A Disturbing Sign of the Times

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Feb. 27) - State Farm, the nation's largest auto and residential insurer, is changing its car insurance policies to clearly exclude claims stemming from nuclear explosions or radioactive fallout.
The Bloomington-based insurer is mailing notices to 40 million auto policyholders that says nuclear blasts or radioactive damage are not normal road hazards, whether the incidents are accidental or intentional.
State Farm spokesman Joe Johnson said the company reviewed policies in the wake of heightened awareness over terrorism and realized there was no specific language regarding nuclear-related claims.
State Farm paid out $20.3 million in auto, fire and life insurance claims stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Johnson said. The company's biggest previous payout was $3.7 billion for Hurricane Andrew.

So try to steer clear of plutonium, okay, kids?

A Brief Note

As I mentioned yesterday, I have a nineteen-hour day on my plate tomorrow. Thus, I'll be ignoring my blogly duties. Sorry, kids. You'll have to find something else to entertain yourself.

And for starters, does anybody else remember this guy? Scary, scary, scary. Men in leotards generally creep me out.

A Test of Iron Will

Nerves of Steel and Iron Will. That's what I'm going to need to get through the next couple of days. The Alabama High School Basketball Championships are going on, and that means two day-long trips to Birmingham, Alabama (The South's City of Steel). It's a three-hour one-way trip, and I have to ride with a Photographer/Satellite Truck Operator. Thursday should be ok, I only have to shoot one game, do a live report and an interview for the 6:00 news, and then come home. Should be about a 12-hour day, but a tolerable 12 hours.

Friday is another story. I have to be there for a 1pm game, then a 5pm game, then a 9pm game. I'll have to leave at 9 am, then get back in town at about 3 am. Oh, happy day. Thank God I'm not one of those people that gets sick when they read in the car. I plan on bringing the entire East Wing of the public library with me.

Sin City

Columbus is in for a heapin' helpin' o' trouble. Here's the situation: I've probably mentioned this before, but Columbus is home to Fort Benning, one of the largest military installations in the entire country. Well, as you might think, the city has a very strong military presence. Most of the people who live here have some sort of connection to the US Army.

Of course, a lot of troops have been dispatched overseas in the last year. Between Afghanisgan, Kuwait, and other military operations, it seems like soldiers are leaving every week. There's also a lot of National Guardsmen (Guardspeople?) in the city, and that's where the problem begins.

It turns out, a lot of the city/county police are also National Guardsmen. When they get shipped out, the police loses officers. That's a problem in and of itself... but it gets better. See, the police department can't hire replacements for all those officers, because they have to guarantee the positions will be open when the National Guardsmen return to Columbus from being on active duty. Basically, we're just going to be short a good chunk of our police department. Nice, huh?

If You Want Something Done Right...

...ya gotta do it yourself. Am I right, peeps?
After two Christmases of hinting that I wanted a suede jacket, I finally broke down and bought my own. It was on clearance for $80, and I had a $50 mall gift certificate (A Christmas present from work), so I really only spent $30 on it. Not too bad, right?

Of course, it's like 70 degrees here, so I'm going to have to wait until next fall before I ever have a chance to wear the damn thing.

Oh Captain, My Captain!

Steve Yzerman Returns!

It was so nice to see #19 back out on the ice. I had the good fortune of getting to watch most of Red Wings game tonight. We have Dish Network in the Sports Office, so I watched Fox Sports Detroit all night long. Of course, I paid for it later, and had to stay two extra hours at work catching up on all the stuff I should have been doing instead of watching hockey.

Very tired. sleepy girl go bed now.

Diary of an Artist

Remember when you were a little kid, and you drew a picture, and your parents would put it up on the refrigerator? When I was a little kid, I took that to the extreme. I was always drawing, coloring, or painting something. I get my artistic skills from my mother, who I still think could make a modest living as an artist if she really wanted to. Anyway, my pictures were everywhere in our apartment. Not just on the fridge... they were scotch-taped to the front and back side of every door in the place.

I even remember one crayon picture of my dad that ended up in a cheap frame. I couldn't find a brown crayon for his hair and beard, so I used blue instead. The collar on his shirt is freakishly large in the drawing (of course, this was probably in 1975, so his collar really was that big!).

