Good God, It's Tough To Be A Die-Hard Fan Sometimes

I'm not the type of person to like people or things immediately. Most people assume I fell in love with Tom Brady at first sight, but I didn't. After the Joe Montana years (Montana was my first QB crush until I started crushing on my classmates who were QBs...hahah), I actually stopped watching pro football all together. I was a cheerleader from 5th grade to about 9th grade, but gave up cheerleading for ASB. Football (and sports in general) was still very much part of my formative years since I was always at games and football players often got elected into ASB positions (that WAS a popularity contest). Fast forward to graduating from college (UCI did NOT have a football team, so I spent my time mastering the art of failing classes) and...BAM! My beloved Albert reintroduces me to pro football.

Albert thinks it's weird to call yourself a football fan without claiming a team (I think he'll give you a pass if you're a gambler because you need to stay partial). He asked what my team was and I said the 49ers, but I wasn't able to name one player on that team at the time (2007). He suggested that if I claim a team, I should probably know some players. Made sense to me, so that's how I got hooked every Sunday into watching football trying to learn teams, players, coaches, etc.

The names coming out of every sports commentator's mouth...Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Patriots. That season, there was the whole Spygate scandal and the Patriots going undefeated in the regular season. Being the deliberative person that I am, I didn't want to claim to be a Tom Brady fan that whole season for fear of being called a band-wagoner and I didn't know much about him other than people either really loved him or really hated him. To make a long story short, the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season only to lose to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. That was a heartbreaker....but I officially became a Tom Brady fan that night. Sure, it's easy to be a fan when the team wins...not so much when they lose.

2007: Lose to the NY Giants in the Super Bowl

2008: Tom Brady has a season-ending injury in the FIRST EFFING WEEK.

2009: Patriots are one and out in the Wildcard playoffs

2010 (aka this past Sunday): Patriots are one and out in the Divisional playoffs

Fmylife. I think everyone and their momma knew how much I wanted Brady to get to the Super Bowl and win. I watched in horror as that turned to shit at the hands of (who else?) my protege Mark Sanchez. The feeling I've had all week is indescribable. I'm doing all my best to shake it off, but I feel like I'm somewhere worse than Sad & Disappointed and not as severe as Depressed. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED??? Now that I'm a couple days removed from the game, I can accept that the Jets' defense rocked the shit out of the Patriots (the Pats have a young defense who ranked 24th out of 32 teams). And, probably the hardest to admit, the Pats were out coached.

Monday morning, I got pity looks from coworkers who know about my Tom Brady obsession. I even got an email from Pam, who moved back to Louisiana, urging me to "get of bed...brush it off...life goes on". She's a Saints fan, so I knew she could genuinely relate. Monday and Tuesday I could barely eat. Yesterday, tears started welling up out of nowhere. Was I really crying over football? Yes. Well, Sunday definitely over football. Yesterday was a combination of fasting, being tired, and thinking about going to Vegas for the Super Bowl. I could barely even utter the word football or anything having to do football until this morning when my mom asked why I took my Brady jersey down (it was hanging on my door as motivation to get in shape). I didn't go to the gym at all week because all I could think was, "What's the point? Brady isn't going to be in the Super Bowl."

I took to this blog to help write this crazy sadness out of my system because I do want to be more positive this year. But I am so, so heartbroken by Tom Brady not getting to and winning a Super Bowl. 2011 will be his 12th season and he'll be 34 years old by the time the season starts. People are already questioning whether he has it in him to win another ring. My answer...hell yes he has it in him, but the rest of the team needs to get with the program...especially the defense. No more being man-handled by other teams, especially the Jets!

...and with that my friends, for better or worse, I've already put most of my football eggs in the Brady Basket for 2011.

P.S. Officially, the 49ers are still my team. I can name players and even tell you a bit about their new Head Coach. I'll put a few football eggs in that basket as well. However, until they listen to me and get a good-looking, outrageously talented poster boy of a QB, then Tom Brady will be covered more. FYI...Tom Brady is from San Mateo and was also a 49er fan :)

Social Experiments 2011 in 3....2....1!

Last year, I applied for this Leadership Program offered by one of the transportation organizations I'm involved with. I found out before the holidays that I was accepted into the program (I'll tell you more about the program itself in another blog) and included with my acceptance letter was the first assignment.

