The question has been plaguing my mind all week..."will I miss it when the first Sox/Yanks series occurs next year in the new stadium?" It referring to Yankee Stadium....saying that name used to bring chills down spine and make all the little pissed off hairs on the back of your neck stand up. (if hairs can be pissed off?!) From hearing about the stories of old time ball players from my dad and ESPN classic, there is respect that is formed for all the great players of our past time, whether or not they were wearing pinstripes.

Ever since I was young I can always remember those rainy days when mom would let us stay inside and play video games all day. We would pop in Street Fighter, Mario Kart, and Mortal Kombat just to name a few. I always was one character in those games, and one character only.....the only girl ever in the video games. Chun Li, Princess Peach and Kintana became my alter egos, a recent revelation of mine that has made complete sense but also confuses me about the video game industry.

Known for the hard hits, concussions and injuries, the NFL is seen as the "tough man's" sport. But a very quiet tough man raised an issue this week that has me wondering if the NFL is playing both sides by marketing their "hard hitting" sport to the public and fining its players for the same thing.

Troy Palamalu is the strong but quiet hard hitting safety of the Pittsburgh Steelers and he had some strong words for the direction of the league. The NFL "just loses so much of its essence when it becomes like a pansy game," Polamalu said.

It started with an email and several bottles of the infamous E6000. Me and my best friend Sam decided to be Mario and Luigi for Halloween. But not ordinary, slap on some overalls with a faded red shirt type Mario Brothers.....we wanted to girly it up a bit and make a legit overall-skirt combo.

First we went to Joannes to pick out the fabric.

Watchu Reading Michelle Wildgen?

Watchu Reading Michelle Wildgen?

WTF?

But his religious beliefs, which he says impact his Presidential
decision-making, preclude birth control as a method to protect yourself
from AIDS...

But he started a pre-emptive war...

"Birth, life, and death -- each took place on the hidden side of a leaf." - Toni Morrison. Those are the words that greet you when you visit Dewey's blog. I expected many things when I got up this morning. I expected snow. I expected a pile of spam in my in-box had I hadn't checked my email for days. I expected the bus to be crowded. I expected my feed reader to frighten me as I also hadn't checked it for days. I was right about all of those things. I did not expect that when I was checking the accumulated feeds in my reader that I'd find out that one of my favourite book bloggers, Dewey, had passed away last week. I've written about Dewey often. She and her blog, The Hidden Side of a Leaf were at the center of many wonderful things in the book blogging community. We didn't know each other. We were blogging acquaintances as best, similar to the neighbour that you don't know but nod and smile at when you see them on the street or at the grocery store and you never expect them not to be there. My heart is sad today.

I could feel the excitement and anticipation all around.  There I was, at the center of some stage, staring blankly back at the multitude of people cheering me on and waiting in anticipation for what I would do next.

The theme song blared through the speakers set up on either end of the stage, causing the audience to become even more excited by what they might witness.  Half way through the theme song, which just happened to be the Marine Corps Hymn, the host of the game show, along with his huge, welcoming smile, made his appearance on the stage next to me.

Do you need a gift idea for a recent college grad that has a new home? Here are some ideas: