Facie’s Ramblings

Another month has passed without my blogging. I (sometimes) long for the days when I would blog several times  a week. I am just in a weird place now, and I am not sure blogging will help. Plus with the rather boring life I lead, there really is not much to say. But I will try to say a few things that are on my mind. The Steelers are the playoffs! I used to be so excited by that. And I am still a little. I will certainly be watching the game. I am wearing my Hines jersey as we speak. But I no longer get really worked up by a game. I don't cry when my team loses a big game. I no longer post a lot about the Steelers as I used to on Facebook and a little on here. This season is the second in a row I did not go to a single game, which is now my longest streak. My family got season tickets when I was in high school (can't remember when). I went to a game or two a year then. In college, I probably went to only one per year. Once I graduated and up until I had Jordan 10 years later,...

One of my favorite blogger friends, Bluz, over at Darwinfish 2 , recently posted about his four-year blogiversary. I recall thinking at some point in either December or January that January 2008 was when I started this blog, but, surprise, surprise, I forgot about it when the actual time came. Regardless, five years is a long time to be doing something like this, for me, anyway, so I do want to acknowledge it. Yeah, me! My original intent for this blog was to post things about my kid, mostly pictures, so my brothers and their families would be able to keep up with us. Because they live too far away! But right from the get-go, my first post had very little to do with the kid, other than I posted a picture of her and the dog (I cannot believe how little my J looks in that pic). That post was a bit disjointed and lacking focus. The next one I titled "True Ramblings," yet it actually was not all that rambling (unlike many of my subsequent posts). Worth noting is I did not cap...

I really could not think of a good title to this post, and the one above says just about nothing. But I am sure, as usual, once I finish writing this post (which I already wrote in my head early this morning while trying to fall back asleep but most of which I forget), I will have come to no conclusions. Sports are on my mind right now, and I wanted to briefly (for me) touch on what are probably the most-talked-about topics as of late. First you have that jagoff, Lance Armstrong. I was one of the duped ones who wanted to believe this cyclist not only beat cancer but went on to do amazing things in a grueling event many times over. I love feel-good stories. And, as has been noted around these here parts, I like and want to believe the best about people. Further, when Armstrong denied the doping allegations and then went on to sue people who said he did dope, well, how could he have been lying? I don't know why Armstrong chose to, mostly, come clean at this point (or maybe I read...

This holiday season (for the record, I am referring to it as the holiday season because Christmas does not start until December 25 and it seems a little too narrow to refer to it as Advent), I am doing just what I said I would not. Well, I am doing what I said I would a few weeks ago, which is embracing the season . I listen to Christmas music every day in the car (mixed in with some sports radio, of course). I am trying my best to be extra pleasant to people while waiting in long lines. More often than usual, I let cars in traffic get in front of me. I have worn my various Santa hats (PSU, Steelers, red) several times , including yesterday during lunch duty. I bought a gift for the angel tree at church and have given a donation to the food bank. And I finished my Christmas cards before Thanksgiving and painstakingly waited to send them out until November 29 (just could not wait until December 1). The thing that I did not want to do was get caught up in the presents, which is exact...

So far 2009 is shaping up to be a good year for Pittsburgh sports. The Steelers started off the year by winning the Super Bowl, a feat which seems like a lifetime ago, for some reason. The Pirates were above .500 for at least a few games, and now the Pens are back in the Eastern Conference Championship game. I am reminded, once again, how great it is to live in da Burgh. But things are not always rosy. A couple of months ago, I read an article in the P-G about a couple who was going through financial difficulties due to a job loss and underemployment. These two said that their mortgage was a month overdue, and the next month, the cable would go. When I read that, it kind of irritated me. I thought why would you pay your cable bill before you pay your mortgage?! A lot of good hundreds of stations are going to do you if you don't have a house to watch them in. So, not surprisingly, I contemplated writing a letter to the editor about that, thinking these people were like so many other...

I am a bit of a homer (or whatever the term is called for people who think the hometown person should win, get the break, whatever). But I also let emotions affect my feelings in sports, which makes me a such a girl (which I clearly am, though rarely act like). When Rocco Mediate, a Greensburg native, tied Tiger Woods in yesterday's US Open, I was pulling for him, not only because he lives less than an hour from Pittsburgh, but also because I thought of how great it would be for him to win a major, something he had never done before. Tiger has won something like 3,297 majors at this point. I lost count. When the round ended in a tie, I actually considered praying that Rocco would win. I know it is silly and unfair in some way to bother God with that sort of prayer, but someone has to win, so why shouldn't it be someone who has never won before? Think of how great that feeling would be. For Tiger, it is just another green jacket or piece of hardware or whatever it is you get wit...

