Fun Run [Part One]

OK, so I thought I'd let you know about my day running the Flying Pig Half Marathon. It's a little lengthy [so much so that I made it a two-parter], but I want to get it all down so I can remember how it went. So if you wade through all of this, you must really like me. I went to bed early last night. Fearing that I might sleep through my alarm, I set the alarm on my cellphone. Good thing, since the volume on my clock radio was muted. If I didn't have my back-up, I'd probably would have slept right through. Fortunately, I had all my stuff laid out and was out the door in five minutes.

I parked on the eastern side of downtown, since the race ended over there by the Reds stadium. I found a nice space right in front of P&G and proceeded to walk almost three-quarters of a mile over towards Paul Brown Stadium. I had planned on meeting my friend John who was running the full marathon, but just couldn't find him. I practically walked all around the stadium looking for him. I finally gave up, which was probably a good thing since Kelly said he was smoking me. So I ended up navigating the course solo.

The scene at the starting line was hilarious. Some people were loose, some people were incredibly serious. The lines at the port-o-lets were insane. You were supposed to stand near the area where you projected you would finish. I figured it would take me 2 hours, 15 minutes, but didn't bother pushing to get that close, so I hung out at the 2 hour, 30 minute starting group. The closer it got to the actual start time, the more people surged forward. As it started getting past 6:30 and we were still standing around, an anxious tension worked through the crowd. Then the word came through about a fire down on Eastern Avenue. It not only delayed the beginning of the race but proceeded to add some extra length to the full-marathon course [lucky them].

Almost fifteen minutes later, the race finally started. It took me 7 minutes just to get to the starting line. Once I hit it, I started a slow, somewhat annoying jog. I was just trying to find space to work through the crowd. What really ticked me off was the large number of walkers who were consuming space. Don't get me wrong: I don't mind that people wanted to walk the course, but they shouldn't be ahead of people trying to run. It was all I could do not to run into people.

Before I knew it, I was in Northern Kentucky. In my training runs, I never drank water before six miles in so I avoided the early water stations all together, which helped save me some time. I spent the first four miles weaving in and out of people, using other people to keep a good pace, and making decent time. As I headed down Seventh Street, I found a guy I used to play soccer with; I hung with him for about a mile. Unfortunately, the late start gave the sun more time to come up so the straightaway through downtown, while very awesome, was blinding. The end of seventh began Gilbert Avenue [my home turf] and I was more than ready for the big hill. Plus, I knew that Kelly and Kaelyn would be waiting for me halfway up at the entrance to Eden Park.

As I reached the intersection there were my girls with our friends Paul and Carol. They had made some signs for me. This is what greeted me:

Yeah, that #11018 was my marathon number. I stopped and chatted for a little more than a minute with them and began my trek through the park.

I'll come back with part two to let you know how the race ended up.

Understanding the CJ Situation

For those of you who are confused about all that's happening with the Chad-Johnson-Wants-Out-Of-Cincy debacle, the Sporting News has a great explanation of salary structures and Mike Brown's hard-line stance. As much as it pains me to say this [because you know I've criticized him before], Mike is doing good with this situation. But he still did nothing this off-season to help the team improve.

And does anyone really think that Chad could actually make the Hall-of-Fame after all of this? It ain't happening.

Onto The Next One

Bear with me, those of you not interested in sports, as I comment on the move the Reds made today in axing their general manager Wayne Krivsky. First, let's admit that Walt Jockety is a totally different caliber of GM than Krivsky. The writing was on the wall with Jockety already on the payroll: Krivsky needed this team to perform. And they haven't; this team's holes could not be overlooked, and it was the team the Krivsky put together.

Krivsky inherited a farm system that his predecessor Dan O'Brien had made one of the best in baseball. He made some great moves, such as acquiring Brandon Phillips, getting Josh Hamilton for nothing, and locking up Aaron Harang long term. Yet he also made many high-impact, salary sucking moves that plague the team today and will impact it for years to come. Castinelli opened up his wallet to keep players we needed and chose to invest in the wrong ones: Mike Stanton, Bronson Arroyo, Corey Patterson, and Ryan Freel were all locked up for more money than they were worth. And they weren't the only misses. While some people still decry the Austin Kearns/Felipe Lopez trade, I still think minor leaguer Daryl Thompson could sway that trade towards the Reds favor.

