Three characters

LJ tagged me for a meme. While this wouldn't normally compel me to blog, I will humor her just this once.

Name three characters (from books)...

1. You wish were real so you could meet them.
Aslan, from the Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis). Lions have always been my favorite animal anyway, and meeting Aslan would be wonderful and terrifying at the same time.

Gandalf, from The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkein). Gandalf always intrigued me - he seems to know and understand more about what's happening in the story than almost anyone, as if he has insight into what's going to happen. Yet he has his blind spots as well, which make him rather more endearing. Frodo is a little too helpless; Aragorn, nearly inscrutable; and Sam, just a bit too one-dimensional. Gandalf is my favorite character from LOTR, and one it would be interesting to know.

John Clark, from the Jack Ryan novels (Tom Clancy). Clark is a mysterious and deadly CIA operative who is a patriot with his own moral code. He is completely loyal to his friends and his enemies? Well, they have a way of meeting their end with extreme prejudice. Don't mess with The Snake.

2. You would like to be.
It's probably not exactly abiding with the rules, but since I have lots of Star Wars books, I'm going to say a Jedi. Who wouldn't want to be able to sense others' thoughts, move objects with your mind, and fight with a lightsaber? "These are not the droids you're looking for."

Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson). That counts as a character from a book, right? Calvin's smart-alecky attitude I have got down pat, but his absolute unwillingness to accept school/chores/girls/or anything else he doesn't like without a fight (usually in vain) I also can identify with. I like his imagination too.

Hmm, this is harder than I thought. Maybe Jack Hawkins in Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson). Although the first part of the book doesn't go too well for him, being left a treasure and pretty much single-handedly rounding up a band of pirates is pretty sweet.

3. Scare You.

Captain Ahab, from Moby-Dick (Herman Melville) scares me, mainly because people with insane obsessions are scary.

I'm reading this series of Star Wars books called Legacy of the Force (only four of the nine books have yet been released). The main character, Jacen Solo, is the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, and he's been one of my favorite characters over the last 15 years since he was created. He is a very powerful Jedi, but he is turning to the dark side, and he will become a Sith (I know this due to marketing for the books). The scary part is that his master has foretold that he will have to sacrifice (kill) someone precious to him to become a Sith lord. I am dreading who it is going to be. They've already killed off Chewbacca and Jacen's brother Anakin in the last few years, so I have a feeling that they're going with someone pretty important, especially because this storyline with Jacen has been building for several years now.

Mrs. Havisham from Great Expectations (Charles Dickens). That lady was creepy.

In putting together this little bit of nothing, I realized that I don't really read much fiction, or more accurately, I read a very narrow range of fiction. Most of my reading, other than Star Wars books, is history, biography, scientific or political. Now I am presumably supposed to pass this on to other bloggers, but since I don't often read blogs, other than LJ's, I don't guess I will.

This quiz tells me I'm smart...

You paid attention during 100% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

And although I did have a couple of good teachers in high school, the autodidact comment is on point. Most of the things I know about history, science, religion, politics, art, etc., were self-taught (or at least self-reinforced). Does it make me a better person? No, but it doesn't do much for humility.

24 fever

LJ and I are addicted to the Fox Television show "24." Interestingly, we don't have cable, satellite or even antenna television, so we have watched every episode through Netflix. This is great because you get the whole season one DVD after another with no commercials. The downside is that while everyone is talking about season 6, we won't have full-season DVDs to watch until (usually) November. Through the wonders of the Internet, however, LJ has met a blog friend who is also a big "24" fan. She has agreed to record the show for us, and two DVDs with the first four episodes (which aired earlier this week) arrived in the mail today!

Jenn, you are my new best friend!

Thursday Thirteen: Movie Lines

LJ and I are doing complementary themes today. She listed her 13 favorite lines from "Raising Arizona". So, for my Thursday Thirteen I'm going to list the 13 other favorite lines that she left out. There are just too many from this movie.

