Random Thoughts for the Week of February 6, 2012

It’s a beautiful, sunny morning here in Columbus.  Wow.  That’s just weird to say.  Omaha got a huge blanket of snow while we enjoying 50-degree weather and clear skies.  I think Columbus wins this round.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE SUPER BOWL

• All in all, a better game than I thought it would be.  I was rooting for the Pats but am okay to see the Giants win and vindicate somewhat the Packers’ loss to them two weeks ago.
• It’s still hard for me to root for Eli after so many stressful FF seasons with him.  Even still, he played a good game.
• I would have thought Coughlin would retire and hand the team over to Gilbride, but as of this morning he was coming back next season.  Maybe in 2.5 more years we’ll be calling for his dismissal yet again.
• I think it’s crap on the Patriots’ part to release Underwood the DAY before the Super Bowl and then replacing him with a player who didn’t even play in the game!  Unless Underwood broke some huge rule for the Pats, that was a really crappy thing to do to a player at any level.
• The Super Bowl commercials this year were far less entertaining than in the past, but I think the businesses who made them knew it.  They deliberately made commercials that wouldn’t go over the top or, in more cases than not, actually try to sell their business!  The Chrysler, Lexus, Budweiser and even the Bud Light commercials were all down to business.  I think the only exceptions were Volkswagon and Hyundai who managed to entertain while displaying their products. 
• I think my favorite commercial by far was “The Dog Strikes Back” for Volkswagon where the dog loses weight to get out the door.  I can relate.  Runner-up was the kid who had to pee so badly.  I can relate.  Third place goes to Audi for killing off all those dammed (pardon the pun) teeney-bopper vampires and their hip, cool, undead lifestyle.
• Halftime show was okay, although I think MIA should just disappear from the face of the earth.  What an idiot.  And was it just me or did the guy dangling on the highwire thing (apparently without any testicles) look a lot like Will Farrel?
• Had a great Super Bowl chilling with Mindi and the pets at home!  I’m a lucky man to be married to someone who can speak intelligently about football in general, what happens in the game, the quality of the commercials, the music in the halftime show and express in rated-R terms just how dumb the announcers can sound sometimes. 
• Goddell is thinking about canceling the Pro Bowl.  Yeah, good call.
• The HOF candidates probably deserve to get in, but I didn’t recognize most of them.  I think I’ll skip the HOF game this fall.
• I think it’s amazing that we’ve all forgotten just how close it was that we didn’t get a season at all, or how little time these teams had to prepare.  Seemed like the lockout didn’t matter at all.
• Apples to apples, Peyton is still the better QB.  But “two-time Super Bowl MVP” is sure going to sting at Christmas time for years to come.
• I enjoyed listening to Aaron Rodgers on the pre-game coverage.  I especially liked how honestly he admired Tom Brady’s play in 2007 (arguably his best season ever) as well as calling out the Giants’ “gamemanship” where they’d over-emphasize an injury in order to stop the clock and the Packers’ momentum.  They didn’t do it during the Super Bowl, and they’re certainly not the only team in the NFL to do it.  I just like someone calling teams out for it, since the normal commentators can’t.
• Puppy Bowl VIII was very disappointing.  The cuteness factor dropped by a factor of 50.
• I’m very proud of myself.  Weighing in this morning, I lost weight over the Super Bowl weekend.  That’s a first for me.

