Best of the Year

My third annual year in review ... totally irrelevant, completely useless and purely Stacey.

My favorites ...

Three Words to Describe 2008: Change, Obama, Giants

TV Show: Three way tie: Grey's Anatomy, Doctor Who, Sarah Connor Chronicles

New TV Show:  (new to me) Dexter!

Song: You Found Me ~ The Fray

Book: The Lazarus Vendetta ~ Robert Ludlum

Movie (in Theater): I don’t think I went to any movies this year … how very sad

Movie (Rental): Capote

Biggest NFL Surprise: Miami Dolphins

Biggest NFL Disappointment: the New Orleans Saints

I'll turn the channel when: any thing with The Former or Sarah Palin on!

Celeb I'm sick of: The Former

Gift Given: Adele CD for Sarah

Gift Received: Get Fuzzy Calendar

Best new tradition/habit: Thursdays with Bob Ross

Commercial:  that Mercedes-Benz commercial with the guy with the sexy voice

Traveling: down that rocky road of adulthood

KoL: 10 million meat and the Boring Crimbo (not my favorite, but notable)

Wine: 9 ~ Moscato Asti, sparkling wine to toast the Giant’s Victory

Best Blog: Dooce.com

Other Notables: Finally! We have friendly cats … Sassy, George, Benny, Ava and Dexter (Ava and Dexter are gone, but we’re kept busy with the other three)

Here's to 2009 and GW out of office!

Death by Twang

Just tell me Fast.fm who do you think you are playing country music when there's only three damn country songs in my library?

Then SKIP OVER songs I would actually listen to only to stop at a f'ing Shania Twain song?

Are you trying to kill me (or make me uninstall you)?  What part of favorite artists: goo goo dolls, +44, Blink 182, Stroke 9, Fergie DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND??

Plays music based on your music listening patterns my butt!

Spit in the face of a weak stomach

Reading Dooce I discovered a new web site (seriously folks, I  am addicted, someone needs to invent a dooce patch stat! or I might start shaking at work from withdrawal).

Okay ... so this site is NOT for the faint of heart or those with a weak stomach ... unless you're a daredevil who spits in the face of a weak stomach.

It's actually like watching a scary/slasher movie ... from behind your hands.  Seriously.  I'm concerned the neighbors might think there's something horribly wrong ... I'm screaming that much (and I've only looked at two!).

Check out THIS SITE if you can handle it.

OH. MY. GOD.

Now that 2008 is out of the way ...

First, I must preface that this post has a lot of passion behind it.  It's the fanstastic part of football, that release of emotion, great highs and stunning lows.  However, I am going to do my best to separate as much emotion from this as I can. 

Unbiasness I cannot guarantee, but this is my blog.  So I can write what I want, as skewed as it may be.

Now you might suggest this would have a different tune if Brett Favre (please note, henceforth referred to as The Former) and the J-E-T-S were playoff bound.  Not at all.  My points would be the same, but I wouldn't be able to say I TOLD YOU SO!  You may have a better record, but your stats pale compared to Aaron Rodgers.

Okay, now I have all my prologue points out of the way.

The 2007 off season The Former proved me wrong about this and that.  Hey, no hard feelings.  Actually, I have no problem that The Former changed his mind.  There have been many Packer greats (that have left the team either through retirement or free agency) to go on to play or coach for other organizations.  Robert Brooks, Antonio Freeman, Ahman Green, Ryan Longwell, Craig Hendrich, Reggie White, Travis Jervey ... oh yeah, and Vince Lombardi ... just to name a few. 

Okay, so TJ isn't apples to apples.  But Reggie is a Legend.  Robert and Free were the best wide receivers of the Super Bowl teams.  And Ryan and Craig are in the top tier of players at their position.

So, as my mom said, "Why didn't you disown TJ like you are [The Former]?"

It's not because he un-retired.  It's how he did it.

First we must remember the six year debate.  Every December, could this be his last game?  Every off season, playing with the media.  And in recent years, waiting until just before the draft to make the come-back decision.

Finally the other cleat dropped.  March 4, 2008.  Then his tearful goodbye.  If nothing else, I've just expended way too much emotion on him, that I just have no more warm and fuzzies for him left in me.

Shortly after the 2008 draft, rumors start floating around that he wanted to come back.  Here's when it starts turning sour.  He denies some and is ambiguous with others.  Then he announces he never wanted to retire and the Packers forced him out.