1. "Hurry't up, I'm in dutch with the wife."
2. "Never leave a man behind!"
3. "No one sleeps naked in this house!"
4. "I love him so much!" "I know you do honey. I know you do."
5. "Darn good cereal flakes you got here, Mrs. McDonough."
6. "Okay, then."
7. "Government do take a bite."
8. "The doctor told us her insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase."
9. "We're set to pop here, honey."
10. "You want to find a man, you call a manhunter. You want to find a Dunkin' Donuts, call a cop."
11. "And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."
12. "I think I got the best one."
13. "I don't know. Maybe it was Utah."

Florida-Ohio State (BCS National Championship)

So although we don't have cable, I'm listening to the national championship game on the radio. It's 34-14 Florida at the half. I figured that Ohio State would be much more competitive, given the fact that Auburn beat Florida, and Alabama played Florida even for three quarters (28-13 final). Apparently the SEC really IS that much better than everybody else. I did have a feeling that there might be a little bit of the dynamic that occurred between Miami and Alabama in the 1992 National Championship. So many folks thought Miami was going to kill 'Bama and Miami had been number 1 all year, while Alabama sort of came out of nowhere. It seemed that Ohio State had that kind of deal going, although you should hear all the radio guys acting like they knew Florida was going to win all along. Puh-lease!

What would you do?

Let me draw you a picture.

Suppose you had a high-pressure, high-paying job at Company A. You took the job a couple of years ago, thinking it was your dream job. As it turns out, you really liked the place you worked previously better. You and your wife are both unhappy, and wish that you had never left your old position. Then one day Company B, a company very similar to the one you used to work for, comes calling. You aren't sure about this new company - you are quite familiar with them and know that they've had high turnover in the past. However, you think you might enjoy working there in a way that you don't enjoy your current job, so you entertain the idea.

The next day, you're at lunch with your boss at Company A. An acquaintance comes up to your table. You aren't really friendly with this person, but you know that he knows many of your friends and talks to them often. He comes out right in front of your bos and blurts out, "I hear you're considering a new job at company B." How do you respond?

a) Say "Yes, as a matter of fact I am." This would be the truth. However, this would ruin your relationship with your boss, putting you in jeopardy when you aren't at all sure about whether you will take the job at Company B.

b) Say "No comment." This seems like a safe answer, but at the very least, your boss will suspect that you are looking for other jobs. Your boss has a reputation as a cutthroat businessman, and this alone might induce him to begin looking for your replacement.

c) Say "No, that's not true." Obviously this is a false statement. You don't know where this acquaintance got that information and you can be pretty sure that your friends will feel betrayed if it turns out that you DO take the job at Company B. But you don't want to burn bridges at Company A should it turn out that the opportunity at Company B isn't the one you're looking for.

Can you honestly say you wouldn't choose option C? Assume further that this acquaintance won't let it go, but insists that he has heard you were looking strongly at Company B, that you are at the top of their list, and that he wants you to look him in the eye and tell him that you will never consider a job at Company B. Now what do you do?

I wish that all the folks in the Miami media and ESPN would put themselves in Nick Saban's position before calling him a liar when he was put in a difficult situation where they likely would have done the same thing. I'm convinced that most of the media is offended not because Saban was disingenuous (although in all honesty it's likely that none of them believed him anyway), but because he dared to be disingenuous with them. What a bunch of hypocrites.

That being said, I am excited about Saban at Alabama. I didn't hate Mike Shula, but he proved himself insufficient to the task of leading this team. It's unfortunate that all the folks who cry about giving Shula more time either ignored or were unaware of the discipline issues that led to the disintegration of this team. Shula expected the players to act like professionals rather than the immature 18-22 year olds they are. And as he demonstrated in every facet of his tenure at Alabama, he was unable or unwilling to adjust when circumstances dictated that he do so. What this program needs more than anything right now is a leader. Saban will be that leader. Mike Shula never was.