The assignment was to read the first 30 pages, take the online assessment, and submit the results to the Director (of the organization). My guess is they're going to split the class into work groups based on our strengths.

This book is a really quick read and the assessment is just as quick, if not quicker. What the book says, in a nutshell, is that most people are SO focused on overcoming their weaknesses that they forget (or neglect) their strengths. This was particularly insightful to me because (to quote Kanye West), "I'm so gifted at findin' what I don't like the most." The book was right...I'm definitely one of those people who give 150% into trying to compensate for a weakness that I completely overlook what I'm actually good at. In fact, if you asked me, "What are your strengths?" or "What do you think you're good at?" I would give you some smart ass answer like, "Blow jobs" or some canned answer I read in a book about how to succeed in an interview.

The "reading" part of the book is really about 30 pages, the rest of the book describes the different talent themes you would fall into based on the online assessment. After taking the assessment and reading through the descriptions, I felt that I had a better idea of what my strengths are or a better way to articulate them. If you're one of those people who like to read and like the idea of broadening your perspective through books, then StrengthsFinder 2.0 is worth the $25.

Thanks to the book, I'm going to do little social experiments throughout the year to test out the author's theories. My first social experiment is actually one of my resolutions for 2011 - Focus on what I'm good at instead of trying to make up for what I'm not so good at. This has led to a lot of reevaluating where I'm at in all aspects of my life: family, love, career. With this new perspective, I feel great about where I'm at in everything  except for career...how ironic, since this book landed on my lap because of my job. LOL.

Stay tuned...

Missing the Holidays

Happy New Year to everyone! I started a post about the New Year and my goals for 2011, but got Writer's Block since I wasn't very inspired by the topic. This morning, as I was driving into work, I suddenly realized how much I missed the holidays and how fast that time of the year seems to go. I have a feeling my January blogs will mostly be about December. Maybe I'll be ready to talk about 2011 next month. LOL.

One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is bake. I bake goodies for my office, my mom's staff, the rest of my family, some of my friends, and potluck/holiday parties. When T.J. was still in school, I would bake for his class too. Usually, it's the funfetti cupcakes for whatever holiday (they sell them for July 4th, Halloween, and Christmas). This year, I've been adding to my baking repertoire (e.g. Red Velvet Cake Pops/Truffles, Cookies & Cream Cupcakes) and have been adding the new items to the funfetti cupcakes.

For the holidays, my mom asked me to try a "new" recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pops/Truffles. I was game since I was somewhat familiar with the process and wanted to see if I can handle the Pop/Truffles a little better the second time around.

If you want the full recipe, let me know and I can email it to you. Otherwise, I'm giving you the abridged version. The filling for these pops is peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter, and rice crispies. Once you mix all that up, shape into balls the size of walnuts, then let them set in the fridge for at least an hour. You want the peanut butter to be hard enough to withstand a coating of melted chocolate, so I recommend having them sit in the fridge overnight if possible. If you have lollipop sticks, then stick those in before putting the batch into the fridge. If you don't have the sticks, you can just leave them as is (that's how you get truffles).

I haven't seen an actual walnut since I was little, so these turned out a bit bigger than they're supposed to. But, yeah, these are the peanut butter balls that are being "set" in the fridge.

After the peanut butter balls have set or hardened, you can start coating them in chocolate (I used a mixture of milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate morsels). Take the ball, coat in chocolate, let the excess chocolate drip off, then coat in crushed peanuts.

Again, let the coated Pops/Truffles set, either in the fridge or at room temp. If you're leaving them out at room temp, do so overnight. And....ta-da...Chocolate Peanut Butter Pops/Truffles!

Lots o' Pops

Pretty Truffles :)

I don't know if it's because it's the peanut butter or the fact that I've already tried to make this type of treat before, but it was A LOT easier making these Pop/Truffles. I still ran into problems with mixing the inner ingredients and properly coating everything, but it's more so because of the lack of tools than anything else. Also, I've been trying cake balls from other places (both homemade and from a bakery) and the cake filling has been too moist for my liking. So the Peanut Butter filling is the kind of texture I prefer...until I find a cake ball that isn't all mushy.

