Dubious Selections

I wasn't too impressed by Obama's choice of Joe Biden as a running mate. Of those names being bandied about as possible candidates he was the one I least liked...with the exception of Hillary. As a teacher I don't have much sympathy for repeat plagiarists. Plus, if Obama's running on a change platform, selecting a three decade senator hardly qualifies as outside the beltway thinking. I do like that Biden takes the train back home everyday like millions of us who belong to Orwell's upper-lower middle-class.

As uninspiring as Biden's selection it towers over McCain's ridiculous choice. I like the fact that Palin is pro-life and a Christian...but that's about it. She may be an admirable woman but I'm not a big fan of NRA membership and those who are pro-oil drilling in ANWR since ANWR, according the U.S. government, would only lower gas prices about 2 cents a gallon. But that's a debate for another day. Palin's biggest benefactor in Alaska is Ted Stevens...a senator recently indicted on corruption charges and notoriously in the pocket of big oil. Not good company to keep.

McCain's judgement has always been questionable. From being censured for ethical violations during the Keating Five scandal, to committing adultery, to bragging about his college drinking binges, to seeking out John Hagee's (a man as nutty as Jeramiah Wright) endorsement, to singing "bomb bomb Iran", to supporting the war in Iraq, to questionable dealings with Arizona lobbyists, to considering switching to the Democratic party...twice...McCain's judgement skills are dubious at best. And now he adds another major strike against his judgement.

McCain is 72 years old. He has had four bouts with cancer. And he picks someone who has been a governor of the least populated state in the U.S. for less than two years to be a heartbeat away from the most complex and demanding job on Earth? Two years ago Palin was the mayor of a town of 9,000 residents. And for just 23 months she has governed a state that is basically a subsidized colony of the United States. This is who McCain saw as qualified to run the United States of America in a crisis?

Palin has zero foreign policy experience. And she asked yesterday what experience does a vice-president need. Such a statement displays amazing naivete. Sure, the office of VP may not be worth a warm bucket of spit, as once eloquently stated by John Nance Garner. But when the President is 72 years old...you might want to have a VP who's qualified to step behind the big desk at a moment's notice.

I'm not a big fan of Biden...but the selection of Palin is pure idiocy on McCain's part. Maybe I'll be proven wrong in November. Maybe she'll mobilize a dis-affected conservative base...Dobson's already jumped back on the bandwagon. But I think that once the initial excitement and novelty of the choice wears off people will start to wonder about McCain's sanity.

This choice may go down as bad a Quayle and even Perot's choice of that crazy admiral Stockdale back in 1992.

Weezing

My facebook status says it all...

"David is superfreakingstoked because he just scored tix to Weezer's October Dallas visit."

Yep, Kimberly and I will be Weezing again for a second time. But this time they're playing the Nokia which is a way cooler venue than the Smirnoff where we saw them three years ago.

Booyah!

=w=

Olympic Quick Hits

Quick hits on the Olympics.

1.) The Chinese are obviously using girls under 16 on their gymnastic team. What do you expect from a totalitarian state?

2.) Phelps is Superman.

3.) Usain Bolt could have shattered the world record in the 100 m. Still broke the record despite letting up at the end to celebrate. He looked like a man among boys. It would be great to see how he ran if actually challenged by someone.

4.) Luikin got screwed by a stupid tie-breaking rule. Just another reason why I don't like events that rely on human judging and not on something truly quantifiable like a time or goal score.

5.) Sacramone also got screwed. When the Chinese girl mis-executes and then falls on the landing...and yet still passes Sacramone who didn't make a mistake...another reason to hate the gymnastic system.

6.) Shouldn't be surprised by all the world records falling in swimming. The new Speedo is cutting down resistance by 5%. The Beijing pool is the deepest in Olympic history cutting down on time slowing water turbulence. The Beijing pool has two empty lanes on both sides that also level turbulance and the lane dividers actually are designed to flush water down and not back into the lane. All these innovations were bound to help re-write the record books. Doesn't take anything away from the medalists though.

7.) Strange that the Olympic pool actually has lifeguards on duty.

8.) Would NBC show so much beach volleyball if the women wore less revealing outfits? Those outfits are worse than the average bikini and if I were a hardline feminist I'd be pissed since the guys wear knee lengh shorts and wide band tanks. Now that's exploitation. But back to the point...are there that many Americans interested in beach volleyball that you show it every night? There's dozens of Olympic sports that don't get any coverage at all...couldn't we at least get a synopsis on these other sports rather than replay beachball and water polo over and over again?

