my ring toss game finally arrived today! i completely forgotten i'd ordered one. when amanda told me i had a package waiting downstairs, i began to get worried. i have had very bad luck with inappropriate packages arriving at work. what could it be? what could i have bought online that i totally forgot what it was? michael brought the box upstairs and i opened it up to discover - ring toss! i brought it home with me and filled it up with water. did you know that you're suppose to use distilled water for best results, to reduce the amount of bubbles in the tank? the bubbles not only make it hard to see clearly, but it also makes the plastic rings stick to the side of the container.

for lunch eliza and i went to yun yun kitchen, a chinese restaurant on cambridge street. i had been there one other time back in late october. i picked yun yun because it was located in a sunny location and the food (being chinese food) was inexpensive. we sat by a very bright window table, both of us leaning strategically so as to shield our eyes from the sun's blinding glare. at 1pm we were the only customers in the entire restaurant. eliza had some sort of combination vegetarian affair with teriyaki strips, while i had the pork fried rice with chicken fingers and chicken wings. i can not reveal the topics of our conversation due to a nondisclosure clause, but somehow her brother's love for britney spear was part of the talk, along with my inability to dance or swim. when we came back we passed by our neighborhood construction site. the construction workers were joking around, humorously scolding one aother for supposedly almost hitting eliza with the truck (although i guess it was okay to hit me, since no mention of my safety was brought up). likewise, on our way to yun yun, construction workers dangling ten stories up from steel i-beams had the presence of mind to risk their own lives just so they could catcall, and i'm pretty sure it wasn't for me (well, maybe some of it was for me...oh heck! who am i kidding?). it's kind of interesting to see it happening (oh what a curse to be blonde!), and the theory that construction workers are less likely to whistle at a pretty girl during the winter season is totally untrue.

after work, carrie was gracious enough to give me a ride back home (shaving about 30 minutes from my commuting time), despite the fact that i made her life a living hell today by making her do the production department's equivalent of an infinite number of knuckle pushups. during the trip we had a nice chat about potential places to live. when we arrived at my house, i climbed out of her suv and expressed my heartful appreciation and thanks, making plans to meet again tomorrow under the aegis of work.

• are all sports games from now on, especially championship games, going to be an extension of our patriotic spirit? for a game that's suppose to be so american (despite the fact that the winners proclaimed themselves world champions - i guess the world is about the size of the US), the musical stars were surprisingly unamerican. irish band u2 played during halftime, british paul macartney performing in the pregame show. out of all the musical talents in america, they selected mariah carey to represent our nation and sing the national anthem. and was it just me, or was the camera just fixed on mariah's face? people watch mariah for two things, her singing, and her outfits, or lack thereof. maybe it was a contractual item, that the cameras weren't allowed to show her full body.
• not in my wildest dreams did i think that one day i'd see paul macartney do american football commentary with a bunch of game experts. it was surreal.
• u2's performance: that screen curtain behind the band with a scrolling list of all the names of the 9-11 victims was a good idea (what does rock and roll have to do with a national tragedy? i don't really grasp the connection), unfortunately "where the streets have no name" is not a long enough song for the entire list to scroll them before they dropped the curtain with only having gone up to the D names. also notice the flying glowsticks being hurled at bono as he prances around the heartshaped runway. i think he needs another look. remember bono when he was all long hair ponytailed in a leather vest with a guitar? i'm getting tired of his zoo tv alter ego.
• i think the commercials this year were lackluster. britney spear's pepsi commercial, etrade, mlife (what is it? i don't want to be the poor sap who goes to the website to find out, that's what they want you to do!), that levi's commercial with the dancing jeans. nothing very memorable, the game was definitely more interesting for a change.
• what does robert kraft do after vinatieri kicks the winning field goal? hugs his wife, who's standing next to him? no! he hugs this dude! they're jumping up and down all excited, his wife's trying to get in on this hug, almost grabbing at their legs for a threeway hug. it's funny, be sure to watch the footage of it on television if you can.
• speaking of television, i wish there could be a 24 hour channel just focused on the patriots' victory. i am being totally sincere about this! i want them to interview every single player and get their reaction, i want the opinions of every day people on the streets of boston, i want anaylists and experts dissecting every single play from last night, i want to relive that game over and over again, i can get enough of these darn patriots! do i have patriots fever? yes, i think so.

this morning i found this little piece of rubber/plastic debris on my desk. i picked it up, looked at it, and tossed it. seconds later i noticed another one, almost identical to the first. then it dawned on me: my years of experience with raising gerbils as a youngster has taught me the valuable skill of recognizing mouse poo poo when i see it! nasty! yeah, we have a mouse problem in the office. i'm not surprised, with the cold weather, all the construction that's going on, and the fact that we leave food around, we're bound to have a mice problem.