Monday Morning Quarterback

I wonder what the pundits will say today? Some will say it was happenstance, pure, dumb luck. Others, that it was the kicker. Others still, it was divine intervention.

Tim Tebow, overt Christian and quarterback for the Denver Broncos, has won 7 of his last 8 football games now. Every week, another “expert” talks about why he can’t continue to win this way. He doesn’t throw well enough. He doesn’t throw often enough. His mechanics are bad. His accuracy is bad. He’s loved, he’s hated and he’s uniformly reviled in the media and on the Internet. Even the president of his own football team (himself a Hall of Fame inductee) won’t solidly state he’s a fan and supporter. But Tim Tebow puts it all aside, continues to thank his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ whenever a microphone is shoved in his face, and he continues to win football games. For the record, Tim Tebow put his team into a position to win this time, and his teammates did the rest.

But they still won.

I, personally, LOVE the man. He won’t back down from his beliefs, and he’s unapologetic. He tries to be diplomatic in interviews, tries to maintain his integrity and class while media jackass after media jackass try to make him admit he’s not as good as other NFL quarterbacks, and he continues to win games, thanking his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his teammates each time. They believe in him, his leadership, his ability to make things happen on the field. He believes in their ability to do what they need to do to win. And isn’t that what team sports are supposed to be? Teams believing in and relying on each other?

Well, this one does and they win.

Next week, I face a dilemma. Tim Tebow and the Broncos face off against the New England Patriots – my team of choice. Not very many are giving the Broncos a chance in this one. But they didn’t give Tebow much of a chance in any of the others, either. I think he has a fine chance against a very porous and suspect defense, and with the support of a team which is going to rally around him as much as they can. A big lead going into the fourth quarter isn’t a deciding factor either (most “experts” say if Tebow’s Broncos are too far behind in the fourth quarter they won’t be able to score enough to win). After all, I’ve seen plenty teams much worse than the Broncos score on the Patriots in the final quarter. The Indianapolis Colts darn near got their first win of the season that way last week. The hapless Washington Redskins – by all rights a team far outclassed by the powerful Patriots – played them to a single-score game. No, there is nothing guaranteed about this game next week.

Tim Tebow is a juggernaut who continues to work with his teammates to keep the game in their favor. The fourth quarter belongs to Tim Tebow and the Broncos, they’ve won two in a row in overtime now. I wouldn’t bet against them next week.

Part of me, loyal to my team, wants them to be crushed and humiliated. Part of me, a believer in Christ Jesus and proud as a brother in Christ of what Tim Tebow does and is, wants to see him stand victorious.

Maybe I just won’t watch, and revel in whichever team is the victor. I really have no downside to this one.

How was your weekend? Me, I didn’t write a single character. I had a good time anyway though, and spent some quality time with my boy.

What about you? Sound off and let me know.

-JDT-

Copyright 2011 DarcKnyt, All rights reserved

Congratulations, TitleTown!

Weekend Updates

A mad-cap ramble through my weekend.

Super Bowl XLV

Ah, the title is back in TitleTown, USA! The Green Bay Packers have won their fourth NFL Super Bowl title in team history and their NFL-record thirteenth world championship over all (going back before the merger, of course). Nice job, guys!

Here we go Steelers! HA! Thank God I won’t have to see THAT again for a while.

Having met a lot of the Packers’s fans on my new job (more people from Wisconsin at this place than I’ve ever experienced in my Midwest time), I have to say, they’re a lot classier than some of the “Massholes” Patriots fans, and pretty much ALL the Bears and Steelers fans I’ve ever encountered. No offense meant to anyone, but as football fans, Steelers fans are… not classy. Period.

So I was rooting for the Packers and for the second year in a row, the team I wanted to win, DID win. Go figure!

We’re LIVE!

Other than that, it was a pretty good weekend. I managed to get us online again for the first time in almost thirteen months (who says thirteen’s not lucky?), and I have to say, I really like the service. MOSTLY.

Interesting events: Four minutes before the end of the Super Bowl, something took the entire provider down in my area. The greater metropolitan area was down for some time and calling tech support got me a “This number is not in service” message a second before it hung up on me. I was not.a.happy.camper.

But, it came back. I want to make sure they understand having the ability to disconnect unhappy, concerned customers PAYING for this service isn’t acceptable. You know, b!tch ‘em out. When I do that, I’ll feel better.

