stadium ramblings

So on the way home from the mall today, after asking the good people of AT&T to look at my phone's battery--

(Which, as an aside, they could tell me nothing about. My first indication of something wrong was it dying unexpectedly on or prior to Valentine's Day and someone trying to reach me and quickly getting worried when I didn't answer and didn't return calls. I eventually figured that out when I reached work the next day to find voice mail at my number there. Kind of proves how much I check my phone, doesn't it? [As a note to the general public: I check my email far more often than I check to see if I've been called. If you can, try emailing before getting worried.])

I realized that you can see the stadium from the mall.

Let me repeat that. You can see the stadium from the mall.

Let me add that they're about four miles apart.

Given, the fact that it's a straight shot down the valley between the two may have something to do with that. And winter, so no leaves on the trees to block the view. Still.

I took it as kind of depressing, indicative of the tie between the area in general and the stadium in specific, both literally and metaphorically.

Admissions story time: recently, we got a caller who asked if Joe Paterno (our head coach, for those not familiar) had any sway in admissions decisions. I have no idea what the person who responded said, but the only commentary when it was brought up was that if the person was asking us, they certainly didn't have enough pull with JoePa to ask the favor in the first place. Even if it mattered. End of story.

Someone more enthusiastic about collegiate sports may have seen this as a good sign: an indication of the awe-inspiring colossus it's become around here.

I'm not that person.

I have boundless enthusiasm about some programs here. Others I'm less thrilled with. (Similar would be true of almost any institution I've been involved with, I might add.) On the up side, that means I should rarely become disillusioned--I'm quite realistic about the things I throw my weight behind. On the down side, some take it as cynicism. It's a tough call.

Speaking of cynicism, though: one current project is a two-disc mix CD set of songs that have been getting stuck in my head lately. One disc is the songs I can stand. The other I could go forever without hearing (and would, given my druthers). But because I'm just that kind, I'm passing both out together.

One could even think that speaks of balance. If they didn't know better.