The Anti-Midas Touch of Conversation

God bless awkward pauses... They seem to be all I'm capable of lately (I think the mornings are getting to me).

Way to make a first impression there, chief.

Squirrels Update

All is well with the squirrels (as in Flying Squirrels, my fantasy football team). I'm 6-1, with my lone loss coming because Andy Reid decided not to tell me that Brian Westbrook wouldn't be playing. Adrian Peterson has been huge, of course, but I actually had him benched 2 or 3 of the first few weeks because I didn't trust the Vikings to keep running him. I've led the league in scoring 3 of 7 weeks, coming in second 2 others. I lead the league in scoring by just shy of 100 points.

Here's the updated lineup:

QB
Carson Palmer
David Garrard

(Losman showed his stripes quickly, and in Palmer's bye, AD had his superpowered game)


RB
Adrian Peterson
Brian Westbrook
Marshawn Lynch
Derrick Ward

(Ladell Betts was a long-shot late round pick, anyway, so losing him was no tragedy. Lynch and Ward were nice in week 5, and I don't see having to do much scrambling in this area for the rest of the season)


WR
Torry Holt
Donald Driver
Plaxico Burress
Santonio Holmes
Calvin Johnson

(Evans went bust, and Johnson hasn't really played the superstar, but Holt, Driver, and Burress have been strong enough to carry the team admirably. I picked up Santonio recently when someone didn't want to put up with his injuries anymore.)


TE
Antonio Gates
Owen Daniels

(Gates is the only TE that matters, well worth the late 3rd round pick. Here's hoping he doesn't get injured)


K
Nick Folk
David Akers

(meh, they're kickers... Folk plays for the Cowboys, so he gets more chances.)


Team
Chargers
Raiders

(I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the Chargers in the Free Agent pool after week 4.)


So there we go. The part I like best about this is that none of the players are on teams that will wrap the division up early, therefore, they'll likely be playing until the end.

Jesse, how's your team doing? Haven't talked with ya in a while. Give me updates, man!

Bliss, Madness

Changes

I've been married 3 weeks, I've been at my new job for 5 days... Things are hectic right now. Leaving Unicel was as difficult as I figured it would be; probably a little more difficult, actually. I worked with good people, and it's always hard to leave something like that behind and jump off into the unknown for such base requirements as pay, work shift, and job security.

Married life, on the other hand, has been about par for the course thus far, the only obvious difference being Linds doesn't call her parents' house 'home'. We had been going out for 5 years, and been pretty serious for at least 4, so there haven't been a large number of surprises. The only big difference is that overpriced piece of metal on my left hand... I swear i took that thing off no fewer than 30 times a day the first week.

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Let's See How This Looks

The normal sized bolded text just isn't enough to make each paragraph heading stand out. I guess I need to experiment a little.

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A Silver Lining

Vikings fans have known for a couple weeks now that Adrian Peterson is the real deal (I suspect that Oklahoma fans have known for longer than that). Sunday confirmed those truths to the rest of the world. No Viking has ever rushed for that many yards (and no Bears' defense has been gouged for so many). The best part? Rather than looking like a fleeting phenominal game, it looked like AD was simply doing what he does; running hard for positive yardage and breaking a tackle or two. Rather than looking like an aberation, it seems to imply that he could break huge gains at will.

Even so, Sunday almost turned into another sickening example of Coach Childress' ineptitude at getting, then keeping a lead. The 4th Quarter turned mean in a hurry, and some questionable clock management forced Ryan Longwell to kick a career-long field goal to win. Tarvaris looked alright, it's very encouraging that he threw no interceptions, and he made very few mistakes throughout the game.

Don't get me wrong, this still feels like a 6-10 team at best, but there's just enough silver lining here to where the clouds don't seem quite so bad.

In Rainbows

New Radiohead Record!

So, uh... this is a little bit of a shock to me... As I was perusing the net tonight, I somehow found myself at Radiohead's website (it's on my sidebar, click away). To my surprise, their new CD, "In Rainbows" - which was supposedly not coming out until next year - is available for download, for as little or as much as YOU want to pay for it. It's only 160 kbps, which isn't quite CD quality... but seriously... NEW RADIOHEAD ALBUM FOR FREE (if you so desire... and I so desired). I'm drinking a Sam Adams and listening to it right now, and I must say... I like what I hear. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it later, but if you like Radiohead at all, go get it. Now.