A stuffed calendar; a podcast alert; a Caveman alert; a human resources quandary

As the saying goes, it’s either feast or famine. Sometimes it feels as if I haven’t done anything debate-ish in years, and then suddenly every weekend is chockfilled. The latter is the dominant feeling at the moment. First there was the bonus Regis tournament, a little one-dayer that ran with charmlike efficiency in that the only people screwed by tab were my own team. Then there was Lexington, 2 days of regular debate (although, to be honest, while I set up Varsity, in the event it was run by Kaz and JV, and the only time I looked over their shoulders, and only out of curiosity, was to watch the pairing of the bid round, to which one could only gasp and say “Ooh la la!” while Pete K from Lakeland, AKA the Enforcer, and I ran the novice side), followed by 2 days of RR, not to be confused with R&R, which means 4 days in the land of the ice and snow (which always makes me envision those stupid Viking cats, thank you very much, internet). And upcoming is the Gem of Harlem, which recruited me out of desperation since all their regulars they prefer are down in Emory and I was the best they could come up with. The inherent insult notwithstanding, I’m looking forward to it. Still, it’s 3 days, which means I’ll be glad to relax next weekend with nothing more than a wee sma’ MHL down in Newark. Then there’s Scarsdale. Then there’s a blessed weekend off (while the masochists among you are plodding through Harvard), then our first 4-round MHL, then the Lakeland/Regionals/MHL Bid-o-rama, then CFL Grands, then Districts, then bring out the golf clubs and I’ll see you guys next year, except for the Northeast Championships.

By the way, Lexington, as expected, was a cornucopia of forensic delights, and I will be outlining them in a TVFT podcast tonight. If you aren’t already a subscriber, this is your opportunity to sign up. If you are a subscriber, this is your opportunity to sign off. Whichever.

I’ve definitely decided to give the Caveman lectures again this spring if any of the Sailors are interested. We met last night in the middle of their midterms, which meant something of a skeleton crew. We kicked around some material from Lex, what was hot and what was not, and had the linchpin of our crack Extemp team (i.e., our sole extemper) yap at us about Russia for a while, and I realized that, aside from prepping the March-Apr LD topic and the Mar and Apr Pfffft topics, there isn’t much more to cover of a general nature. So something like Caveman makes sense. Tickets are available at telecharge.com if you’re interested in joining us. This will give me a chance to slightly revise it and, at the same time, illustrate it. Look for a new pdf before the end of the year. Those who have been putting off reading it can now, at the very least, look at the pictures.

And something tells me there’s going to be a run on Coachean blog posts, now that WTF has abandoned the concept. I am seriously considering hiring Herman to be my factotum, because somebody has to totum the facs around here. If nothing else, I can put him to good use looking up Scrabulous words for me (I am tanking in all but a few of my million games). Of course, then I’ll have to hire O’C so he’ll have someplace to put his $5K postings where someone can read them. But the Chump, who is already on staff, bristles at the idea of hiring his competition. Maybe I should leave it to the VCA. Which should I publish? Ask Cruz or Stump the Chump? Which one is more relevant to the world we live it? Which one speaks to your inner debater? Which one has the dumber photograph? I’ll leave it to you to decide. Send your answer, and a twenty dollar bill, to my house, and if I make enough money, I’ll tell you who won.