9.) Glad to see Mongolia got their first Olympic medal ever. They got it in Judo. Too bad the equesterian events aren't more geared toward the Mongolian skill with horses because they would dominate. You know...an event where you shoot an arrow at a man/target while riding backwards on a horse going 40 mph.

10.) Actually like how the Basketball team is handling itself on and off the court with class. There's no Michael Jordan missing the opening ceremonies and threatening to boycott a medal ceremony because he'd have to wear the Reebok sponsored Olympic windsuit or Charles Barkely elbowing a tiny Angolan off the court during a 40 point blowout. These guys look glad to be here are playing with dignity.

11.) Totalitarian states put on the best cooridinated opening ceremonies.

12.) That Romanian chick who won the marathon should run in the men's event. It wasn't even close. She must have run 10 additional victory laps after crossing the finish line. She could have run two marathons.

13.) U.S.A. boxing is dead.

14.) And I do feel sorry for all those other USA swimming medalists who no one pays attention to because of Phelp's amazing feat.

15.) And lastly...I find it astounding that the same gym in Frisco, Texas has produced two all-around Olympic gold medalists in women's gymnastics in a row. One nation winning two in a row is amazing enough. But two from the same gym...what kind of kool-aid are they drinking over there? My brother and sister-in-law live a few blocks away from this gym and I'd like to drive by sometime just to see a place that has produced two gold medalists in consecutive Olympiads.

Ridin' the Tractor

Kim's Uncle Scott graciously took Jackson on a ride on the big tractor when we were up in Indiana a few days ago. Here's some video...

Book Review - Worlds at War (first draft)

The following is the first draft of a book review that I am submitting for publication in a historical journal. This book also served as the summer reading for my AP World History students this summer. Your comments, criticisms and corrections are welcome and appreciated. For some reason my blog platform would not allow me to indent paragraphs which is why they are spaced for this blog.

Worlds at War: The 2,500 - Year Struggle Between East and West. By Anthony Pagden.

(New York City, NY. Random House, 2008. Pp. xxv, 625 $35.00)

Following the horrific events of September 11, 2001 many Americans flocked to bookstores purchasing books on Islam to gain insight into the animosity toward American and western culture that pervades the Islamic world. Acts of Islamic terrorism were not new in 2001 but the fact that terrorism had now reached American shores awakened many American citizens to the harsh reality that they were players in a “clash of civilizations” that had been going on for a very long time and to which no end seemed near in the foreseeable future.

Anthony Pagden’s thesis is quite simple. The conflict between East and West has indeed been going on for a very long time, over 2,500 years in fact. Pagden argues that this struggle goes back long before the advent of Islam and its conflicts with Christianity and Judaism. The ideological battle between the Occident and the Orient has been continuous since at least the time of the Greek invasion of the Hellespont and the subsequent ten-year Trojan War made famous by Homer’s The Illiad.

Pagden doesn’t necessarily attempt to explain the reasons behind the two millennia old battle between East and West. Rather Pagden traces a series of clashes throughout antiquity that help place today’s conflicts in context. The recurrent theme in the East-West relationship, according to Pagden, is one of consistent misunderstanding of each side’s cultural values. The West is always bewildered by the East’s collective mentality and willingness to remain under the leadership of autocratic despots. The East never does understand the West’s desire for individual freedom and sees democracy as tyrannical in its inherent chaos.

Many of the historical incidents, related by Pagden in masterful prose, bear striking similarities to the misunderstandings in the East-West relationship today. Napoleon’s failed attempt at introducing western political and philosophical institutions to Egypt in the late eighteenth century seems very much like the current difficulties the United States has faced in introducing moderate democracy to Iraq in the early 21st Century.

Worlds at War discusses the many battlegrounds both military and philosophical including the Trojan Wars, The Persian Wars, Alexander’s Hellenism, Rome’s relationship with the East, the rise of Christianity, The creation of Islam, the Crusades, the Ottoman Empire, the impact of the Enlightenment, the Middle Eastern mandates following World War II, the Balfour Declaration and much much more. Each era and historical event provide examples of the vast gulf of understanding between the West and East.

