What I Will Wear For Football Season

Throw in a Terrible Towel and hopefully a male version of this, um, coat, and this is what I'll be wearing to a Steelers game this fall. To see a bigger version of this picture and the rest of the Viktor & Rolf Fall 2007 line, go to Vogue UK. I assume that the Rolf in Viktor & Rolf is not the Muppet. There is also a serious article about this in The Washington Post, which is where I learned of Viktor & Rolf.

Appropriateness Question

A friend of mine recently had a death in the family, and I am going to send him a sympathy card. I am also going to attend a sporting event with this same friend in March. Since it is likely that I will not see him before the game, I am going to mail him the tickets. Is it acceptable to mail the tickets and condolence card together or should I send them separately?

Cool Stuff

I received an e-mail from a friend that included these random items below. Feel free to impress all your friends with this knowledge:

* It is impossible to lick your elbow.

* The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

* The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?
A. One thousand

* 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace

Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of the year?
A. Father's Day

*Although this looks weird, believe it or not, you can read it:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

*Finally, at least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow! (I was one of them.)

It is very possible that this message has been forwarded to people for years. This was the first time that I have seen any of this.

Final Oscar Notes

* With the wins by Helen Mirren, Martin Scorsese and "The Departed," I ended up going 6.5 out of 9 in my predictions. Not too shabby.

* I went to sleep just after the Dreamgirls performance of its three nominated songs. I'm sure that I was not the only person who was waiting for Beyoncé to sing, "To the left, to the left."

Live Oscars Journal

Welcome to my live journal of the 2007 Academy Awards! I will be here all night (or at least until I get bored or tired) posting my thoughts about the Oscars. Please feel free to add your own comments. Let’s begin:

* For the Oscars pre-show, I am switching between The TV Guide Network with Joan and Melissa Rivers, E! with Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana DePandi and the Maryland-UNC basketball game. E! seems to be in love with its Glam-A-Strator, which they think is the greatest invention of all time. John Madden and Mike Fratello (The Czar of the Telestrator) have used this for years.

* Reason #72 why I need TiVo: I would have liked to have been able to rewind live TV so I could have the direct quote of what Joan Rivers said to Rinko Kikuchi of Babel. Basically, Rivers told Kikuchi that her pink dress at the Golden Globes looked horrible, but that her dress at the Oscars is nice. OK, I just found a picture Kikuchi’s dress from the Golden Globes. I don’t know fashion, but Rivers is right.

---
* Maryland defeated North Carolina. Even though there was a few inches of snow in the DC area today, I'm sure there will be student riots or burned couches in College Park this evening.

* Before I forget, how many commercials do you think ABC will air for "Dancing With The Stars" and "Lost" tonight? I'll go with 5 for Dancing and 4 for Lost.
---

Questions that I did not hear on the red carpet:
- Cameron Diaz, where is Justin Timberlake tonight?
- Eddie Murphy, how’s Melanie B doing? When is she expecting?
- Rinko Kikuchi, you’re dress at the Golden Globes was terrible. Oh wait, Joan Rivers did say that to her.

OK, Showtime!
---

* Ellen’s intro was fine. A few good lines, but nothing special.

* The first winner: Pan’s Labyrinth for Art Direction. It looks like it is going to be a big night this film.

* Who has a better afro: Ben Wallace or Will Ferrell? By the way, the Will Ferrell-Jack Black-John C. Reilly song and dance was great.

* Best Make-up: Pan’s Labyrinth. That’s two wins.

* By the way did Jack Nicholson shave his head? While watching Lakers games, did he see Lamar Odom's shaved head and decided to do the same?
---

* Dreamgirls gets its first win of the night for Sound Mixing.

* I made predictions for nine different categories. Almost one hour into the show, they have not announced the award for any of them.

* Rachel Weisz looks a lot less pregnant than last year.

* Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin. I’m 0 for 1, but I really wanted Arkin to win, so I’m going to say that I’m .5 for 1. Arkin was also great in Grosse Point Blank.

