Mmmmmm.... Fall

Right now, it's 62 degrees outside. It feels freaking amazing. I hope it stays this way, and that...

Wait. Time out. Why does a "Thermaspa" hot tub need a 48-page brochure? How is there possibly 48 pages worth of anything on a goddamn hot tub? I don't think there is. Although, now, I suppose it would be okay to boil my testicles as they've served their purpose.

... the hot summer temperatures are gone. Course, I could do without the rain. Saturday, after we got three+ inches of rain, the creek came out of its banks again. I knew it'd been raining pretty hard, though I didn't think it'd been raining that hard.

When I finally logged off CoD4, I decided to drive down to the creek to see how high the water was. Two driveways from the creek, the car hit water. I slammed on the breaks, threw it in reverse and parked it up the hill. Goddamn rain.

I'm never going to relax when it's raining while we live in this house. I'm broken. Had to go to Tulsa today to interview a donor for a magazine (dude has a house off 31st St. between Lewis and Harvard; behind a gate), and while I was there, it was a monsoon. I found myself with an uncontrollable desire to call someone back home to see how much it'd rained. Steph didn't answer, so I called the office secretary.

Are you freaking kidding me? I have to call the office secretary? I already have a whole ton of short-term memory/OCD issues, and now I have to compulsively worry about our shit drowning every time it rains?

Ugh. I'm going to concentrate on the beautiful temperatures. Maybe I'll get to wear longer sleeves and jackets and shit soon.

I love this time of year. Bring on highs in the low 60s, Halo 3, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Xmas.

Football
Saturday I had to "work" the OSU game, my first with my "all access" pass. I got to eat on the club level (where I saw barbecue, lamb chops and ballpark food, all included in the price of those tickets). I just had a brat. Seems sorta sacrilegious to not eat a dog or a brat at the ball park. I'll make sure to have something nicer next time.

I saw the media room, which was pretty cool. Everyone has a desk for their laptops and there are monitors with up-to-date stats. Oh, and we feed them, too, apparently, though not as well as the Club and Suite level ticket holders get to eat.

I finally met the boss down on the field and pretty much spent the next four hours standing down on the field. I was on near the wall on the Southeast sideline. The view's really not all that great, if you want to know the truth. I ended up watching most the game on the jumbotron.

It was kind of cool almost getting creamed by a whole truckload of players as they barreled out of bounds. You can't tell from the television or even from the stands, but these guys are huge, and when they tackle each other, it's like watching a couple Yarises slam into each other. That particular time, they came out just to my left, slammed into a linesman and broke the yardmarker pole. That shit'll wake you up.

The other thing I had trouble with the first half of the game was hiding my reactions. At home, I'll at the TV or put my hands on my head. I found myself doing that on the sideline and realized that, a) people could see me, and b) they players/coaches/refs might actually fucking hear me. Had to tone it down, work on my cool-guy arms crossed stance.

The coolest part of the evening, by far, however, happened toward the end of the third quarter. I'm watching us whip up on FAU, and I look up at the jumbotron to see how much time is left, and I notice this dude in a blue striped polo shirt.

Uh, shit. That's Barry Sanders. You're in the presence of royalty.

He talked to everyone who walked up to him, smiled the whole time. He wasn't even as tall as me, but his son was taller than him. At some point during the fourth quarter, they had him step out onto the field and introduced him. It seemed to take the crowd a second to figure out who they were looking at, but once they did, the place went crazy. Gave me goosebumps. He walked off the field with a slightly embarrassed smile on his face, and honest to god, I think he shrugged, as though he didn't understand the excitement.

Afterward, my boss talked to him about doing an interview for POSSE, and introduced me. I shook his hand and gave him my business card, and I think he agreed to it. Next summer, I get to interview Barry Sanders.

Not a bad day, all in all. Then again, didn't feel like much of a saturday. I'd rather have been in the parking lot having a beer with the gang.

Anyway, here's my supersneaky phone pic of His Majesty:




















Bowling
So Diane, Rick and Josh asked me to join their bowling team, and I agreed not knowing that a bowling league runs 35 weeks long... I'll be bailing out of this dude shortly after/during the holidays, most likely. I get a week off out of every four or something like that, and they're getting me my own bowling ball.

So far, my average is like 137. They all bowl like 196. I've seen them bowl 247 legitimately. Crazy shit. Last night, I bowled 141/155/139. By the end of the third set, my right forearm was totally shot. It was all i could do not to drop the damn ball.

Ipod
I hate those fucking new Nano commercials. And though that iTouch is pretty fucking awesome, it doesn't change any of the reasons I bailed outta owning an iPod in the first place. My Zune integrates much better with the Precious and the rest of the entertainment center.

Screw 'em.

But damn that browser is awesome. We played with an iPhone in Chicago, and the browser on those is freaking spectacular.

Insufficient Memory
Yeah, I had something else I wanted to blog. Thought about it half the weekend and now I can't remember. Oh, and before I forget again, be sure to go watch 3:10 to Yuma, cause it's fucking awesome.

Tomorrow
So we have another doc appointment tomorrow. Steph says it's just to draw blood to screen for any problems. I've been thinking it's the one where we find out what the baby is -- boy, girl or alien symbiote. We'll keep you posted.