The Daily Bongo
December 2004
Friday, December 31, 2004 -- Evening
Geoffrey Palmer, who plays Lionel Hardcastle on As Time Goes By, was on the list to receive an OBE on the Queen's New Year's Honors list.With the end of the year, there are several top ten lists of things. What's always so funny is that people just can't seem to agree on what the top story is. Here's a sampling of top ten science stories for 2004. For example, Science magazine picks evidence of water on Mars as the top story, while Discover magazine picks the global warming as the biggest story of the year. My personal top pick would have to be the Mars Rovers and their discoveries. My second would be the Cassini-Huygens trip to Saturn.
Series three of My Family will be starting on BBC America on January 5. What sucks about this is that series 5 was shown on the BBC last March. I don't understand why BBC America takes such a long time to bring shows here. You would think that they could be a bit quicker about it. At least BBC America isn't just showing Ground Force and Changing Rooms all the time.
The Science Channel has a marathon of Watch Mr. Wizard. I never saw Mr. Wizard when I was a kid, but I have to admit that watching them as an adult is alot of fun. Right now, I am watching the show where Mr. Wizard and the child helper are making flour paste. It almost makes me want to go into the kitchen to try it out. The shows that they have on this evening are ones that I haven't seen in other Mr. Wizard marathons that the Science channel had in the past. This one is on adhesives. Others this evening are on everday illusions, heat transfer, paper towel chemistry, science with candles and time. I wonder why there aren't as many science shows being made now. Even the Discovery channel (which is the parent company for the Science channel) seems to concentrate more on reality shows that have nothing to do with science.
Thursday, December 30, 2004 -- Evening
This evening I got some dinner from the Milky Way restaurant here in Squirrel Hill on Murray Ave. They are a vegan restaurant and although they make pizza, they also have authentic Israeli falafel and humus. The food there is very tasty, and the restaurant is usually crowded in the evenings. Because the restaurant is a Kosher one, it closes on Friday evenings, and opens after sundown on Saturdays.Cassini is going to make a pass by one of the moons of Saturn tomorrow. This particular moon is of interest because it has two "different" sides. One side looks bright while the other is dark. Scientists hope to find out why this is the case. This is all part of the Cassini-Huygens study of Saturn and Titan. On January 14, the probe, Huygens, will be descending on Titan to send back data on the moon. This probe is of high interest because for years now, astronomers have thought that Titan stood the best change of having an early Earth like atmosphere, although at colder temperatures. It will be interesting to see what we find out from the probe.
The other interesting astronomy news is that the Mars rovers are still functioning and gathering data. The rovers have been doing an excellent job of finding evidence of water on the planet. I am one of those folks who supports man exploration of Mars. When you think of the things that we are finding with rovers, just imagine what we would find with humans! I understand the difficulties of it--the amount of time that man would have to spend in zero gravity and the effects on the human body, radiation, the heaviness of the ship required and the fuel needed to get it there, and the question of how to bring it back. I just believe that we should find ways to make the Mars mission happen. The Mars Society sponsers the Mars Direct plan which looks at a way for humans to get to Mars with maximum results and minimal costs.
We are approaching the 100th anniversary of Einstein's paper proving the existence of photons. The Economist has an article that explains what it Einstein actually did. Interesting reading about an interesting man.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004 -- Evening
James Farrior was named Steeler MVP. He has been doing a great job defensively this year, and he really deserves this award.Wednesday, December 29, 2004 -- Late Afternoon
I had a few books on hold at the Main branch of the Carnegie Library which is in Oakland. The library was recently renovated, and they did an excellent job. The first floor space is bright and spaceous. Low bookcases are used so it is easy to see across the main room where the new books are kept. There is also a small Crazy Mocha cafe area near the checkout counter where coffee, sandwiches and desserts can be had for a reasonable price. A little gift center is also in that area, and it is possible to buy Carnegie Library t-shirts there. Chairs are scattered all over the place, and although modern in style encourage you to sit awhile and browse through the books. Towards the back of the main room, there's a magazine reading room filled with the latest issues of the slew of magazines to which the library subscribes. The outdoor courtyard will be really inviting when the weather is warmer. All in all, it is a very beautiful library, that is well organized and inviting to the reader. My local library is the Squirrel Hill branch of the Carnegie. It's closed for renovations, and should be opening soon. I am very