At the end of the day, this decision makes sense. But it doesn't solve everything.

I laughed tonight as I watched the Reds on television. In the fourth inning they started interviewing Jockety about his new job. When the conversation started, the Reds trailed 2-1 to the Astros. By the time the inning was over, the score was 9-1.

The starting pitcher was Bronson Arroyo, who is winless this year, who has not pitched well in two years, and is owed $30million through 2011 thanks to Wayne Krivsky.

Welcome to the job, Walt. You have a lot of work ahead of you.

I AM THE CHAMPION

Let me tell you a story. A story that I like because it's about me and my frickin' awesome afternoon. Kelly and Kaelyn were in Lexington this weekend while I had a slew of events to keep me busy here in Cincy. I spoke at the little country church this morning and, since I had all my Echo tasks for this evening's service completed, I went to watch the Reds play the Brewers this afternoon. Ironically, I applied sunscreen before I left only to spend the entire afternoon soaked by rain.

As I'm thinking about, I realized that I'm totally comfortable going solo to places now. Before I got married I had never eaten alone in a restaurant. Now I'm go to movies, ballgames, and restaurants by myself and enjoy the communal solitude. I always used to wonder why people would go places all by there lonesomes. Now I'm that guy.

Anyway, I've mentioned before that the Reds allow ministers to get a free ticket to games [Bob Castellini is a very good man], and they'll give you the best seat available so I was fifteen rows behind the Reds dugout. Even though the rain drove many fans to take shelter I had an awesome seat and decided to stay put.

My perseverance meant that I ended up getting soaked; I'll most likely be sick tomorrow. And, of course, the game went into extra-innings and I had to get home and change before church. So I missed an epic comeback which included back-to-back home-runs and a Ken Griffey Jr. game-winning single.

All of that should have made my afternoon somewhat miserable. But one brief moment made it absolutely glorious.

In the seventh inning Reds-killer Bill Hall came to the plate and fouled one off over my head. Years of observing foul balls ricochet off an upper-deck wall back to the seats below led me to track this ball which indeed hit above and started to head back towards me. It was actually heading a row or so behind me. There was a guy between the ball and me and he had a perfect line to catch it. But years of observing people drop sure-thing foul balls led me to back him up just in case.

And wouldn't you know it, the ball went right between his hands. He absorbed any of the momentum the ball had and I two-handed it.

Yep, I snagged me a foul ball.

Sure, it wasn't a cool catch, but in over twenty years of going to ballgames and I had never even sniffed a foul ball.

I decided long ago that if I ever caught a ball I'd give it to a kid. What point is there in keeping a non-home-run ball anyway [especially from stinkin' Bill Hall]? And if I brought it home to Kaelyn, she wouldn't have cared. There was a couple two rows in front of me with their grandkids at the game and I handed their grandson the ball. All in all, I didn't have the ball in my possession for more than five seconds.

So the kid has the baseball . . .

. . . and I have this story.

And I'm happy.

Half A Man

I wasn't satisfied with my weight gain over the winter. It really wasn't that much, but it was enough to make me angry. Desperate times call for desperate measures: I'm running the Flying Pig Marathon.

Well, sorta.

I'm actually running the half marathon.

Normally I'm an all-or-nothing type guy; if I'm going to do something, I'm giving it 100%. But running a full marathon was just out of the question.

For starters, I didn't want to start training in December to run. Although I occasionally run on the machines over at Xavier's Athletic Center, I do so reluctantly and only go about six miles [actually, until I started training, I'm not sure I ever ran more than six miles at a time]. Plus, our friend Angie is training to run a marathon and spent last Saturday doing a long run that lasted four hours.

Four hours. Just to practice. No way I could do that. Especially considering the biggest roadblock to me running the marathon:

I really don't like running.

Sure, if I'm playing a sport where running is just a part of the equation, I'm there. But I get bored easily and spending weeks running long distances [for practice] is not fun. I wouldn't be able to get by with the limited training I'm doing now if it weren't for an mp3 player.

But I'm getting excited about it. The race course is right in our area. In fact, the half marathon runs right in front of our condo. So I'm hoping homefield advantage will come in handy.

So two weeks from tomorrow I'll be up early to do some racin'.

But it's only half-impressive.

