Sad news this morning. Dino De Laurentiis, best known to baby boomers for playing the role of the family dog in “The Flintstones,” has passed away at the tender age of 91. Dino was also known for producing such classic films as Barbarella, Dune, Death Wish, Serpico, and Blue “don’t you f*cking look at me” Velvet (among many, many others). Hard to believe that Dino outlived Dennis Hopper. Oh, wait. I guess that’s not all that hard to believe after all.

So, it’s Friday. I have to admit, from this end of things, the week seems to have flown by (though while I was in the midst of it, it seemed to take forever; how’s that work?). I can’t tell you the last time I went out and did something on a Friday night (or any other night, come to think of it), but, tonight, a friend of a friend’s band is playing at a coffee house type place on my side of town (actually, in a neighboring town, but that’s pretty close out here where I live these days; the general rule of thumb is that, when somebody asks you how far it is to one place or another, the answer is “about a half hour”). So, we’re gonna meet out there, and I’ll try not to feel too terribly awkward as I hang out and not have a beer (and stay awake past eight o’clock). And then, who knows? Maybe I’ll even watch Bill Maher in “real time” (eh? Get it?). But probably not. I’ll probably just go to bed and watch it tomorrow morning at, like, 6 o’clock or something (after I watch Sanctuary).

Basketball season officially starts tonight as SU hosts the Northern Iowa Panthers. The start of hoops season is always a big deal around these parts, but it’s a pleasant surprise that it’s not coming as blessed relief from another dismal football season. While SU football isn’t exactly in the running for a National Championship, they are still in the running for a bowl game, and can finish no worse than 6-6 this year. As for the b’ball team, we have a whole bunch of new highly regarded freshmen that will hopefully live up to their potential (and – dare I dream? – bring us a little of that old Carmelo Magic. Can it be mere coincidence that one of our most highly anticipated recruits is a center by the name of Fab Melo?).

Two more fillings replaced yesterday, with one being “very deep” and causing a bit of sensitivity. Hopefully that’s gone away now (hard to tell until I fully awaken, I guess). Another $100 down the tubes (thank goodness I have insurance, or who knows how much I’d be paying).

Today is Nadia Comaneci’s birthday (again, if you’re a baby boomer, you certainly remember her). She turns 49 today, which makes her almost as old as I am. And she has apparently aged much, much better than I have (not that I’m exactly setting the bar real high).

It’s also Al Michaels’ birthday, but since he didn’t go to SU, who really cares?

Travis, here’s a joke for ya: Obama is a Socialist. :rofl2:

In yet another sign of the coming apocalypse, a local woman (well, not real local, but in Oneida, which is something like 40 miles from where I live. That makes it pretty close by our standards up here in the Great White North) was attacked – rather relentlessly – by a 2 pound monkey.

Nick Fedchenko, of Prospect Street in Oneida Castle, said his wife Amy was playing with their two-year-old son on the newly installed tire swing in the backyard when they were attacked by an escaped capuchin monkey.

“Out of nowhere a monkey ran up and was going after our son,” he said. “She intervened and the monkey attacked. It jumped on her several times and she threw it off. It bit her twice and penetrated….”

😯 Penetrated? My goodness. A sexual assault!

“She had to keep the monkey at bay…all the way to the house until she could get me,” he said. “The monkey was coming at her the whole time. When she got to me, the monkey was at our side garage door trying to get in…. I was standing in my garage shocked to see that there was a monkey wrenching at the door.”

Man. That’s one horny monkey.

Good news on the tractor front, as it seems to be back up and running (thanks to my friend John), and sporting a nice new shiny set of tire chains (that will no longer be shiny by Monday morning). I won’t say what was wrong, because then I’d have to admit that I’m stupid, but it’s nice to know that I’ll be able to plow the driveway if need be.

No need for snow plowing this weekend, though. It isn’t gonna hit 60 as previously predicted, but it will get into the 50’s and be sunny, which is AOK by me. I have much trailblazing to do before it’s time to go back to work on Monday morning.

And Monday morning will come very early indeed, because we’re doing a rather major implementation and I need to get to work by 7:00 (which means leaving the house by 6:30 because work, like most things, is about a half hour away). This is a very visible system that will impact all 6,500+ employees where I work (in particular, HR, Payroll, and all the upper mucky-mucks), and there are large parts of it that just couldn’t be adequately tested before going live. Whereas I was responsible for a major part of the server setup, my life will be quite miserable if this turns out to be a dismal failure. So Monday has the potential to really suck.

Today, though, it’s Friday, ya bastids. I’ll worry about Monday when I can’t sleep Sunday night.