’m a cold, heartless bastard.” -rimshot-

Well, no one has ever called me about Ethics Training. This is something that I have to do by tomorrow, or they’ll fire me or something. Seeing as it’s 4:15 p.m. on a day in the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I’m screwed for today.

This means I get to come back in here tomorrow and cool my heels again. This, instead of helping Sean move his and Kat’s heavy stuff.

I am not in a good mood. I know how anxious the newly-engaged couple are to move to their new condo, and I am anxious to pay them back for all the help they gave me in July.

Just because I missed one niggling thing, I might be screwed out of helping them for a good chunk of the morrow.

I think I’m going to go home now in disgust.

Well, I decided to crank up a little Collective Soul to wake myself up. Surfed over to Aaron’s site, decided to look through the Weblogs and journals he regularly reads. Found this on one of them:

Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!

That kinda irritates me. I am not mentally slow; just physically.

I swear, if my work box crashes again, I’m really going to start getting angry.

I might even think about leaving.

Wait, I’ve been thinking about leaving for the last, oh, four hours. But I stay for two reasons:

1. I must keep up appearances.

2. I’d actually like to do this ethics training today, because I’d like to take all day off tomorrow to help Kat and Sean move. I owe them after all they did to help me move back in July.

But staying is growing increasingly frustrating. I have little in the way of real work to do, and I can’t get this training done without someone telling me where to go to watch this bloody videotape.

I mean, can’t I swear to follow the TBE ethics policies? I’ve read the handbook. I’ll even swear over my firstborn son to General Link if I fail to live by them.

Blah. Here I shall remain, surfing around, doing, well, nothing.

Stereo moved into bedroom? Check. [Minus the niggling fact that I don't have my surround speakers moved. Bah.]

Stereo set up? Check.

DVD player bought? Check.

RF modulator bought? Check.

DVD connected to stereo? Check.

CD player connected to stereo? Check.

Brubeck in the CD player to sleep by? Check.

Massive “tower of A/V power” built in bedroom? Check.

Neighbor kids upstairs who run everywhere satisfactorily avenged?

Crap. I knew I was missing *something*.

If I wasn’t feeling the sleepiness from my melatonin capsule, I think I would have to crank loose with some Collective Soul at level 24. Oh, what’s that, Blake? You want to sleep? Aw, shoot.

Dude, this is almost too much stereo for this room. [Yes, Sean, it all fits.] But it makes for a nice go-to-sleep box, as my CD and A/V have sleep timers on them. I have them set to go off after this Brubeck disc is done … should suit my sleep tastes just fine, thanks.

Now it is time to replace the sheets on my bed, flip off the lights, grab one of the many books now in my queue [thanks to Mom, Dad, and Doug], and go to sleep. Or maybe just to sleep, considering the yawn I just loosed upon the world.

Bloody hell. How the hell did I end up with a B+ in my World Civ I class? Explain this to me, Dr. Boucher!

Well, with a B in Stats and an A in my Design classes, I had a 3.33 for the semester, and my cumulative GPA is at a 3.038. Yes, I am skimming it awful close to the line. Thanks for noticing.

I’m still pissed about that History grade, though. Bah. Just 12 more hours, and I am finished with the undergraduate part of my UAH career. WOOHOO!

As I sit here chatting with Heather on ICQ, I’m listening to Bebo Norman on my MP3 list. On the way back from Tennessee yesterday, I popped in Ten Thousand Days, learned some more lyrics, and sang along through Mississippi.

Of course, it strikes me interesting that, again, it’s Christian music. It speaks to me in ways I can’t describe. But Norman is a folk artist first; he simply tells stories in his songs. That’s the kind of music that speaks to me most. I don’t need God’s name beaten into my head; trust me, it’s on my mind often enough.

My musical tastes are obsessive. I guess I’ll be on folk music for a while.

Your favorite jolly fat man has returned, bringing good tidings of great joy all the way from the North … side of Jackson, TN.

Anywho, I’m primed for a little post-Christmas shopping today at lunchtime. Seems fitting. My Exponent check is going to a single-disc DVD player for my bedroom; my pathetic little three-disc APEX will stay out in the living room for now, until I can find a better one and slap that sucker on eBay.

I have just finished watching Sean’s dad’s video of the Greatest Marriage Proposal I’ve Ever Seen. I cried happy-tears, and I get ‘em just thinking about it. Sean, that was a masterful job. Katharine, I’m surprised you didn’t kill him. Your level of patience bodes well for putting up with Sean for the rest of your life.

[Hey, Sean, if that was your sister, she's kinda cute ... but since her name is Amy, that could create serious naming issues around here, eh? ]

Okay, I did this whole damn redesign so I could engage in the guilty pleasure of writing a Weblog. So, without further ado, my first ever Friday Five:

1. What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten? How the hell do you define weird? I mean, I ate some exotic Pakistani dishes when I lived in the dorms at MSMS. Perhaps I should list my own cooking [not to be confused with my grilling, which is actually quite good, if I do say so myself]?

Oh, wait, we could talk about the Ethiopian dinner we had out at Amy’s that one time … weird, but good.

2. Name one (material) thing you can’t live without. Darlene, my truck. 113,000 miles, and she’s just now broken in good. She gets a new voice in a Blaupunkt stereo soon enough.

3. Name something you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have time for. Just one? That’s evil. Right now, I’d like to have the time to finish Journalizers.com.

4. What outrageous thing do you wish you had the nerve to do? Hey, I’m a pretty nervy bastard. But there’s not a lot I want to do that I haven’t done, to be quite honest.

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? Driving to see family. Hope it all goes well.

[If you don't like it, well, it's Aaron's fault. :D]

I was having a nice afternoon chatting with Aaron and Amy on ICQ, and then I read that Dick Schaap had died. Dick was the best American sportswriter in this man’s eyes.

Vaya con dios, Dick.

Read this, dear friend, and tell me that teams need taxpayer-funded stadia.

There are a few myths about stadium building. The first is that it brings money into the city, more money than is needed to build it. This is patently false: no economist who has studied the subject has found significant economic effect as a result of building a taxpayer-funded stadium.

The second myth is that teams can’t afford to build their own stadia. That’s false. Teams want someone else to build it and do the debt service; but the San Francisco Giants built Pac Bell Park out of Peter Magowan’s pockets, and they have the most local operating revenue of any team. Sure, they have $20M of debt service, but it makes more economic sense in the long run for a team to build its own stadium.

Now, don’t get me wrong: I understand people who push for taxpayer-funded stadia. If owners want to be stupid and ignore the cash cow they can milk, that’s fine. And having a city-owned stadium, while it doesn’t provide much revenue, does promote civic pride. But I see little reason in government subsidy of private business, especially when that business could stand to make more money if they’d build the thing on their own.