It's 11:30 on a Saturday night. I am sitting here in a cup of lapsang souchang, savoring a warm robe. Wait, switch that, but I think you get the idea. The furnace, affectionately thought of as "Puff", is kicking on and off continually, and the wind is whistling against poorly insulated windows like a anxious speaker with bad teeth. These must be them depths of winter.

Well, they are deep somewhere, but not here, and all the wet, sloppy, completely half-hearted snow that Ohio has to throw my way, as it did today, won't make me think any differently. Meanwhile it's time, once again, for me to shuffle bleary-eyed out of hibernation and pledge more timeliness and effort in writing here. Because? Because. Various things have gotten in the way in recent months - school, reading, the increasingly rare hangover (via the increasingly rare drink), the lack of anything to say/ and/or the sense that it needed to be said here, even the obviously-troubled "anonymous" figure who drained a lot of the fun out of writing here with her stupid sniping. I thought about giving it up altogether, or starting a new one focused on some unique fixation of mine. Except I don't have few enough fixations, no ins into music or tech or stuff like that, and my nose for high concept blog ideas that'll draw nice fat book contracts is still pretty bad. I'm working on it, though.
In the meantime I'll just keep bumbling along with this one - this "loose, baggy monster", this parallel campaign to all those brighter, sharper cooler blogs. This window, perhaps pushed a little further open to keep it interesting.
For me and you.

A little further open...

What I've never said here, what I've danced around, is that my Kiki is my heroine in life. I've never let that out here before, because I've continuously struggled with what I could say about us here...and about her. Those who know our story, know. Those who don't....it is intricate, it is beautiful, it is amazing, it is surprising, it is dramatic...it is long and it is a lot to say. There's more than I could write in one post or ten year's worth of quickly-bashed blog posts...and that will have to wait for something a little more literary. But to leave her part in my life unspoken, not even hinted at, won't work - little wonder that I lose interest in keeping this up, that way. Let me just say that as she contends with, and overcomes a nasty, "ucky" disease with incredible grace and strength, day by day, she still gives more of herself - putting smiles on the faces of sweet, sick children and volunteering on community projects - than most of us will ever think of doing. Myself especially. That's just her. But she has lit a fire in me to start doing a lot more, to follow her lead.

So today I drove up to find out about, and wound up signing up for, Team in Training. That means on June 11, I'll be swimming/biking/running the Wendy's International Triathlon, raising awareness - and a lot of funds - for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I look forward to writing about training for it, and as soon as I have my page up and linked, I look forward to seeing the donations roll in from a few of you out there, as well.
Since I usually don't let the "urbanism student" side of me go into sleep mode, I regret not taking my digital camera along on my journey round the western edge of the truly incredible I-270 corridor. These aren't malls they put out there - they're mall cities. Not mere theme restaurants - anodyne theme monstrosities. Franklin County sprawlville, a.k.a Republicaniana; I actually saw a "Blackwell for Governor" sticker in a parking lot - so the stories are true, I guess. From where I sit down here, the thought that that man could be governor seems like a bad joke.
The meeting itself was good fun and the TnT people seem like all-around great folks. Nevertheless it was strange to be spending an early Saturday morning at a Dave and Buster's. For those unfamiliar (and before 9 a.m., I was as well), it's best characterized as a Chuck E. Cheese the size of an airport, only loaded with booze. Look at these folks, the apparent target D 'n B clientele:



Would YOU want to kick it over "brewskis" with those pantloads?

Me neither, but luckily there are options coming up. Two of my favorite bands make for what should be one of my favorite February weekends:

The High Strung
Feb 24 2006 10:00P Union Bar and Grill Athens, OH

Of Montreal
Feb 26 2006 8:00P Southgate House Newport, KY


Extrawack can (and damn well better) go and see THS (I can't pimp them any more sincerely, strongly, and tiresomely) a couple weeks later with The Datsuns at Maxwells.

Mar 13 2006 8:00P Maxwell's (with THE DATSUNS) Hoboken, NJ


In other news, I am frittering away time with Librarything. See what I mean.

I've been accepted on to a panel that's going to discuss "The World Cup and Global Popular Culture" at ICA in Dresden, Germany this coming June. So God knows if/how I'll score tickets to any games around that time, especially as long as they're all being sponged up by corporate sponsors and Jack Warner, but damned if I don't try.

Remember the days when the Super Bowl took place before the Advent of Valentine's Day began (and by the way, what is with that? Who decided we needed a month-long Valentine's shopping season?) So do I. Pittsburgh 27, Seattle 17.