Mishmash Musings

I was just reading up about the Carolina Panthers as part of my fantasy football draft research when I noticed they have a bunch of players out with injuries. Wide receiver Steve Smith recently suffered a concussion in a pre-season game, and DJ Hackett, Jason Carter, Chris Harris, and Chris Gamble also have various injuries, ranging from knee problems to muscle strains.

Hopefully the Panthers organization carries some good NC health insurance to get these guys healthy and back in the lineup in time for the season opener on September 7. Otherwise, I think that tough San Diego Chargers team will simply be too much for them.

I’ve been playing fantasy football for several years now, but I’ve always just maintained one team in one league. This year, I decided to quit the league I usually play in because they have far too many teams now. I then joined a couple of free public leagues on Yahoo and ESPN. Soon one thing led to another with other friends calling me up to join, and now I find myself in 6 different fantasy leagues! Yes, s-i-x.

Even as a total football junkie, I feel this is a bit of overkill. With one team, I used to follow “my” players religiously, watching games that I wouldn’t otherwise tune into if someone on my roster was playing, etc. But with a total of five teams to keep track of (my sixth fantasy league is college pick ‘em), I doubt this is going to happen much. Maybe I’ll be able to do it after a few weeks when I see which of my teams will be worth following for the year, but at the beginning there’s no way I’ll be able to do it.

On the plus side, I have so many different players that it significantly cuts down on the stress factor. If one of my guys has a bad game, it’ll hurt one of my teams, but will inevitably end up helping another, so it will be a wash.

Well, we’ll see how having this many teams works out in the end. I’m sure by the midway point, I’ll just be making minimal roster changes in a few of my leagues while having a fighting chance in some others.

Either way, I’m still excited — at least at the beginning here!

I was looking up some stuff online this morning when I somehow came across a website for the Duggar family. You’ve probably heard of these guys, as they’ve been on plenty of talk shows over the years. What makes them famous? Well, the fact that there are 18 children in the family, for one thing!

That’s right, there are a total of 20 people in the immediate Duggar family — which to me is a staggering number. Their website has photos of their beautiful house, and I’m amazed at how nice it is. They have an industrial kitchen for preparing meals, a buffet-style counter for serving themselves, and even a fountain drink dispenser like the ones you see in restaurants.

The rest of the house looks even better, with an indoor climbing wall and two-story indoor slide for the kids, tunnels leading from the bedrooms to the playroom, a laundry room with four washers and four dryers, and a family closet where every single item of clothing is kept in one place. The kids apparently just go in there and choose whatever they want to wear!

It was fun to see how they live at home, but I’m more interested in learning about how they get around from place to place. I mean, if anyone needs to buy a bus, it’s the Duggar family.

Anyway, I’ve got to hand it to parents JimBob and Michelle. They’re just 43 or something, and manage to keep a huge household like that running smoothly. I can’t even begin to imagine how I’d try to cope in that situation!

I have to admit that as a picky eater, I’m not all that big on ethnic foods. I prefer simple dishes, and rarely ever try new things when we go to ethnic restaurants or even foreign countries. My friends always said I was missing out on so much, but I never believed them — until recently.

That’s because I recently had the opportunity to try paella when I went to an anniversary party, and I instantly fell in love with the dish! At first I thought the saffron and garlic would be too overpowering for my tastes, but one bite was enough to convince me that I had nothing to worry about. Now, I’m even considering buying my own paella pan so I can try making this stuff at home. Yes, it was that good!

Since I ended up liking paella even though I thought I wouldn’t, maybe I should give other ethnic dishes a shot. Nah… one is enough for now!

I’m not the kind of person who can watch the same thing over and over again. It takes me years before I can sit down to watch a movie twice, even if I loved it the first time around, and the same usually holds true for television shows. But there are a few programs that I never get tired of watching, and will immediately end my channel surfing for if I ever come across them in syndication. They are:

1. Seinfeld — So many classic one-liners and awesome episodes!
2. Friends — Especially the early seasons before Chandler became unfunny and Ross became unbearable.
3. The X-Files — Anything from seasons 1-5 will have me riveted to my seat until the ep is over. Mulder and Scully forever!
4. The West Wing — There were so many great actors on that show that it’s hard to resist. Plus, the good episodes were outstanding compared to usual primetime fare, and even the mediocre ones were watchable.
5. Family Ties — I know this show seems incredibly lame in this day and age, but I loved it when I was a kid and still like to watch it for nostalgia’s sake.

Back when I was in high school, one of my best friends and I had a rather, uh, unique hobby. We liked to practice picking locks! It wasn’t for illegal purposes or anything like that. My buddy’s uncle was a locksmith, and we just thought it was really cool to play around with his tools and try to pick locks. Plus, it helped that we were both huge mystery/detective fans, as picking locks made us feel like Philip Marlowe or something!

We actually became pretty good at picking locks — good enough to know which locks were easy to pick and which were more difficult. I always had trouble with Schlage locks for some reason. That’s a weird thing to remember, right?

Anyway, I haven’t picked a lock in more than 15 years, and doubt that I could do it today without first practicing a bunch. After all, I’m sure locks and deadbolts have become more sophisticated over the years. Maybe I’ll order a set of picks and tension wrenches and try my hand once more!

