Not exactly in the context of Mr. Rogers... But today turned into one of the best days.

Not only did my Indianapolis Colts pull off a great come-back this afternoon, but Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs, pitched the first no-hitter from a Cubs pitcher in over 30 years!

After trailing 15-0 at half-time, Peyton Manning came out and carried the Colts on his shoulders. Making play after play, he lead the team on a couple good series that led to a rushing TD from Joseph Addai that made it 15-7. A great play from Anthony Gonzalez (a backwards lateral to a streaking Reggie Wayne) put the Colts at the Viking's 1-yd line that setup the score from Addai. It was definitely one of those highlight reel plays that none of us Colts fans will soon forget. In the 4th quarter, Manning zipped a pass to a wide open Reggie that made the score 15-13. A successful 2-pt conversion by a diving Dominic Rhodes then tied the score at 15. A dramatic play that backed the Vikes up to their own 2-yard line closed the door and as Manning and the team milked the clock down to 20 seconds, Vinatieri came in to knock home the winning field goal with 3 seconds left in the game.

It wasn't the prettiest game, but they toughed out a defensive gem by the Vikings and a dominant game from Adrian Peterson to pull out the win. Still, we need to figure out how to stop the run. We've now allowed two running backs to tally up 100 yard+ games against us. Hopefully, we'll get some guys healthy and get them back on the field. And hopefully, Bob Sander's injury isn't anything major... He left the game with an apparent ankle or foot injury.

The Cubs? What can I say about the season they're having that hasn't been said already? They're having an incredible season and it's something I've never experienced before. They had been in a losing skid over the past couple of weeks, but over the past several games now, they're turning things back around. Hurricane Ike caused a couple of games with the Astro's to be postponed, so both teams have had several days off. Playing in a neutral site was agreed upon by MLB, so they finally met up in Milwaukee to make up for the games lost. Tonight's game was nothing short of spectacular, especially for Carlos Zambrano. After being sidelined with a minor injury in his rotator cuff for a couple of weeks, he looked healthy as ever. It was his first start in nearly two weeks...

Zambrano has had no-hitter stuff before and I can recall, at least, one instance where he had a no-hitter into the 8th inning only to have it ruined. But, I know he had, at least, went into the 7th inning one other time.

Even though I only saw action during the 9th inning (when ESPN picked up the game), "Big Z" looked very composed and focused on the mound.

So, yes, it has indeed been a beautiful day in the neighborhood... Hugs and kisses to everyone! :)

Well, if you know any better, you wouldn't even have to question the title for tonight's post.

It really was a sad day for your's truly. Like much of Indiana and Colts fans everywhere, I was shocked at the defensive display today from our team. The better team typically wins and today, unfortunately, it wasn't the Indianapolis Colts. You need a balanced team to win a football game. When only half of your team shows up and doesn't execute when it's most important, itself, it certainly doesn't help.

Yes, the Colts lost today, 28-24 to the San Diego Chargers...

I was pulling the 8:00am to 4:00pm shift today at work, so I was unable to physically watch the game. I, however, was able to listen to it on the radio and follow it through Yahoo's GameCenter.

It seemed that we didn't have an answer to the Chargers. Our defense has been physical this year. We were quick to the ball and just never gave up the big play. Today, our defense gave up numerous 3rd downs from the Chargers and twice gave up 30+ yard TD plays. A 30-yard TD reception to Chris Chambers and another 56-yard TD reception to Darren Sproles.

Add to that the mistakes we made... A lost fumble from Harrison and two interceptions from tipped passes. Uncharacteristic mistakes from a team that was in the top 5 in turnover ratio in the league.

It has been a very sad day and after the loss, I really wanted to shut myself away from the world and just pout for the rest of the day. I did, for the most part, but the one thing that could have cheered me up, was a win from the Hoosiers. They, in fact, were playing the Illini today in Bloomington. A furious rally in the second half put the Hoosiers up by as much as 6 points and they were able to hold on for the win to remain unbeaten in Big Ten play and went to 14-1 on the season.

So, I guess, in hind-site, it wasn't all that bad of a day. Just disappointing that the Colts season is over so quickly.

