Life Update

Hello blog readers, it’s good to be back in contact with you. I wish I could say that my lack of postings is simply due to how overwhelmed, busy, stressed, sought after, etc. that I’ve been. That would be a lie. It’s really just a case of laziness and forgetfulness.

Many of you have asked what the next year holds for our family so I thought I’d post an abbreviated summary of what happened this summer and what the next few months hold for us.

I graduated in May right about the time that Kim went back to work with Jack. We basically spent the next three months in following format: I would occasionally go to work (depending on what the temp agency had found me), Kim would take Aydan to Jack’s house and return to our place mid-morning. It was a blessing that the Shins allowed Kim to spend so much time at our house with Jack. If I wasn’t working I took care of household chores and then would hang out with them the rest of the day. As the summer moved on each day was muggier and less bearable than the day before it. Aydan keeps getting stronger and loves exploring. She’s almost crawling now so the exploration figures to kick into high gear here soon. We had some great family time: a weekend with my parents in Savannah and two weeks with Kim’s mom here. Kim’s brother David moved in with us and will be staying until we leave at some point in the next year.

As I write this, Kim and Aydan are still in Walla Walla and won’t be home until Labor Day while I'm here in DC. Once Kim gets home things really speed up for us. A week from Monday (September 13) I start my career as a Foreign Service Officer. I have five weeks of general training followed by an unknown amount of destination specific training. The first week of class I’ll be given a list of available posts. Kim and I will do our homework on life and work in those places and rate each post as low, medium, or high. The powers that be will incorporate our input into their decisions but can send us anywhere, no matter how we rank the available posts. On October 8^th, everyone will find out where we’re going in a public ceremony called ‘Flag Day’. As each person’s name and destination post is called, said person crosses some kind of stage and shakes hands with someone. ‘But wait’, you may be asking. What happens if you ranked Afghanistan as ‘Don’t send me there or I swear I will retire right now’ and they send you there? You find out in front of everyone? What if you break down crying? Great question. And I really don’t have a good answer for you. Once we learn where we’re heading we’ll also know what our next year looks like. Some posts require extensive language and other training. We could stay in DC for close to a year. Other posts require very little additional training and we could be in our new country before Christmas.

So that’s what we’re looking at. Right now we have no idea what the next few months will bring but that’s what’s so exciting- we really could be headed anywhere.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all can come visit us wherever we end up!

College Football

I am currently watching Arizona play Toledo. It’s not a particularly compelling game but it is football. After the long off-season it feels like a breath of fresh air. This year I’ve given more time than usual to thinking through which teams I despise the most. The reason I put it this way is that most of my rooting decisions are based on who I’d like to see lose.

My criteria are slightly convoluted, but here they are:

1. How much has a team won? Recent national championship winners are always on my Root Against list. As are programs who consider it a disaster to lose three games in a season.

2. Where is the team from? If a team benefits from consistently amazing weather I tend to smile on their demise. Does your team play in LA? Florida? I hope you lose. Wisconsin? Minnesota? Blessings upon you.

3. How arrogant/morally bankrupt does the head coach/quarterback/random booster appear? Currently Nick Saban, Lane Kiffin, and Houston Nutt head this list.

Those are the basic criteria and they range in importance depending on the how I’m feeling on a particular day. One day might see a team’s arrogance earning it my ire despite the fact that it’s playing a traditional powerhouse I regularly root against.

Here is my general ranking of how much I dislike each team with several brief explanations. The list goes from most to least repugnant.

1. Alabama- The perfect trifecta. An amazing combination of a lying coach, history of winning, and a recent national championship. Although to be fair, the only real Alabama fan I know is quite reserved about her team’s dominance.

2. The rest of the SEC- This is largely due to the unending bleating of most SEC fans that only their conference really plays football. Textbook arrogant idiocy and if every SEC team could somehow loose every game I would be one happy camper.

3. Ohio State- The recent humblings have been appreciated, but a good team this year and Buckeye fans will be back louder than ever.

4. Michigan- A few years ago they would have been higher than Ohio State. Nothing against Rich Rodriguez but a few more down years for the Maize and Blue would suit me just fine.

5. Oklahoma- Somehow they bug me more than Texas. Not sure why.

6. Nebraska- I still remember some significant losses they handed the Huskies. It disturbs me to see them playing well again.

7. Texas- I love the logo, but that’s just too much winning for one team.

8. Notre Dame- It’s hard for me to hate a team that really doesn’t win that much but Charlie Weiss knew how to make that happen. I might tolerate them better now that he’s gone.

9. The rest of the Big Ten

10. The rest of the Big Twelve

11. Everyone Else

12. Pac 10 teams- as a dedicated Pac-10 fan I will even root for USC when they play non-conference games. I realize this is a gross violation of every one of my above criteria. Sorry. Here’s my ranking of Pac-10 teams with the most to least loathable.

USC

UCLA

Oregon

Oregon State

Stanford

Cal

Arizona

Arizona State

Washington State

Washington

I realize I've given altogether too much thought to this, but thanks for sticking with me.

ESPN

I love sports. And I like watching ESPN for sports news. But I’ve had a growing feeling of unease as I watch sports reported with such sincere and profound gravity. All news stations are desperate to fill their airtime and end up dwelling, at times, on trivial issues. But with ESPN the disconcerting truth is that everything is ultimately trivial. Maybe someone’s job is at stake and occasionally a player sustains a serious injury. But to hear roster speculation and a batting average reported and debated with such intensity leaves me feeling decidedly empty. People devote their working lives to reporting this? Why do I spend so much time paying attention? Despite the fact that I love sports I have to admit that ESPN is an ultimately trivial endeavor and probably a male version of E! News. Just entertainment taken waaaaay too seriously.