Luca Lunedi

Dude is still out injured, but we miss him, don't we?  Here's an old one from last summer.  

Starting from 12:00 and going clockwise, that's Daniele Bonera, Sleepy, JoeBeppe, Monty, and Dogfish.  Loooca's in the center, looking confused and asking a question of Monty.  Monty actually has an education, so it's possible Loooca got a response that made sense. 

Now that's over, it's time for Random Monday!  Queue up der list-macher.

1. 
   
   It's raining, but there is still well over a foot of snow in the yard.   I think all my shrubs are crushed/dead, but I can see them under the snow, so I'm pretending everything is fine.
2. 
   
   I know many of you believe that workin' for Uncle Sam is all roses and sunshine and coffee breaks, but sometimes, like now, I get to do something legally correct but personally distasteful.  I have been working on it FOREVER, and I've been working hard, too, on a roll like I haven't seen in a very long time.  My ass has been in this chair for ten hours today.  Did I finish?  No.  Hooray.  I get to work on it again tomorrow.
3. 
   
   Bossboy is retiring.  His last day is Thursday.  Weirdly, the thought of him being gone has led to a new feeling of competence.  I actually know how to do my job!  I don't need Bossboy to protect me.  I'm going to be just fine.  If you had asked me last month, I would have predicted that I would spend this week and the month of March in the fetal position.  Go figure.
4. 
   
   I loathe how broadcasters lurve to tell you the results in other matches, matches you were saving to watch later, but now the suspense is ruined.  ESPN360dotcom did that to me today, ruining a Juve game for me.  Have they never heard of the DVR?  Do they not understand that maybe we want to watch?
5. 
   
   I am trying very hard to enjoy the Olympics.  Really I am.  I am enjoying the curling, which is on for several hours a day on CNBC.  I would like to enjoy some Nordic skiing and some speed skating, but that is apparently not allowed.  "They" seem to think that all we want to see is XTreme events, two star US alpine skiers, Shani Davis, and promos for NBC shows and for movies belonging to one of the NBC companies.  I think, but am not entirely sure, that athletes from other countries are competing, and I surmise that some of them are kinda good.
6. 
   
   We watch very little commercial TV, except the soccer channels, and what we do watch, we see on DVR so we skip all the commercials.  We are seeing commercials for the first time in a long time during the Olympics.  They're horrible!  An alien landing here would think from our commercials that Bud is a tasty beer, Walmart is a worker-friendly company bringing goodness and light to everyone, and life without a smart phone is not worth living.  How do you people cope?
7. 
   
   Here are the commercials we see:
• 
  
  Bosley hair treatment.  (They all look better in the before pictures when they were bald)
• 
  
  Some credit counseling/debt-reduction service that looks like a news report
• 
  
  That guy standing in front of a urinal.  My Spanish is terrible, but I surmise that he is selling some sort of prostate thing.
• 
  
  Magical extermination devices ("Ratas!  Ratones!  Y Cucarachas!")
• 
  
  Proactiv skin care treatments featuring celebrity chicas I have never heard of (they all look better in the after pictures when the acne is gone).  The dermatologist chill-in-chief doesn;t do this for the money, you know.  She does it because she was once an acne victim (o!  the humanity!) and she wants to help the world so it doesn't have to suffer.
• 
  
  Some home improvement buying club ("The savings are significant!")
• 
  
  Edward James Olmos doing Farmers Insurance ads in espanol.
• 
  
  Occasional promos for two other shows.  My favorite is the spanish-language football discussion group, which apparently consists of five pudgy middle-aged guys in suits, and one young buxom brunette lady in a low-cut blue sequined mini-dress.
8. 
   
   These low-budget babies are terrible, but they are, some of them anyway, refreshingly honest.  Five guys in suits and one beauty with big boobs?  You pretty much know what you are going to get.  Magic extermination?  If you fall for it, that's on you.  But if you drink a Bud expecting a transcendent experience, you will be sorely disappointed.
9. 
   
   I have renewed my contempt for judged sports.  Why do we need style points for ski jumping?  How about longest jump wins?  What's wrong with that?  I have also renewed my contempt for sports that are all about the equipment (bobsled) or are pretty much about going for a ride (bobsled, luge, skeleton). 
10. 
    
    More contempt:  That Russian figure skater who won the silver medal saying "It's a sport, not a show" while wearing his sparkly costume.
11. 
    
    And more contempt:  The Washington Post reporting that American skiers have lived up to the hype.  As if they had nothing to do with creating the hype in the first place.
12. 
    
    Oh dear.  I'm getting myself all worked up.  Let's see.  Happy thought.  Happy thought.  Hmmm.  This is hard.
13. 
    
    OK, how about this.  The Man, who has only recently mastered the social custom of saying "your hair looks nice" to someone who has just had her hair done, remembers exactly what the roses I carried at my wedding looked like, and he always tried to get roses just like them when he buys me roses.  Awwwwwwww.
14. 
    
    And, to wrap things up, you know I can't end a list with 13. 

~Fin~

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