Yes, technically only the Eagles players and coaches actually won the game...but, the heck with that, it's a city-wide synecdoche: We did it! And now I can finally stop worrying about losing another NFC championship...I don't know if I'll feel this way on February 6th, but right now I almost don't care if they win the Superbowl, I'm just glad they finally got to it.
The stadium's just about a mile due south of here, and the main street running through the city is a block and a half west; there's a veritable motorcade of fans making their way up Broad St., and I can hear the honking and the shouting and the sirens through the office window. (Someone on my street was trying to set off firecrackers after the game-winning touchdown, but the snow, as I hoped, has dampened both enthusiasm and fuses.)
Now I've got to go back downstairs and root for the Steelers...as counterintuitive as that feels, I really want an all-PA Superbowl. (New England vs. Pittsburgh is going to be a lot less affected by the snow and freezing weather than Atlanta vs. Philadelphia was; J. says New England has a better chance of winning in this weather, but then, he's from Boston. [Hey, Boston doesn't need to win anything else this year anyway; you got the Red Sox, let us have the Superbowl. Go Steelers!])
More sirens, louder honking, and man, I can't believe how loud those people must be yelling for me to hear it a block and a half away, two stories up, and through a brick-faced plaster wall. I guess they don't really need their voices for another two weeks, though...I wonder how many people will call in sick tomorrow?—either with hangovers or with head colds brought on by screaming their throats raw in below-freezing weather.
Oohhh, here come the traffic helicopters: whuppa-whuppa-whuppa. I think I know what'll be on the news tonight. And tomorrow morning. And tomorrow night. And Tuesday morning. And...
Oh, but I'll let myself be tired of that then. Right now? Dude, this rocks. If I didn't lose my voice at the drop of an octave and a thermometer, I'd be screaming too. And I've got to go make another margarita and cheer for the Steelers now. Woo-hoo!
Update: Aw, Pittsburgh didn't make it. So it's Philly vs. New England; I like New England (the region) just fine, but I think the Patriots have won quite enough Superbowls in the past three years, don't you? (New England residents excluded from that question.)
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Game day
Another good thing about lots of snow the day before a big football game: if we win, it'll be much harder for people to celebrate(=riot) in the streets. (Conversely, if we lose, it'll be harder for them to express their disappointment[=riot] in the streets.) With the sidewalks and side streets blocked, you can't run amok very efficiently; and who wants to turn over a car when they have to dig it out from under a foot of snow first?
I started writing this about an hour ago—I've got pictures to post, and I've been editing them and working on the Javascript—but the game's just started, so I'm going to post this and go downstairs and get to work on the barbecue chicken wings. Pictures to come, though, perhaps at halftime; a South Philly side street the day after a weekend snowfall is as close to impassable as a major metropolitan area below the 60th latitude can get.
I started writing this about an hour ago—I've got pictures to post, and I've been editing them and working on the Javascript—but the game's just started, so I'm going to post this and go downstairs and get to work on the barbecue chicken wings. Pictures to come, though, perhaps at halftime; a South Philly side street the day after a weekend snowfall is as close to impassable as a major metropolitan area below the 60th latitude can get.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Snow, part deux
Lots of snow today—not by Massachusetts or Minnesota standards, but 8"-12" is quite a bit for a single day's snowfall in Philadelphia. No one's getting a car out of my street for a while, certainly. I'd prefer a big snowfall to happen on a weekday, so I'd get a day off from work; but, if it's gotta be on a Saturday, the day before the Eagles play the Atlanta Falcons is the best one I can think of. (The 11 o'clock news is a frantic series of Godardian cross-cuts between the weather guy and the sports guy, with the anchors in between hardly knowing which they should be more excited about. [My favorite "...but it's snowing!" newscaster perplexity: the day Saddam Hussein was captured, there was also a winter storm on the way. Those poor anchorpersons. They just didn't know what to do with themselves.])
I dreamed about the Eagles again last night; this is pathetic, I don't remember ever dreaming about a sports team before, let alone two nights in one week. In this one, they were winning what apparently was tomorrow's game; another person watching was saying "It's stupid to think they'll lose, look at that play!" and I said "It's stupid to assume they'll win, they've got plenty of time to screw it up." (At least, in my dream, it was a Terrell Owens play we were watching; perhaps it's a sign that he'll be back on the field tomorrow. [You never get a second chance to lose your first NFC championship!])
What, overly pessimistic? You can't be too cautious. I'm not gonna say anything to jinx it.
