An Update

Things are busy, which is why I've been absent from the blog as of late. An update on all things new:

• Haven't gotten mugged recently. That's cool.

• I went and saw The Fountain so you don't have to. It was horrible. I've always been a fan of the director (Darren Aronofsky of π and Requiem for a Dream), but this thing was just plain...bad. I think the only person who could tell you what was going on is Aronofsky himself. Good concept for a movie, but bad execution.

• Casino Royale, on the other hand, was fab. Best Bond movie I've ever seen, period. And it was actually believable. Bond actually screws up on occasion. He bleeds. Bad guys use guns instead of complicated contraptions (sharks with laser beams) and Bond leaves the gadgets at home. Definitely worthwhile if you haven't seen it.

• Part of my absence has been caused by a massive depression, resulting from Carroll's loss to St. Xavier in the NAIA Football quarterfinals. Carroll has won the national championship each of the last four years--a streak unmatched in the history of scholarship-level football. Saturday was their first playoff loss since the NAIA semifinal against Georgetown of Kentucky in 2001. It's one hell of a streak and Carroll fans everywhere are proud of it...But deep down inside, I was really hoping for a fifth.

• Notre Dame lost to USC. Again.

• On the bright side of things, the University of Montana Grizzlies are still lighting up the NCAA Division I-AA or Football Championship Division or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or whatever they're calling it now. After beating McNeese State 31-6, they face Southern Illinois at home. Montana State is also still in the hunt, surprisingly. They get to take on Appalachian State, the number one seed, which'll be shown on ESPN2 this Saturday.

• I've been sucked into the TV show Lost now, so I finally have something to supplement a healthy 24 addiction during the off season.

• Our first Thanksgiving since the wedding went very well, considering the circumstances. Unfortunately, Lea had a spate of night shifts over the course of the holiday weekend. We made the most of it though. She returned from work at about 9:00 a.m., got some sleep, and then we cooked up a turkey roast (we can't polish off a full turkey with only two people--but it's an improvement on last year's cornish game hens), some stuffing, etc., and had dinner. Hopefully next year is more accomodating.

• On that note, we also bought our first fake Christmas tree. It's a 7.5 foot Douglas fir that, with the angel on top, is just short of the ceiling.

• The Dodgers are busy signing a bevy of injured players, including Randy Wolf. I trust Ned Colletti after what he managed to put together last year, but some of these moves just don't make sense. Hope he knows what he's doing.

• Shamu tried to kill a guy for money. That's wild.
  
  
  Gotta roll. More later.