So yes, we are back on line with an UNborrowed connection and we’re flying high and soaring long. Until the ISP goes down, of course. Heh.

Hardware Store

I also watched my wife borrow money from me (only a bit) to buy herself a brand, spanking-new computer. Her SSRLP paycheck came in! So she bought her OWN computer. Should be here in a few days. Not a laptop but comes with a built-in wireless card and BAY-BEE, it’s gonna RAWK! I can’t wait. She’s been SOOOO patient, waiting for more than 18 months for her time. Love of my life, it’s your time. Thanks for understanding. I love you.

Hm… lessee. Oh, yeah! I bought an external hard drive enclosure too. Please pray we can recover at LEAST her music and the kids’s pictures from her hard drive, which I think I cooked. But I did set her up with the SSRLP so she could buy a new one. So maybe it’s a wash. Anyway, that HDD enclosure has both a USB 2.0 port AND an eSATA port. USB 2.0 transfer speeds are UP to 480Mbps (fast). That eSATA? 3.0Gbps. That’s GIGA-bits per second. That’s REALLY FREAKIN’ FAST. So yeah… I’ll get my data off.

Ah, one last computer to replace. The boat anchor, as I call it, is going into safe keeping for a while. They don’t make ‘em like they used to, and I just can’t bring myself to get rid of that ol’ reliable dog. We may yet need her someday.

Lifting Weight… MY OWN weight

OH, I’m taking another positive step forward on my path to health and fitness, too. I’ll be starting (gentle) exercising to accelerate the so-far-not-noticeable weight loss, and start to more aggressively take back my body from Illinois. So I ordered something online for that and… we’ll see.

How was your weekend?

-JDT-

Copyright 2011 DarcKnyt, All Rights Reserved

Monday Meh

I don’t have much to say. I was going to continue the eBook publishing series but I’ve been Slurping all weekend and didn’t write it up. I’ll have to get back to that some other time. Plus, I wanted to touch base with you regulars again and see how you’re doing.

Back to basics…

I’ve been watching some back pain videos. I learned a couple of things. First, did you know 80% of the population has back pain at some point? And did you know your doctor expects you to:

1. Ignore it and work out to “help” it
2. Not bother him with it because he cant’ diagnose it or pinpoint it
3. Not self-diagnose because you don’t understand the “art and science” of medicine
4. Not expect to be pain-free

Isn’t that great? Get used to living with pain. We can get you to ignore it. You can learn to tolerate your pain.

I also learned Yoga seems to offer many postures and routines which are good for back pain, especially lower back pain (my kind). I wonder if anyone’s made that “Yoga for Manatees” video yet.

Yogi: Smarter than the average…

Speaking of yoga, why do so many yogis bald into their ponytails? Get a haircut, guys, it’s really not helping you. All their harmony and balance with out of control egos, and yes, that IS scalp showing at the back of your head. Still, I’m intrigued. The moves are close enough to the martial arts that I caught myself turning some of the postures into strikes and defenses in my head. But if it helps with back pain, I’m for it. It’s definitely low-impact too. That’s a plus when you’re plus-sized like me. The sound of my bones shattering under my bulk doesn’t excite me all that much.

I guess there’s a conditioning program too. I know one person on deviantART who’s lost 24 pounds doing yoga, AND got her fibromyalgia pain under medication-free control. Pain management and weight loss? I’m there!

No more pic-a-nic baskets…

I’m giving up fast food. I’ve been to every fast food restaurant I can find, eaten everything I can get my lips around, and you know what? I hate it. I can’t choke it down anymore. It’s just … over for me. I guess my grown-up taste buds have kicked in. You know what’s floating my boat lately? Salads. A good steak is always going to have a home here too, but salad’s been awesome for the last couple of days. I’m about to shovel some fruit down my gullet too and see how that sits.

Are you ready for some…?

Football time again! Woo! My team won. How’d yours do? If you were the visitors, you probably lost. Only three visiting teams won (up to tonight’s games, anyway). But the season’s young and there’s a lot of football to be played. Are you in a fantasy league? I’m not but got invited by one of the #fridayflash writers I follow. But … y’know. No TV still.

