A Quick Hello

I am writing this from Columbia, MO. This is the most west I've ever been in the central time zone (although I have been to Vancouver and Salt Lake City in the other time zones). I am attending the Missouri Illinois game tomorrow in St. Louis.

Heather, I will give my opinions about the VPs in detail next week, also the DNC and, at that time, the RNC. Quickly though:

Biden - not a great pick; he's a good guy, solid middle class guy with good Catholic values. Not going to really get anyone to vote for Obama but does shore up his foreign policy weakness.

Palin - really a great pick, except for her lack of experience. This is an interesting debate since it's a charge that McCain continuously throws at Obama. I think I'd rather have the inexperience steps away from the Oval Office instead of working in the same place. Plus, she's really attractive.

Overall, I'd say that my chances of voting for McCain went up. I'd say it used to be maybe 65-35 in favor of Obama. Now I'd say maybe 55-45 or even 50-50 but I'm definitely one of the undecided voters. If anyone is interested, I can get into the reasons why I like/don't like both candidates during September and October. Let me know if this would interest you.

Tuesday Morning Random Thoughts

I haven't been blogging as much as I wanted recently (i.e. internet was down at home last night for some reason) so I have a lot of thoughts and not a lot of time to expound on them. Without further ado:

• College football this weekend! I am very excited for college football this season. For once, I have high expectations for my favorite team (the Pitt Panthers). I have season tickets but only will be able to go to 3-4 of the games. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing Shady, Romeus, Billy Stull, McKillop, and the rest of the boyz taking the Big East by storm!
• I am also traveling to St. Louis this weekend for the best matchup of Week 1 - Mizzou v. Illinois. Colin is a Mizzou grad, so I will be donning Tiger black and gold.
• The Olympics were awesome, but something needs to be kept in perspective about China's performance. Besides the fact that they were cheating, the home team always does well in events like this (look at soccer's World Cup for proof). China's swimmers, gymnasts, etc. will have a tougher go when they have to travel across 7 time zones in London for the 2012 games. They won't come near 51 golds again; that's a prediction you can take to the bank. Although they will still dominate diving.
• This is the first time since I was about 4 years old that I haven't been in school for the fall semester. Very weird feeling.
• I will have my fall TV preview at some point soon, but the CW gets things started early with fall premieres next week (starting Labor Day). Gossip Girl is one to watch, and I'm intrigued by the 90210 relaunch.
• Joe Biden? Good guy. Evangelicals will find his position on abortion pretty acceptable, for a Democrat. However, he's not the candidate to woo me over to the Obama camp. I am still an undecided voter for the fall election. Obama and McCain have strengths and weaknesses. McCain is hindered by the 2nd Bush term, which may go down as one of the worst presidential terms of all time (it was much worse than the first term). The Republicans don't deserve the White House, but the Democrats haven't proven that they do either.
• By the way, I am a 100% full supporter of the Electoral College. It gets a bad name in American politics, but is extremely necessary. If you wanna know why, we can discuss it.
• I have been listening to the Beatles a lot recently. I bought Sgt. Peppers back in March, and instantly loved it. It's a great album. I recently purchased both Rubber Soul and Abbey Road. Abbey Road is phenomenal; the first six songs are always stuck in my head (in order: Come Together, Something, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling, Octopus' Garden, I Want You). Rubber Soul I don't like nearly as much. I like Drive My Car (probably because of the image of Danny Tanner leading the family in a rendition of it), In My Life is good, but I just don't think it compares to the others I've mentioned. Next on the list for purchase is either Revolver or The White Album. Any suggestions?

The Event Weekend Hangover

I'm sure you know what I'm referencing in the post title. It's the feeling you have on Monday and Tuesday after just finishing a weekend that you've been looking forward to for weeks or months. In my case, I had a bachelor weekend with my Grove City friends, which started to be planned in April. It finished early on Sunday, with the last guys leaving by 2:30 pm. And the feeling of dread set in...