Anyway, I'm really glad that this guy didn't ever get his hands on my drawings... take a look:
I am better than your kids
More crappy children's art work

If you haven't seen these webpages before, you really need to visit them. The first time I saw them was during a really rough week at work. I laughed so hard that tears were streaming down my face, and I think my boss considered having me committed.

It's Official...

I'm white trash! I just noticed today that I still haven't taken the Christmas Wreath off of the front door! Holy Crap, it's February 23rd!
By the way, I'm eating leftover Halloween candy as I write this.

Finally!!!

I'm sure you can imagine the thrill I get this time of year, as a Sports Illustrated subscriber. Like clockwork, the SI Swimsuit Issue arrived at my doorstep today.

Now, being one of SI's few subscribers without a penis, the arrival of the annual Valentine's Day really doesn't mean much to me (Ok, I admit, the 3-D issue a few years ago was kind of cool). Usually, I give it a cursory glance, then give it to my ex-boyfriend Rich, who'll get far more enjoyment out of it than I will.

This time, though, there's a little something for me. No, not swimsuit pictures of Rams' Defensive End Grant Wistrom (I wish!) or Future Hockey Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr (with or without the mullet).

But the swimsuit issue does feature a new short story by Carl Hiassen, one of my favorite writers. Hoooray!!!

There's a Fine Line...

Between Porn Star and Evil Dictator (hee hee, I said "Dic")

Oscar Buzz

Cory and I had Movie Night tonight. "The Pianist" is playing at the Columbus Film Society this week. I know I've talked about the Film Society before, but I thought I'd add a little more. Twice a year, they have an Independent and Foreign Film Festival. They bring a film to town for one week, and air it in the "screening room" at the movie theater by the mall.

I love the screening room. It's a smaller theater, with only about 60 seats in it. The seats are wide and cushy, there's plenty of legroom, and there's a little writing table next between every seat. It's kind of like flying in first class... the screening room even has it's own separate bathroom, so you kind of forget you're in a multiplex.

We had our own private screening of "the Pianist" tonight, as the only two people there. The movie was great, of course. Somehow, despite the fact that it's a movie about World War II and the holocaust, Roman Polanski somehow manages to make it very hopeful. Perhaps that's because he escaped a prison camp himself as a child. But then again, maybe not.

Other than "LOTR: The Two Towers", "The Pianist" is the only other Best Picture nominee I've seen. I'd like to actually see all five of them this year. By the way,the Oscars are 31 days away.

A Rare Political Post

When I started this blog, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't waste everyone's time with my political opinions. I don't follow politics as rabidly as some of my friends do, and I hate to be one of those people that rant and rave about things without actually knowing very much about the issues. But ever since hearing a sound bite on the news last night, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Dubya said something after this weekend's worldwide war protests, and it really hacked me off.

I've cut some basic info out of a Newsday article to set up the quote:

Facing growing international resistance to a war in Iraq, President George W. Bush Tuesday shrugged off massive worldwide demonstrations against his policies, saying the millions who marched on Saturday failed to understand the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
Bush told reporters at the White House that formulating policy based on "size of protests is like deciding, ‘Well, I'm going to decide policy based upon a focus group.' The role of a leader is to decide policy based upon the security ... of the people.”

Excuse Me? Didn't Dubya get into office by listening to focus groups, then telling people what he knew they wanted to hear? Don't politicians formulate entire political platforms based on feedback from focus groups? Suddenly, focus groups aren't good enough for him?

But that's not my only problem with this statement. As an elected official, he is a representative of the people... not just the people who voted for him. He works for us. Now, I'm not expecting him to completely change his stance based on a few million protesters. I do, however, expect him to at least pretend to give a shit about the protesters' concerns. Placate us, for God's sake. The closest he came was:

"...Democracy's a beautiful thing, and people are allowed to express their opinion, and I welcome people's right to say what they believe. Evidently, some in the world don't view Saddam Hussein as a risk to peace. I respectfully disagree."

The fact that he was so quick to brush off the protester's concerns leads me to my final concern. I wish you could have heard the entire quote, with the actual vocal inflection that he used to understand this. It honestly sounded to me like the protests made him more determined to bomb Iraq... like some kind of teenager who's so desparate to gain approval that he'll say or do anything just to piss off his parents. It sounded like, "you don't think I'm smart enough to do the right thing, and I'm going to prove to you that I am."

