On the NCAA's recent Illini verdict

I must give the Bloomington Pantagraph props for pointing out that Illinois is no different than Florida State's Chief Osceola except Chief Illiniwek has no Illini tribe to ask for support.

It's a good sensible editorial, at least according to my Fox-descendant hubby. Incidentally, he's not one you really want to get started on this subject, although it might make for an entertaining guest blog someday.

Privilege, Sam's Club & Pro-Family Policy

I noted several months ago that I'd been reading Ross Douthat's book Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class. It's a highly entertaining, somewhat insightful book that I'd recommend as a look at contemporary college life and snootiness within the Ivy League dwellers. A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon a piece he wrote with Reihan Salam called "The Party of Sam's Club: Isn't it time Republicans did something for their voters?". I'm convinced it's one of the more insightful conservative policy-related pieces I have read lately.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those Chicken Little, "the sky is falling" conservatives. I realize that economies are cyclical, but I also agree with their point that recent research has indicated that Americans' incomes are not keeping pace with inflation at the moment. Paychecks aren't going as far these days. Lost manufacturing jobs are often replaced with more low-paying service jobs, and this is ultimately causing economic uncertainty for the middle and working class. While I support free market economic policies and think ultimately the entire world will be better off with them in the long run, I understand that American families right now are concerned about making ends meet for housing, food, transportation, paying for college tuition, and saving for retirement.

I won't waste time summarizing it in depth, but the basic jist of it? Given the political landscape at the moment and the fact that Bush seems set on remaining a "big government conservative", why not develop a coherent and sustainable "pro-family" agenda for the second term? Don't dwell on class warfare, but instead provide family-friendly assistance such as generous tax-credits related to child rearing, market-friendly health care reform, discouraging illegal immigration, and changing our approach to taxes. I lack the time to do it justice analysis-wise, but it's definitely worth a read for political wonks.

(And yes for those of you who are wondering, I'm technically online to do research for paper at the moment. Hence two posts tongiht. Obviously I'm being very productive...sarcasm intendcd)

One down, three dozen to go

Yes folks, it's college basketball season again! I couldn't let Illinois's first regular-season basketball game pass without comment. Earlier this week, Mark Tupper ran a commentary on the swagger that Dee Brown was hoping to see from Augie and the younger Illini-men. That article noted that Augustine had the attitude in several key performances last year, particularly in the Big Ten Tournament and early NCAA games, where he did just that.

My husband and I were at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis for the games against Farleigh Dickinson and Nevada, games in which Augie played like a man on fire. He had the superstar treatment that night -- the crowd roaring and chanting his name the whole evening -- and he seemed to revel in it at the time. That was one of the things that made his lackluster play later in the NCAA tournament even more confusing and disappointing. But the guy seems to have a good attitude though it all. I can't help but dig him.

That said, I was greatly encouraged to hear about Augie answering Dee's challenge and "playing with swagger" in Illinois's 90-65 win over South Dakota State last night. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch the game, but Mark Tupper has the high and low lights. Here's another take from the Herb Gould at the Sun Times as well. It appears that Shawn Pruitt and Rich McBride were pretty impressive in their first starting performances, while Dee Brown had some lackluster play most of the night.

But overall, Tupper notes that it was far from perfect but a decent start. They don't have last year's rhythm down, the motion offense isn't gelling yet, too many turnovers and not enough assists. Obviously they aren't going to be last year's team. They aren't going to go 37-2. They are going to lose, and my couch will have to adjust to more abuse from my husband. But I really enjoy Bruce Weber, his style, and the attitude he's imparted into his teams. Somehow, I have confidence in this coach. I expect to see them overachieve and eventually surpass expectations...but it may take some time. Until then, it should be fun to watch!

To paraphraise Twain...

The rumors of the death of the Illinigirl blog have been greatly exaggerated. I am still around as is my forlorn, rarely posted-upon site. I have had a heck of a busy month, personally, professionally, and academically as well. Let me tell you, this balance is getting tougher and tougher to achieve.

