Quick Thoughts

Just a brief update on my Reds: 19-8, best record in baseball. Just took 2 out of 3 from the Astros and took 2 straight from the Cards. We're still mashing the ball for the most part, scoring about 6 runs a game. Happily, we're only giving up 5 runs a game. Oddly enough, we're actually getting outhit a little bit by opponents. Where the difference has been is with the small-ball type stuff: drawing walks (almost 2 more than our opponents) and stealing bases (16 more SB than our opponents). And if you look at this, this adds up to close to a run a game.

NBA hoops is fun to watch again. Lots if intrigue in just about all of the series, save the Dallas/Memphis and Detroit/Milwaukee series. In case anyone hasn't been watching, we're also seeing Kobe Bryant make a case for MVP. I think that the Lakers will beat the Suns in game 6, and then they'll find a way to beat the Clipers. After that, who knows. But every game that's on TV with Kobe Bryant has pretty much become must-see TV for hoops fans.

And to wrap up the three major sports, I have a couple questions. What were the Texans thinking when they passed on Reggie Bush? Does Marcus Vick regret being a moron the last couple years, and has he learned from it? Will the Bengals get a legit player out of their first-rounder? Why do I get the feeling that Steve McNair in Baltimore would be something that Tennessee will regret for the next few years?

Work on my end is moving along. Just got some edits done for a journal submission that should be going out in a couple days. Still have to prep a discussion for Thursday. Need to edit some experimental materials for a study that I'm running on Thursday. For classes, there are a couple papers to churn out for this coming Monday and next Friday. And I need to get things rolling on my summer paper. I think that I've got a lot of moving parts that look good, but need to get a jump start on it.

What's interesting is that just when I think that I've got a nice looking portfolio of projects, there's new stuff coming in. My advisor has at least 2 new projects that we can start up, one, that's a little more theoretical, that examines how low functional literates will use different choice strategies when making decisions, and one, that's more direct in it's focus, that looks at the implications of what we know about low functional literates and how the interact with the world of retailing. It's funny, because it sort of feels overwhelming at times, but it seems to normal to just add on more stuff. And it'll all get done somehow.

Fun stuff - get work done this weekend, churn out work next week, wedding up in Wisconsin next weekend, and hit the ground running on my summer paper after that. We'll figure out what needs to happen with these other research projects. I do need to book some plane tickets for my visit out to Long Beach in June. That needs to happen soon.

-Chairman