excited about it reopening, and hope that the design is as good as the Main branch.After the going to the library, my boyfriend and I went to Rock Bottom at the Waterfront. Usually I boycott the Waterfront area because of the traffic conditions. There's only one way into the complex from this side of the river, and that is basically over the Homestead Highlevel Bridge. Everyone goes that way, and the traffic is horrendous. Since we were on vacation today, we decided to skip the boycott. Rock Bottom was not very crowded at the time (around 1:30 pm). The food was abundant. We had the nachos with chicken to start, and they came in a huge pile. There was more salt on some of the nachos than I like, but in general, they were very tasty, and not overburdened with toppings. For a main course, I just got the beef barley soup in a bread bowl. The soup was also alot more salty than I can tolerate, so I didn't eat much of it. My boyfriend got a plain burger. The burger was thick and juicy, and something that I think I would consider for my next visit. There are also a slew of other sandwiches, pastas and specialities that sounded tasty, such as the grilled salmon sandwich. I will go back again, but will steer away from the soups
I found an interesting site that gives a virtual tour of Pittburgh. If you haven't been to Pittsburgh, it will give you a decent sample of what Pittsburgh is like. Some of the pictures could be framed better. The picture of the Squirrel Hill Synagogue just shows a picture of the steps, and really doesn't give you an idea of what the synagogue looks like.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004 -- Afternoon
The Pittsburgh Panthers are playing in the Fiesta Bowl on January 1 (Saturday). The stories that have been in the local news is the money that the University will be getting from the bowl appearance. It appears that Pitt will not get as much money as originally anticipated. Because there was a four way tie for the Big East championship, and Pitt just got the nod for the bowl because of a tie breaker, Pitt will have to split the money four ways with the other teams. That's a big disappointment for Pitt, but the main reason why Walt Harris isn't around anymore. Granted, he did accept a job at Stanford, but it was just a matter of days before he was fired from his position here at Pitt.Tuesday, December 28, 2004 -- Late Afternoon
Bill Cowher had his press conference today, and it appears that Ben Roethlisberger's problem was indeed a minor one. It appears the injury was bruised rib cartilage. That's good news because it means that Roethlisberger will be ready for the playoffs.I'm just finishing an interesting book. It's In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore. As I get older, I find myself wanting more from life than just working at a job. I want to enjoy life and smell the roses as I walk past them. The book goes through the ways in which life has sped up, and how to slow it down. One of the ways it mentions is Slow Food. The slow food principle is to eat locally grown organic foods, or foods that are homemade instead of preprocessed. Also, families are encouraged to spend time sitting down together to eat instead of grabbing food on the go, or sitting in front of the television and eating. It's not just about food, but in taking walks instead of driving everywhere. A more traditional way of "going slow" is with meditation and yoga classes. The book covers many aspects of life and how they can be modified to fit into the slow philosophy. The point is to not throw out all aspects of modern life, but to find ways to move out of the fast lane for periods. I am definitely planning on putting the philosophy into practice. Life is too short to rush through it.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 -- Afternoon
So far no official word yet on Ben Roethlisberger, but it seems that it is not a serious problem. At most it appears to be bruised ribs, and Roethlisberger will rest this week and not play. However, it does seem that he will be ready for the playoffs.Now the big question is who should play on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Since the Buffalo game really won't affect us for the playoffs since we already have the home field advantage and the bye, should we send out players who might get hurt in the game and therefore not be available for the post-season? I understand that Paul Tagliabue doesn't want the teams to stop playing as soon as their spots are assured because they could be playing teams that are battling for a wildcard. I heard one of the Pittsburgh sportscasters yesterday give an opinion that maybe the schedule shouldn't be set in stone so wildcard teams could play against each other. This way, in the case of Buffalo against Pittsburgh, you won't have to worry about Buffalo getting a win because the Steelers might not have had all their starters playing.
Monday, December 27, 2004 -- Morning
The latest update on the tsunami is that about 23,000 people are dead. It is just so hard to imagine the level of devastation that hit the area. We tend to forget in this modern age that nature can be deadly, quick, and unexpected.So far there is no update on the condition of Ben Roethlisberger. The story still is that he has hurt his ribs. Hopefully there will be an update today so we will know his status for the playoff games.
