Annie and Sam’s Adventures

It has been a lovely weekend here at the Doyle household. I came over from Sioux Falls on Saturday morning, and have LOVED spending time with my little Kilian, as well as my dear friends, Kari and Sean.

More on the details of my trip later.

For now, I must lament the end of the Packers’ 2009 season, because if I don’t, I won’t be able to sleep (I’ve been trying unsuccessfully for an hour). So here I go…

Photo from packers.com

In one of the most thrilling playoff games in NFL history (records set include the most combined points ever scored in a playoff game at 96, among others), the Packers fell short by committing 3 turnovers and allowing the Cardinals’ offense to walk all over them. And this is the defense that was number one in the league for almost all of the last half of the season!

Cardinals QB Kurt Warner threw more touchdowns (5) than he did incompletions (4) to earn an almost perfect QB rating.

There were a couple of penalties against the Packers that should have been called and were not - and they were hypercritical! This is not my bitter opinion. This is a shared opinion by many NFL analysts.

The nutshell of it is, we fought our butts off to come back this season after losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We fought our butts off to come back after being down by 21 points in this Wild Card game. We had to fight our butts off in order to accomplish what we did this season. The ache of early disappointment, followed by the steep spike of hope involved in a roaring comeback, followed by a soul-crushing loss, almost makes you wish they didn’t come back at all.

But I’m glad they did. It made for a fun season. I love the Packers, and I look forward to next season! But before that comes, there is more playoffs to be had and some great football to watch, with nothing left for me to lose…so here we go!

The question becomes…do I set aside my hate for the Vikes to become a shameless Favre fan, just because I crave someone to cheer for and cling to? I don’t think so. I think I will remain neutral. At this point, I think Drew Brees deserves the Super Bowl more than Brett and the Vikes, so I think I’ll hang my hat on the Saints - particularly since they are playing the Cards next weekend, and I officially HATE the Cards!

Thanks for listening. I sleep now.

In case you were wondering what kind of quality television is on when I work the overnights, let me just give you a taste. Usually I can find a news show to watch, so that’s not so bad. However, the commercials are amazingly ridiculous. Here is a cross-section of the good times…

1. Apparently, mail-delivery medical supply companies have scrapped the diabetes supply craze for the most recent inconvenience for folks…catheter supplies. Yep. Some poor, tortured souls have to reuse catheters because they only get 4 replacements a month. Here is one such woman….  However, This one is actually funnier thanks to the old lady…

2. Because it isn’t enough to just have a cross necklace…it is also necessary to exploit the Lord\’s Prayer!

3. Apparently it’s necessary to regularly cleanse your colon. Otherwise, Klee Irwin will come and judge your bowel movements like he did his 4-year old’s…don’t worry, there’s no poop in the video. It is a little terrifying though. What makes it even more amazing is that it is a small part of a 30 minute infomercial where all they talk about is poop. Amazing.

4. There is a natural way to take away your pet’s pain…just ask Dr. Frank…who is in fact a medical doctor. But before healing your pet’s pain…he was taking away people pain!

5. Apparently, boobs can sell anything, even hokey website companies. Wow.

I’m only scratching the surface people! There is so much more. Oh well…at least they’re good for a laugh

…from watching VH1 music videos for 3 straight hours while working on my Creative Writing class.

1. Creed is back…???? Someone make them go away again please. Like now.

2. Women artists of the world…unite!  and put your pants back on! Lady Gaga is the ONLY one…and I mean the ONLY one that can get away with the weird half-shirt-half-swimsuit thing. And yes, I mean you Lily Allen, Carrie Underwood, Shakira and Mariah Carey…

3. Why do I feel like the lead singer of Nickelback is constantly screaming at the top of his lungs at me? Not cool.

4. EVERY one of Taylor Swift’s songs sound exactly the same. I challenge any of you to argue that with me.

5. Jay-Z and Alicia make me want to go explore every nook and cranny of NYC.

6. Is it just me, or is Beyonce’s booty even more rotund and waist even slimmer these days? How does she do it?! I wonder if her mother also made 800 tons of Christmas goodies, rendering her waist pleasantly puffy. But I digress.