I dreamed about the Eagles again last night; this is pathetic, I don't remember ever dreaming about a sports team before, let alone two nights in one week. In this one, they were winning what apparently was tomorrow's game; another person watching was saying "It's stupid to think they'll lose, look at that play!" and I said "It's stupid to assume they'll win, they've got plenty of time to screw it up." (At least, in my dream, it was a Terrell Owens play we were watching; perhaps it's a sign that he'll be back on the field tomorrow. [You never get a second chance to lose your first NFC championship!])
What, overly pessimistic? You can't be too cautious. I'm not gonna say anything to jinx it.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Hey, you know that inauguration thing?
Not gonna write about it.
I am going to write about some of the inauguration coverage on TV this morning, though:
Today Show piece on Bush's top three advisors; when they showed the intro clip of the three guys walking together, they probably shouldn't have played the theme song to "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." (I know they're going for all the cowboy/Western themes they can, but that was not the best choice for that particular clip—at least not if they're trying to stay out of trouble.)
Showing highlights of previous inaugurations; clip from Clinton's inaugural address:
Not gonna write about it.
I am going to write about some of the inauguration coverage on TV this morning, though:
Today Show piece on Bush's top three advisors; when they showed the intro clip of the three guys walking together, they probably shouldn't have played the theme song to "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." (I know they're going for all the cowboy/Western themes they can, but that was not the best choice for that particular clip—at least not if they're trying to stay out of trouble.)
Showing highlights of previous inaugurations; clip from Clinton's inaugural address:
Clinton: We must keep this old democracy forever young—
J. (as Clinton): "And hot—"
Me: "And available. Here's my number."
Snow!
First snowfall of the year yesterday—I watched it through my office window, small flakes falling thick and steady, with less than an inch of accumulation. And I was happy.
Yes, I know: snow in the city gets ugly very fast. Exhaust turns it black, tires turn it brown, dog pee turns it yellow. Traffic slows down or stops, cars skid, pedestrians fall, buses run late or not at all.* When the weather warms up, it turns into dirty slush, and then to dirty puddles; when the weather gets colder, it turns into slick ice. But...but, but, but...when I see the first snow of the season, when it's clean and white and covering everything with a pure even layer that looks as soft and rounded as a down pillow...the nine-year-old girl in me comes out and gets all excited and thinks "Oooohhhh, that's so cool! Ooooohhhh, it's so pretty!" Yes, even though I don't get snow days off from school anymore, the first snowy day is as fresh and exciting as the first snow I ever saw.
There, that's quite enough quasi-poetic transports of rapture and reminiscence for one day...
(I wish I'd had my camera with me yesterday, so I could've taken pictures when the snow was falling; I've got it with me today, and I'll try to get some pictures of non-black/ brown/ yellow/ trod-upon snow in the more attractive areas around my office and my neighborhood. Probably by the time we have another snowfall, forecast for this weekend, I'll be well over it, and I won't want to take any more pictures; but for now—Snow! Yay! Snow!)
*Earlier versions of this sentence included "cars skid and stall, pedestrians slip and fall, buses run late or not at all," but I thought it would be really lame to have that many rhymes.
Yes, I know: snow in the city gets ugly very fast. Exhaust turns it black, tires turn it brown, dog pee turns it yellow. Traffic slows down or stops, cars skid, pedestrians fall, buses run late or not at all.* When the weather warms up, it turns into dirty slush, and then to dirty puddles; when the weather gets colder, it turns into slick ice. But...but, but, but...when I see the first snow of the season, when it's clean and white and covering everything with a pure even layer that looks as soft and rounded as a down pillow...the nine-year-old girl in me comes out and gets all excited and thinks "Oooohhhh, that's so cool! Ooooohhhh, it's so pretty!" Yes, even though I don't get snow days off from school anymore, the first snowy day is as fresh and exciting as the first snow I ever saw.
There, that's quite enough quasi-poetic transports of rapture and reminiscence for one day...
(I wish I'd had my camera with me yesterday, so I could've taken pictures when the snow was falling; I've got it with me today, and I'll try to get some pictures of non-black/ brown/ yellow/ trod-upon snow in the more attractive areas around my office and my neighborhood. Probably by the time we have another snowfall, forecast for this weekend, I'll be well over it, and I won't want to take any more pictures; but for now—Snow! Yay! Snow!)
*Earlier versions of this sentence included "cars skid and stall, pedestrians slip and fall, buses run late or not at all," but I thought it would be really lame to have that many rhymes.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Semi-on day
Well, this is the darnedest thing: I stayed home today (yesterday, technically, since it's after midnight) with the intention of getting work done, and I actually got work done. Quite a bit of it—I even got through the dreaded Bible-reference linking stage (this is where the program I've codenamed "Cite-O-Matic" comes in; the frippin' thing drives me crazy, but fortunately this project didn't have too much weird stuff getting in the way). Um, yeah, TMDI (Too Much Dull Information); I just think it's sufficiently odd to be noteworthy that I got more work done, probably, than I would have if I'd gone to the office.