* The Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter works perfectly for “The Departed” commercials and promos. Is the song also featured in the movie? (I was going to watch “The Departed” today, but it was sold out at Blockbuster.)
---

* Happy Feet wins for Best Animated Movie. Even though they lost 5-1 today, I think this is a good sign for the Penguins in the Stanley Cup playoff run. I am now 1.5 for 2. (In case you were wondering, my picks - made on Friday - are here.)

* Did you ever think about the careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck? Matt Damon is becoming one of the greatest actors of his generation (see: The Departed, Syriana, The Good Shepherd); Ben Affleck is not (see: Jersey Girl, Gigli, Surviving Christmas).

* Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed. This plus a Scorsese win for Best Director (even though it hasn’t happened yet) could be a sign for a Best Picture.

* It is 10:00 Eastern time. Not only am I starting to get tired, but there has been no commercials for Lost or Dancing With The Stars.

* For weeks, Dan has written that he is going to update his List. Even though I have not made an official List, Anne Hathaway, who just presented the award for Best Costume, would certainly get strong consideration for my Top Five.
---

* Biggest surprise of the night: Pan's Labyrinth did NOT win for Best Foreign-Language Film. The winner: “The Lives of Others” – Germany.

* Biggest non-surprise of the night: Tie - Jennifer Hudson won Best Supporting Actress; An Inconvenient Truth won for Best Documentary.

* I am now 3.5 for 5 in Oscar picks.

* I’m not sure why they showed Larry David during Al Gore’s acceptance speech, but he did not look happy.

* 10:55 Eastern time; not sure how much longer I’m going to go. I’m not nearly as funny as I was a few hours ago (the Rachel Weisz line was pretty good, right?).
---

* 11:05 Eastern and the awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Original Screenplay, Editing, Song and Score have still not been presented. The Academy Awards won't end until midnight, but I'm going to sleep. Good night (and good luck)!

Pitt-Georgetown Notes

I could write about the specifics of today’s Pitt-Georgetown basketball game like how Pitt shot 31% (25% from three) and only 50% from the free throw line or how Georgetown forward Jeff Green played great the last few minutes. Instead, I feel like writing about the random things people could not see from watching the game on TV.

- I thought it was nice of the folks at the Verizon Center to show on the scoreboard the top five free throw shooters…for West Virginia.

- The scoreboard also showed Georgetown center Roy Hibbert as 7 feet 2 inches and weighing 178 pounds. There is no way someone who is 7’2” and playing Big East basketball is 178 pounds.

- The highlight of the day came during halftime. A doctor (at least I think he was a doctor) from Fairfax Hospital was part of a presentation about organ donations. At the end of his speech, he yelled GO PITT! The crowd was surprised because that really came out of no where. Naturally, the Pitt fans (including me) cheered. Moments later, when the doctor was coming off of the court, he got booed by the crowd, especially the Georgetown student section. How can you boo someone talking about organ donations? Well, I understand why. This guy must have been planning to say that for weeks if not months. He seemed to enjoy the booing too as he waved to the students on his way out.

Saturday Morning Thoughts

I received an invitation from a friend to join MySpace. Even though I’m at least 10-15 years older than the average person with a MySpace page, I decided to create my own page. It is not very exciting, and I’m not sure that it ever will be.

Over the past few months, the D.C. Sports Bog by Dan Steinberg on washingtonpost.com has become a daily read. The blog features funny stories and anecdotes surrounding DC sports teams. Anyway, I am currently listed on today’s top five blogs for my experiences at the Mason game on Tuesday night. While a link to Sean’s Ramblings will be gone soon (probably Monday), the site is a great read.

I’m heading to the Pitt-Georgetown game this afternoon. With Aaron Gray probably out and Georgetown playing so well the past month, I have a feeling that it could be a tough day for Pitt. Even though I don’t want to see Pitt lose in person, a healthy Gray for the NCAA Tournament is more important than today’s game. Of course I’m writing this because I received a discount on my tickets through the Pitt alumni club.

