WhistlinDixie

To Much to Sum Up In One Line

First off, I’d like to say goodbye to Reggie Miller of the Indianapolis Pacers. His career ended last night in a loss to the Detroit Pistons. His 27 points were the fifth highest in a player’s last career playoff game. He retires as the twelfth highest scorer in NBA history. He made it to the Finals once and lost. He gave the Chicago Bulls a run for their money a few times in the playoffs in the late nineties. Unfortunately, he ran up against Michael Jordan, possibly the greatest basketball player of all time.

Now, about me. This week has just been a little weird. I had to come in to work half an hour early two days this week. Craig, the guy who previously worked on my project, finally called me after two weeks of playing email tag (he works night shift now). Today, I got volunteered to work in a car wash fund raiser for United Way. Not a problem: I get to stop work an hour early and go wash cars for an hour. Unfortunately, as I get ready to leave, I noticed that I had lost my ID badge. I went back and checked under my desk, under the table where I ate lunch, and in the restroom. It was nowhere to be found. I took a five minute walk over to Security in the mezzanine, only to find out that my badge had not been turned in there. I then took a walk back over to the Outbound 4 office and asked the people there if any one had turned in an ID. Again, no luck. I finally made it up to the car wash half an hour after I was scheduled to start. Even though no one was keeping track, I still stayed an extra half an hour to make up the time. Next week I’ll have to get a temporary ID so I can still get in and out of the facility. If my badge doesn’t show up in four days, I get the privilege of paying five dollars for a new ID.

Exclusive Cable?

You know how at hotels, they are always like "check out our premium channels"? I got to thinking tonight, if we get two Showtime channels for free, why don’t we get ESPN2 or Comedy Central or Discovery Channel or History Channel? They would have to cost less than the two Showtimes, and they actually have programs that I would like to watch. What is really sad is that I couldn’t even see the Bulls game last night when it was being played in Chicago! Talk about being disappointed. I was really looking forward to seeing the Bulls in the playoffs for the first time since the Jordan era. Maybe I’ll get to see their next game since it is in Washington.

Procrastination

Well, I have a term paper to revise and a final paper (something like seven pages) to write for Humanities, all due on Friday. I really don’t feel like doing either of them. However, both are required to pass the class. That leaves me no choice… I must procrastinate!

I was just taking a break from my revisions to watch some March Madness. Unfortunately, my bracket is hopelessly busted already. Two of the four teams that I picked for the Final Four are already eliminated. I figured that a three and a four seed would make it pretty far. I didn’t plan on an upset by a 13 seed or a total collapse in all facets of the game either. All this means that, barring an upheaval of major proportions, there is no chance of me winning $10,000 from ESPN. There’s always next year.

Another thought on the tournament… Why did they do away with the easily identifiable regions (ie, East, South, Midwest, and West) and replace them with cities instead (this year we have Chicago (Midwest), Syracuse (East), Austin (South), and Albuquerque (West))? First of all, the old regions were a lot easier to spell. I believe that most Americans would have difficulty spelling Albuquerque. Also, the regions are hardly regions anymore. Now part of the Albuquerque bracket plays their games in Cleveland. Of course, we all know that Cleveland is right next door to Albuquerque, right? Actually, there are 1602 mi between the two cities according to MapQuest. Why do they even try to call them anything anymore? It is now nothing but a humongous bracket that has ties to nothing geographically. There are no more advantages to being placed in one bracket or another. No more "Illinois should have been placed closer to home that the West. The tournament committee should have recognized their accomplishments this season more." Now it really doesn’t matter which region a team is placed in, except for which teams are in the region with them (ie, the Syracuse region is considered by many to be stacked the year.)

Well, I guess that I better get back to Humanities. These papers will only get done if I work on them. All I can say is that the distraction was welcome. Maybe now I’ll crank my music to keep my mind occupied.