Memorable weekend

I really hate that I always forget about Monday Night Football now that it's not on regular broadcast TV. That, and the fact that it has been replaced with Dancing with the Stars.

Which, by the way, seems a little off-kilter this season. Somebody please get that woman Samantha off the show! She's a terrible interviewer, and she makes me uncomfortable. I can only imagine what the competitors think of her. And what they say behind her back.

And I don't think I recall there ever being this amount of really, really negative criticism from the judges! Poor Rocco. I think he's hot.

Some of it's well-deserved, though. Kim K. has lost her personality. If she ever had one, that is...I know she's been on some reality TV show, but this is the first time I've ever actually seen her. Can lobotomies be reversed? She's definitely the next one I want to see go.

And for a gay man, Lance sure slapped one hot kiss on Lacey at the end of their routine. And how much does she rock...the female youth (and some not-so-much-youth) of the world heaved a collective sigh of disappointment when Lance came out of the closet, knowing that their chances with him were gone forever. And yet Lacey, Miss Thang, can say she's kissed him. That's one smart cookie right there.

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We got to host two great kids from the U of Wisconsin band Friday night, and were treated to two great halftime performances from the entire band, as well as the local high school band. M & J are both saxophone players, and both seniors. They were both very nice, and we had fun comparing & contrasting the traditions between the UW band and Longhorn Band.

At the performance, the RK had a great time. He was quite impressed after his first real exposure to a real-live marching band halftime show, and I think now he's starting to open up to the idea of participating when his time comes. And...the IB LOVED IT! He sat on my lap the whole time, completely mesmerized...and when it was time for applause, he was the most enthusiastic little clapper of us all. SO CUTE!

The UW band does something post-game called the 5th quarter. And it's crazy. We did the chicken dance, they played 'Tequila' and we were all doing the Pee-Wee Herman dance, and then three of the trombones came and played 'Hey Baby' in the stands right in front of us giving the RK an up close & personal view of just what he could become someday.

And did I mention how cute the IB was?

Watching both bands gave me those butterflies in my stomach, remembering days past. I think what impresses me so much about it is how you see all these kids dressed in the same outfit, and they're just milling around...running to find their spot, practicing their music, chatting with friends. And then...

...with the blow of a whistle, all of a sudden the kids are gone and one big cohesive unit now exists. It amazed me to see it Friday night, even after having been a part of groups just as these for so long.

Marching bands, and those who comprise them, get such a bum rap. They're really great, very cool kids who aren't afraid of hard work, and they still know how to have lots of fun.

After the show, we came back home, the guys ate some of the leftover pizza I'd ordered for our dinner, and we just about killed a 12-pack of beer while watching a baseball game. It was so great hearing their stories, and getting to share a few of mine. We talked sports, we compared our respective bands' traditions... But good grief, do they make me feel old! They were right around 2nd/3rd grade when I was their age. Gah.

The RK definitely thought they were pretty cool. He wanted to show them his room, his trombone, he even got it out and blew a few notes for us. And the IB didn't take long to warm up to them as well. I'm so glad I took that leap and sent that email saying I'd volunteer. While my house never made it to the condition I wanted it to be, I think it went quite well overall. I wish this was a regular thing around this town, but it's not. Just every few years or so does this happen. I hope we're still around to do it next time!

I was pretty bummed for them after watching that Wisconsin/Michigan football game, too. Talk about CHOKE! That had to be one long trip back to Madison Saturday night.

Didn't get to watch the Longhorns play, but I followed them on the computer while UofM was on the TV. That's my boys! HOOK 'EM! Because of their solid barbecuing of the Razorbacks, and a couple of...ahem...mishaps by 3 of the top five teams, Texas is now #5 in the polls! Yeehaw! This is leading up to a very, very exciting Red River Shootout on Oct. 11.

Off to bed now!

"The Badgers are Coming!" ...and other random thoughts in my head

Today I was at work wasting time when I came across this article from the Washington Post via MSNBC.com. Now when it comes to economics, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. My extent of formal learnin' in economics was one semester in high school eons ago with a chain-smoking teacher who could barely make it through class without a cigarette. (Cool class, though. I actually enjoyed it.) And while I don't have the expertise that Steven Pearlstein did to bring the entire global economy into it, what I wrote last night was pretty darn close to what he had to say on the subject. I felt smart. I felt validated. Made me feel pretty darn good.

