I direct everyone to Page 2, Bill Simmons Media Day Photo Log.

Some of my favorites pieces:

To the lows (seeing Adam Vinatieri in person when he’s wearing a freaking Colts uniform). It was like running into an old college girlfriend who’s now dating the single biggest jerk you went to school with. I can’t even talk about it. He should have retired as a New England Patriot. Damn it all.

The Manning Face.

I’m back from my week long hiatus that seemed to last a lifetime. But on the upside to this hiatus I got refreshed and renewed. I realized how un-spiritual I really am. I got bored so many times, and the temptation to go online and check the news was so hard to resist, but resist I did, until I found out that we were still allowed to check the news. On the 5th day of course.

But it was a relief.

I took some time to review what happened in the sports scene while I was away. Serena Williams won again, Tiger Woods won again, Duke Men’s Basketball beat Clemson with a miracle 4.4 seconds, Bill Parcells retired, and the Raiders got a new head coach. Sure there’s more but those are the top ones of concern for me.

Something I just have to throw out. Has anyone noticed the revival of the black people? There’s two black coaches in the Superbowl. Serena Williams won the Australia Open. Tiger Woods just won the Buick.

Of course every sports writer is mentioning these things, or soon will. And that is the silliest thing to me. Nobody in the world can do anything outstanding without it drawing attention to race or sex. Can’t we all just be equal already?

Oh, and Gilbert Arenas, who is currently the player my father is man-crushing on, thinks he can take on the Duke Men’s basketball team by himself, in hopes of getting back at Coach K. for cutting him from the National Team. Just because he’s averaging 30 points a game with a few games with 50 p. that that doesn’t mean he’s all that great. It just means he’s a ball hog. Argh…egos these days.

And I’d like to seem him try.

First thing, Connie ran her first half marathon. I got to see her cross the finish line, but she didn’t hear me screaming at her. So I happened to be the first from our merry party to greet her after the race.

But I’m sure she will tell you all about that soon.

After that experience I went with Mike and the Guys to a bar and grill and watched the Colts/Pats game. The game was an emotional roller coaster! Complete with the ups and downs, twists and turns, the nervousness, and the sickness, but afterwards I came off the ride with an energy rush and high of happiness. Of course if the Colts had lost my metaphors would be something like “I came off the ride sick and barfing.”

Did I mention that the COLTS WON!!!

Hey Toshi, if you recorded the game, like you did with the Chargers/Pats, can you send me a copy? Or maybe you would just like to give me the tape since it might be kinda embarrassing to keep?

Folks, tonight goes down in history. Colts/Pats AFC Championship 2007. Final Score 38-34.Brady’s pass intercepted by Marlin Jackson with 24 seconds left to stop a possible touchdown drive for a possible win. And Destiny was on the Colts side.
Ahh…Now onwards to Superbowl XLI.

I won’t be on for at least a week. But comment away and I’ll get back to answer your comments soon.

I’m so giddy!

Thing is, no one hates Brady. No one even dislikes him (save a few hardline Colts fans). You can’t. Tom Brady is somehow impossible to hate, somehow a pretty Hollywood jet-setter one minute and a down-to-earth, just-one-of-the-guys, man’s man the next.

You can read the rest of Dan Wetzel Pretzel’s glowing article on Tom Brady here.

Another day passed, but this one is not like the ones before it mainly because it’s the first January 18th, 2007, and the only one there will ever be.

Hung out with Connie today. She’s pretty much the sister I always wanted, but never had. (ehh…well actually I always wanted an older brother, so we could wrestle and argue, and talk sports, and I could seriously annoy him, but he would love me so much so because I would be his only little sister, and he would show me off to all of his friends cuz I would be cool, and and…well that’s the picture I painted in my mind at least. But obviously that was never going to happen with me being the first one and all.) (After thought: an older flesh and blood sibling isn’t really possible. Oh well.) Cons is a pretty cool substitute, she drives and stuff which is a score.

We went to the ever faithful coffee house and used bookstore. Tory and Boo went along with us. I bought Wilt Chamberlains biography for 50 cents. Looking forward to reading it.

Skipping through the rest of the day.

Cons rented Step Up for me, well for both of us, but I’ve hadn’t seen it and she had, so I guess it was for me.

It was set in Baltimore!

Like really set there. Like it showed the huge Domino Sugar sign that’s downtown near the bus station. And the of course  the real Maryland School of the Arts building. And the public school with the blue doors down near the Bread and Beans shelter. And Route 40 down in the city.

It made me nostalgic.

Oh, and the dancing was rather good.

Skipping to the essentials. We decided to be tourists today in Ensenada, Mexico. We did all the things tourists do, walk the city streets, buy trinkets (which fortunately for me I didn’t do…a guy was trying to sell me a ring for $18…like I”m that dumb?), eat ice cream, drink coffee, and of course eat tacos.

