It's Friday morning, and already the day's off to a great start. I left a little late so as not to waste too much of my morning waiting for the dry cleaners to open at 7:00, and the lady showed up late anyway. The upside is that I got to read for 45 minutes, which I haven't done in about three months. I've gone from a book every three days to a book about every three weeks lately.

Anyway, I get to work, the fax machine next to me is in error status for about the 45th day in a row, which means it sounds like a house alarm going off next to me. Then my boss comes in, says good morning in response to a co-worker, then ignores my good morning greeting. Is that a sign?

Last night we went to my nephew's 9th grade football game and made our first visit to Duluth's stadium. Nice place, good food, but a bad football team. They only had about nine extra players, which struck me a bit odd. This was also the first time I'd seen the mercy rule employed. If a team leads by more than 28 in the second half, the clock runs non-stop until the game ends.

The game featured its usual great run for a score by young Kirtley Dovel and a quick slant for a score to Jaison Yoshimura. These two kids not only don't avoid contact, but go out of their way to find a guy to drop a shoulder into, which is quite impressive. North won 34-0.

My nephew is the second string center and plays kick returns, so his meaningful playing time came on offense in the second half. It was nice to see him make good snaps, make and hold blocks to spring the backs for extra yardage, and overall it was good to see the second team moving the ball on the ground. No tricks. Just hit your man in the mouth and move forward.

Lauren had a great time eating pizza, talking to cheerleaders, and drawing. She also enjoyed being fed sunflower seeds by me, which is the type of thing reserved for a princess, which of course she is. I am thrilled to live somewhere that the teenagers aren't too cool to be nice to my baby and to the adults as well. I guess sometimes it really does take a village...

We got home to watch the last 30 minute of Survivor and get the urchin to bed. It's nice to sit and relax with a nice cold expired Miller Genuine Draft (thanks dad) and ponder the day's events.

Later, we got to spend a little time with our recently departed neighbors (who I will call "the B's). They came in for a weekend of homecoming, UGA v. UT and "porch sitting" as Mister B refers to it. I am still saddened by their absence daily. If my lotto numbers hit, I told them to pack the truck up and come back home, and we'd act like this whole thing never happened.

So what do you say, Lottery Gods? I bought the tickets. How about giving a brother and his friends and family a break? You can bet that you wouldn't find me passed out in a strip club missing half a million in cash that I had in my car, that's fo shizzle.

Oh, I forgot my daily Screw Baseball update. I did not watch a pitch last night, but the Braves won in extra innings thanks to a walk-off home run by Rafael "so what if I've had a couple of drinks" Furcal to tie the series at one game a piece. The Cardinals drilled the Dodgers again and showed themselves to be the class of this post-season, and in my opinion, Boston's real threat in the World Series.

Dammit. There I go again. Getting caught up in the post-season AND being seated firmly on the Red Sox bandwagon. Would someone please hit me over the head and remind me of the reasons I still hate professional baseball?

You know...All Star Game ties, collusion, the antitrust exemption, owners, the only professional sport in the world where steroids aren't explicitly banned, etc.

Thanks for the reminder, Bud-boy. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.