Hap-hap-happenin's

I suppose its been awhile since I've updated this thing, so I thought I'd pop in and let you know what I've been up to, since I know you're dying to know. :]

But things have been pretty standard out here. Steven and I visited my aunt and uncle in beautiful Monterey a couple weekends ago and had a marvelous time. It had been far too long since we'd spent time with them, so it was great to catch up. Their house is absolutely gorgeous and right in the middle of the action in downtown Monterey.

I also got to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium (finally) and got to experience 'The Secret Lives of Seahorses' exhibit. It had an incredible number of interesting seahorse species including the one below, the Leafy Sea Dragon. Isn't it amazing that creatures like this exist?

This weekend was fairly laid back. On Saturday I celebrated 'Read Comics in Public Day' by reading my issue of The Amazing Spider-Man - The Wedding! out by the river. Later, I headed out to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World again with some friends from work. If you haven't seen this awesome movie yet - what have you been waiting for? Seriously, go see it right now, you won't be sorry.

Sunday was pretty laid back, I was supposed to meet up with some friends visiting the Bay Area, but unfortunately it just got too late. So I cleaned the apartment to prep for Steven's mom visiting this week - yay! Funny how every time I give the apartment a good scrub down, I swear that its going to stay that way this time, and then a week later its all cluttered again. Oh well, I suppose its due to our lack of places to put things - and not due to the fact that we're slobs.

My First 'Sports Opinion' Piece: Brett Favre

Whelp, 'Favre Watch 2010' is over, and as I'm sure most of you know, ended with Brett back in Minnesota. ...Le sigh.

It's not that he's playing for the Viking's again, honestly, it's not. I've still got my green and gold '4 Brett Favre Dr' sign hanging in my office at home. I mean, of course last season felt like a punch in the face, but this season I think the whole saga just passed the point of ridiculousness.

He had, statistically, one of the best seasons of his career last season - no one can deny that. Of course he would want to continue that, anyone would. But playing at the cost of your reputation, is that worth it?

Brett's been singing this retirement tune since 2002, and why wouldn't he? Look at all the attention he gets! ESPN practically had 24-hour coverage, and it made Mike & Mike look like a couple of gossiping 80-year old women (although one could argue they've always been that way).

But let's take a step back and look at what last season cost him. Almost the entire state of Wisconsin loathed him, and he even got boo'ed at Lambeau (which is truly hard to acheive). A state, mind you, who used to depecit him in photos like this:

Fast forward to this season, and he was singing the same song: "My ankle's injured, I don't know if my body is healthy enough to play...I'm a no good, lousy traitor." (OK maybe that last part isn't entirely true, and maybe there is still some bad blood there.)

While thinking you might not be healthy enough to play is an extremely valid concern, I think the fact of the matter is that these decisions need to be made before training camp begins. The team needs to know who their starting QB will be, whose lead they will follow. They need to get comfortable with his style, get comfortable with new plays, and overall just create a general team camaraderie and trust. Brett Favre may not need training camp from a performance standpoint, but his teammates certainly need to see him there.

And the fact that three players needed to fly out and grovel at his feet for his return, doesn't show a great commitment on Brett's part to the team. In all honesty, I think Favre is playing for Favre. He wants another Superbowl ring for himself, and could care less about the team.

All in all, Brett may be still be a great QB, but his word and his reputation are going up in flames. And at the end of the day, I think a quarterback who is considered one of the best to play the game AND keeps his integrity is remembered a hell of a lot more fondly than one who destroys his off-field reputation.

As for me, I'll always fondly remember Brett for the years he gave us in Green Bay. I mean, he was the only Packers quarterback I really knew, considering he started with the team when I was in the first grade.

But I'll tell you this, I'm hella glad we've got Aaron Rodgers' steady arm. He's got ah-mazing potential, and is dedicated to the team. It will defintely be a most interesting season.

GO PACK GO!

My Mid(ish)-Year Resolution

Personally, I find mid-year resolutions to be far more productive than new-year resolutions. In the new year, you think about the things that bothered you about your life last year - whether it be the generic diet, exercise, or finance - and set goals for the new year.

But for me, I think mid-year resolutions are far more practical. You're living in the situation, so you have far more motivation to change what you don't like. On my end, I want to be more positive, and try to stop disliking...well...mostly everyone.

I'm starting with a simple necklace, found through my good friend Stacie at The Tales from the Fairy Dust. Not only did it 'fit the bill' of a simple necklace that I could wear daily, it kind of looks like 'The One Ring', and the text on the card quickly became my new mantra:

Far too often I find myself getting frustrated and angry at certain situations or people at work. And many of my colleagues have an automatic impulse to be negative, blame a person, recall past grievances, and get really angry. To be honest, it gets really tiring and really starts to wear on a person. So now, I am going to try and break the cycle and start being more positive. As my very wise mother always says, 'You can't change the way people act, but you can change the way you feel about the situation.'

And that's what I'm going to try to do. I do think I made a major step in the right direction when I didn't buy the following necklace, although I was sorely tempted:

And my other mid(ish)-year resolution? To finally do something with geekcr3d.com. Seriously. I've procrastinated enough... and am taking suggestions.

ZOMG "Weird Al" Yankovic at the Fair!!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of having one of my lifetime goals achieved, which was to see "Weird Al" Yankovic in concert. And yes, it was everything I thought it would be and more. I was really impressed that he played a full show, since it was a free concert at the California State fair. But we had the pleasure of experiencing full costume changes complete with "Al TV" clips in between songs.

Since we were unaware of the wristbands given out earlier in the day, we didn't get the up close seats. But we did find a nice spot in the grass directly across from the stage over a moat-ish body of water where there were boats with water cannons circling a fountain. Kind of random, but they had some nice video boards set up, and I had a basket of fried cheese curds, so I was ready to go!

He opened the show with a new polka - "Polka Face" - which included Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", Brittney Spears' "Womanizer", Jamie Foxx's "Blame it on the Alcohol", Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl", Owl City's "Fireflies" and a couple others. It was fantastically executed as per usual, and was funny because right before the concert we were asking each other what the chances would be that he would parody Lady Gaga.

But perhaps my favorite part of the night was his performance of "Wanna B Ur Lovr." It was the one song where he walked through the crowd and interacted with the ladies in conjunction with the lyrics of the song. It was really fun and really made me wish I had the up front seats ...sigh.

And of course, the encore where he performed "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda" dressed as Obi-Wan, complete with background "dancers" dressed as Storm Troopers needs no mention of its awesomeness.

Overall the concert was definitely one of the best I've been to. I'm ready to go to another one though and get closer tickets! Although our seats were great for only paying $5, it definitely wasn't the same vibe as being surrounded by other hardcore fans. But I still danced around, clapped, and sang along to the songs...even though I was probably the only one in the area we were sitting.

I'll finish this post off with a quote from Weird Al himself, "When I was planning this tour, I requested to my [booking agent] that I wanted to play at least one show at a state fair over a moat. So you know... dreams do come true."

Why yes, Al (can I call you Al?), yes they do.