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