6am Is Too Early

If I seem crabby in today's post, it's because the entire neighborhood was awaken before 6am today by lots and lots of firecrackers. I guess it's tradition to celebrate the "end" of Chinese New Years by pissing everyone else off. It was not just one person, but a series of people all over lighting off your basic brick of Black Cats which can be loud given the tight proximity of buildings in the area. The ones right below us would make it sound like a World War was going. Someone would have them going about every 10-15 minutes all morning. The rain came in around noon, but that only delayed the "celebrations" to about every 20 minutes. It is now after 9:00 and I think it's been about 30 minutes since I've heard any so I hope it's done.

It's Super Bowl Weekend - I almost forgot about it. While they are aware the game is going on, it's not the focus of 100% of the population like it is in the US. It's actually been nice not seeing everything revolve around the game. But with that said, yes - I'll be watching the game from here MONDAY MORNING while at work. Kickoff is at 7am and we have a mini-Monday Morning Celebration planned. As for my pick, I'm going with Arizona. Pittsburgh just won it a few years ago, plus Fitzgerald made me quite happy in Fantasy Football this past year. I'll have the US version on the computer/slingbox so I can comment next week on the commercials (which is half the reason we watch right??

I'm watching the Australian Open as much as I can this week. Currently, the 5th set just started with Nadal and Verdasco and it's been over 4 hours of tennis already. Great TV watching for a Friday night! I've never really seen the Australian Open "live" like I am this week - it's kind of interesting. Usually the US gets delayed broadcasts, plus it's the "lesser" of the big 4 tournaments. I'm pulling for another Nadal and Federer final classic, but I fear that the winner of tonight's semi-final isn't going to have much left in the tank to face Federer.

I did venture out today to see the stores mostly re-opened post holiday. I finally picked up a new digital camera to replace my strangely lost old camera. I snagged a Nikon Coolpix S550 which has an incredible 5x optical (20x digital) zoom on it and is pretty small and easy to handle. It's actually a good camera so far for anyone just wanting an easy to use basic digital camera.

Anyhow - another month has completed which means I'm only 8 or so months from coming home. Not sure how I will handle being back to normal in size ... well - a little more "normal" than I am here!! Have a great weekend!