Tournaments galore!

Busy days here at the O.K. Corral. I thought debate was supposed to let up after the season was over.

Of course, nothing much has to do with debaters per se, although I have a couple of big projects I need to address, to wit, updating my Pfffft materials and working on a theory project. (Stop snorting at that last item. Theory in debate is meaningful; often it is unarticulated, and/or intuitive. There’s nothing wrong in pinning some of it down. What I’m against is arguing dueling “theories” within a round, i.e., setting the rules of the game during the game. That’s a different business altogether.) I mention these things here because, by noting them, I attach to myself some accountability for achieving them. I don’t do everything I say I’m going to do, but I do a lot of it, which I think is pretty good, considering.

By the way, O’C has an AIM screen name that, he says, is an obscure Star Wars reference. I was shocked, shocked to hear it.

Anyhow, the non-debaters-per-se business that is absorbing the time is mostly backend stuff on upcoming tournaments. The Quaker Oatfest seems to be leading the charge. They have put together an invite, which is about to go live. It’s Kaz and I running debate tab (a fine team, if I do say so myself), good schedule, community judge ranking (which I love), an eager and competent staff of Quakers—this one is seems to be well on target, under CP’s usual collegiate oversight. There’s been the sad issue of the competing tournaments on the weekend pre-Oatfest, and not much to be done about it. There’s been the setting up of the MHL venues (I just put a school in and then taken it out for the December event, the weekend I’m down with the Tiggers). What remains are the culmination events at the end of the season, to wit, TNC and whatever happens vis-a-vis NYSFL. Coming up with what could be called an agreeable solution to these may not be easy, but an agreeable solution is what everyone wants. We’ll see if that’s where we end up. I certainly hope so.

And I have to wrestle CP to the ground on Twitter, so to speak. I’ve got @tabroom, which is, in my opinion, pure gold. Apparently he’s got all sorts of pyrite subsets like @tiggertabroom and @bullpupstabroom and @lumberjacksexchangetabroom (okay, that last one used to be real, and yes, there’s a trick in it), but if you ask me, one ring to rule them all makes more sense. The thing is, for all his techiness, CP is not twittery. Not that Twitter is necessarily technical, but it has complexities that I’m beginning to think I understand (a sure sign that I’m about to get lost completely). Maybe I’ll use that newfangled instant messaging stuff to hash it out with him, goldarn it! I mean, I’ve learned how to tell IM people I’m not around even when I am, so I’m definitely a true master of the medium already. Maybe I should actually start using it.