A New Year!

Sooooo, it is a New Year and for a variety of reasons 2011 seems already like so much better and brighter a year. It seems like a long time that I have entered a new year with so much optimism. The economy seems to be getting slightly better even though we appear to have not really dealt with all of the problems that brought us here. I am frightened about what the government will or will not do this year but am choosing to believe that they will find a way to be brave, make hard decisions and request and lead the American people in a new direction. Perhaps that is silly.

We just finished what we think is our last New Years Eve party with Camp Arcadia staff. We had a nice run. I think 5 out of the last 6 years we have had Arcadia staff or campers spending New Years at our house and perhaps a few days before or after. We are tired but it was once again a good but exhausting time. The good news is, no one died. The bad news is that our house was somewhat trashed, we shepherded over some 20 year olds drinking, some people were smoking cigarettes on our back porch and smokers always make me sad. But once again, even not knowing all the people in our house I was heartened by what a nice group of people we know and what nice families they must come from. Once again, hope for the future.

My TCU Horned Frogs (my alma mater) went undefeated and untied and will have to settle for 2nd or 3rd in the final standings. It was really fun seeing them hold up so well against a really good Wisconsin team. I was worried they would be proven to be pretenders but they are so well coached and recruit so well that they appear to be building a nice program that so far has avoided even a hint of scandal. Their dominance of everyone who they played and their relative class in winning was heartening. Taking so much pleasure in the play of a team I last saw play 28 years ago seems a little pathetic but I take my victories where I find them. I do not think that is unusual. I wore my TCU hat all day yesterday and cheered loudly for them. I had friends out at the came and I think it was a huge victory for a school with 8000 undergrads. We will see how they do in two years in their new contrived conference of the Big East. I do not know whether their quarterback Andy Dalton is a pro but he seemed like a very nice young man. I do not remember another red headed pro quarterback. Perhaps too nice. I am predicting that their receiver Jeremy Kerley will have a nice pro career.

I am currently watching my Rams trying to play their way into the playoffs and right now, at the end of the first quarter it looks grim and we look a little out classed but what a season they have had with their rookie quarterback. It once again gives hope for 2011.

The practice of law looks a lot more interesting this year then it has for a long time. We will see if that lasts.

More then anything else I have the support of wonderful friends and family and no matter how 2011 works out I know that I am blessed. That is a little sappy for me, but what the hell. It is a new year. God's Blessings on all of you, let's make this an awesome year. Tomorrow, the Christmas letter (or more properly Epiphany Letter gets republished. It will give you something to look forward to.

Grumpy, Idiotic, Wrong Headed Self Righteousness Regarding The BCS

Sooooo....Nebraska broke my heart. If they would have beaten Texas then there was a chance that my undefeated alma mater the much vaunted Texas Christian University Horned Frogs would be playing the seemingly indomitable Alabama Crimson Tide for the national championship. Or perhaps do to the vagaries of the BCS computer system Cincinnati might have leap frogged my Horn Frogs to fight it out but alas we will never now. Texas won...after time ran out....but not really which allowed them to squeak out over a not all that great Nebraska team.

So we are left with Alabama Texas. Two undefeated teams from major BCS conferences get to duke it out and Bama will very likely smoke Texas. My Horned Frogs will be playing Boise State in the "We Get No Respect And Everyone Knows That We Should Have Been Given A Chance To Play The David And Goliath Bowl"! But now we never will know. Even more galling is that the winner of the Forida/Cincinnati game will likely be named the number 2 team in the country. That will make me sad. So in order to make me happy I want Texas to beat Alabama so both of them have one loss and for Florida to beat Cincinnati and then of course for TCU to beat hated and godless Boise State. That will leave the Horn Frogs as the only undefeated team in the nation and we will know who the best team in the country was... probable Alabama.

I am sad TCU will not be able to play (and perhaps be humiliated) by Alabama. It really does not matter. With out a playoff the BCS is BS which is stilted for the big conferences which were just, outside of the SEC, not that big. I do not wish for a playoff system but I do miss the old Bowl system which called for things like SEC=Sugar Bowl, Bog 8 (12) Orange Bowl and Big Ten/PAC 10 in the grandaddy of them all... The Rose Bowl. That was cool and had history and provided a lot of people with the claim they were the best in the land. The BCS bastardized it without really answering the question. Alabama should crush Texas and there will be no argument but I will be happy if the Frogs win and are ranked in the top 4, though will deserve number 2.