Oscar Picks

Let me be one of the first of thousands of people to make predictions for the 2007 Academy Awards.

Best Actor: I’ll go with Peter O’Toole in an upset over Forest Whitaker. Even though Whitaker’s performance in “The Last King of Scotland” may have been better and more powerful, O’Toole will get his lifetime achievement award since this is his eighth nomination and he has never won an Oscar.

Best Actress: Helen Mirren for “The Queen.” This seems like the easiest pick of the night.

Supporting Actor: Everyone seems to think that Eddie Murphy is going to win. I personally think voters saw previews of “Norbit” and decided there is no way they would vote for Murphy. Alan Arkin was really good in Little Miss Sunshine. I’m pulling for Arkin but think Djimon Hounsou will get the nod for “Blood Diamond.”

Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson for “Dreamgirls.” I wonder if Beyonce is upset at Hudson’s success at an actress.

Director: Martin Scorsese. Every voter has Jon Stewart’s line from last year’s Oscars in their mind: Three Six Mafia – 1; Marin Scorsese – 0.

Best Picture: None of these movies really stand out. Little Miss Sunshine was great, but do comedies ever win Oscars? For some reason I think Babel will win even though the movie did not receive many nominations in other categories. I’ll pick “The Departed” for Scorsese.

Documentary: Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” Al Gore – 1; possibly Peter O’Toole – 0

Foreign Language Film: “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Since this movie does not involve the salmonella of Peter Pan peanut butter or feature David Bowie, I think it will win.

Animated Feature Film: Happy Feet. Besides Capitals fans, who doesn’t like Penguins? I did not see the movie but I'm sure Crosby and Malkin were great.

Disclaimer: Of all movies and actors nominated, I have only seen Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happiness,” “Little Miss Sunshine” and Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada.” However, I did very well in my picks last year going 7 for 9 (yes, I looked this up).

Feel free to make your own picks in the comments. I will probably have a running journal of the Academy Awards on Sunday.

Night at the Patriot Center

Tuesday night was George Mason’s final home game of the season. Amazingly, Tuesday night was the first Mason game I attended this season. I had been at the Patriot Center for a Tenacious D concert this season but not a Mason basketball game. Anyway, here are some notes from the George Mason-Georgia State game:

* The back of the Mason ticket stubs are still sponsored by Independence Air. FlyI has been shut down since January 2006.

* I have seen written in numerous places that Mason’s run last year as a fluke as evidenced by the fact that the team is barely above .500 this season. Does that mean LSU’s run last year was also a fluke? Yes, Mason had a special run last year that may never be matched. However, last year’s team lost three senior starters (Jai Lewis, Tony Skinn & Lamar Butler) and every opponent views Mason as their own championship this season. Look at the players UConn lost from last year’s team and see how they are doing this year.

* Besides me, there were two other dignitaries in attendance, former Redskins and Texans GM Charlie Casserly and former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell.

* Tuesday was senior night so I got to see Makan Konate start for the first time in his college career. I will never forget the magical three minutes he played where he missed his only shot. It is three minutes I will never forget. Actually, I had to look up the box score to see that he took a shot.

* Tim Burns, Gabe Norwood and Charles Makings were all honored along with Konate. If you followed George Mason’s run last year, Norwood is probably the only name you may recognize. Burns is a walk-on who actually played 30+ minutes against Georgia State (Folarin Campbell and John Vaughan were out) and scored nine points, which may have been his career high.

* Even though I have seen him (it?) for years, Gunston is still one of the strangest mascots ever. However, he/it does have a website and a MySpace page.

* Jim Larranaga has to make the first team for loudest whistle by a college basketball coach.

