Christmas Songs by Jars of Clay

I've started this habit of buying one Christmas album a year. This year I went with an album by Jars of Clay. I just gave it a listen while I was cleaning up my living room. I'm not going to go into grave details about every song, because it was background music for me. I will say I loved their take on Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime." My first take from listening to the album is that it provides the listener with a setting for the birth of Christ. Their wonderful alternative folk rock sense makes this album worthy of a listen.

Notes from Vivace

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. St. Louis Rams

Okay, I didn't get to see this game, but 41-24? What is up with the Steel Curtain lately? That just seems like too many points to give up to a team that is now 3-12. And Willie Parker out for the season. That will hurt. Anyways, this is game one of the Steelers' attempt to get out of the hole they dug for themselves by losing to three teams that they should have beat.

Notes from Vivace

Not that I don't like Kids

I was helping with food preparation at an Angel Tree event. Angel Tree provides gifts to kids who have a parent in jail. So these two kids came over. They weren’t Angel Tree kids. They were there, because their parents were also helping out with the event – doing non-food related work. One kid had great enthusiasm about food. He seemed to know all about different types of cheese. He relayed his experiences with making garlic bread. He told us about his favorite desserts. And he kept on asking if we needed help. We told him we really didn’t need any help as everything was mostly done. He kept pressing, saying he felt guilty if he wasn’t able to help. The kid was getting on my nerves. He came across to me as a know-it-all. I didn’t want to be rude, but I did want to try and get across to him that we really didn’t need any help. I gave him my pseudo-psychology lesson, “You shouldn’t feel guilty about not helping people out. When you grow up, people will take advantage of you. They’ll know they’ll be able to guilt trip you into helping them out and you’ll end up being stretched too thin and up being burnt out and a stress case. So learn to not feel guilty about not being needed to do something.” That didn’t really work. He kept on hanging around, giving his opinions on food.

Notes from Vivace

Pittsburgh Steelers v. Jacksonville Jaguars

I didn't see the whole game. I headed out to catch brunch with some friends and the game was being televised so I happened to catch part of the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter. There were a lot of Steelers fans watching the game. You could hear the disappointment as the Jaguars went up 22 to 7. Then you could hear the joy at the Steelers tied up the game. And then the anguish.

It was a bad day, but it was fun hanging out with so many Steelers fans. I was just going on down for brunch with some friends and ended up surrounded by a number of Steeler fans (none being my friends, just other people eating brunch.)

Of course, this isn't an outrageous loss. The problem with the Steelers is that they lost to teams they shouldn't have lost to and now they're stuck in a tie with Cleveland for first place in the AFC North. In all honesty, the Steelers got themselves into this position. Let's see if they have the will to get themselves out of this self caused mess over the next two games.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots

Was there anything there to cheer about? The Steelers defense got burnt deep a couple times. Other than that it held up reasonably well until the fourth quarter when most defenses tire out. For awhile, it looks like the Steelers offense could keep up with the Patriots, but that was only during the first half. Actually, the Steelers offense wasn't that bad. They were able to move the ball -- even in the second half. The problem was they couldn't get the ball into the end zone. I loved the fact that in the first half the Steelers went for it on fourth down -- twice. It showed a willingness to go for broke. I will also say that I feel like this was the first lose that the Steelers took that was legit. Those other loses against teams like the Jets and Arizona, those were just sad loses. What else is there to say? I will say it didn't look like the Steelers ever gave up. And I'm sure that they want another chance (in the playoffs) at beating the Patriots.

Upcoming Pittsburgh Steelers v. New England Patriots

From the AP, "Steelers vs. Patriots: Tomlin says this isn't Appalachian State vs. Michigan," by Alan Robinson.

This game has been on the Pittsburgh Steelers' minds for weeks and, finally, they can talk about it. The Steelers (9-3) are convinced they can ruin New England's perfect season, and they were secretly rooting for the Patriots (12-0) to stay unbeaten so they would have a chance to do exactly that Sunday in Foxborough.

My comment: I don't think it was just the Steelers who secretly rooted for the Patriots to remain unbeaten -- up to this point. I think Steelers fans were also hoping for the same thing. I suspect, at least I feel this way, is that the Steelers don't necessarily have the greatest chance in the world to give the Patriots their poke in the eye, but we surely want to the chance at giving it to them.

Heroes Mini-Season Finale

Here's my thoughts:

Hiro doesn't kill Adam. Didn't Hiro say something about the fact that he should have killed off Adam in Japan? Then he doesn't do it. Instead he leaves Adam in a casket. (I wonder if this was a metal casket or a wood casket. Being that this was in Japan, I wonder if it was a wood casket.) That actually made sense to me, because Hiro doesn't come across as a killer even though he does carry a sword around. Sidenote: I would think one uses a sword to kill. I wonder if it would have made sense to send Adam into the future and let him do his damage in the future. Adam could destory the future, but wouldn't the future be erased as the present time marched forward?

Suresh trying to deal with Sylar on his own. Okay, so Suresh did take Sylar to the lab where he knew a camera was recording the events, but why didn't he outright inform people that Sylar was back. Is it possible that if the Company was informed they'd have taken more appropriate measures to deal with Sylar? I think this storyline was sort of stupid.

Clair, Noah, West. At the moment, a waste of a storyline. Maybe it'll develop into something interesting.

Niki. I wasn't sure how good her superpowers were anyways. Multiple personalities. Whatever. I'm happy she's gone.

Peter. He finally got the blinders off his eyes. He's no longer Stupid Peter -- I'd found myself calling him this --- but he needed his brother Nathan to straighten him out. I actually liked Nathan. I hope they find some Adam blood. Maybe Peter will contact Hiro somehow. Maybe Hiro will retrieve some of Adam's blood. Maybe this is a reason why Adam isn't being killed -- he can be used by the good guys, but then does that compromise the morality of the good guys?

I thought this final episode was up and down. It is too bad about this writers strike. We might get new episodes come early next year or we might not get any episodes until late September early October.

Notes from Vivace

New England Patriots win, YES!!!

The New England Patriots continued their winning ways against the Baltimore Ravens. I am happy. I was cheering for them all the way. Now it is time for the Pittsburgh Steelers to knock them off -- to be the heroes of the NFL, knocking off one of the most hated teams of any football season.

I have to admit that I was wanting New England to win for other reasons, as well. If Baltimore had won, I could just imagine the sort of vengeance the Patriots would have attempted to take out on the Steelers. It might have been a bit of a tough situation for the Steelers to face a Patriots team coming off of a loss.

Anyways, next Sunday, CBS better be showing this game in Los Angeles.

Pittsburgh Steelers v. Cincinnati Bangles

I heard John Madden saying that it looked like Pittsburgh was back to its old self after having difficulties with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. I don't know about that. The defense was great. The offense was not so great. The Steelers had two interceptions, admittedly one was tipped, and numerous fumbles, admittedly not all were official fumbles. I must say I was a bit disappointed. I am sure weather played a part, but the fumbles really got on my nerves. I didn't see the Cincinnati Bangles' running backs constantly fumbling the ball. The sports announcers suggested that Willie Parker should have removed his elbow pads. A win is a win, but the last three games have not put the Steelers in the best light, considering the competition. I'm rather concerned that they'll get blown out by the Patriots next Sunday. I know I am showing very little faith here, but the offense has to pick it up. The defense is looking good though. The problem is that the cornerbacks will need to deal with much better wide receivers than Cincinnati's. We will see. I hope for victory.