For the most part, everyone that tried them liked them. Then again, I doubt people would tell me they tasted like shit to my face. I tried a couple and they were pretty good, especially with hot unsweetened/unflavored tea. If you want me to make some for the next time we get together or want the recipe to try on your own, holla at your girl :)

Holiday Treats 2010

Road Warrior

I've been on the road... A LOT. With my new position came a new territory to market our program to, including Ventura County, Kern County, Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County, and parts of Los Angeles County. I'm basically driving all over these counties trying to find new business. It's been a challenge, but I get to meet some cool people and discover more of Southern California. I also found out our Chatsworth office is about 20 minutes away from April's house (a.k.a potential sleepover location in the future...thanks Brill!).

Anyways, being on the road so much has opened the door to some weird/interesting sightings on my way to meetings or while stuck in traffic. For example, on my way to Edwards AFB (the same day I discovered that California has a 14 freeway), I saw a dog that looked like a mini horse, or maybe it was a mini horse that looked like a dog. Whatever it was, it was weird. I wish I had the guts to pull over and take a picture of it, but I was in the middle of nowhere and afraid I would be captured by some mutant freak out of a horror movie.

Last Friday while on my way to Pasadena, I saw some more interesting things on the road. And, since I was stuck in morning rush hour traffic, I decided to be reckless and snap a couple pictures for you:

I know I should have zoomed in a bit, but I was driving 30mph so it was tricky. You can kinda see it in this picture...the lady in the car has a face mask AND gloves on. Not to mention, she also has her seats covered by some linen (I'm assuming it's anti-allergen/anti-bacteria fabric or something). I felt bad for her because she doesn't even trust the air in her personal vehicle. Maybe she's sick and doesn't want to spread her germs, but I like the idea of someone out there being (WAY) more afraid of bacteria than I am - makes me look like less of a freak :)

Okay, when I saw this one, I immediately thought of Albert because he likes Math and I think if he were into tagging he would spray paint math equations.This picture is of a freight truck with a math equation scribbled on the side of it in white. I kinda wanna keep a piece of chalk with me from now on and write random equations on trucks. It's not vandalism if it's taught in school, right? Hahaha.

That's all I got for now, but I have quite a bit of road trips happening this week so I hope I have more to share with you. I may not have the most glamorous job, but it does have its perks :)

Hip Fractures Suck

...no, I don't have one. But Frank Gore does, which is why I was horrified watching the game the other night. This also means I'm without my star Running Back going into "qualifying" weekend for our fantasy football league (aka I need a significant win to clinch a spot in the playoffs next weekend). Sad Face. Major Sad Face. I'm a bit anxious going into this weekend's game, especially since I'm matched up against Albert, who apparently has been rooting against me the whole season (thanks for that beb :P).

In any case, the following is long overdue...

To: bestniner2010@yahoo.com
From: OCWordSlinger
Re: Until Next Season

Dear Frank,
I've only heard the nicest, most respectful things about you - how you're a great team player, how you're going to be one of the best RBs of all time, how you work hard and love what you do. So, I can only imagine how much you must HATE finishing this season on the sidelines. Although the injury has ended your season, it's not the end of your career. That's one silver lining. The team does have a chance to win the division this season, but it's going to be tough and most of the fans want a coaching change so maybe it's a good thing for you to have a chance to observe the rest of the team. Basically I want to say, yeah it sucks you got injured but there's next year to look forward to. I'm sure you've already heard that a hundred times today, so I'll stop there.


I also want to thank you for being the most consistent player on my Fantasy team. I know I don't have the best record in the league, but I could always count on you to get me points and give my opponents a run for their money. You were one of the main reasons that I kept up with the 49ers  this season even though the team fell short of fan expectations. Although I am biased toward quarterbacks, you've made an argument that I need to watch other players - not just for looks but talent as well. You've made a fan out of me.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

P.S. You may want to suggest that the team draft a sexy QB. My theory is, if a team has a well-mannered, handsome quarterback with a sense of humor, then they're gonna win games. Just a theory, but look at the top teams in the league...QBs are pretty good looking and/or have a great personality that makes them wildly popular which can also be perceived as "sexy".