ARE YOU READY FOR SOME POSTING?

If you can't tell from the title of this post, I'm writing this while watching Monday Night Football. Somehow it's comforting to hear the voices of Al Michaels and John Madden; so much is changing so fast in this world, that it's good to hear these longtime broadcast partners describe the action.
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Evidently the New York Jets have had some quarterback injuries; two of their tossers are sidelined. So, the Jets went and got 41-year old Vinny Testaverde. He came out of retirement to play for the Jets. He came out of retirement at 41? I guess I'm officially over the hill; I'm ten years older than that!
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Football Put-Up or Shut-Up department: Last week, I posted that even though Seattle beat Houston convincingly (as the Seahawks were SUPPOSED to do), that I wouldn't be impressed with the 'Hawks 'til they beat some serious opponents. Well, Seattle beat Dallas in a game that had been a punishing defensive battle. So, Seattle is 5-2 so far this season. I don't wanna get my hopes up, but, so far, so good for Coach Holmgren and Co.
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Water Therapy for free: Sunny afternoon; went down to CDA Lake and sat on the steps of Independence Point, just above the waterline. Ducks swam past, seagulls flew overhead, and the seaplanes took off and landed. Lake waves lapped up onto the concrete steps. After about 45 minutes, my brain began slowing down, and I found myself in a better mood. Beats any shrink I ever went to.
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One of the columnists in today's Spokesman-Review wrote about a couple of people she'd observed recently: a lady sitting at a bus stop who evidently was sad about something, and a guy who was trying to make sense out of his life, but he couldn't make sense of things. She'd observed him adding numbers, trying to "balance" out 'something'. I was touched; someone out there is being observant of the human condition. We're all struggling. Hopefully, after the appearance of her column, maybe a few of us will be more observant...and compassionate.
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High Spot of my day dept.: Walked into the Java place for coffee in an attempt to dis-entangle (is that a word?) the cobwebs outta my mind. The barista (coffee guy, that is), took my money, and said, "wait a couple of minutes; I'm brewing a fresh pot". It was definitely worth the wait. "MMMMM....Coffee....." (That's me doing my best Homer Simpson imitation there.)
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Second High Spot of my day dept.: A record album I ordered over Ebay got here today. I haven't had a chance to play it. (I'm still watching football, you see.) It is the first and only album by a group called "FUSE". Never heard of them? Well, Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson, the lead guitarist and bassist for CHEAP TRICK, were both in "Fuse" before that! Should be interesting to hear. You Cheap Trick fans may recall that Nielsen always had short hair and he wore a CAP all the time. Well, the "Fuse" album pictures him with long hair. Pretty cool, huh?
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Watched a VHS movie last night, titled "Backbeat". It's the story of the Beatles in the early days, before worldwide fame. They got really good by playing 8 hours a night, 6 days a week, in Hamburg, Germany. Yeah, maybe the movie utilized "artistic license" here and there, but I've always found that period of the Beatles' history fascinating, and upon seeing this movie, I have (at least somewhat of) a "visual" idea of what the Beatles went thru during those times.
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Do I know too much? dept.: I've read tons of books on the Beatles. I've read how weak-willed John Lennon was in his latter days; how authoritarian Paul McCartney was with Wings, always underpaying his band members and running the band like a dictator. I've read about the petty infighting between the Beatles in their last days. I've heard the "Anthology" albums where, at times, they sounded painfully human, bumbling their way through early takes of songs. Sometimes the more you know about your idols, the less you like them. I suppose, in the end, it's best to focus on the music, because those you revere always turn out to be..."human".
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Lately, I've been seeing some "Mercury" automobile commercials, featuring an attractive lady who wears a tight light blue blouse and jeans that are a couple sizes too small for her. In the commercials, she says, "why blend in when you can STAND OUT?"; she also describes the cars as being "WELL-EQUIPPED", all the while "flaunting what she's got" and smiling into the camera in a most prurient manner. I must ask, "am I a dirty old man?", or is this a case of "sex sells?" And in cases like these, I feel like the male psyche is being manipulated just a wee bit. I hope she's not one of these women who complain about being treated like "objects"!
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Well, I never know where to end these things, but I've typed more in this posting than I thought I would. After posting that last little item (about the "Mercury lady"), I've concluded that it's time to hose myself down and migrate over to the land of e-mail. Probably "junk mail", mostly. Just like in real life.