today's .plan

Hearing the NPR report this morning on last night's college football championship, including how, in Austin right after the game, fans were already wearing their 2006 Champion t-shirts, I was reminded of how we made up t-shirts at the bookstore in Kansas prophylactically like that. In particular we had hundreds of Fiesta (or Holiday?) Bowl winner shirts on hand one year, ready to reap the bounty of bucks if the team won. I asked what we'd be doing with the shirts if the team lost (which it did); the answer was that they'd probably be donated to charity heading out of the country (no doubt for a tax deduction). Somewhere in Central America---where there had been an earthquake, I think---had gotten a truckload of the last no-good-after-all optimistic-for-a-cash-in shirts.

I never did find out where specifically the K-State Fiesta/Holiday Bowl loser/winner shirts ended up. It's a funny and embarrassing thought. But I guess we couldn't have thrift stores in Junction City selling 'em, or the homeless of Ogden wearing 'em, could we. Walking around bearing false witness on who won the big football game could prompt serious fights, or maybe even arrests.

today's .plan

Hearing the NPR report this morning on last night's college football championship, including how, in Austin right after the game, fans were already wearing their 2006 Champion t-shirts, I was reminded of how we made up t-shirts at the bookstore in Kansas prophylactically like that. In particular we had hundreds of Fiesta (or Holiday?) Bowl winner shirts on hand one year, ready to reap the bounty of bucks if the team won. I asked what we'd be doing with the shirts if the team lost (which it did); the answer was that they'd probably be donated to charity heading out of the country (no doubt for a tax deduction). Somewhere in Central America---where there had been an earthquake, I think---had gotten a truckload of the last no-good-after-all optimistic-for-a-cash-in shirts.

I never did find out where specifically the K-State Fiesta/Holiday Bowl loser/winner shirts ended up. It's a funny and embarrassing thought. But I guess we couldn't have thrift stores in Junction City selling 'em, or the homeless of Ogden wearing 'em, could we. Walking around bearing false witness on who won the big football game could prompt serious fights, or maybe even arrests.

10 words looked up a lot last year

Based on online lookups, the #1 Word of the Year for 2005 at Merriam-Webster Online was:

1. integrity

Rounding out the Top Ten:

2. refugee
3. contempt
4. filibuster
5. insipid
6. tsunami
7. pandemic
8. conclave
9. levee
10. inept

"Integrity" resonated with me a bunch this past year, as some of you know. I know someone for whom "contempt" has had a lot of significance, too. #5 and #10, no doubt, had to do with someone whose cronies neglected the #9s and tried to end the right of the opposition to #4.

10 words looked up a lot last year

Based on online lookups, the #1 Word of the Year for 2005 at Merriam-Webster Online was:

1. integrity

Rounding out the Top Ten:

2. refugee
3. contempt
4. filibuster
5. insipid
6. tsunami
7. pandemic
8. conclave
9. levee
10. inept

"Integrity" resonated with me a bunch this past year, as some of you know. I know someone for whom "contempt" has had a lot of significance, too. #5 and #10, no doubt, had to do with someone whose cronies neglected the #9s and tried to end the right of the opposition to #4.