After doing those things for a few hours, someone on our team spotted in a newspaper that the ship used for Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2 was stationed in one of the docks there. So of course we all headed in that direction. We couldn’t get too close to the ship because there was a huge fence in the way, but at least we got to admire from a distance the boat where Johnny Depp once stood.

After that we got some food to eat. The plates were decently priced for the portions served.

Then we drove back to our vacation houses.

And now I sit here writing up my last testimony.

Connie, Phil, and Timna are leaving tonight, the rest of us depart tomorrow. Bon Voyage beach house, bon voyage beach, bon voyage everything.

Look ever onwards. Cons will be posting some pictures of our merry adventures soon.

Also just downloaded Steve McNair’s new album, Heavenly Music. I’m currently on song 4, and so far so good. You can find the link to his site under my “Sweet Heavenly Music” section. (notice the coincidence?)

To begin with I woke up…again.
It really is a wonderful feeling to wake up…because at least you know at that very moment you are still alive.

Then I spent my time with the creator.

After that Connie arose, she’s still alive too, and got the brilliant idea to go on a mission to find food for breakfast and decided to drag me along with her. My original plan was just to be moral support because I generally don’t eat breakfast but our search lead to bagels so I partook of the bounty too.

After breakfast I hung out with Phil on el porcho and watched the waves and a lone surfer, while discussing surfing, body boarding, and swimming.

Cons lent me a book on Marylin Monroe. I read that for a while. Just as an inside tip…she was a freak.

Following my time with the book we began our preparation for the nights BBQ. Today doubled as Martin Luther King Jr. Day- which by the way, happy MLK jr. Day!- and our homes one year anniversary. It’s actually the day we began our drive to San Diego from Plano.  I personally thought we should take turns of 7 people, 2 guy and 5 girls plus 4 kids, who move all of the stuff out of our house and put it back in again.  But I kept it to myself so it didn’t happen, and I guess the BBQ is the better option.

For my part I went shopping with Claire to get the last minute items.

Our manly men, Darren and Phil manned the fireplace and grills. Both were equally needed, food for our bodies and heat so we wouldn’t freeze. Cuz boy is the beach cold! (As an interjection Peckered (which is the correct way to spell MY coined name for him) is a manly man as well, he just had to watch his children, which I’m told is a sign of fatherhood.)

There was food, beer, and music. What more could a stomach ask for? (Going back to Greek philosophy that the soul is in the belly)
After dinner and cleanup we had our candlelight service. (we realize it’s after the 31st) We used Stephanie’s home’s nifty idea with the sparklers. The kids had a blast, and personally I liked how fast it went.

When that was through we came back inside, watched some Friends episodes(thanks to Cons, who is turning us all in to obsessive Chandler, Joey, Ross, Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe addicts…just kidding), ate ice cream and cake (thanks to Tory and Boo), had some more drinks (courtesy of our swell bartenders Darren and Claire),and then went to bed. (Another disclaimer I had a virgin margarita, and 2 cups of undiluted orange juice.)

And that is the end of a tale about another swell day that came to an end.

Last night I couldn’t get warm or comfortable in my bed. I slept with 4 blankets, a sheet, and the every so friendly energy saving space heater at the head of my bed, which is about 5 inches from the floor. After bunching up in a ball and turning onto my left side (which happens to be my latest sleeping position, it used to be on my stomach with my right leg straightened and my left leg bent. Yes I believe you should know that.) I went to sleep, because I don’t remember anything after that, until I woke up at a quarter to seven and asked Michelle (one of my swell roommates) what time it was, she replied with the time, I let out an annoyed gasp, and went back to sleep.

My body clock doesn’t let me sleep in on free days, but it doesn’t mind sleeping in on work days. Only thing is that isn’t cool for keeping a job.

I woke up again at 9:30. That was to be the official wake up time for myself. Mich asked if I wanted to go to a buffet for breakfast with some other members of our home. I took her up on the offer with a little hesitation because the game started at 1:30, and I wanted to make sure to be back home. She reassured me that we would make it in a plenty of time, so off I went.

The buffet had some pretty good food, was a little pricey, but if you know how to do it you can work it out to be manageable. We definitely learned for next time, but it was an enjoyable experience.

After that we made a little stop to look at the resort where the SGA seminar was held. I finally got what everyone was going on about, though it wouldn’t be something that I would brag about. I’m not much of a scenery person, but the place definitely has some cool perks.

I walked on the holy steps. I considered kissing each one while crawling them, but we didn’t go back that way on our walk.

Nobody brought a camera, so I can’t be like all those other really cool bloggers who always have pictures to show for their adventures. But I figure my awesome way with words will entertain you all more than their pictures ever will. At least that’s what I hope.

