the unlikely orange

it's a great day for a new year, a great day for waking up. it's a great day for uncorking something new, something fresh and bubbling with hope. it's a great day for really remembering, and for resolving again. it's a great day. have a happy happy new year, my friends. new (again), greg.

i went running this morning. that in and of itself is an accomplishment, believe me. at 6:30 in the morning on the 31st of december it is dark. and cold. and the wind just whips its mocking screams into your brittle ears, "you're a fool! stay inside and watch sportscenter!" but something posessed me to run. so i did. (run, by the way, is a relative term in that some people run like gazelles and others run like cheetahs and still others run like crippled wildebeasts. i'll give you three guesses which one of the above best describes me.) anyway, as i was running, it began to snow. and not just snow, but really snow. the ground was completely covered in less than five minutes. i actually thought it was pretty cool because i felt like some really dedicated athelete, working out in whatever weather conditions. i imagined that i was in some video montage with an inspirational trumpet-laden song in the background while the camera followed my cheetah-like speed ...

as i have already written, i was able to attend the last game of the regular season for the pittsburgh steelers against the cleveland browns in heinz field. i've already discussed my experience at the game, but i haven't yet written about the fact that the steelers won the game, pushing their record to 12-4 to wrap up the regular season. here are some of my thoughts on the game: -yes we were playing cleveland. and cleveland really is terrible this year (and pretty much every year it seems). and yes, the game was "meaningless." however, i love that tomlin and the players took it seriously from beginning to end. i remember watching the colts in the 2005 postseason in the divisional round of the playoffs, when the steelers came to town. they hadn't played in a couple of weeks, and when they had played in the waning weeks of the regular season they had rested and not played to win. when the steelers came to town and brought playoff intensity with them, the co...

well, by now you probably know that i went to the steeler game on sunday, and you might be wondering how it went. well, in a word: incredible. in an image (or a few): here are a couple of my favorite shots: i want to write a bit more later about the game itself, and the end of the regular season, but here i just want to say a bit about my experience at the game. first of all, thanks to my dad and seth and some guys called chris and andy for finding a way to help get me to heinz field. i am very grateful. dad and i got up and left around 9 or so and got up to pittsburgh and parked. we walked across the seventh street bridge (the andy warhol bridge) and walked through all the tailgating, just enjoying the atmosphere and the energy. we stopped at the clark grill (in the old clark candy building) and had wings before heading over to the stadium. we got in there around 11:30 and watched the guys warming up before heading to the store where i got a terrible towel (i hadn't brought...

you see this stadium? that's where i will be on sunday morning. and all afternoon. that's right. i'm going to the game today. my dad got us tickets, and we're headed to the stadium. i've been to the stadium for a pretty cool tour once, but i have never been there for a game. so this will be my first time, my virgin experience. again, i've seen the steelers at giants stadium in new jersey, but never at the big ketchup bottle. so, i am really excited. really REALLY excited. part of my own excitement is that i am normally worshipping at a different type of cathedral on sunday mornings. not that i'll be worshipping per se, but i will be at a different type of cathedral: a football cathedral. with 60-some thousand other attendees. all of us screaming our heads off. and waving terrible towels. i am absolutely excited about this, and will have more to say about it tomorrow, obviously. for now, as the steelers look to beat the brown streaks for the 11th consecuti...

thought you might enjoy some pics of the sunrise this morning. i'll be back tomorrow.

what child is this? a poem by gregory a. milinovich there’s a chill in the air tonight. the darkness hangs like an old heavy robe cloaking this quivering scene in a solemn sacred holiness. o holy night! there is labor in the air tonight, in the silver streams of breath flowing from the nostrils of the sleepy cow, and in the heavy hanging drapes of thick, black cold. here is a winter solstice, a starlit symphony of silence and sound, an impending salvation. the wind is a weapon tonight, waging war on the skin, tearing like teeth and talon through branch and bark. the stars are iron bars, too cold to touch, too bright to ignore. o holy night! the air is thick with labor. the seed sown in another season will feel its first frost tonight. finally, birth emerges, shivering, in screams and blood, with grunts and gasps, with light and hope. finally, life emerges from this folded night with all the earthiness of birth and all the mystery of heaven. with admiration, with curiosity—with all our ...