The last Monday before Labor Day. The second to last Monday where it will be quiet for a couple of months. The high school sports season kicks off in earnest the day after Labor Day, and that means Mondays will be spent writing up accounts of volleyball, football and cross country during the fall.

I’m going to enjoy every minute left of this Monday at Buffalo Wild Wings. I’m counting on the free Wi-Fi working here, because I’m using up my Verizon data allowance at an alarming rate. It won’t be so bad starting in September, simply because I’ll be home more often and won’t have time to hang out at B-Dubs at much; then again, I’ll be using my phone to tweet from games.

I discovered last night two more classmates from Arabi Park Middle remember me. One, Rosemarie Renz, wasn’t all that surprising, given we went to St. Robert Bellarmine together from kindergarten through fourth grade before reuniting at Arabi Park in the sixth and seventh grades. The other, Shandy de St. Germain, was a bit surprising, given we weren’t in the same classes in the sixth grade. But it is nice to know I haven’t faded away.

I stopped at QuikTrip on State Line Road and I-435 last night for pretzels and pizza. Had to splurge, since I didn’t eat much at Buffalo Wild Wings. I had an excuse to go to QuikTrip, since I was nearly out of gas. The QT on State Line sells gas without ethanol, which I like because I’ve discovered my car gets better gas mileage with ethanol-free gas. If I’m only driving on highways, I sometimes can squeeze 420 miles out of a tank, compared to about 390 with gas with ethanol. My car can run on E-85, but at best I can only get 290-300 miles per tank.

There are no NFL exhibition games tonight thanks to the Emmy Awards. Most teams play their final exhibition Thursday. In an odd scheduling quirk, the Cardinals and Chargers not only play their final exhibition against one another in San Diego, they open the regular season against one another in Arizona on Monday Night Football Sept. 8. Wonder why that wasn’t changed?

Made my college football picks today. I’ll reveal I’ve got Florida State, Alabama, Oklahoma and Oregon in the playoff, with the Crimson Tide to win it all. Again. Shoot me.