Project Self: Consistently Inconsistent

One of the things that I've been working on in my own life is consistency. This is sort of a holistic approach to life, where you believe that the things that you do should reflect who it is that you are. This is a nice way to go because it lessesns the need for pretense, posturing, or otherwise managing the impressions that other have of you. I like this style, since it makes life a little less stressful. Of course, less worry about the things that you say and do can lead to a loss of tact. Not that I've ever been accused of that.

I think that across the board, I do okay in being consistent. But when I dig a little deeper, things don't look quite as consistent. I'm a pretty frugal person. I believe in financial responsibility at the personal level as a matter of character. I max out my Roth IRA every year. I have a positive, tangible net worth (which is surprisingly rare for many college grads my age - even those who are currently pulling a high-5 or low-6 salary). And I even have enough saved up to live my current lifestyle for 6 months, should anything dumb happen to me.

I also believe in taking care of the poor and needy. I contribute financially to organizations that serve those in need. I'll give my time when I have extra time to spare. And much of my research has the low-income, low-education population as it's context. I've published a journal article that examines educational materials that social workers use in teaching nutrition and budgeting. I've given presentations on public policay and socially responsible management practices that focus on this population.

In fact, it was on one of these conferences where I was presenting some of this research, where some of the inconsistency in my life struck me. Not necessarily in a bad way. But in a salient way, for sure. I had just gotten done giving a presentation at my conference in the morning, when I decided that I was going to drive around and get some dinner that evening. And sure enough, I found one of those really fancy places where you can drop a week's paycheck (well, a week's paycheck for an undergrad, maybe) on dinner. And I definitely dropped a bill and a half on dinner. And I was running solo. And this was without anything to drink, other than water (which was done on purpose, since I didn't want to interfere with the taste of the food).

Don't get me wrong. This was probably the finest meal that I've ever eaten. And the "value" that I got for the meal was actually pretty high. I ate some things that I had never eaten before in my life. The food was inspired in it's conceptualization, deftly prepared, and immaculately plated. The ingredients were premium products and incredibly fresh.

But after I had squared up the bill, I realized that this could have covered a month's worth of groceries for myself. It was funny. Most psychologists would have predicted some sort of cognitive dissonance effect where I would have been disgusted with myself. Sort of like people eating veal, after the find out what it is and how it's raised. But I just realized that not only does veal not bother me. Eating that meal didn't bother me at all. In fact, I was pleased, even knowing the opportunity cost of that meal. In fact, it wasn't even that out of the ordinary for me to spend a lot on a meal. I've looked over some credit card bills. And while it was the first time that I had spent three-figures on a meal for myself, there were some pretty high bills in there. Spending $40, $60, $80 on a meal has become sort of regular, a nonevent.

So it seems that, for me, at least, consistency lies within a domain, or perhaps a couple domains that I perceive as being linked. And what I've realized is that I tend to value (and as such, am willing to pay for) experiences more than things. When I was shopping for a tablet laptop, I was willing to settle for a used, older model from a lesser brand. In fact, I spent under $750 for a laptop and DVD burner, delivered. New, this probably would have gone for $1800 or so, had I gone with the Thinkpad version that I was originally planning on. And last April, I had my hands on a two sets of Final Four tickets that could have gone for about $1500 or so. Instead, I invited a buddy of mine to go, and we watched the games in person. But interestingly enough, I didn't spring the $20 on a t-shirt or hat so that I'd have something from the event.

Don't get me wrong. I still like my stuff. The things that I own are nice. I have a nice watch. I have a few laptops. I have a closet full of nice clothes. But virtually none of the things that I own were bought at full price. On the other hand, they're very functional. But I have a hard time really spending a lot on the things. I don't worry nearly as much about my experiences. Which is good. It's a happy thing for me that the things that I think that I need don't need to be too fancy. And the things that I like to do generally aren't too expensive. Which tends to prevent this whole cognitive dissonance thing from becoming an issue.

So somehow, I've made it seem reasonable to myself to spend a buck fifty on dinner for myself. Go figure. Anyone in Chicagoland up for eating too much at Charlie Trotter's with me at some point in the near future?

-Chairman

Dead Sport Walking

Yep. Any sport where our "best team ever" loses to Ghana is done. Finished. So, I think that the talk of soccer as a major sport in the U.S. is done. It's back to competing with the lacrosse leagues, ping-pong, paintball, Scrabble, and Magic: the Gathering for airtime on Bill Simmon's ESPN6. I mean, I'll be a sucker and watch us in the World Cup. But on the same token, I also root for the U.S. Curling Team every 4 years. And you know what? I guarantee that our curling team beats the crap out of Ghana next time we face them.

On a tangent, why do we have men's curling and women's curling? Is there a difference in ability that we need to keep the genders separate? Same goes for something like shooting or archery. I think that we need to start consolidating some sports where there's no physical discrepancy, if nothing else, than to keep me from having to watch both men and women in some silly competition at the Olympics where all I want is for Team USA to beat some country that I didn't even realize was a country in some sport that I didn't realize was a sport. But enough about that. Back to complaining about futbol.