Packers tell him in no uncertain terms that he cannot just come back and be the starting quarterback.  It's now July and the team has moved on.  August: Family Night comes and he returns to Green Bay with his wife and watches the scrimmage from a sky box.

And he's all like "What? I'm [The Former] I'll come and be your QB, because, do you know who I am?  Awe shucks, I'm a good ole' country boy wearing wrangers."  (okay...the unbiased field lapsed there, all systems restored)


This is the epitome of the true void of class he showed during the situation.  Instead of keeping it in-house, he made a spectacle.  The team paid him obscene amounts of money and love during his career.  And he showed the organization, players and fans no respect.

He went to the playground and started slinging mud.

I get that he still has that passion and abitlity to play.  Either don't retire or work with the Packers for a trade.  If they play hardball take it to the Players Association or the Commish himself.  Don't whine to the media you childish asshole.

That's right, I said it.

I always revered The Former for his child-like passion for the game.  But off the field matters are business.  This is not a family--which is what we all forgot.

I have lost respect for him as a person and professional.  I have a hard time respecting people who preach and live by one set of standards but then abandon these "values" and "character" when the chips are down.  It reveals a very different person... like the situations with Desmond Howard, Mike Holmgren and Dorsey Levens.  All disowned in my eyes.  But with time the disdain has decreased and I know it'll be the same with The Former.

I never would have admited it while he was here, but the distance allowed me to see what everyone was saying: The Former held the Packers hostage.  That is, until Ted Thompson had the balls to say you're done.  We've moved on.  To a younger, shinier, hotter model.

And boy did that piss The Former off.

I wish I could attribute this thought.  It was either Dan Patrick or Mike Turico.  When the Packers said (hell) no, we don't want you back, The Former came back to prove the Packers needed him more than he needed the Packers.  Well you may have a better record, but we're both watching Wild Card Weekend at Home.  (and may I point out the new shiny model's stats again?)

I've always acknowledged The Former's faults (and I love pointing them out more now Mr. Leads the League in Interceptions).  I accepted them because it was a part of the package: the anguish, the excitement.  What I was going to miss the most was that special spark on the field.  But hot damn, the kid has it too!  Packer fans we're in good hands.

To The Former: Good luck and thank you.  But go away.

To all you so-called-Packer fans buying jerseys and the god-damned television stations being the "official" station of an AFC TEAM in the fucking NFC NORTH ....

I respect you even less than I do The Former.

You know you have a problem when ...

Four days away.  SO MUCH INTERNET TO CATCH UP ON.

Anything but Maple Nut

It snowed again.  So I must remove the snow.  I'm sorry ... talking about weather again.  How uninteresting.  I swear I won't do it again ... at least not any more this year.

Day two of vacation ... it's 12:18 ... and I'm not dressed.  Darn.  I ate breakfast, had coffee, two episodes of Curious George and one of Martha Speaks in honor of Sarah and brother Ben.  I have to finish wrapping presents today ... something I've been saying I'll do for at least the last week.  I don't know why it's such a pain this year.

My thumbs hurt.  And it has nothing to do with the fact that I cut my thumb right through the nail.  That's actually not painful at all--as long as the nail doesn't separate or rip.  Thank you inventors of nail glue--bet they didn't dream that I'd one day use it as a band-aid.  ANYWAY my thumbs ache for no reason I can think of.  They hurt so much that it's painful to pick up my water bottle, coffee cup, dish soap.

I guess this means I don't have to do dishes!

So my big ponder today was what to eat for lunch.  I'm having leftover jambulya for supper and that doesn't leave much else in my fridge (beyond hunks of squash and cranberries that I have to find some way to use).  I have the last bit of my Irish Beef Stew leftover ... but I'm so sick of it (be proud, I resisted the urge to use all caps).

I made it about a month ago and froze half.  Even freezing that much I ate leftovers for at least a week.  And when the last bit was gone ... I probably did a happy dance.  It was good.  Not the best, but tasty.  After a week though ... it made my eyeballs nausious.  And I'm a person who cannot eat the same thing two days in a row, the same cereal, flavor of coffee, soda ... etc, etc.  I blame my father and his ever-loving Maple Nut Ice Cream and unwilliness to try something new (that doesn't include any of the following salts: garlic, seasoning or celery).

