Traditional day

Today is Army-Navy game day, one of the biggest traditions in my life since childhood. That's what you get for growing up in a Navy family. But it's continued long after my parents' death (my God, they've both been gone for almost 20 years now!) and I've even added another tradition to it.

I used to make blackeyed peas every New Year's Day for the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, where I grew up. Then the BCS took away a century of tradition with one clang of the cash register, and I lost the Rose Bowl game, which became something else entirely. So I moved my blackeyed peas to the Army-Navy game. Hell will freeze over before they get rid of this football tradition in the military! And that's today's agenda, make blackeyed peas this morning and then watch the game, followed immediately (even overlapping) by the USC-UCLA game in which I will root for my undergraduate alma mater, the Bruins, the pull the biggest upset of the season. If Oregon State can do it, they can -- if they play an errorless game.


Last night we went out to dinner at Seasons and Regions, where I had the best jambalaya I've had in ages (with fried oysters!). H, who has a bad cold, which I'm trying not to get, had comfort food: tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. This is a fine little restaurant that's also pretty close to us.

I only have a handful of final scripts to read until Tuesday. Because of the Thanksgiving break, which changed our conference schedule, I gave them an extension until Tuesday. I've already given one A ... the guy going to Boston turned everything, including the final, in early, and everything was first rate. So I just gave him his A early so he can relax.