That was perhaps one of the best episodes of South Park ever!

Not only did they use direct quotes from last nights acceptance/concession speeches, but they also used the Obama victory to advance the plot. I wonder if they saw where the polls were going, or if they made 2 versions of the show just in case?  Amazing how they got that together so fast!

( Obama...You came and you gave without taking. But I sent you away, Obama! )

Between this episode and the Indiana Jones ep earlier this season those South Park guys are still on top of their game!

I was 6 years old the last time the Phillies won the world series.  And finally, they did it again!  W00t!

Yeah, I cried.  I miss Philly and wish I was back home to celebrate with the masses.  

Go Phillies!

Went on a quick trip this weekend to San Jose, CA to see my friends Alan & Scott as well as go to a Flyers game there.  I was just there for about 36 hours, but it was a fun weekend nonetheless.  I hadn't been to CA since I was twelve, so that was pretty exciting for me.  And yes, I still have never been to San Francisco.  I know.  I'll get on that next.

While we were hanging out in San Jose, thanks to our local host Patricia, we ran into the Flyers at their hotel.  I got to have a wee chat with Simon Gagne, who promised us a win.  They didn't win (Boo!) but the game was really fun.  Lots of hard hits, fast paced action and goals all around.  The refs were a bit off, as they called 8 penalties on the Flyers and only two on San Jose.  It was odd, for sure. 

Despite the loss, it was fun to see the Flyers on the road. The HP Pavilion is really cool, and given their namesake had a brilliant jumbotron that was HD and showed extra stats throughout the game.  In the concourse, they had giant "M" & "W" signs above the restrooms, which was helpful in finding where to go.  They also had full bar setups, where you could buy mixed drinks.  Nice!  They even let me keep the bottle of water I bought at the food stand.  In Philly, they'd never allow it.  They pour it out into a cup so that you don't use a full bottle as a projectile weapon. 

Sunday, we got to head to this place near Santa Cruz called the Mystery Spot.  It's one of those cool Americana places you need to see.  Much like the largest ball of twine, or the Pioneer Museum in Kearney, NE.  IT's this strange place where things appear to be different than they actually are.  You lean at an extreme angle relative to the ground, balance is off and heights appear off from normal.  It's all probably some sort of optical illusion, but it's still fun to check it out.

As many of my friends will attest, I have spend the better part of the last 5 days complaining.

It's cold!  Really cold!  Under normal circumstances, I would be thrilled.  Winter approaches, and with that my life's joy - snowboarding.

The thing is, I have no heat.  My furnace is broken, and due to some insurance runaround, I am still without heat after 6 days.  The weekend was cold and snowy, and temps are cold at night.  It's October in Utah, kids.  It's 40 now, with lows in the 30's overnight.  My hands barely have circulation, despite the space heater lovingly lent to me by my friend Crystal.  I sleep with 3 extra blankets.  Not fun.

I hope to have heat restored by the end of the week, but who knows. 

Sigh.

The Phillies won game 2 of the NLCS in awesome fashion, with pitcher Brett Myers hitting 3 for 3 and 3 RBI's.  Yeah, the PITCHER batted 1.000.  All in the face of manager Charlie Manuel's mom's death hanging over the team.

Way to go, Phils.  Keep it up as you head to LA.

Those that know me know  I am a big fan of Philadelphia sports.  Being a Philly sports fan is a rough gig, as we haven't had a major league championship since 1983 when the Sixers won the NBA title.  I'm so much of a fan that sometimes I get what I refer to as Sports Related Anxiety Disorder.  That is, when I watch a game where I have an interest in the outcome, I suffer from increased stress levels to the point of almost having to change the channel and not watch.  Rooting for teams that almost win, but tend to disappoint, I have this overwhelming fear of "my" player making an error, and I want to know the outcome in advance of the game so as to calm my nerves. Just knowing the Phillies are in the throes of the post-season has me all fired up, and there is just no good reason for it.  It is, after all, just a game.

