BTRIPP

I'm very frustrated that my new hard drive isn't here yet. I had really anticipated it showing up on Thursday and my being able to get it installed and the "restore" thing done by now. I was very pissed when I checked the package room yesterday and realized that if it wasn't there yet, the EARLIEST it would be here would be Tuesday. I'm just hoping that there won't be any "glitches" with at least getting the computer up and running with an HD and OS operating as soon as that drive's available. I can cut some slack on really "restoring" it with trying to pull in what's on the "save" on the external HD ... I'm hoping that the software that came with the drive will be good about that that and it will just be a couple of clicks and then a few hours of data transfer.

Had another piss-poor week on The Job Stalker last week, but did end up with a long list of links to share which are on the other end of the clicky-clicky on that image there ===>

I have an interview ready to roll to go with the review I put up here a couple of days back ... I'm always bummed when I don't get any response to those ... especially when I was brilliant (I thought the "Goofus & Gallant" comparison absolutely nailed the book!).

Now, I thought I'd updated you all on my recent networking activities, but I see that was part of Friday's Job Stalker post. Had an interesting mix last week, including a get-together with a lot of the Tribune staff that was very interesting, and hopefully useful. Do give that a click and check that out, OK?

This is our "taking down the Xmas tree" weekend. We have become very regimented on the Winter Holidays due to the birthdays of The Girls. Daughter #1's b-day is right after Thanksgiving (actually, her due date was Thanksgiving, but she seemed to want to hang out and have some turkey before coming), so no Xmas stuff goes up in the house until we have fully celebrated her birthday. Daughter #2's birthday is right before Valentine's day, so we need to have all of Xmas down before it comes around to her b-day, and can't do any VD decor until we get past it (which sometimes means no real effort for VD since it's just a couple of days later). So, mid-January is the ideal "pack up Xmas" time, and the Divisional Playoff weekend in the NFL gives me four 3-hour "distractions" which I can have running in the background while we pack everything up, so this has become the defacto weekend for it. Unfortunately, it looks like it's all falling to me this year, as The Girls were out most of the afternoon yesterday and are going to be out again today.

OK, so my Bears aren't in it, but I figure I need to keep up on the playoffs or I'll get confused later (frankly, my "time stamp" on years tends to be along the lines of "oh, you know, the winter that so-and-so played against such-and-such in the AFC championship"), so I made myself watch all four games both last weekend and this weekend.

I'm not a sports bettor (I hate losing money, so I don't enjoy gambling much at all, limiting myself to $1 twice a week to "keep the probability window open" on the Big Game lottery), but I might have done pretty well this weekend as 3 of the 4 games went the way I wanted them to, despite being against the consensus picks of both the Tribune and most of the TV guys. The only one that didn't was the Ravens/Colts ... and you can't tell me that a Jets/Ravens AFC Championship game wouldn't have been a better match than Jets/Colts. I'm pretty happy with the prospect of Vikings/Saints, although I did have massive amounts of cognitive dissonance rooting for a) Favre and b) The Vikings, individually and in combination.

Hmmm ... I used to make ONE sports bet a year "back in the day" ... there was this old Chinese guy who occasionally came into "my local bar" and we'd make a $10 bet at the start of the season on the Bears eventual W/L record. I seem to recall my winning most years on that.

I had one of those "Oh, no they didn't!" flashes this weekend, however. It has struck me as somewhat odd that The Who was going to be featured on the SuperBowl half-time show ... I mean, c'mon, they're icons and all, but half the band is dead, and it's not (as far as I know) like they have a new album or tour to promote or anything. Then it hit me. The SuperBowl is on CBS this year. And what it CBS' hottest franchise? The various CSI shows, right? And, whose music features as the series themes of the CSI shows? Yep, The Who. I really wish it didn't sound so plausible, but the scenarios of a bunch of sleazy Network Suits sitting around deciding that getting The Who for the SuperBowl would be a smashing way to promote the CSI shows is now stuck in my head, making me "throw up a little in my mouth" every time I hear the SuperBowl mentioned!

Too bad CBS isn't trying to flog a bunch of Charmed spin-offs ... I would have deeply appreciated the irony of them throwing Morrissey on stage for the SuperBowl half-time!