It's officially furnace weather here in St. George. We turned ours on last night when we got back in town, and we've got it on here at work, too.
We had a good trip up to SLC for Thanksgiving. Kim's wedding went well, and I'm certain Shannon will go into details. But I'm glad to be back in St. George. We hadn't been in SLC more than 20 minutes and I already didn't like all the traffic. I guess I'm turning into a small town guy.
Don't worry, I'm not buying a truck.
Monday, November 26
Tuesday, November 20
Mass
I know I'm weird, so you don't need to bother commenting.
Our friends the Porters are moving to SLC in another week. (That's Laneah's blog off to the right.) After all the trouble we had rounding up boxes for our last move, we were somewhat reluctant to get rid of all of them when we got here, so we still have some kicking around our place, which we are now going to give to the Porters. I like it because it will be just a little less stuff cluttering up our place, though they were all tucked in the back of closets anyway.
But the weird thing is how I think about it. For some reason, I find it reassuring that the mass of our home is decreasing. Somehow, the lower mass is pleasing. I can't explain why. But I actually think about the places where the boxes will no longer be, about the decreased density of our home. It's as if the decreased gravitational field will allow me to rest easier.
(Of course, the boxes upstairs only served to lessen the gravitational field on me when I was down stairs. But you get the point.)
Our friends the Porters are moving to SLC in another week. (That's Laneah's blog off to the right.) After all the trouble we had rounding up boxes for our last move, we were somewhat reluctant to get rid of all of them when we got here, so we still have some kicking around our place, which we are now going to give to the Porters. I like it because it will be just a little less stuff cluttering up our place, though they were all tucked in the back of closets anyway.
But the weird thing is how I think about it. For some reason, I find it reassuring that the mass of our home is decreasing. Somehow, the lower mass is pleasing. I can't explain why. But I actually think about the places where the boxes will no longer be, about the decreased density of our home. It's as if the decreased gravitational field will allow me to rest easier.
(Of course, the boxes upstairs only served to lessen the gravitational field on me when I was down stairs. But you get the point.)
Friday, November 16
Fire of a Thousand Suns
Last night, I couldn't sleep. It was very odd, because I was laying in bed at 12:30 wishing I were asleep, while Shannon slumbered happily along side of me. Normally, we've completely reversed.
The other odd bit was that I was cold yesterday. Cold while watching TV downstairs, and cold even after I got under the covers. Lucky for me, these days I live with Shannon, who burns with the fire of a thousand suns. All night long, she was just flaming hot underneath the covers.
Apparently the term "one in the oven" is much more literal than I previously thought.
The other odd bit was that I was cold yesterday. Cold while watching TV downstairs, and cold even after I got under the covers. Lucky for me, these days I live with Shannon, who burns with the fire of a thousand suns. All night long, she was just flaming hot underneath the covers.
Apparently the term "one in the oven" is much more literal than I previously thought.
Monday, November 12
Guarantees
This past week, Coach Joe Glenn of the University of Wyoming guaranteed a victory over the University of Utah. By the end of the game Saturday, we had the Utes trying an onside kick with a 43 point lead, Glenn responding with a "one finger salute" and the Utes going for it on a 4th and 2 in the 4th quarter. The Utes ended up destroying Wyoming 50-0, leaving the Ute fans chanting "guarantee" at the Wyoming team. In my opinion, both coaches came away from the game with less respect than they had before.
My intent here is not to discuss the specifics of this game, though I don't doubt that someone will take over the comments to do just that. Instead, I ask the question: what's so bad about "guaranteeing" a victory?
Every time a coach or player "guarantees" a victory, the media gets all worked up, the students get all worked up, and suddenly, we have a pair of decent teams and coaches doing some pretty class-less things to each other. You'll note that I put "guarantee" in quotes because, let's face it, it doesn't do anything. When players don't guarantee a victory, does that mean they're not trying as hard?
What's wrong with saying "I'm confident that we're going to win?" Wins are usually guaranteed in important games where realistically either team could win. Usually one team is in particular need of a win after a rough couple of games, like Wyoming was. Teams can get away with saying "let's go win" or "go beat the Utes" (or any other team) or any number of other things, but the minute the word 'guarantee' comes out, suddenly everyone is offended and 'disrespected'. I just don't get it. The other team is trying to beat you any way they can, whether they use the magic g-word or not.
I suppose opposing coaches need to start finding innovative ways to say "well, even though it is possible that we could win, we choose to maintain low expectations for ourselves such that no discord can result from any claims we might choose to make about our chances at victory."
My intent here is not to discuss the specifics of this game, though I don't doubt that someone will take over the comments to do just that. Instead, I ask the question: what's so bad about "guaranteeing" a victory?
Every time a coach or player "guarantees" a victory, the media gets all worked up, the students get all worked up, and suddenly, we have a pair of decent teams and coaches doing some pretty class-less things to each other. You'll note that I put "guarantee" in quotes because, let's face it, it doesn't do anything. When players don't guarantee a victory, does that mean they're not trying as hard?
