Mike

Happy New Year!

Kentucky 35 - Florida State 28

Halftime

Kentucky 14 - Florida State 14

It's hard to figure out which team is trying its best to lose this game.  So far it looks like Kentucky is.  At least Florida State has an excuse playing with a depleted roster.  Plus, even though the game is being played in Nashville, it's essentially a home game for Kentucky.  In the wide TV shots you see very little garnet-and-gold in the stadium.  Estimates run from 50,000 to over 60,000 UK fans out of the crowd of 70,000.

Mutt Monday

Feline Friday

Because I'm a gentleman of leisure I rarely know what day of the week it is, which is why I've missed so many Fridays.

I set the alarm clock so that I don't miss the next Mutt Monday.

I think it's programmed into Brian's genes to mention the s-word as often as possible

The latest evidence:

In rare cases of Arctic Blasts such as this one, moisture from the ocean can actually seep onto the coastal counties. This sometimes leads to "Ocean Snow Flurries" ...

The girls got their Canuck on

Every Christmas the Canadian Tourism Commission and the Provence of Québec sponsor the Christmas tree and "Celsius: A Canadian Lounge" in Bryant Park.  This year they sent two Mounties to explain that Canada is more than back bacon and crappy beer.

Justine remembers nothing about Canada since she was an infant when we moved back to the States.  Briar was four and has a few vague memories of Simcoe and none of Vancouver where she was born. I hope that one day they'll go back to explore their faux-roots.

Christmas Highlights

The tree at Rockefeller Center.

I’m not in the mood for a long Christmas post so I’ll dribble out stream-of-consciousness posts as they pop into my head.

We did the usual Christmas things.  The tree and skaters at the Rock, the decorations at  Macy’s, the store windows along Fifth Avenue, the Christmas markets in Bryant Park and Union Square.  But we’re Courtneys and this was New York so it was mostly about the food.

Sunday night we had dinner at BLT Prime, a great Manhattan steakhouse.  Briar and Isaac are close friends of Angel Hidalgo, the sous chef.  He's married to Rachel, the head pastry chef at Aureole and Briar's boss.  Briar warned me ahead of time about what was going to happen.  We ordered the 40 oz Porterhouse and the 12 oz filet, two vegetables - the grilled asparagus and creamy spinach - and a bottle of wine.  Even before the steaks came the waiter brought us champagne, a chicken liver pâté and toast that was to die for, and a selection of cured Italian meats.  Then we got the steaks (cooked to perfection) and veg.  Then every few minutes the waiters brought out more things, some on the menu, some not, and set them on the table saying, "Compliments of the chef". By the time they were done I think half of the menu was setting on our table.  We're Courtneys so we ate it all.  LOL.  The people sitting at the tables around us kept staring and wondering, I suppose, if we were some sort of celebrities because we kept getting all of this free stuff.  It didn't stop there.  Because I was finally feeling stuffed all I wanted for dessert was a scoop of sorbet.  Justine, Briar, and Isaac decided to share the Buche de Noel (Yule Log).  The waiter brought the Buche, plus three scoops of sorbet (mango, lemon, and raspberry).  Then he came back with just about everything else on the dessert menu.  Because Briar and Isaac know so many people in the business this wasn't the first time that we've been comped things but this definitely was the best.  :-)

Christmas Eve we took it easy and dined at Il Corallo Trattoria in SoHo, the same place we dined at last Christmas.  Briar and Isaac eat there often. Fantastic Italian food at Charleston, not New York, prices.  If you’re planning on going to New York email me and I’ll give you directions.  BTW, they comped our chocolate truffle cake and tiramisu.  It’s all about who Briar and Isaac know.  :-)

Few restaurants in New York other than Chinese, Thai, and Indian places are open on Christmas Day.  Briar made reservations for us a month ago at Brasserie 8 1/2 on 57th at Fifth Ave for their prix fixe Christmas dinner.  The food was great but the service sucked big time.  Either Jared, our server, took a disliking to us (what’s not to like) or he was pissed that he had to work on Christmas Day.  Since there are so many options in the city, I doubt that we'll go back.