I just hope now that Coach Dungy returns one more year so that he can coach a team in the new stadium. I can't picture the Colts without Dungy, but I also realize what kind of person he is. He's done such a great job with Indianapolis - and us Colts fans will never forget him.

So, here's to the Colts of 2008/2009. Like Bob Sanders said in the post-game locker room interviews, "we'll learn from this and get better."

The Cubs better get into the World Series this year... Otherwise, 2008 could really be a sucky year. A National Championship for the Hoosiers, would suffice, as well, I suppose... ;)

Even though the Colts lost their last regular season game, they certainly had some outstanding defensive moments. For those of you that either missed the game or don't remember that awesome hit by defensive lineman, Darrel Reid...



I love the reaction from Dallas Clark and Coach Dungy... Ohhhh, damn! ;)

Over the past few days I've had the unfortunate luck of hearing from the NFL analysts, not to mention, the general media, pissing and moaning about the Colts' and Coach Dungy's decision to sit his starters.


If you don't already know, the Tennessee Titans need a win this Sunday against the Colts to make the playoffs. If they do not win, the Cleveland Browns will take the last AFC playoff berth, instead.

As a result, Brown's fans are kicking up a fuss, as well as all other dimwitted sports analysts for Dungy's decision. So, let me argue this from an NFL fan's standpoint. Not as a Colts fan.

First off, it isn't the Indianapolis Colts' responsibility to allow a team to make the playoffs. Tony Dungy's decision to sit his starters is based on what is good for his team - not anyone else's. Both Tennessee and Cleveland have put themselves in this situation. They have had 15 weeks, just as many as Indianapolis has had, to win ballgames and they simply haven't. The only people they can criticize is themselves, for not coming through on opportunities.

Second, if facing a sub-standard Colts team is what it takes for the Titans to reach the playoffs, there should be serious questions as to what type of team Tennessee is. Maybe that means they shouldn't even be eligible for the last AFC playoff berth, to begin with.

Third, to the people that argue that Dungy should play his starters for the season-ticket holders... Mike Golic said it best during his Mike & Mike morning show on ESPN Radio, Thursday morning: "The Colts' season-ticket holders don't just want to see the best team on the field, they want to see the best team at the end of the season. They want to see another Super Bowl, another trophy. And to see that, you need healthy players. Why risk injury to your best players?"

Fourth, Dungy isn't "resting" his players for the playoffs, as analysts seem to want to keep pointing out. Coach is protecting them from injury, dumbasses. What would happen if Vince Young or Lendale White were injured? What would happen if Derek Anderson, Braylon Edwards or Jamal Lewis were injured? What would happen if Tom Brady or Randy Moss were injured? Seasons would be over! Why should the Colts risk injury to their best players? It's ridiculous to expect Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Bob Sanders, or Joseph Addai to play the entire game.

Oh, and by the way Dungy, himself, had some kind words (do we expect anything else?) for the Browns and Titans. Here is an excerpt from a recent article on Colts.com:

"...with their seeding clinched, Dungy said entering the playoffs healthy is a major motivation, too – certainly more of a motivation than helping another team.

No matter how many friends he has in that city.

"You really can’t (worry about another team’s playoff fate)," Dungy said. "Those guys have done a great job. I have some friends over on that staff. I’d like to see them get in the playoffs. I’ve got some friends on Tennessee’s staff. It’s one of those things you can’t worry about it. I don’t think our players can worry about it. We’ve got to get ourselves ready to go and just play the best we can and get ourselves ready for the playoffs."

Note he said "we."

Go Blue!

Finally, I was able to watch an IU game today on CBS. Too bad, Eric Gordon was out with an injured back, but they still played a great game today, defeating Kentucky.

I'm not sure how long the highlights will be up on YouTube, but here they are, if you missed the action.



Now on to the Colts game tomorrow night against the Baltimore Ravens. Should be a fairly easy game. The Ravens haven't played that great all year, but they did give the Patriots a game last weekend. They play prime-time ball tomorrow at 7:15pm (8:15 EST).

Congrats to the Hoosiers on a great game and good luck to the guys in the horseshoes! Go Blue!