Final Score: Mason 60, Georgia State 54

Dental Equipment

I went to the dentist today (hooray - no cavities!) and while staring at the ceiling began to wonder how much the overhead lights cost. I should have asked my dentist, but I did not think it was appropriate (especially since she could break one of my teeth if she was offended by the question). Anyway, I found the company's website and a description of the ceiling-mount light, but the site did not include any prices. I have had little luck while continuing to search the internet (yes, this is how I have been spending my day off), so I thought I would ask to see if anyone knows. So, does anyone know?

Your 1988 Pittsburgh Pirates

I recently found the 1988 Pittsburgh Pirates Official Magazine and Scorecard. There’s some neat facts and advertisements in the magazine including the following:

* The most expensive seats, Club Box seats, were $9.50. General Admission was $3; Youth General Admission (14 and under) was $1.

* There is an advertisement for Elby’s Family Restaurants. Are they still around or are they now Big Boy?

* In the game notes section, Darnell Coles was Pittsburgh’s top hitter during Grapefruit League play. Not mentioned in the game notes section is the nickname my brother and I had for Coles, which was “Darn It” Coles. We would say Darn It Coles after he struck out or grounded out. That happened a lot.

* While I recognize most of the names on the Pirates roster, I do not remember infielder Dave Hostetler. Thanks to Baseball Reference, I learned that Hostetler played 8 games for the Pirates in 1988, going 2-for-8 with 3 strikeouts. I guess that’s why I don’t remember him.

Rafael Belliard is listed as 5-6 and 150 pounds; John Cangelosi is listed as 5-8 and 150 pounds. I am guessing that there is not a pair of teammates that weighed less over the past 30 years. Compare that to Walter Young who played 14 games for the Orioles in 2005. His listed weight is 322 pounds!

There are beer advertisements for Busch, Iron City, Rolling Rock and Stroh’s/Stroh Light.

There is an advertisement for B-94’s Quinn & Banana. If only there were more radio stations today that have Thirsty Thursdays, Stupid Human Telephone Tricks and Friday Morning Joke Off.

Così Prices

Look at these two menu items and see if there is a significant difference:

1. Tuna Cheddar Sandwich: Homemade tuna salad, cheddar, shredded romaine & Così vinaigrette.

2. Tuna Melt: Tomato, melted sharp cheddar and Così vinaigrette.

The sandwich has lettuce while the melt has tomatoes. Otherwise, they both have tuna, cheddar cheese and the Così vinaigrette. So why is it that the melt costs $6.39 while the price of the sandwich is $5.99? Does it really cost 40 cents just to put the tuna melt in a toaster?

A New I Am An Idiot

This appears to be a regular feature (see my experience with forgetting Steelers tickets in Virginia). After driving home from work yesterday, I attempted to park in one of the open visitor spaces in our complex. Sounds innocent enough, right? Well, the crew who plowed the complex moved all of the sleet/ice behind cars and blocked all of the parking spots. I tried to get into one space but got stuck. This isn’t the idiot part yet (although you may disagree). After trying to go forward and in reverse multiple times, I decided to try and remove the ice by my tires by using my feet. No luck. I got a shovel, but again had no luck. From there, I got my wife to try and move the car while I pushed. Not a chance. Next idea, continue shoveling and throw multiple cups of salt all around the tires. At this point, we were making some progress but I was still not in the spot. Here is the part where I’m am idiot. Noticing that one wheel was spinning but the car was not going anywhere, I decided to throw salt at the tire. Of course several pieces came flying back, hitting me in the face. Fortunately, I did not get hit in the eye, which would have been painful. Regardless, this was not a smart move. Oh, we got the car in the spot only a minute later (more shoveling and more salt).

I do learn from my mistakes. When I came home tonight, I parked in the shopping center next to our complex instead of dealing with parking spots instead. Of course, if my car gets towed, I'll have a new idiot post tomorrow.

Waiting

The Federal Government has a 2-hour delay, which means that my office also has a 2-hour delay. The buses are not running during the morning commute, so even if I wanted to go to work now, I could not. I guess I could drive but the local news continues to show roads covered by sleet and ice. Every school district and college in the DC metro area are also closed. Therefore, maybe it's a good idea to stay home a little longer.

