Congrats, MoPo!

Well, it only took an entire summer of MoPo working 60+ hour work weeks (it's been a real joy) but she has finally received "the good with the bad." Congratulations on your promotion, MoPo--that's pretty frakkin' sweet!

Now if I can just persuade her not to use all that extra cash on shoes every month.

-KP

"J.D. I don't want to do this! Can't we just go home and put our PJ's on and watch Grey's Anatomy?"
"Oh, I do love that show. It's like they've been watching our lives, and then just put it on TV!"
-Elliott & J.D., Scrubs

Bartender, please, fill my glass for me.

Two things I wanted to quick blog about this morning:

1) I found out that LeRoi Moore died yesterday. Gooch may be the biggest Dave Matthews Band fan in the world but DMB is definitely #1 on my list of favorite artists. I remember geeking out when Gooch got us front row tickets a few years back in Madison. LeRoi Moore was a great musician and his death is being mourned by a lot of his fans right now.

2) So here I am sitting at work, listening to some classic DMB songs, and surfing the web while I wait for some programs to run and I find this article. I think what these actors did is incredibly cool and it kind of helped counter my otherwise blah mood.

-KP

If I go
Before I'm old
Oh, brother of mine
Please don't forget me if I go.
-"Bartender" by Dave Matthews Band

Randomnicity (08.14.08 Edition)

1) I get positively giddy over the fact that the Brewers are currently sitting at 19 games over .500. However, it confounds me that I've only been to a single game this year. Thankfully, I've got three games scheduled for September (including one at Wrigley Field on the 17th). This makes me happy since I spent the money on a Ryan Braun jersey and have yet to wear it.

2) Our annual "camping" trip was awesome, as always. In three words? Slip and slide. Camping is always a great excuse to get stupid with some of my best friends, as some pictures will demonstrate more than others--check 'em out here if you'd like.

3) I'm hungry. I need it to be lunch time.

4) I was pleased with Aaron Rodgers' performance during the first preseason game. And I was blown away when the fans gave him a standing ovation to start the game. Packer fans, indeed.

5) I am participating in a fantasy football league this year for the very first time. Upon joining, I spent half a day researching strategy. This made me wonder if there are better things I should be doing with my life.

Nah.

6) Doesn't 2003 seem like it was relatively recent? Mentally, I think it was yesterday but then I go and look at some of the pictures I took when I studied abroad and it makes me go, "Wow, gee, that was eons ago!" Similarly, sometimes I feel like I just graduated high school last year. And that's just crazy.

7) My work is doing this whole 70/20/10 raise thing for next year and I'm not looking forward to it. Apparently it's based on some GE model that says 70% of employees within a department will get standard cost-of-living type salary increases, 20% will get more than that, and 10% will get absolutely no raise at all. I will get very pissed off if I'm somehow deemed to be in that lowest 10%.

8) That Michael Phelps is just crazy! He eats twelve thousand calories in a day! Seriously? Seriously.

9) Molly and I went up north last weekend. My aunt and uncle (who I don't get to see very much) went up for a few days, too. The cool thing? My cousin had a kid 6 months ago and my aunt and uncle decided to take the baby along with them and give the parents a bit of a break. I think that's incredibly awesome--they deserve a medal.

10) I should go and work out tonight but, realistically, I'll just end up playing Madden.

-KP

"Dr. Turkleton!"
"Actually sir, it's just Turk."
"That's your first name."
"You think my name is Turk Turkleton?"
-Dr. Kelso & Turk, Scrubs

#4 Redux

Chances are that at some point you and I have had a conversation about the soap opera that is Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. I haven't hidden the fact that I've sided more with the organization, which says a lot coming from a guy who chucked out a good deal of cash to see Favre play at Lambeau Field--not once, but twice--before he retired. Favre has been the only QB I've really known and I think he's worthy of all the praise Packer nation heaps upon the guy. I am a big Brett Favre fan. Watching him play is spectacular.

During past offseasons, I always cheered for his return for another year--even when he wasn't performing so well and some called for his retirement. After the Packers lost the championship game I still wanted him to come back (even though I thought he had the perfect opportunity to ride off into the sunset). And I won't lie--I felt numb when I first saw the headline stating Favre was retiring. I watched the retirement press conference at my desk at work.

He's a great football player.

Wait, then--if that's true then why have I sided more with the Packers instead of the future Hall of Famer? It comes down to one simple but overarching fact: Brett Favre decided to retire, then decided to unretire. Then the drama began. Who knows... maybe all my criticisms stem from the fact that Favre isn't very media friendly.

But as a certain red-headed hottie said to me today, Favre has kind of acted like a prima donna. The way I see it, how many times did Favre leave the front office wondering if he'd return? This was the one time they gave him a deadline. I don't think that's outrageous. The Packers needed to plan their future--and they gave Favre the power to make that decision, whichever way he wanted. All subsequent actions by the Packers were dictated by Favre. He made the decision, then he unmade it. The "unretirement" was heartbreaking in and of itself. But I can understand why the Packers were less than enthused to take him back based on all their actions, which were all based upon the simple fact that Favre decided to retire.

Would I have liked Favre to play for the Packers again? Absolutely. Do I think the Packers would have won more games this year had Favre been the QB? Yes. However, once Favre retired, I shifted my mindset into supporting the Packers and the development of Aaron Rodgers. He's sat on the bench for three years and it's time to figure out if he's the right guy. It'll suck if he can't do it, but we as Packers fans need to finally know. Can he play as good as he did in college? Are his injuries flukes or is he really made of glass? These questions need to be answered for the long term interests of the team.

Ok, so that's a novel and I didn't mean it to get that lengthy. However, I do want to end this by reiterating one point again: I am a Favre fan. Once I read the news today, I couldn't believe we traded away the man who, for 16 years, was the face of the Green Bay Packers. My previous thoughts and feelings didn't make it any less weird to see him with a Jets hat on and holding up his #4 Jets jersey. I honestly hope he does well, I'll root for him, and I hope he reminds us constantly that we traded away a great QB.



-KP

#4

It's offical: Favre goes to the Jets.

Up until this morning I was surprised by the number of fellow Wisconsinites who sided with the Packers organization over Brett Favre in this bitter, bitter divorce. Then I started text messaging with two of my best friends this morning and realized that a difference of opinions truly does exist. The thing of it is, with the way this all went down, I don't think there is a correct side to take in any of this. It's been a freakin' mess.

I'll post some of my thoughts and feelings on the Favre situation later (when I'm not at work) but check out the poll on the right until then.



-KP