What a game to start out the NFL season... The Colts dominated the 2nd half of the game tonight with the New Orlean Saints, eventually winning 41-10.

Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, and Joseph Addai all had tremendous games and Matt Giordano added a 83 yard interception return for a score in the 4th quarter to put the game well out of reach.

Congrats guys! Here's looking to more great games...

A lot of reflection on this past season on my part, on the team's part and I still can't say enough about what the Colts went through this past season - and where they are today. Super Bowl Champions! This image will be hard to forget and I know I have probably shoved this down enough of all your's throats, but I have to share this...

Again, congratulations to the entire Colts organization! You deserve this huge win!

If I were back in Indiana, I'd certainly be down there celebrating with all the fans in downtown Indy and at the RCA Dome. The parade and rally at the dome looked like so much fun!

I'm certainly proud to be a Colts fan tonight! Super Bowl Champs, baby!!!

Well deserved to Coach Dungy, Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison... and to the rest of the organization. Congratulations guys! You make me proud to be your #1 fan!

...those little hairs on the inside of your nose start freezing together! Damn skippy, it's sure been happening today! A low temperature of -26°F with a high today of only -9.4°F! If you don't know, that's flippin' cold, folks!

I waited until this afternoon to go about my grocery shopping for the big party tomorrow, but it wasn't much better than it was this morning. I had to get up this morning and get to the bank since it closed at noon and almost just wanted to wait until tomorrow morning to go about my errands. I decided to brave it!

I'm all stocked up for the festivities tomorrow. I'm hosting a Super Bowl party here at the apartment tomorrow afternoon. I've decided to go with some burgers, beer, and a variety of other snacks. The George Foreman grille will get a nice workout, but that's quite alright. Actually, I haven't used it in quite a while... It should be pretty nice, though - I got a relish tray to fix up, some fixin's for the burgers and some chips and pretzels. And plenty of beer for the evening!

Yeah, I only have a 1-bedroom apartment, but we'll make it work. I don't think too many people from work are going to show up, but we'll see. I know of a few people for sure who are coming for sure and a few others that are "maybe's..." So, I'll probably cook up enough for at least 6 people and we'll go from there.

So, what's up with the rest of you?? I realize it's been a while since I last wrote in here, but I've been a little busy lately. I've been working on my web-cam page a lot more lately and have been looking for a second job.

Check out the web-cam page... It looks completely different now. The new layout will make it much easier to update and integrate more states into the network - which is planned, eventually. I have a good friend of mine that is now working with me on it and he is currently getting cams around Illinois and Oklahoma plotted. So, slowly but surely, it will become more and more complete. I've added several new cams to Indiana and have plotted a few for Oklahoma and Kansas. I'm hoping over the next week or two, I'll be able to sit down and get more plotted.

As far as the job search is concerned... It hasn't gone as well as I had hoped. I ran into some financial issues about a month ago with my car. After some self-reflection, I finally grew a pair and actually started applying at a few places around town. I tried the Texas Roadhouse (which just finished getting built) but was turned down... Happy Harry's (they were hiring at the north location) and was turned down... and had an interview of sorts over the phone for GF Wireless... They're not exactly hiring, but they seemed very impressed with the computer/tech support/networking experience I have. After explaining to them what all I did for OnlyInternet, they seemed fairly interested for my resume. I sent one there and received a response about a week later. They didn't have anything open (part-time) right now, but will keep my resume on file. So, we'll see how that goes. I've been wanting to apply at Target, as well, but keep forgetting to drop by there. I need to do that! So, I don't know... It sure would be nice to have some extra income to help pay off my god damn credit card and my one student loan.


I so can not wait until the end of 2007. Not only will my Stafford Loan (through Valpo) be paid off, but my car will be, as well. With the both of those paid off, I'll be pocketing almost $400-500 a month. I'll certainly be able to start saving, finally...

Anyhow, I need some food in this body of mine... Take care folks and root those Colts on tomorrow. I'm getting very excited and anxious for the game tomorrow!

As my little friend here would say, Go Colts!!!! Isn't he the cutest!?!

My own personal prediction:
Colts: 27
Bears: 13

I'd provide a link, but I'm afraid it will be lost to oblivion eventually...