I can take some small comfort in that they are not playing in the Texas Bowl.

While I am on the subject kudos to the much hated Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It was a move of impressive class to decline a bowl invitation. Seriously, it was the right thing to do and they did it. Playing in a bowl might have defrayed some of the cost of Charlie Weiss' dismissal. Now a nation waits and wonders who will trash their otherwise promising career with the thankless job of coaching the former icon.

So remember. On January 4, 2010... Go Frogs! And remember no matter how it ends up....TCU has already won.

Erata, My Head Wound, Hash Browns, Football, Work etc...

Sooooo a lazy Sunday of a little church, a little football, a lot of food. Not a bad day. Looking forward to a pizza party tonight with some crappy charity pizza. Seriously, why does charity pizza that they get together and make have to suck so much? I don't know either.

Watching the Rams play an excellent but what looks to be futile game against the hated New Orleans Saints. They are not really hated. I like Drew Breese and I am impressed that Reggie Bush looks to have gotten his head out of the hookah and it is something watching him accelerate. The Mizzou Tigers won yesterday convincingly breaking a hex that K-State had on them for 5 years. If they can win another they are bowl bound I would think but winning out would do it for them and it is conceivable that they might do so. There are 5 teams rolling on unbeaten right noiw with Alabama, Florida, Texas, Cincinnati, Boise State and.... wait for it....wait for it.... THE TEXAS CHRISTIAN HORN FROGS. TCU, terror of the Mountain West have been dismantling opponents all year. It is hard to argue that they are as good as Texas, Alabama or Florida but I will. The Frogs beat Virginia and Clemson early, had a quality win against a good Air Force team and dismantled BYU 38-7. Absent a stumble they will go undefeated. Cincy has Illinois and Pittburgh which are possible losses, But Boise State should also win out. This is wear the BCS sucks it but it would appear that TCU and Boise might get in BCS bowls. The SEC will force the Gators to play The Crimson Tide so someone will have a loss and Texas is likely to roll but could still lose a game. We will see how it shakes out.

My head wound seems to be healing with the excellent stitches that Dr. Hurst put in. I am looking forward to wearing a big stupid bandage on my head all week and being an even larger objet of derision (it could happen). The Doctor yelled at me for quite some time about keeping it covered and not letting the stitches dry out....yuck. My dogs have enjoyed the oozing of the wound (for any of you who remember "Horrible Head Wound Harry" from the old Saturday Night Live skit. Probably not the best way to keep the wound moist.











My intense battle with depression have been well documented, clinically studied and yet remain untreated. More often then not recently these bouts with the morose are brought on by my inability to cook hash browns for my own taste at my home. I have failed well over 20 times...maybe 30 over the past 5 years. Totally a disaster every time. I am reasonably certain (and I do not mean to offend) that I am much more likely to find a cure for cancer or solve global warming or... figure out how to get my kids not to text other people when talking to me, then make decent hash browns at home. As you will recall I have...issues, possibly religious issues regarding hash browns. I LIKE THEM SHREDDED! I like to have them in a rough patty shape and be crispy on both sides. Currently only two places in town have hash browns that I find pleasing. Spencers Grill in Kirkwood (thin, greasy, delicious) and Pomme in Clayton (classic rough cut steak house hash browns). Sadly I have been unable to replicate them at home. With the whole family (and the Kukla's) coming over for PORKFEST on Thanksgiving morning (including the venerable Pat Kukla of the Quad Cities) there is going to be a lot pressure to produce quality hash browns. Today I bought some red boiling potatoes. I boiled them. I let the cool to room temperature. I shredded them, I soaked them in a little salt water. I drained them. I heated a beautiful cast iron skillet to medium. I coated it with a little PAM spray on. I dropped them in. They sizzled. They sucked. I ended with a brownish, black...goop. Thus...further depression and despondance. It is hard to type with this gun in my mouth. Pray for me.

Tomorrow I have to go back to work. Very sad. And they say winter is coming back. Over the weekend the area seemed to be flooded with birds and I saw 7 different flights of geese heading south. They know. The party is over and it is time to start the long hard slog through St. Louis winter. The thought of those hours working downtown and staring out at the gray St. Louis skyline...chilling.