He Knew He Was Right

So here I am at Arrowhead Stadium! This is my third new NFL venue this year, and quite likely the last. When the schedule comes out each year, there are the two-for-one MLB/NFL weekends I try to set up for September, the two-NFL-games-in-one-weekend craziness I likewise try to scheme, but there is also that one team or venue I always seem to have in my sights as the one I must see each autumn. That team this year was the Chiefs. For the past couple of years, I've looked at the schedule to see if I could get to Chiefs and Broncos games the same weekend, but there have been no such alignments of a Sunday game for one and an MNF game for the other with the road trip in between. This being the 50th anniversary of the Chiefs, however, had me ID them as the team to see this year. A bye week for the Giants opened this weekend a bit wider. Dirt cheap airfare clinched this for me. So, this makes 24 teams. Not bad. Not bad at all. I'm 3/4 of the way there now, and I feel fortunate ...

The day before Sandy hit, I did a huge cleanup outside. I moved something like 30 wheelbarrow loads of partially shredded leaves. I passed on all the 1:00 football games and just kept working. My neighbor was out there doing the same cleanup. We knew it could all be for naught, as we had no idea of what was in store. Downed trees seemed quite likely. Well, my mailbox and post were toppled. Other than that, I had a ridiculously small amount of yard cleanup to do. I gathered fallen twigs and branches throughout my yard into the pile shown here. That's it. I did lose power for 62 hours, and with that power loss went my heat and running water. The house had cooled to 54 degrees Thursday morning, before the electricity kicked in, with the furnace and well pump coming to immediate life. Of course, many suffered great losses, my family included. Many, again, family included, lost their utilities for far longer than I did. It's truly depressing on one hand but rather reassuring on...