zoom zoom zoom...

so monday we bought a car - mazda3. pretty exciting stuff, considering we haven't owned a car in about 2 years, and we've never owned a car that was made before we entered middle school. i think i "over-paid" by about $350, but considering it's exactly what i wanted before i entered the showroom i think it was worth it. of course the guy did his job and had us drive the pimped out grand touring. it was nice and of course jen and i both wanted it. but after sitting on it a few days we realized all we really wanted was a gray car with a moonroof and side curtain airbags. ta-da! we got it. good times.

cubs - they blow. i somehow managed to go to 3 of the past 6 games. i know what you're saying - why would you pay good money not once, not twice but THREE times to see the third worst team in baseball?!?!? to that i respond "shut up and drink your beer!" anyway, i said going in if they lost all three games i'd sell the rest of my tickets. well thankfully (or regretably as the case may be) they managed to win last night (despite losing in agonizing fashion friday (neifi perez has replaced todd walker as my least favorite cub EVER)). they played well tonight, but it didn't work out. the past two nights though it really felt like wrigley field of old, and by old i mean 2 years ago. people were into the game, and not agitated by ever minute mistake. hopefully the cubs will turn it around and at least make a run at 3rd place. a boy can dream can't he?

fantasy baseball - i may as well not field a team in the league i won last year because every week i get smoked. i think i only lost 3-7 last week, but it's just ridiculous - my team blows. in my other 'main' league i'm still holding 'second' place because i'm better than all the other crappy teams in my division. i only have the 4th or 5th best record overall, but all the other decent teams are in the other divison. i'll take it. in my landlord's league i took over first place by a half game, so that's exciting. there are 3 good teams, 2 decent teams, and 5 bad teams (sorry sarah :( ). in my i-don't-know-anyone league i'm still undefeated. it's pretty sad how badly i'm crushing everyone else. not only am i undefeated, but i've scored at least 132.5 points more than any other team. after that team, which by the way is 2-6, the next closest team is 5-3 and 300.0 points back. good night, drive home safely.

finally, congratulations to sunny and steve on the birth of beautiful baby violet. being our first tufts friends to have a child i feel like there should be some serious beirut action or something. seriously though, congratulations guys - jen and i couldn't be happier for you and we're looking foward to seeing violet in july.

MO

oops i did it again

bad news - muppet won. good news! - i'm never watching that stupid show again! ok so katharine didn't win. she was the better singer. i guarantee the muppet will not have a career. moreover, i think this was the beginning of the end of american idol. despite its ratings, i think a lot of people will be disappointed with the quality of the winner, as well as the quality of the performances in general. this week and last week were both horrible. based on those 2 weeks, elliott should have won - he's the only one who didn't choke. anyway, i'm over idol. over it.

pearl jam - the show last wednesday was awesome. they played all their crowd favorites tuesday night, and saved wednesday for rarities. check out the setlist - totally insane. they kind of plowed through the first part of the show, aka the new songs, so they could get to the old ones. i think lukin was the highlight for me. as was the entire second encore - unbelieveable. they played with 50 times more energy than they did on last tour. if they're stopping by your city, definitely find a way to get tickets.

news - so jen got her job working for the man at the history factory. other than the commute she seems to like it. personally i don't think 45 minutes out 65 minutes in is that bad. assuming the el is running on time, and assuming i don't *just* miss a train, it takes me 45 minutes in the morning and 50 at night, and i'm only travelling 4 miles.

as a result of this job, we're forced to get a car. we've been looking for about a week, and i'm confused by several things. when did cars get so expensive?!?! i think we're kind of torn between the mazda3 and the new civic. we both kind of like the mazda more, but we're not sure about it as we only know 1 person who's ever owned a mazda. the civic looks better in person than in pictures, but it's still a little goofy. and it only has a 140hp engine, which is my main problem. seeing how i've been obsessing over this for a week and not getting more than 4 hours of sleep because of it, i hope to have this dilemma resolved sooner rather than later. suggestions and comments are welcome.

finally, beanes decided to make a run for the highway today. he crept down the back and went out the gangway. luckily we noticed he was missing after only 5 or 10 minutes, so he didn't get very far. where would beanes go on his own? to the house with the man that always gives him biscuits of course! jen was smart enough to think of that, so he's home safely. lesson: keep your dogs and children on leashes!

