We resort to unnumbered list format today, as we have a variety of things to get to:

• I am excited about the John Calipari rumor. I am somewhat less excited about the Skip Prosser rumor. I like both ideas better than turning the reins over to an unproven assistant. And before you harp about Calipari's relative lack of success at his last two jobs, keep this in mind: He took an Atlantic-10 team to a number one ranking and a Final Four. Let that sink in for a minute, then read it again. It's pretty remarkable.
  
• You know you're listening to college radio when it you hear, "And that was [???], a '70s Ethiopian funk band, followed by Glen Campbell with "Arkansas."" Yes, folks, that was an actual transition I heard on WXYC out of Chapel Hill over the Internet at work on Friday. I also got to hear about five-minute of William S. Burroughs reading from "Junky" on KXLU (out of Loyola Marymount) today.
  
• My dad will be the proudest Syracuse alum in all of Beallsville if that game turns out right tonight. Being the only one, of course, doesn't hurt.
  
• I volunteered at Pitt's high school quiz-bowl tourney this past Saturday. I enjoyed myself more this time for whatever reason, but it did not make me long to get back to active involvement in quiz-bowl. I may post more thoughts on this soon.
  
• Tales of the City may not be a great book, but for something with a supposedly "cult" following, it has a remarkably wide appeal. I was really taken by it. Even if you can't relate to the pre-AIDS promiscuity and the specifics of San Francisco, you will be hard pressed not to identify with some or all of the newcomers to the big city, the jaded veterans, the bored executives, the underemployed drones, the jilters and the jilted. I could've done without the D'Orothea storyline (especially its hokey resolution), and as befits an episodic book like this one, I felt that some storylines were left hanging. I don't know that I'll rush out to get the sequels to get them resolved, but I enjoyed this enough that I may seek them out eventually. Also, this is a very convenient book for episodic reading, such as on the T.
  
• I'm hoping to work 9 and 10 hour days and some 6-day weeks in order to help save up for the big exodus, so blogging may suffer for a while. Of course I've threatened a dropoff on other occasions with no noticeable changes, so watch this space...