Textless Thursday

I was going to make this a Wordless Wednesday post, but then I realized that it was Thursday. Thus Textless Thursday was born.

Wednesday

Amazingly enough, I still only have two projects on the needles. Clapotis is coming along nicely, and the yarn is starting to pool a bit.

Some people don't like it when variegated yarn pools, but I do, especially this color. The pooling reminds me of a forest floor in Autumn. For a while, I wasn't feeling the love with this project. I didn't dislike it enough to frog it, but it just wasn't moving me. Then a wondrous thing happened. I switched it from straight needles to a long circular. It was a miracle! It suddenly became fun to knit! Now I'm cruising away at it. Normally, I do prefer straight needles, but for large, heavy projects like this, circulars are definitely better.

Not a lot of progress has been made on the socks because I've spent most of my time working on Clapotis. Still I did get a few rounds done on it.


Bits of miscellany:

I got a call from Cody's English teacher this afternoon. She gave her students a prep test for the standardized test they will have to take in May. Out of all her students, Cody is the only one who made a 100. She told me that she was so proud of him that she just had to call me and let me know.

The Dallas Cowboys now have an all time NFL record of 13 players going to the Pro Bowl. Greg Ellis was named as a Pro Bowl player, replacing Chicago's Lance Briggs.

I dreamed I was in Basic Training, and this lady was my company commander.

And lastly, like I needed another way to waste time on the computer!

Holing Up

We are under a strong wind advisory. Gusts are up to 50 MPH. I don't feel confident driving in such strong winds, so we area skipping karate tonight. Safety comes first, always.

Black Belt Class

I finally made it back to Black Belt class. Cody and I took turns being sick last week, and thus missed the whole week of karate. It was good to be back in class. I am so out of shape that even going through half of the kata at half speed was a good workout for me. We did seisan, wansu, chinto, kusanku, and sunsu which worked out really well because I'd done all the others at home this morning. Even sanchin, which I hate. Hate that kata. With a passion. A pink and purple passion. Hate it.

Did I mention that I hate sanchin kata?

Well I'd done seisan and sunsu at home as well, but it never hurts to do them more than once. After class, I stayed and did all of my weapons kata. Those would be tokumine no kun, and urashi bo, and agena no sai, and kusanku sai. I thought I would go in early and get some extra work in, but there are so many kids running around at that time, that there is no place to work.

After going through kata, we worked with the little brown belt boy on his kata, then did a sparring type drill. I had a really hard time with this drill. It is a way of gaining distance without moving our upper bodies. I'll really have to work on that one. I just can't seem to keep my upper body still.

I also found out that sensei will not be recommending me for promotion at the shiai in March. That means I will have to wait a whole nother year to be considered for my ni-dan. I think I could have been ready. Well, if sensei spent as much time working with me as he does with other students, I definitely would have been ready. But even working on my own, I think I could have been ready.

He wants me and the other female shodan to work together and inspire each other. That is really hard for me because I don't even like her. I don't know. She moved here last summer and started attending our dojo, and the first thing she does is walk in and try to change everything. For example, we sometimes do what we call "no-focus kata." We have called it that for at least 5 years, but she comes in and insists that it should be called "free flowing kata." Then a couple of weeks ago, she was telling sensei how he needed to be teaching kata to new students. Now, that is just downright disrespectful. And of course, everything was better in her old dojo. It's always "we did it this way," or "we did it that way," or "master so-and-so this," and "Master so-and-so that."

She is so loud, and so domineering, and so overbearing, and such a know it all that I just can't make myself like her no matter how hard I try.

To find out that I've got to wait another year for my ni-dan for her to be ready sure doesn't help any.

Football Wrapups

With football season winding down, I'm posting some of my final thoughts of the season. Skip these posts if you aren't interested in football. That's all they are about.

Regular blog content will resume tomorrow.