Funny article coming from ESPN (Page 2) this afternoon:

By DJ Gallo
Page 2

Oh, Patriots. This again? Another playoff loss. My oh my.

I've been on the NFL beat here at Page 2 for the past two years, and in that time I've seen a clear trend developing with you in the playoffs. A sad and pathetic trend of postseason failure.

Where to begin?

Well, how about your supposed superstar quarterback, Tom Brady? I'll lay off the fact that Brady never quarterbacked a team to a championship in high school or college. And no one in his family has ever won a championship either. We all know that. But the biggest problem with Brady is that he's making a habit out of putting up big numbers in the regular season while choking in the playoffs when it counts. Look at last year: 4,110 yards, 26 touchdowns and another Pro Bowl selection. That's all well and good. But then the postseason came around and he laid an egg against the Broncos with a third-quarter interception at the goal line that was returned 100 yards by Champ Bailey and a loss-clinching interception on New England's final possession of the game.

Fast-forward to this season and we have another 3,500-plus yards passing and 24 touchdowns. Swell. But last weekend in the divisional round he chucked three interceptions against the Chargers in a game his team won despite him. And then Sunday night saw another game-ending pick -- and a near-interception on the possession before (and Brady seemed to blame his receiver, Troy Brown, for what was clearly his own mistake). All this sent the Patriots to yet another loss to Peyton Manning and the Colts.

New England has now lost three consecutive games to Indianapolis. And last night's game was the only one that was even remotely close. I hesitate to be the millionth person to say this, but the Colts have the Patriots' number.

Brady is a playoff choker. That's common knowledge now. I mean, heck, Sunday night he blew an 18-point lead and got run over as Manning directed the biggest comeback in conference championship game history. And Brady's woe-is-me, I've-lost-again "Brady Face" is becoming an NFL playoff tradition. But he is not New England's only problem, sadly enough.

Their head coach, Bill Belichick, is also to blame. Belichick was expressionless on the sidelines throughout the entire game. For a team to win in the playoffs they need a coach who shows emotion. They need a coach like Tony Dungy, for instance, who was animated and encouraging throughout Sunday night's game. And speaking of Dungy, he completely outcoached Belichick, who obviously isn't much when it comes to strategy and in-game adjustments. Everyone knows that a great coach makes adjustments at halftime. Well, Belichick and the Patriots got outscored 32-13 in the second half Sunday (and 17-10 in the second half versus the Broncos last year). Draw your own conclusions, but it's obvious Belichick leaves much to be desired.

Who knows, perhaps the Patriots need to can Belichick and hire a coach who can get them over the hump. They have too much talent to be coming up short in the postseason year after year.

Then there is the Patriots' team as a whole. They are a finesse team that feasts on inferior divisional opponents during the regular season. Problem is, finesse teams don't win in January, as the Patriots showed yet again in Indianapolis. Countless members of New England's defense tired as the second half wore on -- the tell-tale sign of a soft team that isn't built for playoff football.

Until the Patriots toughen up, and until their quarterback realizes there is more to football than looking good in the regular season to impress the Madison Avenue advertising suits, New England will continue to fail in the playoffs.

To be honest, I don't see Tom Brady and Bill Belichick ever winning a Super Bowl.

Headlines

Reche Caldwell clearly stunned by loss, everything

Adam Vinatieri capitalizes on Colts victory by kicking Bill Belichick in the crotch

Reggie Bush understandably acts like he hasn't been to the end zone very often

Things I Thought I Thought While Telling Gisele to Ditch the Zero

1. Quotations always need their proper context. But sometimes they're better without context. This is one of those cases. Following the game Sunday, Peyton Manning said: "I don't get into monkeys." Now, you can Google that phrase and find the AP article with the full quote and what prompted it. Or you can just imagine we live in a world in which a reporter asked Manning after reaching his first Super Bowl: "Dude, I hear you're into monkeys." I suggest the latter.

