--268 days.

--Just wanted to say one thing. Billy Beane rocks (from SI.com):

Asked about the annual exodus of such stars as Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, etc., GM Billy Beane said: 'It is like Menudo, where guys reach a certain age and are kicked out of the band. And they go on to be Ricky Martins somewhere else.' When you're playing like they are, you can joke about such things.

--269 days.

--Well, my car's "in the shop," meaning, waiting for my Dad to get a chance to fix it. It nearly overheated on Friday on the way home from working and I found it was leaking antifreeze the next day, after all had cooled off. It actually looked pretty bad too, as though it was coming directly from the engine. So my Dad took it and, thankfully, only has to replace a worn down, $6 plastic tube. Phew! (knock on wood!)

--Still, I've had to take the train to work every day this week...but then again, at $3.30 one way on the Metra, it is starting to become a deal compared to gas prices. The only "down side" is that I don't trust the ol' CTA just yet to get me to the Metra on time, so I get up at 6:15 to leave at 7 to get to work by 9. I've made it at 8:10 each day thus far, and although that has allowed me to leave work at 4:15, it's not a "habit" I'd like to continue (nor would my bosses, frankly, and I can understand that).

--One week until the mini vacation to Springfield. It'll be nice to get away for a while, and to visit the old stomping grounds. You know, it's amazing how much I actually kind of miss the place. I guess that there are things about life there that I always wished I could bring here. It was just much simpler, in a sense. Life was, anyway. I basically had myself and my job and a small collection of friends at the time, and really, I had no one else to answer to. If I wanted to go for a drive through the Ozarks, I could. If I wanted to sleep in all day on my day off, I could. If I wanted to eat at a steak house for dinner, again, I could. It was easier. Would I want to live that way? Well, of course, there were negatives. Some of you may have the emails--very similar to Laz's Pittsburgh emails. At any rate, like I said, there are definitely things I loved about the place, and visiting will be great. The place has definitely changed since I was last there a couple years ago.

--But for now, I'll have to keep slugging through work, ya know? :) Just like everyone else.

--Hopefully there won't be as much lag between this and the next post.