Ok, enough of my political rant. I promise to keep the rants to one per month or fewer.

Tonight's Fortune Cookie Message:

Admire those who succeed, and learn from their success.

This may have something to do with one of my co-workers, who just got a job in Charlotte, North Carolina. That's one of the top 30 media markets in the entire nation. By comparison, NYC is #1, Atlanta is #9, Detroit is #10, St. Louis is #22, Charlotte is #28, Columbus (GA) is #126, and Kirksville/Ottumwa is #198.
Jumping from Columbus to Charlotte isn't entirely unheard of... but it's pretty much the equivelant of jumping from Waco, Texas straight to the NBC Nightly News.
Good for her. But I'm still in Columbus. Bad for me.

The Wedding Planner

Once upon a time, I worked at an evil department store, coordinating bridal registries and ordering wedding invitations, among other things. Since I have two close friends who are planning a wedding as we speak, I want to share some valuable resources with them:

The Evil Wedding Planner

Hope it helps, kids!

On The Road With the Sportlady

Oh, happy day. I get to drive all the way to Troy, Alabama to shoot basketball not once, but twice this week.

At least this time, I planned ahead. I made sure to grab the newest news van (the one with the cassette player).

This Blog's Alert Level Has Been Raised

Thank you, John Ashcroft, for bravely leading us through these difficult times.

For those of you who don't follow politics, Ashcroft ran for Senate when I lived in Missouri. His Democratic opponent, former Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, died shortly before the election. Ashcroft still lost to the dead guy. There's your history lesson for the day.

My Dad Reads This Blog (so watch your mouth!)

Who knew I had such a broad audience base? He sent me this email today, in reference to 100 Things About Me.
A couple memories I have:
Carting you around to Kings Island, Great America, and others, and riding on roller coasters with you. Not because I wanted to ride them, but because you wanted to.
Looking frantically around a store for a very small (3-4 year old) daughter, until I heard the voice "Steevie, Jan, Where are you guys?"
Watching you cringe when you were very small and your uncle waved a lobster in your face. I don't remember him waving chocolate and pineapple at you, but maybe he did.
Love,
Steve
I hope he doesn't mind me posting his note.
Oh, and yes, I've always called my parents Jan and Steve. And no, I'm not adopted. Yes, I know it's weird. Enough with the questions!

I Am Peter Pan

Just when I was starting to think that Michael Jackson was the most disturbing person on the planet, I stumble across this little web gem: Adult Baby Clothing. Sure, I don't want to grow up either, but this is a bit much.

A Voyage in Self-Discovery

Wow. I'm a whiny bitch.

Please, please, please don't tell me that you actually read my post from last night (below). That is a loooooonnng post. It's so long that if you slapped a leather cover on it, I'd think it was my master's thesis. Seriously.

Train Keep A-Rollin'

Two words to describe my 11pm sportscast tonight. Train Wreck. I don't mind it when the shite hits the fan, if it's my fault (which it usually is). Tonight, however, was very frustrating. It started horribly enough... I had too much to do in too little time, and didn't get started editing my Auburn/Alabama basketball highlights until 11:05 (I hit the air at about 11:20, and still had several other things to write). So, I get the highlights edited, but forgot to write a sports tease for the news anchor, so she had to ad-lib it. As much as I hate it when I screw up my own show, it's much worse when I screw up someone else's, so I already felt pretty bad and I hadn't even gone on air yet!

So I make it out onto the set in plenty of time, look down at my scripts, and realize I don't have my notes for the highlights I just edited (my fault), so I have to fake it and ad-lib the whole thing. Fortunately, since I had *just* edited the highlights, I remembered everyone's names. I even remembered how many points everybody had scored, so that was a serious bonus. I'm feeling pretty good about myself at this point. I cruise through a couple of scoreboards (when we slap the score up on the screen but don't show highlights) and mis-speak... I said "Kennedy" instead of "Kentucky," but just brushed it off and made some kind of lame joke about not beaing able to talk. Then I do the Georgia/Vanderbilt highlights. No sweat.

