2010 Winter Olympics

The 2010 Winter Olympics begins tonight in Vancouver with the opening ceremonies, and in celebration, Google's logo today pays tribute to the Olympics.






That's the picture you get when you save off the image, but it's actually the truncated version. Below is the logo that covers the entire length of the screen, which I like better.







I haven't really been into the Olympics for some time, though I did watch quite a bit more of the last Summer Olympics than I had planned or expected to, and I really enjoyed it. I'm kind of interested in some of the events this time around. I used to really like figure skating and all the downhill skiing stuff, and I was even watching the speed skating stuff during the Eric Heiden days. I'll probably end up catching some of the events over the next couple of week.

and the Super Bowl contenders are set

The first game today was for the AFC title, between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Jets, in Indianapolis. There was no scoring in the first quarter, and the half ended with the Colts trailing the Jets, 13-17. Definitely not the game that was expected. But 17 points was all that the Jets would get, as they were shut out for the entire second half. And Peyton Manning showed why he was the MVP this year. The Colts scored two touchdowns and a field goal in the second half, giving the Colts a 30 to 17 victory over the Jets. It was a nice run, Jets, and you had a terrific year, and you defeated a lot of good opponents along the way. But running into the brick wall that is Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts does have an effect on teams. And this was *so* not the Manning and Colts that the Jets defeated earlier in the season. So the Indianapolis Colts advanced as the AFC participant in the Super Bowl in two weeks.

The second game was for the NFC title, between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings, in New Orleans. And it was a battle, a dead heat between the two teams, trading scoring drives with each other. The Vikings had two touchdowns in the first quarter but were shut out in the second. The Saints had a touchdown in each of the first two quarters, so at half-time, there was a 14-14 tie. Each of the teams scored a touchdown in each of the third and fourth quarters, locked in a 28-28 tie with about 19 seconds to go in the game, but the Vikings were driving, just about within range of a game-winning field goal. And on third down, the Vikings had 12 men on the field and were penalized. And on 3rd and 15, the inevitable happened - Brett Favre got hurried and hassled, and he made a bad decision, and he threw an interception, bringing the Vikings' drive to a screeching halt. And the game went into overtime. The Vikings called the coin toss and loss, so the Saints got the ball. And they drove, starting with a good punt return that ended on their own 39, and they kept marching their way across the field, including going for it on a 4th down and getting it, extending their drive. And they ended up at 4th and 3 on the 22 yard line of the Vikings. And the kicker came out to try a field goal. And he made the 40 yard field goal, giving the New Orleans Saints the win over the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 31 to 28. The Saints are the NFC participant in the Super Bowl, up against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, February 7.

And the part of me that's angry at Brett Favre for not being able to decide what he wants to do, at the expense of holding an entire team hostage (ok, well, actually, three teams over the past few years), rather enjoyed that the demise of the Vikings came directly at his hands, that it was his customary bad throw for an interception that cost the Vikings a potential game-winning field goal attempt. And when the game went into overtime, the Vikings never had the ball, so Brett had to just stand on the sidelines, watching the Saints march down the field, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do to help his team. I wasn't ever a huge fan of Brett Favre, but I respected him for what he did, even when I also knew about and saw the many times he had a penchant for really horrible passes that were then intercepted and caused his team to lose. But, when he retired from the Green Bay Packers, I gave him his due as one of the best that had ever played the game, even as I'd been unhappy about his waffling for the prior couple years about whether or not he was coming back each year, and each year, the Packers put their team on hold for him. And finally, one year, they didn't want to put their entire team on hold anymore. And they gave him time, but they asked for a decision. And he chose not to return, to retire, and the Packers moved on. And then Brett started claiming that the Packers pushed him into making a decision too fast, into a decision he didn't want to make, and he wanted to come back. And he was stunned that they weren't bowing at his feet. And in the end, he went to play for the New York Jets. And he played horribly. And again, he was retiring. And then not. At the last minute, he decided to play for the Minnesota Vikings, another team that decided to put their entire team (and their then-quarterback) on hold for him. And he ended up doing really well, which made me madder that I couldn't be happy for him because of his prima donna antics. OK, he didn't want to go to training camp because he's such a veteran, he doesn't need it. But what about the new teammates, people who mostly had never played with him before? Didn't they need time to get used to their new quarterback, to develop a rhythm and a rapport? Where was his sense of team spirit in doing what was best for the team, not just what he wanted to do? I was sorry that the Dallas Cowboys crumbled so easily in their playoff game against the Vikings, but at least now, for the last two weeks of the season, I don't have to hear about Favre anymore. Well, at least other than another round of "will he retire and stay retired" roulette. Be done, Brett, and let me try to respect you again for your accomplishments.