Sure, parents may keep having their kids play soccer because it's good to get kids out of the house. But actually watching it when you don't have a child playing? Uggh. It's like watching club hockey. It may be fun every once in a while, but you don't go there for the quality of the sport. You go there because you get to watch drunks in the stands, hear adults yell obscenities in front of kids, and because there's nothing else to do. Which is fine. Cubs fans have been doing this for years. But don't tell me that soccer is the "next big thing." That would be like Cubs fans telling me, "this is our year." I'll just roll my eyes, and go back to sleep. Like I'm about to do right now (damned 8:55 kickoff times).

-Chairman

Old Soldiers

Yep. Just like I said. Heat in 6.

Congratulations are in order for Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning. GP is probably one of the top 10 point guards of all time. Lots of swagger. Lots of mouth. Lots of game. His best years are obviously behind him (and have been since 2003 when he never really fit in with the Lakers). But in his prime, he was good for 22 points, 9 dishes, 2 or 3 steals a night, and a lot of in your face defense. And for me, Zo' is one of those villians that you have to respect. Lots of battles between my Knicks and the Tim Hardaway/Alonzo Mourning Heat back in the 90's. This guys was a true warrior on the court. Gave no ground on defense. He developed a nice 19 foot jumper and became a hall-of-fame type player who was good for 21 points, 10 boards, and 3 or 4 blocks a night. And again, he was a rock on defense. These guys have been in the league for a long time (16 years for GP, 14 years for Zo). They've both come close when they were the stars (GP and Kemp should have had a legit run at MJ's Bulls, until Kemp got mad about money, and Zo was always just a hair short with the Heat). But now they've both got their rings, as role players. Which isn't a bad way to roll.

Dirk and Co. were just a little bit short on stops when they needed to contain D-Wade. Not many teams can slow him down. And Devin Harris/Jason Terry were just a little too small/slow on D to do it. I'm intrigued to see what would have happened had Ginobli not given that terrible foul on Dirk - I think that the Spurs may have gotten it together by the time the Finals rolled around.

Anyway, I wonder if the Knicks can't see what the Mavs did, and put together a blueprint for some wins. Really, if the Mavs can have Terry and Devin Harris start, and get enough shots for Stack, Terry, and Dirk, then I don't see why the Kincks can't have Starbury and Franchise play together, and have Crawford come off the bench. Of course, it sort of helps to have some 7' dude with an outside game to draw other teams bigs away from the hoop, which the Knicks don't have. But, the big thing is defense and effort. We can live with teams that just aren't talented enough. But defense and effort must happen, otherwise Gotham may just take to the streets, and put the torch to MSG and put Isaiah's head on a pike.

And no more hoops for a little while. Now, only hardball will have my attention until Midnight Madness comes around next October.

-Chairman

I'm Not Fired

So this is exciting. I just had my annual review with our department head. And I'm not being fired. So that's good. It's not that I'm putting in bad work. It's just that if you actually watched me work, it would be less than inspiring. But somehow, things get done. I think that it may be that I just take this PhD gig a little less seriously than most folks who enter the hallowed halls. But, I don't think that's a bad thing. It's gotten me this far. And I've got just a little while longer. I'm thinking more and more that I'll be done with the PhD in 4 years. Which puts me on the job market a year or so from now, and puts me as a professor in two years and change. Strange things a-brewin'.

I just came across this gem of an article the other day. I guess that some dude in the Ukraine decided that God would protect him if he wandered into a den of lions. God must have been on coffee break, because at the end of the day, it was Lions 1, Christians 0, with the game just going final. Whoops. I'm all for people who have a strong faith. And I'm all for doing daring things. But at some point, doesn't some rationality have to come into play? Of course, this sort of thing seems to work with the platform of euthanasia that I'm planning on using when I run for the Oval Office.

Let's see... Heat 3, Mavs 2. Just like I figured. Though, I'd be lying if I said that I would have predicted how this series has panned out. The Reds are still in the wild card slot by 1.5, despite playing awful baseball for the past 2 weeks. And while the Cards are playing pretty good, the Reds can still play for the NL Central. Arroyo has been good all throughout, and it's looking like we're figuring out how to pitch at home. But, really, this team feels like the '99 Reds that was winning on the road and winning very exciting ball games at home. Our bullpen isn't as good as it was that year (we had a real nice 'pen there with Graves as the closer and Williamson as the ROY, pitching lights out). This is sort of like with Weathers and Coffey in there this year, only not quite as good. But it's passable. Just need to keep ourselves in ball games and figure out how to squeeze a run or two when it's tight.

Who's watching the World Cup? If don't beat Ghana and go home, I think that will be the death knell of soccer here in the U.S. That's not to say a deep run in Germany makes soccer legit. But with hockey dead, there's an opening for another sport to emerge that doesn't involve cars. But we need to have the U.S. make the 2nd round, and upset a couple teams (likely Brazil first) in elimination play. Anything else, and we'll just yawn, and see if we're still playing soccer 4 years from now.

But, it's time to shower up and actually get a little work done tonight.

-Chairman

You're It.

