A cool, kinda drizzly evening tonight...ANOTHER Friday night stuck doing other than what I'd like to be doing, agh! Too many of these...I donated blood this morning...my blood pressure and all was fine, but they told me I had a fairly high level/concentration of iron in my blood? Not enuf to keep me from giving, but still...they'd never noticed it previously...who knows, maybe I've been eating too much spinach! lol...I feel fine, anyway...so I went in and bled! And really, its such an easy thing to do, such an easy way to do something of benefit to others...So, was anyone else as underwhelmed with last week's Super Bowl as I? What a dull game...CERTAINLY not like last year's Super Bowl :)...time to start really following college hoops now!...Damn, this girl needs to make time to improve- heck, create again!- a social life!

"And now I wish I was somewhere other than here/Down in some honky tonk, sippin' on a beer..."

Super Sunday...without the Patriots, waaaaahhhh! :) I really don't have a dog in that fight, but it should be an interesting game to watch, with the coaching aspect, some similarities between the teams, and more...Speaking of games watched, I took in- most- of a college hoops game yesterday at one of the schools here in town...it was a pretty exciting, well-played- and well-coached! - game, came right down to the final shot; unfortunately for the local entry, that shot rimmed out :( ...Went to a surprise 40th birthday for a college friend last nite as well...it was a pretty fun time, good to see those guys- a few I hadn't seen in a number of years...hadda get a bit of a haircut, boohoo :(...a few of 'em can STILL put the drinks away, yikes! (I was good, only had a few :)...most of them were there with either their wives or girlfriends; I was one of the few who was "stag" (wonder why?! ;)...it was fun, and I was glad to simply have the time free to go, as well as to see and renew some old ties, but, I dunno, maybe I have changed more than I realize...I still enjoy those folks a lot, but my mindset (not to mention my appearance) has changed since "back then"...those kinds of outings remind me of the past, of who and how I was once, and as such also point out how I've changed, in many ways, over the years, for good and maybe not so good, but changed, reminding me of how far I am from the person I thought I would've been by now, back then, again, for good and maybe not so good...Also speaking of free time...this was the first Saturday I'd had totally free since, I can't remember when! As it is, I've sorta lost touch a bit with friends I've known for a l-o-n-g time and try to find whatever time I can to see them, as well as others I've known maybe not for quite as long but whom I also know, like, care about, and enjoy seeing...the point of this lil rant is I heard from someone who had been emailing me for, I dunno, a little before the holidays, who threw a lil hissy fit because my schedule was not conducive enuf for them- sheesh!...Sadly, there's folks I've known a heckuva lot longer whom I'm not able to see nearly as often as I'd like due to my various committments, time constraints, etc...give me a break, will ya?...And hey- I know somewhere below I mentioned that, no matter what I was doing or how late I was out, I can never sleep in? Check the time on this entry! :)

"Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday..."

Has it been NIPPY the past several days!... actually, this entire winter so far has seemed below normally cold- BRRRRRR!!!...Am I the only one NOT thrilled by this year's Super Bowl?! Ok, so the Pats aren't in it- honestly, I didn't think they'd go back (tho' at least making the playoffs would've been nice- sheesh, guys!), but I'm sorry, I can't get pumped up for the Raiders and the Bucs, I just don't care for either team...it should be a pretty good, evenly-matched game, tho'...Had a nice day today, had lunch with my mother, dinner and a few drinks with my sister this evening...Happy birthday, Kellie! :)

"Twenty degrees and the hockey game's on/Nobody cares they're way too far gone/Screaming boat drinks..."

First run since mid-November with ZERO knee pain this morning- YAY!!! Cold out there this am but hey, I'm tuff! lol :)

RIP- Maurice Gibb

"Stayin' alive, stayin' alive/Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive..."

First entry of 2003 I see! I hope everyone had an enjoyable (and safe!) New Year's celebration...You know, I've never been able to sleep in late...when I was a little kid, even when I was in college and staying up late um, studying- yeah, that was it!- and even today, no matter what time or how late I go to bed, I can seldom sleep in past maybe 7am or so at the latest...This has been SOME winter here so far, yikes! Snowy and cold and icy...the cold isn't so bad, you can always bundle up against it, but the snow and ice make it sooooo difficult to get around, run, etc..I was telling a friend, I used to think that people who lived or moved to places like California or Florida or Arizona were just soft, they didn't have what it takes to take winters here...now I just think they're smart!!! Fly me away!

The NFL playoffs have been really exciting so far this season, huh? (Except, of course, for the fact that a CERTAIN team down in Foxboro, MA is not in 'em- waaahhh! :)...lotsa close and even overtime games...And that Ohio St-Miami BCS championship game was awesome, too...Time to start following college hoops a lil more...a couple of local teams that I have a "rooting" interest in have been struggling so far :(...and I hope to do better on my March Madness pools than I did last season!

I was telling a very close friend last week that a few things recently have had me feeling like Michael Corleone in "The Godfather 3;" "Every time I try to get out, they pull me back in!" Have any/many of you often felt that way? Like where you try to move forward, or move on, with various things yet comittments and loyalties keep you from doing so completely? I suppose in some ways it's good, in that it shows we have others' in our lives that we still have a deep and abiding connection to...(and I suppose quoting from Al Pacino's Michael Corleone is a bit more cerebral than quoting from his "Scarface" Tony Montana!) I know it's early, but time for a Diet Vanilla Coke, mmmmm! :) RIP- Will McDonough.

"You don't know what's going on/You've been away for far too long/You can't come back and think you are still mine..."