Announcement

Erin has decided that she'll be going on a blog hiatus for an indefinite period of time.

Since it wouldn't make sense for me to keep a site whose title suggests both of us will be blogging here, I'm headed over to stephenmount.blogspot.com. Feel free to join me there if you'd like. I already have a post up about Oprah, so... yeah. (At some point, there will be site feeds on the sidebars, but they are down now, for some unknown reason. )

EDIT: THEY'RE FIXED

stephenanderin.blogspot.com is, as of now, defunct.

Weekly Poll

In the history of polls, from the steveipedia, on to stephenanderin, I don't believe there's been this close and spread out of a vote. Elf and Wonderful Life tied for the lead with 2 votes a piece. The Grinch and Best Christmas Pageant Ever each got 2 mentions as write ins. The only movie that didn't get a vote was Miracle on 34th Street. Very interesting and inconclusive results.

On to this week's inquiry. My question to you: Should you tip when you eat at Sonic? On one hand, they bring your food to you. On the other hand, it's not a "sit down" restaurant and they don't refill your drinks. Let me know your thoughts, as always, in the comment section.

Happy voting.

A Composition Instructor's Life: In Haikus

I.
White Christmas on stage,
Walking in Memphis at night,
Better than grading.

II.
Papers stacked up high,
My writing hand cramped and sore.
I long for the beach.

III.
My computer died.
Can I have an extension?
Not on your life, dude.

IV.
I spend precious time
Tracking down plagiarizers.
Cheaters never win.

V.
After four papers,
Students still can't format them.
Maybe they're all deaf.

To be continued...

HymnSunday -- Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is giv'n!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heav'n.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him, still
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Immanuel.

Pic o' the Week-o

We're going to Memphis this weekend to see this musical.

Should be fun.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

SPLOG Wednesday

The Orlando Magic continue to roll. They're now 16-4, 11-2 on the road. Dwight Howard is an MVP candidate. His per game line, 23.2 points, 15.1 boards, 3 blocks, while shooting 61.1% from the field. They definitely made the right choice in picking Howard over Okafor in the draft a few years back.

Tough time to be a Miami sports fan:
Dolphins 0-13 (last in the AFC East)
Heat 4-13 (last in the Southeast Division, Eastern Conference)
Hurricane football 5-7 (11th out of 12 in the ACC), no bowl game
Marlins 71-91 (last in the NL East), and just dealt the 2 faces of the franchise, Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis

There are six bowl games that I'm excited about this year, and the rest I don't really care about. Here are the six that intrigue me (all times Central):

AT&T Cotton Bowl @ Dallas, TX -- Missouri vs. Arkansas (1-Jan, 10:30am, FOX)
As I've said before, I'm a big fan of Chase Daniel and Darren McFadden, who will face each other in this game in possibly their last games as college athletes. The matchup should be a solid one. Mizzou really got shafted by not getting a BCS bowl, and the Razerbacks can be very tough on any given day.

Capital One Bowl @ Orlando, FL -- Florida vs. Michigan (1-Jan, 12:00pm, ABC)
Again, should be a great matchup. Florida's my team, so the reasons are obvious that I'd have interest in this one. It'll be fun to watch Tebow one last time before his Junior year. I've a feeling they're going to give the Heisman to McFadden this year. Next year, there will be no reason not to give it to Tebow.

Rose Bowl presented by Citi @ Pasadena, CA -- USC vs. Illinois (1-Jan, 3:30pm, ABC)
I'm thrilled with the season that Illinois has had... they're the only team to defeat the #1 team in the country (Ohio St.), so far. This will be a very tough test for them. The Trojans are fully healthy and are playing well. I imagine the Trojans will win, since it's basically a home game for them, but I'm looking forward to watching the Illini one last time.

Allstate Sugar Bowl @ New Orleans, LA -- Georgia vs. Hawaii (1-Jan, 7:30pm, FOX)
In a normal system, this could be the national championship game. The #4 team in the land (prior to #1 and #2 losing) and the undefeated team. I think it will be a better game than the real title game. Georgia should have been there even if they didn't win the SEC. Knowshon Moreno will win a Heisman in his junior year. He's an absolute beast. Hawaii will try to continue their perfect season. Should be a fun game.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl @ Glendale, AZ -- Oklahoma vs. West Virginia (2-Jan, 7:00pm, FOX)
By my eyes, Oklahoma is the best team in the country and should have been facing Georgia in the title game. They dominated a very, very good Mizzou team. West Virginia really layed an egg against Pitt. Assuming full heath for both teams, this should be another game that's better than the title game.

Allstate BCS Championship Game @ New Orleans, LA -- Ohio State vs. LSU (7-Jan, 7:00pm, FOX)
I find this to be the least interesting of the games I have any interest in. I only have interest in it because it will determine the champ. I saw LSU play several times toward the end of the year, and I just don't think they are all that great. I'm not sure what Ohio State's strength of schedule was, but it was not very good (the very reason Hawaii is not being considered). I hope LSU wins, but I think there'll be 5 better games than this.

Prediction record: 14-6 last week, 49-31 overall
No predictions this week. It's more fun to pick college games than anything else, so I'll put a haitus on the predictions.

Also, depending on the influx of sports news, I may put the SPLOG on hiatus. College football took up a large portion of the SPLOG, and now that it's nearly over, I won't have as much to write about. Maybe an entry here and there.

POLL OF THE WEEK

Hello boys and girls. It's that time of the week again where you help us out by letting us know your thoughts and opinions on various and sundry topics.

It appears, even though a majority of people have a majority of their shopping done, 40% have yet to begin their Christmas shopping. Procrastinators!

In keeping with the Christmas theme, my pondering this week leads me to question... What is your favorite Christmas movie. Undoubtedly there is one movie in particular that stands out in your mind. Maybe you watch it annually with your friends or family. Maybe it's one you have a certain feeling of nostalgia about. Whatever the case may be, here's a list of 7 movies that are typically ranked as some of the best Christmas movies out there. There's always the chance that I will leave yours off. Nothing personal, I assure you. I'll add the infamous "other" category, and you can comment to tell me how foolish I was to leave it off the list. In fact, how about this... everyone comment and tell why the movie you chose is your favorite. It'll be fun. I promise.

Here's a rundown of the options (all descriptions from IMDB):

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas - Repelled by the commercialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown tries to find the true meaning of Christmas.
2. A Christmas Carol - An old miser who makes excuses for his uncaring nature learns real compassion when 3 ghosts visit him on Christmas Eve.
3. A Christmas Story - Ralphie has to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect gift for the 1940's.
4. Elf - After inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity.
5. It’s a Wonderful Life - An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would had been like if he never existed.
6. Miracle on 34th Street - When a nice old man who claims to be Santa Claus is institutionalized as insane, a young lawyer decides to defend him by arguing in court that he is the real thing.
7. White Christmas - A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general.

JOY TO THE WORLD

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.