But over the weekend I thought I had enough time between the first week of stew and now.  So I pulled it out and had it as a quick supper.  The first night it was good ... by lunch the next day my eyeballs were threatening to barf all over the kitchen.

With very little options (perhaps popcorn? PB&J or maybe a pizza??) I came up with a brilliant idea.  I made my nearly famous fried potatos and then heated up the stew, drained some of the excess liquid and BOOM! Irish Beef with peas and carrots over fried potatos.  I think even my dad would be proud.

A KoL Note, brief because I don't want to be that person .... Crimbo is so uninteresting this year.  And the lag makes it so tedious to get through the adventures ... for very little drops.  Maybe Jick & Co. will whip out something fantastic (I just hope I don't miss it), but ususally ... it's something I look forward too ... and there my KoL tab is sitting, neglected.

And lo she is dressed before 11 a.m. (by two minutes)

It is 11:02 and I'm watching my second episode of Curious George, drinking my first cup of fantastic coffee and contently reading (and laughing hysterically) dooce.com.  Ah the complete joys of vacation.

I have a confession that I'm not quite sure is so secret.  I LOVE PBS.  And all the children's shows that go with it.  Well, not all ... I'm not a huge fan of Barney or Super Why.  And I can only watch Sesame Street through flipping or if I'm in the right mood.  I think my love of PBS is because it opened my eyes to the world of imagination and learning. My favorite parts of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood was when he watched how something was made and the Land of Make Believe (it devastated me when I realized Mr. Rodgers was the voice of King Friday and others).

I've never grown out of PBS.  I enjoy their adult programming: cooking shows, home improvement, the occassional Broadway presenation and the like.  But I just can't shake those children shows.  Is it the cartoon aspect (oh yeah, I still watch Saturday morning cartoons--love me some Care Bears and Jane and the Dragon) or is it that these shows focus on the best value of entertainment--making the impossible or improbable happen every time--because they can and it's more fun that way. 

To that end, I've discovered Curious George.  I never was much interested in that little monkey as a kid (the books).  But he's so entertaining now.  On the show George and The Man in the Yellow Hat have two homes.  Their primary residence is in the city and they have a country home for weekends and summer. 

At the country home, one neighbor kid calls George a City Kid.  I am absolutely convinced that he DOES NOT KNOW GEORGE IS A MONKEY.  (Sorry for the caps ... it's from reading dooce).  For the record, as far as I can tell, all the other residents recognize George is a monkey. 

And what a cute little monkey he is.  So darn cute ... which is mostly why I watch it.  The narration is clever and so is George.  Monkeys often find ways to take completely normal situations, get into trouble and then must be clever to get themselves out of trouble--even after The Man in the Yellow Hat tells George to be a good little monkey.  I try that with my monkey-who-thinks-he's-a-kitty George.  I can't tell if it works.  But then again, I suppose it doesn't work too well with Curious George.

How unenjoyable

You know on second thought it probably wasn't a good idea to do dishes.  Especially since I'm having a strange adversion to wet hands.  Drying them on a towel after I wash each dish probably isn't going to work so well.

Taking all I have not to drop the F bomb

It really annoys me to no end when you ask me why it took so long to answer the phone.  First, get it through your head that it rings more on your end before it even STARTS ringing on my end.  Then, do you think I'm perched by the phone waiting for your call?

You should just be damn well pleased I answered it during Grey's Anatomy.

Can I just stay in bed?

We were hit with a dose of Wisconsin weather.  Saturday and most of Sunday it almost felt balmy.  It was so warm that our snow started melting  and it rained on Sunday.  Rain! In December!

Of course, Mother Nature being the cruel lady she is, today temps were negative with a -30 degree windchill.  -30.  All was well in my cozy little house.  My mom had to make a point in inquiring how low I had my furance set.  After threats of frozen pipes and horrific damage that would leave me curled up in a ball rocking and sobbing to myself in the corner--so I turned up the temp. 

But she planted the seed.  And I woke up every hour.

First random noises woke me.  What was that?  Is that the sound of a frozen pipe?  If I open my eyes will I see the Gremlins of Burst Pipes running around wreaking havoc?  Will the bathroom and kitchen be flooded?  Or would it be frozen over, my own indoor skating rink?