A New BCS

The slobber from Matt Flynn's kiss wasn't even dry on the crystal trophy when the president of the University of Georgia began hollering for a revamping of the BCS championship system. He felt that the Georgia, not LSU, had deserved to be playing in the National Championship game. He proposed that the championship should be determined by having a mini playoff season in college football, much like the final four that they do in basketball. Now, I'm not going to get into whether this is a good idea or a bad idea, but the timing of the president's complaint makes him sound less like a man wanting to improve the way of doing things, and more like a child whining "No fair!"

Would the University of Georgia have benefited from a playoff scenario? Let's think about it for a moment.

The first question is, how would they decide who made the playoffs? They could choose strictly by won/loss records. But would this be any more fair than what they have now? The key here is that all conferences are not created equal. Let's take the University of Hawaii for example. Now, going 12-0 is no small feat, and I don't want to diminish that in any way. It is an accomplishment to be proud of. But Hawaii plays in what is considered to be a relatively weak conference. They did well, but in the Sugar Bowl were completely dominated by a team from the powerhouse SEC--a team that, mind you, didn't even qualify to play for their conference championship. Georgia didn't play and lose the conference championship. They didn't even qualify for the game.

Now we must look at whether this method would have benefited Georgia. The answer is no. There were enough teams that finished as good or better than Georgia in the won/loss column that to choose the 8 teams for the playoffs, they would have had to look at conference records. Georgia finished third in conference play behind Tennessee and LSU.

OK, another way they could choose is to simply pick the all conference champions to play in these mini-playoffs. This still wouldn't have benefited Georgia, because they didn't win the conference championship. They didn't even qualify to play in the championship game.

The SEC is divided into two divisions--East and West. The winner of each division plays each other for the conference championship. So there is your mini-playoff right there. LSU won the SEC West outright, by having the best record. Georgia and Tennessee tied won/loss records in the Eastern Division, but the title went to Tennessee because they had beaten Georgia earlier in the year. LSU then beat Tennessee in the conference championship game. Not only did they win, but they won with their starting quarterback sitting on the bench. They won with their backup quarterback. Think Patriots winning the Superbowl with whoever Tom Brady's backup is.

So, by either of these scenarios, Georgia still wouldn't have played in the National Championship. So they put a thrashing on the University of Hawaii. Does that mean they are the best team in the country? Not necessarily.

After the loss, a tearful Colt Brennan said, "We've never played a team of this caliber before." So that game cannot be considered a test of Georgia's true ability. Just because the 1-15 Miami Dolphins could put the hurting on my local high school team, doesn't mean they deserve to play in the Superbowl.

Now, I'm not saying the current system is perfect. It isn't. And I don't want to get into whether a playoff system would be better. I'm just saying, it still wouldn't have benefited Georgia. At least, not this year.

Moving

When I was very little, my aunt and uncle lived in a rent house in Dallas. I remember the day my daddy told me they were going to have to move. Seems the owner of the house wanted to sell it, and Aunt and Uncle would have to find somewhere else to live.

I was devastated. I thought moving meant that they were "going away" and I would never see them again. After my daddy reassured me that they were staying in Dallas, just moving to a new house and we would indeed see them again, I felt a lot better. (The fact that we had to drive 6 hours to see them anyway was more than my childish mind could comprehend.)

About the same time, the Dallas Cowboys moved out of the Cotton Bowl and into Texas Stadium. Again, I was devastated. I thought it meant that they were going away, and I would never get to see them play again. (The fact that the TV cameras would also move to Texas Stadium was more than my childish mind could comprehend.)

The 2008 season will be the last one in Texas Stadium. Next year, they will be playing in the new AmeriQuest stadium. I'm going to miss the old stadium. It is a part of my life, though I've never been there.

The Orange Bowl is going to be torn down. The stadium had been the home of both the Miami Hurricanes and the Miami Dolphins for many a year. Yesterday, they had their final celebration, which included a flag football game between former Hurricanes and former Dolphins. It was the last football game that will ever be played there.

