Randomnicity (12.12.10 Edition)

Hello, all!

Another Thanksgiving come and gone; another Christmas *thisclose* to being here, and all that holiday family drama that drives a person like me, who tries to remove himself from any and all kinds of drama, absolutely crazy. To be fair, the drama wasn't all that ridiculous during Thanksgiving--it's just that my tolerance for drama ebbs and flows, and my threshold for it wasn't particularly high for it this last go around.

Anyway, let's get to it.

• I finished reading Lamb last week and while the middle third of it was a touch slow, on the whole I rather enjoyed the approach (what did Jesus do for that missing 30 year time period in his life?) and humor ("What is this thing?" / "It's a Yeti. An abominable snowman." / "This is what happens when you fuck a sheep?" / Not an abomination, abominable.").  Christopher Moore says upfront that he's not trying to change anyone's religious views; rather, he is trying to write an entertaining story that anyone would enjoy. I think, for the most part, he succeeded (I do think that the uber-devout and the serious may not appreciate it as much as those folks who can laugh at life).  Personally, my takeaway was this: that true faith and religiousness spans across all walks of life, no matter what institutions you belong to or what rituals you practice--and that it is man who had a hard time accepting Jesus' preachings that the Kingdom is open for everyone. I'd recommend giving it a read.
• Keeping on the theme of religion, can I say it's a pet peeve of mine when people tell me that they'll pray for me? Unfortunately, I recently had a conversation with a family member about my religious world view. Mainly, that while I'm not convinced a God exists, I'm also open to the possibility of a God (in any shape or form). I'm more of an agnostic than an atheist. And, truly, it bugs the crap out of me when people talk about "God's plan" when it pertains to my own life. My successes are due to my hard work; my failures are due to my shortcomings. Sure, there are things that are out of my control (I may get killed in a fiery car crash by a drunk driver) and I am entirely OK with that, but don't try and take away my accomplishments by attributing them to somebody else. During this conversation, I tried to explain this sentiment, how I possess an internal locus of control (vs. the need to believe that my life is determined by fate or God, etc.), and how I believe my decisions are all my own, and I was informed that all this means is that I just don't believe in God. Fine. Maybe not. But like I said above, I don't don't believe in God, either. But now I'm hearing a lot of "I prayed for you on Topic X."  Even if I were an atheist, why would you tell me those things? It does nothing but irk me.  I will support you and understand it if you you are religious and believe in a God, but if I'm entirely OK with leading my life as I am, why should it bother you? It doesn't affect you at all. OK, rant ended.
• Let's shift this to something far less serious. How about fantasy football? This is only my third year playing fantasy and it is as every bit as life-consuming as you've heard. As reigning league champion (yep, that's bragging), I couldn't believe my atrocious 2-5 start to the season. The supreme worthlessness of Randy Moss (first round draft pick) and the injury of Pierre Thomas (third round draft pick) heavily contributed to that start, but somehow I managed to go on a six game tear and currently sit at 8-5 (thanks Michael Vick and Jacob Tamme!), ranked second out of 12 teams but, because of a divisional format, only hold a potential wild card berth at the moment. The real kicker of it? MoPo is in the same division (hell, the top three finishers from last year were corralled into the same division) and we go head to head this weekend. She's a game behind me at 7-6 and I'm fairly certain we're the only teams duking it out for the wild card. Everyone else would finish with seven wins or less. If she wins, we're both 8-6 and she advances to the playoffs because of the divisional record tiebreaker. If I win, I'm in. And in no way, shape, or form are we a competitive bunch and egging each other on (anyone seen the FX series The League?)... 
• I think I may have been the only one who actually liked the Packers' throwbacks last weekend.

• Oh, and because I keep forgetting to blog about this--I saw one of my favorite people at Lambeau when Green Bay played Detroit!

