Izzo and the Spartans continue their domination of the Michigan Wolverines

During so-called "Rivalry Week" on ESPN, Michigan State, once again, beat the lowly Wolverines. UM won the last two games in the series played at Crisler, but couldn't hold off the Spartans tonight.

Here are some blurbs from the Freep Press's article about the game

The Spartans have won 16 of (the last) 19 in the series.

Michigan had won its last two home games against Michigan State, but led the latest matchup just twice in the opening minutes.

* * *

Michigan State is 7-0 in true road games, joining Connecticut, Louisville and Utah State as the only undefeated Division I teams on opponents’ home courts.

The Wolverines have lost seven of their last nine and might’ve been tired against Michigan State, playing their third game in just six days.

I love it! UM's built-in excuse for being awful tonight was that they were "tired." Perhaps it's just that they are a mediocre, at best, team playing the team that should win the Big 10 this year and which is sitting at no. 9 in the national polls.

This never gets old. I hope the Wolverines are lousy for decades to come.

"'Fellowship' is Christian-ese for 'pigging out!'"

That's an old joke from witch-turned-evangelist, Mike Warnke. It's spot on, too.

Our church home group yesterday got together to bowl, eat and play games. The only thing I excelled at was eating! I ate and ate and ate. The food was delicious, which was part of the problem. I generally lack discipline. Also I will be starting Lent soon, so I've been in the frame of mind that I should "pig out" now before the deprivation starts.

I am really paying for the overeating. I feel poisoned. It feels like an after-holidays hangover. I can't wait to be cleansed.

Random useless observation no. 1

People like swimming pools.

Any hotel worth its salt has at least a pool suitable for wading. In most suburbs in America, there's hardly a yard (at least where kids live) that doesn't at least have a kiddie pool. You'll probably never say a bona fide mansion without a pool.

Even in the dead of winter, people like to swim. It is pretty common around here for families to rent hotel rooms just so the kids can swim.

When we took our daughter to Disney World for her 5th birthday present, she loved the parks and the rides, but she would've been happy to swim in our hotel pool (shaped like Mickey's head) for most of the stay if we would have let her.

I could go on.

Is there a football game today?

OK, I'll come clean. I know today is Super Bowl Sunday. I have to admit that if I hadn't stumbled across CNN or MSNBC the last few days, I wouldn't know who was playing in it.

I love college football. Most of my football watching is limited to following the Michigan State Spartans. I no longer have the time or desire to spend 15 hours every fall Saturday watching the other games. I have even less inclination to follow the NFL. In fact, I dislike pro football. To me, it's boring.

The Super Bowl is an event. The game is secondary. I'm neither interested in the game or the event. Lots of folks love to have Super Bowl parties at their homes, at bars, private clubs, etc. But I don't need a football game as an excuse to sit in front of the TV and overeat. I could do that on my own if I wanted.

I've been to many Super Bowl parties but I just find them...boring. I might be the only male in America that couldn't care less about this game. I guess I care enough about it to tell y'all why I don't care for it.

I won't check the score. I won't turn on the game. I won't try to find out who won. I probably won't even have on the news. I'll probably find out the game outcome while I'm standing in line at the local deli and a TV is blaring the news of the week.

For the rest of you, I hope you have fun. I know this is a big day. For me, though, I think I'm going to be reading or writing.

Taking a break from the Quixtar/TEAM story

My plan was and still is to tell my story about my short stint as a Quixtar IBO affiliated with TEAM. I planned to pick up the story at my attendance at my first monthly seminar. Because this story has so many layers, I am going to take a break from writing about it for a few weeks.

Just to whet your appetites, I will say that I had some fantastic experiences that I would like to describe. I also had some really difficult times, some intense moments of self doubt and frustration. Through all of it I'd like to think that I grew. I definitely see money differently. I also am still of the employee mentality, which is something that has to change in the lives of people that want to be successful in MLM's/direct marketing/network marketing businesses.

When the inspiration hits to pick up the story, I will.

Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath: lessons and reminders

Forgotten on my bookshelf the last 5 or 6 years has been a set of John Steinbeck books, including his classic Grapes of Wrath. The books look really nice on the shelf, but I wasn't really drawn to them. Oh, I did read two pages of Grapes the day we put the set on the shelf but I quickly lost interest. Last week something drew me back to the book.

Since a week ago yesterday, I hardly put the book down. I'm a slow reader (good, but slow) but I devoured it at a clip of about a hundred pages per night. It is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful, moving, demanding books I've ever read. It's easy reading, written in the phonetic vernacular of its characters. Despite being loaded with themes, symbolism, and allusions, it moves along quickly like a pulp western. I found that I couldn't stand waiting to see what happened next to the Joads and their companions.

I'm hardly an expert on literature. I just know what I like and what I don't like. I know whether or not I am moved, changed. Grapes of Wrath changed me. At least in the short term, while under the book's spell, I see the world in a different light.

Dying to write about it, I was tempted to discuss themes and symbolism, to take on the larger messages of the book. I thought about discussing socio-political issues raised by the book. But I'm simply not qualified to do all that, and scholars make their living on dissecting, breaking down such things. I'll leave all that to them and to you should you pick up the book.

Lesson. Reminders. Parallels. Grapes is set in the 1930's, smack dab in the middle of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl migrations to California. (In many ways, it reminded me of -- or felt like -- Angela's Ashes which takes place at the same time in Limerick, Ireland.)

To hear people talk now, we're in another depression. People are fleeing my home state for work. Families are losing their jobs and their homes. Government help seems their only short-term option. The parallels are fascinating, yet, it's too easy to draw them, make much out of them.

The contrasts between then and now probably couldn't be more stark. Our poor, for the most part, have food, shelter and clothing. They even have access to medical care. Of course, we have a significant homeless problem, but today's poor generally have their basic needs met. My trips through our so-called "slums" or "ghettos" have shown me families living below the poverty line can still somehow manage to afford satellite TV! Dust Bowl migrants, if they could find work, were lucky to earn $1.50 to $3.00 picking fruit or cotton 10-12 hours a day. That many was barely enough to allow them to feed their families. Shelter was whatever could be found to shield them from the elements.

The reminder for me was how blessed and spoiled I really am. Grapes brought back to mind my grandmother's stories about coming of age during the Great Depression. She remembers her parents and siblings living on a turnip sandwich for dinner; they were happy to have that much (or little.)

It's a work of fiction. Steinbeck was criticized by some as taking liberty with the facts. He and other defended the historicity of the book. Whatever the case may be, Grapes is true and accurate at it's core: life can be hard and the human spirit can endure the most horrible of circumstances.

The book reminded me how soft I really am. Could I survive a job loss? Could we live on one income? What would we do if we could no longer afford our home? What if we had to scale back all of our discretionary spending? I've whined and complained in the past about feeling like I was not getting ahead, about feeling "tied to a job," about having too much work to allow me to keep my weekends free. Maybe I should be thankful for all the many blessings I do have instead of railing about those things I don't have. Grapes, more than our current economic situation, has put that in my face, forced me to reflect on what is important.

I know (or hope) I'll never be the same again.

My favorite moment of the 2008 Presidential election

We're smack dab in the middle of Obamania. There is a lot of excitement about our new President and the new direction in which our government will be headed. The inauguration was not without flair and drama: millions in attendance, the President's rousing speech, the goofed up oath of office.

To me, all this is just an extension of what has been going on for the last year or more. It's all just part of the so-called "election cycle." And while it is great that the process gave us the first bi-racial President in history, I found this little moment to be my favorite. It might be one of the least significant things to happen, but it's still my favorite.