But, otherwise, it's onward to the Super Bowl. I'm a total fan of Peyton Manning, so I will be rooting heartily for the Colts, but if that doesn't happen, I'd still be fine with Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints winning, so it's gonna be fun either way.

NFL playoffs begin and NFL MVP awarded

The post-season for the NFL started today.

The first game was between the New York Jets and the Cincinnati Bengals, held in Cincinnati. I was rooting for the Jets, just because. I was also rooting for a snow bowl as I always enjoy those and I'd heard it was expected to have harsh conditions in Cincinnati for the game.

The Jets did a pretty decent job and in the end, the Bengals pretty much shot themselves in the foot, so the Jets won the game 24-14, advancing to the next round. The weather was cold, and there were snow flurries for a little while, but no real snow to speak of.

This game was a sort of re-match from last week's game since the Jets and the Bengals played each other in the last game of the regular season, but that game was held in the Jets' stadium. The Jets crushed the Bengals then, and afterward, some of the Bengals players mouthed off that they didn't want to give away their secrets and were just holding back for the playoffs, and that would be a very different game. Yeah, how'd that work out for you, blabbering Bengals players?


The second game was between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles, a re-match from last week's game where the Cowboys shut out the Eagles in convincing fashion, 24-0. The game was a bit better today, but the Eagles still self-destructed, and the Cowboys beat them 34-14. The Eagles' first touchdown was actually thrown by Michael Vick (who I never realized has a resemblance to Chris Rock) - great pass and an even better reception and run for a touchdown. But that was one of very few highlights for the Eagles amidst a lot of problems. There were the botched snaps when the Eagles' center hiked the ball into his own butt, thereby causing a fumble. There was the botched-fake-handoff-that-wasn't-really-a-fake-but-was that Vick pretty much screwed up, and that resulted in the Cowboys getting the ball.

There was a lot of talk that the Eagles would win this game. They'd already lost twice in the regular season to the Cowboys, first at home and then last week at Cowboys Stadium, and the Cowboys couldn't possibly beat the Eagles three times in the same season. And then there were those that said with how good the Cowboys were playing right now, they could certainly beat the Eagles a third time. And they were right.

Tony Romo was terrific, and with all the troubles he's had in the past few years, it was actually a bit surprising to hear the absolutely glowing terms with which the sports folks are using to describe him - one even compared him to Dan Marino!

The Cowboys play the Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota next week. Can you guess who I'm rooting for? :)


On Sunday, the first game has the New England Patriots hosting the Baltimore Ravens. I wonder if that's going to end up being a snow bowl. I'm rooting for the Patriots in this case, even though I'm not generally terribly fond of them.

The second game has the Arizona Cardinals hosting the Green Bay Packers, a re-match of last week's game that was also hosted by the Cardinals, which the Packers won. (Yeah, how weird is it that 3 of the 4 playoff games this weekend are between the same two teams who played each other the prior week?) I'm rooting for the Packers but I'd be ok with the Cardinals winning because of Kurt Warner ... and as long as Matt Leinart sits his ass on the bench the entire time and has absolutely nothing to do with the outcome of the game.


