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I've been learning a little about the Fresh Air Fund lately, and thought their cause is well worth mentioning as Christmas approaches. In essence, the FAF is a non-profit that arranges for low income, inner city NYC kids to enjoy summer vacations in locations outside the city.

Take a look.

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I've been reading Dan Allender's excellent Leading with a Limp and posted some thoughts on leadership, exhaustion, busyness and retirement over at arieljvan.com.

If you haven't checked the book out yet, I highly recommend it.

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So I'm slowly trying to get the blog back on its feet. Here's a shot of Aidan wondering what to do with himself after we packed up the bookshelf he usually marauds. (We're moving December 20.)

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Starting tomorrow (December 4) is the yearly Big 12-Pac 10 Hardwood Challenge, 2008-2009 edition. The prospect of seeing KU, Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas kick the snot out of some decent Pac 10 teams was enough to lure me out of temporary blogging retirement. Here's the schedule...

Thursday, December 4, 2008
Oklahoma State at Washington
UCLA at Texas
USC at Oklahoma

Friday, December 5, 2008
Arizona at Texas A&M

Saturday, December 6, 2008
Baylor at Washington State
Oregon State at Iowa State

Sunday, December 7, 2008
Kansas State at Oregon
Nebraska at Arizona State
California at Missouri

Outside the four-day series window
Colorado at Stanford (Sat., Nov. 29, 2008)
Kansas at Arizona (Tue., Dec. 23, 2008)
Texas Tech at Stanford (Sun., Dec. 28, 2008)

Yes, I like bragging on the Big 12--but realistically, Colorado, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Nebraska, and Kansas State will probably drop their games against Pac 10 foes. The Jayhawks have already waxed Washington in a November match-up, so count that as a go-ahead run in the unofficial tally.

Now, as a warm-up for March I'm going to pick the winners in the upcoming games. Agree or disagree in the comments...

Thursday's winners: Texas over UCLA, Oklahoma over USC, Oklahoma St over Washington.

Friday: Arizona over Texas A&M.

Saturday: Baylor over Washington State, Oregon State over Iowa State

Sunday: Oregon over Kansas St, Arizona St over Nebraska, Missouri over California

Outside the 4-day window: Stanford over Colorado, Kansas over Arizona, Texas Tech over Stanford.

Best game in the series: Texas vs UCLA - two Final Four caliber teams battle it out before the Longhorns' superior depth take over.

Final tally:
Big 12: 7
Pac 10: 5

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