On another track, I have been actively keeping up with the election, with all its twists and turns and such.  I watched the convention coverage, and the debates thus far.  I am hooked on the latest news and campaign updates.  And I find myself acting just like I do when I watch sports.  I'm yelling at the screen when a candidate says something I can refute, and am fearful of watching, in the event "my" candidate makes a gaffe. In these last few weeks before the election, I have this fear, this dread, that the wrong person will win, and we as Americans will lose the opportunity to get things right.  My faith in the American people to vote the way I want them to is not very strong, and my party hasn't had a good win in a while.

The upshot here is that I am really starting to think that my life as a Philly sports fan and my life as a politically interested American are overlapping in a strange way.  I find it bizarre that this aspect of my personality is bleeding from sports into politics.  The regular season is over, and it's clutch time. Each game is more important than the last, and there's a lot at stake for my sanity, my teams and my country.

And whatever the outcome, I can't wait for it to be November, when the Anxieties of the Fall are over.

What I did today:

1. Cleaned some of the house.
2. Bought cat food & litter which I was almost out of.
3. Practiced guitar (The Story in your Eyes - Moody Blues)
4. Learned how to drive a stick shift car AND drove on real roads that were not the local high school parking lot.
5. Watched a bit of the BBC America Life on Mars marathon. I miss John Simm on my telly.
6. Fixed my Crackberry's internet not working issue. All is back up and running.
7. Saw Religulous, the Bill Maher movie. It was funny but not as substantive as I'd hoped.
9. Cooked the chicken I bought yesterday so now I have lunches for the next few days.
10. Wrote this post.

It's been a week since I got back from Europe, and I suppose I should really get around to posting. I think I am partially in denial that I have indeed returned from my trip, and being slammed at work has really hit me hard. I am still wading through pics, and should have them up on flickr in the next few days. I am so happy I made the effort and went on the trip. I had been saying for so long that I would travel, but never was able to make good on the promise until now. All of my hard work and planning turned out to have been worth it, and there isn't much I would have changed about my itinerary or choices along the way.

I learned a few things during my European adventure as well. Here are the highlights:

1. I like traveling alone, but also like being with friends. There is an up side to both.
2. Don't jump on a train just because it is on the right platform at the right time. Check the board first. (Learned in Birmingham, England)
3. If you are going to a Shakespeare play, it is definitely helpful to read it first. I re-read Hamlet prior to the show which helped tremendously. (Learned in Stratford Upon Avon, England).
4. If you sing karaoke in a foreign country, go all out. The crowd will appreciate it. (Learned in Edinburgh, Scotland).
5. If you are traveling from London to Amsterdam, take the train. Unless there is a fire in the Chunnel that day. Then take EasyJet. Unless your plane has mechanical troubles and is delayed 2 hours. (Learned while in a plane stuck on the tarmac at Gatwick Airport)
6. When going from Amsterdam Centraal train station to your lodging, take a bus or walk. Taxis there are useless due to the canals and narrow roadways. Oh, and watch out for the bikes. They sneak up on you. (Learned in Amsterdam)
7. When tweeting about your trip, remember that your mom might read your posts and think you are a drunk if you seem to be posting about beer more than any other topic. (Learned in Germany)
8. If you want to see Notre Dame, make sure the Pope isn't giving a sermon there that day. They won't let you in without a ticket from G-d. (Learned in Paris)
9. Pack light. I thought a 30 lb bag for 2 weeks was pretty safe, until I had to lift it up to overheads and navigate the Tube and the Metro. (Learned on the 14+ different trains I had to take during the trip)
10. Appreciate everything you see along the way. I saw one amazing thing after another, and was constantly pinching myself to see if I was really there. (Learned everywhere)

That's about it. I'm taking suggestions for the next big adventure!

This will be short and sweet as I am on a French keyboard that is decidedly different. For instqnce: if I zere to just type nor,qlly; this is hoz it zould turn out: So, I need to watch what I am doing.

