Stef and I are going to see a play tonight, although I'm drawing a blank on the name of it at the moment. Whatever it is though, I'm sure we'll have a fun night out on the town.

Right now I'm still a little fuzzy about what the deal is for tomorrow with the MDP Convention in Detroit. I'll probably shoot for getting to Cobo at around 9AM, which means I'll still have to haul my ass out of bed pretty early. The Bloggers Caucus is from 10-noon, but I don't know if any of the people I know will be sticking around for any of the afternoon sessions or not, so at this point I don't have a clue when I'll be done for the day. Still, after missing out on the first Bloggers Caucus last summer, I'm really looking forward to this.

Sunday is pretty wide open at this point, other than watching the Oscars. It's kinda funny, I'm feeling pretty blah about the Oscars this year for some reason. There were definitely some good films, but none of them really jumped out at me as something people will remember in five years. I guess Little Miss Sunshine is the Best Picture nominee I'll be rooting for, but the last (and only) comedy that won the top prize was Annie Hall in 1977, so I'm not optimistic.

I dunno... I think I just started losing faith in the Academy Awards when Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan in 1999. Seriously, what a f#cking joke. I know that was a shocker and all, but since then the whole thing just seems to be getting more and more predictable. All the acting awards this year will basically just be a coronation for Mirren, Whitaker, Murphy, and Hudson, and we'll pretty much hear the same acceptance speeches we've already heard two or three times. Hopefully Ellen can perk the show up a bit, but she's one of those comics who is either really good or really flat, IMHO. Personally, I'm just hoping the show gets over by midnight this year.

Anyhoo, I guess that's it for now. Have a good one.

Many thanks to Stefy for staying up late to buy Ben Folds tickets as soon as the pre-sale started at midnight on Wednesday. I can't wait for the show!

This will be my third time seeing Ben at MSU. He was here last April, and it was kind of a nice send-off for me, right before graduation. Likewise, it'll be fun to see him again this spring, right before Stefy's graduation this time. Ben is one of our favorites, and I'm sure he'll put on another great show.

Anyway, here's a video of BFF doing "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" at a Burt Bacharach tribute concert. Enjoy!

The cycle continues (gross in the morning, better during the day, hacking up a lung at night), but I am starting to feel a little bit better. Each day it seems like my symptoms are a little less severe than they were the day before, but it's still been pretty slow going. Hopefully this crap clears up by the end of the week.

Today is my two and a half year anniversary with Stefy! To celebrate, we met up for a nice lunch at Cosí this afternoon. Under normal circumstances, I would've taken my girl out for dinner on a day like this, but I have a bloggers' meetup at the Capitol tonight that I really don't want to miss. Plus, we're talking about going out to see a play on Friday, so I think we might do the dinner date thing then.

Saturday is the MDP Convention in Detroit, and after missing the first bloggers caucus last summer, I don't want to be left out this time. I've never been to one of these conventions before, so it'll be interesting to see how the whole thing plays out. The stakes clearly aren't as high as they were last summer (with the election on the horizon, and the conventioneers nominating candidates for SoS and AG), but I still think it would be a nice gesture if some of the more tech-friendly politicians would make an appearance at the bloggers caucus (John Conyers, I'm looking at you).

Anyway, that's basically the agenda for this week. Have a good one.

Thanks to dad for the heads up about this:

Apr 03, 2007 at MSU Auditorium

Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Notes: TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23 at 10:00am

Ben Folds has been entertaining college audiences around the world since his band Ben Folds Five debuted back in 1995. Since then, Ben has held his own with a very successful solo career that includes hit albums such as "Rockin the Suburbs" and "Songs for Silverman". Ben Folds now returns to East Lansing, this time bringing his unique piano experience to the MSU Concert Auditorium. Known worldwide for his fun concerts and crowd involvement, Ben Folds is a favorite among college audiences.

We are so there.

I'm still in shock. What an amazing game! Both teams played great basketball, but where other Spartan teams would've come up short in a huge game like this (I can think of more than a few soul-crushing losses during the Hill-Anderson-Torbert era), this squad was able to close the deal.

