OK, OK, OK, I do care who wins the Superbowl

The Seattle Seahawks are playing for the title of best football team in the world tomorrow and for the past two weeks, I've been deflecting all questions about how much I am rooting for the Superbowl by responding, "well, I'm rooting for them but I'm just a typical fair-weather Seahawks fan." And yes, it's true that during the Seahawks 20 year playoff win drought (1984 was the year I was a freshman.......in high school) I probably couldn't have named more than five players on the team, but as a kid growing up in Seattle, the names Largent (too bad he revealed himself to be a Christian conservative congressman from Oklahoma), Zorn, Krieg, Easley, Warner and many other early Seahawks were ones that I loved.

So when I read this morning that the Puget Sound region was going to be hit by a huge windstorm this morning, I had the same immediate reaction that I know 90% of the Seattle region thought, man I hope the power doesn't go out. I was in Seattle for a couple of the biggest windstorms in recent history, the 1993 Clinton Inaugural Day storm and the 1991 Thanksgiving day storm. So I called my Mom today to see how she was doing and I asked her how things were going. "It's pretty windy out there right now, but I'm going to (Grandma's) tomorrow if we don't have power." Mom had already formed a backup plan to watch the game. It was then that I had to finally breakthrough the denial of my "I don't really care about who wins" because I DO want the Seahawks to win. Why is it that I have not accepted any Superbowl party invitations? Why am I not having people at my place to watch it? Why did I originally have a quiz scheduled in three of my classes on Monday the 6th? All this was done because I don't want to have people see me be depressed and despondent over a football game. It was easier to live thinking that if I didn't care it wouldn't hurt so much if they lost. But I'm coming clean now, I am rooting for the Seahawks. I promise not to be too gleeful if they win and I will be gracious if they lose. But boy, it's going to suck a lot if they lose.

Oh, but I just thought of the silver lining if they lose. A Seahawks loss will result in more exposure for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. OK, OK, the real reason I'm going into seclusion for the game is so no one will observe me watching Roethlisberger.

Honestly, I haven't become a Napa Valley Wine Snob

This past Sunday was the ultimate double whammy, my birthday (I'm now again a perfect square at 36 years old) fell on the lunar calendar as Chinese New Year's. My birthday began with Scott and I driving up to the Napa Valley. First stop, Cakebread Cellars where Scott picked up bottles of his favorite wines. I am to the point where I know that 1997 was a vintage year as was 2003. I also know that Cakebread is known particularly for its whites. Hey, this should be a shock to those who know how little I knew about wines as little as a year ago.

Stop two, was the Indian Springs Resort at the north end of the Napa Valley in the town of Calistoga. The afternoon was spent cleansing our bodies in the volcanic mud baths and getting massages. I love the baths as it is sheer luxury and when you are in the mud for the 12 minutes allowed, you feel like you are floating and the toxins in the body literally are being sucked out of you.

As we drove back down the valley towards home, we dined at Tra Vigne which literally means "The Garden" in Italian.

The most important part of the evening was that we got back home in time to find out that Desparate Housewives was a repeat and that Grey's Anatomy was a new episode. For those of you who aren't in the know, check out Grey's Anatomy. It might be running a close second to the Gilmore Girls.