Some scribbles before I go to bed tonight:

• My highest grade of my four midterms: 81.5. Number of A’s: 3. Says a little something about grad school, doesn’t it?
• When it comes right down to it, there’s no poetry like teenage angst poetry.
• I’ve seen more of my computer than I care to think about this semester.
• I’m fighting a losing battle with my apartment on the cleaning front.
• About the haircut I got today: let’s just say there’s a reason why they call it “barber college”.
• If I hit the “Caps Lock” key one more time on a Sun workstation keyboard thinking that it’s “Control”, I just might scream.
• It may just be me, but I think that it’s a paradox when a prosecutor says that they wanted to prove that actors aren’t above the law as far as a crime is concerned and then says that they won’t seek jail time for said crime.
• If you’d have given me 11-2 at the beginning of the year, I’d have taken it in a heartbeat if you could promise me the two weren’t Auburn and Tennessee. Now I kinda wonder what might have been…
• The Count of Monte Cristo is a pretty good film. My friend Jeremy is now 2-for-2 on Guys’ Night movie picks.
• The weather should stay all year long like it’s been for the past three days.
• I realize that Veterans’ Day is about so much more than getting a day off, but right now I need the extra sleep and the time for my projects.
• I’m tired…so tired.

You may or may not recall that over two years ago I had what I thought was a brilliant idea for a car commercial.

I hadn’t thought anything more about it until about 10 minutes ago, when I saw a Cadillac commercial that used my idea! Okay, so it was two big-rigs, but other than that…

All right, now, GM…where are the royalties?

Thoughts from this week…

• I just came back from a costume party. I went as a cowboy. Someone told me that I actually pull off the look (cowboy hat and all) well, although it may just be because I’m in the minority down here in Florida.
• The singer of “Brown Eyed Girl” was right…Tuesdays are so slow.
• So, do you suppose that female ‘Bama cheerleaders all inhale a tank of helium before they do their thing on Saturdays?
• Chunky Chips Ahoy now officially takes its place on the list of “foods that cause Brandon to experience Biblical gluttony”, alongside Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cheez-Its.
• Can you imagine me as a tenor? Because that’s what I’m singing in the church choir that I joined this past week.
• Sign #178 that I’m getting old: the speaker at lunch on Tuesday asked us who was in college five years ago and I was the only one to raise my hand.
• It hurts to be a Tide fan so far from home with no TV coverage and no radio affiliate. Yeah, yeah, I realize that I can listen to the game via Internet broadcast. Let me complain, will ya?
• Diet Cherry Coke is now my favorite diet drink.
• That ESPN story about Vanderbilt’s football team not being allowed to curse was at once one of the most heartening (I’m all for Bobby Johnson’s idea) and funniest stories I’ve ever seen ESPN produce.
• Everybody needs a friend like Dr. Mike Burton. If you don’t get this, you need to watch Ed.

Thoughts while I sit here in the computer lab:

• Was the sky just a little bluer this morning if you were a Bama fan, or was that just me?
• Is it okay to be happy with a 68 on a test if the class average was 50?
• You know, even though I haven’t used it all that much, I’m really glad I’ve got my cell phone.
• It’s almost November, and to me that signifies one big thing, at least: I can start listening to Christmas music again without feeling self-conscious.
• My sister and best friend are about to get their own houses, and I’m really having trouble not breaking the 10th commandment.
• The Burger King by the BCM is now closed down, and I am somewhat saddened by this.
• Then again, that means a lot more free parking for us for a while, anyway…
• In my free time (hah!), I’ve been working on making the site skinnable again…check out the ongoing process. Click one of the pictures at the top to change the skin.
• One of my term projects for a class is to make a four-player online Boggle game. I can’t tell you how much happier this makes me than the command-line editor project that we have in another class.
• Hasn’t the semester just flown by?

Why? Because the population of tiny lizards here is incredible. I see at least three of them run across the sidewalk as I ride my bike. My mom wouldn’t be able to keep her feet on the ground.

OutputStream consciousness = new OutputStream(Brandon);

• Here’s one that’ll keep you up at night, raised by a friend: when is one’s soul created?
• You know, Georgia’s a pretty good ball club this year.
• You know, Florida’s not.
• Brandon’s really simple weight loss plan: ride a bike for 30 minutes every day out of necessity.
• It was nice to clean my apartment this afternoon and see exciting sights again, like my couch and my living room floor.
• All right, I’ll ask: if Shaun Alexander got to play on ESPN Sunday night every week, wouldn’t he have every record in the book by now? Someone needs to make this happen.
• If you’d have told me that Bama would be 4-2 this year, with the losses coming to the #2 and #5 teams in the country by a total of 12 (and should really be 5) points even with the loss of our starting quarterback and running back and the looming sanctions, I’d have told you that Coach Fran should be a candidate for coach of the year. And yet I bet he doesn’t get a vote.
• My car’s coolant system is the worst EVER.
• Speaking of which, sign #134 that I’m getting old: my car’s 10 years old now, but when I say “a 1992 Blazer”, it doesn’t seem like it’s that old to me.
• I fully believe that unless you’re sick or injured, if you don’t intend to stay the entire game, even if your team is losing by 29 points in the fourth quarter, you don’t need to bother showing up in the first place.
• In the past two weeks, I have learned more about Java than I ever knew in the three and a half years previous.
• I haven’t played bridge in over a year, and I’m slowly going mad inside.
• The new NFL fantasy league commercial may be one of the funnier ones I’ve seen. “The perfect fantasy team. All kickers, baby!”
• I still can’t bring myself to wear an orange-based T-shirt yet. I don’t know if I ever will be able to.
• It’s down on the list, but one of the things that I miss about living with family is that the refrigerator’s never empty.
• My new front-runner for best purchase that I’ve made in the past year (edging out my $10 rainsuit): a new printer. It’s already paid for itself compared to the printing fees that I would have owed the CISE department had I printed everything I have in the labs…
• Get ready, Tennessee. The Tide’s coming to town on the 26th…after we take care of a little business at home.
• Much as I like wearing shorts and a T-shirt just about every day, I miss seasons. The high is less than 70 tomorrow in Tuscaloosa. Sigh…