On the personal side, I have had quite a few lovely visitors in town, kept up a busy social calendar with friends from church and work, attended my five-year college reunion, and spent quite a bit of time with family. Illinihubby and I are getting ready to celebrate our third anniversary this week, which we still find unbelievable. Time really is flying!

On the professional side, I have received a promotion of sorts the past few weeks. No additional prestige or money, but more responsibility as I have taken the reins on a project and become a mentor for someone in my area.

On the academic side, school is just kicking my tail. Not because it's so hard, but because midterms have been demanding an inordinate amount of study time the past few weeks. If I had about 40 hours in my day, I'd be enjoying it. :)

But if nothing else, let me allay your fears to report that Illini basketball starts in just about a week. My fan perspective on Dee, Augie, and the new crew will be reported to at least some degree. We were hoping to attend the Orange and Blue scrimmage this Friday evening, but out tickets fell through. In the meantime, Mark Tupper will keep us in the loop with the latest on Bill Selfish's magical recruitment of Sherron Collins, the misfortune that b-ball recruit Eric Gordon had in attending Saturday's Homecoming football massacre by Penn State, and any other exciting developments. Until then...

Fall TV Part I

I've been a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of blogging lately. It's not so much the task itself or the writing. It's the daunting prospect of getting my thoughts on important subjects organized enough to express them in a logical, informed manner. This is somewhat difficult given my schedule at the moment, as work has picked up dramatically at the same time as my family commitments, graduate classes, club meetings, church business, and other things in my life at the moment. So when I do get a few free moments to myself, it's hard to hype my tired little brain up for blogging.

But I'm rarely too tired to veg out in front of the TV for a little R&R. So here I am to blog about what I know well at the moment -- fall TV premieres. My husband and I rely on television for a lot of our entertainment. Not the kind of TV that you just flick channels and happen to watch for hours on end (although I love HGTV for this purpose), but of particular television programs. Somehow be it in book or television or movie or comic strip or comic book format, we are just big fans of serial storylines. He tends more towards sci-fi shows while I tend more towards dramas...and we both enjoy a good comedy to make us laugh on a regular basis.

Given our busy schedules right now...we videotape a bunch of things and plow through shows that we both like on the weekends. The summer was pretty easy...because there wasn't much that we both enjoyed watching. Other than a guilty pleasure episodes of the Real World and Hogan knows best, we both really enjoyed HBO's Sunday night line-up of Six Feet Under, Entourage, and The Comeback (RIP). I also caught a few episodes of the thoughtful and well-done Iraq war dramatization Over There on FX, and that was about it for summertime.

The fall viewing season has made things more complicated though, as we have way more shows we are interested in viewing and many are stacked up against one another (particularly Monday and Thursday nights). Hence here I am to provide a little commentary and insight on the shows I have seen so far. Anything I mention here is worth giving a chance, unless otherwise noted.

Sunday -- We'll be watching Desparate Housewives this evening, possibly some snippets of Grey's Anatomy while half-working. My household is always tuned to the Simpsons at 7 pm. In terms of new shows, we've watched The War at Home twice. The pilot was clever, the second episode not so. I've seen it described as a cross between Married With Children and Everybody Loves Raymond. It's politically incorrect as all get out, but still somewhat amusing. The verdict is still out as to whether it's too crass for my tastes.

Monday -- This looks to be the evening where quality comedies will all be on at the same time and slay one another. Arrested Development is one of our absolute favorite shows. If you enjoy challenging comedy with a touch of sarcasm, please turn it on and give it a chance! It needs all the help it can get ratingswise. I will warn you it's one of those shows with lots of inside jokes regarding past episodes -- consider renting the DVDs of the first couple seasons if you want to catch up.

Kitchen Confidential's premiere was humorous if a bit predictable. Bradley Cooper from (Wedding Crashers, Jack & Bobby, Alias) is charming though, and I think it shows promise. Against it up on CBS, we have How I Met Your Mother featuring Willow from Buffy (Alyson Hannigan) and Doogie Howser MD. Nice comedic timing and really cute show. Why put some of the best new shows up against one another? I just don't think I will ever understand network execs.

