Random Thoughts from Thanksgiving

1.  I'm ridiculously proud that I taught my 1 1/2 year old nephew how to fist-bump today.
2.  It ain't easy keeping up with a couple of boys each under the age of 4.  I don't know how anyone has the energy to be a parent, much less how the keep the house from burning down.
3.  How does a kicker at the college level miss a < 50 yard field goal?  The have ONE JOB, just one thing to practice every day, every week, every year.  I understand that some kicks are harder than others, but I figure they practice the hard ones, too, right?  Oy.
4.  Cranberry casserole is awesome.
5.  So is ham, turkey, dressing, broccoli and rice casserole, green bean casserole, and chocolate pie.  (and anything else I forgot.)
6.  Of course, Mountain Dew goes without saying.  I'm going to say it anyway.
7.  My brother now has one of the longest mullets I've ever seen in person.  It goes a few inches below his shoulders.  I can't tell if it's really lame or really glorious, but I'm starting to lean towards glorious.
8.  I'm really proud 1) of my cousin who will be graduating in 3 weeks with the highest GPA in her college from U. Memphis and 2) of my brother whose first college essay is being used throughout the English department as an example of the kind of essays they want to see.
9.  I've forgotten how hard it is to control oneself while shopping online with all the ridiculously good sales (particularly with movies) right now.
10.  I think TCU is a perfect example of why strength of schedule should be included in BCS rankings.  No team should be ranked #4 when they're playing teams like San Diego State.
10. It's 12:09am on the day after Thanksgiving.  All Christmas celebrations may officially begin.

Thought of the Day

"Don't think of it as me judging you.  Think of it as me evaluating you based on a set of standards I feel everyone else should live by."

Thought of the Day

I've heard you should never judge a book by its cover, but I've found that you can weed out a lot of crappy books doing that very thing.

Formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo

Hey folks!  I realize I'm a little late to the party, but I thought I'd share a bit o' awesomeness I was recently introduced to - the Flight of the Conchords.  The band consists of 2 guys playing various instruments and being, in general, hilarious.  Here are a few songs you might dig:

Jenny
Business Time
The Humans are Dead
Hiphopapottamus vs. Rhymenocerous

Inaugural rant - Johnny No-notes

I've found myself ranting more lately.  To illustrate, I thought, as my first non-introductory post, I'd include something I posted on Facebook a couple of days ago.  As setup, I was teaching my advisor's class while he was out of town.  Though I had a lot of fun, and I had students who were responsive and engaged, there was one guy who particularly rubbed me the wrong way.  He came to class with nothing in hand, and throughout the class, he didn't even set up his desk - much less take a note.  Thus, I dubbed him Johnny No-notes.  I told a friend about this, and she asked me if I would call him that the next time I saw him, and I said that, not only would I call him that, but this is what I would say:

"So, what did you guys (referring to the class) talk about last time? How about you, Johnny No-notes? I'm guessing by your lack of writing material that you used your Kodak brand photographic memory to get it all. No answer? Maybe you need a minute to use your mental photoshop to clear up some blurriness on those mental Polariods? Get rid of some red eye? It's ok; we'll wait.

Still nothing? Hmm, that's strange. Well, I'm guessing that you knew you wouldn't need notes today because you looked ahead and already understand what we're going to be talking about. Why don't you tell us a little bit about today's material? Huh? Still no answer, Johnny No-notes? Well, it's probably because you've already moved on to bigger problems in your head. I'll go on with this lecture, and you just let us know when you've cured cancer, ok?"

Time to get honest

Time to mark up the blank slate that is my new blog. For a while now, I've been wanting an outlet to express my thoughts in a less censored way. Though I often update my Facebook status, having 740 potential readers gives me a certain amount of pause before posting any given thing. My purpose here is to have a venue where I can express those thoughts to a more intimate (if existent) audience. Rants, frustrations, gratitudes, honest questions - all of these are fair game, and Filterman is going to get a bit of a break. I've tried keeping up with a blog before, and did for a while; we'll see how this one works out...