A Valediction for John Madden

John Madden is leaving football, and it makes me a little sad. His presence seemed to me to underlie every game, whether he was there or not (this includes the pro-bowls to which he wouldn't fly), and now I'm not sure what to do. It's like football won't ever be the same because I don't know it any other way than with John Madden.

Farewell, our flight-fearing football announcer.


P.S.
Don't let the fact that I was born late and only know Madden as a sportscaster detract from his incredible career pre-tv. He's a legend.

Thank You, Bret Lott, for Some Assurance of Life After Graduation

I just had the privilege of hearing novelist Bret Lott speak, and I was pretty impressed. I'm not going to tell you I've read his stuff because that would be a lie; however, I will tell you I plan to read his stuff the first chance I get. I would also advise you to check him out, even though I have not yet read him; Oprah has, and she liked him (if this makes you not want to read him, get over it and read it in spite of Oprah's endorsement).

He was really a fantastic guy, but his story about becoming a writer was what I enjoyed most. He said he never wanted to be a writer. He started out on the path to becoming a park ranger, moved to marine biology, dropped out of school and sold RC Cola, went back to school and somehow ended up with a degree in English. It's always nice to hear success stories of people who were far from having things figured out. Now, I'm a firm believer that nobody has things figured out, but sometimes I begin to question that belief because some people are really good at pretending.

I don't have a clue where I'm headed after graduation, but it's nice to know that other people came out of college doing something they love but never planned on. Life's all about the adventure!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail

I colored eggs today with my mom for the first time in a few years. My brother and I have both pretty much outgrown the ritual and are really in the phase between coloring them for ourselves and helping our own children. My mom asked if I'd be interested though, and I thought it couldn't hurt. Strangely, I think this is the first time I've witnessed the preparation process because I was always kept away until it was time for me to do the actual coloring (in order to keep the mess at a minimum). So I feel like I learned today how to set things up and what it was Mom and Grandma were doing before they called me in. My mom also pointed out the fact that because my brother didn't want to participate, this was pretty much the first time I didn't have to worry about how many I was coloring because we had to have the same number. And my dad noted this was the first time I didn't think I had to mix colors for every egg (not realizing that in the end they would all be the same color--brown). I only colored 12, but I enjoyed it and I feel like I learned a little something about my own childhood and kids in general from my older perspective and lack of actual children. It was one of those lessons you aren't really expecting, and I'm not sure I can fully articulate the things I took from it yet.

I'm all about marketing, but I do want to note that Easter is more. Don't get caught up in the eggs and the chocolate because it all came at a high price; that price bought us more than just the gimmicks.

And as an added bonus, if you want to know more about the egg and its connection to Easter, you can read this. It's not put together very smoothly, but it will give you a little more information about why the heck eggs show up this time every year. Happy Easter!

I've decided I want to be Miley Cyrus. I want to make a career (at a ridiculously young age) out of bad acting, poor singing, and even writing, for no good reason. If Disney would just give me a tv show, I'd be set. I'd book some studio time to start recording my album, sign the deal to make my show into a movie, and get started on my first autobiography. I'm a little older than Miley, but there's got to be a college niche.

How in the world did all of this come out of Achy Breaky Heart (with a long period of relative silence in the middle)? I just want to know whose idea signing Miley was so I can pitch myself as the next superstar. She was "just being Miley," so logically I could just be Kindall and have major success. I want to threaten to ruin Grammy winners' careers! I want to be on The View! It's obviously not that hard, so what's stopping me?!

Today Will Be a Great Day

I'm trying really hard to remain positive this morning. I know it doesn't do any good to complain about my lack of sleep, and there's not really anyone to blame for the fire alarms (at least not anyone I can complain directly to). It's also comforting to see that ResLife is working on it, and they aren't happy. Everybody's frustrated, including the director.

I'm just grumpy when I'm tired, but I'm working on it. If you run into me today, keep me accountable. I have a lot to be happy about, and I can't let this one nuisance ruin my Friday.

It just went off again. Why would the fire alarm go off three times in one night if nothing is on fire?

This is Life When You Live in a Dorm

Everything in my life seems to be working against me sleeping. This afternoon I was taking a much-needed nap after shafting sleep for homework last night. It was raining outside, which made my nap a really good one but was also the source of many problems. I woke up to my lovely RA banging on the door because Nashville was under a tornado warning. I got up, went to the first floor of my building and groggily waited out the warning. Unfortunately, the weather was still bad so I was waiting for it to happen again. We were initially under a tornado watch from that point until 2am.

Before going to bed, I decided to check the weather and see the likelihood of being awakened again for tornadoes. The best news I'd heard all day was that things had calmed down and Nashville was probably just going to see some rain for the rest of the night. But a little over an hour after I had fallen asleep (just enough time to be sleeping really well), the fire alarm started going off. For the second time today, I got out of my bed, grabbed a jacket, my phone, and my keys and headed downstairs. We waited it out in the parking garage. The alarm went off, and everybody went back inside. On the 3rd of 5 floors, the alarm began to go off again. At this point I wanted to cry. We turned around and headed back down the stairs we had just come up.

Perhaps scarier than the brief thought that the building was actually on fire, was the campus security officer "patrolling" on his bike while we were in the parking garage. I understand that campus security would want to be around, but I'm not sure what they were accomplishing by having him ride back and forth as we all listened to the deafening fire alarm. I was in a mood, and social media has consumed my life, so I took a couple of pictures of the guy on the bike. I also have a short video of our frustration. They're not high quality, but I'd like someone else to share at least a little of the aggravation. So here you go.

And now I'm off to bed. Hopefully this time I won't wake up until my alarm goes off, which is going to be all too early. And hopefully I'll also be able to remember that there were a lot worse things happening with the weather in Nashville tonight than me having to get out of bed. There was a lot of damage and a lot of flooding. When I've slept I should appreciate my good fortune.