Sunday, December 26, 2004 -- Late Afternoon
There was a huge earthquake in Southeast Asia late last night. There are estimates that at least 10,000 people are dead. The casualties were caused by the tsunami that was created by the earthquake. It seems that some of the areas were not even aware of the possiblity of a tsunami because they were so removed from the earthquake site. The earthquake itself registered 8.9 on the Richter scale with aftershocks as high as 7.3 on the Richter scale. This makes me think of California. I saw a show once on television that discussed the possiblity of California having a tsunami. It is really a frightening thought.Sunday, December 26, 2004 -- Afternoon
Well, that krytonite must have been wrapped in lead! The Steelers won the game 20 to 7. The Ravens may be out of the playoffs because of the loss. It doesn't seem from hearing the Bill cowher press conference after the game that it is too bad. It does hurt Roethlisberger to throw the bal, but with three weeks of rest, I'm sure that he will be up to par. The Steelers were just beaming in the last few minutes of the game. It's great that they have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and the bye because they are the number one seed in the AFC.Ben Roethlisberger has an injured rib, and is now out of the game. It is just a few minutes into the fourth quarter. Roethlisberger was injured with a hard hit at the end of the third quarter by Terrell Suggs, the guy how made the kryptonite comment on Thursday. I don't understand why players try to purposefully hurt the opponent. That is such a low thing to do. Now, I'm sure that Suggs would say that he didn't do anything like that, but Suggs really drove Roethlisberger into the ground AFTER Roethlisberger threw the ball. Hopefully the injury isn't a bad one. Roethlisberger did make a few plays the next time the Steelers had the ball offensively. He just couldn't throw it properly. The score is now Steelers 20 - Ravens 7 and there are nine and a half minutes left in the game. I'm not a huge Tommy Maddox fan. I think that he looks too much like a deer in the headlights, and he just really isn't a play maker. So, here's hoping that Roethlisberger will be back for the playoffs.
It is now half-time for the game. The score so far is Steelers 10 - Ravens 7. ESPN has the box score, play by play, and the game update. Roethlisberger has made some really good plays with Plaxico Burress and Antwaan Randel El. Granted there have also been some bad moves like poor Randel El fumbling the ball in the last minute of the half after making a spectacular one handed catch for a first down.
The first quarter of the Steeler game is almost over. I have to admit that I really have a hard time watching some of the games because I get so nervous. This is such an important game to win, so more is at stake. Roethlisberger threw an interception just abit ago, and I almost chewed my fingers to nubs. Fortunately, Joey Porter picked the ball off from the Ravens. We have the ball now at the start of the second quarter, and Jerome Bettis is doing a great job picking up yards. The score so far is 7-7.
Saturday, December 25, 2004 -- Evening
This evening on ABC, the Sound of Music was shown. It is one of my favorite movies. I love to sing along with it. Granted, I am no Julie Andrews, but that doesn't stop me from singing and enjoying the music. The movie is just so full of hope, at least for the main characters. One does wonder what happens to Rolf and the rest of the folks who are left behind in Nazi occupied Germany. When I was a child in grade school, I remember the principal having the movie shown in the auditorium. It is one of those movies that children and adults can love. It is one of those movies that you can watch over and over, and that young children today can relate to just as I did when I was a child.It also tugs at the heart strings to hear Julie Andrews singing in the movie. It is tragic to know that her vocal cords were damaged in an operation in 1998, so she doesn't have the four octave range that she once had. She does still sing, and sang a song in the Princess Dairies 2.
Nicholas Hammond looked very familiar in the movie. He plays the oldest boy, Friedrich von Trapp. It seems that he has had a very prolific career. He's been on alot of television series, and was in an episode of Murder, She Wrote that I remember seeing recently.
Saturday, December 25, 2004 -- Afternoon
Since I have a home entertainment center, I find that I go to the movie theater alot less often than I used to. In the past, I would go practically every weekend. Now, I have difficulty remembering when was the last time I went to see a movie. I think that the last time was in February when I went to see Miracle. It was a really great movie, and I bought it on DVD. Kurt Russell did an excellent job as Herb Brooks. The other actors who portrayed the hockey players did a very good job, especially considering that the majority of them were actually kids who played hockey. When you bring the good acting jobs together with a great story, you wind up with a very good movie.I just don't go to see movies that much because the cost for an evening at the movies is just more than I am willing to pay. I would rather rent a DVD and watch it on the 28 inch flat screen at home with the capability of pausing when I want to go to the bathroom or to get more pop or food. When you add up the cost for the tickets and snacks for two people, you could easily spend $30. There are very few movies out there that are worth $30. Miracle was one of them in my opinion.
