You Da Ho

I spent the weekend in the beautiful state of Idaho for my friend Christy's wedding. It was a lot of fun and I'm really glad that I went. Sun Valley was beautiful with the autumn colors and the weather was fantastic. Christy was a beautiful bride and I'm really happy for her. I don't have any pictures because I'm an idiot and always forget to pull out my camera but I'll try to get Davis to send me some of his. We definitely painted the town red and became very popular at the local watering hole. I'm definitely done drinking for the rest of my life. I just can't take the pain. Well, maybe not the rest of my life but maybe until December. I'm going to make a compromise: no getting drunk. A beer or two with friends is ok. 10 shots of Jager followed by 3 double shots of Maker's followed by 3 shots of Tequila is not ok. OK?

On Sunday morning we checked out of our condo and headed to our famous watering hole for the Seahawks game. It was a thrilling affair and the Hawks came through with a huuuuuuuge victory over the Rams. They rallied from down 21-7 at the half to win 30-28 on a 54-yard field goal as time expired. The defense really stepped up in the second half and shut down the Rams vaunted offense with the exception being an incredible touchdown reception by Torry Holt that demonstrated why he's one of the top WRs in the league, if not number one all by himself. Anyway, Tatupu seemed non-existent in the first half but made a number of great plays in the second. The Hawks stopped the run and got a good rush on Mr. Bulger and he isn't great under pressure. I think the game defensive MVPs were Julian Peterson and Bryce Fisher for their terrific pass rush in the second half. The offensive MVP has to be Deion Branch. I was a little on the fence when I first heard about the trade, wondering why in the world we needed a 4th receiver when we already had 3 very good ones. Now, Burleson can't seem to figure things out, Engram is hurt and Branch stepped up HUGE in his first game as a starter. We don't get to see it much but Hasselbeck throws a pretty darn good deep ball.

The main problem with the team is the interior line. Our guards both got beat pretty badly all day and we aren't going to be able to do anything against good/great nosetackles if that doesn't change. I'm not sure what to do here...I think Spencer will be good one day but he seems overmatched out there right now. Can he mature and gel with the unit by January? I sure hope so. I think Chris Gray will be fine but he didn't look very good last night. Finally, I like Mo Morris but it's so obvious that he's no Shaun. There were a number of plays where he had to break one tackle and he'd have 10 more yards or take it to the house but he kept going down. Shaun is good at stepping out of ankle tackles and making teams pay. I can't wait to get him back, I'm pretty sure that he would have had at least 50 more yards than MoMo did yesterday and we wouldn't have had to worry about making a clutch 54-yarder at the end of the game.

The Huskies lost and are now 4-3. This was a big game because the schedule isn't that easy from here on out. We have 3 road games, at Oregon, Cal and WSU. Only the WSU game is winnable, IMO. Then we have 2 home games against ASU and Stanford. I think the Stanford game is a lock, making the ASU game a must-win if we want to go to a bowl game. I don't know about you, but I'd love to go to a bowl game. This OSU loss really hurts and now we have no margin for error. Bah.

UPS delivered my new laptop a few hours ago and it's pretty fantastic. It's a 17" Dell 9400, the standard poker player's laptop. It has better resolution than my old laptop and it's much more powerful. I've spent most of the day installing different programs like Firefox and PokerStars. It's always fun to get a new toy. P.S., Firefox rules. If you use Internet Explorer, you aren't my friend.

I spent part of today thinking about my travel plans for this winter. I'm very excited for the trip but it got me thinking about listing the countries that I've been to already. Here's the list, in alphabetical order:

Argentina
Austria
Bahamas
Bermuda
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Italy
Japan
Kenya
Mexico
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Puerto Rico
Spain
Tanzania
Turkey
United States

I think that's it. I thought there would be more than 25 and I'm kinda disappointed, especially because some of these countries shouldn't really count since I've only spent a day or so in some of them. Anyway, after this winter trip I'll be able to add India, Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand and I'll be much happier.

I've been talking with Kenny's dad, Allen, about politics and how much I dislike torture and whatnot. Anyway, he sent me this in an email and it made me smile. I hope he doesn't mind my pasting it here:

"One thing I strongly believe is that rights and freedoms, while sometimes restricted during troubles, always make a comeback in this country. Can you imagine sending large groups of American Muslims off to camp as was done with American Japanese during WWII? I can’t. We try things and we learn. I believe one reason these freedoms always come back is because each generation keeps a careful eye on restrictions and doesn’t allow them to go unchallenged. So I’m glad you’re concerned."

I definitely agree with what he says and I like his optimistic viewpoint. I'm one of the most optimistic people that I know and I can't stand the pessimism that I've developed with regards to our country and its politicians. So hey, dear reader, please stay informed and object when you see wrong.

Tonight: Kangaroo and Kiwi. Wings, darts and Monday Night Football. Be there or be Davis(actually, he might show up this time. But he's still a pansy.)