And then after that, I check out Lone Chatelaine's post for today, where she actually linked to me. That probably made me feel even better. Thanks, dear.

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Now for the section entitled, "What the Hell Have I Gotten Myself Into?"

SH forwarded me an email today (which is the first communication I've gotten from her since before her baby was born in early June...more on that later) saying that the University of Wisconsin marching band is coming to town next weekend when the football team plays UM, and that they're doing an exhibition show at the local high school's football game the night before. They need local residents to open up their homes to them for Friday night and get them to and from the football field.

Yup. I volunteered my home. I requested two guys, who perhaps might make an impression on the RK, given his recent decision. The RK and I have talked about it, and we've made plans to head to the football game that night to watch the band perform. Yeehaw!

I'm gonna have to get the RK to CLEAN. THE. LOFT. I hope the guys are cool with the pull-out bed in the couch up there. Aw heck...they're college kids. They don't care. And I'm gonna have to do a helluva lot of cleaning myself! Nothing like something like this to motivate me, huh?

That concludes this edition of "What the Hell Have I Gotten Myself Into?" Stay tuned for future editions...here's hoping for many more to come!

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I'm going to a concert Sunday night. I'm normally not a big concert-goer; however as I've aged, I'm finding myself wanting to go hear more live music than in the past. I've never liked the idea of spending so much money on concert tickets, but now I'm starting to see the value in the experience.

Anyway, a few years ago, I was turned on to a very soulful singer from Louisiana by the name of Marc Broussard. His most popular cut, Home, never gets old. Go listen to it. Go on. And I dare you to not start tapping your toe at the very least. And what blows me away is he's a 20-something white guy! With that voice? Really?

My second favorite cut off his second album, Carencro, is The Wanderer. I love the lyric,

"And if you would accept me for me/
Then I promise you that there's a better man inside of me"

I just bought his latest album to drop, entitled Keep Coming Back. Initially I'm not as thrilled with it as I thought it would be. I think it's just my own lofty expectations, and I'm sure that as time goes on, it'll find me.

He's definitely one of those artists who is much better in a live setting than in a studio, and I'm just so excited I can't stand it! It's about time I did something for me. The boys are going with their dad this weekend, and I made arrangements with him for them to stay Sunday night as well, and he's going to take the RK to school and drop the IB off at the babysitter's Monday morning. Rawk.

That's it for me tonight. My next post will be, "Chapter Two: Potential Unrealized."

I know you all just can't wait.

Deja vu all over again

I have a feeling this post is going to take me most of the day to complete and get posted, but here goes.

No Longhorns today. Wah! They only have one game left, and it's the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving contest against Texas A&M. After the season the Longhorns have had, I really wouldn't know what to think the outcome could be. And frankly, I'm having a hard time believing the college football season of 2007 is nearing its conclusion! That happens every year. Nothing seems to fly by faster to me than football season. Well, that, and my kids growing up.

But today is a BIG one for the Maize & Blue! The annual let's-get-insane-and-talk-some-really-nasty-trash-about-our-biggest-archrivals meeting between Michigan and Ohio State. GO BLUE!

And I swear...the only reason I'm saying that is because the 'Horns have the day off. I've gotta throw my enthusiasm somewhere, right?

This past week has been an extremely long one. I've felt a bit like Bill Murray in that movie "Groundhog's Day." Every day has managed to be just like the one before it, and frankly, it's getting a little old. My house is in utter disarray, and I hope the IB will give me a chance to focus my attention elsewhere. Just for a while. I'll take what I can get.

And here's something that frankly, I just can't believe. It's so incredibly frustrating, I don't even know how to express it in words. I never heard anything from that job I interviewed for. Oh! I know a word. Deflating. I just don't understand why these people would seek out the services of an employment recruiter, have the recruiter send them two candidates to choose from in a timely manner, decide on one of the candidates (ME!), and then not be able to decide if they want to hire said candidate after all. So I've pretty much given up all hope of getting that perfect job that's just a mile and a half from my house.

I'm having to apply for a forbearance on my mortgage, which hopefully will be extremely temporary. I can't stand the thought of not paying my mortgage, even if it is agreed upon between me and my lender.

And now for some good news:

I got a call yesterday from one of the 60 jobs I've applied for at UM! It's with the orthopaedic/physical therapy department, and it's offsite from the hospital. So I have an interview set up with them for Monday!