The Dolphins moved into their new stadium in 1987. It is called Pro Player Stadium, after the corporate sponsor, Pro Player Apparel.

The Denver Broncos no longer play at Mile High Stadium. In 2001, they moved into INVESCO Field.

The San Diego Chargers renamed their stadium from Jack Murphy Stadium to QUALCOMM Stadium, after the communications company of the same name agreed to fund an expansion of the stadium.

The Pittsburgh Steelers no longer play at Three Rivers Stadium. In 2001, they moved into Heinz Field--yes, named after the ketchup company.

The San Francisco 49ers renamed Candlestick Park to Monster Park in 2004 after gaining sponsorship of a cable company of the same name.

In 2003, the Philadelphia Eagles moved from Veterans Stadium into Lincoln Financial Field, named after the Lincoln Financial Group.

The Washington Redskins used to play at RFK Stadium. Now they play at FedEx Field.

I could go on, but I won't. Now, I can understand that if you're a business, and you're sponsoring an athletic arena that you would want your name associated with the arena. I mean, you put all that money into it, you ought to get some advertising out of it. That's just business.

But I think that in doing that a lot of the romance of the game has been lost.

And we are the worse for it.

Relief!

Though the sky looked like this:

all day, I was relieved that the ice storm wasn't as bad as had been predicted. The temps remained relatively warm--in the upper 30s--all day, and most of the ice accumulation melted off pretty quickly. By lunchtime, Cody and I were able to get out and do our grocery shopping--something I didn't dare to even attempt yesterday.

Being the cool mom that I am, I added to my "cool points" total by picking up these:


I got even more cool points by putting back a pair of work jeans in order to stay under budget. Sadly, I lost a cool point when I asked Cody why I was getting cool points. Overall, though, I remained ahead in my cool points, and thus was able to retain my title of "Cool Mom."

I'm kind of bummed because the Royal Lipizzaner Stallions were in the next town over last night. I'd seen them when I was a child, and have wanted to see them again ever since. I found out that they would be in Greenwood last night, which is only about a 30-45 minute drive away. I had so wanted to take Cody to see them, but the weather being what it was, I decided it wasn't worth the risk. Maybe next year.

Other than that, there's really not much to talk about. I've got a pretty good case of the winter blahs. It's been too chilly and damp to get out and do anything, and I don't have enough money to go shopping --other than necessities, and I can only sit and watch TV for so long before I'm getting stir crazy. Compounding the situation is the fact that this is the first weekend with no football whatsoever...

I guess I'll go watch figure skating.

Winter Is Finally Here

and with a vengeance.

The pink, friends, means ice. The kind of flattish, rectangular county right in the middle of the pink, friends, is me.

A slow, drizzly rain fell all day, and the temperatures never got above freezing. By the time I got home, delicate icicles had begun to form.



It is supposed to get worse. Up to 1/4 inch of ice accumulation is expected before morning. I'm just glad it is the weekend and I don't have to get out in it.

Fear not. I have plenty of soup, hot chocolate and tea, movies, and knitting.

If I had a fireplace, life would be just about perfect.

Hodgepodge

When I was young, I used to wish I had been named Toni. I loved the name. Then one day my mother told me that if my name was Toni, my full name would be Antoinette. I decided then that Toni wasn't such a good name after all. Funny thing is, when I got to high school, I actually had a friend named Antoinette. Only nobody ever called her Toni. We called her Anto.

I was bundling up to walk Rylea. It is currently 28'. Cody was very concerned that I stay warm, so he loaned me his new sock hat, his gloves (boughten) and the scarf I made for him last month. He's still a teenager and for the most part thinks the world should revolve around him, but he can be very thoughtful at times.

Socks and wrap are coming along quite nicely.



I ran into a snag on the Clapotis--literally. The stitch markers I'd bought kept snagging the yarn. Very annoying. So I ditched them and used my usual method of marking stitches: waste yarn tied into a loop. Works great, affordable, and always handy.

