I have said it before, and I am going to say it again…”Jay Fiedler is the man!“. Heck, he’s practically the best QB in the NFL. He may not be the fleetest of foot, having the strongest arm, or as Barbie says “not that good looking”…but he wins time and again. From what I remember, he is only 2nd behind Kurt Warner (who is now benched) in best winning percentage among active QB’s. Assuming Kurt is out…that makes him #1. What else does a team want from a man that just wins. If you didn’t see, or hear in my case, this past weekends Dolphins game, then you have no idea what I am talking about. Anyways, the fins are down by 13 in the fourth quarter, and the offense has done nothing all game excluding the 2nd play from scrimmage when they had a 78 yard pass for a TD. After that…it was basically 3 and outs the whole afternoon, so they benched Griese and brought in Fiedler…who did what he does best…WIN THE GAME!! He manufactured to TD scoring drives that put the fins up by a point and gave them the victory. Nothing more needs to be said…Fiedler is good!

As you can tell, I decided to spruce up the site a little bit and some holiday cheer. I am more than welcome to all your opinions, and any color options, images, or whatever that you want to pass on to make the site look better. For instance, if you have a good image for the Christmas holidays…send it to me and I will try to work it in somehow.

Anyways, Lisa is about an hour away from landing. Her plane is actually arriving an hour early…when does that ever happen? I guess the pilot has a hot date, or his wife said he had to be home for dinner or else . Well, let me know your thoughts or other color scheme ideas for the upcoming holidays (Christmas, New Years, St. Patty’s, etc.).

I got these from the following link…so you can either go to the link or read them here:
Wives Tales

At some point in your life, you realize that Mother mostly knows best, but some of the things she taught you over the years weren’t exactly on target. That includes some of her medical advice, much of which she probably inherited from her own mother. Read on to see what the experts have to say about which old wives’ tales are true wisdom and which are a bunch of baloney. (Send this article to Mom when you’re done!)

Old wives say: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Eating an apple is a great way to get essential nutrients into your diet, but no more so than chowing down on other fruits or vegetables, according to Sharron Coplin, a registered dietitian and professor of nutrition at Ohio State University. Fresh produce contains antioxidants, which can lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and other diseases. Sure, apples are good for you, but oranges, bananas and mangoes would be just as effective at keeping the doc at bay.
Final verdict: True

Old wives say: If you swallow gum, it takes seven years for your body to digest it.
Nope, says Cynthia Yoshida, M.D., director of the Women’s Gastrointestinal Clinic at the University of Virginia. “If you swallow a tooth, a penny or even gum, it goes right through your system,” she says. “Although it’s sticky, gum does not attach itself to the well-lubricated lining of the gastrointestinal tract.”
Final verdict: False

Old wives say: Sitting too close to the television is bad for your eyes.
Getting up close and personal with the tube isn’t really harmful, says Anne Sumers, M.D., a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “It may fatigue your eyes temporarily, but it’s not bad for them,” she says. “The same goes for reading without adequate light. The fact that people’s eyes get worse each year is simply attributable to the aging eye.”
Final verdict: False

Old wives say: Fish is brain food.
“Fish is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, and that’s important in the development of the brain,” says Coplin. Research shows that fish eaters have less plaque in their arteries, so they have better blood flow to the brain, which may be associated with better overall mental function. In addition, fish contains important B vitamins that help with cognitive ability and memory, says nutritionist Janine Whiteson, author of “Get a Real Food Life.”
Final verdict: True

Old wives say: You’ll catch a cold if you go outside with wet hair.
This notion is malarkey, says to David Whitaker, D.O., an emergency medicine physician in New Jersey. “Colds are caused only by viruses,” he says. Going outside with a soaking head (or forgetting your jacket on a chilly day) isn’t going to make you sick.
Final verdict: False

Old wives say: Eat the crust of the bread — it’s especially good for you.
A crumb of bread crust has eight times the amount of cancer-fighting antioxidants as a crumb from another part of the slice, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. (However, eating the crust won’t turn your hair curly or your teeth whiter, as you may have heard.)
Final verdict: True

Old wives say: Stress and spicy foods cause ulcers.
Overconsumption of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as Advil and Aleve, and the bacteria H. pylori are the two major causes of ulcers, reports Dr. Yoshida. Stress and eating piquant foods can cause indigestion or even acid reflux, but they don’t create ulcers — they just irritate them.
Final verdict: False

Old wives say: Eating carrots is good for your eyes.
Mom had the right idea but the wrong vegetable. The nutrient lutein — found in small amounts in carrots — has been shown to reduce the severity of the age-related eye disease macular degeneration (one of the top causes of vision loss). Broccoli, spinach and other green leafy vegetables are much better sources.
Final verdict: False

