Where Personal and Professional Life Collide...

INTERCEPTION!

The last fricking play of the game (effectively) and Da Blue crew makes an interception in the end zone!

*dies of the high-fiving*




OMG, Eli is going on, and his brother isn't. Let the sports writers bite on THAT for a while...

well, I didn't get to the movies today, as it turned out to be one of those lovely, blue sky, winter-sunlit mild weather days where if you don't get outside and breathe the air you feel like you've squandered some rare gift.

So [after arguing with the guys at Dell for a while] I went outside and gave Darcy a good seeing-to/cleaning out of the trunk, did nefarious things with black spray paint, and walked down to Nica's to pick up fresh veggies for dinner and some fruit and half-price stollen while I was there.

The cats sacked out on the bed and snoozed.

And tonight, there is football. Hoo boy is there football. The announcers seem surprised that all the starters are playing and playing hard, in what is a 'meaningless' end-of-season game (The Pats and Giants both have post-season berths locked up). I'm not surprised at all. The Pats all want to be in on the game that might send them 16-0 for NFL history. And the Giants?

The Giants are a wild-card team going into the playoffs. Odds are they won't make it all the way through. But tonight? They're playing the as-of-now undefeated Patriots, the favored team to go all the way.

Tonight, this is their Superbowl. And they're playing with hearts and smarts, and sheer determination.

And going into halftime with a hard-won lead.

No matter the final score, they're making the Pats sweat. Go, J'nts!

ETA: I may be getting too old for this shit. I knew that scoreless series would come back to haunt us. Still a good game, mostly well-played, and while I personally would have preferred a different ending, at least it was the Pats, and not, say Dallas or Philly... *spits*

Congrats, New England Patriots.

I did not, alas, proof my author set for FREE FALL today. Instead, I went to see "Enchanted," which I have been looking forward to since I saw the early previews months ago. A totally sweet movie, and I say that, for once, without any sarcasm whatsoever. I had expected more sophisticated humor, considering it's set in NYC, but no, this is just...sweet. Lovely, even. And sweetly funny. It's the story of a Disney princess (literally) sent by the evil stepmother-Queen to a land where "there are no happy endings" (aka Manhattan). But of course, everyone (except the evil stepmother) has a happy ever after. And along the way you can feel your heart grow several sizes larger. Call this the anti-Grinch movie, and go see it, if only to count the number of movies (from "Beauty and the Beast" to "King Kong") this movie makes gentle love to. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the actress playing the young daughter, but she was adorable so we'll cut her some slack.

What amused me most of all, however, was where and why my suspension of disbelief failed. ( spoilers under the cut )

Came home and had a lovely dinner, plotting elements of Project Whoosh! with C. And, after scaring the crap out of their loyal fans, the Giants clinch a wildcard spot in the playoffs. Yay! [it's not like we have a shot at the Superbowl, but at least they won't be playing golf too damn early...]

And now I am going to continue the theme of total non-work, and go to bed early. Wow.

Yesterday, on being offered a 'family heirloom' in the form of one of those classic and wonderfully kitchy penguin ice buckets from the 1950's -- "hey, now I've got a pot to piss in!"

*cue mom falling over*

Gilman heirlooms, Gilman humor. Both cheap. *grin*


Meanwhile, working, and watching the Giants/Dolphins game in London. Yes, U.K. A mud game like I haven't seen in years, with so many stadiums gone to artificial turf. They're gonna need a LOT of bleach. I know that there are definite arguments for artificial turf, but I really do miss seeing seeing the players deal with the challenge of grass, rain and mud.... and at least the grounds crew seems to know how to deal with divots.

OMG! A streaker! Heee....

(at least, I assume so, since they're showing shots of the crowd hooting, but not the runner himself)

EtA: And we're 6-2. Considering some of us were bracing for an 8-8 season, this is... pleasing. Pity they ended it by taking a knee*, though. The UK fans were Not Pleased.



*for the non-fans, basically saying "we've got a minute left and we're in the lead, I'm not going to risk my players/that lead by trying for one more play when I can end things right here without penalty." A smart move, but not very interesting to watch.

Thanks, everyone, for the help with our spider identification project. I'm threatening to name her Jesúsa.
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Day 62 of Retrievers #6: Blood From Stone

Crap forward movement because I'm doing the 3/4 readover.

Some people pick up speed when they get to the 3/4 point. Me, I pull over to the side and make sure everything's in shape for the final push, reading and editing and swearing loudly when I realize I dropped a plot point in the initial word-rush. Once I have everything lined up, polished up, and revved up, the last 1/4 will come. It's just the getting to that point that makes me cranky.

I used to do the mad rush to the end, enjoying the feel of the plot building momentum up to the penultimate chapter (long-time readers of the journal will recall that I don't write the last chapter out until everything else is reworked, because once the story is concluded it's tougher for me to go back to do anything other than directed editorial revisions] Then I realized since the book always veers so much from outline, re-reading the book at that point was needed to keep me on-track with the ending.

The 3/4 readthrough is a pain, but it's less of a pain that doing a 95% read-through and then having to make significant changes in the ending. For me, anyway.
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Meanwhile, there's a sizable chunk of other things on the to-do list for this week, including (yay) a Springsteen concert in Hartford. Damn, that came up fast. Better get to the list before it gets me....