Ooops! A mistake on my next script, some more scoreboards. I said "a few more scores from the ACC," when in actuality, I hadn't yet done any ACC games. Makes me sound kind of dumb, but I correct myself and move on. Morale getting lower.

Then I transition to my next highlights, "More in the ACC," expecting to see video from the Georgia Tech/Florida State game. Instead, an entirely different game pops up. I say something seriously lame, like "Uhhhh... that's not Georgia Tech." Then when the correct video doesn't magically materialize on the screen, I add "Maybe we should just go on to the next story."

Now, that's really all I can do when that happens. Had I been on the ball, I would have said something like.... "By the way, Georgia Tech lost to FSU, they've now lost 6 road games in the conference." But I was a little flustered at this point by the fact that I now had to talk about God-knows-what and the teleprompter is still showing Georgia Tech stuff, and I can't find the right script in my enormous stack of paper in front of me. I manage to fake it as I dig through the 20-or-so pages until I find the script for the Columbus State men's basketball game. Meanwhile, our teleprompter operator is having a seizure trying to find the right story. I read straight off the script, never looking once at the camera because the prompter is all f'ed up, and then they go to the video. Thankfully, it's the right video. Unfortunately, I didn't shoot the game, so I'm not even sure what I'm looking at, and I was waaaay behind the highlights as I was talking about them. You know... a guy would get a basket... then five seconds later I'm talking about the guy getting the basket. Suck.

So, at this point, they're supposed to wipe to the next game, the Columbus State women's basketball game. They don't. Instead, there I am on the TV. I have nothing to say... so I say, "Do we have those highlights?" (By the way, I knew we had the highlights, since they were the ones that were erroneously aired about a minute earlier!) Suddenly, there's the video! Yahoo! The teleprompter is caught up, we have the right video, I know what the hell I'm talking about, and all is right with the world.

The last 2:00 or so of the sportscast went (relatively) smoothly. But by that point, I was thoroughly deflated.

Ok, I know. I sound like a whiny brat. By comparison, this really wasn't a bad day at work. I'm sure you've had worse. In fact, I've had many, many, many worse days. The only problem is that when I have a shitty day, there's a whole butt-load of people watching it happen. And laughing, I'm sure. Sorry I had to make you listen to all of that. I needed to vent, though. Thanks.

My Brush With (sort of) Greatness

Well, this isn't exactly six degrees of separation... (though I am six degrees to Kevin Bacon... sometime I'll explain). When I was a senior in high school, several of us went on a field trip to the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. I'm pretty sure that my friend Anne went with us, though its been over 15 years, so I'm not 100% sure.

We saw one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays, Cymbeline. It was really good, except my the thing that I remember the most is that the theater was filled with other students from other schools on field trips, and some asswipes were chucking loose change onto the stage during the primary actor's monologue. He actually broke character and told them to cut it out or he'd end the play right then and there.

Anyway, today I was cleaning up around the apartment, and I had E! on the television. They were doing a behind the scenes show about "Will and Grace." Eric McCormack (Will) was talking about growing up in Toronto, and about his first "real" acting job, working five years at the Stratford Festival in the late 1980's. "Holy Shnikies," I thought to myself, "I wonder if he was in that play?"

You better believe I still have the playbill from that show (and every other play I've ever seen or been in). Sure enough, Eric McCormack was in Cymbeline. He played "First Lord to Cloten," and also "2nd Gaoler." He's also listed under "Lords, Ladies, Grooms, Maids, Footmen, Nurses and Soldiers."

Bitter?

It's not too late to send someone not-so-special one of these.

Happy Valentine's Day!




For some reason, I just can't enjoy Valentine's Day, even though this is my seventh straight V-day with someone to spend it with. I guess I still think deep down inside, I'm that geeky, skinny, homely girl from junior high school.

At our school, every time there was a holiday, student council would sell carnations for a dollar. Then, during one of the earlier class periods, they'd deliver the carnations to our classrooms. One V-day, I got a carnation purely by accident. It was supposed to be delivered to this girl named "Kristen Olsen" who was a grade below me. Well, I sure as hell wasn't going to tell them that they gave a flower to the wrong person... It was the only carnation I ever got!!!