Then, I remembered my Advil - my friend Sean would be coming into town for two nights. Sean works for BLESTO (Bears Lions Eagles Steelers Talent Organization). That's right, he works in the NFL! At BLESTO, they have teams who are their clients and contribute to this scouting organization; it adds another set of eyes to the evaluation process. Sean has been there for about a year, and he recently got a promotion to be an area scout in the Northeast. His territory is as far west as Pittsburgh, as far south as Virginia, and all the way north to Maine (although the furthest he has to go this year is the Boston area). Which means that he will be in Western PA a couple of times, the first of which was Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

Sean and I met as interns for the Buffalo Bills in July 2002. We became friends at this point; I remember one of the first discussions we had was about Brian Giles (the Pirate OF) and how underrated he was. After we left our internships, we remained friends (the only intern of the 6 I remained friends with). He has since lived in New York, London, and Jacksonville, and I've visited him in every one of those places. We also have a race going as to who can go to games at all 30 active baseball stadiums first; by active, I mean that, if they build a new stadium, the old one no longer counts. So we both will be losing the New Yorks (Yankee and Shea) after this season. I am ahead now (I've been to 13: PIT, PHI, BAL, WAS, CLE, CIN, NYM, NYY, DET, CHC, MIN, STL, ATL, soon to add SD and LAA).

Anyway, Sean came in on Tuesday night after driving from Charlottesville, VA - a grueling drive. I took him to one of the best places to eat in Pittsburgh - Fatheads. If you've never been there, there are probably 100 different sandwiches on the menu. He liked it so much that we went back there Wednesday for dinner. I had two great sandwiches, the Red Pepper Sirloin and the Bacon Jalapeno Steak. Wow, were they good. Sean tried the one that was voted #5 sandwich in the US by Maxim Magazine, the one with kielbasa and pierogies. He said it was awesome.

Anyway, that was a treat for Tuesday and Wednesday. Now, all of a sudden, it's almost the weekend, and next week I head to St. Louis for a 5 day Labor Day weekend extravaganza, and it's also the start of football season!

Travel Note

So, I've changed my route to work somewhat. I've been taking the bus in the mornings (although it didn't show up yesterday) and walking to the Duquesne Incline at night. When I walk to the Incline, I walk down Penn Ave. to the Point. Then, I walk across the Fort Pitt Bridge, which leads right to the skyway to the Incline. It's about a 20 minute walk, and it's awesome walking across the Mon.

Yesterday, my back was hurting so I found a bus that was to drop me off at the Duquesne Incline. It was the 33X, which is the West Busway Flyer. It was packed to the point of the aisle being full of people standing. So, he stopped at my stop, right across the river, and a few people got off, and I had to get past all of the rest. So I did, people were shouting "make sure this guy gets off at this stop" to let the driver know...it was a big scene. So I get off the bus, and I notice that everybody else that had gotten off was getting back on. I was the only person on the bus that was getting off here and I caused about 8 people to vacate just so I could get my stop.

Very embarrassing.

Jim Breuer - A Funny Man

So, Saturday night when my buddies were in town, we went to see Jim Breuer live at The Improv down on the Waterfront. You may remember Breuer from the movie Half Baked, a movie starring Dave Chappelle, or from his stint on Saturday Night Live, with his famous character "Goat Boy". One friend, Jarv, had seen him before at Slippery Rock University, and said he was hysterical...and he didn't disappoint on this night.

Maybe the most remarkable aspect of his show was that he cursed maybe four times; one time he said s--- in the context of a story where his daughter said the word, and he admonished her (in the story) by saying that the family doesn't talk like that. It was really refreshing.

There were many highlights, but I will point out a few. First, he told the story of the movie Half Baked, a "pot" movie. I remember seeing this movie in high school. One of the funniest parts of the movie, to me, is when they decide to go on a late night shopping spree after smoking some weed, and their grocery list is long. At the end of the list, Breuer, in his best stoner voice, adds: "...and Funions!" So, anytime anyone makes a list of anything, I add "funions" to the end of the list. Nobody ever gets it. Anyway...he's telling the story, and he continually pulls out his Chappelle impression, which is spot on, funny every time he does it. So he talks about how he was actually not high for every scene in the movie...minus one. In that scene, in which he "saved the movie" (literally...the bad guy was about to quit, so he filmed a scene after smoking weed so that production could continue) he delivers his famous line: "sucks to be you, man!" He set it up in the show, and delivered it. It killed.

Then, he started talking about success. As his measure of success, he said there were two things he wanted: leather pants and a kangaroo. He went on a riff about this that was priceless; my favorite moment of the show. He was hopping around stage like a kangaroo, then observing the reactions of people as they noticed his kangaroo: "man, is that guy successful". It was a very funny combination of visuals and dialogue. Funniest part of the show, to me.