The Super Bowl this year is being held on Sunday, February 7 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. Orlando had a rare snowstorm today - while highly unlikely, wouldn't it be funny if the Super Bowl this year turned out to be a snow bowl? ;)




And today, the NFL MVP award was announced as going to Peyton Manning, quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts. It was his fourth career MVP win. While that's a terrific honor, and well-deserved, it's a little less of a happy moment if you know that it's fairly well acknowledged that the Colts would be nowhere without Manning, and that it's his drive and skills and talent that have led the Colts to where they are, which is probably the reason for his MVP win. He is the reason for the Colts' success, and he is probably the sole reason. And that doesn't bode well for the team, even with their great season this year, because a team cannot sustain itself on the back of one player, even a player as great as Peyton Manning. But,in any case, congrats to Peyton on the win.

a gun safety PSA

A celebrity is often a good spokesperson for public service announcements because their fame gives them a louder voice that people will often listen to more than just random person they don't know. The celebrity can be especially powerful at giving a message if they have real-life experiences with the situation they're discussing.

And it's even funnier when someone does a parody of such a PSA. Who better to do a PSA about gun safety than Plaxico Burress. (Don't know who he is? Then Google is your friend.)

Golden Bear eats the Bird, chopping down Tree in process

The Big Game denotes the annual college football game between rivals California Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinals. (And no, I don't believe in spelling "Stanford" wrong. I don't really get that. Now, while I was at Cal, I did come up with an alternate name for Stanford - U.C.P.A - annexing them as the University of California at Palo Alto. And as much as I dislike USC, I don't spell their name with a dollar sign either. But I digress...) No matter how each team is doing in a particular year, this is still an important game, pretty much for bragging rights. And each team's record so far has no real bearing on the expected outcome of the game - just because one team has a much better record doesn't mean they'll win. I remember one year, Cal had something like only one or two wins, and Stanford was doing well and on the verge of going to a bowl game - but when Cal ended up beating Stanford, Stanford lost their chance to play in a bowl game. Good times.

This year, it wasn't quite the same situation. Cal had more than one or two wins, but overall, they weren't doing very well. Stanford, however, was having a decent season, and there was even talk that they had a shot at going to the Rose Bowl. Well, after Cal beat Stanford tonight by a score of 34 to 28, things are not so much coming up roses for Stanford.

Go Cal! The Axe is ours!

first game is in the bag

The Lakers' new season started tonight, but not before getting their championship rings for winning it all last season.







There was also the small matter of raising the championship banner.


And then came the next task at hand. The score was closer than I had expected, but fittingly, the Lakers won their first game of the season, beating the Clippers.

the East Coast series

Well, the Angels lost the sixth game of the American League Championship Series tonight. It wasn't just the loss, though. It was the form in which they lost, an inning in which they committed two stupid and fatal errors.

The Dodgers were eliminated by the Phillies previously, so the World Series is now an East Coast affair, between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees. Which means that I don't care that much about the Series, other than that I want the Phillies to beat the Yankees only because I am anti-Yankees.


At least I have the NFL.

no Angel left behind

The Angels who pretend to be in Los Angeles but actually have a stadium in Anaheim play the first game of the American League Championship Series today against the New York Yankees. They had clinched the America League West, but their celebration drew some criticism.

It's customary in baseball victory celebrations to pop champagne and, instead of actually consuming it, shower fellow teammates with it. In their celebration and champagne dousing, they did not forget a member of the team who was no longer with them, Nick Adenhart, who had been killed early in the season by a drunk driver in a crash that also killed two others in the car and severely injured the fourth person. The Angels had Adenhart's jersey and included it in the dousing as well.

However, those actions drew criticism from some who thought it in bad taste to drench Adenhart's jersey in alcohol when he'd been killed by a drunk driver. I suppose on some level, it might be a little odd, but I guess I didn't look at it that way. When I heard what they had done, I was touched and in tears. It was the normal way for them to celebrate, but it's not normal to have one of your teammates murdered early in the season. And they never forgot about him. He wasn't an ex-teammate. He was right there with them, and they wanted to celebrate with him, to include him in their victory.

