Today's List - Super Bowl Sunday

1. My Super Bowl prediction wasn't too far off. Although I picked the Pats to win I did say that the Giants would cover (they won so that counts) and I called the under on the over/under. Also, I predicted that it would be an ungodly boring game, which it was until the 4th quarter. It was close all game, but it got pretty slow in the middle.

2. My cousin commented on the previous post about a package that was sent to me. Here are the contents of said mysterious package: various jerkies, all in small ziploc sandwich bags, labeled on blue masking tape: beef (made in Brady), buffalo, turkey, and young fawn venison. If you are ever looking for a random Labor Day trip, check out the World Championship BBQ Goat cook-off in Brady, Texas - where my uncle and cousin live. Its honestly a good time and I have never seen more Coors Light consumed in my entire life.

3. This video has been burning up the net for the last day or two. It features the speech that Barack Obama gave after the New Hampshire primaries. It was created by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.



Now, I know that there are many that would call this corny, but I think that those who consider it corny may not be used to the idea that our leaders don't just have to be talking heads full of policies and statistics. They used to give us hope. Lincoln, FDR, JFK, and even Reagan. Why mention Reagan? Because even many right-wing blogs are reacting positively to this video. I may not care for many of Reagan's policies, but I still get chills when I hear his speech honoring the crew of the Challenger. I'm constantly getting more and more excited about the possibilities that this election is bringing.

4. We start a new semester on Tuesday, which means I start teaching Econ again. It has become my favorite subject to teach. This year I am going to do a lot of work talking about Economics and the environment. I'm pretty amped about it.

5. I generally get pretty excited about World Cup, Champions League, and even the Olympics when it comes to soccer tournaments. Well, I am beginning to get excited for another tournament, as are soccer fans all over the world - the African Cup of Nations. There were tons of exciting games in the group stages and the two big favorites (in my view) - Ghana and Ivory Coast, have already booked their spot in the semis. Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, who also stars for FC Barcelona in Spain, is the tournament's leading scorer. Africa may soon be producing national teams completely capable of winning a world cup. Its not there yet, but they are certainly producing a buttload of major world stars.

6. Super Tuesday is coming. You should go vote. Normally I would create some form of voter's guide on the propositions, but I'm too busy to do that. My brief synopsis: Prop 91 is moot so vote NO. 92 looks pretty good so I'm voting yes, and then a big NO on 93. It sounds OK on the surface, but its really a big sham created by members of the state legislature to allow them to keep their jobs longer through a loophole. Most of the sponsors of the bill are scheduled to be removed soon through term limits and this law would let them stay longer. I call bullshit. I am also voting NO on 94-97 simply because I think we can get a better deal and that this bill gives the tribes tons of room to manipulate how the fees they pay us are determined. However, its more money than we are getting now so I could see someone voting YES with the thought that its OK for now.