Musings on March

It is that time of year when young men's fancies turn to seedings and Cinderellas. In traditional fashion, my beloved UConn Huskies have completely collapsed in the post-season, losing their first games in both the Big East and the NCAA tournaments. Thankfully, I cheer for a school with an equally, if not superior, talented women's team and so I am currently watching the Lady Huskies beat up on ODU. Though I wish they were beating them up just a bit more.

As a side note, I am watching the game on ESPN2. Don't get me started as to why the women's tournament is relegated to ESPN2 and that in an effort to so more women's basketball they don't take figure skating off ESPN and show games there the first weekend. Also on ESPN2 I just watched back to back David "Big Papi" Ortiz commercials. I don't know if he gets these commercials because he is the worst paid Red Sox, or if has Travis Henry type issues - but I do know it is not for his acting skills.

All of this tournament talked raised an interesting question this morning. I was discussing Duke women's upcoming game today - and their possible future match up with UConn rival Tennessee. I told my Duke loving husband that if Duke does survive to play Tennessee I will have to cheer for Duke to lose, because I need for Tenn to survive to the National Championship game where they would match up against UConn. I feel that even if UConn were to win the Championship - that is when UConn wins the championship - it will lose something if they have not defeated Tenn to do so. My husband suggested that 1) this shows a certain level of cockiness that I believe UConn would win (and yes, I do believe that) and 2) it is contrary to his feelings. He wants his team to be up against Coppin State every time and win the championship by 50. Maybe having been a victim of the George Mason miracle, I don't trust a Coppin State match up. Maybe I take the wins and losses more personally - I really do wish to see Pat and her team cry this year. I hate the Orange, I hate Rocky Top and I hate Pat Summit's "play by my rules or I'll take my ball home" attitude as of late.

So I will continue to cheer on my girls but I will cheer on the Volunteers as well, so that they can make it to the destined match up in Tampa and we prove once and for all who the premiere women's basketball team is. (And we'll use Maya Moore to do it. :P )

Our Long National Nightmare is Over

The Writers' strike is over and some of our favorite shows are finally returning - including How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM). And in celebration, a little HIMYM stream of consciousness.

"That's so not raven" is my new B to the W.

"They’re old and married and its too late for them now." Sad but probably true.

My husband still has to carry me over the threshold and I am holding him to that when he comes home.

No fear of the repercussions of our actions –The past couple year's this was my philosophy for St Pats. I had long ago instituted a free drunk dial day on St Pats Day and I think this really should be the theme of every St Pats. I look forward to my husband's return and the return of the Doyle St Pat's celebration next year.

Li-i-i-ve

Its that time again. Another season of Dancing with the Stars has started. And thank God. My favorite part of the show is reading the "stars" bios on wikipedia. I thought I'd share of the high points of last night's show (the "guys episode") with appropriate links to the awesome bios.

Penn of Penn and Teller. Just a big lug Likes the magic. I was frankly bored.

Jason Taylor. Talked about as the top defensive player in the NFL. But with his team the Miami Dophins only winning one game last season, one has to question that distinction. He may be part of the most attractive couple this season. He is married to the little sister of his former teammate, which is adorable and he's not a bad dancer. I have to say I was reading his wiki bio and it noted he was born in 1974 and was 33. I was sort of shocked, because I was born in 1979 - how could he be 33 and born so close to me. All this means, I'm old.

Cristian De La Fuente. I have no idea who this is. Apparently a Chiliean movie star who was also on Ugly Betty. He is a first lieutenant in the Chilean Air Force, which is admirable, he flies acrobatic planes. He did note that Chile is not known for its dancers, but its sea bass and wine. I am fan of both and wish him luck.

Adam Corrolla. I think everything that comes to mind when you hear Adam Corrolla on DWTS is absolutely true.

Mario. R&B star. Apparently winner of two "Billboard" awards. Way to go. He described himself as the "torch carrier for his generation." I only wish I could write stuff that good. His wiki bio notes that he was in both Step Up and Freedom Writers but has never taken an acting class. Hard to believe he only has two Billboards.

Steve Guttenberg. His movie clip in the intro was Three Men and a Baby. Probably because he really hasn't done much outside of the Three Men franchise in the last twenty years. He seems genuinely excited and happy to be there. For some reason, I think he acts much like my husband would on the show - just happy to perform and be there and be with people. Maybe that also suggests my husband should make a film with Tom Selleck.

We got a preview of the women's competitors for tomorrow - Marissa Jaret Winokur has already called for the "fat girl" vote and Marlee Matlin has asked us to "read her hips." Yes, the fun is just beginning.

The Cutting Edge Time Warp

Weekends can be a bit rough when your the wife of a deployed Soldier. Things have improved greatly for us Army wives and technology has made deployments easier. Example - ABC Family. There was no ABC Family during Vietnam. Imagine how hard deployments were to survive when there was no ABC Family to distract you?! ABCF really outdid themselves this weekend with a Cutting Edge weekend.

You may recall The Cutting Edge, the 1992 masterpiece about pair's ice skating. It starred Moira Kelly - who at this point in my life is hard to watch in this film without wondering if she was pregnant with Lucas before or after her Olympic medal. There's also D.B. Sweeney, who sadly seems to have started and ended his bl0ckbuster career there. And everyone favorite's paraplegic (well maybe second favorite after Jason Street), Terry Quinn, looking young and less evil than his more recent rebellious Locke.

