Matt Holthe's Fleeting Thoughts

I just got back from my last trip of the year. So now's the time to look at the year end stats. Using last year as a reference, I've added a couple things this year: I added one new state: Arkansas. I added 7 new airports: CMI (Champaign, IL), CVG (Cincinnati, OH), IAH (Houston, TX), JAX (Jacksonville, FL), MCO (Orlando, FL), TLH (Tallahassee, FL), and XNA (Bentonville, AR) I also remembered that I had been to the COS (Colorado Springs, CO), but I don't remember exactly when - there was a trip that I was supposed to fly out of Denver but ended up at Colorado Springs and I never wrote down when that happened. So I've actually been to 64 unique airports since starting this job. There's an additional 11 airports that I've been to in my lifetime, but before starting my current job: AMS (Amsterdam, Netherlands), AUA (Oranjestad, Aruba), CZM (Cozumel, Mexico), GVA (Geneva, Switzerland), HNL (Honolulu, Hawaii), OGG (Maui, Hawaii), PHX (Phoenix, AZ), PSP (Palm Spri...

I've been picking a college basketball game every day since the start of the season. (So far, I'm 60% 18-12 with 1 push). Today, I log in to make my pick, and there's a grand total of 1 game to choose from - Seattle +5.5 at Eastern Washington. I went ahead and picked Seattle. The line has since moved to 4.5, so at least I know that I'm picking along with the "wise guys" in Vegas - there's been more money on Seattle, so Vegas is moving the line to promote more action on Eastern Washington.

Congratulations to Northern Illinois Huskies football team! They are going to be playing Florida St in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day. What an awesome pay day for the program - it's really nice to see one of the smaller conference teams (non-BCS) getting a chance to play in a big bowl game.