Luckily we arrived back to the house just in time to see the closing minutes of the Bears/Seahawks game. To my surprise my father happened to be over watching the game, though I kinda knew he was going to be around, I just didn’t know when. That was a special game, but I got another prediction right. Making me 2-1.
The Chargers/Patriots game followed. It was obviously rigged. I mean did you see how there was only two flags in the first half, sometime during half time the NFL commissioner realized that it would be cooler to announce a Colts/Patriots Conference Championship game than a Chargers/Colts game. There’s more history and revenge seekers, and more viewer ship that way. So he called up the refs and said, pull more flags against the Chargers, they’ll get mad and make more dumb moves. Ignore the Patriots jabs and punches, we want them to win. And that’s how the cookie crumbled making this weeks picks at 2-2.
But I’m okay with that, because I sorta predicted this outcome. It made the most sense. It goes along with my theory of circumstances rather than decent play. Maybe now people will begin to see my logic and ESPN will hire me as a sports analysis…and I’d even consider FOX if they throw in some little incentives on the side.

Continuing with the day:

After the games we sat around discussing the highs and lows of the game. Connie arrived, my father left. We continued our bantering.

Then we got hungry.

The whole meal thing was another wonderfully bonding experience, but Sam and Boo pulled it off and we were able to eat Taco Manuel’s casadias and other Mexican type foods.

Then we sat around some more.

At around 9:30 we had an impromptu bonding, which wasn’t really meant to be impromptu, it just started an hour and a half later than planned. We ate ice cream and watched A Knight’s Tale, but it took us a long while to finally decide we were going to watch that. It’s really hard to please 17 people, but those who votes for Scooby Doo that got shut out aren’t bitter about it, because some of us voted for both just in case. Before the start of the movie, Connie attacked me. I thought you all should know how vicious she is. Just in case she tries to tell you the opposite…who would you believe, sweet me who writes up my daily accounts for you…or her, who supplies you with humorous comics?

I leave God and your conscience to show you who to believe.

And that concludes day two of vacation. Come back tomorrow for more.

Well, we made it to the beach house for our 3 day home vacation. And let me tell you…man did we pack like it was a month long event. “But it’s vacation”, so we don’t really mind.

So after the eventful drive of going through Tijuana and seeing the military take-over happening there and continuing down to Rosarito, we made it to our destination the beach house. After unloading, arranging, rearranging, trying to break a lock, that not working, climbing through windows, circuit breakers going out, and Phil continuing in his trade of having the worse luck in the world, (he found out the internet doesn’t work in his room, it works right outside it though), we’re  all pretty much situated and happy.

While I’m writing this I’m listening to the waves hit the sand, the wind blowing the sand, and feeling the 40 degree weather. Thank you Jesus for energy saving space heaters that make the rather nifty mobile home so much warmer than the thin walls outside it. (I’m being serious here.)

Another plus side is that Dulcy’s gifts from Hawaii made it to us today. We were all pretty stoked to see what she got each of us. She got me a pretty nifty bathing suit top, and it’s yellow to boot, with some army green in it to show my “Survivor” side, and she sent a pretty sweet note along…except for the mention of the name Jemima.
I’ll try not to cry to much!…well to be honest I haven’t actually cried yet, but the thought of you gone does torment and trouble my brain a few times a day. But I know that “they that love God, will never meet for the last time, oh they that love God, will one day meet again, This life isn’t the end, we will meet again” insert ahhs and wooos as lead.

Back tracking to earlier in the day:

I was with the kids at a McDonald’s Play Place today, and they had this pretty nifty flat screen, HDTV, basicly everything you could dream of in a TV, on the wall stuck on CNN. I figured that since it’s a national news station they would mention the NFL scores, because well why shouldn’t they, it’s the playoffs? So I’m glancing at it every now and then waiting for it to mention some sort of something, and all they continue to show is some boring show about the war. So I keep doing my glancing thing, straining to read what’s it’s saying on the bottom moving words. Blah, Blah, Blah…wait…Sports Scores. Finally! NCAA basketball, NCAA basketball, continue repeating, NCAA Women’s Basketball, NCAA Volleyball, PGA tour, for more sports news go to CNN.com. Hello! What about the NFL!

So I had to wait until 7:15 to find out that the Colts won. So I messed up on that pick, but I’m okay with that. The Saints won, so that makes me 1-1 for Saturday. Tomorrow is another day.

Now I’m really in a rock and a hard place, because I wouldn’t mind watching a Colts vs. Patriots game next weekend.  Brady vs. Manning. I wonder how Adam Vinatieri would end up doing in a playoff game against his former team. Especially with today’s game fresh in everyones minds.

Heh, all you Charger fans have to admit it would be interesting.

But really I’d rather not risk it, hopefully the Chargers will knock out the Pats before they start to get giddy with excitement of the prospect.

That concludes the first part of my vacation log, for more vacation news visit apuddleofmud.com. (tomorrow)

“Hey Baby, Hey Baby, Hey”
David Beckham is coming to a Los Angeles near you.

“And all the boys say”…

Dear God…and roll their eyes.