Football and family: Glass, Modern, and Mormon

I know I know. It's still basketball season, and Frank Martin is awesome, and we have the big ESPN Gameday tomorrow against KU and everyone is excited. Including me. But football owns my heart. My soul. My toenails. Everything. So it was monumental that an email from John Currie appeared in my inbox this morning, talking about the new and improved 2010 football schedule.

Here it is, in all its glory:

September 4 UCLA
September 11 Missouri State
September 18 Iowa State (Arrowhead Stadium)
September 25 Central Florida
October 2 BYE
October 7 Nebraska (ESPN)
October 16 at Kansas
October 23 at Baylor
October 30 Oklahoma State
November 6 Texas
November 13 at Missouri
November 20 at Colorado
November 27 at North Texas

I'm pretty pumped. Not only do we get a rematch in Kansas City vs. Iowa State, but we have a big Thursday ESPN showdown with Nebraska. And it's at home! What a great week that will be. It is particularly helpful because cousin Ben is getting married on the 9th, and I would have had to sulkily attend while pining for a day of pajamas, hot wings and Lee Corso. Now I can attend both happily. God is good.

***

“What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by, or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse.” - Salinger; January 1, 1919 - January 27, 2010

JD Salinger died this week. I, like the rest of the world, am impatiently waiting to see if a treasure trove of work exists in that mysterious house in New Hampshire, but I'm anxious about it. Is it disrespectful to want to see it? Is it greedy of me to want more? I've always been mystified by his work, particularly the Glass family. Franny and Zooey eluded and annoyed me. Nine Stories made me hurt more than anything I've ever read/seen/heard. This, plus the restructuring of Miramax makes me feel as if the world has outgrown my interests. Melodramatic? Most definitely. Though the New York Times provides some hope for a change.

***

Family Programming

You should all be watching Modern Family. Eric Stonestreet (Cameron) is a K-State alum and was absolutely adorable in his Ellen interview. Ed O'Neill is hilarious and crotchety and so real to me. Ty Burrell is ridiculous. And I am so so happy that Sofia Vergara does interviews. I haven't met anyone who doesn't love it, so I defy you to find fault.


My other favorite "modern" TV family are the Henricksons. Steven and I just finished season 3 of Big Love and boy howdy, do they know how to spin a web of conflict. It is a serious inspiration to all those novel writers in search of plot. Big Love is masterful at creating roadblocks.

***

My Best Friend's Wedding

I'm going to Omaha this weekend to be a good maid of honor. Hailey and I are pre-wedding dress shopping for the destination wedding of a lifetime. (Hers, not mine). I'm posting this now because I am trying to make an effort to take more pictures and post them on this blog. I know how you all have been waiting patiently for more examples of my photographic prowess, not to mention creative and witty anecdotes about life in steak city. This will be my first trip to Omaha with no class obligations and I am looking forward to kicking back with a good conscience. If I do not follow through with the pictures and post of our adventures, please send me a mean comment. Just not too mean. I bruise easily.