Rocky!, Eagles, Sprinkler dreams
Wow only a two day weekend, how lame. As predicted it was pretty busy but enjoyable all the same. On Friday night after work I stopped at Home Depot to pick up some filters for our reverse osmosis system. The water in the big jug I take to work everyday was stinky last week so I figured the filters were ready to be changed. While I was there I meandered over to the lawn sprinkler system to check things out. It was filled with all sorts of sprinklers, drippers, valves, connectors and tools used in installing a sprinkler system. I was doing some very loose adding in my head and I figure I should be able to install a system from between 500-1000 bucks, closer to 500. I really am excited about the prospect of getting one set up but hesitant to put the shovel in the ground. It’s going to be a big job and will require a decent amount of planning to make sure it works. Planning isn’t my forte. Normally if I can’t draw the thing up and execute the plan from my brain I don’t do that well with it. Well I am pretty determined to make a go of this.
We had the neighbors dog Zoe all weekend and actually will be dogsitting her until Tuesday. As usual, she was entertaining yet very needy as always. She snuggled under the covers every night except last night for some reason.
Saturday we pulled down the decorations, mostly. I pulled down all of the outside lights while Ali worked on the inside. I commented to her how it seemed like such a shame to take down the Christmas tree, it’s still nice and greeen and still smells good. Ali offered up a novel idea, don’t take it down. Hmmm there is an idea. So although we stripped all the ornaments and lights off of it, the xmas tree is still standing in our dining room. I know the cats are quite happy we left it up, they love to lay around/under it. We will see how long it holds up, we are at about a month and counting.
Saturday night we finally got to see Rocky Balboa. We didn’t even think about the lunacy of trying to go to the movies on a saturday night during season. Wow what a mess. The line for each ticket booth was at least 25 deep. We had a thrifty night in store as we had a coupon from the entertainment book that allowed us to get two tickets for 6 bucks each instead of the normal 9.50 and we brought our Regalator cup that lets us get a large drink that normally costs four or five bucks for one clam instead. The long wait at the ticket booth meant a short wait inside the the theater waiting for the show to start. We were lucky to snag the last empty pair of seats in the top row.
Wow did I love this movie. It was what Rocky V should have been. Rocky V was a very disappointing way to end the series, it was the worst film of the bunch by far. However Rocky Balboa made up for it. It is a throwback to the original movies where it was more about the story of Rocky and where he has been and how it got him to where he was now. It was filled with great Rocky one liners along with simple truths that made you take pause. I knew how it ended so it wasn’t a big deal to me and to my surprise, it was appropriate and a perfect fit. Stallone did a good job of shaping up for the flick. He was much more physically impressive than Antonio Tarver whom they got to play the role of the current champ. Tarver was soft and doughy. That was my ONLY complaint, they should have gotten a better champion for Rocky to redeem himself against. They brought back Pauly and the black guy that was originally Apollo Creed’s trainer for this flick. Pauly had some great lines in the movie. The one line that made me laugh the most was when Rocky said something about preparing a nice italian meal for someone at the restaurant he own’s. Pauly said “Rock, there ain’t anything that special about italian food made by a bunch of mexicans…” Anyway, the movie was GREAT and it gets an A+. Rocky rules and for all the abuse Stallone has taken over the years for some of the flicks he has done, he got it right with this one, which he wrote and directed. Go see it.
Late Saturday night I got another treat when I got to witness the Cowboys go down in flames. It was a weird game with all sorts of improbable plays and calls that were examined by replay. Ali was seconds from sleep when Romo had the game winning field goal slip out of his hands. All of a sudden she springs out from bed and leans towards the tv, amazed at what happened. She was thrilled to see the Cowboys lose but felt bad for Romo, imagining how terrible he had to feel. I’m sure he felt bad but tough shit. He got way too much credit way too fast. The fact that he is in the Pro Bowl is ridiculous. Good ole TO hauled in all of two passes for twenty some yards. I love it.
Sunday morning Ali and I did a two mile run. We have not been enjoying typical beautiful Florida winter weather. Instead it has been extra warm with temps brushing up against 85 degrees and humid. To be honest, it is annoying, I am ready for some cooler weather but instead it has felt almost summerlike. Well it made for a tough run. Ali struggled through out but finished. There is a 5k this Saturday that I would like to do, we’ll see if Ali is up for it.
We had friends of ours over to watch the Patriots/Jets game and part of the Eagles game. They just had a baby boy 6 months ago. Ali typically goes over to their place on Fridays to walk with the baby and mom. Zoe was all about being right next to the baby. She thought the baby toys were dog toys so we had to keep calling her away.
I came into this Eagles playoff game with a different disposition than years past. When the Birds were in their string of NFC championship failure runs, I expected them to get there, I expected them to perform and when they didn’t it was a severe let down. This year, I wrote the season off after Donovan went down. That loss to the Colts was so amazingly bad I had zero hope for a turn around. So what has happened has been a complete surprise and a total bonus to me. So even if they would have lost to the Giants, I would have been disappointed but not crushed as I had no thoughts of them even sniffing the playoffs a month ago.
The game was a tight back and forth battle but you always had the impression that the Eagles were in control, well until they allowed the Giants to get a first down late in the game after being at 2nd and 30. When they converted that first down after Sean Consadine whiffed on what should have been a sure tackle I was screaming. The D just choked. I was worried that it was setting up for defeat. Even though I went into the game with a lax attitude, after investing emotionally in this game and knowing the Birds should win it, I was not ok with a loss at that point. Luckily the Eagles methodically drove down the field and nailed a field goal in wet muddy conditions to end the Giants season. I guess it pays off to have a sure handed kick holder huh? It was a win that showed some character. I think they have a good shot against the Saints. When they played them earlier in the year, they had that game wrapped up but collapsed right at the end. Hopefully they learned something and have a bit of a chip on their shoulder and play angry.
When I was at the grocery store I saw they had Starbucks ground coffee. Well I was almost out of my normal Dunkin Donuts grind. I knew I liked Starbucks Cafe Mocha drinks so why not try some Starbucks coffee? Well I like French Vanilla DD coffee. Starbucks had a bag just named “french” so I figured it was something similar. Well when I cracked the bad this morning and took a whiff I knew it wasn’t french vanilla. It didn’t smell good at all. Well I held out hope it would taste better than it smelled, no such luck. It tasted horrible. I choked down a cup but already made a mental note to go to DD after work to get a bag. The starbucks stuff is just horrid. After drinking it I felt like a had breath that could melt paint, gross.
I just happened to punch c-1024 into ebay over the weekend and was thrilled to see it come up as one being for sale! This little device would allow me to fully control everything with my new logitech remote. The bad news is there are four days to go on the auction and there are three bids on it already. From perusing message boards I know there are others that have been desperately seeking this discontinued product for their setup as well. I have a feeling this little device is going to go for big money. I am willing to pay handsomely for it, it is just a question of who blinks first. I have a bid sniper order set up to come in with my bid with 5 seconds to go in the auction, I am just worried that the number won’t be high enough. I will have to keep my eye on it.