Tuesday, February 07, 2017

Super Sorrow

Watched the last half of the Super Bowl again last night. The Falcons lost again. Lots of blame to go around, but the real killer was that first and ten from the Pats 21 yard line. Quinn and OC Shanahan wanted to continue the attack that had driven them down the field. Quinn should’ve remembered how his Seahawks lost just a few years ago – by passing when they should’ve run. Atlanta was conditioned to snap the ball quickly, and throughout the fourth quarter Ryan was getting the ball snapped with 10-15 seconds on the play clock. What could have been:

Thursday: Left work last night after six. Had my head down working and when I looked up it was later than usual. C was at a school meeting and M was working so I stopped by a couple of stores looking for Falcons stuff. Didn’t find anything good. Can’t believe I don’t have any Falcons gear. Sold a Matt Ryan jersey last year. The year before that I sold two #13 Joey Harrington jerseys.
 
Decided to go crazy so I ate at Ci Ci’s. I have to go there every year or two to remind myself how bad it is. Every time is gets worse. Hardly any toppings, especially on the thin crust pizza.
Friday was Falcons Day at work. I wore red but couldn’t bring myself to wear the red shoes. People brought in food: chili, hot dogs, corn chowder, cheese dip, BBQ chips, cupcakes, brownies, sweet potato crackers, sausage balls, etc. Ceil cooked pizza Friday night, and it was especially good. I didn’t eat much. Former Falcons receiver Ken Burrow posted a picture from the 1971 fan photo day. I told him I had my picture taken with him that day. He wanted to see it, so I posted it. He loved it.
 
Drove down to Macon Saturday. Watched Wake Forest/Georgia Tech. Grabbed an Arby’s sandwich for lunch and Taco Bell on the way home. Watched the NFL Honors show, which was mildly entertaining.
 
Sunday Bryant Wright mentioned the big game, but didn’t use the phrase that pays: why aren’t Christians as excited about church as the Super Bowl? Thank goodness.
 
Had on the entire pregame show. Bill O’Reilly interviewed the President, who picked the Pats to beat “the other team.” Michael Strahan interviewed Lady Gaga. Terry Bradshaw interviewed Tom Brady. Jimmy Johnson interviewed Bill Belichek. Erin Andrews interviewed Matt Ryan. Cooper Manning interviewed a movie star and raced brother Eli on the tricycle. Terry, Howie, and Jimmy all picked New England. Only Strahan picked Atlanta. I missed George Bush’s coin toss while driving over to the party.

The Falcons defense was exhausted in 4th quarter after backing up  Lady GaGa during halftime. At halftime I mentioned that the game was similar to the election, with the experts all predicting a Patriot comeback. Karen Toholsky posted something similar, but it made no sense after the Pats won.
 
The food was good at our party, but I behaved in that area. Ate one grilled chicken fajita and two pieces of coconut cream pie. And some bean dip. Matthew arrived to watch the second half. He’d scribbled “Falcons” on what appeared to be one of my white T-shirts. Stayed til the bloody end.
 
When I tweeted that the huge jumbotrons in Houston were one third the size of Atlanta’s new 360 degree scoreboard, Charles Baugh complained that the Atlanta Symphony’s facility needed an upgrade. I agreed: if the City of Atlanta can help build a billion dollar dome for a team that can’t hold a 28-3 lead near the end of the third quarter, they certainly should be able to help the symphony. The city could use all the money they don’t have to spend on the Braves. I guess the mayor likes opera as much as he likes baseball.
 
Busy Monday. We were down two coworkers. Two moved out permanently. Now our team is short a member, so work will be busy for a while. Grilled chicken, tossed salad, broccoli, and baked potato wedges for dinner.
 
From my Stephen King book: "Description begins in the writer's imagination  - and ends in the imagination of the reader." So don't overdo your descriptions. Write the first draft behind closed doors, writing as fast as possible and putting all your ideas down on paper. The second draft can fill in all the blanks and cutting out of the excess, ideally about ten percent shorter. Write with your ideal reader in mind. For King it's his wife. Backstory should not be boring and only include parts crucial to the story.
 
"Life is not a support system for art. It's the other way around. " - King, explaining why he puts his writing desk in the corner instead of in the middle of the room.
 
Video of Cub Ben Zorbrist praying at the recent national prayer breakfast.
 
Nehemiah got Persia to pay for the wall (verse 2:8).
 
Rob on the Braves: I think the plan will probably be for Flowers to catch +/- 100 games and Suzuki +/-50 games.  Flowers can handle pitchers well and give you above average offense, but can't throw out base stealers.  Suzuki can really give you much other than being a veteran backup catcher.  But I would still rather see Suzuki as opposed to Recker.
Signed up for a Dave Ramsey class at Johnson Ferry. Meets Wednesday nights, so I’m missing the hot stove meetings. Will be good to get all of us back on track financially. Ceil is on board. Been spending way too much.
 
At JF Sunday School my friend Lee showed the Clay Scroggins/Tim Elmore discussion on parenting and how different generations were wired. Elmore said that one in eight millennial brings their parent to job interview.  
 
1. Don't think control, think connect.
2. Don't think rules, think equations. If you do this, you get to do this. If you don't do this, you can't do that.
3. Don't think lecture, think lab - a safe place to experiment.
 
Remember when Sid slid and in that moment the Braves won the game, the series against the Pirates, the National League Pennant, and a chance to play in the World Series? The crowd went wild for like 5 or 10 minutes. Years ago Louie said Heaven would be like that for all eternity. We’d all be praising God forever and ever.
 
Went to the rodeo but no one asked the first-timers to raise their hands.

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