The area of Japan I went to school in is dealing with a strange infestation: Bears! Like, seriously, bears have been everywhere lately. I visited there on my last trip, and in all the parks and such, there were plenty of signs warning you to stay on your guard. Apparently the local newspaper has a dedicated daily section on bear information. I, of course, didn't learn this until I got to the city, and not when I was wandering around the nearby countryside alone at night on my way in the night before.

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Well, I finally went through that large and dusty CD collection in the basement. I selected only a few that can't really be found anywhere and the rest is getting donated. Couldn't help but be a little nostalgic as some of those albums have been with me for quite awhile.

I had some football on in the background over the weekend. I saw a quarterback get sacked and appear to have possibly fumbled the ball, and a pile ensued. Other defensive members of the home team gathered around excitedly and pointed the other away, but all the refs kept on just waving their arms without signaling. As the pile became smaller, the crowd went silent in anticipation. Once the ref got a good enough look at it, he stood back, waited a beat, then triumphantly shot his arm out the other way confirming the recovered fumble. 70,000 people went wild. As the ref, that's gotta be so satisfying.

That made me think, in all of sports, what as an official feels like the coolest call you can make? There's probably some fun ones in baseball like a good, dramatic strike three, or maybe an out at the plate after the catcher shows you the ball*. Nothing in basketball or hockey seem all that cool as it's all usually punitive (though the NBA refs certainly milk the calls from time to time).

*On the less dramatic side, there's that one when there's a close but obvious out at first and the ump just kind of stands there for a moment, then calmly but firmly pumps out their arm to signal the out. That seems like fun too.

Flip those calendars, kiddies. I know I post this sentiment like 4 times a year, but where does the time go?

The Gophers take back the Axe, tie up the lifetime series, deny Wisconsin a bowl game, deny them a winning season, and do it all in convincing fashion on Badgers soil.

I'm no longer a Black Friday Friend. Really, I never was, but I was just thinking that I almost completely ignore it now. I don't really look up anything and I tune out adverts as if it was a Presidents Day sale or something. Not sure if I'm missing anything or not but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

The World's Greatest Online Magazine wishes you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are thankful for you!

I wasn't as against the KAT trade as others were/are. I hated to lose him, but the numbers of the deal made a bit of sense. That said, man, the Wolves are just missing something right now. It's not that hard to make the connections.

I discussed this in a recent CoC, but when Connections asked me if I wanted to switch to dark mode, it made me wonder about this:

When an app/website gives you a prompt with this option, what do you choose?

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Thankfully (heh), we're already at our destination for the week: home! Happy to not have any plans, really. What about everyone else?