Last One, I Promise

Orangutans Play Video Games at Ga. Zoo

“The more we understand about orangutan’s cognitive processes, the more we’ll understand about what they need to survive in the wild,” said Tara Stoinski, manager of conservation partnerships for the zoo.

Here’s a short list:
– Mountain Dew
– Domino’s
Grand Theft Auto 3

Burn On, Big River

The Indians are coming back to Milwaukee. Michelle, Jen, Christy and I are planning to take in a game on Wednesday evening. It’s an interesting story, and I’ll plan to put up some pictures.

It was a nice Easter, by the way. How did yours work out?

All right, well, I’m trying to watch this movie before I need to go to sleep.

Quiet (Good) Friday

I finally have a couple moments to breathe today.

It’s been a really hectic week of work, just due to the volume of processing that had to be accomplished. I feel bad that I haven’t really been inclined to blog even when I get home, in part cuz I’ve missed the news for most of the week…

What *can* I tell you?

I thought the end of the business with Iran and the British sailors was pretty interesting. I don’t think anyone can really fool themselves into believing that anything Iran does right now won’t have some effect on the international response to their nuclear program. Personally, I can’t imagine why any nation’s leader with half a brain would want to get into a pissing contest with G-Dub– just give us 21 more months, and it’ll all be over, everyone will be able to relax and stop sleeping with an ICBM under their pillow.

Well, except for Israel, of course.

In sports, the Brewers 2-1 start to the season is nothing to sneeze at. They can’t win every game all season, but hell– if they win twice as many as they lose all season, that will make them… (ponders the math)… 108-54. They’ll never win that many games. They could get sort of close to that and still be unbelievably awesome. I’ve been saying to people, “less than 90 wins will be disappointing.” I’m going to stick by that. It’s only 9 more victories .500 ball, and should be totally do-able for this group.

The only two things that have been troubling to me so far this year:
1. Carlos Villanueva’s shaky first appearance of the season (I think he’ll be OK in the long run)
2. Jose Capellan’s crybaby attitude

Note that both items relate to pitching, which is the most important thing to this club– they’re still very young, and are going to be prone to streakiness at the plate. They need consistency somewhere, and there are a lot of dollars invested in the pitching staff.

Last sports comment of the day: If you want to believe for a second that the Bucks are NOT trying their damnedest to tank the season while appearing to not tank the season, then please follow this link to some listings for a lovely condominium development I’ve recently invested in down in the Mississippi delta.

I went off a couple weeks ago about the integrity of my profession, to the confusion of some and the disinterest of others. If you are at all interested in what has become the hottest news item in financial aid departments across the country, check out this article from Inside Higher Ed on some new info that’s being turned up. I still think that the vast majority of my colleagues are ethical and honorable people. It’s this 1% or less that are (A) making the rest of us ill, and (B) going to cause some changes in the way we do business. Just a matter of time… Until then, my hope is that the students don’t suffer more confusion or stress than they already have.

I’ll be in Madison this evening (Friday) and then the Milwaukee area for the duration of the weekend. Plan accordingly.

Have a happy Easter!

This is a Zippy Post

A great week for lists– if you have any Easter weekend prep, make sure you write it down. I know I’ll need to.

I have a lot of time-sensitive stuff keeping me extra-busy @ work this week. So somewhere, I need to carve out time to make my ‘work’ and ‘home’ lists. Already Wednesday, tho, so I hope there’s time for it all.

Wednesday. LOST is on again. *sigh* God I hate that show…

Sign of the Times?

So now we have Brewers (rather than Packers) demanding to be traded.

Wow. This is the quote, from Capellan’s agent, that really blew me away in that story: There are a lot of organizations that don’t have the pitching depth the Brewers have. I think his services could be better used elsewhere.

A lot of organizations that wish they had our depth???

You kid? Wow, you don’t kid.

My response to Jose and his agent would be, “Sure, you can be traded. Go find us a starting 3rd baseman and you got a deal.”

Finally Time for an Opener

It has been a bleak, bleak winter in Wisconsin if you enjoy professional sports.

Not to take anything away from the accomplishments of the Badgers and, to an extent, the Marquette men’s basketball team, but if you live in Wisconsin and you enjoy following your hometown pro teams, this fall and winter were fairly forgettable. In every way.

I said to a co-worker back on October 1, “I’m just counting down the days ’til spring training.”

And count them I did.

Now, after the most optimistic spring I can recall since 1993, the Crew takes the field for the first day of the season right here at Miller Park. And if you ask me, there is no team more fun to follow when they’re playing well than your hometown baseball team.

They’ve got the longest season, spanning nearly everyone’s favorite season of the year. They’ve got a fantastic atmosphere surrounding a beautiful park, and a number of young players poised to make some great strides in their respective careers.

And who’s to say how everything will turn out come next October? For today, that doesn’t matter. Regardless of what happens, you can’t beat the feeling of a gorgeous Opening Day, and the optimism of the long summer ahead.

For those of you stuck at work, home, or school today, I will try to update the flickr stream with some regularity during the day…

Off to the game!