Why aren't you at work?

Because someone has to get the car fixed. Our 2002 Taurus did what 2002 Tauruses are allegedly good at- having a coil spring break and take out a tire. I'd read that this model had stuff like that happen, and when Laurie called me outside to fix the flat, it took very little time to see what happened. Of course on Sunday, of course when no one is open to take care of it, but thank God in the parking lot rather than while driving. So after about an hour of fussing over the next step, I got hold of a co-worker who could take Laurie in this a.m. so ONE of us didn't have to lose 2 days pay (today plus holiday).



In the meanwhile, I finally decided to go ahead and start Commissioner's cup '11, where I take total scores of our fantasy teams and add 'em up through the super bowl. Here at the start, the Ducks have the lead at 79, followed by the Elks at63, the Beagles at 47, Angels and T-Cubs at 40, KCAs and Rhinos at 39, Rangers at 34, SVA at 32, Clock BBQs at 27, Buzz at 25, and the B2s at 18.



In other football, it's that time of year to discover who your coach next year will be. Yesterday's results left Tennessee's Jeff Fisher, Oakland's Tom Cable, the Dolphins' Tony Sparano, Cincy's Marvin Lewis, and Cleveland's Eric Mangini in doubt. The Giant's man of the perpetual WTF face, Tom Coughlin, got told yesterday he's safe; the Vike's Leslie Frazier got told the interim tag is gone, and probably so did the Cowboy's Jason Garrett. Not so in San Fran and Denver, where both teams are rumoured to be in the Jim Harbaugh sweepstakes, along with the U of Michigan. John Fox got told coming in that he was done after his Carolina Panthers played (if you can call it that) Sunday. He can go home and wait by the phone. My hope is that Miami keeps Sparano; I fail to see how it was his fault that management failed to comprehend the lemon-hood of QB Chad Henne and WR Brandon Marshall. We need a quality QB, a deep threat that will actually catch a ball on occasion, and the next generation RB to phase out Ronnie Brown; not a new coach. I would be perplexed as to why the Raiders would dump Cable (since they've seemingly gotten past his sticky character issues), but the Raiders can be like that. One would think it would be a gimmie that a coach with a 4-12 record and a contract that's up would be gone (sorry, Marvin; you were just too tolerant of thugs and thuggery); and it can also be assumed now that Mike Holmgren can say, "Okay, I gave him (Mangini) a chance; now to pick my guy," he will do so. Coughlin I really like, and am glad the Giants kept him. Their WRs were hampered enough that go-to guy devolved onto TE Kevin (I only make good plays right after Chris bitches about me) Boss, which in turn changed Eli Manning from a 14-INT QB to a 25-INT one. And Fisher I would have fired two years ago if I was Bud Adams, but I never did like him.



Finally, we've been watching Holmes On Homes and Holmes Inspection on HGTV lately- Sunday nights. This guy should be required viewing for all contractors, inspectors, and people looking to remodel. A quote he had last night stuck with me: "Why be in a hurry? To make it ugly?" This guy actually inspires me to do better on my job- albeit inspiring me is like the commercial for "USA Prime Credit" where Lou Holtz calls "Peggy" and tells him he needs to send Lou out a replacement card tomorrow. "Peggy" says, "One Month," to which Lou goes into one of his inspirational talks. "Peggy" stands up and says, "You inspire me! Three weeks."