Shortly after this happened, I was talking to the husband about the entire situation, and he relayed to me that a friend of his had been at the Angels game the night they clinched the title. The friend hung out for a while after the game ended, and then those still in the stadium noticed the Angels coming out of the dugout and heading for the center field wall. I hadn't known about this, but since Adenhart's death, a picture of him and his number had been up on that wall. The Angels went to that spot to be with Adenhart for a moment before going back to the clubhouse for the traditional celebration.


Here's an article about the celebration and tribute.


And then in looking around, I found that someone who had also been at the game that night actually captured the moment on video when the team was at the wall with Adenhart's picture.







When the team takes the field today, they will do so knowing that one Angel will be looking down on them, cheering them on.

L.A. is purple today

Today is the day of the parade to celebrate the Los Angeles Lakers winning the 2009 NBA championship. The parade will start at Staples Center and travel to the Coliseum, where there will then be some sort of rally/celebration thing. Here's the parade route and more information about the Coliseum celebration. I'm a Lakers fan but not enough so to actually attend parades and such. (OK, I'll admit that multiple years ago, during another of the Lakers' NBA wins, a friend at the time was a Lakers fan too, but she was mostly starstruck, and she heard about some celebration party thing where it was rumoured that some of the players might show up. Ummm, yeah. But she wanted to go, and she didn't want to go alone, and she BEGGED me to go with her, so I agreed. It was mostly a bust, as I expected. I think we saw one player, though I can't remember who it was - I just remember he was black and very tall. Does that narrow it down? But I digress...) But I have a good friend who is a huge fan, so I'm looking forward to reading/hearing about her adventures today.

As you'd expect, the marquees for the Staples Center are displaying congratulations to the Lakers on their win. On Monday, the congrats were on screen round-the-clock. On Tuesday, they'd gone back to rotating through their schedule of upcoming shows, with the congratulations inserted in the rotation. I managed to get a couple of pictures, and I couldn't decide which one I like better, so I'm just putting up both of them.

good day

Today technically started with a trip on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. We had dinner with friends at Downtown Disney last night, and then some of us went into Disneyland after dinner. We rode Peter Pan and then Big Thunder, with some interesting but unexpected fun in between, and then we got in line for Indy just before midnight. By the time we were done with the ride, it was after midnight, so the day started right in the middle of the ride.

This afternoon, I got to see Rockapella, and then this evening, I saw a second show of Rockapella. Both were great and fun and funny and just hysterical.

And then, to top it off, the Los Angeles Lakers won game five of the NBA finals, beating the Orlando Magic fairly handily, it seemed, to win the NBA championship.

Then, we had a late dinner with a couple of friends.

A very good day indeed.

identity crisis

There's a part of me that feels sorry for Anaheim. They have no idea who they are. They're trying to be so many different things.

First, they have a baseball team that doesn't want to be associated with them so much that they'd rather change their name from the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and they have "Anaheim" in their name only because there's some kind of contractual requirement. But the Angels don't play in Los Angeles. They don't even play in the same county as Los Angeles. But the Angels would rather be associated with Los Angeles.

And now, we're in the midst of the NBA finals. (Yeah, the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic, handily, in game one by a score of 100 to 75. Everyone seems to be celebrating and thinking it's a done deal. It's fine that everyone else is, but I hope the Lakers teammates themselves are not. They've gotten 25% of the job done, but it doesn't count until you do all 100%. Tonight's game is probably not going to be indicative of the other games. They need to stay focussed and not take anything for granted and continue to show the same fight they did tonight.) And because the Lakers are playing the Orlando Magic, there's this whole fake Disney connection because Orlando has Walt Disney World and Southern California has Disneyland. And now, Disneyland is on some Lakers kick, and WDW and Disneyland are making this friendly wager, like you'd see with the mayors of the opposing cities.

But there's one problem. They're not the Anaheim Lakers. And they're not the Southern California Lakers. They're the LOS ANGELES LAKERS. Who play in Los Angeles. Not Anaheim. Who play in Los Angeles County. Not Orange County. Who really have nothing whatsoever to do with the Walt Disney Company except that Disneyland might have some kind of parade with the Lakers if they win, but then, Disneyland does little parades with all kinds of people, and if the Lakers win, they're going to have their own spectacular, much larger kick-ass parade to attend. And it will be held in LOS ANGELES.

