The Monday Night Miracle

Day 68

I think yesterdays column surprised a few people. I don't mean to be such a downer or anything. Perhaps I just wanted to get that off my chest, I don't think I told anyone about that.

Anyway, this column will be a much lighter column. I am sure you know by now that I am a football fan and my favorite team to follow is the New York Jets. To share the pain of being a Jets fan, I made my son Logan a Jets fans too.


Being a Jets fan is hard on the soul. While there are some bright moments they are usually overshadowed by greater moments of failure. But today I am going to blog about history, I watched the game between the hated Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets on Monday Night Football. Well, I watched most of the game but more on that later.

I am referring to the Monday Night Miracle, the game voted as the greatest Monday Night Football game. It was on October 23rd, 2000. And I remember it like it was yesterday.

As a Jets fan, you HATE the Miami Dolphins. Nothing against them and their fans, it is merely business. And I was looking forward to watching my team kill them. That had to be the most frustrating game I have ever watched with the Jets. They had no heart, they were manhandled by the Dolphins all through the first half. I admit that I had lost faith in my team.

At halftime, Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the broadcast booth at halftime and he had much more faith than I did. While I was proud that he was a Jets fan I laughed when he said "Wayne Chrebet is going to pull it off. I think as usual the Jets are going to come from behind, you will see... I think the Dolphins have to be terminated."

The Jets were awful to start the 3rd quarter and like most of the fans in the stands, I left. I was utterly ticked off and I had to do something about it. So I took my beard trimmer and I shaved my head.


Yeah, you heard me right. I took a beard trimmer and cut my hair. I didn't shave my head completely bald but I cut everything off but an inch. I had never done this before either. After I cut almost all my hair off, I took a shower and then went back to check the score. And I saw a miracle brewing, the Jets were marching down the field and Vinny Testaverde hit Laveranues Coles (his 1st professional TD) with a 30-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. And so it began.

A few minutes later, Testaverde threw another touchdown to Wiggins and suddenly it was only a 10 point game. The Jets defense played hard and the Jets were able to kick a field goal and now with about six minutes left we were only behind by a touchdown. And just like me, fans began to come back to watch the game. And then the unthinkable happened, Testeraverde hit Wayne Chrebet with a 24-yard touchdown with 3:55 to go to tie the game. We were TIED!


And then reality hit just as it always does to Jet fans. Just one play later, the Dolphins threw a 46-yard touchdown. I stomped the floor angrily, the Jets were minutes away from taking the game and they just let the Dolphins waltz into the endzone. But call it fate or destiny, Vinny and the Jets would not be denied. The Jets marched down the field again and they called a play, a pass to tackle eligible Jumbo Elliott. Are you kidding me? A pass to a Tackle? His diving, bobbling touchdown catch (and his only catch in his whole career) completed this historical Monday Night Football miracle. We are going into overtime!


The Dolphins still had a chance at winning the game, but the Jets defense stood up against them. Marcus Coleman intercepted a pass and ran it down back into the Dolphins territory but it was called back because of a penalty. My heart stopped. I remember yelling at the TV, telling the Jets to do it again. And sure enough, Marcus Coleman picked off Fiedler again to set up Hall's game-winning 40-yard field goal.

THE JETS HAD WON! I woke up Kristy screaming and cheering. It was close to midnight and I didn't care. I think my impromptu haircut surprised her more.

I think this proves that I am a die hard Jets fan. I would cut my hair in an instant if it made the Jets win a big game. Maybe this Saturday...

Am I Regretting This?

Day 67

One of my fellow bloggers mentioned that we are now down in the 200's of our year-long blogging quest. That sounds like we have accomplished a lot, 67 days in a row sounds impressive. But then I calculated the percent.

18%

We are only 18% of the way through! Oh nelly, I have a lot of work ahead of me. Honestly though, writing 67 blogs is a lot of hard work but well worth it. It has been a lot of fun trying to remember the past but sometimes there are things that I don't want to remember too.

Most of the people that know I am doing this challenge has asked me if I regret doing it. While it has at times the blog has been annoying, I don't regret it at all. I seldom regret about things. There are those regrets in life that I think everyone gets. Should I have tried harder in school, should I have kept my job after high school, those type of regrets. Ultimately there is nothing I can do about it now and hindsight is 20/20 right? Should I dwell on those regrets? Nah, if I did I might as well regret that I never bought stock in Google too.

But there are some things that I do regret. Action I should have taken but didn't. The one regret that seems the most damning to me and sticks out the most happened while I was attending Sifton Elementary School.


It was my fifth grade (my favorite grade) and I really liked my class and teacher. I also had a *huge* crush on this girl. I don't want to name her since there is a slight chance she could be reading this and I don't want to embarrass her any further. But then anyone that knew me back then, knew that I had a crush on her. It was pretty obvious. She was in the same class as me but was a year older. She was such a cute little blonde girl that used to wear this "Men at Work" shirt that I thought she looked best in. I did my best to get her to like me but I think I was a little over eager.

