I’m trying to get some work done today. Really. But it seems like I lose my network connection every five minutes. Outlook hasn’t worked for about 30 minutes. That’s all I need, when I’m in the proverbial donut week at work. Holiday last week. This weekend, visitors from Kansas City. Next work week, a trip to California and Arizona. Next weekend, a trip to Kansas City for a KU game and the Sinatra Party. I don’t need these motivational land mines.
December 1. To me, that’s the official start of the holiday season. I like a buffer between Thanksgiving and Christmas. No shopping the first weekend of the season for me. Hopefully you and yours had safe and happy weekends. Thanksgiving in Carmel, IN was uneventful, save a plumbing incident. We fed 12 people until they were happy. We played bad games. I took several long naps, read a lot, watched three movies (including the first of many viewings of Christmas Vacation). Funny thing, when you’re cooking for 12, you don’t have time to sit down and watch any football. I saw a total of five minutes of football Thursday, which was a little disappointing.
On the food tip, it was a very traditional Thanksgiving week here. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, rolls. All book ended with sushi on Tuesday (My first eel experience, which I was pleased with) and Indian food Saturday (I chose the Tandoori mixed grill. Outstanding!). Pretty traditional.
Speaking of plumbing, I enjoy dropping $250 to have a guy come run 35 feet of steel cable between our house and the main sewer line. Plumbing sure is some racket.
Whatever Frenchie came up with the term “a la mode” deserves a Nobel Prize.
I began this discussion with a couple of your this morning, but what’s the deal with Dan Dierdorf? Is there a worse announcer at a high level than him? The bombast and In Love With His Own Voice qualities of Dick Vitale without any of the charm and passion Vitale brings. The apparent obligation to comment on everything. And I mean everything. Worse, most of his observations aren’t good and he laughs as though he’s made some great joke every ten seconds. I think my favorite broadcast experiment was when ABC let Dierdorf do college games by himself for a year or two. He had no problem filling the airspace normally reserved for 2-3 people on his own. But, of course, he went to Michigan and he’s smarter than everyone else. I got to listen to him last week doing the Colts game, then yesterday for the Chiefs. His flaws are exacerbated by Dick Enberg, who’s about 20 years past his prime. Is it really that hard to put old announcers out to pasture?