My wife and I decided to go see UNCG and Miami play basketball last night.  We knew it would be a tough game but after all, we're both Alumni, and we haven't seen a game all year (if you don't count watching it over the web).

In fact, I haven't been to an actual game since they moved their home court from little Fleming Gym (approx max attendance of 2300) to the Greensboro Coliseum (where the ACC tournament is held every so often, max attendance 23,000).  That's a big difference in venues.

In the old days when I had first graduated the university, tickets were $6 and for several years, I even had season tickets.  But last night, when I logged online to check things out before we walked out the door, I was shocked.

Tickets on the court floor were $50.  The floor level was $25 and the cheapest thing going was $15 for the upper level.

I told Carmen, then gathered $30 in fives and ones and we headed out the door.

I'm thirty-nine years old and I still think of myself as twenty-something.  I have a feeling this is what the old saying about being "young at heart" hints toward.  As a result of my still feeling young, I sometimes drag my hulking frame out onto the basketball court and try to keep up with the young bucks.

Until the last year or so, that was no problem.  But I think that approaching-forty thing isn't just about it being a nice round number.  I think there's more to it.

I clicked on a thing the other day and was taken to the Samsung webpage for some front-loading washers.  Beautiful page. Bad English. And bad ad copy.

To wit, I know that Samsung is a Chinese company but OMG.  They need to hire some English-speaking proofreaders, and pronto.

When you first go to the page:  SAMSUNG, there's a huge graphic that switches between 4 different ads.  One of the ads proudly displays that when the amazing washing machine runs, "you'll hardley know it's on."

Ouch.

I am a finalist in the Strong Scenes Contest for September 2010.

I'm hoping everyone will go there, read the 3 short scenes, and vote for the best.

It's mine, of course, but it's a free nation.  You're allowed to have bad taste.  The rest of us get to make fun of you though.

It's in the bylaws.

http://www.strongscenecontest.com/

My scene is a snippet from a short story I wrote entitled, "Bobby Joker," and is about a professional poker player named Bobby Joker.

I plan on expanding it into a novel, probably after the novel I'm currently working on.  Then I plan on a full-length feature film to be released by Miramax starring Matt Damon.  (If anyone knows Matt's current phone number, please forward it to me ... it's changed again)