MO

and the winner is...

...katharine. she sounded worse than muppet last night, but can you seriously picture muppet on trl? no. and neither can everyone who voted for everyone but him. i have to say, this being my first idol final week, i'm pretty disappointed. i didn't know they sang songs they've previously performed. nor did i know they sang them poorly. i seriously want that 45 minutes of my life back. hell, i want the past 2 months back with all the time i've spent thinking, talking and blogging about that stupid show. anyway, while everyone thinks he's going to win, he won't. because he's a muppet. and everyone knows muppets can't sing a lick (see: every muppet movie ever made).

MO

real quick like

1. getting ready to go see pearl jam - whoo hooo!!! i made the mistake of not going to last night's show, and frankly i don't know how they can top last night's setlist. i'm going to be there to find out though. full report tomorrow.

2. idol - katharine's rainbow was the best of the night, but her other 2 songs were weak. elliott's 3 were the most consistent. taylor's cocker song was good, but i realized my deal with him - just like chris, he's only capable of making one sound - the joe cocker sound. he has no range or ability to sing anything different, which is why i've been tired of him for seemingly months now. in any event, my gut tells me katharine goes home, but my head tells me fox doesn't want 2 dudes, and ugly dudes at that, in the final. so i think elliott goes. sorry my funky white brother...

3. jen got a job! whoo hoo!!! full report on that tomorrow too.

4. why is my dog afraid of rain? thunder and lightning, ok maybe. but rain??? i can only assume he associates it with the others, and thus hides under the couch expecting the worst. poor chicken beanes...

MO

hi-larious III

thank you dan pashman, senior producer at air america, for telling me about this clip. admittedly i don't watch the colbert report, or the daily show. i know, i'm a loser, i suck - you're the 10,000,000th person to tell me that, do you feel like a big person now? anyway, stephen colbert spoke at the white house correspondence dinner a few nights ago and ripped bush while bush was 2 seats away. the speech was hilarious on it's own, but when you consider bush is sitting right next him it's even funnier. it's 24 minutes long, so grab a drink, but it's funny. good times.

idol - wow. i love that chris went, that rocks like nickelback! wait a minute... anyway, katharine deserved to go, and she knew it. i still cannot believe the muppet has yet to be in the bottom two - unbelieveable. next week should be interesting. as a first time idol viewer, i have to say that i'm kind of annoyed with the filler - like i need to see priscilla presley show me elvis' gold records. by the way, what happened to priscilla? her face is expressionless. i don't think she's capable of smiling. train. wreck. anyway, i'm really hoping for an elliott/katharine final. go ahead, tell me i'm a sucky loser again.

finally, i'm proud to make another jen announcement. after months of searching, and interviewing, jen has finally found...a new favorite show to replace west wing. what, you thought i was going to say job? yeah, no. jen is in love with tour de gorge. if you have inhd or inhd2, you're probably familiar with this show - it's competitive eating in 30 min segments. specifically, she's in love with eater x, tim janus (read about the inner workings of x here). conversely, i'm in love with cookie jarvis. i mean, just look at his 'bib sheet' - cannolis, chicken fingers, corned beef, french fries, ice cream - he likes everything i do. except he likes his by the pound. i can only hope that i would look so good as i finished my 21st cannoli. you think yankee/red sox games get us pumped, you should see us when x and cookie go head to head for 8 minutes of dumpling action (seriously, cookie ate 91 (NINETY-ONE!!!) dumplings in 8 minutes. i love him.

