A good weather day can make all the difference

When I was a freshman in college, I had to take a psychology class to satisfy a core requirement.  One of our assignments was to pair up and conduct a psychology experiment, and my partner and I did ours on the effects of music on a person's mood.  I can't remember who my partner was, although, I do remember that we fudged most of our data and made up the results based on what we thought they should be.  It made sense that certain songs or types of music can change a person's mood for the better OR for worse.  The same is true of the weather, and this is not something that I came up with on my own, it is a proven psychological fact that a good weather day can change one's mood for the better.

Winter has got to be the hardest of all the seasons.  It's cold, gray, and dreary, but every now and then mother nature will smile down upon you and somewhere in the middle of January, there will be one perfect weather day.  Today was one of those perfect weather days.  It was sunny, there was not a cloud in the sky, and it was about 72 degrees.  It was a perfect spring day, and it's January 29th. 

I took complete advantage of this perfect day.  I did some shopping at Wal-Mart, cleaned out and washed my car, and went on a bike ride (motorcycle, not bicycle) with my husband.  Tonight, we went to one of our friend's house for dinner and two games of Pictionary on the Wii.  It was a good day, and I love good days!  Who knows how long it might be before Mother Nature has pity on us and throws a spring day into the middle of winter. 

Anyway, the weather made all the difference in my mood today, and it was so nice to have a break from the winter doldrums. 

Go Pack Go!

I''m not a huge sports fan, and really the only sport I watch or even care about is NFL football, not college football, just NFL.  My entire family is from Wisconsin, which makes me a Green Bay Packers fan.  So imagine my excitement when the Packers won the NFC title game and are now on their way to the Superbowl!  My beloved Packers haven't been to the Superbowl since 1997 when they got beat by John Elway and the Denver Broncos.  Now, I wish they weren't going to be playing the Steelers in two weeks.  The Steelers are one of my two least favorite teams, and they just played in the Superbowl 2 years ago and beat the Arizona Cardinals.  A few years before that, they went to the Superbowl and beat Seattle, so it just stands to reason that they are due to be defeated, and I think the Packers are just the team to beat them.  It gets tiring watching the same teams play year after year in the biggest game of the year.  It's even worse when they when year after year...I mean, how many superbowl rings do Big Ben and Tom Brady actually need anyway??  I think what really drives me crazy about the Steelers is all the "bandwagon" fans they seem to have.  I think I read somewhere that they are the most popular team in the NFL, and I know a few fans in Arkansas that have absolutely no ties to Pittsburgh or the state of Pennsylvania.  For some Steeler fans, it could be the appeal of the historic franchise that is the Pittsburgh Steelers, but if we're talking about historic football franchises, then they're should be a lot of Green Bay Packer fans out there, too, and I think that there are. 

Anyway, it doesn't matter which team you root for or if you just watch the Superbowl for the commercials, there's no denying that the Superbowl is the biggest sporting event of them all.  So, just have fun and if you don't have a preference for either team, then feel free to throw your support to the Packers....they're due for a win. 

TV, football and other random thoughts

I am actually curious to see if there is anybody out there that is even interested in reading what I have to write.  I think I have an opinion or at least a thought on just about every topic, and I can promise that anything I write will be, for the most part, grammatically correct.  By the way, I use commas.  I don't care what the new rules of grammar are, commas are a natural pause in a sentence, and I still use them.  See how many I just used?

Right now I'm sitting here watching the Ravens and the Steelers play in a nail biter of a football game.  I'm hoping that the Ravens will pull out a win simply because I am tired of seeing the Steelers go to the Superbowl.  It seems like it is either the Steelers or the Patsies (my pet name for the Patriots) that play in the Superbowl almost every year.  Frankly, it would be nice to see both those teams knocked out of the running.  I am a Packers fan.  My whole family is from Milwaukee, WI, and I usually tell people that it is in my genes to be a Packer fan.  I grew up in Virginia but only because my parents moved there about three years before I was born.  Anyway, go Ravens and go Packers!!!  I think that's about all I have to say about football. 

I watch a lot of television.  I have so many different shows that I must watch each week that it's a little ridiculous.  I have given up some of the more mindless shows such as "The Bachelor".  It was fascinating to me to watch these women go nuts over some guy that was basically saying the same loving things to several different women at the same time.  I always thought they must be nuts to think that they have that "special connection" with Jake, Steve or whatever the guy's name is, but who am I to try and judge how another person feels?  At the time, those feelings are real as is the connection.  I gave up watching the show because I found myself on the verge of vomiting every time I had to watch the bachelor and some poor, young girl go on a date that no real couple would ever or could ever afford to go on.  Have you seen some of these dates?  Helicopter rides, private concerts by Chicago or LeeAnn Womack, trips to Spain, Italy or some other exotic location are some examples of dates that Mr. Wonderful and Miss Perfect Body would have.  I mean, I have dated a lot, and I have NEVER been on a date like that.  I was happy with dinner and a movie.  Almost all of the relationships that are spawned from this show inevitably end once the happy couple enters the real world.  Anyway, I've stopped watching this show.  It's just stupid, and I'm determined to cut stupid from my life.  I love "Law and Order" and could probably watch this show all day long.  Actually, I have watched this show all day long before.  I will watch hours of "Law and Order" and will only change the channel once my husband tells me he's tired of it.  I love courtroom drama and the law.  I have always found the law so interesting.  I took a few paralegal classes once, because that's what I thought I wanted to do.  I eventually changed my mind and will just stick with watching it on TV.  I could probably go on and on about television shows that I watch, but that's not the only hobby I have.  I love to read, too.  James Patterson, David Baldacci, John Grisham, and Ann Rule are a few of my favorite authors.  David Baldacci is my recent obsession.  He writes stories that are similar to James Patterson's novels, but he grew up close to my hometown of Roanoke, VA, and most of his stories take place in that area.  When I'm reading one of his books, I can picture the beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains and the small mountain towns that his characters reside in.  I am currently reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".  I heard that it was an excellent book and that I wouldn't be able to put it down once I started reading it.  So far, that's not the case, but I'm not that far into the book, so it may get much better.  It takes place in Sweden, so, of course I have to pull out the world atlas and try and find the cities that are mentioned in the book.  I love maps and atlases and love to know where places that I read about are located in the world. 

Well, I think I have gone on long enough for one day.  By the way, by the time I finished writing all this, the Steelers have successfully defeated the Ravens, which I am not happy about, but my Packers are playing now, so I have only one final thing to say; GO PACKERS!!!!