Football Forwarding Finesse - Follow Up

So for some reason I only got a few minutes of the "Brett Favre returns to Lambeau" game. I noticed it later on the NFL network. (As an aside, the NFL network is free, NHL network one has to pay extra for - what's with that? Fine, I'm a huge hockey fan but I'm gonna watch even more football now, so there). So anyhoo, I guess this show on the NFL network is a special replay version of noteworthy games. They skip over a lot of plays so the whole show is only 90 minutes. It's pretty cool. What I didn't like, though, was that they told the outcome of the game in the preshow commentary. Thanks a lot. I mean really, even if you watched the game they're about to show at some point, do you really want to hear the outcome right before you commence re-watching? (Rhetorical question). What was interesting was the post-game commentary that was interspersed on particularly noteworthy plays. A nice package. And who doesn't like a nice package...

You Know The Economy's Bad When...

So I see this furniture commercial that begins with voiceover and giant red titles,
"Big Chest Sale!"
Of course I can't help but picture large breasted women getting deals. And others, "sorry M'am, you don't qualify".
What can I say... my mind...

I Have Some Funny Friends

So I sometimes go to this yoga class. I don't love the instructor (she's "ok") but the class time/location is convenient. So I have two friends who rarely go but do so once in awhile so they know the class/instructor. For some unknown reason, the instructor always seems to pick on Friend 1 when they attend. So one day the three of us (me & the two friends) are all hanging out and myself and Friend 1 are telling Friend 2 about how the instructor picks on Friend 1. One of the really annoying things about the instructor is that she will say things to Friend 1 like, "wow, you are REALLY tight" (when clearly it's not that they're tight but just that they aren't understanding the pose). So Friend 3 (female in case it matters) says in response, "just say to her (the instructor), 'what, you jealous?'"

Can you picture it?...
"Wow, you are REALLY tight!"
"Jealous?"

That totally cracked me up.

Football Forwarding Finesse

So I'm no football expert but I get the basics. On a Sunday I often put the games on to record and that way I can skip through commercials. If there are a lot of games on t.v. that I'm interested in, or if I'm just short on time or interest, I'll often watch the plays of the game without much of the commentary and so forth. The skip button on the dvr does about 30 seconds and if I can get into a good rhythm (me and the quarterback, you know how it is) I can get the timing going so well that I literally see everyone set up on the line of scrimmage, watch the play, hit skip, and see the next set up on the line of scrimmage. That's when my equivalent of the passer rating goes way up and I get a real feeling of satisfaction. When I lose the rhythm or something throws it off, I sometimes see a guy running into the end zone and have to use the back button to see the beginning of the play and as I know what happens, it kind of ruins it. It's kind of like getting sacked.

Running While Ironing

...actually, it's running & irony

So recently at one of the spots that I go running at there was an attack made on a woman. A man, exposing his "kibbles & bits" area, touched this woman and when she ran away he chased her and tried to remove her top/groped her. There is some suspicion that this man may have exposed himself to woman earlier in the year at other locations. If so, the level of intensity is increasing. If not, it's still freaky.
Recently, there was an article in the paper written by another female walker/runner who said it's not safe to run alone in the park area where this attack happened. She went on to say that it's not a big deal to be restricted in this way as a woman as that's just life. I disagree as my running experience is now marred and I do think that I should be able to run alone (at 'normal' times of the day) in this public location without fearing for my safety unduly. I do sometimes run with others, but we aren't all at the same pace and I like just being able to go when I want and not be restricted by others schedules etc. Now when I'm running there, I'm on full alert the whole time (which is very draining - it's hard enough to run without having to constantly look out for danger). The irony part comes as I encounter others on the trail. There's sort of one main circular route with other tributaries but as you're running the circular route you can expect other people running/walking in each direction. So sometime people pass you going the other way, pass you from behind, or you pass them. I noticed that now when I see a person(s) ahead, it's part relief (if any spooky guy with bad intentions attacks me now, someone else is nearby, phew) and part fear (what if this is the spooky person with bad intentions). I found this very odd and it got me to thinking about how others are both a source of security but also of danger.

One of my other running friends (female) feels like if she got groped, she'd get over it, but is running by oneself worth the chance of something more traumatizing happening. I pretty much agreed with that. I'm stuck between not wanting to be an idiot taking risks, and not wanting to have to live in fear and restrictions because the odd person out there has some serious issues that present a danger to others.

In light of the title, maybe I should run with an iron. Strength workout and cardio in one! And if I encounter the 'bad guy', I can throw in some MMA too! But anyone who knows me knows I don't iron so I guess that's out.

And sorry for this in advance guys, I'm not usually so vicious, but I hope that guy approaches the 'wrong woman' out there and she grabs him by the kiwis and twists them like she's wringing out the laundry. Okay, that was probably too harsh. I hope the guy (and lots of others like him) turn himself in and get sex offender treatment? Probably the whole kiwi thing would just make the situation worse.

This whole thing reminds me of a bumper sticker, "The more people I meet, the more I like my dog." I don't have a dog, but some people really make it hard to like people.

Tour de France - Prologue

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you may recall an earlier series of posts around Le Tour. Last year I didn't watch, and this year I had planned to, then heard about Lance Armstrong returning, then got really busy and promptly practically forgot most of that until right as the Tour was starting. So I turn on my DVR today to watch the broadcast of the start of the race. Don't mock me (or go ahead, I don't care anymore) but even watching the beginning of the broadcast with the voice over laying out the scene got me super pumped. And finding out that Lance Armstrong is back again after a huge layoff (by finding out I mean seeing him actually there, ready to start, as just because he announced he would however many months ago wouldn't mean he would, any number of injuries or whatever could've changed that) adds some more intrigue. It was cool to also see a lot of familiar names (I only cycling event I watch is Le Tour and even then it's a recent thing although I did watch DVD's of many of the late 90's/earlier 2000's races). I didn't mean to watch the whole stage in one sitting, but I did, although I managed not to watch the next broadcast right afterwards. P.S. DVR's rock!

Breaking News Alert: There is a God!....

...or a higher power, creator.... whatever name you wish to use is fine here at Great Blogspectations. So how is it that we have come to this conclusion? Rather hastily as many conclusions are come to? Yes. And is the title a bit sensationalized? Yes. "There is" implies proof, and, as we all know, the almighty church of science tells us that there is never proof, only support for a hypothesis. So here's the support...

I'm at the grocery store, getting a bunch of stuff, finally feeling a bit more inspired around food after a long drought (hmmm, more "proof" perhaps? sounds biblical, doubt, drought...). As I'm unloading my wares onto the conveyor belt, I remember that the kitchen garbage bag supply is dwindling and that I probably should have picked up another box (for the bathrooms and such I just reuse plastic grocery bags - somehow, despite the fact that I pretty much use reusable cloth type bags 100% of the time, this supply never seems to dwindle). I hesitate, figure 'nah, never mind' and just then I hear (from another till, "...and you'll recieve this box of biodegradeable garbage bags for spending more than $60....") and I know that I will have easily surpassed the $60 mark. Sure enough, I get the free garbage bags (only a box of 10, but still). When I arrive home, I check the sizing against the old box of bags and sure enough, almost exactly the same size! Conclusion: Woohoo! (There is a god).