Cory brought me a rose last night when he got home from work Thursday night. What a sweetie. He said he'd been hiding it in his office for a day, a risky move, since we work at the same place. He has to work today, so I'm stuck sitting at home all alone until he comes home on his dinner break (I'm making his favorite tonight, baby back ribs). I guess we'll exchange gifts then.

My Blog-ligation

I'm working on the obligatory "100 Things About Me" that's apparently a requisite for all bloggers. Personally, I think it's an invitation for internet stalkers to learn way too much about me, hunt me down and kill me. But who am I to defy blogging tradition?

By the way, "100 Things About Me" is currently less than a dozen things about me. Deal with it.

Getting a Little Hairy

I'm sure we all remember my eyebrow ordeal from a couple of weeks back (but if you need a refresher, it was on January 30th). Well, I've decided I need to start looking at things more positivley. You know, see the silver lining, and whatnot. So I guess things could be worse. I could have just one eyebrow. Even worse, I could be featured on a website celebrating the unibrow.

T.G.I.M.F.

No, the "M.F." doesn't stand for anything obscene. It's my Friday! Yippiee! I even got off work a little early today, since I only report on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so I was home by 10:45 for the second night in a row.

To celebrate, I headed straight to the kitchen to make a pitcher of Mudslides for Cory and me (Coincidentally, using T.G.I.Friday's blender mix!). I poured all the stuff in the blender, opened up the freezer, and... No Ice! A bag of frozen vegetables had slid into the ice tray, and confused the automatic ice maker into thinking that it was full of ice. Damn modern technology.

So if I want a chocolatey treat, the closest I'm gonna get is the dozen cans of Slim-Fast that Cory bought a year ago. Hmmmmm... wonder what would happen if I added rum?

Call Me MeaLaa

Ok, it's no secret that I've spent much of my life being displeased with my name. First of all, nobody can pronounce it (There are people I worked with for 5+ years who never figured it out). Second, nobody can spell it. Third, a mean kid in the 2nd grade used to call me "Keister" (as in, "I'm gonna kick you in the keister!")

Now, a lot of people in TV go by "stage names," including many of my co-workers. However, I'm not one of those people. If I were to take that route, though, here's some new names I discovered on the web tonight.

"MeaLaa" Hawaiian
"Patty Peters" Porn Star Name (Oddly, I work with a Patty Pan)
"Esmerelda Panwich of Buckleberry Fern " Hobbit Name
"Shebelle" The Louis Farrakhan African Name
"Gordie McOlsendyk" Hockey Name (Cory was Sergei O'Donnellov)
"OLEKI ANROC of the planet Claritin!" Jedi Name
"Twenty Eyes" Sopranos Mob Name
"Dirty Morgan Rackham" Pirate Name
"Velour Mane" Rock Star (Alternative) Name
"Reverend G. Fulton Stone, Jr." Evangelist Name
"Amazing Mastermind" Wu-Name
"Lickifu" Pokename
"The Afternoon ThunderFox" Superhero Name

Of course, my favorite is the old-fashioned test for a porn-star name: Your middle name and the first street you lived on. I'm Britt Bedford. My mom (Jan) is Elaine Main, and Cory's is Michael Shannon.

Who's got the best name out there?

Good Things Come in Threes

Ok, so I told you all that my little pal Sandy-bean called me out of the blue last week. That was pretty cool, especially since she had good news. Then a couple of days later, my high-school friend Melissa magically appeared on the blog. I hadn't heard from her since 1988! (Thanks to Anne for giving her the URL). Well, much like famous people croaking in threes, good things come in threes, too. Yesterday, my friend Jason emailed me out of the blue, then called me later in the day. I hadn't heard from Jay in about two years! Of course, he called me at work at 6:19, which is the worst possible time to call me (I had to be out on the news set in one minute!), but we'll forgive him.

I would tell you my funniest Jason story... but there's so many of them, and so few of them are PG-13 enough to post here.

Dog Show!

The Westminster Dog Show was on TV tonight. I love the Westminster show for a variety of reasons, but tonight it created a conflict of interest for me. See, USA was airing Westminster at the same time the Red Wings were playing the San Jose Sharks. Brett Hull finally scored his 700th career goal (if you're not a hockey fan, let me just say that the 700 club is a pretty big deal. Only five other NHL players have gotten 700 goals in the 86-year history of the league.)