MO

sad day

1. jen's computer died yesterday. supposedly, it went out in a blaze of glory, complete with a bright white screen, some flickering, a few puffs of smoke as it took it's last breath and a few fizzles letting everyone know it was time. considering it was on about 15hrs/day for the past 5 years, i think we got our moneys worth. and luckily when it crapped out the first time 3 years ago we bought a backup drive, so all her stuff is safe. still, a sad day. goodbye compy - we loved you.

2. katharine is so going home tonight. when you a)forget the words to the first song and b)over-sing the second song, you're done. sad, because she's clearly the best pure singer. elliot, for about the 3rd week in a row, rocked it. chris sounded exactly the same as he does on every song (although his first song was kind of worse than usual), and taylor was his usual spaz. he's such a train-wreck. i just don't get him at all - i think he sucks. anyway, i'm happy that 3 of my initial final four are still alive, mandisa being the only idol missing. and frankly, she's 10,000 times better than the muppet.

3. cubs still suck, losing streak at 8. how can they possibly suck anymore i ask you? the answer, my friends, shall be divulged tonight when they suck against the giants, and finally give up bonds' 714. and maybe 715. they're so pathetic, i dont even want to talk about it.

MO

'lost' in the dark

once again i was kind of money with idol. i think 1 of my bottom 2 has gone home 3 or 4 weeks in a row now, pretty sweet.

as great as idol has been, lost is really starting to get on my nerves. i was all about this show last season - easily one of the top 3 shows on tv. this season they're driving it straight into the ground. they're getting nowhere with this current plot line. henry was fun for a week or two, but nothing has been done. the fact they have to create these 'huge, unbelievable, startling, amazing, you're-not-going-to-believe-what-happens-next' twists EVERY week tells me they have no idea what they're doing and they're just jonesing for viewers. you had me, you lost me. get it? hey-oh! they did teach everyone a valuable lesson that most college football programs could use - you get caught drinking and driving, you get shot.

wedding planning - good times. we just need to find a dj (suggestions in chicago?), invitations and rings. we actually found invitations we like, we just haven't done anything about it. save the date cards will be going out this weekend, i swear. yeah, they were supposed to go out in january, but what are you gonna do? other than that, i don't really have much to report. i feel like we should be doing something, but i'm not sure what.

sopranos - i was a little late (and by a little i mean 5.5 seasons) getting into sopranos, but now i'm addicted. i'm on season 3 thanks to my dear friends at netflix. watching them consecutively, i have to say i feel they jumped the shark a little with season three, especially in the first episode. lots of weird camera effects and angles, crazy music with 3 songs playing at the same time, and much less violence. it picked up after the second episode, but the first 2 seasons were by far better. at least for now.

cubs suck.

MO

3 things

1. pearl jam album is good. favorite songs so far are marker in the sand, comatose, parachutes and gone. i think. need to listen to it some more, but it's good and now i'm even more psyched to see them in 2 weeks...

2. cubs suck. last 4 games: 34-4. canNOT hit left handing pitching - unbelieveable. i'm glad they won the game on monday because i was there and it broke a personal losing streak (shout out to bill o. for the ticket), but man are they sad.

3. idol. elliot and paris were the best, but paris doing mary just doesn't work, sorry. chris sang the same song again, just different lyrics. shocking, i know. katharine's first song was horrible, but her second song was one of the best last night. taylor - what can i say. powder blue shoes with pink shoelaces. i hate to run things into the ground, but seriously - can he say anything other than "soul patrol!"? i've got paris and soul patrol in the bottom two, with (hopefully) the muppet going home.