I think I have a solution...I'm going to play Xbox!

8:15am update: Have you ever watched the TV series Coupling (the British version not the American version that lasted four episodes)? If so, you know that one of characters works in a local radio station as a traffic reporter, and is popular mainly due to her flirty nature and sexually explicit reports (this is a direct quote from Wikipedia). Does WJLA, Washington's ABC TV station, think that Lisa Baden is the equivalent of Jane? She is not. Baden is simply annoying. Just give us the traffic information and get the local news back to Alison Starling.

Fantasy Celebrity League Update

The fantasy celebrity league through Fafarazzi.com is now in day three. I am proud to report that I am in first place thanks almost entirely to Anna Nicole Smith. She is the LaDainian Tomlinson of fantasy celebrity! The other members of my team include Mary J. Blige (who is arguably the steal of the draft as a 7th round pick), Drew Barrymore, Ellen DeGeneres, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Grant, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and Will Smith. Sienna Miller was originally on my team but I dropped her immediately and she has been banned from the league for conduct detrimental to the league. Miller is essentially Pete Rose. I added Eddie Murphy as a free agent replacement for Miller. Leo, Hugh and Will have been useless for me so far, but with Hugh Grant's movie coming out and the Oscars only a few weeks away, I may keep them on my roster.

Pitt Loses; Mike Tomlin To Blame

The 5th-ranked Pitt basketball team lost badly at home Monday night to Louisville 66-53. Pitt shot only 3 for 22 from three-point range and committed 19 turnovers. Don’t blame the great game plan and execution by Louisville or the mistakes listed above. Instead, you should blame new Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who was in attendance. Pitt is now 22-3 in games without Mike Tomlin (all three losses against ranked teams) and 0-1 (the loss against an unranked team) in games with Tomlin present. If Ken Whisenhunt was the Steelers coach and at the game, Pitt would have won!

Grammy Awards Notes

I only started watching the Grammys at 10:00, so I have no comments from the first two hours. I just watched the Smokey Robinson/Lionel Richie/Chris Brown performance. Smokey sang “The Tracks of My Tears,” Lionel sang and played piano for his song (sorry, I don’t remember which song he performed) and Chris Brown danced for his song “Run It.” It was an exciting performance and Brown is an incredible dancer, but he barely sang his own song. Chris Brown may have a terrific career as a dancer or actor, but as a musician, he will never be in the same class as Smokey Robinson or Lionel Richie.

P.S. I have Mary J. Blige on my fantasy celebrity league team (more on this tomorrow), so I’m hoping that she has a big night. I did see that she has won at least one Grammy.

Create Your Own Title

While filing up my car, I noticed this message on the screen at the Exxon station:
Bye a 20oz Coffe, get a 20oz Dasani water.

Maybe ExxonMobil can use some of the $39.5 billion profit from 2006 on spelling and learning homonyms.

Heated Mailbox

Someone needs to invent a heated mailbox. While you may think this is a ridiculous idea, give it a second thought. My mailbox is freezing in the winter meaning that the mail inside is also cold. You might think that simply wearing gloves would be a solution. Maybe it’s just my mailbox, but I cannot grab the mail wearing gloves. There’s always one letter or advertisement stuck on the bottom that you cannot pick up with a glove. And the mail is cold! When someone invents the heated mailbox, just make sure that I get some credit. Thank you.

I Am A Terrible Person II

Last month, I wrote that I was a terrible person because I took joy in the Baltimore Ravens loss in the playoffs. I may be even worse today. One of my first thoughts when I learned that Anna Nicole Smith passed away was that she is definitely going to be the #1 pick in the Fantasy Celebrity League draft.

Random Thoughts and Rice Oriental Hamburger Helper

Even though I did not want to, I switched to Blogger Beta. While I enjoy some of the new features, such as labels at the end of each post, it does not seem to be interacting well with DCBlogs. If I post this at 10:00pm Eastern, it will show up on DCBlogs as 5:00pm Eastern. Is there a way to fix this?