I think staying home, warm, and well-rested has nipped whatever I was coming down with in the bud, so unless I feel markedly worse tomorrow morning, I think I'll go into work. The project's still due yesterday, and even though I did get stuff done, I think my manager would be a lot happier if I were in the office to be told it needed to get done.
Ideally, of course, if I want to feel better, I shouldn't be up till 12:45. But I'm only awake now because I didn't eat enough during the day and got painfully hungry at midnight; I had to go back downstairs and make a sufficiently filling mini-meal so I could get to sleep. Now I've got to brush my teeth again; phoo. Well, better get to it, and to bed. G'night.
I think staying home, warm, and well-rested has nipped whatever I was coming down with in the bud, so unless I feel markedly worse tomorrow morning, I think I'll go into work. The project's still due yesterday, and even though I did get stuff done, I think my manager would be a lot happier if I were in the office to be told it needed to get done.
Ideally, of course, if I want to feel better, I shouldn't be up till 12:45. But I'm only awake now because I didn't eat enough during the day and got painfully hungry at midnight; I had to go back downstairs and make a sufficiently filling mini-meal so I could get to sleep. Now I've got to brush my teeth again; phoo. Well, better get to it, and to bed. G'night.
Day semi-off
Home today, sick-ish; but not missing work, exactly. I'm feeling run-down and congested and scratchy-throated, and since it's 15° out there with a single-digit wind chill, and today's high is only 21°, I really don't want to be standing at three different bus stops on my way to and from work.* And I knew I'd be tired and grumpy in the office, and I don't want to get anyone else sick, or pick up anything from anyone else who's sick, for that matter. (As I've previously mentioned, I really hate it when anyone who's sick comes into work and spreads their germs through the entire office.)
Right, so I'm not at work today. But not not-working: remember that project that, last week, was due this Monday? As I probably knew all along, it's not done yet. I'd brought the files and all my associated TextPad clip libraries and macros home on Friday, intending to work on it over the weekend; I didn't (as I probably also knew all along), but with those files at home with me now, and having had my manager send me my backup files from yesterday, I'm able to work on the project at home today. (Really, I am working on it this time.) (Except while I'm writing this, I mean.) I've worked at home before, not always with very productive results, but with my nifty-keen DSL connection, it's a lot easier to upload and download files from the company's FTP site and to do necessary research online. (It is too necessary!—looking up Bible references at BibleGateway.com† is a lot faster and easier than flipping through the pages of an actual Bible, trying to remember if Habakkuk is before or after Haggai,‡ and squinting at those tiny superscript verse numbers.)
*Three bus stops, for two trips? Yeah, it's an eastbound bus and a northbound bus on the way in, and a westbound bus and the southbound subway on the way home. (Yes, I could take the subway north and a bus east on the way to work, too, and avoid one of the out-in-the-cold bus waits, but the northbound subway-to-eastbound bus connection is spottier in the morning than the two-bus route.)
†I hope they don't hate me for being in their "who links here?" logs now.
‡Before. But I only know that because I drilled the order of the Minor Prophets into my head through sheer willpower and rote memorization.
Right, so I'm not at work today. But not not-working: remember that project that, last week, was due this Monday? As I probably knew all along, it's not done yet. I'd brought the files and all my associated TextPad clip libraries and macros home on Friday, intending to work on it over the weekend; I didn't (as I probably also knew all along), but with those files at home with me now, and having had my manager send me my backup files from yesterday, I'm able to work on the project at home today. (Really, I am working on it this time.) (Except while I'm writing this, I mean.) I've worked at home before, not always with very productive results, but with my nifty-keen DSL connection, it's a lot easier to upload and download files from the company's FTP site and to do necessary research online. (It is too necessary!—looking up Bible references at BibleGateway.com† is a lot faster and easier than flipping through the pages of an actual Bible, trying to remember if Habakkuk is before or after Haggai,‡ and squinting at those tiny superscript verse numbers.)
*Three bus stops, for two trips? Yeah, it's an eastbound bus and a northbound bus on the way in, and a westbound bus and the southbound subway on the way home. (Yes, I could take the subway north and a bus east on the way to work, too, and avoid one of the out-in-the-cold bus waits, but the northbound subway-to-eastbound bus connection is spottier in the morning than the two-bus route.)
†I hope they don't hate me for being in their "who links here?" logs now.
‡Before. But I only know that because I drilled the order of the Minor Prophets into my head through sheer willpower and rote memorization.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)