And Now, A Word from Our Sponsors

In our house we watched both the game and the commercials last night. If you have known me for a while you will be amazed. In 16½ years of marriage I had the well-established habit of falling asleep on the couch while Rick watched any football games. Then two years ago I re-discovered knitting, and found a way to keep myself awake.

That was my habit for regular season games. Ever since one of my public relations classes in college I've paid attention to the commercials in the Super Bowl. My favorite for being most memorable was the Bohemian Rhapsody - Mountain Dew commercial from several years ago. (I guess it worked - I still remember the ad, the product, the brand and I told you about it.)

Yesterday I was disappointed for the most part. The lack of taste showed in the amount of gross-ness on display.

The breweries had some very nice ads, and there were some funny ones, but there were not as many home runs as I had hoped to see. This should be like the home run derby during the all-star break.

My first tier favorites, in no particular order were:

Wine & Cheese Party for Bud Light
Great appeal all around! If I were a beer drinker I might recall the brand name. I'm not a beer drinker, so I took notes.

Shaq Horse Race for Vitamin Water
I laughed out loud and laughed hard. This struck me as genuinely funny. I do enjoy horse races and maybe that helped me. I was disappointed I didn't hear any talk about this ad on the radio this morning.

Parade Balloons for Coke
This one just edged out the Shaq Horse Race for me. It is classic, as Coke always strives to be associated with the classic beverage. And talk about a feel-good ad, Charlie Brown achieved a success during a football game.

Talking Shirt Stain for Tide
Wow! Annoying as all get out, but memorable. It cleverly presented a common problem and the solution.

And in the second tier:

Wheel for Bud Light
Funny, I like the way they turn a concept on edge. Or off edge as the case may be.

Making the Team Next Year for Budweiser
Nice concept. Great way to get both icons in the commercial. A feel-good spot.

Pick-up Lines for Bud Light
Have I seen this ad before? It was still funny.

Red for Dell
Even though I must say I didn't really get it after seeing it twice. I guess I should have known who the guy was? Why does it say "save lives"? Too bad I'm not intrigued enough to look it up.

And what about bad ads?

Any thing gross I'd put in this category. I don't care if it's a Godfather car ad, a stock trade ad featuring spit up, animals chewing someone's face off or myriad other creepy crawlie things. Too many times last night I said "I'd rather not see that." The advertisers created resentment in me, thank you very much.

And I did learn something else. I learned Derek Jeter looks very creepy in a trench coat. My notes tell me this ad was for Gatorade. I'm glad that was in my notes. All I could think about it when I first saw it and all I think of now when I remember it is Art Lover by The Kinks. Eeewwwwww -- That is a major gross out factor. The football portion of the ad was clever and funny. The baseball portion could have been the same if it were not for the major wardrobe faux pas. Please lose the trench coat!

This morning I heard the Engineer tell his sister, "Football starts again in August." And I though to myself, "And baseball starts in less that two weeks!" Pitchers and catchers report on the 15th and the first pre-season game is Feb. 28th.

What were your thoughts on the game, the ads?

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

This morning Rick is missing his third day of work and he was down all weekend with this bad bug. The children have followed the same path. A week plus of a constant light cough, followed by a thick throat in the mornings, followed by fevers and all over aches, soon joined by nausea.
The thermometer is being used so often by so many people that it is pointless to put it, the alcohol, or the cotton pads away for the time being.

Rats -- we got back to school so nicely last week and now we will lose momentum again. Until a few minutes ago I was the only one up and about and its already mid-morning.

So instead of having school I'm spending my morning washing my hands (again) and washing the hand towels and the blankets I keep on the couch.

And my antibacterial, antiviral disinfectant spray is my friend. I was able to use it liberally this morning as it is nearly sixty degrees F and all the windows are open.

My periodic prayers, while I wash my hands, have been a mix of thanks to God for sparing me thus far and a humble albeit pleading petition that he will continue to spare me this time.

For the last week the Engineer has been reminding me how many more days we have until the Ohio State game. Today is the big day, and he is feeling so miserable. But I'm willing to bet he will be watching at least the first quarter anyway. , The Super Dome looks like a giant king cake, doesn't it? Go Bucks! (Sorry Dad, I like LSU too, almost as much).

Full Speed Ahead

I can't stop now, the end is in sight! I've picked up stitches on the sleeves of Rick's sweater and gotten a start on each sleeve. All that remains is completing enough rows and reductions to put the cuffs in place. Then the finishing will consist of weaving in ends.

I completed quite a few rows yesterday while the Rick, Die Schreiben von Schreiber and the Browns watched the Steelers play a football game. I was in the room and the sound was on the TV, but I soon learned I really didn't need to concern myself with taking my eyes off my knitting to see the screen.
Did anyone see video footage of Brady Quinn on the sideline? He was taking notes at his clip board during the game. Imagine the captions a still photo from that footage could generate! The three adults each tossed out five or six captions yesterday and I don't remember who said what right now so I'll open it up to you all for ideas. Have fun!