So Anaheim has one team that wants nothing to do with them, and now, they want to co-opt a Los Angeles team that has no association with them.

Huh?


So I follow various Disney feeds on Twitter. And when I read a particular tweet, I really didn't understand. Here's the information from one of the Disney sites.





I'm having a hard time making it past "Disneyland ... Lakers pride" because that concept just doesn't compute for me. That's not to say someone from Orange County or San Bernardino County or wherever can't be a Lakers fan, and that's not to say some random company in another city, county or state couldn't have some affiliation with the Lakers, but this whole association comes out of nowhere. It's like the ultimate bandwagon-jumping.

And, I happen to like Sleeping Beauty Castle. I think it's beautiful, especially when it's lit at night. I don't want it to be purple and gold. I will, however, reserve final judgement until I've seen it for myself, which I'll be doing this weekend.


Hmmm, the French Open has been going on for a couple of weeks, and Disney has a park in France. Wonder why they're not jumping all over that co-promotion?

Lakers head to the NBA finals

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets in game 6 of the Western Conference finals, winning the series 4-2 and moving on to the NBA finals which start Thursday, June 4. They don't know who their opponent is yet. Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals is tomorrow, with the Orlando Magic leading the Cleveland Cavaliers 3 games to 2. If the Magic win on their home court, they move on to the finals and the Cavs are done. If the Cavs win, then it's back to Cleveland for game 7.

I was at the movies tonight so didn't hear most of the game. When I stopped listening, it was barely into the first quarter, and the Lakers were up by a few and seemed to be playing well. When I got out of the movie, I checked the score and was surprised that the Lakers had won by a score of 119 to 92. Many analysts expected the Nuggets to win and then for the Lakers to win game 7, but I was really surprised at the huge margin of victory for the Lakers. The Lakers outscored the Nuggets in every single quarter and even scored 36 points in the fourth quarter. From the box scores, it looks like a lot of players contributed, which is always the best way to win.

Today was Carmelo Anthony's birthday. Sorry dude.

Mets beat themselves, gift wrap win to Dodgers

So the Los Angeles Dodgers (of Los Angeles) beat the New York Mets (of New York) tonight by a score of 3-2. Other than that it took 11 innings for the game to be done, fairly uneventful score, it would seem, right? WRONG.

The Mets APPARENTLY decided that they didn't want to win this game. They had a total of 5 errors in the game, 2 of them coming in the bottom of the 11th inning while the Dodgers were up at bat. The score was tied at the top of the 11th, and a triple by the Mets brought another Mets player in to score. Or not. Turns out Mets player Ryan Church missed third base when he rounded it, so when the Dodgers tagged third base with the ball, Church was called out, making the third out of the inning and rendering the just-hit triple useless.

Then in the bottom of the 11th, the Dodgers had managed to load the bases, and the Dodgers player hit a fairly easy infield ground ball. Mets first baseman scooped it up and threw it to home plate for the easy out - which it would have been had he not thrown it away instead, allowing the Dodgers to score and win the game.

Here's a link to the really funny recap.

And courtesy of the Mets themselves, here's the video of Vin Scully's call of Church's missed bag. Once that video finishes, subsequent ones will pop up, or you can just pick which next video you want to see.

Lakers and Ducks

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz today in game five to advance to the next round. The 107 to 96 winning score doesn't quite tell the whole story, though. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Lakers were leading the Jazz by 22 points, but with most of the Lakers' starting lineup on the bench, the Jazz made a run, cutting the lead to 11 before the starters were back on the court to play, and the Jazz got as close as 6 points before the Lakers pulled away again, thanks in part to some missed layups by the Jazz. The Lakers are going to need to learn how to hold a score if they're going to try to win the championship. They'll get some time to rest before their next round, where they'll be up against the winner of the Portland/Houston series. The Houston Rockets currently lead the Portland Trailblazers 3 games to 1. Game five in their series is tomorrow night.


