Friday, September 21, 2007

Since You Asked

Over the past few monhs, my posting has become sparser and sparser, and when I DO post, I get fewer responses to the contents of my psot than the, "Oh, THERE you are!" comments.

Most people have assumed that I've stopped posting because I'm busier than before. Nothing could be further from the truth -- even with work, my summer schedule has been easier than my school schedule.

The truth is I've been too damned depressed to post much. My life sucks, and a lot of what I've had to say in the past rings hollow to me. My marriage is a wreck, for reasons that I prefer not to discuss -- suffice it to say neither of us is innocent. I'm not sure I want to stay, but I have nowhere else to go.

I totalled our only car on Wednesday, and the insurance payoff will mostly go to the bank who holds our lien. Our credit is a shambles -- my own damned fault, so financing another is a joke. To top it off, I was 45 minutes from home and an hour or so from Portland when it happened, and was on my way up to PDX to pick TFR and my son from the airport.

Because of the new job, I had to stay here while my wife and son spent 2 weeks in Florida on her parents' dime, going to Walt Disney World, the Everglades, the beach, drinks by the pool.... I stayed here, worked, and ate frozen pizza. I don't cook goutmet for just myself.

And oh, yeah, that job? I lost it yesterday. The fall school schedule came out, I start Monday, and the schedule straddles the day, precluding me from working a morning OR evening shift. They told me to come back when I graduate, but until then, they can't use me.

So I'm sorry if my mind hasn't been as much on politics or musical geography or anything else. Right now I'm just trying to keep myself from dwelling on the fact that thanks to an insurance policy, I'm worth more dead than alive.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Big OUR House

Well, the Ducks MAY score again, but I'm guessing they'll mercifully just run the last 2 minutes off the clock and the final will be Oregon 39, Michigan 7. Two missed field goals kept U of O out of the 40's.

twice withing the last few years, the Ducks have HOSTED storied football programs (Michigan in 2003, Oklahoma) for the first time in the history of Autzen stadium, and twice Oregon won close shockers. This year was the first scheduled payback game -- Oregon went to Ann Arbor, and would have to face the Wolverines on their home turf. No squeakers, no lucky first half followed by hanging on for dear life, no winning on a bad call by the officials.

It didn't matter. The outcome was the same, and in fact, was even less in question. Michigan led once, in the first quarter, when they went up 7-3, but after that the Oregon defense started forcing turnovers and the Offense, led by a finally-matured Dennis Dixon, exploited them. This game was over at halftime.

Which is unfortunate, because there's an interesting side-rivalry that has been created in the Oregon-Michigan matchups: The battle of the crowd noise. Michigan's home stadium, nicknamed the "Big House", seats over 100,000, while Autzen Stadium, home of the Ducks, seats a little over half that. Yet even Michigan players and coaches were stunned four years ago at the crowd noise at Autzen, purported to be the loudest by decibel level of any college football stadium in America. But the Big house has a rep for noise too, and it was going to be interesting to see the contrast. The problem is, the Ducks took the Michigan crowd out of this one early, and the Big House sounded like the Public Library.

The Ducks are 2-0 now, and they're looking a lot better than people here were hoping for. Last week's win against Houston was sloppy, but today they looked sharp, and executed the Spread Offense perfectly, thinning Michigan out and then running Dixon on them. It could be a good year.

Mighty Oregon!