Cashmere for Christmas

I like this. Not that anyone will get this but it's cashmere and it's wonderful.

Although, today is cyber Monday, where deals abound! My sister Emily might be able to coupon the heck out of this day!

Charles Tyrwhitt Cashmere Button Neck Sweater



























This is better.

Charles Tyrwhitt Chocolate w/ Blue Stripe Cashmere Sweater






























This is the best, brought to you by J. Crew.

J.Crew Cashmere Henley Hoodie
























That is all, thank you for listening and have a great day!

Quick Column: NFL Thinking

I've worked the weekend and didn't see much of Sunday's football action but I still have some thoughts about the results.

The difference a year makes, huh?

At the end of last year the Vikings were one running play (rather than one pass) from getting to the Super Bowl.

One year ago, Brett Favre was having the "best" season of his career and Minnesota fans were praising him like he was a career Viking and Viking HOF'er. People were ultimately loving Brett Favre's stats; 33 TD's vs. 7 INT's. They loved 4,202 passing yards and the best passer rating in his career, 107.2. They happened to lose in the NFC Championship game with a chance to win it and wanted Brett Favre back.

I don't blame fans, Viking fans, NFL fans, friends or family at all for that. The Vikings had it going on last season. The got numerous bounces within games leading them to win games.

However, I had a different opinion. I do love Brett Favre and what he did for the Packers all of those years. Though I have seen him throw so many interceptions, have my childhood best friend Will, make so much fun of me because my favorite player did that, that I knew it was a one year wonder.

Favre's TD % is one half the number than it was last year and his INT % is five times higher than last year. His 10 TD's and 17 INT's are 11 TD's fewer and 14 INT's more than at the same point last season.

CHILDRESS FIRED! As I sit here at 11:15am, listening to KFAN and watching the old Twitter feed, Childress is gone and Leslie Frazier is in.

Again, what a year makes for Brad Childress too. A year ago his job was safe and Brett Favre kept covering him for, what I believe, his mediocrity as an NFL head coach. In his four seasons as head coach he's gone from 6-10 to 8-8 to 10-6 and then 12-4 last year before deteriorating so much this season, 3-7 before being fired today. The lifespan of a coach; stop winning and you stop coaching.

Here's a Tweet from Vikings write on ESPN1500.com Tom Pelissero.

Brad Childress' firing comes 368 days after #Vikings signed him to a contract extension. What a difference a year makes.

But it's interesting what changes in a year. Last season the Packers were killed by the Vikings. This season the Packers took it to the Vikings, twice.

Last season the Cardinals beat the Packers in the playoffs with Kurt Warner and this season they are no where to be found.

Last season the Bucs were no where to be found and were one of the worst teams in the NFL. This season they are 7-3 and in the strong NFC South.

Last season the Jets were on the brink of not making the playoffs and were borderline average. But they got on a roll and played well in the playoffs. This season, it seems, they are capitalizing on every single break, just as the Vikings did last season.

What a difference a year makes.

First Snow 2010

The snow has arrived. Forecasts said there was a possibility of 1-to-4 inches of snow but if it was cold enough, soon enough, it could be as much as 5-to-8 inches. Well, I snickered at that, I didn't think there was any chance the rain that was scheduled to come first would yield much snow at all. I was wrong. Good thing I'm not a meteorologist and have no tools of the trade.

I woke up at 7am and took a peek outside. Like a young kid, I still love looking outside to see if it snowed like the forecast said, often getting excited when it did snow. I woke up to a couple of heavy inches of snow and it has been coming down for the last four hours.

Katy and I enjoyed some breakfast and got ready to go to Costco before I work this afternoon. I got outside and cleared my car off, twice, in a matter of ten minutes. By that time, the car had four inches on it, I'd estimate. And it was that heavy wet snow too. I ended up helping a car out of our lot before we went, good thing it still had performance tires on.

Well, we were off after a bit and on highway 36. Before we even got a mile down the road there was a car completely off the road in the ditch no where even close to the road, I'd say 25 feet from the road. Coming westbound there was three cars off of the road and people were playing with their brakes too much so I had enough. We ventured off on Dale Street, where I used to live, and went on home.

I now sit watching the Wisconsin-Indiana college football game with Northwestern and Iowa on ESPN and Tennessee and Ole Miss on CBS. Too bad I can't just sit here all day watching the snow and football.

Language Vimeo I found Interesting

I find language, speaking, fonts, video, production, creativity very interesting.

Therefore, I found this interesting, not only the written speech but the content as well as the visual piece that was created.

If you have a couple minutes, give it a watch. If not; carry on.

Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language from Matthew Rogers on Vimeo.

Car Repair Victory!

Anyone impressed? I am; with Katy!

After taking the truck back to J&B Eurotech for the second time in a couple weeks, with a dead alternator, a blown serpentine belt and an old tension pulley and idle pulley we needed to fix it, sell it or pay for it.

Saturday morning, I went to breakfast with college roommates and friends for our usual monthly gathering. Katy busted out the alternator and was on her way to Hugo to get the replacement for free since it was under a lifetime warranty by the time I got back.

Upon returning, we got the new alternator in a jiffy. Though, it took us a while to nail down a piece of one of the pulleys and it took a couple of trips to find the right length serpentine belt. After a while of playing with the serpentine we knocked it out and got all the parts back in order. It took us a few hours, but I don't think that was terrible at all. We had to run to Target twice to get the right tools and to an auto repair store twice to find the right length serpentine belt.

And we won. We saved a huge chunk of change fixing it ourselves and I can't lie, that felt great. I also had a good time telling a manager at work about it too, as he's a friend and was interested. He was thoroughly impressed! (again, with Katy)




















The truck arriving from J&B Eurotech. Even with the towing cost we saved a ton!




















Katy hard at work. I think we were working on bolting the alternator back in.

Don't believe me?

Here's the proof.

Finger Photos

Here's an update on my finger.

My nail is starting to come in though it still looks a bit rough. Hopefully it continues to come in properly so I don't have to be reminded about it.