One of the worst times of the week is Monday afternoon, when it's 4:30 and completely dark. Your day isn't over, the week has barely begun, you're still paying the price for the weekend gone by, and your modest goal of going home and laying on the couch seems unattainable. That's where I'm at right now. Great.
This past weekend was a good one, it was installment number 2 in the holiday party season. Friday involved the office Christmas party and it was a tremendous time, as expected. I made it an early evening, after spending some quality time with my summer classmates following the party and then calling it a day. Saturday I took my car in for some TLC, and that is going to end up costing me an arm and a leg. Sorry everyone, Christmas presents are going to be cancelled this year.
Saturday night was a blast, I was the first guest at Jim&Matt's holiday gig. They had good food and good conversation waiting, and I had fun as always. Following that, I tried out a new place on Halsted called Landmark which I enjoyed for its good views from our tables on the catwalk, smoke-free atmosphere despite a capacity crowd, and excellent service. We polished a few bottles of this delicious elixer at the club and left, as usual, when they turned on the lights.
Sunday was a relaxing day as the crew got together to watch the Bears get pummeled by the Steelers. It was a disappointing, although not surprising, loss. Both of our starting safeties are out with injuries right now, and they play a huge role in our defense. And let's face it- the Steelers played exactly how the Bears play, but better. They run the ball, count on their QB to throw just a few passes per game and not make any mistakes, play tough defense, and make the other team want to give up with their physicality. We got beat up pretty bad on both sides of the ball on Sunday, and the defense was uncharacteristically unsound. We missed tackles, didn't fill gaps, couldn't defend screen passes, and didn't stiffen up in the red zone, all things we don't usually do.
Also, the Steelers really needed the win. Let's just hope that it doesn't turn out that the Bears needed it too. With the way the Vikings are playing right now, it could turn out to be a huge loss for us. We have to take care of business at home next week and stay focused. I have confidence that this team will come back hungry next week and atone for this dismal performance.
Also, I checked out the Pompeii exhibit at the Field Museum, which was cool. It is quite an assortment of various relics, facts and stories from the Vesuvius eruption in AD 79, which also leveled nearby cities Herculaneum and Oplontis. Quite interesting. Also, you get to learn cool phrases like "Pyroclastic Surge". I just about had a pyroclastic surge last Friday after the office party. Yikes.
This week will involve getting caught up on work and also planning our holiday party, to take place next week at Chateau de LongMan. We're getting a few people in from out of town to attend, and it should set new lows for bad judgment. It should be a nice finale to the holiday party season here in Chicago, but the weekend after we'll be continuing the party in Iowa City.
That's it for me. I want to see a movie tonight, but King Kong isn't out yet and I don't have a burning desire to see a whole lot of other movies. Screwsan loved Brokeback Mountain, and I'll probably see it so that I can find out what all the buzz is about, but I didn't read the book. I suppose Syriana is the next best option.
And since I was talking about the death penalty a couple of days ago, I'll mention the moral dilemma going on in California right now. Tookie Williams, founder of the Crips, is going to be executed at 12:01 tomorrow morning for murders allegedly committed in 1979. Since then, he has been an outspoken leader for peace and in general, has tried to atone for his sins by educating young people who are susceptible to gang life. The victim's families in this case still want to see him executed, but what is the effect on pro-death penalty arguments if a person to be executed is legitimately a valuable, influential member of society? The death penalty certainly isn't a deterrant, and it certainly isn't a cheaper alternative to life in prison, so what do you have left? The argument that victim's families deserve retribution, and the argument that society is better off without these people. But what if society isn't better off? It seems that the argument for the death penalty is significantly eroded. Although, to be fair, I suppose that this would lead to a "slippery-slope" situation whereby we would have to decide on a case-by-case basis how valuable a person's contribution to society is before we spare them, thereby putting a sort of "philanthropic price" on a human life and allowing death row inmates to buy their lives back with service to the community. Maybe we don't want to go down that road. I was just chewing on this issue today. Chime in if you like.
That's it for today. My hangovers seem to be decreasing in intensity, but increasing in length. Hmmmm. I wonder that means.
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