Football Mania

Green Bay is crazy today. Seriously crazy. They closed part of the street next to the stadium last week and built a gia... (no, that's wrong) a GIANT stage for a free concert this afternoon with Kid Rock, Maroon 5, and Lady Antebellum before the football game. (I know they're all singers but I havent' got a clue what they sing.) The Today show broadcast from the stadium this morning, even taste-testing beer that our very own DS invented!!!! It's called Expect the Wurst and he made it with all the spices that are used to make bratwurst and none of the meat or mustard. I have to work until 5 PM and fully expect most of the northern hemisphere to be in their cars and in my way between work and home. (I do have alternate routes I can take and am used to being creative getting home. We used to live 3 blocks from Packer Stadium and were virtual prisoners before and after games.) According to someone I talked to the other day the organizers are expecting an additional 40-60,000 people to attend. That's 1/4 to 1/2 of the population of the city cramming into basically 3 square blocks. Green Bay is a small place, people! I can drive all the way around the edges of the city proper in less than an hour, way less if I speed (which I usually do). Where do they think they'll park??? The city is instituting a "game bus" that has 4 different routes past hotels and bars to pick up game goers and then return them after the game. It's a great idea and should cut back on traffic a bit. It has royally peeved the cab companies who usually get the "I don't wanna drive" crowd and the "I'm already too drunk to drive" crowd, but it's a good move by the city fathers, I think. You can be certain that I will be perched in the backyard (this time with the digital video camera) to record the pre-kickoff flyover. It's really the only part of football I like. Then I just have to learn how to yoink it off the camera, edit out the bad-dish parts, and upload it so you can play it here. As a sign of my age and non-techie status I must confess that I printed off the instruction manual ON PAPER for the program we got with the camera so I can have it open at all times when I'm at my laptop cursing and gritting my teeth in frustration. Learning new things is so much fun.

September 7--Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat. It hurts him to look into his own eyes. He thinks that the looking-glass might break with the intensity of the blue eyes he sees in it. Every molecule in his body vibrates with color and energy. It radiates in the air, setting the whole room pulsing. His hand shakes as he dons the straw hat that Theo bought for him to wear in the sun. Perhaps the hat will bring some of Theo's peace to him. It does--for a moment--and then he feels it growing into his skin, the straw melding with his hair. His shaking hand forces him to use small strokes, to lunge at the canvas with color to try and capture the frantic movement he carries with him always.

Okay, now it's time for the thumb-twiddling to begin. I'm sure I won't have many customers today. It's game day. Eesh.

--Barbara