Tonight could be the final Stanley Cup playoff game for the Pens. And if that happens, I will be disappointed. But after Monday night's/Tuesday morning's game, I will be okay if the buck stops here in the Burgh (meaning I won't cry). That was one of the best games I ever saw. Not so much in that the Pens played their best game; for the love of Pete, they were outshot by about double. But for the fact that they did not give up. Nothing like the game-tying goal coming in the final 34 seconds. That was crazy. And then watching Fleury make all those saves. What a game he had. And how about Sykora telling that announcer he was going to get the/a goal and then he ended up scoring the game winner. I was pretty tired by the end of the second OT, but by the start of the third OT, my spirit was renewed. I remember the Pens-Caps game in '96, just a few weeks (maybe days) before I moved here to the Burgh. I recall falling asleep during one of the OTs , then waking up a couple of...

Or at least that is what I keep telling myself. But I believe it. Sure, the Pens played rather badly last night (well, they started off looking pretty good/evenly matched against the Red Wings), but it was just one game, and an away game at that. I think they will bounce back in game 2. When Fleury tripped his way onto the ice, that was probably not a good sign. And Lord knows I am into signs. But when the Red Wings' first goal was overturned, I thought that was big, since the Pens have won almost every game they scored first in these playoffs. Now that they lost their first, first game, I am choosing to ignore that the Pens won their first three games in each of the first three series. This is the fourth series and the first time they are not beginning the series at home, so it makes sense, I am rationalizing, that this series starts off differently. I know that most athletes are overpaid, and some sports fans place a little too much importance on games (guilty, sometimes!), but I...

Hockey players have to be some of the most superstitious athletes out there. I was surprised to read/hear that the Penguins players refused to touch the Prince of Wales trophy. They deserved to bask in the accolades; it was a great accomplishment, something we have not seen in over 15 years. But some players said the Eastern Conference means nothing, that the Cup is the ultimate goal, and I guess they don't want to do anything to jinx that. I bought a new Penguins shirt a week and a half ago (see pic above), and the Pens won each time I wore it. But I am pretty sure that the win had nothing to do with me. However, if I don't wear that shirt and the Pens lose, you can believe I will blame myself on some level. I considered not shaving my legs the entire playoffs, in deference to the players not shaving their facial hair, but I am pretty sure Brian would not appreciate that. It is kind of fun(ny), and egotistical really, to think any one person not directly involved in the game c...

Thought I would throw out a few (and by a few, I am sure I will end up with well over a dozen) thoughts running around that brain of mine. I have a lot of meaningful people in my life from family, friends, relatives, and casual acquaintances. If you are reading this blog, you are probably one of those people (unless you just happened by), and I thank you for occupying some part of my heart and mind. I think the world is too materialistic. If you have been to my house, you know we are not into nice, expensive things. I just don't care about that stuff. True, I am still debating about that flat-screen TV (leaning more towards no), but mostly what I have is just fine. I think this may be the year I am going to have to retire my almost 15-year old skirt. And I have been wearing the same PSU winter coat for years. Unless I get a job where fashion matters (and clearly it does not at my office), I see no reason to spend a lot of money on clothes or keep up with the latest styles. I think ...

I missed over three quarters of the Big Game, but I watched the 10 minutes that counted. And what mattered the most was when the clock was 0:00, the Giants were victorious. Looks as if Plex was right after all, just not about the final score. During the last five minutes, I felt as if I was watching a Steelers playoff game. And in the final two minutes, it almost felt as if the Steelers were in the Super Bowl. Once Tyree caught that amazing pass with about two minutes to go (or something like that), I ran upstairs to get my cell phone, confident my coworker Robta would be calling me if the game turned out as we had hoped. The woman in me feels a little bit bad that the Pats had to see their perfect season end with a 1 on the end. And it is kind of sad that part of me (and many, many others) wanted them to lose out of jealousy towards such an amazing team, especially the über-talented Tom Brady. But the principled person/Steelers fan in me is glad that Belicheat and his bunch lost to t...