MO

eventful weekend

here's a brief recap of the fun events of the past 4 days: thursday i basked in the glory of correctly picking pickler's demise; beanes grew immune to benadryl and scratched half his face off, terry solidified his grasp of the group on survivor. friday - i went to the er at 6:30am because i thought i was having a heart attack, got to work at 9:30 and everyone laughed at me; finished season 2 of the sopranos. saturday - woke up at 6 to clean the house for our first pre-game bbq of the year; downed the first sam's summer of the season; cooked up drunken salami, egg and cheese sandwiches; sat in less than pleasant weather for 2 hours watching the cubs suck more than i've ever seen them suck (granted i only moved to chicago in 2001); had a few beers and wings at ginger's; night cap at diner grill. can you tell i'm not concerned about my ekg results?

speaking of wrigley, i have to say i like the bleacher renovations. it seems like a more modern park now with the vendor carts and what not, but still feels like the old bleachers. the biggest improvement, at least for me, is the fact that they raised the level of concrete behind the actual bleachers. in the old bleachers, if you wanted to lean on the bleacher behind you, your butt would sag down and after about 4 minutes it was uncomfortable. with the added height, it's completely comfortable. i suppose it helps that everyone left early because the cubs sucked so bad. i can't say i remember them losing 2 games by a combined 25-2 margin - pretty pathetic. i think the great steve stone diagnosed their problem correctly 3 years ago - the cubs cannot hit soft tossing lefties. good thing we still have the great sarge matthews and gene clines and dusty baker working to fix those problems from 2002...

MO

the real deal?

despite my earlier doomsday post about the cubs, i'm starting to think they might be ok. z is going to get his act together, maddux is not going to win every start, but it seems his new off-season training regimen has reduced his 3 good starts-1 bad start routine to at least 4 good starts-1 mediocre start. that said, marshall could be the key. who is this guy? all we've heard about for the past 3 years is guzman and brownlie. this guy has 15 career MINOR league starts, makes the team in spring training, and now seems to have found his groove. yes, his first 3 starts weren't anything to write home about, but he's looking solid tonight and his curve reminds me of zito circa 2002. we'll see...

on a side note, nate vasher should never be allowed to hold a microphone again. tone. deaf. stick to returning punts and making picks.

on another side note, the weather is looking great for our first game of the season saturday. last week the forecast was cloudy 64, then showers 62, then showers 60 and now we stand at showers 56. this weekend last year we sat in the bleachers and it was a balmly 33 with snow showers. a boy can dream can't he? at least we'll have maddux on the mound...

idol - why does everyone keep getting worse? everyone was horrible tonight, including katharine. elliot was the best, paris wasn't too annoying, chris sounded ok, but again he just makes everything sound like a creed song. kelly, who has sucked for 2 straight weeks, or taylor are my best guesses for the boot. speaking of taylor, i've decided he's a muppet. he's like a combination of burt and cookie monster - big bushy eyebrows who can only say one thing - soul patrol. shut up and eat your cookies. at home.


MO

cubs blow

i haven't even been to my first game yet, and the season may as well be over. no d.lee, another setback for woody, and no prior until at least june. throw in a slumping aramis and you've got a recipe for another sad season. they were only half a game out of first when lee went down, and by my calculations they should be 10 games back by the end of may. after winning the d.lee game v. LA, they've now dropped 2 in a row to the cards, haven't hit, and have been hit hard. stupid cubs - you fooled me into having hope for the last time...

in other news, jen's interview on the milt rosenberg show is officially in their archives. just click on the link and i think it'll play. or at least you'll be able to download it or something.

MO

hi-larious part II

first of all, i believe i had the idol down this week. ace has been crappy for weeks now, so buh-bye ace, buh-bye. chris got his shot across the bow warning, so we'll see if he can pick himself up. i have an idea, maybe he could sing another crappy wuss rock song, some creed perhaps??? i'm so in touch with the peeps...

a few posts ago i noted how in love i was with the chronic-WHAT-cles of narnia rap - chris parnell is hilarious. shortly after that i was made aware of west coast and midwest responses. while i still love the original, i have to say lazy monday is pretty funny, and lazy muncie might be the funniest thing i've ever seen. maybe it's because i'm down with the midwesterners. or because i love garfield. in any event, hi-larious.