Pagden’s narrative is extremely compelling and provides an impartial view from both eastern and western perspectives. He provides another side to many of the historical events with which western audiences may be familiar thus coloring these events with more nuance and contextual depth. One weakness of Pagden’s work is his overt skepticism toward religion. Rather than keeping an objective eye of an historian intact, Pagden occasionally allows his antipathy toward organized religion, both Islamic and Christian, taint his work with editorializing that seems oddly off-putting and out of place in this work of history. But these insights are few and far between and do not take away from Pagden’s impressive achievement.

This book is so enormously comprehensive it could easily be used as the definitive text on the history of the East-West relationship. The comprehensive nature of Pagden’s subject, of course, does not allow for him to go into the great historical depth one might expect for each individual chapter. Volumes could be written on the subject of each chapter. However, Pagden does not skimp on historical detail. He wonderfully walks the fine line of providing enough facts to give weight to the narrative without dragging his book to the depths of factual overload.

Travelin' Man

This summer I have been on the road. Since school got out the end of May, I've been on the road 31 days. Not as long as some of my compadres...but a lot for me. First Colorado to grade essays, then the Bahamas to celebrate my ten-year anniversary then on to Indiana for family reunion and the Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit more family. I'm glad I don't have to travel for my job. I'm getting too old for this!

photo: Me in front of Rawson's Square, the Bahamas.

Bathtime!

Been awhile since I've posted a video of Jackson. Here's two from bathtime when he's discovered the fun of dropping things into the tub. Jackson has no need to worry...nothing is revealed that should be too embarassing to him down the road.

Back in Tejas

Made it back to Big D with no major issues. Had a woman sitting next to me throwing up into a barf back all the way from Denver to OKC. That was a first. It was a bit of a bumpy take-off. I've watched too much LOST. Then we were on the tarmac in OKC for an hour due to weather in Dallas. Flying into Love Field is much cooler than flying into DFW. You fly right above the sky scrapers in downtown then drop several hundred feet faster than you would at a normal airport due to the limited airspace. Love is the only way to go...all you need is Love. Only the Baghdad corkscrew landings would be more interesting. I'll have to ask my friend Buck how that is...but he's still in Kuwait where he tells me it's 122 degrees.

I was dropped off at DIA six hours before my flight. Luckily ran into my WHAP crew (pictured) in the main terminus and we were able to kill some time before we went to our seperate terminals. Finally got my laptop working wirelessly so I could kill some more time on the internet. Then I paid $5.00 (supply and demand for you) for Backpacker Magazine to kill more time. Ran into SNU prof Peggy Poteet who was heading back to OKC at my gate and chatted with her awhile. Then read a history book (Cause that's how I roll).

Rainy in Dallas when I landed...but it was a cool 75 degrees...good since I'm spoiled on Rocky Mountain weather. What a great thing it was to see my wife and son again. Longest I've been away from them.

photo: Last dinner at CSU with Wes "Three Minutes of Fury", Chas "Saipan Jayhawk Hippie", Jerry "KCK", and "Freakin' Redwings" Eric.

From the Mountains

Well I'm done grading A.P. World History essays. I read over 850 essays in seven days. So yeah, I'm a bit punchy. My assigned question to grade was over trade and commerce in the Indian Ocean from the 7th century C.E. through the mid-eighteenth century C.E.. Needless to say the overwhelming number of essays I graded were pretty lousy. I had one perfect 9 the whole week. But we wrapped up early and now I'm enjoying the mountain breezes before heading to the closing night party where you will see dorky historians get funky from their Rocky Mountain High.

Missed Kimberly and Jackson terribly...but I did have a good week other than that. Met great people, had engaging conversations over a bizarre range of topics and enjoyed cool breezes as opposed to the oppressive Texas heat.

My table of seven was a great table. No Nazis, fascists or anti-social louts...all cool people. Some other tables weren't so lucky. Brian, our table leader from Long Beach, was laid back Cali style yet always encouraged us to keep up the good work.

The food was good. The logistics top-notch. My room had internet access, A/C and a nice view. I am very impressed with Colorado State University and the College Board.

But I am ready to head back to Big D. I did post a few pics on my flickr site which can be accessed here. I'll be home a few days and then it's off to the Bahamas where I will not have to grade a single essay.

photo: my table taking a night out at Woody's after a long day of grading sophomoric (literally) essays.

