Burritos, Penguins, Madden and Umbrellas

I have received a few questions about the status of the free burritos for a year from California Tortilla. I am now through seven burritos with 45 to go. My first three burritos were my favorite, the Blackened Chicken Caesar burrito. Then, I started to realize that maybe going for a burrito bowl would be healthier than the tortilla. Since then, I’ve had three varieties of the burrito bowl: Veggie, Blackened Chicken Caesar and Thai. I did have a regular Blackened Chicken Caesar burrito as my last meal before the Yom Kippur fast though. I’m now at the point that I’m not sure what burrito to try next. Any suggestions?

In honor of the first Pittsburgh Penguins game of the season tonight, I have added a new link on the side. Visit the best Penguins blog out there, fittingly titled, The Pensblog.

I finished my first season of Madden ’07 the other night with a horrifying defeat. I, as the Pittsburgh Steelers, lost in the Super Bowl to the Dallas Cowboys 24-17. Trailing 17-14, I got the ball to the Cowboys 1 yard line with 9 seconds to go and used my final time-out. It was third down, and I decided to trust the Ask Madden button, who told me to kick a field goal. In hindsight, I should have tried to throw a pass to Heath Miller, but I took the safe choice (thanks to Ask Madden) to make the field goal to get into overtime. After the kick-off, the Cowboys got the ball on their own 30 with 5 seconds to go. On the final play, Drew Bledsoe launched a pass to Terrell Owens. Playing a Quarter Man zone (I think), I accidentally switched from a defensive lineman to Ike Taylor making Taylor run about 10 yards towards the line of scrimmage. All alone, Owens caught the pass and scored the Super Bowl winning touchdown. What a terrible way to lose. I may fire Bill Cowher.

Finally, listening to Yahoo! Music today, I heard two versions the Rihanna’s song “Umbrella,” but neither one was by her. One was by Mandy Moore and the other by someone named Marie Digby. Why are there two remakes of this recent song so soon?

Random Stuff

* Harry Potter is still on my mind, and while there are no spoilers here at Sean’s Ramblings, I like being able to read people’s thoughts about the book. Gobo has some good thoughts and links to a terrific post on Brooklyn Arden, plus, The Washington Post held a live HP discussion.

* My next book after reading HP7 and re-reading the other Harry Potter books over the past month or so: Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas.

* I’ve had Lou Bega’s Mambo #5 in my head all day. What a great song! (I am completely serious about this statement.)

* I received Madden 2007 for my birthday and played it for the first time last night. I’m still learning the controls, but in the easy mode, I led the Browns 40-0 as the Steelers when I turned off the game at halftime. Fast Willie Parker had only 200 yards rushing. Playing in the regular mode as the Steelers tonight, I squeaked by the Washington Redskins 9-6. I need to learn how to consistently run and pass the ball, and hope by defense and special teams can continue to carry me until then.

* Big day for live discussions on The Washington Post. Poison singer Bret Michaels was online, although I was personally hoping for more details about VH1’s “Rock of Love” show. However, this was my favorite question and answer:

Germantown, Md.: Here we go Steelers, here we go!

Bret Michaels: You said it, my brother!

In addition, this was in Dave Sheinin’s baseball chat:

Arlington, Va.: As a Pirates fan, how bad are they going to be next year? I think the Nats will give them a run for their money.

Dave Sheinin: Wow, the Pirates. What a terrible franchise. I know GM David Littlefield quite well, having covered the Marlins when he was the assistant GM. But I can't for the life of me figure out how he has kept his job in Pittsburgh.

* Finally, I received an e-mail from Baskin-Robbins for a free 8 oz. Fruit Blast Smoothie on Wednesday, July 25th from 3PM to 10PM at participating Baskin-Robbins®! Although I cannot find any information about this on the Baskin-Robbins website, the only asterisk on the e-mail is a limit of one per customer.