Ultimately, he was the best comic I've seen live. I've seen a few, including Jerry Seinfeld (who took the Lord's name in vain way, waaaaaaaaaaaay too often) so I think that I can make a good comparison. But, it was a pleasant night out, and I'd recommend to everyone taking in comedy shows at the Improv.

Lots to catch up on!

Well, I don't have time to post everything I need to post. I had 9 friends from college in town this weekend to celebrate my buddy Jimmy's pending nuptials, and there is a lot to discuss. I need to talk about West Side Story which my mom and I saw Wednesday night, plus talk about the Jim Breuer comedy show we saw Saturday at the Waterfront (he was hysterical!).

But the most important news needs to be relayed: I met Olivia Wilde! You probably don't know who she is. She played "Alex" on The OC; the girl who dated Seth, and then Marissa (yes, she was into dudes and chicks). We were at The Shiloh Room on Mt. Washington, sitting on the deck, enjoying the night, when my friend Strong started freaking out. He claimed that Olivia Wilde and Nick Stahl (from Terminator 3, among other things) had just walked in. I went inside to scope it out (since I'm the world's foremost OC fan). I told a disappointed crowd that it wasn't her. He said he was sure it was, so I checked it out again, and sure enough, I was wrong. So Jimmy and I went in and sat at the next table, pondering whether we should talk to them.

I talked to Nick first. There were five people at their table (3 producers were the other three), so he was kind of just sitting there, and I said hey, are you Nick Stahl? He was very friendly. I asked what they were doing in Pittsburgh, and he told me of a movie they were filming up on Mt. Washington called In Northwood (it's on IMDB so it has to be true!). So we talked a bit more; he liked Pittsburgh, went to the Steelers-Eagles preseason game, is a Cowboys fan. I told him that Dallas would be playing in Pittsburgh this season; he immediately told the producer he wanted to go, and the producer said he'd get tickets. So, if at the Cowboys-Steelers game you see a shot of Hollywood star Nick Stahl, you can know I had something to do with it.

Then, I interrupted the conversation that Olivia was having with another producer (I apologized to both of them profusely, but they had been talking for 15 minutes with no pause for me to interrupt, so I figured what the heck). I told her that I was a big fan of hers, especially on the OC, and she laughed and said thanks (seriously, I love The OC; I almost started quoting her lines from the show, like this one: "Yes, I've been kicked out of Corona, Mater Dei, and even Newport Union"--only Jer probably remembers that). We talked some more, I asked if she liked Pittsburgh and she said they had only stayed in Green Tree so she hadn't seen much of the city. Finally, I asked if I could take a picture of her. Her response? "With me!" So, Jimmy took a pic of me and Olivia. I told them that I really hoped they enjoyed our wonderful city and that I would look for the movie in about a year.

It was just so weird because you never see anyone in Pittsburgh (besides the occasional minor Pittsburgh celebrity--I saw Ken Rice on the street the other day, but I didn't care enough to bother him...I mean, it's Ken Rice...). So, it was really neat, and they were really down to earth and eager to talk to us. Definitely a highlight of a fantastic weekend.

My Peach Problem

I am taking an aside from Olympic blogging to complain about this. I can't pick out peaches to save my life. I love peaches; love them. They are a top 3 fruit for me (with watermelon and pineapple). However, picking peaches is hit or miss for me. Too often I get the mealy, dry peaches that you just can't eat.

This is a serious problem for me. Serious enough that one of the qualifications for my future wife will be for her to have this hidden talent. So, those of you that are trying to fix me up on blind dates (and let's be honest, I'm always down for that), ask her about her peach-picking technique. It's on my top 100 qualities my future wife must have. In fact, this sounds like the start of a new list. I will tentatively place this ability at #47.

Beijing's First Magical Moment

Well, I'm sure that there would be great debate about this. Honestly, I can't ever get into the opening ceremonies besides the spectacular music from NBC (see below) and the Parade of Nations. So, I didn't find Friday night all that grand.

For me, Beijing's first magical moment was last night's 4x100 freestyle relay. The U.S. Men's team had set the world record in the prelims, but they were not the favorite in the final. We hadn't won gold in this event since 1996; before that, we hadn't lost the race in 32 years. So this is an event that we used to own, but the world is catching up.

