Howdy.  So it's 6:27 in the morning, which wouldn't be unique except that I've been up for 2.5 hours at this point.  I really don't understand sleep.  Not in the least.  Most people I know who have trouble with sleep have trouble falling asleep.  I, on the other hand, have trouble going back to sleep.  Not sure what causes this defect or what I can do.  Sleep seems to be one of those things you can't "do" much about.  You can choose to not do a bunch of things, but it's kind of frustrating in the fact that you can't take a set of concrete steps other than ingesting something to make sleep happen, and even then, if you take a sleeping pill at 4 am you're a goner until noon.  I guess my hope is that I'll figure this out at some point.  Until then all I can do is try again tomorrow.

Thought that this was a curious set of lookalikes...the Ultimate Warrior and Carles Puyol from Spain/Barcelona

"I've got all of my starters back, plus a couple of first-class free agents, I feel like Mike Tomlin (pause - stares at Foreman)"

Today I did a lot of stuff.  This morning, we pre-registered for admission to the labor and delivery wing.  There was a consent form for the midget-to-be and I signed it as the guardian - relation to the patient - "father".  Zounds.

Next I played basketball and did not enjoy it.  I was so tense and nervous from being out of practice that I didn't manage to have fun and in fact was quite disappointed with my behavior in one particular stretch.  That was weird.  I was just worn out and tired and not feeling like I was making a contribution.  I hope I grow to re-enjoy hoops.

After that, El Guapo, E and I went to go pick up the crib, yo.  Fairly painless, although El Guapo mentioned that we could register for a Wii and Wii Fit.  Tempting.

Then I fired up the old grill to grill some marinated chicken for dinner.  Mental note: boneless chicken thighs grill WAAAY better than boneless chicken breasts - and the Lawry's marinade-in-a-bottle is plenty good for grilling.  Little stressful because I didn't want to invite salmonella into the lives of my pregnant wife and unborn daughter.  But I think we're ok.

Lastly, we put said crib together.  Little disappointed that it didn't come with the requisite allen wrench (what's up with that?) but I had one of those swiss army knife-type allen wrenches, so we were still on.  It only took an hour, and it looks like it works.  I think we got a steal in the whole crib-o-rama - although it now feels like the vegetable (that's what we call her) has more furniture than I do.

Am I getting soft if 43 degrees is too cold to go running?  I am afraid so.

Now don't ever accuse me of being a fan of the former junior Senator of New York (I don't think that you could call her "from New York") - but I appreciate the sentiment issued by John McCain in his first floor speech since the election:

"I think the message that the American people are sending us now is they want us to work together and get to work," McCain said. "I think we ought to let Sen. Clinton, who is obviously qualified and obviously will serve, get to work immediately." (http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/21/clinton.confirmation/index.html)

Hopefully, this is not just a token, but rather a spirit of cooperation that will permeate the legislature and allow the logjams of the past to be overwhelmed.

Who knows?  But in the meantime, I am cautiously optimistic.

By the time you read this, it will likely be 2009 and I wish you a very happy 2009.  Today I did something that I didn't actually think would happen for some time.  Due to some fortuitous pay cycles and dutiful saving, we bought a new TV.  I'm a little excited because my goal is to use this new tv to try and set up an antenna connection for the entire house so we can ditch the cable (since cable wants ten bucks a month on top of their already LUDICROUS prices for HD) and get better HD (since cable has to compress channels to get them down the line) over the air.  So I'll try to keep this blog in the loop of what it looks like for a somewhat technically inclined, but marginally capable with regard to home wiring, to make an attic antenna work.  In the meantime, I'm excited to see what I can get to work.

This cracks me up a little...  The reason it cracks me up is that I can't imagine Joey Porter, James Harrison and Ray Lewis playing together without killing each other.  On the other hand, I feel a little pride for our division - if you look at this defense, nearly half of them (5/10 starters and 8/17 players) are current or former Steelers or Ravens - including all of the linebackers and safeties.

Furthermore, Darrelle Revis is from Pittsburgh and went to the University of Pittsburgh and Shaun Rogers plays for the Cleveland Browns (who could be considered to be junior members of the AFC North).

Hi,
It's me again with my yearly political blog/rant.  Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the art and practice of politics. One thing I do know is that in California, unlike Pennsylvania and North Carolina, where I have previously voted, there are a myriad of ballot "initiatives" where laws circumvent elected officials and are "democratically" enacted.  This is dumb.  It's marketing instead of governing.  Rather than having people whose jobs make them beholden to constituents hammering out a bill we are given a mass marketed a bill with potentially large unhightlighted pitfalls to be plowed into law.  Why bother having and paying elected officials when we can have corporations, thinktanks and special interest groups write bills for us?  It doesn't sound good to me either.

So vote NO on everything.  Make our elected officials responsible for their jobs.

Sent with Good (www.good.com)

Poor Tom Brady (and the fact that I'm saying this is pretty amazing given how I feel generally about the Pats and their quarterback).  I think I have to feel some sympathy for anyone who gets an infection recovering from an ACL surgery.  I'm completely blessed that I didn't have an infection after either of my surgeries - infections are scary.  I hope it all turns out okay.