Fafarazzi.com has been down all day, so I don’t know if there are still spaces available to join my Fantasy Celebrity League. When the site is working again, I’ll put an update at the bottom of this post.

Although it may not make a second season, The Knights of Prosperity has quickly become one of my favorite shows. What a funny show! I missed tonight’s episode because I was watching Pitt’s impressive win over West Virginia.

Finally, almost two years ago (when I spent a lot of time writing about Kevin Pittsnogle and Spring Break Shark Attack), I asked folks for help in finding the Rice Oriental variety of Hamburger Helper for my dad. Even today, I still receive regular hits from people searching for Rice Oriental Hamburger Helper. Therefore, I thought I would provide a list of places to get this nearly extinct product:

- http://specialty.generalmills.com/
- http://www.amazon.com/Hamburger-Helper-Oriental-7-3-Ounce-Boxes/dp/B000EFFTRA
- A grocery store in Skagway, Alaska.
- Food Lion in Reisterstown, Maryland

If you find other places, feel free to let me (and the world) know.

Update February 2008: I still receive numerous hits from people searching for Rice Oriental Hamburger Helper. Unfortunately, it seems like it is getting more and more difficult to find. People have started to vent on the Betty Crocker forum or click the General Mills Specialty site above and contact the company directly. Good luck with your search. If you find it somewhere, please tell us where you found it in the comments section.

Scarf

Sorry for sounding like Jerry Seinfeld here, but what is up with this scarf? I have seen probably 20+ people, both men and women, wearing this scarf over the past few weeks. According to this website, it is a "Burberry Wool Brown Plaid Long Scarf" on sale for only $109. $109 for a scarf? I'm not a scarf person, so $109 seems extravagant. For all of these scarves out there, there must be a cheaper knock-off version.

Fantasy Celebrity League

With the football season now over and March Madness and the baseball season still a month or two away, this is a difficult time of year for many people (like me) who need to be involved in fantasy leagues. Therefore, I am starting a fantasy celebrity league through Fafarazzi.com. This is a free league with a maximum of 8 teams with each team having 10 celebrities. The season starts February 10th and runs through March 3rd, which is a great time since the Grammys and Academy Awards are during this time. I don't completely understand the scoring system, but each team earns points when their celebrity is on sites such as Yahoo Entertainment, E! Online, Page Six, People and USA Today. There is an auto draft where you pick out a bunch of celebs you like and rank them in order of preference. This way only one team will get Paris Hilton.

If you are interested in joining, e-mail me at seanramblings(at)yahoo(dot)com, and I will send you a link to sign-up.

The Pen is Mightier

I took the online contestant test for JEOPARDY! a few weeks ago, so I was very excited when I received an e-mail from the show today. Despite thinking that I did not do well on the test, I figured the show was informing me that I advanced to the next round. Nope. JEOPARDY! just wanted to tell me to watch the Teen Tournament February 5-16th. To quote Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery on Saturday Night Live, Suck It Trebek!

Super Bowl Notes

Congratulations to Tony Dungy and Bob Sanders. I am very happy for both of them. I’m guessing that Erie, Pennsylvania will not only have a Bob Sanders Day, but probably a Bob Sanders Month.

I personally thought that Colts running back Dominic Rhodes deserved the MVP award more than Peyton Manning. I think Manning won because he is Peyton Manning. I guess this means even more Peyton Manning commercials (including the one where he’s going to Disney World) over the next few months.

Prince has hundreds of songs, so why did he perform covers of other songs?

While it may have had no effect on the result of the game, why didn’t Chicago call a timeout at the end of the first half? The Colts had fourth and two at the Chicago 17 with just over 30 seconds left. Instead of calling a timeout to ensure that they would get the ball back to end the half, the Bears let the clock run down to two seconds when the Colts took a timeout. Vinatieri ended up missing the field goal and the half ended. If the Bears called a timeout, they would have had the ball with about 25 seconds left and two timeouts. Even if Vinatieri would have made the kick, the Colts would have had to kickoff, and as we saw, the Bears have Devin Hester returning kicks.

