Punxatawny Phil and Superbowl thoughts

Happy Groundhog Day!  Well in Chicago, I don't think  ANY groundhog is coming to the surface.  I have been watching the posts from my friends who are trapped in Chicago- WHY they always do Mid-winter ALA in CHICAGO instead of Los Angeles is BEYOND ME!  BRRRRR.  I hope my friends are ok and will be able to get out soon.  There were over 1,000 flights canceled due to the storm.  I wonder how much this storm has to do with climate change and how much it is cyclical.  Probably a bit of both. I am anticipating a wet February, so we will see what happens.  Wet months are busy for me at work as we find all sorts of building issues are uncovered by a heavy rainstorm.

Where did the weekend go?  I was busy-busy, that's for sure.  The LA Marathon is gearing up again and I have a week to get my team in place before they open it up to the public.  I only really need about 15 dedicated workers to do our part of the event, I've done it with less.  It CANNOT rain on Marathon Day.  I am putting that out there now.  The Year of the Monsoon  can never be repeated.  If it DOES, I hope to be properly prepared.  Last time there was a spot the size of a quarter on my hip that was not wet. I have no idea why. The only bonus is that people on the east coast got to see that it DOES rain here, although the audience for a Marathon is not the same as, oh say, the Rose Parade.  Every year I hope for a cold wet January 1, so that people will see that it DOES rain in Southern California!  But for this year's Marathon , on the Ides of March,   I just want a nice cool but sunny day.  We are on the bluffs above Santa Monica and it is nice, but it does get cold.

I watched part of the Superbowl yesterday. It really came down to that one bad play, didn't it?  It was a good game, no matter who you were rooting for.  I really hate those games that are such blowouts that they are putting in everyone but the ball-boy and no one seems to care.  One year, I actually found myself feeling sorry for John Elway.  I do not like his arrogance.  There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance and he crosses it; but one year the Denver Broncos were getting beaten SO badly I actually rooted for him to make a completion.  I like football and appreciate the nuances of the game. The Patriots did not so much as win yesterday's game as Seattle lost it.  I know people will be crowing about the game and decrying the Seahawks, but they played a great game up until the very last minute.

I need to look at the commercials.  I saw a few of them that were posted online and will go back and look at them to see if there is anything wonderful.  It's sad when you look forward to Commercials, I suppose.  These days they are all so  "politically correct" and Über-sensitive.  I wondered about the commercial that used "This Land is your Land" a celebration of the uniqueness of the American Landscape, that was being used to showcase other countries.  Maybe it was meant as a unifying force and to try to get people to think about other counties in the same light we look at our own, but I was slightly annoyed by it.  Maybe I need to watch it again with a more open mind.  I tuned in at about half time.  I was less than impressed with Katy Perry.  Was Lenny Kravitz a "throw-away"?  He was onstage for what.. thirty seconds?  He and she struck the same pose she used to do with her former guitar player-music director, Matt Beckley.  Matt did it better.  I miss Matt. I should look and see what he is up to these days.  He's a good lad and a fine musician.   Katy was lip-syncing badly. She is being lambasted for her outfits, but I have seen some of her act and THESE were tame.  Ugly, but tame.  I loved how the net immediately found comparisons to her outfits and posted a "who wore it better" style meme.  Yes, She did look like she mugged a Hot Dog on a Stick employee for that dress she wore.  Just WHAT was she wearing when she danced with Missy Elliot? A SACK?  I expected it to come flying off, revealing some form fitting outfit underneath.  Missy looked good. 

I need to find Idina Menzel's National Anthem.  That song, no matter HOW you sing it, is going to piss someone off.  The thing I try to remember is that the tune is based on an English drinking song.  You need spectacular pipes to pull it off; or your audience needs to be highly lubricated which I believe the Superbowl audience may be, although not at the start of the game.  There was booing going on and people said that that was due to what was being displayed on the screen. I don't know about the Superbowl, where every minute is paid for by someone, but at sporting event I have been to NOTHING but the anthem happens during that time.  No food sales, no local advertisers, NOTHING,  How disrespectful is it to not take the time to honor America, as they say at Dodger stadium.  For the record, I always sing along.