Geez Louise...it's been over 2 weeks since I last posted.  That's pitiful.

Actually, I thought I posted last week, but now that I can't find the post, I'm thinking the entry must have been what I was writing the night I dozed off at the computer.  I remember waking up with a horrible crick in my neck, and just turning the computer off without really checking to see if I was done with whatever I was doing when I fell asleep.  I'm betting that's what happened to the mystery post.

Well, the Bengals just lost again on Monday Night Football.  Since winning the season opener, they've won nada.  They just can't seem to get it all together come game time.  Heck, week 2 against the Browns, they scored 45 points, with 6 touchdowns--and lost!  The defense forgot to show up that week, and the Browns scored 51 points.  There should never, NEVER be 96 points scored in a professional football game. 

This week, when ESPN did their poll to see who people thought would win, none of the ESPN analysts picked Cincinnati, not even Boomer (Traitor!), and in the national poll, the Bengals didn't even get the majority of the votes from Ohio.  Now that's just sad, but midwesterners are nothing if not pragmatic.  More entertaining than the Bengals at this point in the season are the endless headlines about the Pigeon Poop problem at Paul Brown Stadium.  Apparently pigeons are constantly pooping on the seats, the fans, and the overpriced concessions.  I'd be really pissed if a pigeon pooped on my $5.00 hot dog.  The Powers That Be at the stadium applied for a special permit that would allow them to shoot pigeons within the city limits, trying to clean things up for Monday Night Football.  Guess they decided that all the 'pigeon killer' stories might not set well with the TV audience, so last I heard they had decided to try lasers first, and hold off on the shotguns until the national TV crews are gone.  Jon says he's never noticed a pigeon problem on the stadium field, so I guess the players have not been getting pooped on...the birds probably decided they were playing so shitty already, they didn't need any more on the field.

Katie's softball is just about over, since I doubt they'll make the end of season tournament.  They lost both games this week, but they were both close games, and one was against the undefeated team in the league.  The week before, though...that was probably one of the most frustrating games I've ever had as a parent.  I couldn't even call my mom and tell her about it until nearly 8 hours had passed.  We were playing a team we've played several times between spring and fall ball, and in the spring we ruined their undefeated season.  In this league the rule is you don't start an inning after 70 minutes, you just finish the one you are in, and there is a countdown clock on the scoreboard--not an olympic level clock or anything like that, this one just does minutes. It was a close game, going back and forth several times. Going into the bottom of an inning, we are at bat and down by 1 run.  With 2 outs, we have the bases loaded.  We score two runs, putting us in the lead with less than two minutes left to play in the game, so all we have to do is stay at bat for about 90 more seconds and we win.  You can waste 90 seconds just by having the batter step out of the box a few times. But what happens...the coach sends the runner on third to try for home, and she gets out.  The other team runs in quickly and gets in the batter's box before time runs out, and we have to play another inning.  They stick Katie in to catch, despite the fact that they have two experienced catchers playing the field.  Jon even went over and told the coach that putting Katie in to catch in this situation was not in the team's best interest.  (Not that either of us has a problem with her catching, after all Chris is a catcher. We just think she needs some instruction in catching, which she has never gotten in fall ball because there is no practice.)  Several runs score, and even though it's not particularly Katie's fault, she feels very frustrated, because she had several passed balls that let them get in scoring position. So then our team comes up, and scores a few runs...we are now within 2 runs of taking the lead back.  Katie comes up with 2 outs and 2 runners on base.  At this point, the coach of the team to be playing after us comes up and yells at the umpire because the game is running over and he wants to get his team on the field...and our coach says NOTHING.  The umpire calls two balls that were over Katie's head strikes.  Katie swung at the third pitch, knowing it was too high but that he'd call it, and hits a little dribbler and gets thrown out to end the game.  She was nearly in tears, knowing that they should have won the game and never played that last inning at all, and knowing that she swung at a bad pitch because the umpire wanted to end the game.  Every parent there and all the girls who were actually paying attention to the game and not just socializing were frustrated as all get out with both the coach and the umpire.  But we all got over it and showed up for this week's game.  Katie likes to win, but more than that, she likes to play the game.

Chris' football team won this week, too.  34-0, it was a rout!  I think I got some good pics of him, which hopefully will gloss over the fact that I missed my photo-op the week before completely.  I didn't even have the camera out of the case yet, that's how bad I missed it.  He caught the opening kick off and ran it back about 5 yards, and I was totally unprepared because he's not usually catching the ball--it was kicked really crooked that particular time. I heard the announcer say "Malewski has the ball" and I knew it had to be him, since they always manage to mangle the name.  And I was right!  Yay, Chris!

Katie is enjoying the saxophone so far.  She can play Hot Cross Buns and sometimes it's even recognizable.  Last week, both kids were going to have a sleepover, and the big plan was for Sydney to bring her flute and Joe to bring his trumpet, then Katie would play sax and Chris would play drums and they would have a 'Battle of the Bands'.  I was doing the happy dance when both Joe and Syd forgot their instruments!

Speaking of band, I saw the band director that Katie described as 'hot' and then downgraded to 'really warm.'  All I have to say is that before she starts dating, I need to do some serious work on her standards.  He was 'lukewarm' at the very best.

I've also been trying to catch up on the season premieres of several different shows.  I missed the first week of Survivor China, but remembered to Tivo the second week.  I'm sad that I never really got to 'see' Chicken before he was voted out--I was intrigued by his nickname.  I'm going to have to go to the website and catch up on week 1 at some point.  Week 2 might as well have been called Nudie week--they were certainly giving the 'blur' button a workout during that reward challenge.

I think I'm finally getting a grasp of what is going on in 'The Unit'.  I was totally lost after watching the season cliffhanger, even though I watched it 3 times.  I'm still not 100% positive I understand it all, but it is managing to hold my attention.  

Without a Trace was good, I'm wondering how they are going to work in Poppy Montgomery's pregnancy.  Wonder if she'll end up knocked up by Jack?  Or will she get back together with Martin?  (I hope not, he deserves better).  I hope they give Viv something to do this season, too.  I've never really been thrilled with the addition of Elena to the cast, but she's starting to grow on me, and I like her and Danny together (ie, keep her away from Martin!)  We also saw her in the movie "The Game Plan" this weekend, with The Rock.  It was (for a kid's movie) very entertaining and I enjoyed it as much as the kids.  She was very good in her role as a ballet instructor, apparently she's had quite a bit of dance training, and it showed.

Numb3rs was excellent, as usual.  I was stunned at the end of last season when they left us thinking Colby was a spy for the Chinese, I'm so relieved to see that's not exactly the case.  And they seem to be ratcheting it up a bit between Charlie and Amita.  Charlie was looking a little scruffier than usual--very hot!  And Val Kilmer was excellent as the villian, even though I caught a continuity issue in the scene where he was injecting the drugs into Colby.  That's not Val's fault. 

ER was also a good one. I was disappointed not to see or hear anything about  Ray and his legless situation, but I can't really figure where they would have worked it into this episode.  I hope he doesn't just disappear, never to be heard from, seen, or mentioned again, like soap opera characters do.  He was one of my favorites.  I'm also intrigued by Stanley Tucci's character and where they will go with him, how he will interact with the ER staff.  I'm getting a little tired of all the drama focusing on Neela.