I can't stand how you have to pay so much to go to school and then the bill comes in for the textbooks.  Of course you need books to teach most classes, but sometimes professors don't take into account the budgets that their students live on.  I am one of the lucky ones because I know how to save my money, but that is no excuse for them.

For one of my classes this semester, I found the price of a 100-page book to be $295.00 on Amazon.  Is this book golf-leaf pages and encrusted with diamonds and rare gems?  Come one now.  When a class requires the purchase of at least five books and one of them is almost $300 (and probably is after shipping and tax), you would think that a thought would pass their mind that says that maybe people won't be able to afford these books comfortably.

I'm just saying is all . . .

So the new fall lineup is going to provide some challenges, but I basically have a show for every night of the week.  This means that I will be doing a lot of recording on the computer and then catching up when I find the time.

Here is my schedule:

Sunday: Simpsons, American Dad, Desperate Housewive, Family Guy, SNF

Monday: How I Met Your Mother, MNF

Tuesday: Boston Legal

Wednesday: South Park (maybe), Drawn Together (maybe)

Thursday: Grey's Anatomy, ER (big night for medical shows)

Friday: Monk (when it was in season, for this I have to wait till January)

Saturday: this is the day I can definitely play catchup, there is nothing on Saturday's since SNL started to go downhill, but I may just be watching college football in the background

That's it!

I have been up at UMass for over a month now, but this is the first time that I have been actively involved in the educational side of my purpose here.  There was an orientation on Tuesday, but the real stuff started just hours ago with my first class at 7PM.

It was good.  I can already tell that I will need to buckle down during this program because just this one class has enough work for three undergrad classes.  On top of that, I have to balance my random day job.  It was interesting because we went back to elementary school with some of the activities, but it was all part of the educational process.

So there was a movie that I have been waiting for years to come out on DVD and it finally did yesterday.  That movie was Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

There were only two ways to get it on DVD previously, either get the whole Mel Brooks collection which is close to $100 or order it from Germany for the equivilant of $40.  I was not doing either way, so to have it come out on DVD individually and for only $10 was amazing.

Of course, I came home after purchaing it to watch it and I was not disappointed.  The movie comes on TV every once in a while, but they have to cut things out for commercials and for appropriate content.  This was much better.  There are parts that I didn't remember so well and there were lines I have not heard in quite some time.  I am very pleased with my purchase and can now figure out which movie to obsess over for the next time period until it comes out.

So the three teams I follow in college football had good opening weeks.  Maryland took out William & Mary 27-14, UMass destroyed Colgate 28-7, and Penn State defeated Akron 34-16.

All three of these teams have the chance to make bowl games if they continue to play well, but we will have to wait and see.  Maryland has missed out on the opportunity for two straight year (after having a great season capped by a 42-7 win over WVU in the Gator Bowl).  UMass goes through waves of success so we will need to see if this is a good year.  Penn State had a great season last year and is a legendary school of college football.

Next Weekend

Penn State at Notre Dame (#2)

UMass at Navy

Middle Tennessee St. at Maryland

The man who made a living out in the wild, who held his child over a croc, who wasn't scared of lions or sharks, who has advanced the scientific community with his efforts is now gone.  On a recent trip to document marine life, Steve Irwin got into a rough spot with a sting ray and was stabbed by the sharp barb on the ray's tail under his rib cage and into his heart.  Out of all of the dangerous positions he put himself in, he died in a way that no man has ever been recorded as dying from.  Farewell to an adventurous man, a man who has advanced research, and to a man who died doing something he was passionate about (documenting animals in the wild).

My prayers go out to his wife, kids, family, and friends.

I have just seen the movie Invincible and I believe that it fits well into the list of inspirational sports movies.  If you don't know the background story, Vincent Papale was a bartender and substitute teacher during the 70s, during a time of hard luck and unemployment.  Vince suffers a number of disappointments at a time that all of his friends and family are sinking.  The one saving grace in his life is the Philadelphia Eagle, even with three straight sub-par seasons.  When new head coach, Dick Vermeil, steps in, he decides to try some desperate moves to just get the popularity back.  Open tryouts lure many hopeful Eagles fans to try and make the team, but only Papale prevails.

The movie does a great job at showing life for those just hanging on by a thread.  Think back to Cinderella Man, except Papale was not an established professional athlete.  Mark Wahlberg plays the emotional Vince, but one thing that seems to lack in this movie is stand-out acting.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the acting, but there is nothing special about it either.  What really pulls you in is the overall emotion of the movie.  While the characters don't stand out, you are drawn in by the story and the drive to break out of a world that only sets to drag Vince down.

These types of movies are great to see every once in a while because they really tug on the heart strings and play with your emotions.  But the best thing about these movies is that you walk out of the theater with a great, happy feeling.

B+

"Eli's coming, hide your heart girl."

The song by Three Dog Night can be interpreted in two ways.  The real way is that it depicts a womanizer on the prowl and the singer is warning women of his approach.  The second version is that the storm is coming and you need to prepare for the chaos which is quickly approaching.

Of course I took the later definition from the TV show Sports Night, but I feel like the chaos is coming.  School starts in exactly a week and students start to arrive back on campus tomorrow.  I am now in the last day of student staff training and feel like the combination of the start of my regular responsibilities with the start of my grad classes is going to be an interesting combination.  There is still so much to do, but I just don't feel either of the extremes, rushed or ready.

It feels like the calm . . .

Since I have just recently surpassed the 1000 posting mark, I am feeling a little veclemped . . . talk amongst yourselves . . . I'll give you a topic.

Rhode Island, neither a road nor an island.

Discuss!

I find it interesting that so many people develop backbone when they cannot be hunted down for their comments.  What I mean by that it certain people take advantage of the anonymity of the internet to take out their unwanted and unjustified aggression.

Lets take my tourney for example.  Only on the internet would certain people choose to type comments like "this contest is stupid, and you are stupid for doing it" or "you suck at life" or anything else along those lines.  Some of those who read this will know what I am talking about and others will probably laugh at the last comment like that they left on someone's blog.

One thing I am fairly sure of is that if you are someone who makes those comments and you find one on your blog, you probably get ticked off and type a rebuttal.  Benevolence is the answer.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  If you don't appreciate those types of comments, then don't post them yourself.  You are only perpetuating the negativity over the blog system.  Otherwise, if you don't have anything decent to say, you should probably keep your mouth shut.

I use the word "you" not to directly point out any one person for making this error in civility, but as to simply state as a general term.

I fully expect that at least one person will make a joke about this blog and one person will post a nasty comment, but I would say to the latter that they should keep it to themselves.  If you truly want to make that comment to me, then do so at your own risk.  I will say now that I do not appreciate the attitude.