And Slurping all the way…

Well, I sent the first chapter to the publisher and editor yesterday to see if they approve of how I’m doing it. If I get green-lit (or is that green-lighted? I never know), I can race ahead. And I shall, indeed, have to RACE ahead. I’m way behind on this one and what I thought was plenty of time, isn’t. *GULP*

If you pray, pray for me on this one. It’s harder to get motivated for some reason.

So … how’s it goin’ by you? What were you up to this weekend? What’s new with you? Sound off, y’all. I want to hear from you.

-JDT-

©DarcKnyt All rights reserved

Wow … That was Unexpected

Okay, despite the hype and the whole "they’re both the number one seeds" aspect of this, I did NOT expect the New Orleans Saints to beat the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl yesterday.

With all the heralding of Peyton (yes, a boy’s name) Manning as the Messiah of Quarterbacks and the greatest living football player to ever grace a field, he’s won only one Lombardi trophy (which is what you get, besides an ASSLOAD of money, for winning the Super Bowl). Yet he continues to be praised as the most desirable quarterback in the sport around whom to build a team, and the most cerebral player in history, and yadda, yadda, yadda. So when he took the field yesterday I expected him to dissect the New Orleans Saints’s defense and run the score through the roof.

Instead, the only critical mistake made in the game, and the one which put the score beyond reach for Indianapolis, Peyton Manning made. He’s batting .500 for Super Bowls now. Face a sissy opponent like the 2006 Chicago  Bears and he’s phenomenal, oh-my-gosh-isn’t-he-awesome-and-no-one’s-ever-been-better. Play a serious team like the Saints were this year (finally), and suddenly he loses a game they once led by ten points. Interesting.

To any Indy fans who still may read my blog, I’m sorry. I know better than almost anyone you’re going to meet how it feels to have a fantastic season and see it all go away in the closing minutes of the only game that really matters in the end. It’s gut-wrenching and heart-breaking. I’m sorry for your loss.

To New Orleans Saints fans, congratulations on an amazing Cinderella-style season and a convincing and inspiring victory in the Super Bowl. What a great job, you should all be very proud of your team. Awesome.

Other than that, I didn’t do jack-squat this weekend. How ‘bout you?

-JDT-

Updates and Such

So, I told you all yesterday I finally finished the Super-Secret Real-Life Project (SSRLP).

With that off my plate, I can now do some other stuff. One is blogging on a semi-consistent basis. I hope to revive this thing as much as possible, but there are still some requirements for patience from all of you. For one thing, I still don’t have Internet access except through public channels. I’ll leave that to your imagination. What it means is, my wife and I have one computer which can consistently get on the Internet, and she has a lot to do each and every day. Another thing it means is, I might not be around to comment on YOUR blogs as much as I used to be. I’m sorry about that, everyone. I’m trying to at least READ your blogs, but commenting takes a LOT longer than it used to and I just can’t spend that much time doing it anymore. I’ll try, but no promises. So I’ll get on when I can and update when possible, but the job search thing has to take priority.

Yes, the job situation hasn’t changed. I still don’t have work. And now that the SSRLP is over, I have to look for one with every ounce of energy with which I dedicated myself to the SSRLP. Keep prayin’, y’all. We need all we can get.

My beloved remains confident we’ll be okay, but I have doubts. I know the economy is supposedly improving but I find that to be a crock. In my experience, things haven’t changed much in the last fifteen months and until and unless I see a change, I won’t consider it “better”. That’s just me maybe.

As for writing – well, let’s just say the SSRLP was sort of writing. Not what I wanted to do but something I could do. It’s better than nothing. So, when I think I can spill the gory details, I will. I’m not sure I can’t now, but I have to clarify a few things first. Then I’ll dish. Promise.

Football – well, I watched the Pro Bowl this last weekend. That was sort of like the world championship of flag football in a lot of ways. The AFC took the trophy and they will likely have their representative raising the Lombardi trophy also. Not my choice, but my prediction.

And other than that, there’s been nothing to report. A  lot of butt-in-chair time. A lot of stress. A lot of complaining and drinking coffee. OH, and we got an emergency extension for the unemployment benefits with nothing but a phone call, which was awesome. God is good! We’ll survive another couple of months before the hammer falls, at least.

There’s been a lot of spiritual growth. I’ve spent a lot of time in prayer. My buddy Raga did something awesome for us. We’re all joy and aglow with happy right now. So, that’s that.

How’s it by all of you?

-JDT-