Request to change nickname to "The John Cougars" was not approved

I thought I had heard rumblings, and now I know it to be true. Your Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Cougars are making the jump to D1 athletics. What does this mean to you, the SIUE grad?

1) When you tell people where you went to school, the first words out of their mouth may no longer be "Oh, the Salukis?"

2) You are no longer able to piggyback your hopes on SIUC's basketball team in the NCAA tournament. Here's how I usually convey that: "Well, I went to SIUE, which is the sister school, so I figure it's as close as I'm going to get, anyway..."

3) Bring back out that 1979 NCAA D1 Soccer champ banner, we're BACK. SLU is scared to death right now. I still love you, Brian McBride.

4) It's time to shell out some bucks for your Red and White (or silver? who knows) Cougar gear. So what if it looks just like Houston's stuff.

5) We still don't have a football team. But we do have a sweet background on our athletics page. That's the best our CMIS/IT guys can do? Where'd they go to school, SIUE?

In any case, I'm pretty excited by the whole thing. It took me a long time to show any sort of pride over where I went to school, but now I'm going whole hog. I can't wait for SIUE shower curtains and SIUE mudflaps and SIUE bbq grills... I want it all, everything that goes along with being a D1 school.

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While you're looking at stuff on the internet, check out Hoosier Beer Geek, where I've written a review of beer. Be sure to leave a comment about how it's the best review ever written... someone named anonymous already has... I wonder who that could be?

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I'm off to Vegas next week, so don't expect much from this space until I get back, when I'll have a shocking expose about the real truth behind the movie Showgirls.

reminds me of surfing, chickens, cartoons, van halen

This is why MLS is the best professional sports league in America. The RSL fans have a Thanksgiving Day pickup soccer game, and the league's leading scorer comes out and plays. Does that happen anywhere else?

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Deerhoof's (Deerhooves?) new album leaked a week or two ago. If you're not familiar with Deerhoof, think of the band in Kill Bill 1, but with more of a cartoonish, yet rockin' bend. And if you can handle a Tiny-Sounding Japaneseish Woman delivering your ROCK, check it out. The new album starts strongly, but tapers off at the end. Oh well. Still recommended, whenever that comes out.

In a previous life I would have offered up a song, but I've decided to keep my piracy a one-man effort.

As I sat in my living room last evening, it occured to me that I've still got some 400 or so cds in my cabinets. There was a time in my life when 75% of my money went to record stores and Best Buy, but these days I rarely visit either of those places. I am a music pirate, and I haven't paid for more than 3 cds in the past two years. And one of those was a gift.

But now I'm wondering if I should get rid of my old cds. I very rarely listen to them, they take up a ton of space, and perhaps someone else would enjoy them more than myself. I occasionaly go through moments where I consider purging everything I own, so maybe the feeling will pass. But you might want to keep an eye out for lists of cds I'm dumping.

Speaking of things I have too many of, let me tell you about my magazine addiction. I currently have subscriptions to Esquire, GQ, Harpers, The Atlantic, Men's Vogue, McSweeney's... and I'm sure I'm forgetting some others. On my recent trip to Vegas I purchased 6 magazines. For a 3 day trip.

I regularly buy Outside, Men's Health, Men's Journal Adventure Life, National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic Explorer, Bicycling... you get the idea. I picture myself as an adventurous traveler and sportsman, even though most my adventure comes through watching shows on the Travel Channel.

The main problem in having this many magazines is that in no way do I have the time to actually read them. I find myself scheduling time to finish a magazine... I can't bring myself to throw them away until I'm sure I've devoured everything I have any interest in whatsoever.

So yesterday I scheduled 5 hours of television-less reading time. I was only distracted twice; Once to visit Meijer to buy bread bowls (600 calories - didn't look at the label before I bought), and once to set the tivo to record Dwell - a television show about a magazine.

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Saturday my friend Brent was in town for a few hours (HELLO STALKERS) so we headed over to Brugge for lunch/dinner and a beer. Good food as usual; a truly masculine experience (EDIT). Perhaps I should find another place in town to eat, but where else can I get great beer, fried food that I'll happily (and without guilt) consume, and soccer on the television? If anyone knows of any other options, let me know.

Thanks to Jim (previously of 11am Air Raid and currently of Hoosier Beer Geek) for turning my attention toward Brugge. It has truly become one of my favorite things about living here.

So.. Yup. That's that. Planning another trip to Vegas in March... it's not that it's one of my favorite places to go, it's just that nowhere is as easy to visit with a group of guys. Anyone have any recommendations apart from girls, gambling, and gulping? The bicycling looked nice last time I was out. Or maybe you can recommend somewhere other than Vegas for a group of guys to visit? Somewhere that doesn't involve camping or hiking, although I'm quite fond of both.

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While I don't wish harm to anyone, this made me sort of smile, just a little bit. Think Hummer will be using that picture in their next ad?

The comments over at IndyStar are amazing.

hmmnmmn

Just got back last evening from a weekend family funeral... after listening to various stories and memories, I was able to tie them all together and organise them into what I thought was a respectful, reverant, and even humorous eulogy. I was quite happy to be able to put together something he was deserving of. So there. My uncle read it, which made it even easier to put together.

I had just read a story in Esquire about how to write a respectful and accurate eulogy, actually, so I tried to keep that in mind.

Fulham lost Saturday.

My backup bike is at the shop getting converted to fixed gear. The damage: ~$180. Ouch.

Why is it that I find myself spending the whole week waiting for Saturday soccer games and food and beer at Brugge? I need a friend to come out and join me. Saturday afternoon drunkish is really great.

I'll be going to Vegas again in March 10-20ish, on a bachelor party of monster proportions... gotta start saving money now. And I'm already starting to plot out next years' vacations. Whatever gets you through, right?

Dear Readers, where are you going on vacation next?