The gang at Brasserie 8 1/2.

Update:  A correction.  Justine ordered the eggnog crème brûlée at BLT.

RIP, Santa

The funeral service is scheduled for noon over the garbage can in the garage.  In lieu of flowers, send cash for rawhide bones.  They last longer.

A Santa Update

So far Champ has pulled Santa's eyes out and sucked his brains out through a hole in his hat.

Toys!

Champ and Psycho came home from the kennel this morning with Christmas presents.  A Santa for Champ and a mixed bag of toys for Psycho.  Psycho is a weird cat and doesn't play with toys so I'll wind up donating them to a pet orphanage.  I'll take another photo of Santa later after Champ rips his legs off.

Suposedly you remember where you were when you heard that someone died

I was in New York for Christmas when I heard that Oscar Peterson died.  We jazz fans have our favorites and Oscar is my favorite jazz pianist ever.  His "The Trio:  Live from Chicgo" was the first jazz LP I ever bought. (For you youngsters, LPs are what came before 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and iPods.)

If you don't know Oscar go to YouTube and type Oscar Peterson into the search line.  You'll find plenty of great clips like this:

Happy Birthday to Me!

Merry Christmas to all!

God, Delta, and the weatherman willing Justine and I will fly to New York today to spend Christmas with Briar and Isaac.  Two months ago Delta informed me that they had permanently canceled the flight we were booked on and replaced it with one leaving two and a half hours later.  The weather is rainy and windy in New York today so there's no telling when we'll finally get there.  This same flight left two hours later than scheduled yesterday and the weather was good on both ends.

Lots of good eats to look forward to while we're in the City.  Dinner tonight at BLT Prime.  Christmas dinner at Brasserie 8 1/2 (so there won't be a repeat of the Ecuadorian Christmas Dinner from Hell.)

We hope you have a safe and happy holiday.  I'll see you when we return.

I guess I'm stuck with it

Justine's mother bought her a featherbed several years ago to put on top of her mattress.  It's not baffled and the feathers tend to move to the side of the bed she's not sleeping on so she asked me to take it to the landfill for her.  I sleep, comfortably by the way, on a six-inch thick, rock-hard futon on a platform bed.  [No wonder your sex life is so dismal...ed.]  I hated to see an expensive featherbed go to waste so I tossed it on my bed.  Big mistake.  Not only do the feathers move but I woke up with lower back pain every morning.  I pulled it off the bed and put it in the corner of the bedroom intending to finally take it to the Bees Ferry landfill.  Maybe not.  Champ decided that it's a great place to nest.

If you don't turn the thermostat up I'll burn a hole through your soul

That's not camera red-eye or something I photoshopped.  Champ is the Devil.  You're lucky I keep him on a leash.

How many Florida State football players does it take to screw in a light bulb?

It depends on how many got the instructions from the tutor before taking the test.

Yes, I know it's lame but it's the best I could do when my friend Beverly emailed and asked "...are there enough team members left at FL State to play you in the bowl?"

If you don't follow sports news, at least 23 FSU players have been suspended from the team and will miss the Music City Bowl game against my Kentucky Wildcats on New Year's Eve.  There were evidently various school and NCAA infractions but the main one seems to be that someone in the athletic department gave players answers to an online exam before they took it.  (Hey, I'm impressed that football players know how to use a computer.)

I see this as karma at its best.  Coach Bobby Bowden is famous for never suspending players, even after they get arrested - some on felony charges.  This time he's powerless.  The NCAA bats last.

Before this story broke Kentucky was a 3-point favorite on the Vegas sports books.   A day later the game was off the board.  I hope UK fans got their bets down in time.

Piling on Huckabee

Christopher Hitchens is blunt, as usual:

"...I will on no account vote for a smirking hick like Mike Huckabee, who is an unusually stupid primate but who does not have the elementary intelligence to recognize the fact that this is what he is."

Just after sunset

[Click, please.]

It's enough to make foodies cry!