The yarn is Red Heart Super Saver in the Fall colorway.

Yet Another Strange Dream

Can you stand another dream post? (This means, of course, that I can't think of anything worthwhile to blog about.)

I dreamed I was grocery shopping with Tony Romo. Funny, I dream about grocery shopping a lot. This time, I was in a real grocery store--well, in my dream--not in the grocery section of Wal-mart. I've dreamed about this particular grocery store before, though I don't know of one in real life that looks quite like it. Anyway...

I was grocery shopping, and Tony was tagging along, talking, putting stuff I didn't need or want in the basket, and generally making a nuisance of himself. At one point, he stopped at the magazine rack to read something. I kept on shopping. He's a big boy. He can catch up.

And catch up he did, and he was very upset that one of the tabloids had printed something about him that wasn't true.

“Come on,” I tried to reassure him. “You don’t think anyone really believes that stuff, do you?”

“Yes, I do.” he replied. “Somebody must believe it or they wouldn’t be able to keep selling their newspapers.”

“What are you doing reading that trash anyway?” I asked.

“I read everything that is written about me,” Tony responded.

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

“Have you read anything I’ve written about you?” I asked.

“I read everything that is written about me.”

“So what did you think about what I've written?”, I asked.

“We’ll just leave that one alone,” he replied.

What makes the dream so much more funny is that in real life this kind of attitude is very uncharacteristic of Tony. "I am very comfortable with who I am," he said recently, " and I don't let that stuff bother me."

Finished Hat

I finished Cody's hat last night. It was a quick knit. I didn't use a pattern. I just cast on 96 and knit until it was tall enough, then began decreasing every other round until I had 6 stitches left. Threaded the yarn through the remaining stitches, pulled it tight, and wove the end in.

Here we have the handsome lad modeling it:

Yes, he is wearing it inside out. That's the way he wants it.

I also cast on a pair of Roundabout Socks



and a Clapotis.


Yesterday was MLK day and a holiday at work. I didn't get anything done that I'd planned to do. But I did peruse knitting patterns for a great deal of the day. Funny thing I've noticed. I will open a pattern--let's say it's a scarf pattern--and immediately see the words:

This is a copyrighted pattern. You may use this pattern for your own personal use, but give me credit for it. You may not distribute this pattern. You may not sell items made from this pattern. All rights reserved.

or something very similar. All well and good, but when I look further at the pattern, I discover that it is nothing more than a simple garter stitch scarf. How can one copyright a garter stitch scarf? The garter stitch--knit every row--is as old as knitting itself. Yet, I'll bet there are at least 2, 475, 361 people claiming copyright on the garter stitch scarf.

Same with socks. I lost count how many times I'd seen people claiming to hold the copyright on simple stockinette stitch socks. These patterns are so simple, so basic, and so old, I just don't see how anyone can claim to own them.

For the non-knitters among you, that's like claiming copyright on the alphabet.

Say, there's an idea. I wonder if I can copyright the alphabet. Collect royalties every time someone writes, types, or reads a letter. Every letter.

I'll be richer than Bill Gates.

Our Favorite Lady

just being herself.



My question is, if you don't want people to think of you as a dumb blond, why portray yourself as one?

P.S. I'm not talking about Martha.

For Your Amusement

Courtesy of Ryan Parker Songs

Cool Video

Time lapse video of a winter day in Tromso, Norway.

Pretty cool.

It's Settled

It will be the New York Giants and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. That the Patriots beat the Chargers comes as no surprise to anyone, especially with LaDanian Tomlinson out injured for most of the game. Philip Rivers played the entire game, but played with both knees bummed. He had a strained MCL in one and a torn ACL in the other. Now, I don't know what a MCL is, but I do know what an ACL is. That is what sensei tore a few years back and I had to teach for two months while he recovered, both from the tear and from the surgery to repair it. Mr. Rivers played a tough game, considering, but his knees definitely affected his mobility, and they just couldn't find the end zone. His valiant effort was admirable, but it wasn't enough to pull the game out--even with all of Tom Brady's mistakes.