The French were the favorites. They have three sprinters who are members of their team, all of whom have chances to medal in the 50 and 100 freestyle races. They had come out of nowehere; 7th at the Athens games, 3rd at the Worlds last year. And, they were talking lots of trash. Their anchor leg, Alain Bernard, had claimed that the French would "smash" the Americans.

And of course, there was another intriguing subplot: Michael Phelps was a member of the team that would swim the finals. In the finals they added three swimmers who didn't swim the prelims: Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, and Jason Lezak. Cullen Jones, the fourth member who had been on the prelim team, would swim the 3rd leg. This was Phelps least likely chance at a gold, the one that might preclude him from eclipsing Mark Spitz.

As they dove into the pool, something looked wrong. Phelps was swimming the lead leg, and was right at the front of the pack, but didn't give the Americans a lead like Rowdy Gaines said he would. Second was Weber-Gale, who was up to the challenge of keeping the Americans near the front of the pack. Third was Jones. He almost made the American coaches look like fools, as he fell way behind. The fourth leg was Jason Lezak, who is 32 and has seemingly been an Olympic swimmer forever. He was swimming fast, but the French lead was about a body length, which was just too big; wasn't it?

As he made the turn, I got up off of my feet. I was standing, hoping for a comeback so that Phelps' dream would still be alive. Rowdy Gaines started saying how Bernard was tightening up, and slowing down. In the last 20 meters, Lezak started to make his move. At 15 meters, he was about a half a body length behind. At 10 meters, I started jumping up and down, screaming for Lezak to finish it off. At 5 meters, he had pulled within a foot. At this point...I was really wishing that I was watching it with someone else, because I was so excited. They touched the wall, and it took a second for people to realize it, but Jason Lezak and the rest of the team started reacting, and it was just...it was great.

I started screaming, yelling at the arrogant French, celebrating with this huge American victory. It was such a thrill to watch this comeback. I talked to my friend Hemant afterwards, who said that all the guys in Knoxville (Hemant, Jamie, and Colin) were going nuts too.

Like I said, the first magical moment of the Games.

My Favorite Things - The Summer Olympics Edition

I love sports. Almost all sports. I love major sports, like baseball, basketball, football, golf, tennis, hockey, and soccer. I love minor sports, like swimming, track, curling, speedskating, and gymnastics. So obviously, for someone like me, the Olympics represent one of the most exciting two week periods every two years.

This year's Summer Olympics, of course, are taking place in China. I ventured down to Mt. Lebanon to watch the opening ceremonies on Friday night with my friends Jim and Beth. That got me thinking about the reasons that I love the Olympics.

So, I decided to come up with a list of my favorite things about the Olympics. Recently I did a list of my favorite summer things. This list follows in the same vein. There will be a little more explanation for these favorites of mine. Also, you may have noticed that I like lists, and order:). On with the show...

1. The Olympic Theme Songs - there are two of which I am speaking. John Williams is the composer of the first favorite. You have heard his music in other places besides the Olympics, as he has created many memorable movie theme songs, like the songs for Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones. The "Olympic Theme and Fanfare" was created for the '84 Summer Games in LA but has withstood the test of time (or at least 24 years). This is the song that NBC uses to set the scene (always successfully, by the way) for the important events, with the slow build of the horns and the steady beat of the percussion. The second favorite is called "Bugler's Dream" by Leo Arnaud. This is the song that is recognized as the NBC opener. This song is simply majestic; it really is regal-sounding. If I were a king, this would be my theme song. These songs give me goose bumps every time I hear them, and on Friday night my eyes welled up with tears because of the beautiful music, and the special meaning that it has to me: The Olympics are here.

2. Late night Olympic events - Most people watch the Olympics during the day on the weekends, and prime time every night. However, only the true hard core fans watch the coverage that comes on at midnight. For example, if you want to watch the USA Men's or Women's volleyball team, you have to watch at this time. It's always a fun way for me to wind down a long day of Olympic watching.

3. Swimming - I can't swim to almost literally save my life, but I love this sport. I would watch it more often if it were on TV, but since it's not, my following this sport really amounts to 8 days of Olympic coverage. Lots of memories through the years about Olympic swimming. Who can forget the showdowns between Alexander Popov of Russia and America's own shadowboxing sprint swimmer, Gary Hall Jr.? OK, probably a lot of you can, but I can't. They swim the 50 free, which is the swimming equivalent of the 100 meters. Always an exciting dash. I love the individual medleys, where proficiency in four strokes is required to compete. I just love swimming at the Olympics; my favorite Summer Olympic sport.