The Ground Shook

. . . or so I was told. The Carr household slept soundly through the earthquake this morning. Although the epicenter was southeastern Illinois, it was felt throughout the Cincinnati area. I'm wondering if our hillside location helped to defer the reverberations. Or maybe we have an incredibly solid house. Otherwise, we're just sound sleepers.

I made sure we took out earthquake insurance on the place when we moved here. We're well above the Ohio River flood line, but a really good earthquake could do some damage.

I imagine a few insurance agents will make some additional sales today.

I'm Losing It . . .

My sentiments yesterday concerning low-income housing at the Banks were exactly the same as many other people in our city. The Enquirer printed up many responses, but really only one person who thought it was a good idea. I do not know who Dave Bean, but here is his response:

Absolutely, there should be affordable housing associated with The Banks project. Too much money has already been spent by the city and county in the riverfront area that benefits the wealthy at the expense of the majority of the citizens. Government has the responsibility to protect and treat all people with equity. Here is a chance for Cincinnati to show the world that it is not owned by big business and it in fact cares about all its citizens. For those who think this is to be a showcase: I agree, it should be a showcase of what this country is about.

Thoughtful response. I disagree, but everyone is entitled to their own idea. All would be well, except when we take note of where Dave Bean resides:

Mason.

Yep, a 'burb about twenty miles north of where this housing project would be.

<rant>

You see, Dave, think you have the perfect solution but, in essence, you're part of the problem. If you lived downtown, or in a neighboring neighborhood, or perhaps even within city limits, or even in the same county, then your opinion might mean something. But since you live in a suburb, where you won't have to actually encounter the Section 8 housing you're suggesting, then you're just talking crap. Hypothetically and philosophically you think you have it all figured out. And I'm sure you do since whatever happens at the Banks really won't affect your life in the least.

I know I've probably said this before, and it will appear that I have a chip on my shoulder, but it bears repeating: if you don't live here, shut-up and keep it to yourself. I'm sure you think you have the solution to every urban problem, but you don't. All your opinion is doing is wasting valuable ink that could be better used on tire advertisements.

I'm sure if this discussion centered in Warren County, with the City of Mason wanting to move in some low-income housing into your subdivision, you might be compelled to show up at a council meeting and voice your disapproval, concerned for what such a move would do to your property values. But if this is how you really feel, you should be proactive, get some petitions, and get some Section 8 on your street pronto.

I'm sorry, Dave, if I've judged your harshly. But unless you're willing to practice a consistent ethic, then your opinion is worthless. Sure, we all want what's best for our society, but it's a whole lot easier when you can't see it from your house.

</rant>

Not A Good Idea

The idea of putting Section 8 housing on the Banks is ridiculous. For those outside Cincinnati, the Banks is the real estate along the Ohio River between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ballpark. The Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority, who had over ten years to bring up this topic, chose to do so the week before construction equipment was moved on-site. The CMHA argues that the Banks will be Cincinnati's 53rd neighborhood and therefore needs to have low-income housing as part of it.

I reject that argument. The Banks will be Downtown, which is already classified one of those 52 neighborhoods.  There is already low-income housing Downtown. In fact, there is plenty of Section 8 housing all around town [including right next door to our place]. The true reason the CMHA is bringing this up is to try to get a [late] stake in the bargaining table; it's mere grandstanding that could continue to delay the construction process.

As a citizen of Cincinnati, I want the Banks to be as profitable as possible. In the long term, it's what's in the best interest for our city. Is it fair that only the wealthy will be able to live at the Banks? Probably not, but that's life. I cannot afford to live in Indian Hill; it's premium real estate. Finances indeed limit where I can dwell. I will most likely not be able to afford to live at the Banks, but if I really want to, I need to come up with the money it takes to live there. Taxpayer money is being invested here, and I want the best return for the investment. The Banks should not be expected to be an all-inclusive neighborhood. And it doesn't need to be.

The CMHA would be best served to stick with what they do best and not try to manipulate city development from afar.

I Was Wrong

Where I once was an apologist, I must now admit that I came down on the wrong side: Chad Johnson needs to get out of here.

His latest statement, which indirectly was an insult to Carson Palmer, most assuredly confirms that CJ will never play for the Bengals again.

