dang... i forgot how tiring working can be-- i haven't had any time to write any blogs for you guys... shame on me! i guess being busy is better than being bored. what a glorious day it is today in the bay area. beautiful blue skies with few clouds to be seen. i hope the weather holds up as i'm going to be going to the a's/yankees playoff game. the a's have a two games to zip lead so this could be the end of the yankees' dynasty. history in the making... just how i like it.

i met a new mandarin conversation partner today. it was nice to practice my chinese again. i don't think that i'm rusty from my china trip but practicing is always helpful. my conversation partner doesn't speak too quickly thankfully, so we were able to carry on a good discussion. hopefully, my chinese skills will continue to expand.

of course, scheduling to meet her this morning was a totally "gilbert" idea as i knew that i would be out all night at cal basketball's midnight madness event. this year's event was ok but seemed to pale in comparison to ones in the past. for one there were no free t-shirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i don't know about you, but the midnight madness shirt was a regular staple in my collegiate wardrobe... i guess i was bummed out that they didn't hand out shirts to all of the attendees. aside from the giveaway appeal, i always thought that it was a good way of building spirit and marketing the team throughout the campus.

(editor's note: the writer was able to acquire this year's putrid t-shirt by rebounding a shirt that had been thrown into the audience. for those who don't know... rebounding may be the author's only redeemable basketball skill)

as for the festivities of the event... the audience slam dunk contest (lowered rims) and three point showing display were pretty standard fare (aside from the asian guy who jumped over a chair to dunk the ball). [ed. note 2: i personally would have done a reverse windmill dunk with a couple of pump moves but i wanted to save that move for the lowell courts.]
the scrimmages that the men's and women's teams ran were pretty sloppy-- filled with lots of hotdogging and goofing off. i'm not sure but i was very unimpressed. maybe because i've got such high hopes and i wanted to be impressed. the sight of highly regarded jamal sampson running layup drills and missing all of them with lazy shots was very poor. hopefully, ben braun will get them in shape-- we can't afford for the basketball team to follow the football team down the tubes.

anyways, last night was a terrific way to end my week... it was a week filled with lots of stories that i will have to share with you all a little later. until then...