The Myth & The Majesty

My mother recently told me a story that ... well, it explains a lot. Apparently, when I was about four, we visited someone (my grandmother, I think). On the way back to the car, I turned to my mother and asked, serious as could be, "Would you like to drive or shall I?" I was such a cute kid.

1. My dad is a Bears fan. I am a Packers fan. There's a lot of pacing going on. 2. I am not ready for the next week. 3. I do, however have a strangely good feeling about February. I'm not sure why, given that the first week is going to be a little sad. 4. As happens in the ever-turbulent world of the Internet, one of my blogging buddies seems to have disappeared. I wonder where he went? 5. There are two big things I'm missing right now as far as my former Wausau life. The first is the crowd of people who sent me text messages this week to remind me of what I'm now missing. The second is the presence of even one really good microbrewery. 6. Three things. There's that mobility thing I was bemoaning yesterday. 7. Yeah, I'm still feeling a little depressed and whiny about that one. 8. I think this will be a baking week. 9. It'd be great if it got over 15 degrees, too. Love to be able to go outside without losing feeling in my face inside five min

We'll drive until the gas is gone Then walk until our feet our torn Crawl until we feed the soil Film the whole thing. It's all business in the left hand lane Drive there and then drive back again Escape can't be the only way To escape The hardest thing I've hadto adjust to in the last four months has been my general inability to go. I'm constrained (mostly monetarily) fromtaking the trips that used to be my chances at renewal. It's a little frustrating. So I've gotten used to coffee sweats Still getting used to road regrets Hell I took you up on all your threats To leave. It's a shame... It's a crying shame. Them's the breaks. And ain't it always the way That takes you back to from where it is you came. Mostly what this means is that the usual January bout with cabin fever is particularly acute. I'm going a little stir crazy. Robby likes his country tune It's never been the lens that I see through But

Last night I went out to dinner for a friend's birthday. Afterwards we headed to a bar where one of the dinner-goers was working as that night's DJ. This was great for a couple of reasons ... First, because it was about time for me to get out and be social. Second because I got to catch the second half of what may go down in history as Aaron Rodgers' best game. Following the game, an episode of "Fringe" came on. Now, I've never watched the show but I've always been a little curious about it as it happens to be in the vein of most of the shows I watch -- you know, the solving of strange and/or gory crimes. The episode on last night? It was called "Marionette." From IMDb, "When the Fringe Team investigates a case where a victim had his heart extracted, it's just the beginning of a series of mysterious and reanimating events tied together." Yes. The episode featured an "extracted heart" -- that is, a guy harvesting orga

A few weeks ago, I mentioned the (very early) birth of the first child of two good friends of mine. Unfortunately, little Jonah passed away last night at just under four weeks old. Please continue to pray for Andy and Kajda...

The first time I remember paying any attention to football was the 1996 Super Bowl. I had made the somewhat arbitrary decision to cheer for the Packers during the playoffs; we were hosting a Super Bowl party that year and, being the person I am, I wanted to actually know what was going on. After what amounted to a turn-around season for the Pack, they defeated the Patriots fairly handily to win their first Bowl since #2 in 1967. After that, I was a fan. Albeit a quiet one -- some years I really paid attention, some years I didn't. My dad is a Bears fan and sometimes I was quiet just to keep the peace. A big part of me didn't much care about football in general; I was (and am) a soccer player and American football just didn't have the same appeal. I was more at home watching Chelsea or Manchester United over an NFL game ... By all means, I still understand it more. Then, I moved to Wisconsin. Packermania is just a part of life in Wisconsin. Despite being based in a c

... it has not been an exciting week. At least not in an "action-packed" sense. Some plans have been made, some possibilities have been discussed, and a whole lot of daydreaming has been done. Hey, it's a vital part of the process. I've also been slogging through some paperwork. Like my resume, which needed some serious work. And a handful of applications. Ew. Basically what it amounts to is that there's not much to say now -- but there could be a whole lot to say later. I know weeks like this are necessary, but they're starting to get old. What I could really use is a topic...

... Things ... Whose Appeal I Just Don't Understand 1. Justin Bieber. 2. Twilight . 3. The ensuing vampire phenomenon. (Seriously -- what the heck?!) 4. "American Idol." 5. Most reality TV, actually. 6. World of Warcraft. 7. Dane Cook. 8. Julia Roberts. 9. Professional football ... even though I watch it. Actually, the list could probably go on for days. Despite the number of things I happen to love that not everybody else understands (like my newfound obsession with "Community" or the fact that I own "Psych" bobbleheads), there are so many things that I find myself wondering about now that I have access to regular television. Really, it could be summarized by the fact that, as a whole, I do not understand American pop culture. I don't know as I ever have. But hey, it's amusing. [January 5th Addendum: 10. Anything of or relating to the Kardashians. (Really, what exactly did they do to initially become famous? I'm so confu

My dad is in the family room yelling at the television. I'm in the living room yelling at the television. My mother decided this afternoon was a good one to flee the house and go shopping. Go Pack go! [Egads, Ashley. What happened to you?]

At five this morning -- after hanging out in the public area for awhile -- we left Mia Sorella at the line for security in the airport. She's somewhere over northern Canada now after a brief layover in Detroit. The whole family pulled an all-nighter. Somehow, sleep seemed pointless after ringing in the new year, knowing that we'd be headed for the airport in less than four hours. I didn't sleep until around 7:30, some time after I was sure that Mia Sorella's plane had actually taken off. From what I could tell, they may have sat on the tarmac for awhile, likely being de-iced in the somewhat inclement weather. [I-90 was closed from Sioux Falls to Rapid City, I-29 from Sioux Falls to ... Canada. Yes. That's something like 730 miles of closed interstate. But the airport was still up and going. Thank goodness.] As such, it is considerably less surprising that I was making myself a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of tea after 3PM, still in my pajamas. I know yesterda