One day I came out of class and she was walking home too. I wanted to walk home with her (and I probably timed this out too) but unfortunately these other sixth graders came out and was bugging her. I hated these guys, absolutely hated them, they were a bunch of idiots and bullies. They surrounded her and were messing with her and I walked right on by. The she called my name out for help. I turned but was afraid of getting beaten up so I kept walking.

I am such a coward. I'll never forget this, I don't think I could forget this if I tried. I don't think anything major happened but that is not the point. She asked for my help and I tucked my tail firmly between my legs and walked away. Even though it has been so many years later, when I see a picture of this girl, I remember failing her when she needed me. I should have stood tall and did something. I'm sure I would have got my rear end kicked but it would have been worth it.

She went on to junior high the next year and I rarely saw her again. Sometimes I would see her on the same public bus riding home from school but I never had the guts to speak to her again. Not because I was shy, but because I was ashamed. Sadly, that is really my last memory of her.

I am so sorry for not standing up for you.

Pic of the Week: Bittersweet

Day 66

We took down our Christmas decorations last night making the end of the season official. It is bittersweet for me, I love having all the decorations up and all the lights but after Christmas our living room is a mess. Taking down the decorations allow us to do some cleaning too.

It is nice to be all done and have a nice clean room to lounge around in but the room suddenly looks so barren and bare.

Before we took all the decorations down I made Logan get into his Christmas stocking so I can take our annual picture. That kid has sure grown, another bittersweet moment.

New Year's Resolutions Part III

Day 65

This will be the last of my New Year's Resolutions, I really don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

Speaking of chewing, I am proud to report that instead of eating my usual handful of Mint Truffle and Cherry Cordial Hershey Kisses, I ate oatmeal and a banana. And that was after my first day on the Wii Fit Plus. I will not share my weight here but I was happy that I was only a couple of ounces from what I was months ago. I didn't gain as much weight as I thought I did during the holiday stuff-your-face season.

And now as I writing my blog, I am not drinking my usual soda, I am drinking some Crystal Light instead.

Speaking of keeping New Year's Resolutions, I have written a new beginning to my novel that is over 11,000 words.

Anyway, I will quit tooting my own horn. The plan is to list my status of these goals at least every two weeks. So I will wait to brag until then.

These last few resolutions are really just stuff that I would like to attempt and not necessarily complete. Meaning I want to get a start on these sometime this year.


Learn Greek. I think it would be fun to know and learn another language and with my Greek heritage I think this should be the one. Not sure how I will accomplish this one but an attempt will be made.

Practice my bass. Kristy got me a bass guitar a couple of years ago for Christmas (it actually was my bro-in-law Steve's guitar) and I have played with it but I have not made an actual attempt to learn the bass. That will change sometime this year.

Design the cover to my novel. For fun, I would like to design the logo and the art for my novel. I would eventually like to complete this but as long as I get a start on it this year, I will be satisfied.

I have some other goals but they are too boring and mundane to share here.

Pics of the Week: Jets, Cats and Soda!

Day 64

Late blog posting tonight. Unfortunately our church services have changed to 1:30 in the afternoon and with the Jets game on later this evening I have not had much of a chance to blog.

But first things first...


Win and we're in! If the Jets beat the Bengals we are in the playoffs.

THE JETS ACTUALLY WON!

I admit it, I am a pessimistic Jets fan. But then I think any Jets fan is pessimistic. But the Jets stormed out and killed the Bengals 37-0 and secured a Wildcard playoff spot!

And while watching the game I discovered a new favorite soda. I got Henry Weinhard's Black Cherry Creme soda in my Christmas stocking and I was saving it for a special occasion. That soda was so awesome. It had a fantastic black cherry flavor that had a hint of creme. It was like my other favorite soda, Stewart's Cherries and Creme but it had a deeper cherry flavor. I gotta go get me some more of that stuff!



One of my fellow bloggers on her blog mentioned that she loved getting funny pictures of cats. I mentioned that I had one that I loved to look at and laugh and I came across it while looking for some other pictures.


I laugh every time I see this cat laughing.

New Year's Resolutions Part II

Day 63

I have a couple more New Year's Resolutions that I want to share. Unfortunately these are nowhere near as fun as the ones I listed earlier. I am only talking of one in particular that I am not looking forward to starting at all.

So let's start with the fun one first.

ART
I rarely pick up a pen to draw anymore and that depresses me. Last year I had a stretch of time where I participated in completing a drawing a week but unfortunately I lost interest and time and I stopped doing it. What I liked about doing it was I felt challenged and it made me think creatively which is something I want to do more of. So I am going to try to complete an art project, at least once a month. I have the tools, I just have to get off my butt (this will be a recurring theme) and do it.