NOW, ONTO THE IMPORTANT STUFF

• Newt Gingrich touted all week in Florida the importance of establishing a moon colony by 2020 (the end of his 2nd presidency).  Sure.  That’s called playing to your audience, folks.  NASA laid off close to 10,000 workers last year, many of them are still living in Florida, and most Floridans remembered what happened and who’s to blame.  I’d like to see him try to convince folks here in Ohio that the moon base colony is a good idea.  He’ll need a lot more rhetoric than what he showed to get that done.
• Of course, I have a dozen reasons why it’s a really good idea for the government to re-invest in the moon base idea.  It can’t be just the government to get it done, but they need to help.  Newt/Mitt/Barak, give me a call and I’ll explain it in the layman’s terms you need and that your Ohio constituents can understand and rally behind.
• I think it’s sad that Donald Trump actually thinks people care at all about who he’s going to endorse.  It’s about as important to us as it is to hear who Al Roker is going to vote for.  Warren Buffet … maybe I’ll care a little since he’s actually talking to the folks in government.  But Trump?  Please.  He’s struggling to find relevance in a world where his entertainment value is almost gone.  Go back to being just a businessman, Donald.  The world will love you again if you disappear.
• I hate to admit it, but I’m really becoming a fan of Jimmy Fallon.  Mindi and I watched bits of his shows from Indianapolis last week, and they were all fresh, original, funny, and for lack of a better term, down to earth.  Jimmy looks like he’s having fun, and so the guests and audience have fun too.  It’s a late-night version of Ellen, I guess.  Slow jamming the news with Brian Williams, the songs he comes up with, the history of rap with Justin Timberlake … yeah, he makes it fun.  The problem?  In the Eastern time zone his show starts at 12:30 AM!  Who wants to stay up for that??  Not me.
• Although, I have been staying up late watching clips of The West Wing on YouTube.  I really loved that show.  At its best, it really was some great writing, acting and intriguing characters.  You can just push the politics aside, although there were some great lines and moments our current Congress could learn a few things from.  My favorite line is still “Decisions are made by those who show up.”  Damn straight in Democratic politics.
• Getting more and more psyched to see “The Hunger Games” and “Avengers” movies!
• I understand our friends Marshall and Kerry are clandestinely making plans to move Mindi and I back to Omaha.  All I’m going to say for now is don’t stop planning.
• I’m quite sure, if we move back to Omaha, I’m going to take a break from a lot of the things I was doing when I left.  The idea of getting back into so many activities with so many expectations … I just don’t think I could be a good dad and do all that.  Sorry, folks!
• This week I got lost in my writing again.  Wrote 3,000 words in an hour, not realizing it was past midnight.  I love nights like that!  I also love this world I’m playing in.  Problem is I don’t know the characters well yet.  I’m so busy building the world and the details of it I’ve forgotten about them.  Going to rededicate myself to talking to them this week.
• So far my favorite TV show of the season is still “Person of Interest.”  They take too long to give you pieces of the big picture (just like Lost did), but the characters keep you hooked.  Definitely worth watching, but if you didn’t have the patience for Lost you won’t for this one either.  It is worth noting that I’ve pretty much stopped watching about 75% of the other shows I used to watch.  I think it’s a good thing so far.
• Amongst the long list of other things in Omaha, I miss my bible study group.  There’s something reassuring about sitting with that group and exploring what’s beyond the daily hub-bub and really getting deep into some good discussions.
• Managed to up my pace on the treadmill to 5 mph on the “Couch to 5K Program” this week.  It hurt a little.  I don’t think it’s just the 2% incline either.  Going to try again this week, but if the body can’t take it, I’ll roll back.
• Also tried hot yoga this past week.  Did I like it?  I’m going again tomorrow night, if that says anything.  Burned twice the calories in the same amount of time.  It was challenging though.
• It’s funny to see all the Facebook posts, news articles, weather reports, etc. coming in from Omaha last week before the snow rolled in.  It was sunny and nice here almost all weekend.  It’s not a competition thing, just amazing how the world can be so different when it’s not really that far away.  It made me realize that we are farther east from Omaha than I’d originally put into my head.  I’ll tell you one thing, though.  I really felt connected to Omaha during that time by seeing all the posts and pictures.  Sure, we weren’t there, but we could see the good, bad and stressful things and share them, even to a small degree, with our friends and family.  That means a lot!

BABY WENDEL UPDATE

• New ultrasound pics!  Everything tested good.  The boy is 1.6 pounds and growing.  Still hates to get his picture taken.  Mindi’s tired of going to the hospital and seeing doctors.  I don’t blame her one bit.
• Got the new recliner in the nursery this week.  It’s a wonderful, comfortable Lay-Z-Boy with all the trimmings.  Unfortunately, I think it’s trying to tell me that only Mindi gets to use it.  Every time I stand up and turn off the light in the room, I get a HUGE static electric shock, and I mean painful.
• Mindi and I like the name Jorge Rameriez Wendel.  What do you think?
• The boy likes to make Mindi feel bad at all the wrong times.  I’m making a list of all the things he’s interrupted for payback later.