And that's fine. I'm not saying he's replaceable, but the division he's causing is impossible to ignore. It's not as if his antics actually made the team better, but they were tolerated when it came to his great talent. And his repeated cries that no one supported him was crap. He had people all over the place who had his back. So good luck to whatever team he plays for next. And unless he's going to New England or Indianapolis, he'll be catching footballs from an inferior quarterback.

My new concern is how the Bengals treat this situation. I get sick of players who make these statements and screw over their former teams in an effort to get out of town [see: Corey Dillon and Randy Moss]. I would fully support Mike Brown if he let him rot on the bench. Chad won't get paid when he sits out, the Bengals won't take the huge salary cap hit, and teams will have to make serious offers in order to get him out of here. Unless there's a first round pick being offered, Chad can hang out in his condo.

And to think I was this close to buying a number 85 jersey last year. Good thing I didn't.

My First March

Growing up on the westside of town- a blue-collar, non-activist kind of place- I was never involved in any sort of protest. One time I refused to eat my mother's Brussels sprouts for dinner, but that's about as confrontational as I've ever gotten. It was a tad surreal, therefore, as Saturday I found myself marching down a street repeating phrases yelled out by a guy into a megaphone.

Last weekend there was a march here in Walnut Hills organized by a group called Ceasefire Cincinnati. For the past five years, two of Cincinnati's most violent neighborhoods have been Avondale and Walnut Hills; the communities, which sit adjacent to each other, continually swap the top spot. I should admit that it's not like Walnut Hills is an incredibly violent neighborhood. Most of the violence committed centers around the drug trade which has increased here with the gentrification of Over-the-Rhine.

In 2007, Ceasefire started their first campaign in Avondale and have seen some amazing results. Their goal is to establish community presence in order to dissuade criminal activity. They accomplish this by getting a group of people to show up at the site of any crime scene where firearms have been used, attempting to do so within 48-hours of the occurance.

By itself, I'm not sure that's something I'd want to be involved in. I get a little leery when it comes to causes. As in this case, I'm not anti-gun, by any means. Although I don't own any guns, I believe in the right that the Constitution gives people to have them. And I'm not sure that Ceasefire is really anti-gun as much as it's for taking a stand against crime. But they do more something even more than even this.

They pray.

Now I can get into that.

So as Ceasefire celebrated their expansion of operations into Walnut Hills, I was there, marching down East McMillan. And I did so with a diverse group of people excited about taking back their community. I'll admit that I wasn't into the chanting and stuff, and when the local media were filming I steered away from the cameras, but I was glad to be there. It was inspiring to see how many people, on an absolutely abysmal day, came out to support the kickoff. It makes me feel even better about the community in which we live.

I'm not sure how successful this program will be but, like I said, praying for our community can't be a bad thing.

So, for now, I'm in.

Honoring Our Fallen

Two firefighters in Colerain Township were killed last week. They both were from the westside, and one graduated from my high school [albeit six years earlier]. Their funerals were today. I was thinking of going downtown, but needed to get some work done, so I watched a lot of the proceedings on television. The amount of people out today to pay their last respects is unfathomable. Along all the routes, it's easily in the tens of thousands.

For all that goes wrong in our city, the way we honor our fallen heroes is amazingly right.

Pop Culture, Pitchers, and Preaching

If you've ever listened to me preach, you know I have quite an affinity for including pop culture references into my sermon. I do it rather deliberately. Sometimes it's just in passing, for a select few to enjoy for themselves. Even if they only catch one every couple of weeks, I think expecting the unexpected forces the listener to pay close attention to the message, not wanting to miss out on something. That's one of the reasons I enjoy people like Dennis Miller, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert, who have the knack of making obscure, dated pop culture references. Sure, they don't always attract boisterous laughs, but they definitely pay-off when done well.

That takes me back to the Reds game I attended yesterday when young phenom Johnny Cueto pitched a masterful game. It was a miserable day so there weren't many people in the stands [unless the seats were covered by an overhang]. In the row next to us were three guys in their early twenties, and one of them was hoisting the only sign I spotted all afternoon. Written in Sharpie on a white board, the sign simply read, "CUETO LIVES!" I didn't think to much of it until today while reading up about things from the game. An obscure Reds blog noted the sign. Apparently it was an obscure pop-culture reference.