The big surprise came in Green Bay, where the Giants upset the Packers, winning 23-20 in overtime. This was the more exciting game of the day. The Giants won, once again, not on their own merits, but on the mistakes of their opponents. The way I see it, the Packers made some key mistakes; the first one being that they had Al Harris one-on-one with Plaxico Burras. You just can't do that. Burras is too good a wide receiver not to double cover him. Even after Burras beat Harris time and time again, Green Bay still wouldn't give him any help.

The second big mistake was not bringing pressure against Eli Manning. He had all day long to stand back there and find open receivers. You have to pressure Eli Manning. He is too good of a quarterback for a defense to just think he will make big mistakes. However, when he has had his face planted into the dirt a few times, when he's got big bodies coming at him every play, he gets flustered and crumples like a sand castle.

The third big mistake Green Bay made, and I'm actually kind of surprised that Brett Favre would do this, is that they tried too hard to make big plays. Instead of trying to go 10 yards for a first down, he was trying to go 90 yards for a touchdown, and it cost them.

And then there were the penalties. The Pack penalized themselves 5 times on a single Giants drive. Five times! Heck, they moved the ball better on that drive than the Giants did.

You know, one thing that strikes me as odd is the disparity in the amount of penalties between the Giants and their opponents. Last night, for example. The Packers had something like 11 penalties to the Giants 3. They had 5 on a single drive--a drive that would have stalled twice were it not for penalties against the Packers. It was the same last week in Dallas. The Boys were penalized 7 times for 85 yards, while the Giants were penalized 3 times for 25 yards. It's enough to make you go, "Hmmm."

Did you know that the officials review each football game, same as the coaches and players? I didn't until this year. They do. Each week, the officiating teams sit down with whoever is over them and review the game film. Play by play.

Calls that should have been made, but weren't. Calls that shouldn't have been made, but were. Good calls--and why they are good. Bad calls, and why they are bad. When they find a bad call, they discuss it, and what to do to prevent the same bad call in the future. But they do not change the results of the game.

A single bad call is seldom going to affect the eventual outcome of the game. A bunch of them might.

Tony Romo was penalized in the second half for intentional grounding. The penalty turned a second and short into a third and long. They failed to convert. The drive stalled and they were forced to punt. When the officiating team reviewed the play on Monday, they discovered that Tony was in a position in which he could legally throw the ball away. There was no intentional grounding. They'd made a bad call.

On the very first drive of the game, DeMarcus Ware was flagged for being offsides. The penalty turned a Giants fourth down into a first down, and eventually a touchdown. Review of the game film revealed that the ball was moving before he was, and he was not offsides. They'd made a bad call.

On the final drive of the first half, the Giants marched all the way down the field in 46 seconds and scored a touchdown. The drive would have stalled were it not for a personal foul against the Boys. The call was a late hit. However, further review of the tape revealed that the whistle had not blown, and the play was still live when the Cowboy player blocked the Giant. One could argue that the ball was already past him, so the Boy should have let up, but that's not what they are trained to do. They are trained to play until the whistle blows. This one was not declared to be a bad call, but it could have been.

Normally, I think of those who whine about bad calls as just being sore losers, but when half of the penalties against a team are either bad or questionable, well, it's enough to make you go, "Hmmm."

But it still doesn't erase the big red L in the won-loss column.

They're Finished!

Tidal Wave socks are completed. I have no WIPS!

Pattern: Tidal Wave
Yarn: TOFUtsies sock yarn color #733
Needles: Bamboo 2.75 mm.

Dear Mr. Romo

You are the starting quarterback of a professional football team. Not just any professional football team. The Dallas Cowboys. Do you know what this means?


