Friday, December 30, 2005

I'm here, just busy

We’ve been back in town since Wednesday, but I have until January 3 before I have to go back to work.  That hasn’t kept us from doing a bunch of projects around the house though.  We’ll probably be putting our house on the market at the end of winter, so we’re doing a lot of little things to prepare for that.  Holly painted the bedroom that I have the computer in yesterday, and we just now got everything hooked back up.  We’re also moving out a lot of our clutter and storing it at a friend’s house.  I still need to install some ground fault outlets in the kitchen and bathroom, but things are starting to look pretty good.  I just hope we can find a house that fits all our search criteria.  We’ve been looking for a couple months now, but haven’t had much luck.

Since my parents moved and now have DSL for their internet access, they no longer needed the cable modem that they bought.  Foolishly, I had been renting one from the cable company for the past four years.  So, my dad let me take his old one and I got that all set up after spending 40 minutes on the phone with the cable company.  It turns out that I was on an old plan, and in order for me to use this new modem, I would have to switch to a new plan.  Sure I would get 100kbs faster internet service, but I would actually get fewer digital cable channels AND have to pay slightly more than I already was.  Here I thought I would be saving money by dropping the $5/month cable modem rental fee.  So in order to keep my rate about the same as what it currently was, I cancelled the digital cable and now just have expanded basic.  That’s all I ever wanted, but at the time I got the cable internet service, it was actually a better deal to get digital cable as well.  I was already feeling pretty screwed over, but Charter had one more bombshell for me when I dropped the equipment off at their office.  I wanted to verify my new monthly rate, and make sure it matched what I had been quoted over the phone.  It did, but then they told me that the internet service speed that I signed up for would be going up $6 per month starting next month.  That’s just great.  I’m getting less stuff than I was yesterday, and have to pay more for it.  I plan on pricing out a dish when we move, and see if that’s a better deal. 

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Quick Thoughts on Christmas

  • Merry Christmas from Davenport, Iowa. We're spending a few days with my family for the holidays. I'm so full.
  • The Bears beat the Packers tonight, which clinched the NFC North, and gave them a first round bye in the playoffs. What a great Christmas present.
  • On Tuesday, I'm going to try smoking a beef brisket. I've never done one before, but I found a decent recipie for a rub and mop sauce that sounded good. Hopefully it turns out as good as the brisket at Famous Dave's restaurant.
  • Today's lyrics: "May your days be merry and bright."

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

30

Well, I turned the big three–oh yesterday.  It’s not so bad I guess.  I’m trying to think of any benefits of turning thirty, and the only one I can think of is that I shouldn’t get carded anymore.  It’s not like that is much of a benefit though.

Anyway, I had a pretty good birthday for it being a work day and all.  Holly and I went out to dinner at Jenpachi Japanese Steakhouse.  I thought it was just going to be the two of us, but she surprised me by arranging for nine of our friends to join us for dinner, and had balloons waiting for me at the restaurant.  It was great food, and quite entertaining to watch the chefs put on a show and cook right in front of us.  The fun part was when the owner came out and sang “Happy Birthday” to me.  He has a very loud voice with a very narrow, and fast vibrato, so it’s kind of a nervous or Elmer Fudd type vibrato.  It also reminded a lot of people of the final scene in the classic movie The Christmas Story, where they are at the Chinese restaurant and the waiter is singing “Deck the Halls.”  I also received a Polaroid picture from the restaurant to commemorate the event.  It was a good time.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Watch out!

SF3The Bears just beat the Falcons, and I’m way too wound up to be able to go to sleep yet.  Thank you Lovie Smith for giving Rex Grossman the opportunity to play tonight.  When I heard that Grossman was going to be playing in the second half, my eyes lit up, and I had reason to be excited about the offense.  Rex really did not disappoint, and I would expect him to be named the starter for the rest of the season.  The announcers touched on it, but you could really tell that Grossman was a spark for the Bears’ offense, and everyone seemed to step it up when he got on the field.  The one thing I noticed was the vast majority of Grossman’s passes were on the money.  Accuracy was Orton’s biggest flaw.

Orton did pretty well for a rookie.  He has more than thirteen games of experience under his belt now, and will be a decent back-up for Grossman if he’s needed.  The Bears are in a good situation, in my opinion.  I’m just glad the switch was finally made, because I think the offense will be at its best with Grossman at quarterback.  Watch out Green Bay and Minnesota, because I think a division sweep by the Bears is looking like a definite possibility.

 

Friday, December 16, 2005

Quick Thoughts 12/16

  • Bears – Falcons Sunday night.  I think the Bears should win this one, but I’m really concerned about the “calf strain” that Mike Brown has.  It’s sounding pretty severe and he might miss the rest of the regular season. 
  • I thought of a scenario that would make ESPN’s Sunday night broadcasting team even worse.  Add Tony Siragusa.  But it could be worse.  I can at least be thankful that Brent Musburger doesn’t call NFL games.
  • So my old home-town newspaper, The Clinton Herald, has started an online discussion forum.  I read through one of the threads and just could not take most of the posters seriously because of all the bad grammar and spelling mistakes.  Check out this thread and see how many mistakes you can spot.  (I got tired of counting at fifteen.)  I guess this is a common occurrence in on-line forums, but it certainly annoys me.  Unfortunately, I don’t think most people would be able to find and fix their mistakes even if they were to proof-read.  The most common thing I see, which annoys me the most, is the use of the wrong “there, their, they’re” in a sentence.  Maybe this has always been a problem, and it’s just exposed more because the internet makes it easier for anyone to express their opinion in writing.  That’s what I’m going to keep telling myself at least.
  • Today’s lyrics: “I had a dream that I was 300 pounds.”

