"Insert Excited Sports Cliche Here"

Something like "Go Colts!" or "Go Horse!" or "Believe in Blue!" It all fits. Maybe I'm just blowing it up in my mind, but I really can't imagine a more exciting game of football. And to see the Colts make it to the Super Bowl for the first time since moving to Indianapolis in 1984. Heck, the first time since MY BIRTH. It's really gratifying. Just remembering all the disappointment. Hoping Jim Harbaugh and Marshall Faulk would pull it out, come back and win it. My brother had (probably still has) a signed Marshall Faulk football. It's gratifying to finally Indianapolis with the post-season it deserves.

Only-Slightly-Related-Presidential-Predication:
If Chicago wins in two weeks, Barak Obama will be the Democratic nominee for president.
If Indianapolis wins, Hillary will be.
"I don't get it!" you're likely to say. "Isn't Hillary from Illinois, too?" You're right. But I also predict that if Hillary wins, she'll pick Evan Bayh as her running-mate. Connection: made!

"Woot! Where's my clam chowder?"

Who reads this blog, anyway?

Are you stopping by this blog for riveting, original content? Well, today is likely not your day. However, I've recently come to feel that a new job might be in order. If you're looking for an employee for any kind of respectable employment in the New York City area, please do let me know. I'm just sifting over my resume, wondering if there's anything that needs refreshing. Should I include the libertarian nerd camp I attended last summer? Should I include the fact that they want to see more of me in a couple weeks? Eagle scout? Proficient in the history of Mario? Let me tell you, it's one HELL of a resume.

Anyway, to answer the question in the subject heading, just leave a "shout-out" below in the comments section. Or just keep being a big, hairy troll. That's right, I'm talking to you, troll-boy. You know who you are.

You and he were... buddies once, weren't you?

To all my dear friends who I've bothered time and again with comments about Garth Merenghi's Darkplace, I present the first episode. This remains among the absolute funniest things I've ever had occasion to see. You could watch it here, but I suggest you follow it through to the fullscreen version.

Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 Gag Reel

This is just about the best thing I've seen in a while. Then again, it's hard to look at BSG the same way now. Given the rumors about cancellation, I suppose any morsel of BSG is better than none. Especially when it contains a strikingly high number of fart jokes. Enjoy

Could We Start Again, Please?

...Which brings me to my current blog post. Tomorrow, being the big 2-4, I feel it's a good candidate for a fresh start. That doesn't mean prolific blogging, but it does mean a real, fresh-eyed evaluation of where I stand and what's next.
The facts:
I have applied to graduate school. The final count was 7 schools, scattered far and wide across this great land. I'll keep you posted when any news (at least the good news) drops. One way or another, I don't intend to be teaching after the conclusion of the current school year.

Possibilities:
I've considered stopping teaching prior to the end of the year. It's all contingent on circumstances, but if something came along, I'd be out. I don't think the administration in my building is very fond of me and this job is taking the best bits of me and doing a festive Mexican hat-dance on top of them. We'll see, but keep your ear to the ground for me.

What's Up?

It's been a surreal last few weeks. And now I turn 24 tomorrow. About two weeks ago, Kate and I were forced to put Chloe to sleep. We traveled back and forth from New York to Indianapolis/Dayton. Christmas break. Ugh. It's a whole, whole lot to deal with.

In other news...

I just surpassed the total number of posts ever to the Cabal of Style. That seems so long ago, but it was fun while it lasted. At least this blog is all me. There's something to say for your own creative output. Speaking of my creative output, here's a link that sent me through waves and waves of nostalgia. I can't believe it still lives. I also can't believe that which such a stellar layout, it didn't make it. Then again, there are plenty of other reasons for its demise completely unrelated to the layout.

Ugh

It's been a hard couple of weeks. I don't write on this blog much anymore, but it might not be a bad way to let off some steam, keep writing, be thoughtful and all that nonsense. There's a lot on my mind and if anybody comes by here, you should feel free to comment.

First, the job plainly sucks. My kids are better than last year. They're much brighter than the kids I taught last year. That being said, the deficits are still there and they can still be quite surprising. However, the school is insane. It's not enough that teaching kids in the south Bronx is challenging enough on its own. It's not enough that my job requires producing an insane amount of data. It's not enough that I teach six periods a day (that's an extra period a day that I'm not contracted to teach but do anyway - nobody told me this was the deal when I signed up). It's really hard. I'm planning 4 different lessons every day. There are reasons why middle school teachers don't usually get scheduled in this way. It's because it's lots and lots of work. I think about quitting a lot. I don't get much sleep and I get sick to my stomach every Sunday night just thinking about going back into school for the next week. It really sucks and I don't know what to do about it.

The graduate work is really suffering. I have to take masters classes as part of my program, but because of the added stress of work, the grad courses are really suffering. I'm really unhappy about it.