It means you will be held to a higher standard. You will be expected to be perfect. You will not be allowed to have a bad day.


Throughout your journey with the Cowboys, you will be deified and you will be vilified. You will be glorified, and you will be crucified. You will be put on a pedestal, and you will be burned at the stake. It will be an emotional roller coaster ride the like which you have never seen. You will go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in an instant. I believe you know this already.

What concerns me, dear Mr Romo, is the choice of your current paramour. Sure, she makes a lovely arm ornament, but will she stand by you through all of this? Will she support you, or will she be more concerned with maintaining her own image? She may be there for the 13-3 seasons, but will she still be around for the 3-13 seasons? Will she still love you when you lose?

Does she have the strength, the substance, the depth of character to be what you will need her to be throughout your career?

I've heard it said that a man can do anything as long as he has someone who believes in him.

Does she believe in you?


Does she really?

Saturday Is For

But don't let this one fool you. It is cold out there! It was 36 when I got up, and struggled to get up to 38. I went out to get the mail around noonish, and I thought, "It isn't so cold out here." On the way back from the mailbox, however, I was facing into the wind, and it suddenly got a whole lot colder.

After a strong North wind blowing all day, it is currently 32, and expected to drop even lower. They're predicting low 20s by morning. If it weren't my day to work in the library, I'd be tempted to skip church and stay snuggled in.

As it is, that is what I did today. I didn't even get dressed. I am still sitting here in my pjs. I did get around to blocking the Branching Out scarf. I started pinning it out,

but when I got about halfway done, I realized I was pulling to too far lengthwise. At the rate I was going, it would have ended up being about 12' long. So, I pulled it all up and started over. As it is, the scarf still ended up being about 8' long.

I pinned it out in the snake/craft/computer room, and to keep the dogs from getting too interested, I put a sentinel at the door.

I show you this picture just to prove that I do, indeed, own one of these. I know you can't tell it from the state of my carpet, but it does have its uses. It did an admirable job of keeping the dogs out of the room and away from the scarf.

After unpinning the scarf, it was so light, and airy, and soft, and warm--well as warm as lace can be, that I couldn't stop tossing it in the air, and draping it over my hands. I was tempted to run out into the street and accost passersby to admire it, but I managed to restrain myself. I finally regained control, and arranged the scarf artfully on the chair to show you it's loveliness.

Here is a closeup of the stitch pattern:


The rest of the day was spent working on my second Tidal Wave sock. I am about halfway down the foot, and may even finish it this evening. It will definitely be finished by tomorrow.

Then I will be done. For about 5 minutes, I will have NO active WIPs! I'd best get busy. Cody is already asking when his hat will be done.

Looky What We Bought!

I bought the yarn to make Cody's hat. It is Red Heart Grey Heather.


I let him pick it out himself. Now, my stashalong goals say that I can buy yarn once for every two months of knitting, provided the purchase is less than what I used up. So far, I've knit approximately 500 yards of yarn up this month, and still have until the end of February to go! I am well ahead of my goals for this two month period. I am really tempted to cast on his hat, and he is anxious for me to do so, but I am only half a sock away from winning my Super Bowl! I won't quit now. I've turned the heel, and will pick up the gusset stitches before I go to bed, so maybe I can get the sock finished tomorrow.

Cody bought the dogs a real treat:


They are both enjoying it very much, and one or the other has been gnawing on it since we brought it home. We had a bit of an accident with it. As we were taking the bone out of the package, we dropped it on Rylea's head.

Poor baby.

(Try really hard to ignore the unfolded clean laundry on the couch, and the bits of stuffing from Rylea's Mousie all over the floor. They will be cleaned up. Eventually.)

Cute Puppy And Boy

Rylea is just so spoiled! Katie was 10 years old before I allowed her on the furniture. I guess I'm mellowing in my old age.