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Payton Pictures

I don’t have much to say tonight, but thought I’d share some recent pictures of Payton.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Quick Thoughts 12/13

  • I only have one week left of being “twenty-something.”
  • Looks like we’re going to get a heavy, wet snow tonight.  I hope the snowblower works.
  • In some shameless advertising, I put the URL for my blog in our annual Christmas letter that will be going out soon.  I’ll have to start coming up with some good material to keep the new visitors coming back for more.
  • I found this blog post interesting.  My cousin, who lives in South Korea, wrote about trying dog in a restaurant.  I don’t think I’d be so adventurous.
  • Nobody wants to take a stab at the previous post’s lyrics?  I thought those would be easy.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Quick Thoughts 12/9

  • After beating UNI and Drake already, the ISU men’s basketball team goes for state sweep against Iowa tonight.  Hilton will be rocking.  Iowa is without their star point guard, Jeff Horner, and the crowd will be on former Cyclone, Adam Haluska all night.  (Haluska transferred to Iowa after the Larry Eustachy fallout.)  I expect the Cyclones to win by at least ten.
  • The Bears play the Steelers in Pittsburgh on Sunday and this game has me concerned.  Will the Bears be able to score a knock-out blow to an injured Ben Rothlisberger?  The Steelers have struggled lately, and I’m afraid this might be the “rebound” game where they come out angry and go nuts.  Let’s just hope the Bears’ defense continues to go nuts itself. 
  • I saw the movie, Just Friends in the theater yesterday.  I had low expectations for it, but it was actually pretty funny.  The premise was something I could relate to since 95% of the girls I liked in high school never wanted to be anything more than “just friends.”  I’d say this movie is probably worth a rental, but make sure you’re in the right mood for it, and don’t have very high expectations.
  • Today’s lyrics:  “Well a lot of good cars are Japanese. Yeah, but when we’re driving far I need my baby, I need my baby next to me.”

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Pictures

The Chicago Tribune is running some photos of Bears fans on their website.  I was thinking about submitting a picture of Payton for it.  Should I submit A)SFPayton

or B) Paytonlion?

Which picture should I submit?
A) Superfan Payton
B) Bears stomp Lions
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Something to ponder

SF3_smallThe Bears are really getting a lot of love from the national media now.  So much so, that I’ve actually read a few articles that are actually talking about the Bears making the Super Bowl.  That really still seems like crazy talk at this point, but when you only give up ten points per game, you should be able to win it all.  Unfortunately, unless the defense either scores, or sets the offense up for an easy score, it’s been very difficult for the Bears to score more than ten points per game.  Unless I start seeing some drastic improvement in the offense, I’m not going to get too excited about the Bears making a big playoff run…yet. 

I mentioned the Super Bowl talk to Holly this morning and she floored me by asking if I would go to the Super Bowl if they make it.   She said that you never know if they would make it back again in your lifetime.  (I hope they do!)  Wow, this is a tough one for me.  Unfortunately, we booked a cruise for the week before the Super Bowl, and won’t be returning until the day before the game.  So, in theory, I could still make it to Detroit by Sunday, but it would really be pushing it.  Then there is the cost, which is probably going to be $1k to $2k I bet, between the game ticket, airfare (I’d drive if I had more time), lodging, food, souvenirs, novelties, and party tricks.  I know I’d have a better view of the game by watching it from my couch at home, but there’s something about the atmosphere of being at a big game.  (So far, nothing has topped the experience of being right behind the basket at the 1992 Iowa high school state tourney to witness the “Chris Johanson shot.”  I’ll write more on that another time, but it was amazing.)  Also, tailgating in Detroit in February just isn’t as appealing as somewhere like Miami, which has been a popular place for the Super Bowl in the past.  I’ve only been to one game at Soldier Field, and it was a preseason game too, but the best part about it was the tailgating.  I felt very much at home being around so many other passionate Bears fans, and that’s the worst part about living in Viking and Packer territory…I’m an orphan.  I know that there would be many other “Superfans” at the Superbowl who I could instantly bond with. 

So I really do hope the Bears force me to make a tough decision, and if they do, would anyone want to go with me?  (Bears fans only please.)

Monday, December 05, 2005

Quick Thoughts 12/5

  • NEWS-FLASH:  The Bears beat the Packers in Chicago!  I was a senior in high school the last time this happened, but what makes me feel old is how the Bears’ players say they were in grade school at the time.
  • I only saw the highlights from the Bears/Packers game, but it looked like Favre took quite a pounding.  Definitely not enough to keep him from starting next week though.
  • Former ISU Cyclone QB, Sage Rosenfels, led the Miami Dolphins to an impressive comeback win over the Bills.  Sage’s stats, an impressive 22 for 37 for 272 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT.  Not bad for a guy coming in off the bench.
  • Lesson learned:  Check the radar for the entire area of your roadtrip before you leave.  Before going to central Iowa on Saturday I checked the radar and saw that in Minnesota the snow had ended.  What I didn’t know about was the storm that was over central Iowa, and I went right into the worst of it.  It only snowed two to four inches there, but it was coming down pretty hard when I was driving, and the left lane of the interstate was pretty much undrivable.  In one thirty mile stretch there were about a dozen cars in the ditches.  Luckily I didn’t join them, and made it back home without incident, but I was mentally and physically exhausted from driving for eight hours (round trip) in the bad weather. 
  • Today’s lyrics: “You’re tearing me apart.  Every, every day.  You’re tearing me apart.  Oh, what I can I say.  You’re tearing me apart.”