Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Bad news for inflatable Tony fans

That's fans of inflatable Tonys, not Tony fans who are inflatable. My local Albertson's (now at Up to 90% Off All Merchandise, and what a cheery place it is, too) is all out of the 10-foot inflatable Tony Romos. I asked, and they said some guy came in and bought all the Tony Romo and Jason Witten merchandise, including all the extra large air-filled Tonys.

Well, what are we supposed to do now?

Monday, February 7, 2011

After the Ball Is Over, so to speak

Post Superbowl note: Rich spent most of his time at Cowboy Stadium, and almost all of the actual game, stationed on the Green Bay sideline, at the Green Bay 10 yard line. He did spend a little time in one of the tunnels, where he was almost run over by Jerry Jones. (Jones, not surprisingly under those circumstances, was taking large strides and assuming everyone and everything would simply get out of his way.) Usher passed by him on the sideline, texting while he walked to and from the stage (fortunately, he's got all his People to keep him from running into things…or to get the things out of his way — see Jerry Jones, above). Guy Fieri brushed up against him in a tunnel, which Rich didn't notice, but the fellow standing next to him was a Guy fan and did sort of a manly swoon. Michael Douglas was on the field a few feet away, and Jesse Jackson shook Rich's hand (not for any particular reason except that Jackson was working the crowd and Rich happened to be standing there). And he saw Michael Strahan from a distance (Strahan was in some VIP area).

I really, really wish Rich could have met Strahan. Not because he's particularly in awe of a football player (we're hockey fans, after all), but because at every Dallas Stars game they play the Michael Strahan/Donovan McNabb Dr. Pepper commercial on the JumboTron, and Rich laughs at it every single time. It's just one of those things that happens to tickle him, no matter how many times he's seen it. It would have been cool if they could have met, though I'm not sure how he would have explained why it was such a pleasure to meet Strahan without a rather unwieldy explanation.

He said, too, that the Black Eyed Peas' (who also trooped by him going on and off the stage) performance was very impressive, mostly because of the LEDs on the costumes (which tells you right there that Rich is, at heart, a technogeek).

One other, non-Superbowl note: Our local Albertson's is closing. Besides being very sad about it (I am), I'm joining in the feeding frenzy: they have everything on sale. This includes the contents of their in-store Dallas Cowboys shop. There are some items there that have to have been unearthed from a dark corner of some warehouse somewhere. They include back—way back—issues of the official Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine (they had plenty of copies of March '09 available today).

And they have these:


Yes, that's a ten-foot-tall inflatable Tony Romo. The price when I took the photo a few weeks ago was $39.99. It's now reduced to $29.99. First of all, can anyone tell me why they have this to sell? I mean, seriously, who bought them? For what purpose? What would you do with it? Secondly, and—really—this is the point: If you want to add to your collection of Very Large Inflatables of Sports Figures Who Never Should Have Gotten Involved With Jessica Simpson, you better act fast. At this price, they're not going to be around…oh, never mind!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

It's Superbowl Sunday, and other facts

  • It's 4pm on Superbowl Sunday and I've already had too much beer and nachos. Why, no, I'm not at Cowboy Stadium. I'm at home by myself. Why?
  • Rich is at the Superbowl, working on the Game Day Frequency Coordination team. They're wearing all black (NFL-supplied shirts and jackets, their own pants) and red baseball caps with a big "GDC" on them. Rich showed me his Superbowl credentials, a badge on a chain that he has to wear around his neck. It has a star on it, and allows the GDC folks to go anywhere and everywhere. I kind of shivered a little. And I'm jealous, though I don't care which team wins (if the Cowboys aren't there, then…what. ever). But it's such a special event, with an atmosphere of excitement and celebration. Maybe he'll tell me about it, after his long workday is done. He had to be there at 7am, but left really, really early in case the roads were still icy.
  • I'm recording the pre-game show because I actually think I might get a glimpse of him or one of our friends. Sometimes I'm just adorable.
  • The dogs are finally back inside after spending most of this nice (relatively) warm, sunny day outside. FYI, letting your dogs spend hours and hours out in the fresh air and sunshine, vigilantly keeping watch for marauding squirrels, has about the same effect as knocking their little heads together. Except with more snoring.
  • We have too much stuff. Specifically, I have too much stuff, a lot of it stored in the wreck of a closet in our guest bedroom. I've spent some time today working on cleaning it out and getting it organized. I'm not that good at organizing overstuffed closets. I tend to spend way too much time wringing my hands, trying to decide what to do.
  • We have eight, count 'em, eight "spare" pillows in that closet. I don't know what I was thinking we should be prepared for. This is a good example of the kind of stuff I'm finding.
  • Since I'm having trouble coming up with a closet plan, I believe I'll just go back to beer and nachos. That was working pretty well.
Happy Superbowl, everybody!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Icepocalypse or Snowmageddon

Yes, we had rain. It converged with a major cold front, starting temperatures falling, so the rain turned to sleet, then eventually to snow. Highs are in the 20s, overnight lows in the single digits, with wind chills below zero. For two days now; one—maybe two—more to go. The DFW Metroplex is actually equipped to handle some snowfall and ice. But not with temps this low, and not for this long. It's been…interesting.

Rich realized on Monday morning that he needed to be in San Antonio this week, so he left at lunchtime. He's out of the cold, but not the rolling blackouts. (Heh.) I'm having a rollicking good time making sure the birds and feral cats (felis in Dei diligentiam) have food and [liquid] water. I watch the dogs while they're out in the back yard, since there's snow & ice on the pool deck, and Andy has taken to getting too close to the edge for my comfort. The water in the pool has that thick look to it, the way it does when it's really, really cold. I watch the dogs so that if Andy falls in (it won't be J, she keeps well away from the edge), I'll have the chance to jump in the freezing cold water and rescue him, assuming we both survive.











Andy in the snow. (It's the same photo I put on Facebook. I rather like it.) There's snow on his muzzle because he was snuffling in the snow, finding things and eating them. I don't think it was, um, anything the feral cats left there, because they don't come into the pool yard any more. I think it was acorns. Yeah. We'll go with acorns. In any case, he was having lots of fun, tearing around madly, until I insisted he stop so I could take his picture. He continued having fun immediately after this.




I've reorganized a closet. I've been knitting, focusing exclusively on one project I'd really like to get finished. As a result, I'm now toying with the idea of just throwing it away instead. (Short knitting attention span. I had to switch to something else a few hours ago.) I've spent a completely inordinate amount of time on Facebook and Twitter. And I've re-watched all of Doctor Who seasons 1 & 2, and have started on 3.

I have not:
  • Started my car
  • Put on makeup
  • Cooked (unless you count that grilled cheese last night)
  • Worn real clothes
  • Emptied the trash
since Monday. The trash thing is starting to become an issue.

One more day.