Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
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Saturday
October 20, 2007
"Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status."
-Laurence J. Peter
You might think that working at home for the past two weeks would have given me more latitude to crank out website entries, but that would be an incorrect assumption. I've been putting enough energy into Draft King, with not only the writing but also the planning and thinking of what it's going to take to make it work, that additional time to write has been limited.
The best part of no longer working for Adenus is that I can sleep in. Seriously. Adenus was a great company to work for, but those 7:30 a.m. start times killed me. On the weekends I'd get the business about getting tired early, but I need more sleep than the average person, or so it would seem. 8 hours is nice, and sometimes I pack in a solid 9 hours. I half-jokingly blame my super-powerful brain for demanding more rest and recovery time. Extra sleep is like paying for premium gasoline for a high-end automobile engine.
Either that, or I'm completely insane. Both options are possible; there is a fine line between genius and madness, or so they say.
One great thing about my new job is that when I'm watching college football, I'm not slacking off, I'm doing research. If I can actually pull this off long-term, it will be an ideal move, particularly when it comes to women who aren't so keen on watching football. I say this not out of generalization (though it wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of that), but instead from real-life experiences. That's plural as in several women. There's nothing like a close football game going down to a wire to make a woman decide that she must have my undivided attention immediately. I'm not being sexist; I'm being honest.
The exception is Velvet, my beautiful and charming friend in Huntington. While she doesn't like football, she enjoys having time to herself (just like I do), so in times when I've visited her she has had no problem immersing herself in a book while I enjoy both halves of an NFL double-header. Then, with she and I both have our respective batteries recharged, spending time together is that much better.
It's not a full-proof plan. I've got the "this is for work" card to be played at any point when it comes to watching football. but this may not work so well during NBA playoff season. Whatever the case, it's better than what 99.9% of the guys out there have in the excuse bank.
For the first time since the Yankees began their run of 12 straight post-season appearances (which, incidentally, is still active), I didn't catch any grief after the Indians bumped them out of the ALDS. Ten years ago, when Cleveland beat the Yanks in the ALCS, I had all kinds of taunting e-mails and the like flooding my inbox. Now? Not so much.
Sneaky or not, the Yankees made a smart move by low-balling Joe Torre with a non-negotiable one-year offer and having him walk away from it. That way it's not "The Yankees decline to rehire Joe Torre" but instead it's "Torre rejects the Yankees' offer." It was a great 12 year run for Torre, and I imagine his #6 will end up being retired. I hate retiring numbers (it's pretty stupid IMO), but with him and Derek Jeter's #2 also likely to receive retirement treatment, the Yankees would then have numbers #1-10 all retired.
Last weekend's trip to Starkville, MS was a blast. Unfortunately I ended up missing the Mississippi State vs. Tennessee game due to illness, though I listened to it on the radio. Yes, it sucks to go 5+ hours to go to a game only to miss it, but the game was only part of the weekend experience.
It's been about six months since I moved back to Nashville (or technically Smyrna), and it is still going well for me here. My room is still a mess, which is funny since my Virgo tendencies would tend to put me in a "keep things organized" mindset... only, for whatever reason, that doesn't apply in my case. Then again, if I was a line-item Virgo, Dustin leaving a stack of half-dirty dishes in the sink indefinitely would drive me up the wall versus just annoying me.
As it is, there are enough things that annoy me easily. But if dishes in the sink are the worst thing that I face living here, I'm doing alright.
Swankxmas '07 is only two months away, but talk has already begun for what will be a great holiday season party here at the house. It's Matt's gig ultimately, but I imagine that the dress code will remain black and white with a touch of red. I'll just try not to get my clock cleaned at Texas Hold 'Em like last year.
Matt and I went over to my buddy Nick Greco's place today to watch the Mississippi State vs. West Virginia game, which Nick had on via ESPN GamePlan. I've known Nick since we were in the first grade together at Overbrook School in 1983, and it has been cool getting to hang with the likes of him and Rob Philbin (also in that class in 1983) since moving back to town.
Unfortunately for Matt, it was 28-0 (or was it 31-0?) by the time we arrived, so we mostly watched the Florida vs. Kentucky game. M-State made a slight comeback, but clearly they were outmatched by WVU. So it goes.
When the afternoon games ended, Matt and I headed over to Green Hills Mall, which had an insane parking situation. People were viciously fighting for limited spots, with some actually staking out people as they went to their cars to try to get dibs on the soon-to-be-vacant spot. It probably took us a good 15 minutes to park. Remind me to re-read this in two months if I decide that hitting the mall for Christmas shopping is a good idea.
The trouble proved worthwhile, as Matt bought me a delayed birthday present of a nice pair of Lucky jeans and a cool looking brown belt. While I'm not as completely oblivious to fashion as I once was, I usually defer to Matt on these sorts of things. And, to be sure, I ended up with something nice from there. Good times.
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