2. There was a sense on Sunday that Tom Brady lost the battle but won the war in getting eliminated from the postseason because he gets to go home to Gisele Bundchen. That's not the case, though. Bundchen is currently in Brazil at some sort of fashion thingy. So unless Tom Terrific wants to jump on a plane to South America, he's going to have to try to get through his depression with some homegrown Boston women. What sort of drop-off is that? Well, let's just say Reche Caldwell didn't look like that before he went to the Patriots.

3. It's a cliché, but the Saints truly can be proud of the season they had, going to the NFC Championship Game one season after posting a 3-13 record and becoming one of the NFL's marquee teams in the process. Their newfound popularity really struck me Friday when my morning run took me past my local elementary school. I live some 1,100 miles from New Orleans, yet I saw no less than three elementary school boys out of a good 20 or so walking into the school wearing Reggie Bush jerseys. And even more amazing, all 20 of the boys had Sean Payton's haircut.

4. By the way, if y'all want to read some fantastic analysis on the Colts-Bears Super Bowl matchup, check out the stupendous work done over at the A.M. Jump this morning by a handsome colleague of mine.

-- DJ Gallo is the founder and sole writer of the award-winning sports satire site SportsPickle.com. He is also a regular contributor to ESPN the Magazine and has written for The Onion and Cracked. His first book -- "SportsPickle Presents: The View from the Upper Deck" -- will be in stores soon.

I'm a little too excited yet and a little exhausted, to be honest, after a night full of ups and downs and one that has ended VERY nicely...

Yes, the Indianapolis Colts are in the Super Bowl for the first time in the Peyton Manning era... So, you critics of Manning, you can finally shut your traps and finally realize, this guy is really, THE guy. He led the Colts tonight from a 21-3 deficit to tie it twice... Once on a touchdown and once on a field goal... From there, Joseph Addai and Dallas Clark did their job in securing the victory. Addai concluded the Colts' final drive with a game-winning 3-yard touchdown and Marlin Jackson picked off Tom Brady with just seconds left in the game to secure the victory.

They really deserve this trip to Miami... It's been a long time coming and this year, the year we weren't favored, the Colts have done it. Super Bowl bound - to Miami on February 4th!

Super Bowl party at Hartman's place... Sunday, Feb. 4th - if you can make it, I'll be here!

Congrats again, guys! You've deserved this!!

My sister sent this to me today and found it so hilarious I had to not only share with you all, I had to set it as my wallpaper on my laptop! ;) Go Colts!!!

Yeah, you read Coach Dungy's lips right, "money... money... money..." What a nerve-racking game this was tonight. Virtually no offense from the rushing or receiving front, but the Colts escaped with the win tonight over the Baltimore Ravens, 15-6. Adam Vinatieri WAS the offense tonight, creating points on 5 field goals to tie an NFL Post-Season record. Folks, this isn't just Peyton's team anymore, they're playing as a team when it matters the most; the playoffs. What a time to be a Colts fan, eh?? Go Blue! You're only one victory away from the Super Bowl. Congrats on a tremendous win, guys!

Hello folks,

I figured I would let you all know that I'll be out of town starting tomorrow, Monday, December 18th. I'll be back in Indiana visiting family and friends over the holiday. I shall return on the 26th! ;)

Also, while I'm thinking about it, I want to send along a congrats to the Indianapolis Colts, who today clinched their division. They don't play until tomorrow night, but with the Jacksonville Jaguars losing today, they've clinched things up. Hopefully our defense shows up against the Bengals this week. Otherwise, it'll either turn into a shootout or a loss!

Merry Christmas, everyone!
Have a safe and fun holiday season...

Yes, the Indianapolis Colts are off to an undefated season once again. After a game that was being heralded as the "big-game" of the season, they once again proved that they are still a great team. I'll admit that the rush-defense has been severely lacking this year, but good teams find ways to win, whether you want to admit it or not. And that is exactly what the Colts have been doing this year.

The Colts proved tonight that their defense can still play. They limited the Patriots to only 148 rushing yards and picked off the one and only Tom Brady four times... Yes, four times! Linebacker Cato June and Safety, Bob Sanders combined to pick up three of them.