tuesday resolution

effective immediately, blogging will resume at regularly scheduled intervals, namely tuesdays and thursdays. it's been so long i'm not sure i remember what it means to blog.

to end the suspense from the last entry, i have decided to name my fantasy team...the chelmsfuhd smags. the smags are currently in 5th place. after a disappointing first week, the smags bounced back last week to move above the mendoza line with an 11-10-1 record. rest assured, you'll be kept abreast of all 4 (yes, i said four) of my fantasy teams throughout the course of the season. the poopeaters are off to a slow start, but have the confidence of all defending champs, so we're not worried. running is dumb, my final team, is far and away my best team. if they don't win the championship, something will have gone awry (that's a-rye, not awe-ree - you know who you are : ) ). finally, the fierce pandas have cruised to a 2-0 mark behind the best staff in the league and the bat of pujols. as an aside, i want to thank all cubs fans who bring "pooholes stinks" signs to cubs/cards games. clearly i'm 9 years old because i giggle all the time. if my word wasn't good enough, here's more evidence that pooholes is sweeping the nation.

in other news, jen and i ran our first race - the 2006 Shamrock Shuffle. as luck would have it, my timing chip fell off my shoe somewhere between mile markers 1 and 2. thus not only do i not have an official time on the website, but i'm also $30 lighter. sweet. but jen and i ran together, so you can look her up to see that we ran it in 54:50. considering we never ran over 3 miles in training, i thought we did very well. i actually ran slightly faster than that as i finished with a michael johnson like kick, but we'll call it 54:50.

american idol - still addicted, though not as addicted. i have to say - so far tonight i'm not impressed. as i write that, katharine comes on and blows everyone out of the water. she should win, but who knows - america is dumb, i think we can all agree on that. i thought chris was terrible, despite all the praise he got from the three stooges. elliot was quality, per usual, paris irritated me, per usual, taylor looked constipated, per usual (i wish that guy would just take a laxative), and ace is going to be in the bottom three, per usual. it's going to be a tough week, but i say ace should go, and probably will go, but chris could go and i wouldn't be surprised or upset. now that annoying ass house is on and i have to change the channel before my bulb blows because this show is so horrible.

MO

hi-larious

people like to crack that snl is 'not what it used to be.' i have a theory - everyone thinks the cast that was on when they were in junior high and high school was the best cast ever. sure murray and martin and radner and belushi were funny, but i remember laughing hardest at sandler, farley (may he rest in peace), spade, nealon and macdonald. i've come to realize, however, that there are always funny people on snl - that's what makes it so great. people ragged on fallon because he couldn't keep a straight face and was 'unprofessional' in delivering his lines, but you know what, that made me laugh harder. he did his job. the current cast is way underappreciated, and i think this clip proves it. it's not 'new' but it is 'funny'. f'ing hilarious.

MO

name my team

march is good for 3 things, all of which happen to be converging this weekend. first of all, march madness - the greatest playoff system in all of sports begins tomorrow. secondly, st patricks day in chicago. sure the river was green last weekend, but many a face, my own included, will be green after several hours at my favorite bar Ginger's (we'll be there from 4-? friday - come join us). lastly, and most importantly, it's fantasy baseball time. with both my drafts just 2 weeks away, it's time to really ramp up the preparations.

as many of you know, i finally had a fantasy baseball breakthrough last year, winning two leagues. most importantly, i won my 3-year keeper league in the the third and final year, and now have a banner hanging in my dining room to remind jen what a catch she's got. and by catch i mean dork. anyway, i've entered a new league this year with brand-new make believe friends, and a need for a new name. apparently the name with which i won my keeper league last year is only funny if you know the story behind it. and even if you know the story, apparently it's not funny anyway, i need a new team name. best suggestion by 3/29 wins. there are no rules to this competition, enter as often as you'd like. and for the winner, i shall name you honorary assistant manager of the soon to be champion yet-to-be-named team! does it get any better? i think not.

