I'm departing for parts South tomorrow morning and am looking forward to a relaxing week. Sure, I have to meet with the C.O.M., but they recently sent me an email outlining what our discussion will be, which allieviated a lot of the pressure. Sure, I have to have some weird medical procedure done on my foot. But, all that is ok, cause I'll be in warmer climes and won't have a daggum thing to do (other than a Hebrew lesson, but no biggie there). There are pools and beaches in my near future, and as such, I've got some good reading lined up. I'll plan on finishing Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, maybe on the plane but definitley soon. Then, I packed Elizabeth Haydon's Rhapsody and its sequel just for fun. I got them for $0.50 each at a book sale last summer at the hospital, so even if they're cheesy and silly, at least they'll be fun and I've not wasted any money on them. And then, just to keep my mind engaged, I'll be taking (finally) Tom Beaudoin's Virtual Faith. This book was suggested in last year's Gospel Mission class and I bought it, but never got around to it. So, that should be plenty to keep me entertained in between my brother's baseball games, the latest of which they won tonight and he got the win as pitcher. It will be good to spend time with the family again.

My official comment on tonight's basketball travesty: I am blaming the results of tonight's game on two people. One, Chris Paul. You let your team and your fans down, man. Had you been in tonight's game, I'm confident we would have won. Your leadership on the court is unrivaled and our team needs you. Try to keep your hands to yourself from now on, bro. I know Hodge is a jerk and the people who were making fun of your Grandfather's death were real jackasses. Really, the latter is inexcusable. But, retaliation never accomplished anything. Be the bigger man. Also, I blame the other part of tonight's 81-65 loss on Tony Bethel, who really had an amazing game.

-R

[6-3]