4. National Anthems - Anytime an American wins the gold, the flag is raised and the anthem is blared? Tears and pride for my country. But, the Olympics are the best time to get to hear other great anthems. One great one is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K1q9Ntcr5g. It's called "La Marseillaise", the French National Anthem. I bet you know the tune. Very catchy. Another great one is the Russian National Anthem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fRU_k4tjoU. This is one that, as a Russian national, you could be proud of. But, there are many lesser known anthems, which makes it fun to hear if NBC shows that medal ceremony.

5. Underdogs - Every Games features the competitors who come out of nowhere to score that medal. These people have the "joie de vivre" that is refreshing to see, just a pure pleasure of competing and the awe of being victorious. Even if they aren't American, these are always enjoyable stories to watch.

6. Chick gymnastics - I'm not as down for the dudes, but watching the 1996 US Olympic squad is one of my favorite sporting moments of my young adolescenthood. From the huge crush I had on Dominique Moceanu, to the heroics of Kerri Strug, and everything in between. Can I name all 7 members of the team? Dominques (Dawes and Moceanu), Strug, Shannon Miller, Jaycie Phelps, Amanda Borden, and Amy Chow. Yes, I am obsessed.

7. Basketball - Especially this year with the "Redeem Team". I just love the way that these supposedly egomanianical pro hoopsters show up in Beijing, walk with the rest of the American delegation, and walk through the crowds of Chinese people that adore them. This was evident with Kobe; I've been a harsh critic of his, but to see him walking through the crowd of fans at the venue was awesome, as he dealt with rock-star like adoration in the best way possible.

8. Costas - Has grown overrated for some things, but his coverage of the Olympics is second to none.

9. The Today Show - broadcasting live from the international media centre. That would be such an awesome job to have; you get to guide the American public into what is going on from the epicenter of the biggest event in the world.

10. Expansive coverage - NBC is broadcasting 3,200 hours of coverage this year. That's a ton of coverage, and my DVR won't hold nearly that much. So, my nights will be spent watching the DVR'd action from the day, while recording the action at night to watch when I'm done.

This is just a partial list. I love the track events, especially the decathalon. Water polo is a great event that isn't covered nearly enough. Of course, baseball and softball (dying their Olympic death for awhile) are entertaining. But it's just the feel and excitement of the games that overall gets me pumped. Do I like the Summer Games more than the Winter ones? Hard to say. I guess you'll have to wait until Vancouver 2010 to find out my favorite things of the Winter Games!

The End Isn't Near, It's Here!

I am finished! Woo-hoo! All told, it came out to be 11,353 words and 41 pages. Will I pass? I don't know. It's always tough to say. Were there things I could have done better? Probably. But, I did the best I could given that I work a full-time job, so I really only had a few hours each night during which to work on the exam. Oh well, thanks for the prayers! Now, I have to wait probably 3 weeks to see if I passed.

Now, the August fun can begin!

The End is in Sight

Well, it's come down to the final day. 24 hours and 19 minutes from this second, I will be turning in my exam. It is going fine. Yesterday, I had a breakthrough on the question that was giving me the most problems (about public officials acting as budget-maximizers). One aspect of the question asks what this explanation leaves out; it finally hit me yesterday, in the Giant Eagle parking lot, that it leaves out the "public service motive". PSM is the belief in public administration that people serve in bureaucracies because of a "calling" to serve in government. It has a very Christian ethic and feel to it. And, one of my professors at Tennessee is a leading expert in the field...so, it will obviously look good to have that as part of an answer. The exam will get done; it will be a late night tonight, hopefully I can get home and get started right away and maybe get to bed by 3am, but I'm not counting on it. Oh well...by this time tomorrow, it will be done.

On to more exciting news...

The little things in life are the ones that matter most for enjoyment, and yesterday I experienced what I would consider to be a little thing, and it gave me great joy. However, when I shared this news, I really didn't feel as if people appreciated it.