And in a stunner, the eight seeded Anaheim Ducks upset the first seeded San Jose Sharks by winning game six and taking the series 4 games to 2 to advance to the next round. I have no idea who the Ducks are supposed to play next, and really, I don't much care about hockey, but even I know the significance of this win.

Obama picked it

Well, the North Carolina Tar Heels won the men's NCAA basketball championship tonight, just as President Obama picked.

And no, I have no idea what a tar heel is, and I'm even too unmotivated to Google it.

NCAA men's basketball championship game

So the last two teams in the NCAA men's basketball tournament are set, and it's Michigan State and North Carolina who will be competing for the championship.

Michigan State beat Connecticut in the first game on Saturday, and North Carolina beat Villanova in the later game on Saturday.

#1 ranked North Carolina will take on #2 ranked Michigan State in the championship game on Monday night starting at 6:21pm Pacific.

Obama still has a chance to have picked the winning team - his choice for the championship was North Carolina.

yet another person learns the Twitter lesson

There have been a number of stories in the news of late about people who are having to pay the consequences of having an open Twitter account and then just tweeting things they really should not be. They don't seem to get that if their account is not protected, then ANYONE can read what they tweet. It's no different than writing a blog or posting a public comment to a message board or something like that. If your account is protected, then you just have to be sure of who you allow to read your stream, but if it's open - you're fair game to everyone.

Mark Cuban is owner of the NBA basketball team Dallas Mavericks, and he apparently [sic] is on Twitter. After a recent defeat by the Mavericks to the Denver Nuggets, he tweeted a complaint about a non-call by the officials.

The NBA is notorious for being super-uptight about ANY comments even mildly critical of officials. Someone must have been following him who eventually relayed it to the league, because Cuban was fined $25,000 for his comment about the officiating. Frankly, I think it's ridiculous that the NBA has such a thin skin when it comes to comments about officiating. I can't think of another professional sport where it's like that - certainly not baseball or football. And it's not like basketball officials are immune to making mistakes or missing calls - they're human after all. I guess Cuban would have been fined if he'd made that comment during a live or print interview, so that's probably why he was also fined for saying it over Twitter. And with a public figure like that, you wouldn't expect his Twitter feed to be protected.

When it comes down to it, $25,000 isn't that much money to someone like Mark Cuban. But there seem to be more and more examples of people getting into trouble because of what they openly tweet.

And yes, my Twitter stream is protected. And yes, I'd get into all kinds of trouble with the stuff I tweet if I had an open stream. But then, that's why I have it protected!

March Madness - Final Four

I'm not usually interested in college basketball, but for some reason this year, I find myself paying attention to some degree to the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

The final four teams still left in pursuit of the national championship have been set: Michigan State, Connecticut, Villanova and North Carolina. Connecticut and North Carolina seem to be the ones I keep hearing about. I think it's a surprise that Duke was kicked out of the running so early. I've heard about Villanova's basketball team, but I think of Michigan State college sports more in terms of football.

For some reason, there was much ado made about the fact that President Obama filled out his own bracket. Only one of his final four teams is still in the running, but that final four team is who he picked to win it all - North Carolina. We'll see if they make it through to the finals.

news roundup Friday - college basketball, lost-and-found kitty, stupid thief and MILs

Happy Friday the 13th for the second time this year! Here's a rundown of a few news stories that interested me.


six overtimes in college basketball game

I don't generally care about college sports. Yeah, I pay attention somewhat to college football, particularly when it comes to Cal, but while I might be interested in scores, I don't much care about watching the games. I have even less interest in college basketball. To me, that's about as bad as ... watching the WNBA. But while driving home last night, I heard the story about the college basketball game between Syracuse University and the University of Connecticut. Syracuse ended up winning the game, but not until after they'd played 6 overtime periods, with the game lasting a total of almost 4 hours, ending at 1:22am at Madison Square Garden in New York. I'm pretty amazed that almost the entire crowd was there for the entire game - overtimes included. Yeah, the game was exciting - Syracuse had a basket at the end of regulation which would have broken the tie and given them the win right then and there, but the basket was ruled to be too late, after time had already expired in the game - and once you've committed to one overtime and then two, you HAVE to stay to the end, but I am pretty impressed that most of them actually did stay. There have to be a lot of people exhausted at work today.

