One thing about the Northeast

It doesn't have that aggravating wind chill like the Midwest does. I have to hear from people in New York it's approaching 50 degrees some days while we've had a solid week of never hitting 40. Ah, what can you do.

I guess I was right on both counts as far as the NFL goes. Giants lose, Jets win. Actually the Jets annihilated the Packers so bad, it looked like Ohio St playing Illinois in the horseshoe. Giants vs. Panthers, Jets vs Bills. I pick a pair of New York wins.

The money being tossed around on the free agent market in baseball is outrageous to me. The demand is so great and the supply so limited that average pitchers (No. 4 or 5 starters) are earning 10 million a year. I was hoping the Mets could sign Barry Zito for something like 5 years and 86 or 87 million dollars. After seeing the contracts of Jason Schmidt and average pitchers like Randy Wolf, Adam Eaton, and Vincente Padilla, it will now likely take 6 years and 100 million to bring that looping curveball to Shea Stadium.

The upcoming weekend is looking busier by the day. Now it looks like I'll be covering the Montini-Marmion boys basketball game Friday night. That means instead of driving 30 minutes southwest home to St. Charles, I'm driving 40 minutes southeast to Lombard only to drive 30 more back to the office to write my story and do the whole scoreboard. So Saturday I'm doing my volunteer work with my small group in Lombard at a senior citizens house. Not a nursing home, but more like an apartment where several seniors live together and I'll be part of the morning crew that will be doing some painting. I figure that'll go from maybe 9-noon. I'll drive home, get cleaned up, go to work around 3, stay until 4, which is when I'll begin my drive to Downers Grove to have dinner with Greg and James at Portillo's. Chances are I will either have the Big beef with cheddar and hot peppers or a double cheeseburger. I know it sounds heavy, but hey, I gotta have some manly food before going to Ring of Honor! Sunday will probably be my day to collapse and stay home.

And after all that planning, to think it's still only Wednesday! And I'm sure they're not reading this, but happy birthdays to Ingrid, Bess, and Josh, three of my best friends from Gordon.