So Early...

"Say hello to good times
Trade up all the fast lines
We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely"
--Futures, Jimmy Eat World

(Please note the reference in the final line--respect). Back to that old favorite in the car this morning (and yes, by old, I mean less than two months) on the way to work at 6:00 a.m. I'm up at 5 every weekday as it is, getting a workout in before heading over to the office, arriving at 7:30 or so for our 8:00 editorial meeting. But this week, as the cast and crew are in beautiful Jacksonville, FL, our shoot time moves up a couple hours, and arrival at work is necessitated at 6:30. Ouch. Relative to most of my co-workers, it won't be as tough for me, but it's still stinkin' early to be at work. And though the implied corollary would be an earlier departure in the evening, due to the increased workload (building toward Sunday's live show), that's not too likely a scenario, unfortunately. On the contrary, I've had edit sessions until 12:15 a.m. and 11:50 a.m. (got out early both times) the last two nights, and I'm heading for another similar session (with no "early" exit this time) tonight. In the meantime, as I wait for the twice-delayed morning meeting to begin (read: hung-over co-workers in J'Ville), I'm able to reflect on a wonderful weekend--the first I've had without work since sometime last spring, and one which now seems to have happened decades ago.
Whenever I have a significant amount of time with no work to do (see Christmas vacation, Thanksgiving break), I'll make a few mental (or blogged) goals, big or small things to get accomplished in that span of time. The weekend represented more of the same, and I had three realistic goals to achieve thereupon: 1) finish my current book, "Fletch and the Man Who" and start another, 2) play guitar, and 3) watch at least one of the two movies I've been meaning to see for quite some time. The resulting work:
1) Fletch was finished and was slightly disappointing, nowhere near the level of the Chevy Chase classic. Evidently there are numerous other entries in the Fletch literary series, but I'm guessing the film adaptation (and Chevy's witty portrayal of the title character) provided most of the humor in the story. Somewhat soured on the end of that one, I was able to start (and finish) a great book by ESPN's Buster Olney--"The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty." It chronicled the dominant pinstripe squads from 1996-2001 and finished with the Luis Gonzalez World Series-winning hit of Mo Rivera in 2001 (though it also included an epilogue discussing the 2002 defeat to Anaheim and the 2003 loss to Florida). He went into great detail about the significant members of the dynasty--all the players, coaches, Torre, Cashman and Steinbrenner. George was by far the most interesting, displaying an amazing range of absurdity in his dealings with the club. Making way more money than anyone in baseball and putting the vast majority back into the product, every other owner in the game is jealous of Big George, and he is indeed a weird dude. He'd spend ridiculous millions on a foreign player that would never even pan out and then try to save a few thousand by firing random team employees. His teams do win, but even in victory the guy would stress out about the next season or worry about what was going to go wrong in the immediate future. A title wasn't even good enough for George. Every off-season represented a necessity for "big changes," meaning huge dollars spent on all kinds of free agents, no matter the luxury tax penalty. Despite the Boss's errant behavior, I gained some insight about life and relationships by reading about his approach to the game (perhaps I'll elaborate tomorrow). Anyways, the book was awesome, and I sped through all 300-plus pages, allowing me to start my latest John Feinstein creation, "Let Me Tell You a Story," which is an already-entertaining look at Red Auerbach's life in basketball. Mission accomplished.
2) Played plenty of guitar, too, to the point of sore fingers on Sunday, a feeling I haven't had in a while. Kinda nice. Nothing original--no writing or anything--but still a good change of pace to recall some old favorites and try to learn some new stuff as well. Check.
3) The two movies I've been meaning to view for some time are "Beautiful Girls" and "Garden State," both of which I own on DVD and for which I have yet to make the necessary time. Since "Garden State" presently resides in the possession of one Charles Young, "Beautiful Girls" was the first option and it certainly did not disappoint. Timothy Hutton, Michael Rapoport and Matt Dillon were quite good, Uma Thurman was funny, and Natalie Portman had a great role. I'm still processing the film overall (and this week has given me no pause to do such a thing), but there are definitely some life lessons to be learned here as well. A surprise addition to the list was "Fever Pitch," which was evidently made in the UK several years ago, setting the stage for the American re-make coming out later this year (Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore--remember the on-field controversy at the World Series? Fallon's version has been adapted to revolve around the Boston Red Sox, but the original stays true to its Arsenal (English soccer) roots, and is almost as good as the book. Speaking of the Arsenal, I got to keep one eye on their clash with Man U while I was editing last night and got to see a great Premier League game. Down 2-1 at half, Cristiano Ronaldo brought United back with two goals inside of three minutes, and they upset the defending champs at Highbury. Quality stuff. Anyways, the movie was good, too. British, but still good.
So it's nice to be able to look back at a few non-19-hour work days, but stuck in the middle of such things as I am right now, it's a little difficult to recapture the freedom and relaxation. And oh yeah, there's no coming weekend to speak of either, as we have a Saturday rehearsal and then a Sunday show, followed by a right-back-to-work Monday. Ouch. I honestly might just fall asleep here tonight; I'm already exhausted.
Quick non-Super Bowl sports-related thought for this morning: How on earth would Phil Jackson ever return to coach the Lakers? If Rudy T does indeed resign, as has been stated by several sources, are there any circumstances under which the Zen master would come back? Wasn't his departure rather acrimonious, with venom spewed in the direction of both Jerry Buss and Kobe Bryant? I might be delusional, but I'm pretty sure both of those guys are still with the organization. I remain skeptical, but we'll see.