What I'm Reading 4.27; small horses, oil in the gulf, dead wallabies and redirected flights

Today I felt like I was pumping out stories like the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Okay, that's in poor taste, at least to the Gulf sea-life, but also to those people who really are pumping out stories like nobodies business.

We've got snow in New England, Oil in the Gulf, a plane re-routed on its way from Paris to Atlanta to Bangor, Maine and dogs killing wallabies. I can't imagine the summer will be any more exciting.

The drilling to offset and redirect the oil being spilled into the Gulf, will take months to complete.

The plane I mentioned, was redirected to a Maine airport after an passenger said he had a fake passport and explosives in his luggage.

In Gaston, Ind. a woman is nursing a baby wallaby, after dogs apparently killed her four wallabies. The baby was in the mother's pouch. Weird.

If you're familiar with baseballreference.com, check out the many teams and jerseys of Matt Stairs.

The NY Giants have invited 33-year-old, former-Marine and Ball State Cardinal, Brandon Crawford to training camp.

An interesting interview with Jorge Posada.

A 6-pound horse may set a world record.

A man in Montana was fined for scaring 7-year old.

The saga goes on in the iPhone 4 saga.

What I'm Reading 1.14

I have been gone for a while but not without taking notes on everything taking place in our interesting world.

- The Christmas season came and went, while I regret I didn't give feedback on the joyous celebrations of the birth of Santa Clause.

- The dog, Bella, has continued to grow - as it stands, after a brief veterinarian appointment last week - she weighs in at more than 17 lbs. But the report did not come without a prophecy from the dog master, who felt she was large for her age and we could be looking at a 80 lb. beast roaming the hardwood floors of the Sheets estate in a short time. Oh and she is pretty well potty trained.

- I think I've drank more tea than Queen Elizabeth in the past month - my thirst for the stuff is fueled by my idea that the more I drink the closer I'll be back in London, oh London, more on that later.

- I've applied for jobs in different areas but have had no good news, as of today at 9:11 a.m. EST, including one data analyst job at the hospital.

- Ball State's football season went into the garbage can after two bad games in a row, and two dreadful performances by QB Nate Davis. And how does Davis celebrate his mediocrity, why he declares for the NFL draft. Seems a bit wrong, despite losing one's coach to warmer conditions and more lucrative deals.

- I finished Twilight - - pretty good series but no where near Harry Potter.

- 29 days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training!


It has been more than a year since I departed the clutching grip of the U.S. and traveled abroad for the first time.

January 8, came and went and despite my best intentions to skip over the date without feeling at least a tiny bit of regret that I am still have trouble finding what is better here than there, I didn't forget and I found myself dumping trash behind Reid Hospital at 10 a.m.

I have been thinking about the good things and the bad that made my trip so memorable, with the good far outweighing the bad to a degree my vision is clouded about anything bad that happened at all.

The other day I thought about little things, things I can only remember that were insignificant yet are so appealing now. For example, the double-locked front door to our flat and the sound of it slamming; the smell on the street after emerging from the flat: an aroma of exhaust and greek cuisine (there was a Greek restaurant just down the street); the walk to City of Westminster college: through Paddington, around the corner on Porchester Terrance and the smell of the Indian restaurant, seemingly on every corner; the trips to the theatre on Monday and Tuesday nights; No. 15 bus rides; the smell of the Tube. . .

Yes, I miss London and can seriously see myself living there. As I tell everyone who hasn't gotten tired of me talking about it: London is a great city for city lovers and non-city lovers. There is the big city atmosphere but it is more about the differences within neighborhoods which don't act as big-city at all.

I just can't wait to get back and perhaps, with enough luck, have the ability to stay for longer periods of time.

12-0 Ball State!?

When I started going to Ball State in 2005, they were enduring another losing season.

I never would have thought at this point, as I'm about to graduate, that Ball State would have just completed an undefeated season in anything, let alone football.

Pat Forde of ESPN.com has a nice story on the Card's this morning and it can be read here. Once again, I never would have predicted this in 100 years.

And one more story about Nate Davis, QB for the Card's, and his tumultuous rise to becoming what some people see as a potential first-round NFL draft pick.