MO

nothing to do wednesday night?

find out what it's like to be a graduate student! my fiance jen will join gentlemen from northwestern and u of c as panel members on the milt rosenberg show tomorrow night, march 15, from 9-11 cst. for those of you who don't know, milt rosenberg has been a fixture on chicago radio for over 20 years and has interviewed virtually everyone. who's ever lived. so listen, call in, and find out how exciting graduate student life really is!

MO

intervention please

so it's been a while, but i finally have a free moment. in other words, i've finally been able to peel myself away from american idol. prior to last season, i despised this show. didn't get it, didn't want to get it, couldn't care less. last season i got sucked into watching all the sucky people suck, and then stopped watching when the real competition started. so when this season started, i assumed i could stop watching when i wanted (kind of like i thought i could stop eating chex mix when i wanted).

well now i'm 5lbs heavier and an idol addict. i can name all the remaining contestants, where most of them are from, and why they're not going to win. i had 3 of the 4 going out tonight, with only ayla surprising me (thank god gideon and his goofy smile are gone). i seriously cannot stop watching. and now i have to watch in hd, as if i need to see a bunch of 17 year olds as they truly exist.

final four: mandisa, katharine, elliot, chris

help. please. help.

done and done

that's how i would describe the olympics, particularly the winter sort. i think it's fair to say most of the country doesn't care about the olympics as evidenced by american idol's dominance in the ratings. frankly, i'd rather watch kristy swanson facepaint the ice more than i'd like to see sasha cohen land a triple axel, whatever the hell that is (apparently impossible since no one can land it in competition). seriously, did you see buffy's face bounce off the ice a few weeks ago? it was classic. i felt pretty bad for buffy, but it was great tv. why would i want to watch professionals (or more accurately top amateurs) do their best not to screw up, when i can watch a bunch of scrubs work their hardest to be better than most normal people? let's be honest, the best part of olympic skating is watching the experts fall on their asses and slide across the ice. sorry, i'm over it (much like i'm over the bachelor, but that's another story).

and here's another problem i have. on one hand, you have jackasses like bode miller, who seemingly could care less about representing the us and winning a medal. he comes off as a selfish little punk (and probably is). then you have shani davis and chad hedrick, who i respect a million times more than no-medal miller, but in their bickering about who disrespected who sound like a couple of little school girls. just shut up, skate fast, win medals, and thank each other for pushing each other to be great. basically, it boils down to the fact that to the rest of the world (or at least most of the world) cares about the olympics, and many americans, including olympians, don't care. they care about how many endorsements they'll get, or what sitcom they'll guest star in, or which late-night couch they'll sit on, but not about being the best.

finally, my biggest problem with the olympics is nbc. i hate bob costas. he might be the second worst sports commentator in the history of the world (right on the heels of joe buck, another annoying little midget). moreover, in this day and age, how can i not find out what happened when the events take place during my lunch hour? am i expected to not surf the internet? or listen to the radio or watch the news? it's like tivo-ing a football game to watch the next day - there's no way i can avoid finding out what happened, and thus am not inclined to waste hours of my life watching something when i already know the outcome. as much as it might pain nbc, they should show the events live, and then just show highlights for an hour or two in primetime. they'd have higher ratings if they mixed olympic highlights with their regular shows (although their normal programming does suck pretty bad). most people don't care about the olympics at all, and of those who do, i'm willing to bet a vast majority would be perfectly content just watching american athletes. i personally would rather watch an lesser american compete in a cool event like the biathalon than watch every nation's best ice dancers (who by the way all sucked).

now i'm angry at myself for wasting this much time talking about something so stupid. the olympics are done. and by done i mean uninteresting and stupid, not unlike watching me lose over and over and over in connect four.

