Random Thoughts for the Week 6/24

I know that blogs are supposed to be a daily thing and it really is my goal to make that happen. I think that it will now that I've got a few things off of my plate. To that end, I'm done with School. I finished this week and to be honest, I can't believe I'm finally done. I am an MBA. I'm the first in my family to get a Master's degree which I'm pretty proud of. It was a lot of hard work, but I'm done and glad to be so. I'm not exactly sure how this will translate to my career, but it can only help and I'm looking forward to finding out where it might take me.

The band is getting ready to take off again. We are still called the band because we haven't been creative enough to find a name yet. I'm sure one will come to us at the appointed time. We start practicing next week a little more seriously and that should be good. Once we've polished some songs, we can start looking to play more often. That should come just about the time our new baby is due.

If you haven't heard, we are expecting a boy. We are very excited about it because it sort of rounds out our family. We've got a name that we're kicking around, but I'll wait to announce it until later. Want to be sure that it sticks.

Game 7 last night was interesting. I've discovered that there are a few things I am sure of regarding NBA basketball.
1. I have no earthly idea what a foul is anymore. I used to know. But somewhere between the 80's and now, I've completely lost all sense of what it is. I also don't know what travelling is, what carrying is, and why basketball is now a contact sport. I get so frustrated watching the hand-checking, mugging, etc. happen with no consequences and then when someone goes to the rim, they get breathed on wrong and it's a foul.... and the basket counts (after four steps...) I've just decided not to worry about it because I can't figure it out anyway.
2. Tim Duncan went from playoff goat to playoff MVP in 30 minutes. He played poorly in games 5 and 6. You simply have to make free throws when you go to the line in crunch time. And watching him beat himself up after missing them was even worse than watching him miss them. After game 6 I was ready to proclaim Tim as overrated. I still think that the "best power forward to ever play the game" finds a way around Ben Wallace without losing the ball every other time. I think the jury is out on him.
3. The NBA will always frustrate me because their labor impasse lasted -4 days. That would be negative four stinkin days. The NHL on the other hand is at a year and counting and while there is hope in sight, who knows with this cast of characters.

Speaking of the NHL, there was a great Terry Frei article on ESPN.com about how the NHL should completely start over. Check it out here. The only thing I would change is that each team should get to protect three players and that's it. For Dallas, I think that would be Mike Modano, Brenden Morrow, and Marty Turco. Everyone else is free game. (You know, it felt great just to type those names... I really miss hockey).

Well, I think that's it for now. Talk to you later.