So, Today I'm Thinking...

...that everybody who says that the college football season is actually a continual playoff, well, I offer as prosecution's Exhibit A: Texas. They've got a legitimate argument to be included in some sort of official playoff, although I think OU would tan their hides in a rematch.
...that I started today with Regina Spektor's "Ghost of Corporate Future" and hit the iTunes "genius" button, thereby creating an coffee-house artsy vibe in my kitchen.
...that it wouldn't bother me if they found a cure for cancer this morning. Granted, I'd had enough of it two years ago, but recent events with dear friends gave me a little reminder.
...that this Christmas hasn't felt very Christmassy yet. I have no idea what's up. I mean, we even watched "Elf" as a family and trimmed the tree last night, but right after that it was back to homework & life.
...that everybody's job or lifestyle/hobby or home state has a stereotype. Surfer, homemaker, engineer, pastor, Texan/New Yorker, cheerleader, businessman, airline pilot, rock star, car salesman, librarian, lumberjack, you name it. The exception might be somebody from Delaware. I couldn't think of one that a Delawarian (?) would have.
...that the video for Blind Melon's song "No Rain" might be my favorite of all time. Kristen and I were having this discussion Saturday and I couldn't think of one that was exactly what a video SHOULD be...except for maybe one by The Prodigy, but it has very explicit lyrics so I won't direct you to that one.
...that I've seen a steady diet of EXCELLENT movies at the AMC Select (where they take films that usually open at the indie theaters & put them in regular ones), but man, they're heavy. I feel like I need to see some more lighthearted fare on the next go-round.
...that if the Cowboys need to win all three of their next games to make the playoffs, well, they ain't makin' the playoffs.
...that there doesn't seem to me a recession yet in my neck of the woods. Restaurants have wait times. Starbucks has lines. Stadiums are filled. The only place I've seen anything that might indicate that is the smokin' hot trophy wife and I had a date last Friday that took us to a local outlet mall. Ghost town, more or less, including the theater. Maybe that's where they start and then the effect trickles to all of us. And, I'm wondering if that's what has already happened in lots of other spots in the country.
...they have contests where people compete in wrapping presents. They give them something oddly shaped and then have judges determine the best wrapping job. They were working on a set of golf clubs in the video I saw.
...that it's funny to me to see how many college students who are on Facebook during the week they've got finals. Reminded me of how I could come up with 100 mundane tasks before hitting the books: Gotta get this room clean before I can study. Gotta run by the bank & mail those bills first. Need to return those books to the library. Maybe I should do laundry before I buckle down. I can't imagine I'd have graduated undergrad in a land of Xbox or my own laptop with internet access.
...somebody was telling me how lucky another friend was because they accumulated all these airline miles for their job they could use for personal family use. All I could think of was that all those airline miles added up to time away from family, hence, those miles had a built-in cost and they really weren't that lucky.
...that I might be a day late to what others are already into, but I'm really starting to enjoy Widespread Panic. I didn't before.
...that, at some point, I'm going to have to get REALLY serious about diet & exercise again, man.
...that with so many grownups getting on Facebook, blogging is taking a hit, and the college/high school kids will eventually come up with something else.
...that I'm at a strange life-station when you know a lot of empty nesters--they all talk about how they want to have nice furniture and they like a "continually clean" house and they can decorate their tree without all those "tacky kid's craft ornaments." I was thinking those things are actually what makes a house a home.
...that I also think empty-nesters should focus on how they can impart the stuff they've learned to the younger folks that inhabit their worlds. They've learned a lot about parenting and finance and what matter and what doesn't. Of course, this presumes that the younger ones would be receptive to that instruction.
...that no one is immune from the effects of someone else's dumb decisions.
...that I've got a recommended book to get to, so I'll get on with my day off.