Subterranean By Design...
---Toolie The Nerd---
2004-01-09 - 12:48 a.m.
Never in my life have I felt more like Nick Ciofani. I am closing in on the end of my Christmas vacation, and what has dominated this time? Hanging out with the boys? Nope. Spending time at home with the family? Wrong. Hanging out with my girlfriend? Sadly, no. The thing that has characterized my vacation has been numerical analysis. Even today I polished off a good seven-eight hours of studying. And today I was overcome with some confident feelings, as I'm starting to have more faith in my ability to solve problems. Ahmet, my Turkish partner in crime, isn't as optimistic about our chances. He refers to himself as Bert, and me as Ernie. He is the resident pessimist and I am the light-hearted optimist (pops would be proud). But I am certain that I am not going to pass unless Ahmet passes, as he puts in much more time than I do and is generally better at solving these things than I am. So if I am feeling good about my chances, then he is golden. I will never be able to convince him of this, though.
But it hasn't been all boring for me. We had three yos at bowling on Monday (thank God). We managed to pull out the last game (it's still pretty difficult to take points with two people absent) by four pins, thanks to my lucky 192 game. I had a 172 the first game, but a 123 in the middle there to hold my series to a 487. Amazingly, I took three bucks (again) from Kathy Owens, as she rolled a 122 the second game. As my grandpa would say in cribbage (while holding a one peg lead) "I don't see anybody in front of me!" So Team Smoker now stands at 2-19 on the second half. I severely doubt that we'll challenge for a spot in the league championship, but it will still be fun to bowl it out.
Speaking of contention, it looks like the Tigers might be making a semi-serious push to contend next year in the AL Central. Today, they completed their quest to upgrade in certain positions by acquring Carlos Guillen from the Seattle Mariners. To make the trade, they shipped out Ramon Santiago and minor leaguer Juan Gonzalez. In my eyes, any day that you can get rid of Juan Gonzalez is a good one. It would really be something to see Comerica pleasantly filled every night. Last year was the first time ever I couldn't go to a Tigers game because it was sold out (Clemens was going for his 300th win that day). I'm not sure how I would handle that being a regular occurance.
Song Currently on WinAmp: "No Easy Walk to Freedom" by Peter, Paul, and Mary. It's one of their classic songs that's not quite a protest song. Just a good song with a good message. I've been able to see them in concert at the Frauenthal in Muskegon a couple of times. They play a fun concert, but it's been roughly ten years since I've seen them, and my folks say they're getting old. It happens to everyone.
Two Steps Forward - Two Steps Back