The movie that I watched last night left much to be desired. It was Spiderman 2. I have to admit that I was disappointed. When I watch an action flick, or a comic book movie, I want lots of action and limited angst. I know that the film makers are trying to get the audience to connect with the characters, but the only thing that I felt was this incredible urge to fast forward the movie. I know that others out there probably loved the movie. I have to say though that I preferred the first Spiderman to this one. I don't watch action flicks to see tortured characters and how difficult it is to make ends meet and hold down a job. I want to see thrills and action. Pish posh with this romance and having a tender side. Obviously from the way the movie ended, there are plans to have a Spiderman 3. That will be another one that I'll wait to see on DVD!
Friday, December 24, 2004 -- Evening
This evening my boyfriend, a friend and I went to Bangkok Balcony. It's a Thai restaurant located in Squirrel Hill on Forbes Ave. It used to be the Lemongrass. Because it was Christmas Eve, the restaurant had a special presentation with Thai dancers. The dinner was very good. As appetizers, we had satay beef and samosas filled with Asian potatoes, which taste like sweet potatoes. For the main course, I had the yellow curry. The yellow curry at Bangkok Balcony is fabulous. It is made over a 24 hour period and has Asian potatoes in it. It is the best curry in the Pittsburgh area. The sauce is very tasty, and is made at a spicy level of 3. With that, I had a glass of plum wine. It went well with the spicy food, and had a sweet flavor and not a strong wine taste. My boyfriend had the Lemongrass noodles, and they were also wonderful--full of flavor and spicy. For dessert, I had the chocolate fried ice cream. The first one that was brought out had to be sent back because it came with bananas, and I'm allergic to bananas. My boyfriend had a green tea ice cream which had a very unusual taste for ice cream. The Thai dancers were very good. They did three separate dances from the northeastern part of Thailand. One was done for rice planting (Serng Kratip), the other to honor the king, and the last was a dance for the princess to show her love. All in all, it was a very nice evening--great food, wonderful entertainment, and friends.Friday, December 24, 2004 -- Afternoon
The Baltimore Ravens Terrell Suggs said yesterday that the Ravens are the Steelers kryptonite. Suggs went on to suggest that some teams just can't beat Balitmore, and Pittsburgh is one of those teams. Well, yesterday Hines Ward was on the local KDKA sport news. They have a segment called "Hines Sight" on Mondays and Thursdays. The sportscaster showed Ward the click of Suggs and asked what Ward thought. Ward said, "If they're our Kryptonite, we must be Superman." I thought that was hilarious! Just because we lost to the Ravens in the second game of the season doesn't mean that they have our number. That doesn't mean that the game won't be a hard fought one. Usually a matchup between the Ravens and Steelers is a good one. I'm hoping the Steelers come out winners because that would seal home field advantage and the bye.Thursday, December 23, 2004 -- Late Afternoon
The press conference with Coach Wannstedt is now in progress. It was delayed from 3:00 pm until 3:30 pm because Wannstedt showed up with a red tie, and they had to go out and get a gold tie for him so he would have on Pitt colors (blue and gold). He talking of making the University the best that it can be, and that is good to hear. What else would he say though? That he wants to make it suck? His goal is to get us back to a national championship, as happened in 1980. He is talking now about beefing up the recruiting. That is something that lacked with Walt Harris. Harris wasn't very good at recruiting. He was always too busy being the head coach, offensive coach, recruiter, etc. Wannstedt supposedly asked for good salaries for his assistant coaches and coordinators. He wants a salary no lower than $100,000 (mentioned in the Post Gazette article this morning). Now Wannstedt said in the news conference that he initially turned down the offer because he didn't feel he could make the decision that quickly, and Pitt wanted an answer in a few days. We will have to see how things progress over the year. I am interested in hearing the comments of the Pitt players.Wannstedt did answer a question by saying that he would be talking to all the players--not just the quarterbacks. That's sort of a jab on Walt Harris because he did focus on the quarterback position alot--at least I think so. The sports columnists seem to think it is all in reference to his problems with quarterbacks--having poor ones in the past.
I do think that I like Wannstedt. He's definitely a Pittsburgher, and it is evident in his speech. He commented how in Dallas he would say "yinz" instead of "you all". I do like what he had to say in the press conference.
The first pet has been cloned, and it is a cat. This really reminds me of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie The 6th day. In the movie, pet cloning is done on a routine basis. From what I have heard about animal cloning is that there really isn't any guarantee that the clone would be an exact copy of the original. With CC, the cat that was cloned in late 2001, while she was a genetic clone, the pattern of her coat was different from her mother. Personal, even if a favorite pet died, I would not want to clone it. Part of the joy of pet ownership is the diversity in the animals' characters. The place that did the pet cloning is Genetic Savings and Clone. Next up is a dog, because they feel that dog cloning will be more profitable than cat cloning.
