Some Other Ways, and Some Updates

(DISCLAIMER: The first section of this post talks about football again..sort of. I'm sorry I have been remiss in providing this warning to those of you who don't care for the game...I'll try to be more diligent in the future.)

I thought of another way that college football is better than pro...team names. Purdue has the Boilermakers. Demon Deacons apparently come from Wake Forest. OU is the Sooners. Texas is obviously the Longhorns (no link, though...what week is this?). Horned Frogs. Gamecocks. Buckeyes. Fighting Irish. Seminoles. Gators. Crimson Tide. Badgers. Nittany Lions. Ducks. Aggies. All of these names represent something about the culture, history, or environment of their respective schools and immediate regions. The fans and alumni take pride in their school's designation. It's part of their tradition, and it connects them to their school and their home. Granted, the mascot/team name isn't always so colorful or evocative, but it's much more common in the college ranks than anywhere else.

On the other hand, I am pretty sure there hasn't been a bear within 20 miles of Chicago in probably 150-200 years. Bengals are only found in two places in Cincinnati: the football stadium and the zoo. Cleveland sort of approaches the history angle with the Browns (named for Paul Brown, their first head coach), but even that is somewhat weak...it would be like OU as the "Oklahoma Harts". Atlanta has falcons but Georgia isn't really known for them...perhaps the "Atlanta Crackers" or "Atlanta Mint Juleps" would have been more apropos. St. Louis had Cardinals (and still does, in baseball), but now those are in Arizona; instead, St. Louis is known for its...Rams who came from LA? If they were to follow the line properly, they'd be the "St. Louis Arches". Yet no one seems to have thought of that. Hmmm.

(END DISCLAIMER SECTION)

I wish Viagra had never been invented. Even if I needed Viagra, I would STILL wish that, if only so that I would never have to see or hear one of those stupid "Viva Viagra!" commercials ever again. They're on about the same level as those ridiculous Just For Men "Summer of Life" commercials. Sigh...it will be interesting to see how Madison Avenue panders to my generation when we hit our 50s and 60s.

With so much going on, I have been remiss in other ways, too, like providing updates about very important news. Heidi and I had originally agreed to not find out the gender of our new arrival. Well, she went to the doctor the week before the big move, and we found out anyway...and...


(drum roll, please...)







IT'S A GIRL!!!

Yes, that's right, our last one will be a girl. So we will have achieved a very nice symmetry for us. It's also interesting that I have two girls. My first was a girl and my last will be a girl. Both will have been born in Oklahoma. All of our middle children will be boys, and all of them will be Colorado natives. In any case, we will be welcoming Julianna Alyse Mallow into the world on or around February 9th, 2009. Hooray!!!

I am trying to get my head back on straight, with everything that's been going on. I've been in something of a bad mood since the weekend of the Big Move, mostly because there's still so much to be done and I have been so stressed out. I have decided that there are three things that I need to get more of now, going forward, so that things can finally begin to settle down:

1. Organization -- I was dependent on my Palm/Treo for years to help me keep track of appointments, contacts, finances, and everything. When we moved to Verizon last December, I lost that ability because we didn't have enough money for me to get a new Treo. So I've been somewhat disorganized since then. I have a new Blackberry through work, and even though I don't particularly like them much, I'm going to try to get it all together and see if it will work for me, in reorganizing my life. A big part of this effort is in getting my study unpacked and organized at the new house; that will essentially be my focal point for the things I have to accomplish, my "Sanctum Sanctorum," if you will.

2. Resolution -- there are still a lot of things that need to be nailed down with the move, including the situation with Katie and Connor, car tag transfers, insurance, finances (still up in the air after the turmoil of the move), driver's licenses, unpacking and organizing our stuff, etc., etc. As more of these niggling issues get resolved, my stress level will go down. I at least finally got the tags for the Mustang yesterday, which is very good news.

3. Routine -- The turmoil of losing my job, finding the job in OKC, and preparing for and executing the Big Move have all worked together to throw any vestiges of routine I might have had before completely out of whack. I like variety, but I also crave some type of routine; I really can't just fly by the seat of my pants every day, and I've been doing that pretty much since early August. As I get reorganized and as I get issues resolved, the routine will begin to kick in again. I especially need the routine I have of working on the cars, which I've mentioned before, helps me relieve a lot of stress. There is sometimes a great deal to be said for escaping into mindlessness, and routine and distractions can provide that escape.

I did get another nice jolt of home-juice the other night, when we had a weather bulletin break in during commercial time because of some severe storms that came through. That was wonderful.

Thanks for reading along...see y'all again soon.