Old wives say: You’ll be healthier if your head points to the south when you sleep.
This notion may get its basis from the Chinese practice of feng shui, the art of arranging objects in your environment to achieve harmony in life. But according to Whitaker, there’s no need to bring a compass to the bedroom — this tale isn’t supported by medical fact.
Final verdict: False

Old wives say: Don’t cross your eyes; they’ll stay that way.
You may look funny when you cross your eyes, but your pupils will be just fine, says Dr. Sumers. People with perpetually crossed eyes aren’t being punished for making goofy faces. Rather, faulty messages from their brain cause these individuals’ eyes to be misaligned.
Final verdict: False

Old wives say: Don’t crack your knuckles — it causes arthritis.
“The ‘cracking’ is actually caused by the bursting of a bubble of nitrogen that forms inside the joint when the joint moves,” says John Klippel, M.D., medical director of the Arthritis Foundation. “Popping your knuckles may be annoying to others, but it doesn’t cause arthritis, enlarged joints or musculoskeletal problems.”
Final verdict: False

Old wives say: You’ll go deaf listening to loud music.
Pumping up the volume can damage your inner ear, says Whitaker. A study from the Institute of Laryngology and Otology at University College in London found that 62% of nightclub regulars and 72% of people who regularly attend rock concerts have experienced hearing problems, including premature hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears).
Final verdict: True

Old wives say: Having sex can induce labor.
“There are no concrete medical studies showing that sex will bring on labor,” says Meg Autry, M.D., an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California at San Francisco. “That said, orgasm is known to cause uterine contractions, and semen contains prostaglandins, which are involved in the onset of labor and are part of medications that we use to induce labor.”
Final verdict: No proof, but it may be fun to try! (Caution: Doctors recommend that certain women abstain, including those who are expecting twins, have cervical difficulties, or experience vaginal bleeding. Talk to your doctor before getting busy.)

This weekend Barbie and I decided to be the super-troopers and head to Miami for my cousin’s wedding. We would arrive Friday evening and leave Sunday evening. All in all we were in Miami for roughly 48 hours, and on a play for 21 hours…and of course we had the 6 hour time difference to deal with, although I don’t think either of us really adjusted to Miami time.
Anyways, the weekend was packed with wedding stuff (which is to be expected). Friday night was the rehearsal dinner, Saturday afternoon and evening was the wedding and reception, and Sunday morning was the family breakfast. Needless to say we got a ton of family time, which was good since I hadn’t been to Miami in over 8+ months, and Barbie hadn’t been there since before our own wedding. We definitely enjoyed our time, although our body clocks always seemed out of whack.

Well, in regards to what else we did besides wedding stuff…here goes. Saturday morning I went for about a 6 mile run. It has been quite some time since I have run in Miami, so I was quickly out of breath, followed by sweating profusely. It reminded me of the days when Kraig would come down to Miami from Philly and just sit there and sweat b/c of the humidity. I guess my body has adjusted to Munich weather, b/c it certainly wasn’t ready for Miami. Also that morning I went and watched my dad’s kids play some flag football. It was their end of the year tournament so it made things exciting, especially since they got to the championship game. Although, they did end up losing As if we haven’t done enough already on Saturday morning, Barbie and I headed to Dadeland and got her a bunch of clothes from Ann Taylor. We were supposed to be shopping for clothes for the wedding, but she ended up getting a few extra things…you know how women are when they shop…just can’t resist
Sunday was just the wedding breakfast, followed by watching the Dolphins game that afternoon. Talk about a boring game….no TD’s!! Although the fins did win so I can’t complain too much. Well, that was the weekend in a nutshell…I think it’s time for a nap though.

Yesterday I was talking with a co-worker about how some shows that are funny in one language just don’t translate well into Deutsch. We were specifically talking about the show Friends, which he used to not like until he saw the english version. He also says that they do a lot of different translations when trying to get Germans to understand what is being referred to. Therefore, if the show refers a common TV series in America, the Deutsch version will refer to a common TV series in Deutschland instead…I guess it makes sense.

Anyways, yesterday evening I was home and about to go to bed when I saw that Ocean’s Eleven was on TV. I decided to give myself a little Deutsch practice by watching it in Deutsch instead of english. I have seen this movie enough times that I pretty much know every scene and what they are saying…so I would just try to understand in Deutsch what I knew they should be saying. So I am doing average to poor on my understanding, but then a scene comes up where they are stealing a Pinch from the Cal institute, and there are two guys in the front of the van playing ‘Guess who’. Basically it’s a game where one person asks a bunch of yes/no questions until they can guess what celebrity the other guy is thinking of. So the english version in the moive goes something like this (note: Guy B is very smart):
Guy A: Ok I am thinking about someone…
Guy B: Is it a man??
Guy A: Yes
Guy B: Is he over 18??
Guy A: Yes
Guy B: Evil Knieval!!