Oh, The Irony

Roy Williams, Safety for the Dallas Cowboys, horsecollar tackled so many players that they made it a penalty in his honor. OK, not so much in honor, but because of him they made it a penalty. It is often called the Roy Williams penalty.

Earlier this year, he was fined and suspended for horsecollaring Donovan McNabb. Maybe that'll teach him to stop, they reasoned. It was his third infraction, after all.

I mean, they named the penalty after him for Pete's sake!

Which is why I find the following situation so extremely ironic. A referee breaking up a fight by horse collaring--guess who--Roy Williams.

Oh the irony!

Jealousy

My first black belt class after the holidays. We have a 12 year old ik-kyu in the dojo who will be testing for his junior black belt soon. The entire class last night was spent working with him, getting him ready. Sensei says that will be the focus of our black belt classes until he tests.

I must admit I feel more than a little bit of jealousy. Sensei is spending all this time working with him.

Last year, about this time, when two more of our students were getting ready to test, sensei would spend the entire class working with them, while the rest of the class worked kata by ourselves. He even brought in black belts from our parent dojo to evaluate them and work with them.

I would have killed to have been able to receive that kind of attention. What I got was, "Go over in the corner, on your own, and figure out, on your own, what you will need to know for your test."

This summer, I will be eligible to test for my second degree. Sensei has indicated that he will recommend me for promotion. I am no where near ready. Yet, all of our black belt classes will be spent getting this one child ready for a junior black belt, while I am neglected once again.

Makes it mighty hard to stay motivated.

Mighty hard.

One Good Thing

At least one good thing came out of the misery that was yesterday's football action. I finished the first Tidal Wave sock and cast on the second.


I am just one sock--less than one sock, in fact--from my own personal Super Bowl victory! When I finish the next sock, I will have no, I repeat no active WIPS!

It won't last long, though. Cody has requested a dark gray sock hat. I don't have any dark gray yarn in my stash, so I'll have to buy some. This is allowed in my destashing goals, since it is for a gift. It will, however, count as my free day for January/February, so I can't buy any more yarn until the end of April. I tried to get the boy to pick some yarn out of my stash, but he is determined that he wants dark gray.

As long as I've been knitting (8 years now), the kid has only gotten two scarves--and one of them I just finished.

It's his turn.

A Day For Upsets

The Chargers upset the Colts, and Cody is upset about that.

The Giants upset the Cowboys, and I'm upset about that.

That's enough. I'm going to bed.

Dear Mr. Romo

You are the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys football team. Not just any football team, but the Dallas Cowboys football team. Not the Seattle Seahawks. Not the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Not the Tennessee Titans, nor the Houston Texans, nor the San Diego Chargers.

The Dallas Cowboys.

Do you know what that means?



That means it doesn't matter that you led your team to a record tying 13-3 regular season record. It doesn't matter that you hold nearly every franchise quarterback record there is. It doesn't matter that you led the team to their first division championship in years, nor that you won the bye, or the home field advantage. It doesn't matter that after far too long of a playoff drought, you have your team in the playoffs for the second year in a row.

None of that matters, because you are the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. Do you know what that means? It means that for you, good enough isn't good enough.

You must be perfect.


You must win the Big One, or none of your accomplishments will count for anything. If you don't, people will say Jerry Jones wasted his money on you. People will call you a flash in the pan. People will say you are an overpaid pretty boy.

You are the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. No matter what you do, there will be people who hate you. Even worse than that, if you don't win the Big One, no one will remember you.

Remember that guy who held most of those records you broke this year? Danny White? Remember him?

Yeah.

Nobody else does either.
.
.

Saturday Sky

To counteract the effects of the plain blue square, I added some nekkid trees to the shot.

A Poem for You

Here I sit all broken hearted.
Came to blog but can't get started.

Mountains

One of my favorite quotes was attributed to him, though I've never been able to verify it.

You never conquer a mountain. You stand on the summit a few moments, then the wind blows your footprints away.

Sir Edmund Hillary passed into immortality today.