Last year I developed a blog (which is deactivated) called Sheer Art Attack. (a play on Queen's Sheer Heart Attack album) It was a bi-weekly art celebration of the songs of Queen! Every two weeks a new song is chosen and posted every Monday and then participants/followers are invited during the 2 week period to illustrate their own interpretation of the song chosen. I had this idea in high school and I did some basic doodles of Queen songs but that is about as far as I have got. This quote really got me wanting to do it.

"That's what the song is about, though I'd prefer people to put their interpretation upon it - to read into it what they like."
-Freddie Mercury

So instead of doing that blog (which I may reactivate when I get some art projects stocked up) I am going to work on a monthly project based on a Queen song of my choice and post it to this blog. I may wait until my novel is completed before I start that project.

So now it comes to the least favorite part of my New Year's Resolutions but one that I am looking forward to having completed. I am now at that age where I have to be more careful with my body. I cannot just eat whatever I want. Yes, my doctor has told me to eat more fiber and to watch my cholesterol. Last summer I took part of a Nutrition study (which I will blog about sometime) which is to lower my high cholesterol. So it has come to this...

EATING RIGHT AND EXERCISING

I love sweets. I love chocolate. I love soda. But there is no freaking way I am giving those up. But from now on, I am going to watch how much I consume of this stuff. I am going to be more disciplined. I'm going to eat more healthy and eat more fruits and veggies. That part is the easiest part.


I didn't believe that this could actually work me out but it does get you pretty sore and does tone your muscles pretty good. I just have to get it out and use it.

I also need to get off my duff and exercise. When the weather gets nicer, walking and running will be something I will try to do daily. While it is cold, I will work on my Total Gym and the Wii Fit Plus I got for Christmas. I will alternate what I do daily and take the weekends off. My goal is to lose 7 total pounds and hopefully by my birthday in June. It will be hard work but worth it.

I have some other goals/resolutions that I will share next time on the blog. The biggest reason why I am going public with these is because I want to actually do them this time. And by using this blog, I can be held accountable for my actions. I plan on updating the blog at least weekly about how I am doing on these goals. Some are more important than others and some I might not start for months but I want to see how I am doing.

WaffleFest 2009/2010!

Day 62

Happy New Year's Day!

It is hard to believe that we are living in the year 2010! Where is my rocket pack?

Kristy, Logan and I headed down south to spend New Year's Eve with Kristy's family. A couple of years ago we had WaffleFest(tm) and Steven cooked and served breakfast at midnight. This year was the same, we had family over and we all ate breakfast at midnight. Before and after we snacked on an insane amount of food and played games.


We played a couple of fun games (Apple to Apple; Split the Ward) and of course, their were some winners that flaunted their winningness and their were some sore losers. Some of the kids went to bed early while the adults continued to play games and eat food.



I also taught a couple of my nephews a few card games. We played a variation of SlapJack (one that I had made up myself) and unleashed pain on them with my Punishment Slap Rule. Surprisingly they still wanted to play after the New Year was rung in.


Am I wearing a cool shirt or what?

Finally midnight came and we rang in the New Year! Like I said before, it is hard for me to imagine that we are living in the year 2010! We stuffed ourselves like pigs and even those that were cranky (not the young tired kids, the ones that were sore losers) were happy with a full gut. Steven added another chin to his collection of chins. After food we watched a bunch of YouTube videosthat we laughed hard at. My family gets really silly the longer they stay up.


Finally we played some more games and we played the Newlywed Game on DVD. Now this is where things started to get more interesting. Kristy and I have played this game before and we must have been married too long because we absolutely SUCK at this game. But this time was different, we actually scored this time! And not just once, we scored a few times. But we still suck at it.

What was surprising and possibly the most shocking is that Kristy's mom and sister almost won both games! Yes, you heard me right. Colleen and her daughter Lynn were a couple and they were tied at the top for both of the games we played. They beat out THREE other married couples. You know, actually married couples, couples that are married for real. How the heck did a mother and daughter combination win at the Newlywed Game?

Perhaps this explains it.



We finally packed it in for the evening, it was pretty late (or early in the morning) and some of us need our beauty sleep. Some people need sleep more than they think. Colleen looked at the clock and yelped out "It is 3 in the morning! I have stuff I need to prepare for tomorrow!" It took us about fifteen minutes to calm her down, she thought it was Sunday. And then she grabbed her scorecard and asked what the next question was and was surprised when she discovered she had already wrote down the answer. Kristy is just like her mom. Kristy and I giggled for about an hour after we went to bed thinking about doing her Snuggle blog. More on that later.

All in all, we had a great time and I look forward to next year's party already.