Thursday, December 23, 2004 -- Afternoon
Dave Wannstedt is the new coach for the Pittsburgh Panthers. A press conference is planned for 3 pm.Thursday, December 23, 2004 -- Morning
The Post Gazette has a rumor that Dave Wannstedt has been offered the job as head coach of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. Wannstedt was the coach of the Miami Dolphins, and "resigned" on November 9 of this year. Now the Dolphins had 1 win and 8 losses at the time of his resignation, so it wasn't a very good year for Wannstedt. Over all, in his career, he's had 82 wins and 87 losses, which results in a .485 percentage. Not that great a record, in my opinion. In comparison, our own Bill Cowher has a .624 percentage of winning games. Since college football isn't the NFL, maybe Wannstedt will not be a bad choice. As the Post Gazette article states, there is the example of Pete Carroll who pretty much sucked in the NFL, but was great as a college coach. I'd like to see how he does next season--if he is the new coach.Dan Brown, author of the DaVinci Code is working on his new book which is being called The Solomon Key. The title sounds interesting, and makes me wonder what it will be about. So far, there is no release date, but I hope that it will be in the coming year. In the meantime, I am thinking of getting myself the illustrated version of the DaVinci Code. It is beautifully done with illustrations of the paintings, photos of the buildings, and floor plans so as you read, you can see what Dan Brown is talking about.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004 -- Evening
Six Steelers were selected to be in the 2005 Pro Bowl. The six are Alan Faneca, James Farrior, Jeff Hastings, Troy Polamalu, Joey Porter, and Hines Ward. Troy Polamalu has been being doing very well this year. It's his second year with the Steelers, and he really wasn't doing very well in his rookie year. I remember hearing folks talking about it on the Pittsburgh sports call-in shows, like Nightly Sports Call. Since Troy was a first round pick, it's obvious that folks would expect more from him, but it just took him a bit of time to get into the swing of the NFL.I do like the Nightly Sports Call. They get a variety of Post Gazette sports writers, like Ron Cook, Bob Smizik, and Dejan Kovacevic. I love the interactions and the opposing viewpoints. Dejan Kovacevic used to write about the Penguins, but since the strike has been on, he has moved over to be the Pirates writer.
As for hockey, I really miss the sport, but it isn't looking good for any hockey this season. You would think that the players would realize that the salaries they are bringing in are just too much. Sure, some players are worth the big bucks, but not all of them. Look up some hockey salaries. For example, Marty Straka for the 2003-2004 season made $4,350,000 from the LA Kings. It's not that Straka isn't good, or at least he used to be before he had some of his injuries. His stats have really dropped off from a high of 95 points in the season in 2000/2001 to 26 points in the 2003/2004 season. Is he really worth the money? I don't think so!
The upcoming Harry Potter book is Amazon.com's largest pre-order ever. I can't wait for it to come out. I have to admit that I only read the series through once, so before the latest comes out, I think a re-read would be in order. The thing is that I have such a large TBR (to be read) pile. I should schedule the first five starting in May so I can move straight into the sixth book when it comes out. If you haven't read any of the books or seen any of the movies, here are plot summaries of the books.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004 -- Afternoon
News was released today about active volcanos being observed on Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter took some pictures that show signs of recent volcano activity in summit craters. So now the powers that be at NASA should have some good areas to target to look for signs of life. We can't just be the only ones in the universe, and I'm sure that there are other places where life went developed. Obviously it didn't get very far on Mars, but that doesn't mean that other solar systems are barren. I remember watching an episode of Cosmos where Carl Sagan talked about the Drake Equation. The Drake Equation gives the probability of finding other civilizations that would be capable of communicating with us. Drake's current solution is that there are 10,000 communicative civilizations out there. If that's the case, there are many more planets that harbor some earlier stages of life.Tuesday, December 21, 2004 -- Afternoon