And the mountain is still there.

Saluting him.

What Else?

What else can happen to Katie? She's been run over--several times, shot, snake bit, bee stung, cut, been in fights, had bladder stones, got hit by a tractor (a tractor, of all things!) which opened her incision back up after she had her bladder stones removed. She had a cyst in her shoulder. We had it drained, and scar tissue began to grow out of her shoulder. It looked like she had a misplaced toenail. It seems like every time I turn around, she is bleeding again.

She is like a cat. So much stuff has happened to her, I thought I'd seen it all. Until today.

I was cruising the forums at Raverly, when I heard Cody start calling, "Katie, Katie, Katie...MOM! Katie's got a fish hook through her ear!"

I ran into the other room, and sure enough, there was a fish hook through her ear, complete with fishing line still attached.

Sorry, no pictures. I wasn't going to make her suffer while I ran and got the camera. I took this one later. You can still see a little bit of blood on her face. I'm going to clean that up in a minute. After she de-traumatizes.


The barb was all the way through, so Cody went and got J to come over with his cutters. He cut the eye off and we slipped the hook out that way. She didn't like that, but at least it's out now.

She's glad of that.

Now, I'm thinking, "What else can that dog get in to?"

If I Were A Painting

Click here to create your own painting.

Either blog fodder or imagination on my part is sorely lacking today. Even my knitting mojo is slack. I only got one pattern repeat completed on my sock. That's it.

But, I did get my brother and his family's Christmas presents in the mail. That counts for something, right?

Right?

Number Four

is coming along nicely.


and I'm going to bed early.

National Champions

2008 BCS National Champions
Louisiana State University

It's Halftime

in the BCS National Championship game. Ohio State jumped to an early lead, scoring 10 points in the first 7 or so minutes of the game. LSU responded with 24 unanswered points, and leads at halftime 24-10. Ought to be a good game.

I finished my Branching Out. Rylea is modeling the as yet unblocked scarf.

And here is a closeup of the stitch pattern.


My original plan was to knit until I ran out of yarn, but a couple of quick calculations revealed that if I did that, the scarf would end up being about 14' long. So, I didn't have to knit as much as I thought I did. Blocked, the scarf will end up being about 6'. Still a good length for a scarf.

Now I just have the socks to complete, and my challenge will be done.

Back to the ball game...

Wild Card Weekend Pt 2

is over, as is the football season for two more teams. The Seahawks thrashed the Redskins 35-14 and will play Green Bay next week. The Giants pretty much did the same to the Buccaneers and will travel to Dallas to play the Boys for the third time this season.

On the AFC side, the Jaguars knocked off the Steelers 31-29 with a last minute field goal. They will play New England next week. This afternoon, the Chargers ended any hopes the Titans may have had and will travel to Indianapolis to face the Colts.

That's about all I did today. I knit and watched football. Tomorrow will be another football and knitting day. LSU and OSU are playing for the BCS national championship.

Expect light blogging tomorrow, too.

Wild Card Weekend

The Seattle Seahawks have knocked the Washington Redskins out of the playoffs. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers are tied at 7 in the first quarter. Gonna go finish watching that game here in a bit.

My major chore today was to take down the Christmas decorations. It always breaks my heart to turn the tree off for the last time. The house just seems duller without it.

In the midst of all that, I did manage to finish the second of my four projects.

Now it gets tedious, though. The Branching Out, while not difficult, is not quite simple enough for mindless knitting. I'm wanting to save the socks as a reward to myself for getting the scarf done, but I may have to do a few rows on them now and again. Just to break up the monotony.

Now, on to the Saturday Sky for today.



The sky started out looking like this:


but later on in the day, it looked as if the clouds would break up

but it didn't. It clouded over again and it stormed. Perfect knitting weather.

I'm going to go watch the ball game, but before I do, I leave you with a couple of gratuitous cute puppy pictures:

December 31, 2007

January 1, 2008