Sometimes, you have to move a chair.

Ahoy:

Quickly, so that I can finish doing what I'm doing. Which is grading.

Or grating.

Sports: It has now become the height of wit among sportswriters to point out that the media has been focusing heavily on the Jerome Bettis story, which strikes me as hilarious, as the people that are being hilarious about repeatedly pointing out that the media sure is talking about Jerome Bettis' hometown a lot are (shock! awe!) members of the media. I'm predicting that by actual gametime, we'll be hearing mockeries of parodies of statements poking fun at the amount of attention that poking fun at the media for covering Bettis' hometown is getting.

That said, I'm remarkably nervous for Sunday, and appear to occasionally resign myself to the worst outcome for the game. While I'm anticipating it, I'll be happy when it's over so that I can stop worrying about it.

News: The governor of West Virginia is proposing what's being called in NYT a moratorium on mining.. Yes, safety needs to be reviewed in the wake of the death of 14 over the past month in these coal mines, and that's of paramount importance. Stopgap solutions aren't. Miners cannot be sent down into mines without being sure of their safety. And the leader of the WV Coal Association has joined in the call for a "moratorium", noting that safety increases productivity. I'm somewhat concerned for the miners that will now have to get by until they can get back to work (and as the article mentions nothing about continuing to pay them, they may be out of luck... though I'll find confirmation on that). Perhaps fining mine owners more than $73 per infraction (in one case) would lead to efforts to maintain a safer atmosphere. While I understand that these kind of regulations are never going to be entirely successful in enforcing behavior, it'd be a start.

Leave the damn groundhog alone. I support the annual event spontaneously becoming a Steelers rally, but I can't imagine a situation which would be analogous to being pulled from a hole by a man in a ridiculous hat while thousands who have surrounded my hole ask me whether or not lighting conditions are conducive to me recognizing that, yes, I have a shadow.

Chicago's got five of the nation's twenty largest bottlenecks, which makes me chuckle, boosted by never having to drive anywhere with just a hint of disappointment at being at the mercy of the guy that's driving the Red Line that decides, ten minutes late already, that he should talk to his friend on the platform for a few minutes.

I'm done now. I believe I may have to move a chair in the very near future. Go about your business.

Edit: So, in the way of an Update, some guy from Borizon called me, told me the people above me have a washer and they didn't actually think that routing the outlet to the washer through the drain of the sink might cause a problem. They've "sent a guy out to check on it", but I'm pretty sure we're not at the end here.