And now, for some bad news:

If I get this job, my hours will be 10:30-7:00. Umm...yeah. That means I'll be getting home just in time to put the IB to bed. The more I mull it over in my head, the more I don't think I can take this job. Here's another good place to use the word 'deflated.' I've been steadily applying for jobs at the U since early September, and this is the first call I've gotten. And to be honest with you, I haven't been expecting to hear from any of them for a long time; at least not until I could amend my resume with some recent job experience. So I really feel like this is a great opportunity that I'm going to have to let pass me by. Sigh...

But I have to admit, just getting the call gives me hope. I'm still emailing resumes for jobs that pop up in the paper, so hopefully I'll continue to get a few more calls.

M and I have still been talking on the phone and emailing back and forth all week long! There's already a great comfort level between us...when we're on the phone, our pauses in conversation aren't awkward in any way. That's cool. And one thing I'm coming to learn about him is how much he adores his kids. He hates not seeing them every day, and really makes the most of the time he does get to spend with them. He stays very active in their lives, and still takes a huge responsibility for them...and while that sounds like something he should be doing anyway, I mean in those little ways that he could easily hand off to their mom. Like buying clothes for his kids when they need them, still giving them chores around the house, even though they're only there one night a week and every other weekend, etc. etc. And I hate how at this point we can't spend any more time together than every other weekend when we don't have our kids.

And P...well, I just don't know. We've talked on the phone a couple of times this week, and exchanged a couple of emails and text msgs, but I'm just not feeling anything with him. I feel like I need to meet with him one more time, though, just to be sure. Because our first date went very well! Perhaps we just don't have any chemistry on the phone? If that's even possible...I just don't know.

And remember B? Well, he and I finally have a date planned for the day after Thanksgiving. I invited him to meet me somewhere to watch the UT/A&M game, and he agreed! I'm not all that excited about this guy so far, either, because we haven't even talked on the phone yet. He says that his cell phone doesn't get decent reception at home, so texting is the best way for us to communicate. I don't know about that. But I was the one that contacted him, and this way I'll have some company to watch the game with, so we'll see what happens.

Well, whaddya know? I got this post typed up in one sitting! Quite impressive! Now I'm off to try to restore order to this pigsty! Happy Saturday, all!

Thank you, DishNetwork! (Yes, really!)

I am just so excited, I don't quite know what to do with myself! It all started around 7:00 tonight...

I keep a close watch on the programming schedule for Longhorn games up here. Right now, with the Longhorns ranked so high, I get to see the majority of games during the season. But a few years ago, when they weren't making such waves on the national radar, I was contributing significantly to my cable company, being forced to order quite a few games on PPV.

Earlier this week, I checked to see where and when the Longhorns game would be on, and discovered that it was scheduled for FSN at 7:00. "Awesome!" I thought. History dictates that Big XII night games are aired on pretty much all the FSN regional channels (mine being FSN Detroit). So I skip ahead a few days to today's schedule on the programming guide, checking to make sure my FSN has the Texas game. And then heartbreak. It's got the Tigers baseball game on the docket. I notice that a couple of channels lower, usually labelled as 'Sports Alternate' on the programming guide, it says 'TCU at Texas.' And not just on one of those alternate channels, but on three or four. But my hopes are still dashed, knowing that I would probably have to subscribe to a higher channel package to receive these alternate channels.

So tonight, as I'm watching the train wreck taking place at Michigan Stadium, I decide to turn on one of those channels listing the Texas game on my PIP. Just in case. And whaddya know...at straight-up 7:00, the heavens opened, the angels sang, and the Longhorns took the field right before my eyes! I just couldn't believe it! It made my night.

The game started out a little shaky. TCU had the lead at halftime. Texas' running game was rather nonexistent, and McCoy threw two INT's in consecutive possessions. But in the second half, the more familiar Longhorn freight train took the field and smeared the Horned Frogs all over it. It was a huge relief, given how the Longhorns' performance last week against Arkansas St. was barely enough to get the W. Now my nerves are settling down now a little bit. It did my heart good to see the Longhorn football team I've known and loved for the last few seasons.

But how my heart breaks (vicariously, thank God) for the Wolverines. An ESPN commentator mentioned something about this being the first time Michigan has started the season 0-2 in something like 70 years, I think he said??? The Oregon Ducks spanked 'em hard, 39-7. Major insult on top of injury. Some headlines I've already seen making a play on 'Maize and Blue' are "Malaise and Blue" and "Black and Blue." Talk about devastation!