Letter to the Times

A friend of mine who teaches history at a university in Pennsylvania told me today that his son had a letter published today in the New York Times. During a break from grading AP essays he rode his bike to a newstand in Fort Collins to buy a NY Times. Sure enough, his son's was the first listed in today's edition in the opinion section. He was responding to an article in yesterday's paper about the Senate's investigation in to the lead up to the war in Iraq. So, whether you agree with this guy's opinion or not...it's still cool to be printed in the Old Gray Lady. The article can be accessed online here. It's the first letter on the top.

Weezer Day!

Today was Weezer day. Their newest album came out titled "Weezer." It's their third release of theirs that is self-titled, so like the other two it will be known by the color on the cover...this one is known as the Red Album. I couldn't make it to the record store today. Six miles from my campus dorm here at Colorado State University...gotta rent a bike.

So I wore a Weezer concert shirt today as I graded AP essays and had all kinds of comments. Guess a lot of World History teachers dig Rivers and the gang. One dude at the cafeteria offered me his SPIN magazine featuring a Weezer cover story.

And Kim told me that a character on the Young and the Restless was wearing a Weezer shirt on today's episode. Righteous!

So here I am grading essays about trade and commerce in the Indian Ocean (650-1750) while listening to the iPod. Hope the guy next to me couldn't hear me humming "Pork and Beans."

Turn it OFF!

Back in the old days of carburetors we were taught that if you left your car idling for less than 30 seconds it saved more gas to let it run than shutting the engine off and restarting. However, most cars today have fuel injectors which lowers that magic number to 10 seconds...some even say 7 seconds. So when I go to the bank or wait at the railroad crossing I actually save gas by shutting down my engine.

I say all this to address one of my biggest pet peeves. When I drop my son off at the Daycare a great majority of the parents leave their cars running while they go in to drop off their kids. Today, for example, the car next to me was running when I got there and was still running unoccupied when I left...a good ten minutes later (and it was 70 degrees outside...no need to run the A/C).

Here's the reasons why this drives me so crazy.

1.) It's actually illegal in Texas to leave your keys in the ignition due to the great potential of theft.

2.) It's dangerous to leave your car running in a daycare parking lot with so many kids around.

3.) It's a terrible waste of gas and money during these times of $4 a gallon gas.

4.) It's terrible for the environment to needlessly spew carbon monoxide into the atmosphere when it can easily be prevented.

5.) What message does that send your kid that you drop off them so fast you don't even want to bother shutting off your engine? Might as well have a drive through window at Daycare to expedite the process.

So I talked to our Daycare representative at our school and fortunately the problem will be addressed. People, save your money and environment and turn off your car when sitting for more than 10 seconds. According to General Motors you will more than recoup your gas savings than the expense caused by wear and tear on your ignition.

Radiohead Setlist

Some have asked for the set list from last Sunday's Radiohead concert in Dallas. They played two hours and played all 10 songs from their newest album "In Rainbows." They also did a nice sampling from all their albums sans Pablo Honey. The only song I hadn't heard before was Bangers and Mash which is on the second disc you had to pre-order from the "In Rainbows" release. It is still not available at record stores from what I understand.

All I Need

There There

15 Step

Bangers and Mash

Nude

Pyramid Song

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

The National Anthem

Dollars and Cents

Faust Arp

Videotape

A Wolf At The Door

Optimistic

Reckoner

Everything In Its Right Place

Idioteque

Bodysnatchers

1st Encore

Fake Plastic Trees

Jigsaw

Falling Into Place

House of Cards

Exit Music (For A Film)

The Bends

2nd Encore

You and Whose Army?

Paranoid Android

Indiana Jones and the Search for Eternal Youth

Here's why I'm not too stoked about the new Indiana Jones movie. I hope I'm proven (or proved....never quite sure which is correct) terribly wrong cause I love the Indiana Jones series.

1.) Harrison Ford is old. That could still work, however not only has he looked old in his last few movies he's also looked befuddled and lost.

2.) Shia Labouf. The guy's a terrible actor. He plays the same character (see the awful Transformers for his template) in every flick. He believes cocky and arrogant channels Brando or something. How cliche is it that he's playing a biker dude? This is supposed to be Indy and Marion's possible love child?

3.) Aliens? I hope the reports aren't true.

4.) We often forget that the only true classic Indy movie was "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The Temple of Doom had some iconic moments...but overall the movie's pretty dumb. Kate Capshaw...one of the worst movie heroines ever. The Last Crusade was a little better...but still sappy compared to Raiders. It's hard for lightening to strike twice.