I'm not knocking Charleston's sophisticated dining scene but many of the world's finest restaurants are in New York City.  Briar is a chef at one of them.  So if someone offered to treat you to lunch at any of the city's great eateries, which would you choose?  A writer for the New York Times Magazine recently made that offer to Presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee.  Which did the Huckster choose?  TGI Friday's! When the writer vetoed that Huckawho picked Olive Garden!

I was never going to vote for Huckabee in the South Carolina primary.  He likes to tax and spend like a drunken Democrat and he's a Baptist minister, for Gord's sake, but Olive Garden?  Further evidence that he's not fit to be President.

Last call!

I put the last of my Christmas cards in the mail today.  I still have a few left so this is your last chance to amaze your friends and get a card from a real, live blogger.  Email your address to me using the link in the sidebar (even if you got a card last year) and promise to send me one in return.

Yes, Champ. She's a chick and you're a magnet

[Click for a better *cough* view.]

I'm wearing shorts, Margaret, and driving the Miata with top down

The P&C beat me to it.  "It's beginning to look a lot like Easter."  Indeed, although I would have said summer, not Easter.  After all Olga is churning in the Caribbean.  Either she's late to the party or very early.

One quote from the P&C article jumped out at me:  Genni Bath said, "I don't think I've ever worn shorts in December."  What planet have you been living on girl?  I've lived in South Carolina for 22 years and every December serves up at least one day to celebrate "Wear Shorts Day".

Champ and I are headed to the beach in the Miata, with the top down.  I'm wearing shorts.  Champ isn't wearing pants.

Foggy Night

[You can make it bigger.]

Why are you looking at him instead of me?

Are you looking at me?

[Click this, too.]

I know it's not Feline Friday

[Yes, you can click it.]

It's a start

I finally bought Christmas cards.  Now I have to sign, address, and mail them.

Last year I offered a card to any blogger who would send me one in return.  Now that I have cards I'm making the same offer again this year.  Click on the Email Me link in the sidebar and send me your address.  Like last year I promise not to keep it or to sell it to the Dennis Kucinich campaign.  If you got a card last year and want another one you'll have to send me your address again.

Fog

One of the wood storks is back for the winter

[Click]

I go Green!...uh, Blue!

When I went to Bi-Lo earlier this week I noticed that they are selling reusable shopping bags.  I bought four and should probably go back for two more.  This is something I'd been meaning to do for a while now but whenever I saw bags in grocery stores they seemed relatively expensive.  Publix had fancy cloth ones for $3.99, while the Bi-Lo bags are only 99¢.  (To be fair, Publix is now selling 99¢ bags but they are smaller than the Bi-Lo ones.)

The Bi-Lo bags are distributed by Bring Your Own Bag.  Although they are shorter than a conventional paper bag, they are deeper so they hold just as much.  They have a removable, rigid bottom which makes them easier to carry than either paper or plastic.  Made from non-woven polypropylene, they are washable.  The washing instructions say hand wash in cold water but you and I both know that ain't gonna happen.  If the time comes that I need to wash one I'll toss it in the washer and use the cold water, delicate cycle and see how it goes.  Oddly, the bags themselves don't appear to be recyclable.  They have the recycling symbol printed on them but they don't have a number to tell you what type of plastic it is.

So far I've been back to Bi-Lo twice and brought one bag into the store with me each time.  (I keep them in my truck so that I don't forget them.)  It turns out that the store gives you 5¢ back each time you use them.  I keep forgetting to ask if that's per visit or per bag.  Either way, it won't amount to over a few dollars each year.  I'd much rather that they donate those nickels to a conservation group such as the Nature Conservancy, which has done so much to protect pristine lowcountry land from developers.  I guess I should email corporate HQ and ask them about that.

Christmas Cards

I'm already getting them but as usual not only have I not mailed any yet, I haven't even bought them yet.

Until I get around to it, here's a Christmas Greeting from Justine and me to you.

Some MidWeek Fun

For years now CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo has been known on Wall Street as the Money Honey.  Yes, it sounds sexist but evidently Maria doesn’t mind.  She’s trying to trademark it.  Before she gets exclusive rights to Money Honey I think it’s time to see if someone else is more deserving of the title.

