Spent the day transferring data on computers. You know how that goes, right? Here are a bunch of files on this machine. But this machine is going to be replaced by that machine. So you have to move all of these directories and files from here to there.
Fortunately I have a great server I can connect to and swap out files. Unfortunately I have a lot of big files. A lot. And big ones. So this took Much of the day and night.
And then the process of making sure you don’t need any of those other files. And then double checking that, because once you return this computer it is over, pal.
And then loading new software on the new machine. Only you don’t have all of the software, so you have to track people down tomorrow. No matter, though.
Tonight the students are working on the newspaper. Two weeks ago, on their first issue, they were in the newsroom until 5 a.m. Last week it was 3 a.m. Here’s to hoping that’s a trend.
But they working hard and laughing and sound like they are enjoying their evening. They do good work and ask a few questions and I’m impressed by the quality of work they are producing in just two weeks. They have a great deal of potential.
Went for a swim tonight. I did 1.25 miles. That’s 45 laps, or 90 lengths, if you are counting. It has to be the greatest distance I’ve ever traveled in water that didn’t include a boat or inner tube.
I did 250 yards with a breaststroke. It was slow. It was probably sloppy. And I was exhausted from just that. This summer I could do about four strokes before I had to stop because of my shoulder, so 250 sloppy yards is a tremendous improvement. Someone should have been there to give me a high five.
Well, maybe a low five.
I do not know what is happening.
Also, people need to learn how to swim in lanes. I’d complain, but the guy might read this and just keep distractedly swim right on to my side.
The Samford football team wrapping up practice:
Pat Sullivan just rejoined the team. The head coach had spinal fusion surgery and missed the first three games of the season, but returned on Saturday to coach from a booth above the field.
I’ve interviewed Sullivan. We’ve shook hands. He’s 63 and has paws made of stone and fingers made of iron. Some of his players have been in my classes. I’ve dismissed classes early and watched his players stay in the room. Because, I was told, “Coach said the class runs until 5:30, I don’t want to see you down here until 5:30. Stay in the class.” He’s a good man. A solid, certain, Southern gentleman. The kind of man you’d want to grow up to be like.
I don’t know if he is back at practice yet, out in the gloom and rain and under the low clouds — you can see them clinging to the top of the mountain — but I know that’s where he wants to be.
Things to read: Full of stories I’ve enjoyed today, which you might appreciate as well.
Since we were talking about football, did you hear the one about the team who’s bus caught fire last weekend? It was a small college in Alabama. Concordia-Selma was on their way to a game at the time:
Concordia, a small United States Collegiate Athletic Association school located in a city more famous for its role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s than anything, saw all of its football equipment, $90,000 worth, including their only set of jerseys, get destroyed in a freak bus fire on its way to play Miles College this past Saturday.
In the days since the incident, the team has drawn closer and others have been drawn to it, donating everything from shoulder pads to girdles so the Hornets can continue their season Thursday at 6 p.m. in Demopolis against West Alabama.
[…]
“It’s made us value each other, made us value life more,” (freshman Treyvond) Moore said. “We look at those pictures and we’re like, ‘Man, that could’ve been us. But it wasn’t. It’s just brought us together as a team. I feel like can’t nothing divide us.”
The local story, with another incredible picture of the bus that carried 62 people:
We have about 10 helmets left,” (head football coach Don) Lee said. “We lost jerseys, camera equipment, shoulder pads, everything. Right now, we’re trying to figure out what we need and where to get it from.”
Lee said he had received a call from Dallas County High School, which offered some shoulder pads to the program, but that won’t be enough to meet the demands of a college program scheduled to play its next game Thursday. Concordia College-Ann Arbor in Michigan has also called and offered aid.
“We are still going to play Thursday,” Lee said of the Hornets’ scheduled game in Livingston against the University of West Alabama. “UWA has been great. Their coach called me Saturday afternoon, while we were still on the side of the road, asking if there was anything they could do.”
Deadspin examines Sports Illustrated’s Oklahoma State story and their ultimately thoughtful critique can be shared in one concise sentence:
At the exact point where the hard work started, SI stopped.
Time: Little Boy To Kenya Gunman: ‘You’re A Bad Man’
And from the campus blog:
And now back to that computer. And the newspaper. Here’s to hoping it won’t be a 3 a.m. kind of night.
