05 December 2004

Had not planned to do much this morning, maybe go to the State Library and see what they had on Canada. Could not get motivated though, and just after noon John dropped by and suggested a walk around campus. John went to Law school at FSU in 1993, but has not had a chance to see the campus since before Connor was born two years ago. For those who have been away for some years, quite a bit has changed. The football stadium has completely been redone, making it clear where FSU's priorities lie. I have unsuccessfully tried to spread the rumour that if FSU won a second national championship, they would build a second stadium on top of the first one, with the reasoning that if one football team brought in so much money, two teams could bring in twice as much. FSU's current circumstances lead to a Catch-22, where a winning football team needs all the booster money it can get to keep up the tradition, whereas a losing football team needs even more money to regain its former status. Bobby Bowden now has a stained glass window, as well as a bronze statute, further translating FSU's football dependence from monetary to semi-religious. The statue even includes product placements from Sprint and Nike. What kind of acid works on bronze? The Pensacola St. bridge has been torn down, and there is now one single athletic complex between the football stadium and the baseball stadium.

Woodward Avenue has finally been closed off; an idea I was all in favour of before they built two parking garages there. Quite a bit of traffic has still been deflected, though, and now there is a plaza in the center of Woodward with three bronze statues commemorating the minorities that have come to FSU. As a professional cynic, I introduce these statues as monuments to all the minorities FSU was forced to accept in the 60's.

Life is good though, as tonight was Geoff Callaghan's party. I met Geoff when I first moved into KAOS in 1994, and now cannot ever remember not knowing him. I consider him one of my closer friends, even though I rarely see him. He has recently started a bluegrass band called Blue Moon, and they have a very faithful following amongst Tallahassee's serious musicians. Geoff recently bought a house east of the city limits, the first single friend I have who actually bought a house. Tonight was classic Tallahassee, with Rich Templin ranting against the status quo and Allen Joseph pontificating, all to the background soundtrack of Tallahassee's finest bluegrass musicians.

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