In which I ramble on for a while

Gr, dudes.

It's been a while since I posted anything of note. I was sort of inspired tonight while channeling around on the TV. The high school football game of the week on CSS featured North Gwinnett vs. Newnan in the AAAAA quarterfinals. I stopped and watched for a few minutes. I have Newnan (not necessarily the school, but the town) associated in my mind with The Rake, who tends to comment frequently on our family blogs, and seeing Newnan on TV reminded me I hadn't checked his blog in a while, which further reminded me that I hadn't written in my own blog in a while either, so here I am. No idea how the game turned out. North was winning, last I checked. My wife is watching her stuff now, though, so I'll have to wait for Operation Football to find out the final.

What's up with Evel Knievel dying? He made it through all those insane stunts back in the day, hardly seems right for him to just pass away from an illness. I always figured he'd go in some spectacular fiery schmeer of some kind. One of his old friends was quoted as saying, "It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?" That's exactly what I mean. At least he settled his stuff with Kanye before he went. Which reminds me, I saw a clip of Kanye on the Grammys a couple of years ago, when he won some award. He said, "A lot of people were wondering what I was going to do if I didn't win anything." He paused, held up the trophy, and said, "I guess we'll never know." I figure it's sort of like this season for the Falcons. We'll never know. Except they haven't actually really won much of anything yet, have they? So it's really not like the Falcons at all. My bad.

Then there's the whole Sean Taylor situation. Last I heard, they they had arrested four people, all under the age of 20, in the murder. They say they thought the house was empty. Apparently they knew who lived there, and they just wanted to rob it, figuring a wealthy NFL star just had to have something worth taking. Lord, help me if I ever become famous. I don't want it. I wouldn't mind winning $200,000 on Don't Forget The Lyrics (hosted by my cousin Wayne Brady) like that crazed odd-dancing woman did tonight, but I have no desire for fame and fortune. Case in point: Britney Jean Spears. I sort of feel like if she had never become famous, she'd just be living in her little Louisiana town, raising a family, maybe waitressing at a truck stop somewhere, singing songs off the jukebox for tips. Instead, her every move is hyper-analyzed, her every decision--for good or ill--is under a microscope. Girl, please. Put your pants back on.

Oh, man! We've just this week discovered that ESPN Classic shows old American Gladiators reruns every night at 7:00. We've watched the last couple of nights. What cheesy fun. Remember that show? Huge spandexed men and women with names like Nitro, Blaze, Laser, and Gold competed against athletic mooks off the street in "beat each other up" style competitions. It's a lot of fun, and seeing Todd Christensen's epic curly mullet is like warm beef stew on a cold winter night. NBC is apparently preparing an updated version of American Gladiators that seems like it's going to fill the Sunday Night NFL time slot after the season ends. Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali will be the hosts. Whee!

Not a lot going on around the house. My wife tells you all about our plans for the weekend on her blog. If you haven't already read it, read it.

My fantasy football squad is 9-3. I lost a squeaker last week because my cousin Tom Brady only had one TD pass, and Neil Slacker missed a chip shot field goal for Arizona. I'll probably cut him tomorrow in a bitter fit of pique. Long live Ryan Longwell! He's been a kicker on my team since 1997 or so. With a name like "Longwell" you figure he's either a kicker or a porn star. Maybe he secretly lives a double life. Kicker by day, foot-fetishist by night. OK. Ew.

Anyway, this week's game is YOOGE! Sandy Springs FFC vs. 8-4 Bake-O's, with Barney Division supremacy and a first-week playoff bye on the line. Bake-O's is owned and operated by the inestimable Dan Shim. I tried to trade for one of his TE's last week, but he was conveniently "out of town for Thanksgiving" and "didn't get home" and respond to my e-mail until after the trade deadline had expired. I think he was actually at home and concocted some weird travel story because he didn't want me to have Chris Cooley because he knows that TE has been my weak spot all year. Funny, Shim. Funny like a crutch. The crutch, actually, that Cedric Benson is now using, allowing Adrian Peterson to start in Chicago and score points for me all over the place. Go AP, it's yer birthday! I just realized that Shim is 8-4, but has actually been outscored by his opponents on the season. He's only scored 235 points, and his opponents have scored 237. Meanwhile, I've scored 398 points (giving up 227) and am on pace to be the highest scoring team in UFFL history (there's 15 years of history there) if I can total 66 points in the last two games. That's right at my average. Of course, having said that, watch Dan beat me this weekend, 59-2. Go Patriots!

OK, I'm going to go. I've long since missed Operation Football so I'll need look to elsewhere to see what Newnan did (it appears that North Gwinnett won 38-35). Parkview (Class of 1988 here) is way out of the playoffs, as is Chattahoochee (where my wife works), so I have nothing more to look forward to, high school football-wise, except for Brookwood losing. Then again, they already lost, to North Gwinnett last week. HA! North Gwinnett! That's ironic, unless it isn't. Ben would know. Hell, I don't know what's going on any more. It really is time for me to get out. Peace. Support your local bloggers. My wife has a sexy butt.

In which I have nothing to say but post anyway

I have nothing to say. I could tell you about fantasy football or my job, but...enh...where's the pop and excitement in that? I don't even know why I bothered to log in.

Enh.

In which I say, "Happy Birthday, Twins!"

Today is the big day! Our twins are turning 10 years old. As one of them said yesterday, "We're hitting the big one-oh!" I thought I would take a moment before I started working today to tell them Happy Birthday, and to let them know how much I love them and how happy I am that they are part of my life.

I first met them two years ago, just a couple of weeks before they turned eight. Now they're about to be 10. How time flies and how they have changed just in the last two years. They're starting to grow into young ladies and I'm so proud of them. Jessie's our chatterbox, Jewel is our Little Gangsta. Look at them together, and you have a couple of wonderful kids.

Their mom woke them up today with a birthday song and I dropped them off at school with boxes of cupcakes for their classmates. Tonight we'll do something as a family to celebrate. Not sure yet what we're going to do, but it'll be worthy of turning 10, I can tell you that! Jewel and Jessica, I hope you guys have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I love you!

In which WRV began to recover

I went outside to walk the dog this morning. There was still a fire truck in the parking lot. They'd been there all night looking out for hot spots. I asked the driver how things looked inside the building. He said it wasn't as bad as it seemed from the parking lot. The worst damage was to the roof and a few top floor units. According to him, the middle and lower floors were actually in pretty good shape.

By the time I got home from this afternoon, a chain-link fence had been erected around the building and people had begun to go back in and were bringing items out. TV's, furniture, computers, even a pink and purple Dora pup tent had been set up next to the fence. The mood was much happier and more relaxed. One of the ladies who had spent part of yesterday trying to beat the fire and get important papers and pictures out before they burned, and who thought she had lost everything else, appeared to have salvaged quite a bit. That made my wife happy, as they had spent a lot of time yesterday talking.

There's quite a bit of work to be done to get the building back in shape. We still don't know whether a full rebuild will be needed or if they'll be able to use what's there and just redo the top third of the building. The board is confident that insurance will pay for it, and that there won't be an assessment. Our fingers are crossed. Things are a lot more optimistic around here than they were this time yesterday. That's always a good thing. Now, if only the Falcons can start winning...