England was awesome. I finally saw Hamlet, which I have been raving about for, I don't know, the last year or so? Totally amazing!!!! I will write up my review from the US where it will be easier. Saw cousin Rowan and Hubby Jamie which was fun. We went on a pub crawl to scout locations for her upcoming 30th birthday. I met up with Bridgette & Aleca in Amsterdam. We had fun on the canals and doing touristy stuff. We saw TONS of Obama signs there. Hee hee! On to Cologne, Germany where we went to the Dam, a massive Gothic cathedral. Now we are in Paris, my last stop on the Tour.

I cannot believe it is almost time to go home, but it will be good to get back there and see all my friends, who I wish were here with me.

Scotland is awesome.

Having a super time so far. I have strolled along the Royal Mile, did a Highlands tour, and visited Edinburgh Castle.

I'll post more later, but the big picture thoughts so far:
1. I MUST return to the Highlands for mountain biking. Looks Epic.
2. Loch Ness IS that big and impressive.
3. The Highlands remind me of B.C. near Vancouver
4. I want to live in Edinburgh. Perfect size, on the water, access to mountains, public transit, nice people. I'm sold.
5. I like traveling alone, and have been much braver about it than I thought I would be.
6. Knock on wood, but the weather has been nearly perfect. Cool, but not too cold and little to no rain.
7. Met the coolest local couple at a pub last night (Claire & David).
8. The first day was a bit rough. Jet lag is the new hangover.

I'm off on my European adventure for the next 2 weeks! Stay tuned for updates, internet access permitting.

1.  The individual TV's on my Delta flight last night were busted, so no live Obama speech for me.  Had to catch in on re-run later, which cut out the crowd reaction and hoopla afterward, but it was pretty darn awesome.  I haven't been totally sold on the guy, but I think he did a great job of laying out why he would make a good President.

2.  Sailing is one of my favorite things to do, and I miss it.  Going out on the Chesapeake with my dad today was just perfect.  Great wind, not too hot and it wasn't too crowded in the Bay (Translation: Not a lot of noisy, wake-making, gas-guzzling, loser power boats getting in our way or spoiling the fun).  No such enjoyment in Utah.

3.  I'm going to miss the Republican convention coverage, as I will be abroad next week.  Part of me is glad, but part of me really wants to see what they have to say, and how the McCain folk are gonna deal with having W and Cheney giving speeches on the podium, when associating themselves with Bush is the last thing they want.  More of the same, indeed.

4.  I don't miss the humidity in the East.  Ugh.

5.  2 days til I leave for the UK.  Woo hoo! 

24 Hours to go until I take off for my big European Trip!  So much to do and I am totally not ready.

The list.:
1. Clean the House
2. Finish Packing
3. Figure out the shoe situation (I wanted to limit myself to 3 pairs, but am having trouble figuring out which three).
4. Edit my itinerary document (need to add in some maps)
5. Get some travelers checks
6. Call credit cards so they don't cut off my card due to lots of purchases in foreign lands.
7. Mow the lawn & water it.
8. Take out the trash.
9. Set DVR for whilst I am away.

Ack!  Keeping my fingers crossed I get it all done tonight.

Just a quick catchup on the goings on in sports land for me at the moment.

1. Michael Phelps
I know his 8 gold medals are amazing and has been reported on everywhere over the weekend, but I just wanted to add my two cents in to the fray.  As a competitive swimmer for 10 years, I get what goes into the training for an elite swimmer.  I know I was barely a mediocre swimmer for a couple years and the rest of the time I was just kinda there on my teams.  But I saw what it took for my elite level teammates to maintain that level of excellence, and it's just grueling at best.  To accomplish what Michael did is phenomenal, and it warms my heart a bit to know that he has brought swimming into the "cool sports" category, at least for a while.

P.S. I was checking something on ESPN and on their scroll, they had a WHOLE SEPARATE UPDATE CATEGORY for the dude.  The list went something like MLB, NFL, MLS, Olympics, Phelps, NBA.  Crazy.

2. The Spurs are back!
So, Premier League Football kicked off this past weekend for the 2008-2009 series.  And my Tottenham Hotspur lost its opening match to Middlesbrough 2-1.  I have been nervous since the team lost its main player, Robbie Keane, but hopefully they will pick it up.  The match was on the road, so I think that their next match at home vs. Sunderland should go better.  The good news is that it's Free Preview month for Sentanta on the Dish Network, so I should be able to watch it on TV!

