PLAYOFFS!!

The 'Skins have made the playoffs. Highly improbable 4 weeks ago. But it happened. Off to Seattle to take on the Seahawks, who managed to lose to the measly Falcons (HAHAHA!). One step at a time.

NFL Network

Tonight's simulcast of the NFL Network could utterly backfire on the NFL. Instead of opening the eyes of the football world and fans nationwide, and compelling them to demand this channel from their cable providers - I see an opposite result. As anyone who has watched a game on the NFL Network will tell you, the play-by-play is horrible. No, horrible is too nice. Think "fingernails-on-chalkboard" painful.

The simulcast will make the broadcast available nationwide - to hundreds of millions of more people than could have seen the game (and associated broadcast deficiencies). Those who have been thinking they'd like this thing called the NFL Network will get a preview - free. And they'll realize they'd probably never watch it again - and most definitely wouldn't pay good money to watch it. With NFL history on display, and a network that will underwhelm even a granny in Iowa, the NFL Network may have just doomed itself to failure.

Everyday Criminal

Long story short - tonight we had Christmas with Angela's Mom's side of the family - around 15-20 grandkids (of which we are included), a few great-grands, and all the aunts/uncles/cousins/etc.

We left early to get Mia to bed and realized we hadn't garnered the appropriate keys to enter Angela's folks' home. So, stuck in the driveway, 30 minutes away from the keys and 60 minutes late from Mia's bedtime, I took on the mindset of "I can't be stuck in this car for another 45 minutes."

Only two doors in their house don't have deadbolts - one leading to the garage, and one leading from the garage into the house. For all you wannabe house enterers out there, the Ann Taylor credit card does not (!) work to open doors. But, the Safeway frequent shopper/discount card works wonderfully. If only car doors opened so easily.

As an aside, Smokey the dog just looked on in quiet, cold confusion as to what I was doing. He won't tell anyone....

Christmas time is here

No, "Peanuts" doesn't mark the beginning of the Christmas season. Only one masterpiece can accomplish that: Handel's Messiah. I have put off listening to it for the last few weeks, and now with one week (plus a day) to go, it was time to break out the violins and harpsichord. Blissful baroque.

Power Lunch

Bowl of chili, cup of tuna salad (protein in a cup!), and a bottle of super-duper antioxidant drink which probably cost me $3.50. It tastes like I'm drinking a peach. Mmmmm.

Mia says: "Mitt! Mitt!"

No, she's not stumping for Romney. She's in love with her kitten mittens. And with her expanding love of the English language (and her amazing ability to vocalize said language), she walks around the house saying, "Mitt, mitt, meow-meow-meow!!"