Please read this...Pondering Monday morning and other stuff. . .

<p class="p1">This week, once again, we'll wander from here to there, with a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. . .</p><p class="p1">. . .went outside early Monday morning to begin another weekly adventure in the Rat Race. And, for goodness sake, snow was falling. Enough of this already. </p><p class="p1">Got to the car, grabbed the handle on the door, and, as expected, found that it had almost frozen shut, thanks to Sunday night's precipitation and plummeting temperatures. Oh, well, at least we didn't have any blizzards to deal with, like our friends and neighbors up in Chicago land.</p><p class="p1">. . .still no crocuses in the front yard as of midday Monday. However, the weather prognosticators suggested that Tuesday was going to be sunny and warmer, with a high temperature around 45 degrees. So, that is what it has come to: 45 degrees is "warmer." </p><p class="p1">. . .which leads to my annual whining about February. Thank goodness February only lasts for 28 days this year. February is pretty much a non-month. Nothing much happens during February, unless maybe you count Valentine's Day.</p><p class="p1">. . .actually, I suppose there are a few positive things about February. . .</p><p class="p1">. . .for example, Major League Baseball pitchers and catchers will be reporting soon for spring training. Warm breezes can't be far behind.</p><p class="p1">. . .professional ice hockey gets about 13 seconds of attention during February. With that in mind, I just want to say: Go Blues.</p><p class="p1">. . .this year, February also brought with it The Big Game, AKA as Super Bowl XXXXXXLLLLIVVIX. . .</p><p class="p1">. . .The Other Half and yours truly were among the approximately 123 billion people who watched The Big Game last Sunday. Well, I say that "we" watched the game, only in the sense that she and I were in the same room viewing the same flat-screen television. . .</p><p class="p1">. . .like a bazillion other folks, she was more interested in the commercials which accompanied The Big Game. Every once in a while, she would actually glance at the television and ask whether there was actually a game being played. . .</p><p class="p1">. . .as far as the commercials go, we decided that the best ones, well, the most humorous ones, involved screaming goats, a donkey and a flying pig. I think that we both actually decided that the "best" commercial involved a puppy, some Clydesdale horses and a certain beer which is brewed in St. Louis. After some of the commercials aired, though, we just looked at one another and wondered what we had just seen. . .</p><p class="p1">. . .or not seen: for reasons unknown, the image we were watching on television just kind of went away a couple of times during the second half of the game. The wind was blowing pretty hard by then, so that might have had something to do with what was going on. Wonderful technology that we have. The wind blows and the picture on the television goes away.</p><p class="p1">. . .speaking of wondering what we had just seen, or not seen, I'm still trying to figure out the dancing sharks, beach balls and palm trees that showed up during halftime. . .</p><p class="p1">. . .and, like every football fan on this planet and every other planet in the universe, I am still trying to figure out Seattle's pass play on the one-yard line, given that the Seahawks had someone who could carry the ball who is probably the best runningback on the aforementioned planet. Made no sense to me, but I suppose the play will give folks something to talk about for the next LLXXXXVIIXI Super Bowls. . .</p><p class="p1">. . .one way to look at what transpired during the game was that at least the Seahawks and the Patriots were in the game, unlike my favorite team, the Rams, who haven't even been to the playoffs in something like XIV years. . .</p><p class="p1">. . .and, even more interesting, my favorite football team could, once again, become the Los Angeles Rams in the not-so-distant future. So, Los Angeles could once again be the home of a team which has already called Cleveland, Los Angeles and St. Louis home. Sigh.</p><p class="p1">Actually, it's kind of sad to think about such things. I've been a fan of the Cleveland/Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams AND the Arizona/Phoenix/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals. Perhaps it's time to find another team.</p><p class="p1">Enough for this week. Enjoy the rest of February. Or not.</p>