• Definitely taking two vacations next year. We're pretty committed to spending 7-10 days on the Big Island (I love Hawaii) and then we're trying to take another vacation with some good friends of ours. Getting that full extra third week of vacation is going to be awesome--if only the American capitalist mentality would provision for more vacation days!
• I just looked outside and all this blizzardy snow that the midwest got slammed with must have missed the northwest suburbs of Chicago (though it didn't miss the Metrodome---hahaha). Either that, or the wind has blown it all out of view from my apartment windows--it just looks like a light dusting out there.
• The next book I'm attempting to conquer is The Passage which, at about 180 pages in, seems pretty well written and is creeping me out.
• MoPo keeps asking me when I'm going to shave off my beard. I keep finding ways to prolong that decision. Truth be told, I'm not keeping it because I necessarily like it, but rather because I like that it's different (much like I grew my hair out to a ridiculous length last year).
• I finally succeeded in getting back into a gym routine over the course of the these last four weeks. If anything, the vacation planning was the final motivator I needed to accomplish this.  Now, if I'm just sitting around the apartment with nothing productive to do, or I partook of the beverages the night prior, I actually feel a little bad if I haven't exercised.  In essence, that need for external motivation has led to a new set of internal motivators, and that's kind of cool.

 Alright, time for my pre-game ritual of video game playing.

-KP

Wait. I have a blog?

I am rather listless tonight so I thought perhaps giving some attention to this tremendously neglected blog may help pass the time.

This weekend proved to be a splendidly good time. On Friday evening, I proved once again that there is a higher probability of me hitting a bull's eye than hitting the gosh darned 20 when playing darts. Alas. Then MoPo and I went up to Green Bay to visit a very awesome individual who we don't see as much as we should. Oh, yes... there was also a Packers scrimmage game that the three of us then attended.





Being Family Night, Lambeau had some post-scrimmage fireworks to ooh and ahh the kiddies.



However, as the fireworks were choreographed to music, we had to high tail it out of the stadium once they played the horrendously awful Justin Bieber (whose "talent" I've avoided like the plague). This turned out to be OK because we were outside by the time the Glee version of "Don't Stop Believin'" came on:



Actually, I'm not even sure this particular picture was from "Don't Stop Believin'"; if not, we can just pretend it was.

So August is proving to be one of those rather full months, chock full of excellent activities and fun friends. This is not a complaint. I am lucky to have plenty of awesome friends (though some of them have committed a most heinous act of betrayal by moving far, far away!). It just reaffirms, however, that the work week is far too long and dull.

-KP

78,185

You may remember that, way back when, my magic number was 79,151. Tonight I began organizing a 6 foot stack of paperwork and found my updated waiting list number for Packers season tickets (I don't even know when I actually received this!). That number?

78,185.

That's right, I moved up a grand total of 966 places. I'm on a roll!

-KP

PS: I really need to update this with something substantive!

How about some hooch in that coffee?

The psychology of sports is really something, isn't it? I’m not an angry individual—I’m really not. Sure, I get upset over some things… even seemingly pointless things, but I don’t get angry. Last night, however, I don’t think I could have expressed any more anger—-which seems rather silly since the Packers, Vikings, Brett Favre, Ted Thompson, or Ragnar don’t affect me in any objective way. But sports fans tend to be very personal about their teams and the drama that surrounds them.

Which, of course, can lead to heartbreak when the desired outcome isn't reached.

Heartbreak? Really? Over a football game?

That’s Packer Nation for you. You idolize a guy growing up and you feel betrayed when he craps all over you. And is that really unreasonable? Favre could have taken the high road when confronted with the “tyranny” of Ted Thompson. But he didn’t. He didn’t even come close.

Of course, I realize that the Vikings were the better team. It really didn’t come down to Favre vs. Rodgers like many were hoping. For me, it comes down to this: which team would have won last night if QB roles were reversed and Rodgers was a Viking and Favre still a Packer?

Unfortunately, the Vikes.

I have no doubt about that, given the way our offensive line acts like a bunch of Sally’s this year. On the flip side, however, who would you want as your QB for the rest of the season? I’m still going Rodgers. Sooner or later, all these so-called analysts will remember that the story of Favre is one of yin and yang, dark and light, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde—-the game will come when he throws three or four picks and costs them the win. Hell, even multiple wins.

-KP

79,151

That's my Waiting List Priority number for Green Bay Packers season tickets.

I should have them by the time I'm dead.

#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