Start The Countdown

There's lots to address and so little time in which to do so. First, Kaia's impending visit is finally, well, finalized -- she's in on Friday, which also means this week is going to be chock-full of me cleaning, laundry-izing and otherwise getting the apartment up to spec. I got back to NYC late this afternoon so I managed to do all (er...most of) my laundry, and I actually began the process of Swiffering the first layer of whatever permeates my current living space. Tomorrow's another day.

In other news: it's nice to know my sentiments regarding Jamie Foxx (and those who concurred with my view) are not in the minority. Check this post at What Would Tyler Durden Do for more.

If you're living in a cave and somehow arrived here prior to learning about the death of The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, you either are far too dedicated an HoB reader or you need to start keeping up with current events. Or both. In the case of the former, thanks, but stop at CNN.com every once in awhile.

As for work, thanks to the miracle of modern technology (and the ineptitude of ConEd), my office building's power has been playing havoc with my office's entire electronics profile. Phantom PC issues, problems with our office voice-mail system and general gremlins have plagued us for some time. We even have some minor issues with microwave/toaster oven usage in the kitchen (can't run 'em both simultaneously). Somehow, last week, during a regular backup, my PC's DVD drive died. Then, soon after, I checked in with Dell and found out the likely cause of DVD drive death was a power issue. Turns out the power supply got quasi-fried (just like another of our PC's earlier this year) and that not only requires the replacement of the drive but the power supply itself. Looks like tomorrow I'll be wrapping up my paperwork after I finish getting my hands dirty; could be worse -- the electrical issues could have fried all our PC's, our voice-mail AND our microwave. Ah well.

As if replacing power supplies and optical drives wasn't enough to secure my membership as a Deluxe Geek By Design, I have been participating in Fantasy Football with some friends near and far. Last week was our first week of "playoffs" -- after crunching the guy against which I was playing, I got to face the highest-scoring member of our league this weekend. Somehow, I managed to eke out a 38-point win (I scored 1224, he reached 1186). The other guy in the league (the only one who managed to beat me during the "regular" season) who was in the other playoff somehow also lost, so sometime next weekend, I expect to have won my second Fantasy Football #1 trophy. It doesn't compare to when my hockey team won the NYC Cup, but I sheepishly will admit it's been a lot of fun and adds a lot to watching football this past season -- especially considering the Giants have managed to play as awfully as they possibly can and lose in new, creative ways, each and every week. If I hadn't had some sort of emotional investment via Fantasy Football, I would have given up on football a month ago.

Having said all that, I'm still looking forward to (and hoping) the Giants making the playoffs somehow -- if for no other reason than to see Tiki Barber get one more chance to suit up and have one (or more) shots at the playoffs. Otherwise, the Giants really embarrassed their fans, the City and the memories of Wellington Mara and Bob Tisch (both of whom were long-time Giants co-owners and both of whom recently passed away). Hopefully, some Giants players will somehow arrive here and read this and know, firsthand, that they were awful this year and should forfeit this year's salaries.

Not like it would happen, but it's almost as likely as Giants players actually managing to read (this blog).

Now that we're in the throes of holiday bliss, I hope everyone enjoyed spending time with their families, friends and/or significant others thus far and before I take my leave, I want to wish everyone again a happy holiday, whether that holiday is Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus or whatever else people celebrate this time of year. And while I'm at it, I hope those of you looking forward to 2007 are, like me, anticipating a happy, healthy coming year.

My best wishes to all, and to all, a good night.