It goes back to the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger* film Total Recall. Directed by Paul Verhoeven [a member of the Jesus Seminar?], the academy award winning sci-fi movie [seriously] features Arnold as a secret agent who gets a mind swap and becomes a construction worker. As information about his previously life starts to reappear, the powers-that-be want him dead so he heads to Mars to discover more. While on Mars, his finds an underground resistance group headed by a sage named Kuato. Come to find out, Kuato isn't a guy, but someone's mutated stomach [looks like this if you're interested].** Hijynxs ensue, Kuato is killed, but so are the bad-guys and Arnold saves the day.***

Anyway, the rally cry on Mars for the resistance movement was "KUATO LIVES!" So the twenty-somethings brandishing the sign were making a Total Recall reference. In retrospect, I'm very impressed with the sign, especially considering those guys were probably toddlers when the movie was released.

So very creative pop-culture reference there. And now we see have a Schwarzenegger/Reds connection.

* I find it fascinating that of all the words that spell-check chooses to highlight, Schwarzenegger is not one of them. So his name is so much a part of American vernacular that people who design spell-check include it in their programming.

** Saturday Night Live did a spoof on Kuato that you can watch here.

*** As I wrote out that movie plot I kept thinking, "this movie won an Oscar?" I guess that's why the Academy Awards aren't as cool as they used to be.

I Was There

I vacillated between two choices this morning: stay or go. In the end, I decided to go.

I'm glad I did.

Strike that, I'm really glad I did.

I layered up, put a Diet Coke bottle, along with an umbrella and a poncho in a backpack and walked down to Great American Ballpark just afternoon to go witness a little piece of history.

Johnny Queto, one of the most heralded prospects in Reds history, took the mound for the first time today. Since it was cold and rainy, I didn't think there would be a huge crowd, and there wasn't [less than 12,000 gate]. This kid is said to have had the stuff and my eyes did see it first-hand this afternoon.

Cueto is amazing.

His 95 mph fastball popped throughout the stadium when it hit Paul Bako's mitt. He struck out the first batter [Chris Young, whom Cueto owned today], and pitched five perfect innings. One bad pitch ruined the no-no and the shut-out, but he wrapped up seven innings of one-hit baseball with ten strikeouts. David Weathers made it exciting in the 8th, but the Reds prevailed and won the series against Arizona.

But I'm still amazed at what I saw. I'm just saying, this kid will dominate.

It was really a miserable day for baseball; the weather stunk. But seeing Cueto pitch parted the clouds and gave me hope that my beloved Redlegs will once again be the Big Red Machine.

Twenty-five years from now, when Johnny Queto is being inducted into the Hall of Fame, I'll be able to say that I was there for his first game.

P.S. JUST SO YOU DON'T THINK I'M THE ONLY ONE read what Paul Daugherty wrote about Cueto here.

Time For Baseball

One of the benefits of our work-at-home policy is that Opening Day is actually a holiday. Even though they were calling for rain, we decided to go on over to Central Parkway anyway to watch the parade. We were only there for an hour as Kaelyn was ready for a nap and it was getting really wet. I didn't even get any pictures of the parade. Of course, we didn't get to go to the game, but at least we stayed dry. Unfortunately, the Reds lost, but considering they've won the past few Opening Days and went on to have horrible seasons, I'm OK with it. I will say, however, that if they don't get a catcher soon, I might lose it.

Since we were all decked out in red, we took a little family picture. We're ready for some baseball.

Pregame Thoughts

A little more than an hour until tip-off of the Xavier/UCLA match-up, and I thought I'd chime in with my thoughts about the game. For the past couple of days I've been watching all the national analysts and none of them give the Muskies a chance. That's fine. UCLA is a sexy pick, with all the tradition and freshman Big Love that everyone is ga-ga over. On paper, the Bruins should win this one going away but, on paper, UCLA should've waltzed through the tournament thus far.

They key for a Xavier win tonight will be swagger. They have the talent to pull this one off, but if they don't show up like they know it, it'll be a long night. I keep thinking about the way X neutralized Kansas State earlier in the year; they owned Michael Beasley that night. That's the kind of game they need tonight.

I also remember when they played Tennessee at home this year. They controlled most of that game before committing some costly mental errors which lost them the game. That was exactly what happened against West Virginia but they somehow pulled it out. Those games can go either way, but I'd say that a similar performance tonight means the Muskies go home.