The game ended 27-20 but could have been a much more lop-sided win. Vinatieri missed two field goals and Manning was intercepted once during the second-half while on a scoring drive. Peyton ended with 326 yards, including 2 touchdown passes. Marvin Harrison led the team with 145 yards on 8 catches with two TD receptions. Reggie Wayne caught 6 passes for 90 yards. On the ground, Joseph Addai added 43 yards and a touchdown.

So, we're 8 and "oh" now and now look to the Buffalo Bills next week to continue the undefeated streak. See you next Sunday! Good goin' guys...!

I'm a little tired tonight, but I did want to drop in here for a short "congrats" to the Indianapolis Colts. They are once again off to an undefeated start to their season this year. In fact, they are only the 9th team ever in NFL history to start consecutive seasons with a 6-0 record. That is quite a feat!

My man, Peyton ended up 25 of 35 for 342 yards and 4 touchdowns, with two of those TD throws to Marvin Harrison. Harrison ended with 73 yards with Reggie Wayne hauling in 122 yards and TD reception of his own. On the ground, the rookie Joseph Addai racked up 85 yards on 11 carries, good for 7.7 yards per carry. Not bad! The game was close in the first half, with the Redskins hanging onto a 14-13 lead going into half-time. The second half, however, was Peyton's... As he connected three TD passes in the 3rd period. The four touchdowns continued Manning's ascent up the NFL's career charts. His last TD pass, No. 256, sent him past Dan Fouts (254) and Sonny Jurgensen (255) into 10th in NFL history. Marvin Harrison also continued his ascent up the Colts' franchise records, tying Lenny Moore's franchise record for touchdowns with 113.

The Colts next play at Denver next Sunday at 3:15pm!

Go Colts!

First off, congratulations to Peyton Manning for picking up the "Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year" award on Friday. The award is given to the man that best demonstrates community service within the National Football League. Peyton won the award this year in recognition of his work with children and Hurricane Katrina victims.

Manning set up the PeyBack Foundation to help communities around Indianapolis and has worked with a national non-profit group that helps abused and neglected children. In addition, after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August of 2005, he and brother Eli, the Giants quarterback, flew to Louisiana and delivered 30,000 pounds of relief supplies.

Read more...

Peyton, as well, sounded off on various topics Friday in Detroit, where he accepted the award. To paraphrase... it's sounding like he's puting the 2005 Season behind him (as he should) and is looking forward to the upcoming season.

Read the full article...

"Well, shit."

I have so many emotions right now, I'm not sure how to explain the game today. The Colts this afternoon, just didn't have the intensity they should have... and gave up early scores to the Steelers. They fought until the end, though, and gave a valiant effort. The Steelers defense was just too much for our offensive line and our secondary was shotty, at best, in the first half. To have Vanderjagt miss his only field goal at home, at the most important moment of the season, was unfortunate, but it wasn't the one play that lost the game. Like Coach Dungy stated in his post-game news conference, they had a few opportunities to make plays and simply didn't execute.

So the end of a spectacular season comes to a close. One of the greatest seasons an NFL team has had in many years and THE best season an Indianapolis Colts team has ever had. It seemed the stars were aligned right this year, with the Pats out of the way and having home field advantage throughout the playoffs. But, it wasn't to be. The 2005-2006 season comes to a close with a 21-18 loss - on this Sunday, January 15th.

We're disappointed as fans, but we still love you guys... No matter who comes back next year and who doesn't, we need to assert ourselves next year and make a solid drive to the Super Bowl once again. We've proved this year that we're a balanced team... next year, let's prove we're a Super Bowl caliber team.

Two teams I wanted to see proceed today, didn't... (the Colts and Chicago) and I feel a bit dejected. I keep reminding myself that it's just a game and that I shouldn't get worked up about it. But, it's hard... it's something I really wanted to see happen. It just seemed to be the Colts year - and I think everyone thought the same. It just didn't happen. Being a Chicago Cubs fan, you'd think that I would be used to these types of feelings by now. I'm not... it still hurts...

On the bright side, Martina showed up on Emeril today! I had been flipping through the channels and came upon her. It was a nice surprise, and if for only just a moment, put a smile on my face.

