Anyone Want to Be My Moving Buddy?

Moving day is 8 days away and I've yet to sign a lease. Tuesday, the bro and I went up to get my drug test/physical/fingerprinting done, plus look at some apartments. So we left at 5:30am, arriving at the new Detroit Fed building just after 9. It's right off of 75 North, just north of downtown about a mile or two before the 94 interchange. It is a spankin new building, everything state of the art. Unfortunately, the fingerprinting machine wasn't working, so I'll have to make another trip up in the next couple of days whenever it gets fixed.

I had to go to a medical center downtown to get my drug test/physical. We were there for about 2 hours. The test and physical by itself only took 15 minutes, but with the combination of coming in unannounced and the inefficiency of the clinical staff, we were there until a little after noon. Add in I had to be back in Lima at 5:30 to scout basketball, and we didn't have much time to look at apartments.

I had 5 places I wanted to get to, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Plymouth, and Belleville. For one of the few times in my life, I drove with road rage (a product of getting only 4 hours of sleep), as I tried to negotiate the Detroit area. We got to the first 4, but didn't have enough time for the last. I like Rochester Hills and Farmington Hills in that order, but the apartment in Rochester may not be available. The one in Farmington Hills offers a lot, more of which I'll tell you after I hopefully close the deal tomorrow.

The long day continued as my directions to Lima Senior high school were incorrect. We eventually found our way, missing the 1st half of the game. We arrived home a little before 10, basically making it an 18 hour car ride. I don't recommend it.

I actually have to think about packing up. Luckily, a lot of the stuff is sitting out in the garage, ready to go as I didn't touch it. But this move will require the taking of more stuff, since Detroit will become my permanent home, unlike Miami which was semi-permanent.

I've gotta say, it's kind of hard to believe I've hit this point in my life. I'm a grownup with a real job. My salary is a real salary, not some university stipend. I actually have to apply what I've learned. This is the moment you work for, what all of your education and upbringing leads to. Now that I'm here, it's like, "What now?" I'll get a better idea of what to do and what to expect once I get started up there, but for now, there are a lot of questions, which is both exciting and a little nerve-wracking.

One other note: I've learned that if you'd like to meet women, eat at Panera Bread. We ate at one in Rochester Hills for lunch Tuesday and I'm telling ya, it's a girl magnet. Every couple of minutes, another one would come in, it was unbelievable. BTW, my favorite sandwich there is the Steak sandwich on Ciabatta bread, yummmmy.

I've also learned that The Palace of Auburn Hills is an NCAA Tournament site for 1st and 2nd round games and tickets are still available. 3rd week of March, that Friday and Sunday. Any takers????? I'll gladly put you up for the night/weekend.

My basketball team plays tomorrow night as we try to improve on our 7-1 record. We play Sidney, a team that shoots 3s and plays no defense. I've scouted them twice and they're not very good, but they're still scary because if they're hitting their 3s, they can be tough to beat. For real, they will pass once, maybe twice, then shoot, regardless if it's a good shot and/or they're open. I'll be able to be on the sidelines for one more game after tomorrow night. I'm going to miss the guys, it's been a lot of fun.

Obviously, the buzz has been about last night's Rose Bowl. I think USC had a chance to take a big lead early, but Reggie Bush's lateral and Matt Leinart's interception kept the game close. Vince Young, what can ya say. I don't think anyone should mess with his release point, you're just asking for trouble. He's tall enough where he can get by with it in the NFL. I'm all for guys staying in school, but I think Vince should go pro if he wants to maximize his financial possibilities.

So college hoops is the main focus now and there were some good games tonight. Villanova passed a big road test, winning at Louisville. This was my first chance to watch Nova and I was impressed the way they play smallball. Their guards can all handle the ball, they can all shoot, and they can all put it on the floor. Louisville did a good job defending them, but when they guarded tighter on the perimeter, that's when Jason Fraser got some touches inside and finished Louisville off. All 4 are great shooters, so you can't play off of one and help on another. There's talk that Curtis Sumpter may be ready to come back late February. Look out if he can. As for Louisville, Taqean Dean got in foul trouble and never got in the flow of the game. Juan Palacios is capable from the perimeter, but he's better when he works inside, then pops outside after he's established himself. He didn't do that tonight. David Padgett impressed me. I didn't think much of him when he was at Kansas, but tonight he showed he could finish strong inside, and take his man off the dribble. Louisville plays good defense, but their backcourt ballhandling and shooting are too inconsistent right now.

The second half of the doubleheader saw Illinois and Dee Brown defeat Michigan St. Illinois can play defense. They are big, long, and quick at every position, except for Brown, but he's doubly quick. Michigan St. played good defense also, but Brown was just too good tonight, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot. It'll be interesting to see what happens when they play in East Lansing later in the year. I still like Michigan St. more than Illinois for the long run. Illinois needs reliable 2nd and 3rd options on offense.

What a tragedy in West Virginia involving the coal miners. I can't imagine hearing my loved one survived, then 3 hours later, hearing they were really dead. If I were running that rescue operation, I would double check everything and come up with a code that wasn't confusing. How can you mix up dead/alive??? Sadly, this probably won't be the last coal mining disaster because of the danger involved.

There are two movies I'd really like to see: Munich, the story about the aftermath of the Munich Olympics disaster, and Road to Glory I think it is, the story about Texas Western's 1966 NCAA championship basketball team, the first team to win the championship that started 5 African-American players. If anyone has seen either of these, let me know how they were, I'm interested to hear what you have to say. They both look really good.

Moving in 8 days, anyone want to help me pack haha???