I think I'm gonna wind down the evening with a celebratory cocktail. 'Nite!

Oh, and....

HOOK 'EM!

All college football, all the time

One week into the 2007 college football season, Michigan and Texas have something in common. They both played presumably puffy-fluffy teams (Michigan vs. Appalachian St., who are the Div I-AA champs for the last two years, and Texas vs. Arkansas St., who were basically just looking for the paycheck), the plan being to start off the season with their own individual routs. Nothing new there. But they both failed to get said routs. Michigan didn't even win. And Texas only won with an 8-point advantage. I have to admit, I was expecting something more like 80 points. OK, maybe not 80, but something definitely around the 50-point-advantage range.

I know what you're thinking. "Come on, Trish...isn't even a 50-point differential still a little unrealistic? Don't you think you might have on rose-colored glasses when it comes to how good the Longhorns are?" Let me offer you a statistic that I researched myself. In the previous nine season openers the Longhorns have played with Mack Brown at the helm, their average final score differential is +40.8. And that's even with a -3 point advantage factored in for their loss against North Carolina St. in 1999. Their biggest season opening rout was in 2004 when they beat North Texas 65-0. So I think my expectations this past weekend were quite realistic.

Yeah....but who's fluffy now?

And now, as far as the national rankings go, Michigan and Texas both took hits. My experience in watching the AP poll, USA Today coaches' poll, etc., is that teams really don't suffer that much as long as there's a new mark in their 'W' column. But this week proved that wrong. Texas fell from #4 down to #7. And since Michigan's little chalk mark didn't even go in the 'W' column, they fell completely out of the Top 25.

Ouch.

As far as Michigan is concerned, I'm so disappointed for them. I'm developing quite an affection for the Maize & Blue, given that my son was born in their world-renowned hospital, and even spent five days in their intensive care unit where they took very good of him. The RK is becoming a big Michigan fan, and if we're still here when he graduates from high school, I'll be more than happy to have him go to college less than ten miles from home. In relation to the Longhorns, buried deep down in my soul is the little bit of hope that someday I will have the opportunity to see these two teams play each other again. I have two scenarios for this meeting. First, I'd love for the Longhorns to travel to Ann Arbor and play the Wolverines right down the road from my house in Michigan Stadium. I would be completely decked out in my burnt orange, and I promise you I'd be screaming louder than all 109,000+ UofM fans combined. Scenario #2, of course, is the two teams playing for the National Championship in early January. After the 2005 Rose Bowl, which until the 2006 Rose Bowl was the most exciting football game I had ever watched in my life, I know that any time these two teams get together to battle it out again would be nothing less.

The RK only had a half-day yesterday for the first day of school, so the IB and I took him out to lunch after he got home yesterday. We went to his favorite little sub shop not too far from Michigan Stadium. All over the restaurant, they have U of M's season schedule posted. When I was paying for our lunch, I made a comment to the cashier about the copy of the schedule posted there at the register: "This should say, 'Game 1, Sept. 1 vs. Appalachian St.,' then below that, WHO CARES?" The town of Ann Arbor is utterly deflated. It's really quite sad. The guy who lives down the street from me works in Lloyd Carr's (UofM's head coach) office. I haven't talked to him since last Saturday, and I don't think I want to. I might want to give that a little more time.

Now as far as my feelings about the Longhorns go, I'm just SOOOOOOOO relieved that I'm not experiencing that heartbreaking deflation for them that has blanketed my neighborhood for the Wolverines. However, I am a little nervous. This weekend UT plays #19 TCU for the first time since the dissolution of the Southwest Conference. Hopefully I'll be breathing a little easier after that.

Michigan is up against the Oregon Ducks, who are just out of the Top 25 rankings as well.

I'm sooooooooooooo hoping that both the Wolverines and the Longhorns are able to dust themselves off and start fresh this weekend. Given that these were the first games of the season, there's still a lot of time and opportunity left for redemption. Michigan won't be competing for the National Championship this year, but they can still save a lot of face if they can remain undefeated for the rest of the season. The Longhorns are still on track in their mission to reclaim their sparkly crystal football, and as history has taught us, there are many one-loss teams to be revealed throughout the course of the season. And with every one, Texas gets a bump in the polls.

That is, as long as Texas doesn't join their ranks. I'm a little freaked after this past weekend. The vibes aren't good.