EtA: Oh, and twelve sacks. Twelve. Whatever else the season may bring, let us remember that number, and be gleeful.

There are few thing as bitter as Giants fans watching the Superbowl...

Fortunately, this also allows us to enjoy every play; the good, the bad and the ooops.

We have some non-football people here who wondered if the rain would call the game. Once the laughter died down, we started discussing the various and sundry snow bowls of yore.

(This is also my first experience with a Superbowl on DVR. Very weird, not having real time viewing. But useful when stopping for wings and chili....)

Best commercial so far: the "connectile dysfunction" ad for Sprint is winning the poll... (although I like all the diet coke ones so far). ETA: okay, the Budweiser crabs are now winning (with honorable metion to the Blockbuster 'mousing' ad, which was horribly brilliant).

Halftime show decisions: the only instrument actualy plugged in on that stage was the tambourine. Prince is the gayest straight man ever (there is some debate if he is actually human. The fact that his voice can make pigeons go 'whaaaa?" is entered as evidence). And WTF with the Mets fan colors? Prince should be wearing lace and black, 'k? And the dancers probably were supposed to be a little more energetic, but they took a look at their heels, then took at the wet stage, and said "nuh-uh."

(and across the nation, the water levels go down with one massive wave of "fluuussssssh.")

"Australian rules football there for a minute."

on the facemask call: "was it HD, or was that really obvious?" It was really obvious. Dude, at least try to be subtle when you grab!

"I wonder what this game would have been like it if wasn't raining."
"Dryer."
"THANK you."

okay, for those of you watching the Giants game, was that or was that not the silliest-looking scramble for a fumble you've ever seen?

And now I really want to write a story titled "Fourth Down Fumble.*"


After the storms of yesterday/last night, today is clear, cold and very very windy. The cats are distracted and jumpy as things go boom and crash outside. And, thanks to Boomer's underfootedness and my own distraction, I am limping like House on a bad afternoon. Stupid cat. Stupid knee.

Working on some thoughts about editorial professional ethics, and why editing is like dating...and also not. I'm not sure if those thoughts have a point just yet, though.

and it's official, the Lexus is smarter than the driver -- I just saw an ad for one that could parallel-park itself. I'm not so much enchanted as nervous. I don't WANT my car to be smarter than I am. Better reflexes, okay. But not smarter...


Also: Rutgers is 7-0. This IS one of the signs that the End is Nigh. Really.


ETA: and there is no better smell in the world on a cold winter evening than garlic sauteeing with basil and rosemary. Adding ricotta tortellini and bell peppers just makes the yummy even more so. *dies of carb overload happiness*


*according to new rules, on the fourth down, if the ball is fumbled, if the fumbling player does not recover, the ball is ruled dead. So it was pretty much a lot of scrambling for nothing.

UPDATE: there were a lot of great commercials, but I think top props must be given to Budweiser, first for the 'streaker' ad, and then the "I Die From Teh Cute" award for the 'I won't tell if you won't' commercial, which had me clutching my insulin and howling.



I know, it's much more trendy to mock the Superbowl as overblown hype, claim that you're only watching it to see what commercials they show, who has a 'wardrobe malfunction' this year, etc.

Me? I happen to enjoy watching the game. Football can be, when the teams are evenly matched, an excelllent way to spend a few hours, watching plays unfold and either fail or succeed, see people rise above normal phyiscal limitations to make impossible throws or incredible catches, to suddenly become so agile that three or four or five trained professionals can't bring them down, and, yeah, to look for the commercial that will be this year's 'cat herding' media wonder.

(I could skip the entire halftime show, tho. Stones or no Stones.)

Oh, yeah. And to eat chili and drink beer and generally forget all about the work that needs doing for a few hours. That's good, too.

So to both the Steelers and Seahawks: Good luck, guys, and may the best team prevail.


And an "about damn time!" shoutout to Harry Carson -- Hall of Fame, here you come! Yeah, it's about a decade later that it should have been. Screw 'em. We knew you belonged there all along.

Commentator, reviewing a recent drive by the Giants -- "Player X gets it up after Player Y gets it in."

While technically true (they just got the extra point by kicking it through the goal posts after completing a touchdown pass), the wording could have been a smidge less... well, slashy...


And oh baby, two sacks in a row on Dallas. Even if we do nothing else this game, it's been a Good Day.


(we hates Dallas, precious, we do...)




ETA: well, it's a W and you always take a W, but damn it, they should have had this sucker salted away in the third quarter...

Yep, it's opening day. And the quesiton of the day is: Who are these Giants special teams members, and can we keep them?

*kicks alien pods under locker bench, whistles innocently* Nope, haven't seen anything odd around here, nope...


ARZ 19, NJG 42 (3 minutes left in the 4th Q)


The overall team's not as good as the score would indicate [the Cards fell apart in the second half] but far better than I was expecting to see. Here's hoping it's an indication of things to come, and not just a fluke...



In other news:

42,000 / 55,000 (76.0%)

The light at the end of the tunnel actually IS a dragon. This amuses me, which indicates it's time to take a break...