7. Rihanna can get away with literally anything when it comes to fashion…perhaps even the strange pantlessness that has swept the nation. hmmm…

8. Orianthi IS Taylor Swift.

9. The Zac Brown Band IS Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefer Band.

9. These pretzels are delicious.  Wait…not music video related…

I’m trying to prove to you that I’m doing homework by taking this picture. But since I’m posting on my blog, I suppose you’ve already figured out that I’m willing to go to any means necessary to NOT do homework.

I mean, really, who needs to know the difference between a present and a past participle anyways? And honestly, who gives a crap about a gerund??? Well, apparently English majors/minors do. So here I sit, alone at this wonderful coffee shop (Coffea on Louise Ave - totally awesome, and open until midnight!), trying to get ‘er done during finals week. If I’d quit procrastinating, or at least not overload myself so much, I wouldn’t be stuck DOING homework 12 hours a day during finals week. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself over the past years of homework…some things never change.

On another, WAY more fun note, I’m in my final week of having to decide whether or not I want to keep my new HTC Hero (wow…me thinks that was bad grammar). The past week or two, it’s been kind of laggy and stuff. Then, I created a new “scene” without quite so many widgets, but just as much good stuff…and it’s been like butta! So I have until Saturday to decide. If I move to a different phone, it would be a Palm Pixi. I will let you all know what I decide.  Because I know you care…

By the way, Photobooth on the Mac is just a LITTLE too much fun…in case you can’t tell

Back to it. Byyeeeeeee!

…an awful lot has happened. Let’s see, where do I begin.

–”Tiger Wood’s hit a tree with his car and a bunch of ladies fell out.” –Seth Meyers, SNL

–President Obama has decided to send 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan

–The Packers have won their last 4 games. Hell yeah.

–It started snowing up in here. Too bad I didn’t get to finish my lawn. This is me, crying about it. Okay I’m over it.

–My dog got even more adorable. I have no idea how that is possible, but let me tell you people, it happened.

–Did I mention that the Pack is only a couple of games back in the division, or at the very least, the frontrunner for a wild card? I can’t remember, so I thought I’d mention it again.

So school is winding down. In fact it is done for the semester in 9 days. Normally, I would be jumping for joy. But I have SOOOO much to do between now and then, that I want it to go real slowly. Of course, this is why I’m here with you today. Because I’m avoiding school stuff.

On the updside, not making the trip to Verm made for a fabulous 5 hour (yep, 5 hours) nap that I will never regret as long as I live. I’ve been SO exhausted! It was much needed.

Alright fine…I’ll go do my homework.

So I had surgery last Wednesday to remove my port from my chest. Apparently, it’s perfectly normal to have your port taken out while you’re awake, with just a few shots of lidocaine. I questioned this theory considering they have to do a 2 inch incision just to get it out, but figured I’d tough it out.

HA! I’m never doing that again. First, I felt the last swipe of his scalpel. It wasn’t intense, but WOAH! Then, when he got in there, he realized that the surgeon who put in the port put 3 stitches into my chest wall to hold it down! Usually, they put in one. So he had to go in and cut those out, plus cut up a bunch of scar tissue while trying to pull the thing out of there. 15 minutes after he started, he’s finally done. And insult to injury, the lidocaine is wearing off, and I can feel all 7 stitches! Ugh. It was traumatizing.

However, on the awesome side - I got to keep my port! You may say gross…I say YAY! I have many memories with that thing

The Packers utterly dominated today against the Browns, who are terrible. We won 31-3. It was real good.

But I’m already looking forward to next weekend in which I will dominate Lambeau Field by myself to cheer the Packers to Vikings over (sniff) Brett Favre and the Vikings. This week will be FULL of coverage for this game since Benedict Favre is back in Lambeau for the first time since joining up with the ultimate enemy. Argh. I love him and hate him all at the same time!

Me and my ticket to the Vikes game!