Puppy Bowl III

Puppy Bowl III is now airing on Animal Planet. New this year is the Tailgate Party where they have several dogs cooking up a BBQ and sitting on lawn chairs. I love the fact that Harry Kalas did the introduction and announced the pre-game line-up, which included Jackson pictured left.

In case you are wondering, yes, I am procrastinating from doing some cleaning around the house. Plus, this is more entertaining than watching the Super Bowl pre-game show where Dan Marino is currently practicing flipping a coin for the coin toss.

Harry Potter and the Puppy Bowl

No, this is not the title of J.K. Rowling’s seventh book, just two of the items I want to write about. First, Harry Potter 7 (aka “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows”) will be released on July 21. There is a good chance that I will be one of those people at a Barnes & Noble or Borders at midnight since I don’t want to wait like I did for Harry Potter 6. I was rather impatient and was practically begging for the book to arrive.

Happy (belated) Groundhog Day to everyone! Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, so we can expect an early spring. You heard it here first: I AM GOING TO PUNXSUTAWNEY FOR GROUNDHOG DAY 2008. I know that I have said this for years, but it really is going to happen next year. Groundhog Day is on a Saturday, so I won’t have to miss work. My brother already said that he will go with me (of course, he could be humoring me), so we just have to iron out the details.

So there’s this football game tomorrow, and I’m not that excited about it. It probably has something to do with the fact that the Steelers aren’t in it this year. Anyway, is it possible to root for the Colts to win so that Tony Dungy gets a Super Bowl victory as a coach but that Peyton Manning somehow doesn't win? Does this make sense? Maybe Manning will go 2-20 with 3 interceptions, but the Colts manage to win thanks to Erie’s own Bob Sanders. I just don’t want to see even more Peyton Manning commercials.

Finally, if you do not want to watch 6 hours of pre-game coverage, turn to Animal Planet for Puppy Bowl III, starting at 3:00pm Eastern on Sunday. The Washington Post had a Q&A with the Puppy Bowl producer. My favorite question is “Should we be expecting any wardrobe malfunctions in this year's Puppy Bowl?” (In case you’re wondering, the answer is “Thankfully no puppy wardrobe, so no fear of wardrobe malfunctions! We do call "fouls" when we have to clean up puppy messes though - and our referee has by far the dirtiest job in professional sports.” Yes, I'll probably watch a few some of it.

Do I Need To Turn in My Man Card?

When I went to my doctor's office last month, he suggested that I take Omega-3 Fatty Acid pills (I've talked about this before) and exercise to help my cholesterol. During the spring, summer and fall, I regularly play ultimate frisbee and referee soccer games. However, in the winter, I sit on the couch, watch TV and play Xbox. (Actually, I sit on the couch, watch TV and play Xbox all year, just a little more in the winter.) The only exercise I get is walking up Metro escalator steps…until now. I have started exercising to Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away The Pounds: Walk and Jog DVD. Except for the old guy in one of the other Walk Away the Pounds videos my wife has done, I think I’m the only guy to do this.

Here is the video’s description: "Boost that calorie burn with this 30-minute power workout that works in 2-minute intervals of light jogging to keep your metabolism humming. One of the fastest ways to turn your metabolism into a major fat-burner is to add short bursts of intensity or intervals to your workout." Now that sounds manly!

There may be two ways for me to keep my man card while still doing this exercise video.
1. Leslie Sansone is from New Castle, PA, so I’m helping the Western Pennsylvania economy.
2. Leslie Sansone is attractive. I can’t decide whether or not she is hot, but I feel like this is a small amount of consolation for feeling like an idiot while walking and jogging in my living room in front of the TV. More importantly, this may be the deciding factor in allowing me to keep my man card.