Looking back on the past couple of years, I knew this was post was inevitable. Though we often appreciated each other, I often felt we were together out of mere convenience than true desire. It's been five years and I guess that's a long time for any couple to be together. We just grew apart. I suspect we'll remain good friends and I still admire her every time I pull my car into the garage.

I'm talking about cycling of course and for whatever reason, the fire just didn't return this year. I've put about a hundred miles on the trainer (41 on Superbowl Sunday) and maybe two rides outside. Rather than being fun, it was a chore. I dreaded weather forecasts of warmer temps rather than daydreaming about them.

Instead, I've found a new lover. Hiking. The more difficult the better but I'll take easy ones with great views too. I finally got some decent hiking boots (courtesy of the annual REI member dividend) and my winter conditioning hikes up Mt. Si have paid off.

Though I haven't had much time to blog about my experiences, I have taken some pics and posted them on Flickr:

Oyster Dome
Rattlesnake Ledge
Twin Falls

Worst case scenario, it cost us 14 points but Josh Brown still missed two field goals and Jerramy Stevens dropped a pass that was catchable. So even if the NFL wanted to give Jerome Bettis his fairy tale ending, we still blew quite a few chances to win the game. We got beat. Get over it.

Yeah, the Seahawks lost tonight in humiliating fasion and the commercials weren't good enough to offset my pain. The only really good one was "The Mile High Club" by Ameriquest Mortgage which can be seen here. You know it's good when the company is doing everything it can to remove all traces of the commercial because it's a little too racy. Word on the street is that they're facing some serious fines from both the NFL and ABC for airing but I think the fault lies with editors. Don't they preview these things? In the hour it took me to write this post, the commerical disappeared from Google, AOL, the NFL and a few independent sites that probably received cease and desist orders.

I'm pulling out all the stops to get my own copy which will appear here if I'm successful. I smell conspiracy...

Speaking of conspiracy, what was up with the awful officiating tonight? And I'm not just talking about calls that went against the Seahawks. That crew just sucked, lol.

UPDATE: Ameriquest Mortgage just posted the video on their site.

I've analyzed the teams exhaustively, put aside my bias towards Seattle and have come up with a foolproof Superbowl winner prediction.

"It all comes down to the offense. The team that scores early and most often will take home the Lombardi Tropy. Enough said folks."

Or at least so I heard from a panel of "experts" on 710 Kiro Radio today. And what killed me is that nobody pointed this out as obvious. One even said that he agreed but thought the defenses might play a huge part as well. You think?

LOL.

I kinda feel bad for these so called experts though because there's not much to really say and they had to fill up a whole hour. Of course every panelist and caller picked the Seahawks. I'm going to watch the game and root for the Seahwawks but my experiences in watching my beloved Cincinnati Bengals lose heartbreakingly close Superblowls in 1982 and 1988 to the 49ers taught me to not get so caught up in it. The road to the big game is much more exciting and fulfilling than the actual game itself.

That said, GO HAWKS!

No I'm not talking about the rain again. The Seattle Seahawks finally ended their 22 year drought of playoff victories with a 20-10 win over the Washington Redskins in Seattle today. I'll admit that I was pretty skeptical of their ability to pull it off because every time they were close to anything great, they'd blow it. And when Sean Alexander went down with a concussion in the first quarter, I almost turned off the TV. But they did it and it's about time something goes our way. Now we just have to get through the NFC Championship which will be held in Seattle also.

Playing in I-Tunes: I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away The Ending from the album "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed" by New Radicals

I fell asleep during the Superbowl (Tampa Bay won) and I'm not sure why I even watched it. Then I went to finish the DVD project when I found that the final movie that literally took a full to day to render was corrupt. Now I have to tie up my PC for another weekend. The fam has been incredibly patient about this but I just want it off my plate so I can concentrate on the Nicki's website and school.

Going to bed now. I can ride again tomorrow. It was 60 degrees out today but I'm sure it will be 40 tomorrow.