I reserved a plane ticket yesterday to San Diego (I have until midnight to buy it, and I'm waiting to hear back on whether I can get the days off of work). The travel dates are Sept. 27-30, a Saturday through Tuesday. That's the last week of the MLB season, and the Pirates are playing the Padres in San Diego, so I thought it would be fun. Plus, I owe a trip to San Diego; I was supposed to go in 2005, but I got a kidney stone that prevented me from going (the kidney experience deserves a post all its own). So, I thought it would be nice and relaxing to go to what is hailed as America's Most Beautiful City. Hit the beach, drive up to LA for a day, hit the San Diego attractions...seems awesome.

So, what made this remarkable to me? The cost of the plane ticket: $240. Two hundred and forty dollars!!!!!!!!!!! Do you understand how great of a deal that is? I just paid forty dollars more to fly half as far (to St. Louis over Labor Day). I'm a bargain flyer, and I don't think there could ever be a greater deal in the history of man, given the cost of gas and the struggles of the airlines.

So anyway, that made my day. Something to look forward to...

It's Early!

Currently, it's 5:23 a.m. I have been awake for about an hour. I have already gone through a pot of coffee. The reason that I am up so early is because of my exam. This is also the reason that I haven't posted since Saturday. The exam is taking up all of my time (besides being at work) and this is now going to continue until the exam is handed in at 8:30 Friday morning. In fact, it may include an all-nighter tomorrow night.

The good news is that I know the correct answers to the questions. I know what I want to say and have lined up the correct sources and outlined good answers. One piece of good news that I received Monday morning was that the exam is limited to 12,000 words total for the 3 questions. This comes to about 40 pages, whereas the former limit would have made the exam around 75 pages. So that was nice to hear.

Anyway, I have nothing interesting to blog about until I am done with the exam. Sorry!

Whether the weather...

This is something that I've been thinking about since posting my favorite things about summer, mostly because I love summer weather and it played prominently into my favorite things about this season that we are in.

The weather is a subject that is often discussed. People ask about the weather all the time; is it gonna rain today? How much snow are we getting? It also is a source of complaints; it's too humid today! How many days in a row can it rain? Where's the sun today, I can't see it through all of these clouds!

People often make their decisions based upon the weather. "Do you want to go to Kennywood this Friday?" "Is it supposed to rain?"

Or: "We're going to Florida for a few months during the winter; it's too cold in Pittsburgh!"

As Milli Vanilli (fake) sung in the late 80s, people like to "Blame it on the Rain"...or any other type of weather.

I freely admit that I am part of the chorus. When I was deciding whether to move for a Ph.D. program in the summer of 2005, the weather played a role in my decision. I was sick of the cold and the snow of Western PA. The heat and the constant sun beckoned me to Knoxville, TN. Equally, I remember when I started getting the itch to move back to Pittsburgh. I was at the U.S. Open that was being played at Oakmont in June 2007, and I was on my way home, and was just marveling about the wonderful summer weather in my familiar surroundings. This is partly what contributed to me looking for jobs and moving back to the 'burgh when I finished my classwork.

Stop and re-read everything above. How ridiculous does it all sound? And yet, we all make decisions in our life based upon something over which we have no control. Does this seem absurd to anyone else?

I made a decision back in the winter, when Knoxville was experiencing the coldest winter that I had had yet down there (20s and 30s for a period of about 6 weeks...this was cold to me, and I know that you 'burgh people think that's nothing, but after moving to the South I lost my ability to adjust to cold weather). My decision was that I was not going to let the weather affect my disposition. I wasn't going to be happy, angry, annoyed, lazy, sad, or excited based on something which only God can control.

I would challenge everyone to join me in this goal. Realize that God has reasons for everything, and this includes the weather, regardless of the best laid plans we have made for ourselves.

Final Points (some of which relate and some of which do not):

1. Does the above mean that I am skeptical of the concept of global warming? Yes, it does. Notice I didn't say it doesn't exist; I just said I'm not as willing to accept it as a lot of the public.

2. One thing about all of the global warming alarmists interests me in particular. Many, if not most, of them also believe in evolution. Wouldn't the human race evolve to survive the widescale flooding that global warming would bring (nevermind the fact that God promised to never flood the world again)? I, for one, am ready for humans breathing underwater with gills.

3. Progress is being made on my exam; the first question has been largely organized and I'm reading through things and figuring out which articles I want to put where.

4. I am very happy for Jason Bay in his Red Sox debut, as he walked twice, got hit by a pitch, tripled in the 12th and scored the two Sox runs, including the winner after his triple. He also made two fine catches in LF. I hope that the rest of American baseball fans discover what Pirate fans have known for four summers: Jason Bay is a heck of a baseball player.