Speaking of which, Syracuse has a game tonight at 9pm Eastern time against West Virginia. Hope they'll be awake by then. And not limping.


why is the couch mewing at me?

A woman bought a used couch from a thrift store only to discover several days later that the couch came with an extra feature - a calico cat. I'm wondering how long the couch was at the store, and the cat didn't make any noise or expend any effort to get out then? And when a couch is donated to a store for re-sale, they don't clean it or anything, which would have exposed the cat? Ewww. I don't know that I would have thought about trying to contact the owner, though, so it's good that she did, and it's good that the cat was reunited with its owner. Orkid would be one of those who'd be locked away in a trunk and we'd never know it, because while she is now vocal TO us (she didn't mew for the longest time when we first got her, so we didn't even know what her voice sounded like), she doesn't make a sound when she's been accidentally locked somewhere. I'll just happen to notice that I haven't seen her in a while, and she's not in any of her normal napping places, so the husband and I will go around the house calling her. No answer. We'll try to remember what rooms we've been in where we normally keep the door closed, or we'll look in the closet or cabinets or something, and invariably, she snuck into a room she's not normally allowed in, and we didn't notice and closed the door on her inside. And we only find her if we open enough doors, and eventually, she'll walk out of one.


maybe next time, he should try robbing a police station

All I'm going to say is - don't mess with a Tae Kwon Do dude.


not exactly a monopoly

A woman has filed a lawsuit naming about forty bazillion people, accusing them of stealing her script and making the movie "Monster-in-Law" with it. First of all, I guess she's either casting the widest net possible, or she's just really ignorant about things, because she has named the actors of the movie in her lawsuit. Ummm, yeah, you know, they didn't write the script, they were just hired to do a movie, so really, they have no liability of any alleged theft of your screenplay. And secondly, while I haven't seen the film, problems with mothers-in-law isn't a unique situation, no matter how complicated the relationship might be. Unless there are incidents depicted in the film that are unique and have only happened to her and NO ONE ELSE EVER, she doesn't have a leg to stand on. I read about MIL-related incidents that happen all the time, and there are lots of similarities among the stories. And, on top of that, she doesn't seem to be able to make any connection as to how any of the forty bazillion people might have had any access to her script. There is such a thing as simultaneous creation.

hoping for a Pennsylvania civil war on February 1

Today is final playoff day in the NFL to determine which two of the four remaining teams will be playing in the Super Bowl on February 1, 2009. I'm not as excited by the game as I might be if any of the teams I really like were going to be there, but there's at least still some interesting things that could happen.

The first playoff game is between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Arizona Cardinals.


vs.

I'm rooting for the Eagles because I like Donovan McNabb, and I like the Eagles ok as a team. (And, really, a mighty eagle should have no problem taking down a tiny little cardinal, mean look on cardinals face nothwithstanding.) I won't be super disappointed if the Cardinals win, though, because Kurt Warner being their quarterback has its own entertainment value, but in addition to that, I'd also know that Matt Leinert is in the Super Bowl but is going to be spending it watching the game from the sidelines. That would just be funny enough to sacrifice having the Eagles in the game itself.


The second playoff game is between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.


vs.

I'm rooting for the Steelers because they've been a great team, and it would be nice to see their resurgence. And I like Ben Roethlisberger, even if I can't spell his name. I really, really don't like the Ravens, so I will be really disappointed if they end up winning this game. (And yeah, ravens are powerful and mean, but up against steel - they should be out cold.)


So if everything turns out the way I want, that will set up the February 1 Super Bowl as a Pennsylvania civil war - Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh. McNabb vs. Roethlisberger - how awesome a matchup would that be!


vs.

Here's hoping this is what the Super Bowl matchup
will look like this year.