Cubs Win! Bills Win?

The Cubs clinched the central division this weekend after beating the St. Louis Cardinals twice. Now it's time to rest the big guys for--hopefully--a World Series run. This is the best chance I think they've had in 100 years. It's certainly their best team in the past 50 years. But I'm not getting my hopes up. My teams have a way of disappointing me in big games. I am a Cubs, Sabres, Bills, Bonas fan after all.

Speaking of the Bills, what's with this 3-0 stuff? Since when have we been good? I wish I could have watched the games these past few weeks. I've been tracking the games on NFL.com's Gameday program. I'm getting a steady paycheck now, so maybe I'll spring the $30 to listen to them on the radio.

And I might as well mention the Sabres while I'm here. They've started their mandatory training camp this past week and even unveiled their new third jerseys. They look pretty nice. They mix the old classic logo with the new, deep blue colors. They even have the old timey draw strings on the front. They may not be a good team this year, but at least they'll look good.

Please leave me comments. I enjoy reading them. I'll keep everyone posted on what's going on and when I plan on making a trip home. Talk to you soon!

ZambraNo-Hitter

Wow!

Carlos Zambrano throws a no-hitter...and I didn't get to see it. I was too busy reading stuff for class that I forgot the game was on WGN. What can I say? I'm a bad fan.

Stupid school making me do work.

Anyway, go Cubs!

(I did watch an hour long recap on MLB.com, so I guess I'm not all that bad of a fan.)

I'm a geek

Well, today I finally figured out that I deserve to be in a Ph.D. program. We were assigned a text to read in class that is pretty rare. The professor couldn't order it because it has gone out of print, but he still wanted us to write a five page response on the material for Tuesday's class.

Everybody scoured the internet, but there are only a few copies available. We all searched Amazon.com, Abebooks.com, Borders, and even eBay. I think there were five copies total. Some people decided to place a rush order it, but--being poor--I couldn't pay the $30 the websites were asking, nor did I think the copies would arrive in time for Tuesday's class.

So, I felt a sudden urge to hunt down a text on my own. Sharing is fine and all, but when I read I like to make notes all over the page. For some reason I just can't take notes on a separate piece of paper. I knew our library didn't have it, but I decided to check some of the other local colleges. Luckily, I kept my password for the University of Pittsburgh library archives from when I taught in Bradford. I searched Pitt's network of libraries and found the ellusive book in the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown library. This was just a pure fluke; not even Carnegie Mellon had this book. I jumped into the car at drove fifty miles to Johnstown to find my Holy Grail. I yanked the book off the shelf, made photocopies of the pages I needed, told the librarian "thanks," and rode off into the sunset.

I wasn't until I got back that I had the following revelation: as an undergrad, and even as a masters student, a road trip would consist of going someplace fun. I got the same thrill hunting down a rare book that I used to get making a trip to Toronto to watch a baseball game. What has happened to me?

I'll take that degree now, Mr. IUP President.

Yikes.