Annie, Get Your Gun

The other night, my mother and I had tickets to the second of our three shows at the Benedum this summer. It was the musical based on the life of Annie Oakley, Annie Get Your Gun. First, we had a nice treat as Beth decided to join us; all it took was a trip over to the box office on my lunch break to procure a $12 student ticket for her with my UT student ID. We went to dinner at the Six Penn Kitchen. This place is pretty good, but my family eats there wayyyyyy too often. I just had dinner there last Friday night with my mom and dad! There are tons of good places to try within a few blocks of the theatre, but you know our family; we stick to what we like. I had the Buffalo Chicken Mac'n'Cheese, which was very good.

We then headed over to the theatre. I am annoyed to now find out that I think they made us sit in the wrong seats. Well, I can say this: the tickets for the first two shows were the same section, but for Mame we were 7 rows from the stage, and for this one we were in the first balcony. This is annoying because we paid to sit lower. It wasn't that big of a deal I guess, as Beth was able to come sit with us in our seats.

I don't know if anyone has ever seen this show, but it's really weird. The story is peculiar: Annie Oakley challenges the world's best shooter, beats him, falls in love with him, runs him off because she's better, then gets him back. The actress playing Annie was fantastic; she had a great voice, she was funny, and she played the country-girl gone good role pretty well. Everyone else was fine too.

But, unless it's a star like Ashley Parker Angel (who mom and I happened to see as Link in Hairspray--on Broadway!) it doesn't matter that much who it is. Musicals come down to two things - singing and dancing. The songs have to be memorable, and the choreography has to be big. So, when I found out the first number of the show (and its two reprisals) was the Broadway standard "There's No Business Like Show Business", I was expecting a lot. To be honest, this number disappointed me. I can't help but be bothered by the melody; the word "business" in the refrain is sung at the same note, but I think it needs to drop each time. I'm not huge into reading music and stuff so I can't explain it better than that. Anyway, that number was a disappointment to me, as was the entire first act.

However, the second act was superb! There were at least 2 numbers that met my criteria for a good musical. The first was "Who Do You Love, I Hope", which was sung by two minor characters. This is a necessity, I think, for musicals in the beginning of the second act. It's a bit of a breather from the story (which, because it's a musical, probably isn't great) and it elevates the rest of the cast a bit. The second was the other famous song from this show, "Anything You Can Do". The actors really made this song happen well. I really thought I sensed the competitive nature of their relationship by the way they spat challenges at each other ("Anything you can say, I can say faster..."). Very entertaining, to say the least.

In the end, of course Annie and Frank end up together. My rating would be 2.5 stars out of 4. I think I liked it better than Mame. The third show, in less than two weeks, is West Side Story, which has been a source of controversy my whole post-high school life. More on that later.

To finish, I'd like to invite everyone to take in the shows at the Benedum. There is a lot of good stuff coming through in the next year, including at least four blockbusters - Wicked, Jersey Boys, Spring Awakening, and A Chorus Line. For various reasons, the arts are dying in this world, and it is something that our society simply cannot live without. There are always stories in the Post-Gazette about how the CLO loses money every year. Will you going to one show stem the tide? No, but good word of mouth has never hurt a product in the previous history of capitalism before.

Hectic week!

Well, the next week is going to be pretty busy for me. I am taking my Ph.D. comprehensive exam in the field of public administration. I received the exam at 8:30 this morning and I have until 8:30 next Friday morning to finish the exam. It is 5 questions, of which I have to answer three, and each question is limited to 7500 words (which turns out to be between 25-30 pages...apiece!).

The questions that I am going to answer deal with congressional delegation of legislative power to the bureaucracy, the bureaucrat as a rational actor, and the recent attacks in the literature on the bureaucracy as an organization. Yes, it will be as fun as it sounds.

I will be blogging a little bit during this time; I know I still owe a review of the show the other night, I will do that sometime tonight hopefully. Anyway, once the exam is done, I have a lot to look forward to in August...

• The Olympics
• DirecTV installation
• Bachelor weekend (Aug 15-17)
• Weekend in Missouri (Aug 29-Sept 1)
• Start of College Football

...just to name a few.

So, pray for me on my exam! Especially for concentration and focus.