Friday, September 30, 2011

At home today...

...with a little girl recovering from a cold.  So, yeah, spent last evening at the Arkansas Children's Hospital after-hours clinic with my daughter, who was running a fever.  However, after some drugs and some good sleep, she's well on her way to recovery.  She is spending the day with me because she cannot be at daycare having had a fever in the previous 24 hours.  Not a big deal -- we're enjoying play time together.

Currently, she's back in her crib, doing her best to resist naptime ;)  So I figured I'd take a moment to write this quick post and say hello.  AND to wish everyone a happy, fall-like weekend.  Gotta run, looks like naptime is over!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Operation: Lose Weight Update and a Wednesday video (Joan Armatrading)

Wow, I totally blanked on yesterday's post, didn't I?  Yesterday was kind of a fragmented day (an eye appointment, another work-related appointment, friends dropping by after work, etc.) and I guess I couldn't get into my normal groove, leading to my forgetting to post last night.  No big deal.  I'll just double up today ;)

First, though, I'd like to note that, after a slight plateau (and some backtracking over the weekend) in my ongoing attempt at shedding some pounds, I've lost* a belt size and am back at my highest loss point so far (19 lbs).  Hooray for me.  Maybe I can hit TWENTY by the weekend?  That would be pretty sweet.  I'd like to be at thirty by the time my son comes in mid-November so I can spend part of my four-week paternity leave from work starting up a walking/running regimine.  I'd resisted so far because 1) I'd like to shed as much weight before running on a hard surface to help out my knees a bit more and 2) I'm still a little bit on the lazy side**, especially after I get home from work.  I'm hoping that during paternity leave, while my daughter is in daycare and my wife and newborn are napping during the day I can get out for 30-45 minutes.  I believe that if I'm down thirty by that time and if I have a month's worth of running/walking sessions, I could be down forty by Christmas.  In June I would have thought that was unpossible, but I think I see a path to that number.  Cross your fingers!

OK, on to a video.  While I don't think I'm overstating the case that I have a very wide breadth of music knowledge, especially established artists from the mid-60's through the late 90's, I'll easily admit that some slip through the cracks.  I'll credit my wife with introducing me more fully with Joan Armatrading*** in recent years.  How I never learned to appreciate her when I was knee deep in Blue or Tapestry, I'll never completely understand.  I guess better late than never.  This song is one of my favorites.


And this one is fantastic as well.  Enjoy.


*  Or is it gained?  I'm not sure what the proper term is.  In any event, I cinch the belt on additional belt loop, making the circumference of the belt circle smaller.  Whatever that's referred to, that's what I'm describing ;)
**  Aside from my Sunday afternoon soccer matches, in which I still fully participate for ninety minutes.  Goalkeeper, sure, but I'm out there the entire game!
***  I had actually heard of her before and knew she was "like Joni Mitchell" but hadn't ever listened to her music.


Monday, September 26, 2011

Hog game recap (ouch...still smarting)

Well, that was some weekend, wasn't it?  Fantastic weather and a solidly unfantastic Hogs/Tide game.  I haven't watched such a complete domination between two opponents that were allegedly in the same vicinity, skill-wise, in quite some time.  It is clear that the Razorback offensive line needs some serious work.  And it is doubly clear that, four years into Willy Robinson's tenure, the Hogs still cannot tackle a person carrying the football.  That being said, the Hogs were on the road, in a formidable and hostile environment.  Three of Alabama's touchdowns were scored unconventionally* and were not the result of a sustained, end zone-to-end zone drive.  And the Hogs were missing some very key players (Bequette and Knile Davis to pre-game injury, and Tenarious Wright to an injury during the game) whose presence surely would have helped the Hogs' cause.  But even if those things were in different and instead in the Razorbacks' favor, there still was no answer to the Tide's defensive front, both against the run and the pass.  We just got eaten alive.  No running game meant no play-action pass options and at least six defensive backs on every down.  Unless we tame that defensive front five, we never stood a chance.

If this game had been played on October 24 instead of September 24, I think the Hogs play much better.  We just weren't ready for Alabama.  On a brighter note, however, is that I do believe we will continue to improve.  This is why I still like the Hogs to win out, even against LSU on the last game.  A&M presents a challenge next week, although their pass defense was exposed by OSU pretty badly and I think the Hogs passing attack, while not quite as good as OSU's, is good enough to do the same.  And, let's face it, we're not going to face a better D-line than 'Bama's for the rest of the year.  But then it is Auburn at home, a terrible Ole Miss team in Oxford, a slightly better but still not good Vandy team in Nashville, and then South Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi State all at home.  I believe those will all be wins.  And then LSU to determine who goes BCS bowling. 

*  A fake field goal, a punt return, and an interception-and-score.