So…I am listening to this conversation in Deutsch, and the punchline at the end is not Evil Knieval!! Instead he says David Hasselhoff!! Apparantely Evil is not such a popular celebrity over here in Deutschland! And we all know David is huge b/c of Baywatch! Just thought it was funny and that I should share.

A little humor for the windows lovers of the world…

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon”.

In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grab hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.

This past weekend I did another 10.5 mile run. If you can remember way back to July of this year, then you will know that I also did a 10.5 mile run back then in preparation for my first 1/2 Ironman(Other run). Anyways, that was about exactly 4 months ago, and what do I have to show for four months that were partly spent training and travelling…absolutely nothing. Apparantely my run time from Sunday (~1:27:30) is the same as four months ago. The good news is I can do it, the bad news is I haven’t increased any yet, but that is mainly b/c I am sticking with low intensity workouts for now…which means get the miles in and don’t worry about your speed. High intensity training is just the opposite.
By the way, I would like to mention I just spent almost $300 on clothing that I can wear while training in the dead of winter….and I gave it a try last night and most things worked pretty well. I still have to go back to the store and get my ski mask that they forgot to pack, but everything else worked well. Nothing like training in sub-freezing temperatures!!

Yesterday Barbie and I headed over to Jerry’s place to watch the Miami vs. Tennessee game, and I must admit I was completely torn as to who to pull for. Normally I’ll pull for Miami as long as they are not playing FSU, but they are too close to FSU in the BCS so I need them to lose, but them losing hurts FSU strength of schedule…so what’s a Seminole fan to do?? Well, UM ended up losing 10-6, on what was a close game, but at times not very exciting.

I decided not to stay up for the FSU game vs. Clemson as I figured it wouldn’t be that close, and I was kind of happy in the fact that I would not have to listen to UM fans complain about how FSU was ranked higher than they were even though they each had one loss and UM beat FSU. Well, this morning comes and I am not really in the mood to check the FSU score. I’ve got that bad feeling, and sure enough my intuition was correct since FSU got basically smoked by Clemson 26-10…with FSU’s only TD coming with 2+ minutes left in the game and the backup QB Fabian Walker at the helm. Now, not only is FSU out of the national championship race, but now I have still have to listed to whining UM fans when we visit Miami.

So this past Saturday I went on a pretty long run as part of my training for my Ironman. The run was 9.5 miles, and I can’t remember how long it took, but I was happy with it. I wasn’t trying to push myself, just getting the miles in now…Speed training comes later on. That evening Barbie and I headed over to Jerry’s house to try and watch the FSU vs. Notre Dame game. Unfortunately the AFN (Armed Forces Network) was only showing games aired by ABC, and since NBC owns the rights to all ND games we were out of luck. We did get to watch the last half of the Michigan State vs. Michigan game, which ended up being a really good game. It looked as Michigan was about to blow them out, but MSU kept coming back. In the end Michigan did win 27-20. We headed home after that so I could listen the FSU game on the radio…or at least what was left of the game since FSU basically blew them out 37-0. I did manage to stay up for the 1st half of the UM vs. Va. Tech game, but couldn’t hold out to listen to the blowout. I knew UM was struggling in the first half, but they must have just collapsed in the 2nd half to lose by 24. Anyways, it helped FSU so that is always a good thing, but now I have to worry about USC losing.

Sunday morning Barbie and I went to see Intolerable Cruelty, the new movie with George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones. The move was entertaining, but much more silly comedy than I had expected…especially those two big actors. That afternoon we didn’t do to much, but I went on about a 2 hour bike ride along the Isar (on Barbie’s bike). The ride was really nice since you are basically riding in the woods the whole time. I did end up finding a basketball gym that I am hoping to play at one day, although the kid I met couldn’t give me too much information on the exact time/date that it would be open. Anyways, that evening I got to watch the Dolphins play that night…and I must say they keep shooting themselves in the foot. They could easily be undefeated. I didn’t see the first game against Houston, but I am assuming they should have won. They should have definitely beat New England and could have beat Indy. It’s like this every year, but that is what being a fin fan is all about.

This is interesting.. Make mine BUTTER Please! DO YOU KNOW:

The difference between margarine and butter?

Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

Now for Margarine:

Very high in Trans Fatty Acids. Triple risk of Coronary Heart Disease. Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold. Lowers quality of breast milk. Decreases immune response. Decreases insulin response. And here is the most disturbing fact…..

HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC…This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

YOU can try this yourself: purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of
things: No flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something). It does not rot or smell differently, because it has no nutritional value, nothing will grow on it even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow.

(And I might add, if even the roaches won’t touch it, you have unrefuted proof that there is something radically wrong with it.)

Why? Because it is nearly plastic.

Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?