MO

rivalry schmilvary

flipping channels, i've come across duke at unc. great rivalry. 2 schools, geographically close, great history, blah blah blah. i'm so tired of hearing how unc/duke is the biggest rivalry in sports. how can 2 colleges, who are both known nationally for one sport (yes each is good at other sports, but those aren't on espn every week), and play each other 2, maybe 3 times a year, be the biggest rivalry??? i'm sorry, it's not the biggest rivalry. it's not. and neither is the cubs/cardinals rivalry. sure, stupid people from st louis come up and drink at sluggers and cubby bear. sure, cub fans travel to st louis for a weekend series. but guess what, it's not a rivalry when one team wins EVERY year. my cubs friends are going to hate me, but until the cubs consistently beat the cardinals (not once every decade), or at least show they can compete, it's never going to be the greatest rivalry.

granted i'm a little biased, but anyone who knows sports and ever visited the northeast should know the yankees/red sox is the greatest rivalry. period. this almost fails the test associated with the cubs/cardinals (ie: the yankees always win - 26-6 world series championships), but have you ever heard wrigley erupt in a 'st louis sucks' chant while the cubs are playing the pirates? or dukies start one of their notoriously creative chants directed at unc while virginia is playing duke? no and no. it just doesn't happen. i can't tell you, however, how many times the vaunted (and oh so creative) 'yankees suck' chant has rained down on fenway while the yankees are in another time zone. and fenway is probably the only stadium i've ever visited where i thought twice about wearing my jeter shirt. when i went to my first yankee/white sox games, my law school friends advised me against wearing yankee paraphenalia to comisky because the fans can get a little rough. i suppose if you consider a drunk 65 year old taunting us with his arms twisted as K's. yeah, not so much. as further support, i present you this tale:
friends were visiting from out of town, and we decided to go to a local bar for dinner and drinks. as we're waiting for a table, i'm talking to my friend and i have on my yankees hat. i see some random girl approaching me and i think she's just drunk and stumbling toward me. to my surprise, she's completely sober and walks up to me and says 'hey, i just want you to know the yankees suck!' this is in a bar, in chicago. this was before the red sox won in '04, so i suppose she was an expert in sucking since her team had sucked her entire life, but c'mon, tone it down - i was just waiting for a table.
so thank you red sox nation, for it is, in large part, your insanity, that helps keep the yankees/red sox rivalry the greatest current rivalry in all of sports. and as much as i despise the red sox, i respect them and thoroughly enjoy all 18 or 19 regular season games and the inevitable clash in the alcs.

i have to go to bed now. i'm sick.

MO

another year, another monkeybowl

the first weekend in february proved quite an eventful one. sunday marked the 5th consecutive year jen and i have hosted our superbowl party, monkeybowl. unlike past years when we've had some divide in rooting interests, all of our guests were rooting for the steelers, including mr. pOTTsburgh, joe. steelers won, seahawks lost, refs blew some calls, quit your crying little girls.

in case anyone was wondering, here are some of the final Monkeybowl V stats:
231 --> wings
136 --> meatballs
59 ---> beers
17 ---> ciders and hard lemonades
5 ----> dips (1 hot spinach, 1 cold spinach, 1 veggie, 1 'spicy', 1 7-layer)
1 ----> pan of homemade peanut butter brownies
1 ----> pan of vanilla pudding pie
1 ----> drunken salami
>1 ---> stomach aches and hangovers monday

i'm happy to report no one was seriously injured during the celebration, unless you count the seahawk that was drowned in a pool of it's own tears. stupid seahawks.

also this weekend: saturday was beanes' second birthday. to clarify, this is not the second anniversary of his adoption, but his actual birthday. we celebrated with a steak dinner, and a trip to doggy daycare for Monkeybowl. after a day of wild partying, i'm happy to report he's returned to his big doggy schedule of sleeping. 18 hours a day.

finally, jack johnson's latest cd was released today. while it's not a true 'release' because it's for the curious george movie, it's still jack, and it's still good. for the most part. some songs are definitely geared toward kids, but it is a kids movie, so it's acceptable. not his best work, but i'm still listening to it. love me some jack (and, thankfully, jen is finally coming around...).

MO