I love how little, subtle things amuse the hell out of me. Like the taglines that you see on blogs and websites. It's like everything in the blog is up for public consumption, but only a few who really look will catch the subtle things. I love Page 2's little comments on the side, even if the quality of material has steadily gone down over the years. I suppose that when you lose Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Wiley, you can't help but have your quality drop. Right now, the old guard is still Bill Simmons, who's managed to keep things interesting. And TMQ is back. But for heaven's sake, more Tim Keown, and less Jim Capel fluff (though his actual writing is nice - let's kill his fake scripts). I want to hear original thoughts, not writers trying to pull a Weird Al, using something pop with something from sports. More Scoop Jackson and less Jason Whitlock talking about Kansas City. And that was all a tangent.

Anyway, it's back to work, after a lot of fun out west. LA is doable. I can see a whole bunch of applications heading off to UCLA, USC, and maybe even Long Beach City College.

But, anyway, it's time to head back to the Batcave, and get changed for some ultimate. The legs are getting back, slowly. I'm still not good out there, but right now I don't suck. Which is a nice change.

-Chairman

California Dreamin'

In a mere 72 hours from now, I'll be picking up my rental car out in LA, headed for the LBC. I think that the official music sponsor of my trip will be Suge Knight and Death Row records. Of course, they're also the producers of the official soundtrack of my life, I think. Of course, you already knew that.

Contrary to popular belief, Suge Knight actually wasn't Phillip Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. However, he is still my hero. After all, who hasn't wanted to dangle Vanilla Ice off of the edge of a balcony?

Of course, I'm there, ostensibly, for a conference. I've got two presentations on Saturday morning. That should take approximately 36 minutes. And I'm going to a dinner out on some Queen Mary cruise ship on Saturday night. So, at some point, I may actually have to put on a shirt that has sleeves. And pants. Maybe. After that? I think that a visit to Pink's is in order. And I'll also figure out where to hit up some taco stands. I think that some beach time will have to happen. But aside from that? Who knows. To steal from Tony Bourdain, my body isn't a temple - it's an amusement park, and it's pay as you go, but I'm going to enjoy this ride. We'll see what sort of adventures I can immerse myself in.

Work is pretty standard issue right now. I'm not very inspired, but I'm chugging along. Barely. Let's just say that I've been working on this summer paper for about 3 weeks, and right now I'm already about 2 weeks behind. Just need to get things moving. Right now, the task at hand is to finish up my literature review. This has to be the most boring part of research for me. I don't really like reading about what other people think. I'm not big on hearing people's opinions. And I've always liked starting things from the ground up. I don't find much art in the process of building off of other's work. But unfortunately, we have to be "grounded in the literature." Which means that we have to have citations where we say what's been done, just before where we decide that it's inadequate. Which isn't nearly as fun as I just made it sound. Many of the people who end up reviewing your work are the ones who wrote the work that you just claimed to be inadequate. Sometimes, they'll actually agree with you. But most of the time, they like to tell you how what you're doing really isn't all that novel, interesting, or correct. All in all, I'd prefer to pull a Kobe and settle things in the Octagon with these guys. But I don't think that's what professors do.

Over the last few days, the most interesting things that I've done in the last week are: complete a trade in fantasy baseball for another closer, buy a chimney starter for my grill, do a little grilling over the weekend, and buy a used laptop in eBay. Probably in that order. And as sad as that sounds, I've loved every minute of it. The mundane life is what I'm wanting right now. Bed by 1. Wake up around 9-ish, if possible. Get to gym by 10. Work out until 11:30. Clean up, and get lunch. Work for a few hours in the afternoon. Naptime. Dinner. Maybe a little more work after dinner. Either meet up with some friends at night, or veg out for a little while. On some days, I'll replace naptime with some ultimate frisbee. The beauty of it is that if I can actually manage to put in 3 hours of work a day, I can get this done pretty quick. Of course, I get easily distracted with other important tasks, like looking for photos of Suge Knight on Google.

And we can't really have a posting w/out some sports thoughts:

Heat in 6. Diop/Dampier are not going to deny Shaq. No one on the Mavs roster can check D-Wade. Dirk will get his, but he doesn't do it in a way that cripples the other team (i.e. create foul trouble, force doubles in spots that make teammates better shooters).

After sweeping the 'Stros, the Reds are still in 2nd place, only 3 games back of the Cards, and half a game up on the Dodgers for the wild card. With Pujols out for a little while, the Reds just may keep things interesting for a while.

Marvin Lewis will have to start chopping some heads to keep order in Cincy. Chris Henry comes to mind. A 2nd year, 3rd receiver coming off of a felony charge and a DUI may just find out that his position on the roster isn't all that set in stone. I'm all about keeping street cred. But DUI is just dumb. For as much money as you make, require a member of your posse to drink Coke (and not snort coke) for the night, and drive everyone home. They can take turns. Otherwise, they're fired from their cush job as "posse member." It's not difficult. Meanwhile, I'm sure that Kelly Washington will be more than happy to hire some posse members that are actually not worthless.

All I know is that if I have an entourage, I will never have a DUI.

-Chairman