Yep, they have to be pretty flawless tonight, unless UCLA comes out and shoots themselves in the foot. And I'm not holding my breath for that to happen.

Since I don't give Davidson a prayer against Kansas, this is the long-shot everyone's been waiting for. I'm hoping it all comes together tonight.

We'll find out soon enough . . .

Lest There Be Any Doubt . . .

. . . I am pulling for Xavier tonight against Bob Huggins' West Virginia team. And my reasons go beyond the fact that I'm an alum-to-be at XU. Although I'm no Nancy Zimpher fan [HT: Mike] I no longer feel as if I have to support Bob throughout the rest of his career. I do own a Kansas State shirt thanks to my father-in-law, but he moved on [in one year, in fact]. I will never sport West Virginia gear, among other reasons, that they are a UC Big East rival. I'll always love Huggs, but he has a lower spot on my fan-dom pole now. I still think Mick has the potential to take the program farther than he did.

Plus, what's not to like about this year's Xavier team? There is no one player that propelled them to where they are now. They have a great team concept going that is fun to watch. I like this team. And I like that Sean Miller hung around when he could've bolted last year. I told him so when I saw him walking across campus last year. Sure, if the Pittsburgh job opens up he'll be gonzo, but otherwise I see him at Xavier for awhile.

Hopefully Huggs will give us what we came to expect here in Cincy and fizzle out after making the Sweet Sixteen. And I really like the possible match-up against either UCLA or Western Kentucky. Could Xavier actually make the Final Four?

Go Muskies!

Suck It, Cleveland

Cincinnati is now the largest metropolitan in Ohio, according to the latest census numbers. It's nice to have statistical backing, as I always tell detractors of our city that the influence of our region is as large as it ever has been [note: Cincy is the 24th largest metropolitan area of our country]. This statistic is enlightening, but also frustrating. Citizens of neighboring counties benefit from being in the vicinity of the city, yet are quick to criticize the ills of the city itself. I've noted before that there is great benefit to living just outside an urban area because you can take advantage of all the good things city offer while never really having to deal with the problems that accompany it. That's why I always laugh when I read letters to the editor in the Enquirer criticizing things like the city's streetcar proposal, only to see a "Morrow" or "Villa Hills" locale attached to the letter.

I know this seems to be a consistent topic for me lately [the relationship between the city and the 'burbs] but it's an issue with many prejudices [not necessarily racial] attached to it; both urbanites and suburbanites need to wrestle with the way we view this relationship. The better we understand those nuances, the better our region will be.

75 Years

One of our family's favorite destinations is the nearby Krohn Convervatory. Today, the structure is 75 years old.

Kaelyn and I would've headed over there today, but it was packed for the special day. We'll hold off and go next week when people have forgotten about it again. Did I mention she thinks that the waterfall is hers?

When it was opened, the now defunct Cincinnati Times Star newspaper noted that, "a building of such enduring beauty that future citizens will reflect with thankful hearts upon the vision of the civic-minded persons who made possible this project."

Indeed, my heart if thankful for Krohns.

On Highlanders . . .

Students from my alma mater making the community proud: current/former Oak Hills students arrested in bust in Milan, Indiana.  One thing I think this proves is, as the area continues to change, westsiders have chosen southeastern Indiana as their new desired place to live. I wonder if it's the easy access to the casinos.

Another Bracket To Fill Out

Apparently there's still more UC basketball to watch. The Bearcats will participate in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational tournament. It's sorta like the the N.I.T. to the N.I.T., if that makes sense to you. That reminds me of what my friend Alex always used to tell me, "you can't spell 'Cincinnati' without 'N.I.T.'" I guess now he'll have to say, "you can't spell 'Cincinnati Bearcats' without 'C.B.I.'"

Not sure I'll be able to get a CBI pool going. If you're interested in participating . . . you probably have a gambling problem.

***UPDATE***

Apparently UC will be playing on the road at Bradley on Wednesday. It'll be tough for them to travel to that gym, but I guess we'll get a good sense of how playing the Big East schedule improved the Bearcats. Their early non-conference embarrassments, which kept them out of N.I.T., happened without Jamal Warren running the point so this is a better team at the end of the season.

I'm still torn as to how excited I can be about following UC in the CBI.