I'm heading back for work tonight and I'm not so much looking forward to that either. It's going to be a busy night. We've got Winter Weather Advisories up for much of the Northern Plains this evening and most valid through Monday evening for mixed precipitation (freezing rain and sleet) turning to snow overnight. We may see accumulations by morning here in Grand Forks, but most likely, the heaviest amounts will occur to our north. The 00z NAM keeps most of it's QPF and best forcing along the international border, so possibly up to 3 inches will be possible near that area. Here, an inch or two may fall...

Anyhow, enough for now I suppose. I think I'll go mope around some more before work-time rolls around.

Take care, folks!
Hope all is well...

So, what's up folks?

There's been a little excitement up here the last few nights, so I figured I'd let you all know what's been going on... Friday night, I finally met Amanda... She's a woman that I had met online a couple weeks ago. We've been swapping eMails back and forth and had talked a few times over the phone, so finally decided to meet each other for dinner Friday. She seems real nice and we seem to have some things in common, but there are some minor things I'm concerned with. I'm a little reluctant to start things up with her, since I found out she has a couple of kids. I've known about it for a while, but thought, I'd at least, give her a chance. She has two daughters - one is 7-yrs old and the other turns 1-yr old this week; and found out they're from two different men. I suppose it shouldn't bother me as much, but it makes me think twice on how far I want to pursue any type of relationship. I'll warn you ahead of time that this may sound a little shallow, but, in addition, she isn't exactly Maria Sharapova. And even though, I'm not exactly looking for a trophy, I do want a woman that takes good care of herself.

We ended up going to see a movie after having dinner at Paradiso. We ended up seeing "Munich" and I'm glad we chose it. It's probably one of the most intense movies I've seen in the theatre in quite a while; and probably the most interesting movie I've EVER seen. I'd strongly recommend seeing it, especially if you're into historically-based movies. It's a long movie (2.5 hrs) but well worth your time.

Saturday night, we had our Christmas party for work at the Osborne home. Yes, I said "Christmas" party. December was a fairly busy time for most folks at work, so Cathy decided to push it back into January this year. It was a good time... Lots of co-workers showed up, so I had a chance to see everyone outside of work and just converse, hang out, and eat (and drink!). Cathy and Leon treated us with all sorts of snacks, beer and wine! They even had some Pinot! So, I, of course, had a couple glasses of that. I couldn't drink a whole lot since I had to be at work at midnight.

Now, I'm just sitting here waiting to go home. Practically all areas have been looked at, and most forecasts are out through 00z or later, so I don't have much else to do right now, other than to sit here watching the clock. That's when time goes the slowest!

I'm anxious to get home, sleep, then get up to watch the Colts. They play the Steelers today at noon for the AFC semi-finals. I sure hope they win, cause I want them to go all the way this year. For as well as they have played this year, they deserve it. I was so relieved last night that the Bronco's beat the Patriots. As you all know, I'm no fan of the Pat's at all, so to see them fall to Denver was a sweet surprise. It makes it slightly easier for the Colts, as well, to become the AFC Champions and move on to Super Bowl XL.

We'll see how things go today... Go Colts!

While the Colts lost today to the Seattle Seahawks, 28-13, I'd have to say that I'm still proud of this team. They've had to overcome big obstacles this week and even though I do have to credit Seattle's defense, they still showed up and played football. Unfortunately, I had to be at work this evening... so I missed it on television. Monitoring it on NFL's GameDay, however, I did notice that Manning only played during the first quarter, so that further limited the offense today. Jim Sorgi came in and put in solid effort completing 22 of 31 throws for 237 yards and a late touchdown to wide-receiver Troy Walters. Many of the team's Pro Bowlers were also sitting out today. Wide Receiver Marvin Harris, Outside Linebacker Cato June, and Safety Bob Sanders all sat out today resting injuries... The Colts host the Arizona Cardinals News Years Day at 1:00pm EST.

On the other hand, the Indiana Hoosiers downed Butler 73-55 Thursday night. Marco Killingsworth led the Hoosiers with 27 points, shooting 9-13 from the field and 9-10 from the charity stripe. Robert Vaden also contributed 22 points to the effort, shooting 4-4 from beyond the 3-pt line. The Hoosiers (7-2) next play Ball State on Dec. 31st at 6:00pm EST.