Hmm, it seems that it’s been quite a while since I last posted. This downtime has been due to being busy, not having anything to write about and not being motivated to try to think of something to write about. It’s time for some quick hit thoughts, though.

I have to admit, after having worked in a small company for several years, I was worried that moving to a more corporate environment would be a difficult, that the structure, procedures, policies, etc would drive me nuts. While that has been the case to some extent, there are definitely perks that make up for it. For instance, I recently learned that I had two floating holidays to use by the end of the year, so even though my boss had already made up the schedule for the rest of the year, I got to pick two days to take off. So, I’m off Tues and Wed of this week now Woohoo! I really need this time off to rest up and relax, as the past few weeks have been stressful and have worn me out.

Even though I have this time off, I’m still not going to have all that much time to sit around and do nothing. Seems several traditions for this time of year have popped up recently. Of course, there’s the usual Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family, but there’s also the annual turkey day football game as well as paintball on Saturday. I also need to work on getting my outside Christmas decorations up before it gets too terribly cold.

Yes, college basketball season is underway! Boo, UK has already suffered their first loss of the season. They fell to #17 Iowa tonight 67-63 in the Guardians Classic. My thoughts on this year’s team? Wow, where to begin… There’s potential for the team to go all the way for sure, but lots of work needs to be done before that becomes reality. LOTS of work. They still can’t make free throws to save their life, we’ve lost our inside game and some players (*ahem* Sparks, Bradley*ahem*) take ridiculous, completely uncalled for shots. In tonight’s game, it felt like we couldn’t buy a basket - they shot 33%. Yuck! Bright spots include JuCo transfer Rekalin Sims, who ended up with 22 points, most of those from 3 pointers and Rajon Rando, the 6′ 1″ guard who had 19 rebounds. However, I think that ultimately underscores the team’s problem - we’re missing an inside presence. This year’s team is guard dominated, which will lead to tough games down the stretch against more physical teams. Another important thing that’s missing is leadership. With the graduation of Chuck Hayes, I have yet to see a player step up and take his leadership role. Sparks is not fit for that role, Rondo is too young and no one else has a presence to handle that. It could be a bumpy ride this season, Cat fans, so hold on tight.

OK, that’s all I have for now. Stay tuned for a post later this week on my plans for a puppet team, something that I’m really excited about but not sure if it’ll turn into a reality…