Snowy Saturday Morning

We finally got a bit more than a dusting of snow here. For a while, I was wondering why the Northeast has always had such a "Winter Wonderland" mystique . It's mornings like this, I guess. I've taken a few pictures of how we look this morning. And, well, it is pretty gosh-darned pretty. In the winter, the sun comes up over the woods visible from the back corner of the deck, through the woods. There is a lot of snow on the branches of the trees behind us. It's really pretty.
Last night's snow was a curious mixture of snow blended with just enough freezing rain to keep the accumulation down, which was too bad. Janice and I went out for dinner to have some Italian food last night, and it was snowing hard at 37°, which was pretty strange. The ground was apparently cold enough for the snow to stick, but there was enough rain in it that there were many "pock marks" in what we ended up getting - you can see it here (table for four, anyone?).
Editorial

I have a bit of conflict over this year's Super Bowl. In honor of Dad and being an Illinois native, I feel like I should be supporting "da Bears". However, since I work with so many Peyton Manning-bashing "Great stats, can't win the big game" morons, I feel more compelled to support the Colts. For the past three or four years, I've heard "The Patriots are the greatest team ever", "Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback ever", blah, blah, blah, blah, and blah.

I am completely sick of the New England Patriots and have been for the past five or six years. I was elated (no, overjoyed, actually) when Brady was picked off at the end of the AFC Championship Game for the Colts to seal the deal. I am tired of all the talk about how they have this great system, how they are so well coached, how they are about "team" not individual stats, how great their defense is, and how great their quarterback is. Try working with people who bring stuff up like that every other sentence, and you'll know the situation.

Finally ... Manning comes up with a decent half against them, and rubs their noses in it.

I loved it, and it has provided me with two weeks of "Oh ... I guess that wasn't a 'big game'?".

So, for me, the coup de gras will be if Manning comes up with a win in Super Bowl XLI, so I can FINALLY stop hearing "he can't win the big one".

All in all however ... I would still much rather see my Redskins in there.

Now that I've finished that anti-Patriots tirade ...

For your viewing enjoyment and laughter, I leave you with one of the few (if any) pictures ever taken of me dancing the "Beer Barrel Polka". This was taken at Edelweiss, a restaurant in Fort Worth ... just after we'd all finished a rendition of the "Chicken Dance" (hence the headgear).