In 2006, ABCF created The Cutting Edge II: Going for the Gold. The plot line here was that the child of Doug and Kate (Mosley) Dorsey, Jackie Dorsey, is a teenage ice skating champ who gets hurt and cannot skate alone anymore. (Jackie is assumedly named after her grandfather, Jack Mosley.) Therefore she is forced to take a partner for pairs ice skating - this time a champion in-line skater from LA. (Moira Kelly is too busy with Karen's Cafe to star in this one and DB Sweeney is dead. . unemployed. . . doing an off-Broadway play?) If you do the math, though, and allege that Kate was extremely fertile and became pregnant the evening they won the 1992 Olympics, then their child would be about 13 in 2006. Which she is totally not in the sequel. She's at least 18, and I'm pretty sure she drinks in the film, so supposed to be 21, I think. So that when the time warp enters into play. We have to either imagine that Jackie aged in soap opera time, or that CEII takes place in 2012.

But the fun doesn't stop there. I won't ruin the surprise of what happens at the end of CEII, but ABCF has brought us the magic once again with Sunday's premiere of Cutting Edge III: Chasing the Dream. In this one, a male figure skater needs a new partner so WOMEN'S HOCKEY PLAYER is brought in. But she is rough around the edges and never skated in skates with a toe pick before (I am not making this up people) so they need a coach. That's where Jackie Dorsey (see above) comes in. So I guess if we age Jackie from her assumed age of 21 in 2002 to 27 in 2008, it would work out for her to be a new coach, having retired from skating. Or it could be 2018. I also fell that they just did a find and replace to the original CE script and changed and the he's to she's and vice versa. All of this is not to say I am not anxiously awaiting its premiere tomorrow evening.

Delicious Sources of Various Types of Sugar

After a delicious meal of leftovers, I had a dessert of beer and Peeps. I am not sure which was sadder - the dessert itself or how happy the dessert made me. Peeps are a good dessert - 32 calories per Peep and no fat and you physically can't eat more than two without getting ill, so its pretty easy to practice portion control. I am a bit of a Peeps purist. I will only eat the yellow chicks type of Peeps. The Peeps production has gotten a little out of control, with such flavors as, cocoa, orange, strawberry, vanilla, peppermint and cookie. They come in various seasons, including cats, gingerbread men, hearts, pumpkins and ghosts. I am apparently not alone in my feelings - yellow Peeps are the most popular, followed by pink, lavender, blue and white. It used to take 27 hours to make one Peep chick and it now only takes 6 minutes. The more I learn about these wonders, I can't understand how there isn't a NPR story about it. . . maybe producing one will be my big break on public radio.

The Best Iron Chef America EVER??

I am currently watching what is possibly the best Iron Chef America ever, which is saying a lot if you saw this year's holiday episode with Paula Deen as the drunken celebrity guest chef, who was paired with a fairly unamused Cat Cora, Robert "I Lied" Irvin and Tyler "Appleby" Florence - with special judge Tina Fey. But I digress, this episode is Battle Elk with Bobby Flay being challenged by the Rathbun brothers - one of whom owns Abacus restaurant in Texas, who's executive chef is Trey - from Top Chef Miami!! That's right! It is a perfect storm of cooking game shows! But as if that wasn't enough to make this an awesome episode - the rapper Bone Crusher is the guest judge. He listed his favorite foods as wings and macaroni and cheese. I can't make this up. FoodTV, you are too too good to us. I just hope Bobby Flay is Neva Scared and can withstand this challenge to his Iron Chef title.

Everyone Loves a Parade

Yesterday was the St Patrick's Day Parade in Old Town. I love St Patrick's Day for a lot of reasons. 1) Green is a pretty cool color. 2) I love that there is really no historical significance to the St Pat's celebration as we know it, but its still pretty awesome. 3) It reminds me of my family (and my former identity) 4) Anytime you can drink an Irish coffee on the street at 11:00am without judgment is a pretty awesome occasion.

I have to say I was a little down about this year's March 17. Last year was great - my husband and I hosted a great party at the Doyle Townhome and just had a great time with Irish beer, Irish music, green everywhere and awesome friends. This year with my husband far from home and no real plans in sight, it seemed like it would pass without many jigs or Guinness toasts. So discovering on Friday night that bagpipes would line my neighborhood streets the next day, it made me pretty happy.

The parade itself was fun with your bagpipers and military honor guards and Irish step dancers - even a rugby exhibition. But there were two things that stuck out to me.

Dogs - apparently this is quite the Old Town tradition. The parade starts with a dog show or lap or something. And then the dogs walk in the parade. My husband and I love puppies of all shapes and sizes and want a dog almost as much as we want to live in the same state. The former will occur as soon as the latter does. Maybe on the same day. But the puppies made me happy. The Irish Wolfhounds were quite impressive - being almost as tall as I am. My next favorite were the Bassets, who were all dressed up and adorably so (see the above photo). One even had his tail dyed green.

Shriners - I know Shriners do great work. But they scare me. They wear funny hats. They raise camels and somehow make money doing it. They have clowns with scary names and make up. They ride in silly little cars. The cars scared the hell out of me. And those around me - the little girl to the left of me asked her mom if they had legs. The little girl to the right of me scrambled up from where she was sitting, afraid the would run over her feet. I shared many of their same concerns, but was mostly afraid that they were going to overturn in their little cars and cause a fiery disastrous mess in the middle of Old Town on a glorious March Saturday. No one wants that. The good thing about being a Shriner in a little car though - you get a personalized license plate with your name on it. I guess knowing that the guy in the scary little car's name is Pete makes things just a little less scary.