I signed up for a free fantasy football league on Yahoo Sports this year, and was surprised to see that the league already had its draft — even though there are still three weeks of training camp left! I should have been paying attention to that before I joined… I hate it when leagues draft this early. There’s just no telling what can happen as far as injuries go.

Anyway, some good did come out of the draft, as I managed to snag Adrian “All Day” Peterson for my team! Actually, I can’t take the credit for this, since it was a totally automated draft and I didn’t even bother ranking the players at all, but still. What a great pickup!

I’ve been playing fantasy football for five years now and have never had a marquee player like this on my team. Hard to believe, but it’s true. Like last year, I had Fred Gore (my 1st round pick), but he ended up doing absolutely nothing all year long. Other than that, I’ve always had middle-of-the-road guys like Matt Hasslebeck and Corey Dillon (before he retired), guys that get the job done, but never bust things wide open.

So needless to say, I’m really excited for what the upcoming fantasy season will bring. Let’s hope AP doesn’t go through a sophomore slump because I’d love to see him tear things up again now that he’ll be scoring points for me!

My husband is the kind of guy who wears nothing but t-shirts and jeans or shorts when he’s not at work. There’s nothing wrong with that, as I know everyone’s comfortable in different things. But I would prefer it if he would spend a little time and money updating his collection every so often, especially since a lot of his t shirts are from specific events and therefore have dates on them!

For example, today Jerry was wearing a shirt from a motocross event in 2004. A couple days ago, he was wearing something from 2005, and I also know that he has several shirts from 2003 in his collection. These are not vintage tees by any means. They are worn regularly, and show signs of wear and tear, so I’m not sure why Jerry has held onto them for so long.

I wear t-shirts too, but at least I go through every now and then to toss out the old ones and bring in some new styles. I wish Jerry would see fit to do the same!

Talk about excess… this story is just another reminder that pro athletes do not live in the same universe as you or me.

Gilbert Arenas, a basketball player on the Washington Wizards, is reportedly building a million-dollar pool complex in the backyard of his Great Falls (VA) mansion. That’s right, $1 million for a swimming pool!

According to a news article I read, the bulk of that price tag went to the stone for a mountain/grotto structure, with the rest going to the pool, a waterfall, and three large fish tanks that will house exotic sea creatures.

Here’s a photo of one of part of the pool, which I got from the Dan Stenberg blog at washingtonpost.com:

What a monumental waste of money, IMO. I mean, it doesn’t even look that special, and besides, how many days out of the year can you enjoy a friggin’ pool in northern Virginia??

Oh, well, I guess these are the types of things you can do when you play ball for $111 million.

I’ve been watching My Name Is Earl recently, and I always laugh at the antics of the trailer trash characters on the show, comfortable in the knowledge that I’ll never be like them. Then I look around my house, notice the PLASTIC coffee table, mismatched furniture, and second-hand everything, and shake my head as I realize I’m already like those people!

That’s why I was excited to hear about the $10,000 Dream Room Giveaway going on right now at Boyles.com. Boyles is a discount furniture retailer based in North Carolina, and in the 60 years they’ve been in business, they’ve developed a reputation for selling high quality pieces at the best prices around.

Anyway, from now until August 31, you can enter their random draw sweepstakes where one lucky winner will receive $10,000 worth of beautiful furniture to help redo any room in their home. That would certainly go a long way towards upgrading my house and elevating me way above trailer trash status, so I would love to win this one!

There’s no purchase necessary to enter or to win, and you can submit an online entry once per day in order to increase your chances of winning.

If you need new furniture as much as I do, get over to Boyles.com right now and enter their $10,000 Dream Room Giveaway today!

I’m currently gearing up for my fantasy football league, which holds its draft on Aug. 10 this year. I’m in a brand-new league, a public one on ESPN that I joined because I was tired of the 14-team league I had been playing in for four or five years prior to this. I don’t know any of the other managers, so it will be nice to get a fresh start.

Anyway, I just watched a clip on Yahoo! sports about potential fantasy football duds this year. I actually agreed with the experts’ analysis and won’t be drafting any of these guys if I can help it:

1. Marvin Harrison, Colts
2. Willis McGahee, Ravens
3. Jon Kitna, Lions
4. Marc Bulger, Rams
5. Willie Parker, Steelers

Then again, if I get stuck with the likes of Rex Grossman or Kyle Boller, am I really going to be any better off??? Ha ha.

Here’s hoping I have a good draft this year!!

High school seniors base their college application decisions on a number of factors, including, sometimes, how much of a party atmosphere there is at a particular school. That’s why the results of the Princeton Review survey of the Top Party Schools in the country is one of the most anxiously anticipated lists around.

This year, the University of Florida beat out last year’s champ West Virginia — and everyone else — as the top party school in the nation. School officials believe it has something to do with the fact that Florida’s athletic teams have won a couple of national championships recently, which of course leads to wild celebrations. But Florida students noted that it probably had more to do with the fact that the student body is around 51,000 — which means there’s always something going on.

Here’s a list of the Top 10 Party Schools for 2008:

1. University of Florida
2. University of Mississippi
3. Penn State University
4. West Virginia University
5. Ohio University
6. Randolph-Macon College (huh? never heard of it)
7. University of Georgia
8. University of Texas - Austin
9. UC - Santa Barbara
10. Florida State University