Tuesday -- Of course, there's the ever-watchable Gilmore Girls. At this point, it's looked forward to by both members of our household. As a huge Kevin Smith movie fan, I also forced my husband to give My Name is Earl a try. Kind of hokey but also charming and amusing. I understand that the premise of a redneck lottery winner trying to make amends with everyone he's ever wronged in his life may not appeal to everyone...but darn it if that show didn't just work.

That's it for this post, but hopefully I'll get around to blogging the rest of the week soon. Anyone else seen an interesting show they'd like to comment on?

Note of Remembrance

Just a quick note of prayer and remembrance tonight for the families who lost loved ones four years ago today. Hard to believe that it has been quite that long. Some days it feels like a lifetime ago and sometimes it feels like yesterday. However it's starting to slip into our national consciousness sort of like a Pearl Harbor, a D-Day, a day in the past on which we fly flags to remember but are less likely to consider its true emotional impact. Still, I am thankful that today was a relatively uneventful day...and I remember the thousands that perished and others that have put their lives on the lines since to keep America safe.

Michelle Malkin and Instapundit have nice link round-ups for anyone who is interested.

Hail to the Chief

I can't remember a time when William Rehnquist was not Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He'd been on the Supreme Court since 8 years before I was born. I was about 8 years old when he was elevated to the post by President Reagan, so the words "Chief Justice" and "Rehnquist" are somewhat synonymous in my mind.

That said, my heart just sank when my husband came downstairs and told me the news that Rehnquist passed away today. Still all things being equal, it's how I always imagined he would go. Especially since his cancer diagnosis, I have just imagined him working up until the very last second he was able...assumedly because he could not step away from work of such significance. Fittingly enough, I was working to draw up a contract of sorts for our junior high Sunday Schoolers when I heard the news.

Sadly enough, the AP has already started to politicize his loss. The article linked to off Drudge Report editorializes Rehnquist's key career accomplishments as "oversaw the court's conservative shift, presided over an impeachment trial and helped decide a presidential election." Nevermind that these are merely a journalist's opinons and regardless of political position, this was a civil servant and an honorable man who donated decades of service to establishing law and upholding justice in our nation. That's how I will remember him. Rest in peace Justice Rehnquist.

No Relief

So I almost got on Monday night and blogged that it appeared my fears had been unmerited and New Orleans had been spared Hurricane Katrina's wrath. I decided not to because I didn't want to jinx the situation. Alas, one of the worst-case scenarios with the levy breach has come to pass and the pictures coming out New Orleans are devastating. Not to mention the basic leveling and devastation that the Gulfport Mississippi area seems to have suffered.

I've been trying to reconcile the horror stories with my simple, fortunate day-to-day existence at the moment -- in all its 9 hours of work with a lovely house to go home to, a yard to putter around in, and Felicity reruns to watch -- and it's just hard to really grasp the devastation down there. My prayers go out to all those who are stranded, awaiting rescue, without a home, or have lost someone in the last three days. I can't even grasp what it must be like. Watch enough news right now, and it will remind you that high gas prices are nothing in comparison to what these people are facing.

There are some interesting questions about if and when New Orleans will rebuild. I have a friend who used to be in the military who said tonight that rebuilding the city on top after it has been flooded with the "toxic soup" of lake water, refinery offshoots, sewage, and decay would be against every EPA regulation in the book. Granted there's a good argument to be made that a city that could potentially suffer hurricanes should never be built in a bowl below sea-level. I have such fond memories of the city though that it's going to be difficult to imagine it not being rebuilt. My husband and I left on our honeymoon cruise from that port after a whirlwind two-night tour of the French Quarter, Pat O'Brien's, and Cafe DuMonde. I spent a week at a conference there last year during which we sampled all sorts of wonderful local cuisine - from the Redfish Grille to Mr B's Bistro to Emeril's NOLA to K-Pauls. Sure it was smelly and sweaty and had its share of problems...but it was a charming place to visit nonetheless. I wish all its residents, past and present, some relief this evening.