5.) George Lucas's writing has gotten progressively worse as the years have worn on. His dialogue for the Star Wars prequels was awful.

Again, I truly hope I'm proven (or proved!) wrong and that we'll have another classic this summer. I'm hoping if I keep my expectations low I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Radiohead in Dallas

So last night I got to cross off another "group to see in concert before I die list". Radiohead ended their ten-year embargo of Dallas by coming to the old CocaCola/ Starplex/ Smirnoff/ Superpages.com Centre Sunday night. 1998 was the last time Yorke, the Greenwoods and the rest of the dystopian gang played Big D. Think about that. '98...that was before Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief and of course In Rainbows. A lot's happened since then.

So even though I stayed up until 3 a.m. a couple of months ago to order tix online I still missed the reserved seats. But the lawn was still great and we had a clear view of the stage with the Tibetan flags and lighting strands hanging from the ceiling. The weather was perfect...75 degrees at downbeat. There was a rather chatty Burning Man Chick wannabe next to us giving her Lesbian girlfriend unsolicited emotional therapy but she settled down by the third song after her second beer and several tokes on her funny looking cigarette. That's the usual but expected downside to these events. Still can smell the cheap pot in my nostrils despite using cologne and whatnot to eradicate it. But the 20,000 folks were into the music and afterwards everyone got out of the parking lot amazingly quickly. (yes, I just used two adverbs in a row just like Ian Fleming)

The crowd was in to it. Radiohead must be an alien band from another planet to show us Earthlings what original alternative music can sound like if truly inspired. Doesn't really fit the normal summer arena show...but even the dystopic myopic strands of minor chords got electric and optimistic at times and the night was rockin'. The astounding light show focused the music instead of taking away and there were no cheesy spotlights and dry ice. They threw a piano out there for a third of the songs and Thom Yorke played that, an organ, drums and several guitars. The rest of the band cooked like crazy maniacs from some type of musicl cult of excellence and even when the tempo was slow it seemed the world would end when the song reached its denoument.

What a concert! I'm still a Weezer man, but Radiohead is by far the most talented, most original, and compelling band since the Beatles. There is nobody...nobody that comes close and you just think I'm on a contact high due to seeing them live just last night. But I believed that before and now am amazed they were even better live.

Inside the Family

When the Dixie Chicks got themselves into trouble in London a few years ago for criticizing President Bush the overriding issue for many seemed to be that it was wrong for them to make such criticisms of our President on foreign soil.

Now, President Bush has done pretty much the same thing. Attacking the opposing party during a campaign season in the United States is an expected and perhaps beneficial part of the democratic political process. But to criticize a potential future leader of the United States in the parliament of a foreign nation is inexecusable. I wouldn't care if it was a Democrat criticizing a Republican, or as in this case vice versa, you keep such internecine conflicts at home.

Hasn't Dubya ever seen The Godfather? Never discuss family business with outsiders. Tear each other up in campaign season in the United States...but not in the Knesset. President Bush isn't a lame country singer...he should know better. He's the freaking President of the United States, leader of the free world.

Unfortunately, when he's replaced this January he's moving only 20 miles away from my house. Guess I should be used to idiots on the Dallas freeways by now.

Cinco de Mayo

So today I wore my Mexican national soccer jersey to school to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. My numerous Hispanic students always get a kick out of it and they are allowed to call me Mr. Brown or Senior Blanco for today only. But I had an interesting experience as I was walking across the breezeway from the parking lot to the school. As I walked past a group of white kids (made up of mostly poor white trash rednecks) I heard someone spit and say "Mexican" in a very hostile tone almost under their breath.

Of course I kept walking because there was no way to truly be sure who was responsible out of a big group of kids and to even be 100% certain the spitting sound was related to the verbal slight...or even if it was directed toward me since I'm not Hispanic although I was wearing the Mexican jersey. But it was tragically enlightening to experience for a brief moment what many of my Hispanic and African-American students go through on a regular basis. As a white male I have never had to deal with that kind of prejudice. Just goes to show you that despite the enormous gains in equality and ethnic respect, the spectre of racism is still alive and not necessarily just hiding in the shadows. The event saddens and angers me because I realize that so many have to go through worse abuse than this on a daily basis.

I've blogged before that I will not allow the ugly reality of racism to go unexposed when I come into direct contact with it. In this case I could not defintively prove that anything actually took place. That's one of the stumbling blocks for the persecuted. You ask yourself was the incident real or imagined. And even if real, what recourse do you have since you can't prove anything.