The X-Factor, obviously, is Drew Neitzel. When the game is on the line, the kid just has an uncanny ability to will his team to victory. I don't know he does it, but he clearly has a spark that was lacking in players like Hill, Anderson, Torbert, and Davis. Now, I realize those players were eventually able to get it together and bust out an amazing run to the Final Four in 2005, but for me, this is the most exciting team we've had since 2001. Sure, they're frustrating at times – looking back, I still can't figure out how we self-destructed against Purdue – but on any given night, if all the stars align, these kids can beat anybody. And last night, for the first time since Magic Johnson's team won the 1979 NCAA Championship, we beat the #1 team in the nation. WOW!

• LSJ: No. 1 for a night
• State News: Oh, what a Neit!
• State News: Underdog MSU did all the little things right
• State News: Men's basketball vs. Wisconsin Photo Gallery
• Bleeding Green: The (not-so) shocking victory
• Hey, Joe: What a win
• Freep Photo Gallery: MSU 64, Wisconsin 55
• Freep: Spartans shore up tournament bid by shutting down Badgers
• DetNews: THE BIG ONE: MSU upsets No. 1 Wisconsin
• DetNews: Spartans conjure a memory-maker
• DetNews Photo Gallery
• (Madison) Capital Times: Spartans offer rude introduction to new No. 1
• Badger Herald: Misfiring Badgers struggle, all Neitzel

Part of my R&R while I was off work included winning the Super Bowl with the Detroit Lions on Tecmo Super Bowl. Hey, a guy can dream.

Okay, I'm alive. Here's the weekend rundown:

• Stef's play was a lot of fun on Thursday night. They had a great turnout, and all the girls handed in great performances. The only problem for me was that I was smack-dab in the middle of my row, which meant I couldn't really get up to get some water or go find a quite place where I could hack up a lung. Consequently, I was feeling pretty miserable by the time the show was over.
  
• So, I went home on Thursday night, took a bath, and then proceeded to toss and turn all night, not really getting much sleep. By the time I woke up on Friday morning, I felt as bad as I had since Monday night. I told work I wouldn't be in again, and made another appointment at the doctor's office.
  
• This time I saw Pat (a different PA), and she gave me a somewhat revised prognosis from the one I got on Wednesday. She told me to nix the antihistamine because it was drying me out too much (which explains why it felt like I was choking down nails whenever I had to swallow), and prescribed an ass-kicking dosage of Ibuprofen to help reduce the swelling in my throat.
  
• The medicine had me feeling marginally better by the late afternoon, and I had enough energy left in the tank to make it out to Panera at 6PM to meet up with my mom, Aunt Julie, Jessi, and Brian for dinner. It was nice to see everyone and get a chance to visit before we caravanned over to campus for Stef's show.
  
• Friday night's performance was really good – maybe even better than the one on Thursday – and I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was a sold out crowd, and the audience was a lot more engaged.
  
• I was smart the second time though, because I brought a bottle of water with me, so I didn't feel quite so miserable by the time the show was over. Of course, I still pretty much just went home and crashed afterwards.
  
• I slept in until something like 10 or 11 on Saturday morning, and it felt great. Of course, with all this congestion and everything, the first hour of being awake is always the worst, because I'm usually trying to drain out all the crap that pooled up in my head overnight. I'll spare you the details, but it was pretty gross.
  
• I was feeling human enough to make it out to Cheddar's with Stef to meet up with my dad and Kyra for lunch that afternoon. It was nice to eat something other than soup or oatmeal for the first time in about four days. Plus, dad and his crew are leaving for Florida on Monday, so it was the last time we were going to get to see them before the trip.
  
• Stef and I just came back to my place and zoned out for the rest of the day after our lunch. While I was finally starting to feel a little better on Saturday afternoon, I think Stefy was basically the sickest she had been all week. I feel really bad about getting her sick, but the one good thing is that she wasn't like this on Thursday or Friday, because it could've messed things up with her show.
  
• I drove down to Jackson on Sunday afternoon to visit with my grandma for her birthday. Brian met up with us while I was there, and he and I took grandma and grandpa out to lunch to celebrate. They rarely let us take them out for a meal and pay, so it was a nice change of pace.
  
• I gave Brian a ride home after our visit, and then came back home and just relaxed with Stef for the rest of the day.

So, I survived the weekend. I'm still not feeling 100%, but this is definitely the best I've felt in a week. Hopefully if I keep popping my pills and chugging down the water, I'll be back to full-strength in no time.