Holiday Goings On

Finished up my Christmas shopping last night... judging by the crowds, I was far from the only one who waited until the last minute to finish up. It's been a good break so far. I got in my best lifting sessions of the year in last week; combine that with some good nights of sleep and I'm physically feeling about as well as I have since about September. The TRAC is a great place to work out and I sure hope I am able to use it more in the upcoming semester. With our fitness classes now included without an additional fee, and personal training becoming available with the new year, the TRAC is better prepared to handle your fitness needs than ever before.

Amy has been back form New York for a little bit now, and to say it is great to see her again would be an understatement. That being said, the old adage "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" has some level of truth to it. Still, I'd rather see my girlfriend more than once every 3 or 4 months if I could.

My family collectively got up and baked cookies and cupcakes today. So much for that week of good workouts, eh? My high school baseball coach always told me not to fall into the Christmas Cookie trap, but it's such an effectively laid trap. They just sit out in the kitchen, and you grab one... every time you walk by. It could be worse, at least it is a delicious trap.

I hope everyone enjoys their break and cherishes their time home with their loved ones. This truly is the most wonderful time of the year, and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Video Game Review

Around my birthday, I finally went out and purchased an XBox 360, and thus far I couldn't be happier. The high definition looks beautiful, and XBox Live is fantastic. My first month and a half were spent playing a lot of Halo 3. Halo 3 is magnificent and incredibly addicting, but playing on-line is unbelievably frustrating. This past week, I finally brought myself to take Halo out of my XBox and moved on to NCAA 08.

Before we all went home, Meaker, R-Jack, and myself took to dynasty mode after an evening meal at Cheddar's. It seems strange to say, but the new dynasty mode is too in-depth. I lost track of how long we played, but there is so much stuff you have to do that we barely were able to finish one season playing late into the night. This past week I found the true gem of '08, the new Campus Legend mode. This thing is spectacular. You create a player, customizing his size, look, position, and hometown among other things. You use the state high school playoffs to earn a scholarship to play in D-1. After you reach college, you must practice to improve your spot on the depth chart all while maintaining a high GPA and engaging in enough social activities to increase your popularity en route to becoming a campus legend. Not something you can really do with your friends, but a great change of pace from the normal game mode.

Hoping get some more quality gaming time in over break as I am yet to touch my copies of F.E.A.R., Call of Duty 3, or Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2. Only time shall tell.

A College Football Rant

Last night was a sad evening as both Mizzou and West Virginia lost virtually locking Ohio State into the National Championship Game again. Now the only question is will it be LSU, Georgia, or USC who will blow them out in the game. Ohio State has played nobody. Three of their out of conference games were against teams other teams FROM OHIO including the bottom two teams in the mighty MAC conference. They did leave the state for a tough test against 4-7 Washington, the last place team from the PAC-10. The Big Ten was weak this year, and Ohio State couldn't finish out a perfect conference season in spite of this. They lost to a resurgent Illinois AT HOME. You can't lose at home (to a then unranked opponent nonetheless) in college football as the number one team in the country. That's inexcusable and should be devastating to your season Hawaii's schedule and to some extent it's conference are really weak too, but they haven't lost and they have a win over a higher ranked team (then 19 Boise State) than Ohio State has played this year. To me, they have as much of a claim to the title game as OSU. But none of this matters, Ohio State is a virtual lock, and I will be utterly shocked if they do not lose by at least three touchdowns. Of course, LSU has been number 1 twice, lost it twice, and has played rather unimpressive football lately so it wouldn't shock me if they got in, that they blew it too. All in all, I have followed college football more closely this year than any other year, and the way it works almost strikes me as a joke. For example, despite playing in what is easily the toughest conference, the SEC, it wouldn't shock me if LSU and Georgia were overlooked for the National Title game for USC because somebody probably thinks USC would draw better tv ratings and generate more revenue. They may not be the better team, but they could be worth more money, and that's way more important in determining a National Champion. College football is the only sport that I can think of in which the process to determine a champion is so strongly based on subjective opinions. Oh well, despite my frustrations, this was an exciting season which should produce some exciting bowl games in the coming weeks no matter who is playing where, and it has sparked a lot of really fun debates with friends and by analysts. On a side note, if Tim Tebow does not win the Heisman, I might have to stop watching college football just as our fan/sport relationship was starting to blossom.

In other exciting news, I hit a Springfield Mass Transit bus yesterday. Not my shining moment to be for sure. Despite driving slow and braking in what I thought was more than ample time, my car decided it wanted to be an ice skater, and it wasn't stopping until it hit that bus. No damage was done to either vehicle or anybody, but man did I feel stupid, despite the fact it was out of my control to prevent at that point. It is quite a helpless feeling to be slowly sliding towards a vehicle and knowing there is nothing you can do to stop it.

If you are in to Mexican Food, I would recommend checking out Los Agaves across from the White Oaks Mall on Wabash. This place has some great food, especially the Agave Cheesesteak, and the food gets to you incredibly fast. They also have some awesome cheese dip for tortilla chips.

One more week til finals, can't wait for Christmas break.