The Pittsburgh Panthers are going to the Fiesta Bowl this year. The big topic of debate here in Pittsburgh has been the situation with Walt Harris. For the past season, there have been rumors that the University of Pittsburgh administration has not been happy with Walt's performance. Pitt is part of the Big East, and although we won the conference this year, we really didn't win it decisively. Also, Walt's agent has been saying to the press that Pitt is not a top 20 school, and should learn to accept that fact. People are really split in their support or dislike of Walt. Personally I can understand the administration's point of view. If the school isn't a top 20 school then maybe we need to get someone who wants to make it that. I don't think Walt Harris is such a big cheese. Pitt didn't get the conference lead because they won it, but more because the other teams lost it. Besides, the Big East has not been what it once was when we had Virginia Tech and the University of Miami Hurricanes were part of the Big East. Yeah, so the conference sucks, and we should accept that and realize that Walt did something great for us. Baloney! I'd rather have a consistently good team--a top 20 team, and someone coaching who thinks we are capable of it.Tom Murphy has said that he is not going to run for re-election as Pittsburgh City Mayor today. That is wonderful news because he really hasn't been good for this city. The city is suffering financially, and Mayor Murphy has done plenty in helping it down that road. It's really not clear on who will be running for the post, but more than likely the person who will win the election will be a Democrat because the people who live in the city are predominately Democrat. You have to admit that maybe what we need to get is a good fiscally conservative Rupublican in the office.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004 -- Morning
What a glorious morning! I woke up to the news that the New England Patriots lost the game yesterday. Tom Brady threw some really bad interceptions. At one point in the last few minutes of the game, he was being sacked, but STILL threw the ball. Well, it landed into the waiting arms of a Miami Dolphin player and ultimately resulted in a touchdown. The Dolphins wound up winning with a score of 29-28. This is great news for the Steelers because now we are in a good position to get the home field advantage. Granted, there are still two games left in the season, but I am going to keep my fingers crossed. Here's ESPN's recap of the game.I haven't been a football fan for a very long time--surprising since I come from Pittsburgh. So I wasn't aware that the Miami Dolphins had orange uniforms! Orange is one of my favorite colors, and it was especially pleasing to see the guys in orange whoop the Patriots' butts.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling has been finished. According to the BBC, the book will be released on July 16. It will be very interesting to see how things transpire in the new book. There are only two more left in the series, and I know that some folks wonder if Harry will make to adulthood.
Monday, December 20, 2004 -- Evening
I don't know how I lived without the Comcast DVR. Since I got the DVR, I haven't been watching much live television. When I do watch live television, I love the option of pausing the show while I run to get food from the kitchen. Comcast now has a dual tuner DVR, and it's great to be able to tape two shows that might be scheduled for conflicting times.Right now, I can watch last week's My Family and fast forward through the commercials. The father, Ben, is my favorite character in the show. Robert Lindsay does a great job of playing the father who is burdened with three troublesome kids and a demanding wife. My cheeks start hurting from laughter when Ben goes into one of his angry outbursts.
The New England Patriots are playing tonight on Monday Night Football. It's still the first quarter and the score is tied. Now New England is playing the Miami Dolphins, and Miami has not been doing well this year. However, I am cheering Miami on. In order for the Steelers to get home town advantage in the playoffs we either have to have the same number of wins and losses, or a better record. If it's the same then we will be okay because we have the tie breaker--we beat New England several weeks ago. It would be best if New England loses today though because the Steelers have a rough time ahead with the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday, and the Buffalo Bills the final week.
Whoever came up with the idea of beef sticks is my hero! I love the Old Wisconsin Beef Snacks. Who could not love bite size bits of low carb, saturated fat filled beef bites! I've loaded up on them for the holidays, and plan on giving in to the inner fatty by stuffing myself with them every evening. Beef sticks and cheese logs are good eating, and don't let anyone tell you differently.
Sunday, December 19, 2004 -- Evening
I'm watching the Green Bay/Jacksonville game, and wondering how a team that is based in Florida is doing so well with subzero temperatures in Wisconsin. Right now in the fourth quarter Jacksonville is leading 28-17. Amazing! Poor Brett Favre is really not doing very well, and keeps on throwing interceptions. Here is ESPN's recap of the game.The Steelers are doing very well. The game yesterday was quite a nail biter. Thanks to the offense for doing their jobs, and getting the points scored. The defense was abit weak, but it's probably due to the lateness of the season. Here's the ESPN recap of the game.
Right now, I am reading Football Physics : The science of the Game by Timothy Gay. The combination of physics and football is an interesting concept. So far, I have only read the first 40 pages. So far, the discussion is about the force that is extended by a running back breaking through a defensive line.
I just heard that there are 2 new episodes of As Time Goes By planned for the next year. I wonder what the next 2 episodes will bring. Probably we will find out that Jean and Lionel are grandparents.