Prayers for the Big Easy

Major prayers tonight going out to the City of New Orleans and its inhabitants. I happenned to be in the Big Easy last year after the near miss with Hurricane Ivan. Just around that time I toured the hurricane preparedness center down there and viewed a variety of simulations of what would happen if a weak Category 3 storm hit the city dead-on. I believe they'd predicted 19 feet of standing water on Poydras Street in that scenario.

For those who aren't familiar with the city, New Orleans is basically a giant hollow bowl below sea level. There are approximately 19-feet levies surrounding most of the city to block storm surge...but right now Katrina's is predicted to be 28-feet. A direct hit would leave incredible structural damage and the city would be submerged in several feet of toxic sludge for weeks. I'm not sure where a preferable alternative strike location would be, but my prayers are definitely with anyone hunkering down there this evening...especially those with no way to evacuate the city.

Personal update

So I just realized that the blog has been dormant for almost 3 weeks. If it's not one thing, it's another at the moment. I finished up finals for a killer summer session class and at about the same time Illinihubby took an injury to his right foot during a rec league flag football game. After an initial doctor visit and two weeks of crutches with little improvement, we found out that he really has stress fractures in two metatarsals...so we're in for a few more weeks of this.

You don't realize how much your spouse does around the house until they're laid up. Suddenly I'm the chauffeur, gardener, and runner of all errands in the household. Couple this with the fact that I've lived a wussy-girl existence and never mowed a lawn before last week and we hosted two parties the past three weeks, and it's a bit overwhelming. All part of that for better or worse bit though, so I'm happy to oblige.

That being said, my class schedule has settled down a bit and his foot is improving. I'm hoping to be online a bit more in the next few weeks. I've just got to figure out what I'd like to cover. I'm leaning towards a more local, economic, and pop culture focus at the moment. As much as I'd like to, I don't have the time required to do the thoughtful analysis that would be required for intelligent posts on the war and political issues. We'll see though, as the Roberts confirmation business should provide some interesting fodder in weeks to come. And of course the Illinigirl household is waiting with baited breath to see what happens with Illinois's appeal to the NCAA. If the university has to change its nickname, does the state have to change its name as well? Because that's the only way that ruling makes much sense. Coverage (and perhaps a guest column by Illinihubby on the matter) soon to come here at Illinigirl, stay tuned!

Comic relief

I received this article about Kim Jong-il from a coworker a couple days ago, and on first glance I thought it was from The Onion. Did you know that Kim hit 11 holes-in-one during his first round of golf? And he memorizes computer programs and cemetaries full of tombstones in one fell swoop!

For those who are interested in more satire and irony, Team America: World Police does a fabulous send-up of our favorite Korean dictator. Aside from sending Hans Blix down a chute to meet some sharks, Kim is loveable little furball whose rendition of "I'm so wonwey" steals the show. North Korea attempted to ban the film several months back in the Czech Republic of all places, because it harms their image. Well, it doesn't call Kim Jong-il a superhuman like their local squawk box, so we'll just assume it's not up to snuff.

Just a little random humor from a sleepy woman trapped deep in the throes of final exam writing and needing a little levity at the moment.

Really...

Other than buying cars, I do things with my life at the moment. Really! Right now they involve 40 hours of work each week and way too much time with my nose stuck in Harvard Business Review and Business Week. The class I've been taking since early July is a bear, and it's been eating up most of my time and desire to...well basically to think.

It seems this is a pattern in the blog world. A lot of the bloggers that I "came in" with have either closed up shop, combined to a group blog, or are taking hiatuses because their lives demand it. Some are child related, some work, some health, some other. I really enjoy having this little blog as my soapbox and way of communicating with many friends and family, but I don't have the time I'd like to devote to it at the moment. Things should improve a bit in a few weeks, but I'll post sporadically as I'm able in the meantime. Hope all is well with you readers!

P.S. We are still enjoying the new "baby" and got 26.4 mpg on our trip down to Central Missouri this weekend...so hooray for Honda and our new little CR-V!