Often these kids are outnumbered. And all you're left with is a vague, yet certain uncomfortability. That's the case because most racists are too chicken-s$@t to step out of the shadows and confront head-on. Yeah, I apologize for my language but racial harassment pisses me off. To think of good people having to endure that crap everyday. That's the ugliness of racism.

But in those cases where I do encounter racism...usually in the supposedly safe confines of white conversation...I do not allow such warped thinking to continue unchallenged. My goal is to shine the light on those cockroaches and make them scurry to the shadows carrying their unhinged mentalities with them. I will make life as uncomfortable for them as they do for others. It's been said many a time that allowing evil to go unchallenged is just as evil as the evil itself. The least we can do is to make them squirm and not be comfortable with their mentality of hatred.

photo: Me the last time I was in Mexico back in 1998.

May Day

A little poem in honor of May Day...

May Day and I'm not wearing red.

Ding-dong communism mostly is dead.

But was it ever really alive?

From what version did it derive?

Stalinism, Maoism, Leninism and Che

Never really followed Marx and Engels anyway.

The same poor souls suffer who always suffer.

Yes, the lower working classes always have it rougher.

But Orwell's Proles are too stupid to unite.

They'd rather overspend on cigarettes and whine than fight.

note that the picture is on the LEFT.

The Hailstorm!

Oklahoma City is getting pummelled in the sports messageboards for supposedly stealing the Supersonics from Seattle. You should see the prejorative names some ignorant fools are suggesting the new OKC team call themselves...including incredibly cruel swipes like the Oklahoma City Bombers. I know people who lost loved ones in the Murrah Building bombing...a building me and two others were due to tour for a college government class project on April 19th that was cancelled at the last minute due to a golf tournament...a tournament that possibly saved my life. Yeah, I don't find much humor in that name.

OKC did nothing wrong. Seattle had plenty of opportunities to "save the Sonics." No one from the local area stepped up to purchase the team. Seattle built two new stadiums for the Mariners and Seahawks but not for their oldest professional franchise. Seattle was given chance after chance and now they cry because they have to live with the consequences. Don't blame Oklahoma City...a city ready and willing to host the Hornets after Katrina and ready to go when the opportunity came knocking. Don't blame OKC.

I lost my favorite NBA team in 1985 when the Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento. I know how it feels. I wandered in the NBA loyalty wilderness until 1997 when I moved to Dallas and decided to root for the lousy at the time Mavericks since I had no rooting interest in another NBA team. I will continue to root for Dallas (despite their gutless playoff performances the past two years) because I don't believe in giving up on teams that easily. But I will wish good things for the OKC team and perhaps root for them if I ever move back there. The same would be true for any potential team moving to Kansas City (sooner than you might think!).

There's the real quandry...who would I root for between Kansas City and Oklahoma City? I consider both teams my hometown. I've never had to pick since OKC never had a pro team. I could easily be a Sooner and a diehard Chiefs/Royals fan. It was easy to become a fan of the Mavericks and Dallas Stars since neither OKC or KC had NBA or NHL teams. Don't know what I'll do if the waters get muddied up in the future.

P.S. Glad the Chiefs picked up Longhorn Jamaal Charles in the draft. He really helped the Sooners out last year fumbling on his way into the endzone and allowing OU to keep their lead and win the game. He's a Sooner hero. Just hope he's learned how to hang onto the ball since then.

P.S.S. My pick for the OKC NBA team is the OKLAHOMA CITY HAILSTORM.

Random Notes

An unbelievable thing happened yesterday. Little Southern Nazarene University defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 8-4 in a men's baseball game. The Crimson Storm of the NAIA don't meet up with NCAA schools very often. Everyone knows I am a diehard Sooners fan except for those extremely rare times when they meet up with my beloved alma mater SNU. This was SNU's first major victory over a major college power since they revived the baseball program in 1997. Stunning. What a big win for the Storm!

Well I got my braces yesterday and it wasn't that bad. No pain...just an annoyance. I'm sure I'll feel some pain when I go in for adjustments and tightenings. It is a pain to have cut up my pizza into little tiny pieces. And it's taking my five minutes to brush my teeth well. Hopefully I'll get faster with practice. Flossing is a nightmare. Two and a half years to go. Hope its worth it.