Despite how much I'd like to, I can’t arrange jello-wrestling matches between Maria and contenders for her crown so the best I can do is conduct a poll.  Since I’m the only one on the nominating committee, here are your choices:

Maria Bartiromo - Should she remain the champion?

Erin Burnett - The NY Post has already crowned her the Street Sweetie.

Melissa Francis - The greatest eyes in financial news?

Becky Quick - Is there a better way to wake up in the morning?

Trish Regan - She's the new kid on the block.

Vote early and often. (Don't think that this is a beauty contest.  If you watch CNBC you know that these women are more "street smart" than I am.)

The next Money Honey?
	Maria Bartiromo
	Erin Burnett
	Melissa Francis
	Becky Quick
	Trish Regan
Free polls from Pollhost.com

One of the funniest things I've read in ages

I think I first had doubts when I was a smart-ass junior high kid in confirmation class and I asked my Presbyterian minister how it was that Moses could murder an Egyptian, know he did wrong (he hid the body), flee when his crime was discovered, and still get a pass from God?  Was it because God hadn't decided on the sixth commandment yet?  After all, God was no slouch back then when it came to slaughtering thousands. It wasn't the last time I left a pastor sputtering.

I was reminded of that yesterday when I read The 9 Most-Badass Bible Verses.

[If you think you might be offended you probably will be so don't click on the link or leave comments.]

Via Hit & Run.

My teams

One advantage to having three alma maters is that I get to root for three teams.  It wasn't a bad football season but it could have been better.

Kentucky finished 7-5 for the second year in a row and for the second year in a row they'll play in the Music City Bowl in Nashville on New Year's Eve.  Last year they beat Clemson.  This year they'll play Florida State.  Kentucky fans were hoping for a better-paying bowl but those hopes flew out the window when the Cats lost four of their last five games.  Not to worry though.  Kentucky fans love to go to Nashville for a wild weekend, even when there isn't a football or basketball game.  Think of it as Vegas East.  What happens in Nashville stays in Nashville, and the drive is shorter - three hours from Lexington, shorter from towns in the western half of the state.  The bowl committee loves it because it guarantees a sell-out.  Last year Kentucky fans bought the school's 26,000 ticket allotment before it was official that Kentucky would be playing.  They bought an additional 24,000 tickets from Ticketmaster and brokers.  Clemson fans filled the remaining 19,000 seats.  This year UK got a 27,000 seat allotment and again sold them all before the invitation was official.  The scramble is on for more tickets on the open market.  And it's not just bowl games.  When Kentucky played Vanderbilt at Vanderbilt a few weeks ago it's estimated that over 30,000 of the 38,000 people in stadium were wearing Kentucky blue.  All this for a team that's had only 15 winning seasons in the 53 years I've been going to games.

Missouri (11-2) had a shot at playing for the national title before getting crushed by Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship showdown.  The loss not only knocked the Tigers out of the title game but it also knocked them out of a BCS bowl game.  For some unfathomable reason Missouri wound up in the non-BCS Cotton Bowl and Kansas got the BCS Orange Bowl bid even though Missouri finished two spots higher than Kansas in the final BCS rankings.  But you already know my feelings about the BCS system.

New Hampshire went 7-4 in the regular season and went to the Division 1-AA playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.  Unfortunately they lost in the first round to top seed Northern Iowa.

The best argument yet for Division 1-A* playoffs

No, not because the BCS got it wrong but because, given the upset-riddled season and the BCS's arcane rules, it was impossible to get it right!  Look at the final BCS ranking.  You can rightfully argue that any two of the top 11 teams deserved to play in the championship game.  That Ohio State and LSU get the honor is the equivalent of a computer-generated coin toss.  Unfortunately we won't have playoffs as long as Jim Delany is commissioner of the Big Ten.

*Before anyone can leave a comment telling me that it's now the Football Bowl Subdivision, don't.  That's what the idiots at the NCAA call it.  Sports writers this season referred to it as the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly know as Division 1-A) because nobody knows what the hell Football Bowl Subdivision means.  I'm sticking with Division 1-A because it's shorter.

M-I-Z-Z-O-U

Shafted!!!!

'Nuf Said!

-- LittleMike