As it turns out, there was no conflict of interest at all. I had to drive to Auburn, Alabama to shoot a high school basketball game, so I missed the dog show and my Wings. Crud.

By the way, my favorite thing about the Westminster show isn't actually the show itself, it's the inevitable appearance of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Late Night With Conan O'Brien later in the week. If you've never seen Triumph do his Dog Show Shtick, it's the very definition of "must-see tv."

Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam

Gotta love hotmail. Today's spam in my mailbox:

INTERNATIONAL P-O-R-N LOTTERY WINNER! YOU HAV... (from Valerie, whoever she might be)

Now... does that mean I've won international porn? or is p-o-r-n an acronym for some kind of sweepstakes organization? I didn't open the email, so I guess that the mystery will remain unsolved.

Single? Broke???

Do I have the solution for you!

"I earned $9,450 by marrying someone for money and now I have my own house."
-Carol, Winnipeg, Canada

Ok, here are my questions (and this, in no way, is an exhaustive list):
A) How do you come up with an arbitrary amount like $9,450... or is that her total after the Canadian Exchange Rate?
2) What the hell kind of house can you buy for $9,450? Oh, I know... the kind of house you'd live in if you were the type of person to take part in a marry-for-citizenship scam.

The best part? It's only $24.95 U.S. for a one-year membership.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

I've seen this documentary before, but it was on again tonight. I mean, come on... Brad Pitt and fuzzy, cuddly baby bears? You can't top that!

The Missing Link

Last week, Cory asked me why I don't have a link to his blog on mine. I told him that he doesn't post very often, and that if he posted more, I'd make a link. Well, he really hasn't been posting that much more often, but we've been arguing a lot today, so I thought as a peace offering, I'd put the link on here tonight.

It's in a new section on the side called "other groovy blogs." Kids, if you'd like your blog included as a "groovy blog," let me know, and I'll put it up there with Cory's.

Culture Shock

Let me start by saying that the cultural scene here in Columbus is, well, lacking. The good thing is that there's a small contingent of people here that are ashamed as it's lack of culture. The Columbus Museum (which is pretty nice, from what I hear) sponsors a Foreign and Independent film festival twice a year. The movies come to town way too late, but I'd rather see them in the cozy confines of the screening room than on a tiny TV in my living room.

Some of the films we've seen at the film festival are "Mulholland Drive" (David Lynch), "The Good Girl" (starring John C. Reilley and Jennifer Aniston) "Full Frontal" (Steven Soderbergh) and "The Man Who Wasn't There" (the Cohen Brothers).

Tonight, we went to see "Bowling for Columbine." First, I need to preface this by saying that I think Michael Moore is brilliant. He sees things in a way that few people do, and somehow manages to transfer those ideas to film perfectly. A lot of people don't like him, because they don't agree with his views, or because they think his films are propaganda. They're confusing the role of a filmmaker with that of a journalist. Do I think he's a journalist, and should be unbiased? Hell, no. That's the point. Aristotle would love this guy. He makes his argument through his film, using ethos, pathos and logos.

Of course, why would I expect any less? After all, Moore is the mastermind behind "Canadian Bacon."

I Could Do Worse

I was feeling pretty lame for skipping out on my exercise today, but not after I saw one of our neighbors outside. For the second time in a week, I saw her walking briskly down the street, wearing exercise clothes, and smoking a cigarette! You'd think the two activities would cancel each other out.

Of course, she may be onto something. I mean, is it really that different from, say, eating an entire meat-lovers pizza and drinking a Diet Pepsi with it?

The Best-Laid Plans...

Cory and I moved to a new apartment back in late September (so I'm not sure I can really call it "new" any more). It's a nice duplex, and it's actually in a neighborhood, which is nice. Our last place was a tiny one-bedroom in kind of a dumpy complex, out in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, we swore that once we moved to the new place, we would go for walks all the time. ha!