I don't get to spend any time doing anything else. Friday night I'm beat. Saturday night, if things don't fall right into place (which they often don't) I don't get to do anything. Sunday is all about work. Weeknights are all about work (when I don't have grad classes, which go until about 8 at night, then I commute home). I don't get to see my friends. It sucks.

I feel like I'm whining, but I suppose I'm entitled to whine if I want to. It's my blog and nobody reads it.

Earlier tonight I contacted a former professor about the possibility of going ahead and applying to grad school for next year instead of waiting the additional year. I don't know if I can do it in time, but it feels like it could be the right move. I'm not very happy with my professional situation right now, and I feel like it's crowding out everything else. I suppose we'll all just have to hold our collective breath and see what happens. I should be working right now. Even better, I should have finished my work so that I could be sleeping right now. But no such luck. At least Tuesday the kids don't come, so no planning. No grading. Just precious, precious sleep.

So there's your ray of sunshine for the day.

Strike Back!

How can we appropriately mourn the death of Steve Irwin?

Here's how.

New Events Brewing...

Literally! Kate and I went to Long Island today and bought a homebrewing kit. I'm going to try and start brewing my own beer! This may be an exercise in futility, but I thought it couldn't hurt to try. So I've got all the pieces and all the ingredients I need so that, in three or four weeks time, I'll have five gallons of tasty homebrew pale ale to consume! I'll try and put up some pictures once the fun begins.

SUPER RARE VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE! (Part 2)

You won't believe your eyes...

SUPER RARE VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE!

Enjoy part one.

Yanni: Despicable or just Disgusting?

This is mildly upsetting: (from CNN)

Florida authorities say new age musician Yanni faces domestic battery charges.
He was arrested at his home Friday after an alleged domestic dispute with his girlfriend.

It makes me ashamed to have used Yanni's music for the closing credits of "Crupnick and Bowser" all those years ago... Then again, we didn't pay for it. So screw you, Yanni.


Dick.

Much needed validation

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Pointless Wikipedia Entries: Part 3

David Xanatos
If William Riker played "Lex Luthor" for the annual Westly Crusher-pennedEnterprise Follies, the result would be something very much like David Xanatos. I can't think him enough for brining the Gargoyles to our shores, and with them, my early love of Norse mythology and Shakespeare.

AOE III - The White Man Cometh

Age of Empires III, the third entry into the Age of Empires game series (duh!) dropped a little gift for us on the internet, today. Or at least I became aware of it today. A demo has surfaced on the official site and I for one an very, very anxious to go home and give it a try. Where AOE focused on the empires of antiquity and AOE II focused on the medieval period, AOE III apparently focuses on the periods of colonial and imperial expansion - from Henry the Navigator through the Industrial Revolution.

I was a big fan of AOE, years and years ago when it dominated the field of historical real time strategy. I would watch my friend Chris as he sent dozens upon dozens of his War Gallies against the enemy's coastline, pummelling them into submission. While terribly fun, AOE II made this strategy far less plausible by adding little exploding ships that would sink a tightly clustered fleet to the bottom of the briney deep. Anyhow, AOE III is rendered in full 3-D and looks set you know your socks on your ass.



This screenshot doesn't tell you anything about the game. Yet, I found it to give me a tremendous sense of peace...

Jenny's Calendar

Did you know that Robia LaMorte (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "Jenny Calendar") has her very own Calendar? Neither did I! But the naming synchronicity is just too much to pass over without comment. If you qualify as a "true Jenny fan", you can purchase this 2006 calendar for the low, low price of 19.99. However, I can't imagine why any "true Jenny fan" would pick the 19.99 calendar when they could get one personalized by Robia, herself for 39.99!

Computers - blah blah blah - Musty old books...

Pointless Wikipedia Entries: Part 2 - "Blathering Blatherskite"

Fenton Crackshell, a.k.a. GizmoDuck

Pointless Wikipedia Entries: Part 1

One delightful feature of the Wikipedia is that entries are generally directly proportional to the amount of enthusiasm out there for a given topic. As a result, entries for fictional characters, ideas or places are often longer than their factual counterparts. While researching my previous post, I was reminded of my love for truely pointless Wikipedia entries. Therefore, in the same vein as previous successful series as "Englishmen I Like" and "Blogstrike", I bring you "Pointless Wikipedia Entries".

We'll start off with a fun one.



Harmony Kendall

FLASH: James Marsters not Divorced from Reality

According to SciFi Wire James Marsters would be very interested in reprising his role as Spike for a possible TV movie in the future, but cautions that he doesn't have forever:

Buffy/Angel creator Joss Whedon approached him "when Angel was still filming and asked me if I'd be interested in a TV movie, and I said, 'Hell, yeah. But you have five years.' Because this character read as a 27-year-old. [When I first took the role], I was 35 then, but kind of looked 27. Now I'm 43 looking like a 35-year-old, but my character is not supposed to age one day. I think I could maybe match that first shot, but I think I maybe have about two more years [left]."

No word yet if a similar statute of limitations exists in regards to Marsters' musical ambitions.