3. Philly Sports Roundup
The Phillies - Let the Mets take over the division lead.  Come on!  Don't tank at the end of the season.  Please!
The Eagles - To be fair, I haven't followed the off season moves, so I have no clue what to expect this year.  I'll likely be a passive fan.
The Flyers - Can hockey please start soon?  I need my fix.
The Sixers - Not really a basketball fan, so I don't really care.

Apparently, the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been delayed until next summer by the studio.

Damn you, Warner Bros.!

So, I'm watching tonight's Top Gear episode on BBC America,  on which they test drove the new BMW 3 series.  My friend Blake plans to buy this car, and the boys at Top Gear really like it, and say it has really nice handling, power and is fun to drive.  But, they say it has some down sides:

1. It's much less stylish than earlier versions.
2. It's now become so popular that it is "common."  If you have one, it says you are spending extra money for a label that doesn't mean as much anymore.
3.  They still nickel and dime you on the extras.
Upshot:  They say to save some money and stand out on the road, buy a high end Mazda 6 or a VW Passat. 

Crap, I just got sidetracked.  The real reason for this post is that during the ads (which I normally ff through with my DVR), I caught a glimpse of a promo for Skins!  Yay!  Finally!  It's the best teen soapy drama I've seen in forever, and if you have any interest in this sort of show whatsoever - watch it.  Great characters, stories, etc.  I have posted about it in the past, but now it's here so you have no excuse.  If you get BBC America, WATCH THIS SHOW.  Screw the new 90210 or the Secret Life of an American Teenager.  It's all about Skins.  Sunday, August 17th.  BBC America.

Friday at work we did this silly fun day sort of thing involving killing ourselves running around town in 103 degree heat in the name of company togetherness. It turned out to be fun, and bonding, but I still hurt and have this lovely massive bruise on my arm from the archery range, and still can't believe I ate worms.  My team didn't win the race, but won the award for "Best Injury."

Here's a link to a story and video from the local news that covered it.  I'm not in it, since my team was too far back. :)

The TWoP recap for S4 of Doctor Who is up, written by the masterful Jacob. 

As long as you have watched the full season, run, do not walk, and read the recap.  Donna is amazing.  I swear, I get more emotional reading these recaps than I do watching the shows.  Looking forward to the Who marathon at Kristi's tomorrow!

Oh, Donna.

Tonight I got called out by my brother (via txt message no less) because I am not on the Facebook.  I called him to be sisterly and catch up, but he was at the Pirates game with my nephew and couldn't chat.  His text message read something along the lines of "If you were on the Facebook, you could have read my status and known I was at the Bucs game."

Now, I know he was kidding (a bit), and I am not sure what this "status" of which he speaks, but this exchange let me to reevaluate my personal interweb policy of not being on the Facebook. 

I don't know why or when, but I have thus far resisted the Facebook.  I have no account there, nor have I even visited the site.  I don't have any widgets, don't play scrabble, or update any pics.  People around me have these conversations about things that are completely over my head.  The thing is, I'm pretty interweb saavy, with the blog and such.  My job is super webby.  I read up on the latest and greatest every day.  I laugh every time I hear someone say "Web 2.0."  I just drew this line in the sand and said "I just don't have time for any more of this, and I'm not getting a Facebook account, dammit!"

With the txt from my brother, I had this moment of doubt.  Have I done the right thing?  Have I missed the boat?  What is it that is keeping me away?  Am I just being stubborn?

Nah.  I think I'll stay Facebook free.

For now.

After repeated viewings of  Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, I am still pretty obsessed with the whole thing.  It's to the point that I have now learned (well, mostly learned) how to play "On the Rise" on the guitar. 


If you haven't seen it yet, go buy it on itunes.  Totally worth the $4.  Neil Patrick Harris is amazing, Nathan Fillion is hilarious and the songs...oh the songs.