I'm back in SoCal and trying to relax before getting back to work, getting back to the gym, getting back to normalcy. I'm far from it right now--I'm watching the Ravens' quarterback punt and the Steelers' punt throw. I was at a very bizarre party on Friday night where I saw some old high school friends and got kinda drunk (and other things). Bill and DEK may have more details on my strange behavior, things I've forgotten or don't want to post here for posterity.

One nice thing I learned yesterday and last Satursunday is that even a relatively small change in personal circumference can make airline travel much more pleasant. So I got that going for me.

If anyone can explain the New Orleans Saints and/or the Minnesota Vikings, I'd be really interested to hear about it.

Finally, while I'm already contemplating ironically attending a Long Beach Sun game, this article at ESPN has some really interesting things to say about Dennis Rodman the basketball player, not the cartoon character. It reminds me how much we as sports fans pretend that only the actual games matter, but in our culture it's often the other way around. The amount of publicity Joe Horn recently got for his four touchdown catches in one game--as opposed to how he celebrated one of them--is a prime recent example.