Those of you who don't know me very well need to know that I'm a pretty sedentary person. Aside from running my ass off at work, I don't do much else. No health club membership, no co-ed softball league. I've been lucky enough to stay relativley slim my whole life, but I have no muscle tone, so even when I get a little porky, I'm tall, so I can kind of pull it off. But there are little things that always tell you that you need to lose weight or exercise more... you know... when you can't bend over to pick something off the floor, or you have to unbutton your pants halfway through the day because they're too tight. For me, it happened Monday night, when I was brushing my teeth and I could feel my belly jiggling with every scrub.

So finally, almost five months after moving, I decided it was time to start the new "exercise regimen." I picked Thursday morning to start, since I knew I'd have to work early on Wednesday, and I didn't want to start on Tuesday, then skip a day. That would set a bad precedent, right?

Cory and I set the alarm clock for an hour early, and I got a good night's sleep. I got up, all ready to put on my running shorts, looked out the window, and it was raining. So we went back to bed.

Not the best start.

Neglected

Sorry, kids. I've been a real knob when it comes to the ol' blog lately. Usually, I get on the computer as soon as I get home from work, do my blog stuff, do a little surfing, play a little solitaire, then go to bed. I just haven't been inspired enough to get on the computer when I get home lately. Last night, I got home from work around 11pm, then had to be up at about 7:00 this morning to cover all the football crap today. My plan was to take a shower, go to bed by midnight, and get at least seven hours of sleep. In actuality, I got to bed by midnight, lay awake staring at the ceiling for about two hours, watched some tv, then went back to bed and finally fell asleep around 4:30 am.

Needless to say, I'm a little bit sleepy right now. Perhaps a brief nap is in order. I'll try to write more a little later tonight.

Out of the Blue

I used to love the "out of the blue" phone call... you know, when you haven't heard from someone in months, or even years, and suddenly they call you. Usually, it means they have great news, or maybe they're going to be in your area and want to meet you for lunch. Fun stuff, right?

Lately, though, the out of the blue calls are getting depressing. All of my friends have great news, I got nothin'. Tonight, my pal Sandy called me at work, to tell me she got an engagement ring! I'm so happy for my little Sandy-bean, but I can't help feeling sorry for myself. Off to drink myself into a stupor. More later.

All-Star Sunday

I'm generally pretty disinterested in All-Star games, but I'm pretty glad I tuned in to the NHL All-Star game today. Atlanta's Dany Heatley pretty much proved himself to be the future of the NHL. I've always thought the kid was pretty amazing, but four goals in his first all-star game? Come on!

By the way, I know I have a small contingent of Red Wings fans reading this... make sure on Sunday Night to tune in to "The Season" on ESPN. They're following the Wings all season, and producing a weekly hour-long documentary which debuts on February 9th (9pm ET). If you've never seen previous installments of "The Season," it's a very well-produced show. I'm counting the days.

Lookit Me! I'm a Role Model!

Wednesday is "National Women and Girls in Sports Day," and apparently, the "Sports Lady" is in pretty high demand these days. I've received three offers to be a guest speaker/emcee at schools on Wednesday. Pretty Cool, huh?

Here's the poopy part: Wednesday is also National Signing Day (otherwise known as the busiest day of the year at the WTVM Sports Department). Last year, we had something like 20 kids from our viewing area sign with Division I football programs (mostly Auburn, Georgia, and Alabama), and you better believe we hunted down damn near every one of them for an interview and a photo op. So I had to kindly say no to all the offers. It sucks, too, because I've got some pretty good stuff to say. Perhaps I'll share those thoughts with you on Wednesday.

A Disturbing Sign of the Times

(Nacogdoches, Texas-AP) -- A NASA spokesman says it's "an evil world" -- one in which people are apparently trying to sell bits of the space shuttle Columbia.
He was reacting to news that people listed pieces of the shuttle wreckage on the Internet auction site eBay in the hours after yesterday's disaster. The site quickly removed the listings.
NASA's Bruce Buckingham says the debris is "government property" that people should not be collecting.
NASA hasn't verified the authenticity of the items on eBay, but Buckingham says "even someone pretending to sell something that came from Columbia is still bad."
The sheriff of Nacogdoches, Texas -- where much of the wreckage landed -- says there have been some cases of apparent looting.
He says there have been no arrests, but the F-B-I is investigating.

Wow. And I thought I was a bad person. I felt guilty because I was happy our 6pm sportscast was cancelled after the tragedy.