Bits of Tid: December 29, 2007

• I'm back online after a two-day illness. I vomited three times Thursday, then suffered abdominal discomfort most of yesterday. But lucky for you - and sadly for our Republican friends - I'm back.
• So Purdue won the Motor City Bowl, 51-48 over my beloved Chippewas. Which isn't surprising; actually, in a Big Ten vs. MAC matchup where the MAC team lost badly to North Dakota State at home, it should've been a blowout. Especially since this was a rematch of a game Purdue dominated earlier in the season.
• Incidentally, remember last year when John L. Smith was axed as MSU's coach? His replacement was Cincinnati's Mark Dantonio, who was replaced at Cincy by CMU coach Brian Kelly. West Virginia Assistant Coach Butch Jones was chosen to be CMU's new coach. Well, Lloyd Carr is being replaced at U-M by West Virginia Head Coach Rich Rogriguez... and guess who was interviewed for the WV job? Yep, Butch Jones. After just one year at Central.
• I'm going back to CMU in less than two weeks. I will have class just three days a week! And my Monday night class will be with a professor named Gary Peters. Incidentally, feel free to support Peters's campaign for Congress.
• Harry Reid is keeping the Senate open over the holidays to prevent Bush from making recess appointments. Now that's what I call 'checks and balances.'
• Lawmakers need to do away with the 'first-bill' tradition, whereby lawmakers are essentially required to feed their colleagues after their first bill passes. So says Jean Doss at Dome Magazine. I have to agree.
• You know those credit card offers which say you're 'pre-approved' for such-and-such credit card? You can opt out of them.
• As I post this, we're just about 56 hours away from 2008..... yikes!