What's wrong with saying "I'm confident that we're going to win?" Wins are usually guaranteed in important games where realistically either team could win. Usually one team is in particular need of a win after a rough couple of games, like Wyoming was. Teams can get away with saying "let's go win" or "go beat the Utes" (or any other team) or any number of other things, but the minute the word 'guarantee' comes out, suddenly everyone is offended and 'disrespected'. I just don't get it. The other team is trying to beat you any way they can, whether they use the magic g-word or not.
I suppose opposing coaches need to start finding innovative ways to say "well, even though it is possible that we could win, we choose to maintain low expectations for ourselves such that no discord can result from any claims we might choose to make about our chances at victory."
Saturday, November 10
Sending 2
The fourth quarter of the BYU/TCU game on Thursday was a nice reinforcement to something I've been saying for some time. Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER, EVER, send only two guys after the quarter back. In TCU's second to last possession, BYU rushed 2 or 3 on every play, and TCU marched down the field in about 3 minutes to pull with a touchdown. I was afraid when TCU got the ball back with just a few minutes to play. But suddenly, Bronco and the rest of the BYU coaching staff turned their brains back on and send 4, 5 or even 6 players after the quarter back on every play. TCU moved about 10 yards before turning the ball over on downs.
Wednesday, November 7
Enough
Ok, I've decided that we're done with arguing with anonymous posters.
Back in January, I complained about people who confuse the words then and than. Months later, an anonymous commenter took exception to this and began checking my blog looking for grammatical errors I have made. Some of these comments can be seen here, here, here, and here. (There are others, but I don't want to track them all down.) More recently, anonymous was involved in this lengthy debate. It terminates with the revelation that the "Grammar Nazi" is retiring, but anonymous claims that some of the comments left, which are attributed to "Sha'qwantae" were not of his doing. So, even if Anonymous/Grammar Nazi has retired, Anonymous/Sha'qwantae is still commenting, as seen here, and seems to have spilled over to my sister's blog.
For the record, yes, I ranted about bad grammar even though I regularly make similar mistakes. I think all of us do things like this from time to time. We complain about someone who cut us off while driving, but fail to use our turn signals. Things like that. On some of the points recently raised (about the phrase "focus down" for instance) I still maintain that I am correct, and others have agreed with me. However, I now declare this debate to be finished. Shannon remarked the other day that anonymous has picked a fight he/she can't/won't win, because both myself and Suzanne will not give up on a debate, and will not admit defeat. We are quite stubborn. But I feel that lines have been crossed and the debate has started to turn somewhat nasty. It is time for the debate to end.
To this end, I will no longer be responding to any such comments left by anonymous. I ask others to likewise ignore such comments. Any subsequent argumentative comments from anonymous will be deleted. If that does not solve the problem, anonymous comments will be disallowed. If Anonymous/Grammar Nazi or Anonymous/Sha'qwantae would like to contact me personally, they should feel free to do so. I am fairly certain of the identity of one of them, and will discuss this with him when I see him next.
Now if only I could get people so interested to comment on the topics I pick.
Back in January, I complained about people who confuse the words then and than. Months later, an anonymous commenter took exception to this and began checking my blog looking for grammatical errors I have made. Some of these comments can be seen here, here, here, and here. (There are others, but I don't want to track them all down.) More recently, anonymous was involved in this lengthy debate. It terminates with the revelation that the "Grammar Nazi" is retiring, but anonymous claims that some of the comments left, which are attributed to "Sha'qwantae" were not of his doing. So, even if Anonymous/Grammar Nazi has retired, Anonymous/Sha'qwantae is still commenting, as seen here, and seems to have spilled over to my sister's blog.
For the record, yes, I ranted about bad grammar even though I regularly make similar mistakes. I think all of us do things like this from time to time. We complain about someone who cut us off while driving, but fail to use our turn signals. Things like that. On some of the points recently raised (about the phrase "focus down" for instance) I still maintain that I am correct, and others have agreed with me. However, I now declare this debate to be finished. Shannon remarked the other day that anonymous has picked a fight he/she can't/won't win, because both myself and Suzanne will not give up on a debate, and will not admit defeat. We are quite stubborn. But I feel that lines have been crossed and the debate has started to turn somewhat nasty. It is time for the debate to end.
To this end, I will no longer be responding to any such comments left by anonymous. I ask others to likewise ignore such comments. Any subsequent argumentative comments from anonymous will be deleted. If that does not solve the problem, anonymous comments will be disallowed. If Anonymous/Grammar Nazi or Anonymous/Sha'qwantae would like to contact me personally, they should feel free to do so. I am fairly certain of the identity of one of them, and will discuss this with him when I see him next.
Now if only I could get people so interested to comment on the topics I pick.
Monday, November 5
Weekend Highlights
Shannon and I made the trip SLC this weekend to see my sister who was in town from Colorado, and to go to Shannon's sister's wedding shower. Some highlights:
- My 87-year-old grandmother explaining that she doesn't watch much TV because so many of the show are "crappy".
- Guitar Hero
- BYU football
- Chex Mix
- 36 mpg from our Civic
- Getting out of St. George for the first time in 3 months.
- Seeing my niece Lauren
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