Cardinal Salvage Football Season

After the abysmal performances of my favorite teams over the last few weeks, I was this close to retitling my blog "The Nick Factor -- A No Sports Zone." That was until the GREATEST UPSET IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY -- STANFORD 24 University of Spoiled Children 23! Now I realize that to pull off the greatest upset in college football history, you have to be bad enough to be a 41 point underdog in the first place (and how a team ends up a 41 point underdog in a conference game is beyond me), but I'm taking my victories wherever I can get them at this point.

Of course, we will continue to speak nothing of any teams from Minnesota or Iowa. They are all dead to me.

I apologize that it's been awhile since my last post. My current five second attention span makes even blogging a little bit challenging. But I decided to buckle down and try to bring everybody up to date on what's new:

1. If I walk up and try to head-butt you, that's a sign of affection. Just ask the dogs.

2. By the way, did you know that the dogs have tails you can pull on?

3. "Mama" and "Dada" might mean "Mom" and "Dad" -- but they could also mean "I want someone to pay attention to me!" Depends on the context. Also, "baba" probably means "bottle," "dodo" means "dog," "dis" means "what's this," and "dat" means "what's that."

4. I have to know how everything works and fits together. If I take something apart, don't worry -- I actually will (try to) put it back together again, if you give me enough time.

6. I'm still learning how to count.

7. I introduced Mom to something called "night terrors" a few weeks ago (mine not hers). I may be over that now.

8. Did I mention something about the greatest upset in college football history? Take that Appalachian State!

9. The building where I go to daycare just celebrated its 100th anniversary. They dedicated a time capsule to be opened on October 10, 2107, and it has my picture in it. Mark your calendars.

10. I'm still mostly into the yellow carbohydrate food family, but I have expanded it to include cheese, grilled cheese, eggs (with cheese), and macaroni (with cheese).

11. Mom and Dad got new furniture and drapes for the upstairs family room. You'll have to come over and see it sometime. The only rule is no licking of any body part while you sit on the couch. (So far that's only applied to Emma and Marta, but it's not necessarily limited to dogs.)

12. Oh yeah, Emma cracked a tooth and had to have it pulled. That makes three surgical procedures in the last 12 months. And you thought having kids was expensive.

13. Dad continues his training regimen. It's going to be a little hard to do a triathlon without a bike, but I'm beginning to think he actually may pull this off next summer. He also said something about playing golf like a "choking dog" and "giving up the game."

14. Mom's keeping in good shape, too. She's also had a lot of important stuff going on at work. Apparently she is becoming a "litigator," again -- whatever that means. I think it means more stressed out.

15. Fair warning, if you look away for 10 seconds, I can slide down two flights of stairs feet first on my stomach.

That's it for now. Next time I'll try to include some pictures. I enjoy reading your comments, so please don't hesitate to leave me a note, even if just to let me know you were there.