A rainy football Sunday

I'm watching my Colts, hoping to see them go 11-0 for the season! (Update: Game over, Colts win 35-27!) At least I have a bright spot in Beth's Football World™ with my Colts. Not so with Notre Dame. They lost their last game of the season last night, and that was four in a row. They finish the season 6-6, and now we're all speculating when Charlie Weis will be fired, not if. What's really upsetting to me is that it's looking likely that both Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate will forgo their senior seasons and go into the NFL draft since Weis will be gone. I was sure enjoying watching both of them develop into amazing players, and was looking forward to seeing them play next year. I doubt that will happen now.

I was kind of down about it last night, but today I'm more philosophical. I'll be interested to see who is tapped for the coaching job. In Beth's Football World™, they'd coax Tony Dungy out of coaching retirement and get him. Heck, he's got a relative in town...I think it's one of his brothers! C'mon, Tony, we'd love you here...and you've got family here!

Hey, a gal can dream.

So it's been kind of a gloomy, rainy day today. I've been taking care of some odds and ends around the house, cleaning up the kitchen, that sort of thing. I got an entry written for I Stand Corrected, so if you get a chance, pop on over there and read my fascinating treatise on the semicolon. You'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll become a part of you!I was having a very mellow day until I heard that one of my Senators, Richard Lugar (R), suggested on CNN's "State of the Union" this morning that we delay the health care reform debate for a year so we can focus instead on Afghanistan and the economy. Are you kidding me?!

I am highly disappointed in Senator Lugar. He's always been a moderate Republican, with plenty of foreign policy knowledge. I wrote to him some time ago to urge him to support health care reform, and I got a letter back stating that he felt that with the economy being in the state it is in, now was not the time to tackle health care reform. Of course, every indicator shows that we are out of the recession, but employment will take some time to recover. The actual economy itself is beginning to recover. I felt at the time that it was a convenient excuse for him. Now that things are beginning to improve in that regard, his next excuse is Afghanistan.

What is it going to be next, Dick? A plague of locusts? An asteroid rocketing toward the Earth—and another crappy movie about it? A new Britney Spears CD? There is always going to be something. A natural disaster here or on the other side of the world. A country facing famine. An ethnic group experiencing genocide. Things that we will need our attention around the world in the interest of our shared humanity. Now is the time to make a difference for millions right here in our own country, make sure that they have decent health care, and don't have to live in fear of losing their homes because of one devastating illness. Now IS the time. No excuses, Dick. You can expect another letter from me soon.Yet another reason to love Facebook. (I have several.) We've reconnected with our friend Andy. He's a Notre Dame grad, and was an intern at Ken's company. A few years ago, he headed out to California to attend grad school at Cal Tech (he had a chance to go to MIT, too, but chose California weather over Massachusetts...I don't blame him). We had sort of lost touch a while back, but found each other on Facebook and talked on the phone tonight. It was great to hear his voice, and I'm so glad we reconnected. At the risk of sounding like a fucking schoolmarm, he's such a nice young man!Speaking of the F-word, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who showed appreciation for my dirty whorish mouth. You all are so sweet!

[Postscript: What do you think of the little divider bars? Do they look okay, or are they annoying? Too busy? Any feedback would be welcome.]