If it wasn't Bursting Pipe radar waking me up, it was the furance kicking on.  Or NOT kicking on ... oh the humanity is it so cold the furance is dead and I've lost the heating battle?

All this lost sleep kept me in bed trying to steal a few winks after my alarm went off.  So I trudge out at the last possible second to dress, eat breakfast, make lunch and start my car.

I got to the last task at 7:45 (only five minutes behind schedule).  So I walk out all bundled up, braving the -30 degree wind chills and push the button on my garage door opener.  And ... nothing.  Okay, bad angle ... nadda.  I'm inside the garage now so I try the button on the wall.  It starts.  It stops.  Hmmm.  Starts and ... nothing.  Ah man, the door is frozen to the cement.

I salt it, chip at it, and kick it with no luck.  A little sunshine and some salt action later (and by later I mean the end of the day) my door is opening and closing like nobody's business.

Sunday...football...Dan Patrick...Keith Olberman....Seth MacFarlane....perfection

Today was an incredibly productive Sunday.  Quite possibly the most productive in the history of time ... at least my recent history.

The Christmas Episode of American Dad is my FAVORITE!  And it's only about 48 percent because Seth MacFarlane is the voice of God.  Seriously.  Perfect.

Must resist urge to worship Seth MacFarlane

Tonight we're going to get our first major snowstorm of the season.  They say totals are going to be any where from 4 to 10+ inches.  The "future forecast" shows that in my neck of the woods will be around six inches.  Oh goodie.

I used my snowblower for the first time today.  In preparation for this huge snowfall I figured I better know how to start and operate it so I can get out of my driveway and go to work (though I would much rather just stay in my house and read blogs, watch television and play games all day).  I figured it out and effectively cleared my driveway (with it's less than two inches of snow pile up) in 15 minutes or less.  God bless modern machinery. 

I shoveled around 2.5 inches the other day and it took me around 30 minutes.  Add this to my sustaining memories of HOURS of raking and bagging leaves.  And the really horrible part is that leaves should only be raked one time (that is when your neighbor's tree doesn't dump all it's leaves until after your beautiful clean yard is cleared) tangent aside ... leaves need to be raked once or twice.  Snow can be every damn day!

I think we've gotten around a half inch.  I don't know when it happened, because I've been sitting by the window the whole time.

I Love the new Peyton Manning commericial for World MasterCard.  The people around him are telling him to take a hike, choke on it, you're going down.  And he says "Yeah, I'll cut it up into little pieces and put it in a fruit salad" (and the like).

Brilliant.

Peyton has come a long way since his first two years in the NFL.  I remember watching an interview and he was saying what his routine was, studying, living with a legendary father.  And part of the interview he showed his closet, organized by his wife so he can pick out something suitable to wear when she's not home. 

I remember thinking to myself that this man is a very clever man, a football genius, but didn't have the ability to match a pair of pants with a shirt.  The whole interview was very awkward.

And now that awkward man is a funny, personable, clever man.

I have a cramp in my left leg.  It's really annoying. 

Snow update: none has arrived since that half inch that mysteriously fell earlier.

I have a couple of blogs cooking up in my head.  And if I ever put pen to paper they're going to be really good.  Really Good.

But ... well ... I've been reading dooce.com.  A lot.  It has me transfixed.  I found it through a Copyblogger newsletter and the post I read had me laughing out loud.  I had to share it was Sarah and she loved it too.  Dooce is famous for losing her job because she wrote about it on her blog.  She started writing in 2001. 

And I'm in 2004.  I didn't read it all weekend ... and I missed it. 

Goals for this week:  1. Sweep the house.  2. Finish the online Christmas shopping (for the love of god stop procrastinating!)  3. Start wrapping presents and write some cards out.

I think that's about enough.  If I can pull myself away from the old adventures of dooce, the bearded husband, chuck and baby Leta ... I might get something done!

(oooh and the Advent for Adventurers Season Started .... mutated elves and penguins glore in Crimbo Town, WHoohoo!)

Is it masking insecurity?

I do not trust ... and am increasingly more annoyed by men who laugh after they make a statement.

"If you go down the street you'll find that the buildings are 3 feet apart .... huh huh huhuh"

"Oh of course, to do that you must first identify x to help you figure out if y will truly be effective.  Heh ha ha heh."

It's a nervous laugh, not a happy one or contentuous one.

But it creeps me out.