Wow, I wish the Super Bowl would just get here already so we can put an end to all of these journalistic fluff pieces about the players and focus on the game. It seems that everywhere I turn, I run into Tom Brady’s grinning mug — and it’s getting pretty annoying.

Turn on the TV to SportsCenter…. Brady this, and Brady that.

Flip over to 60 Minutes… for an in-depth interview showing how hard Brady has had to work to get where he is today.

Pick up People magazine… for paparazzi shots of Brady out at NYC clubs with Giselle Bundchen.

Head over to TMZ.com… and see that now-famous paparazzi footage of Brady hobbling around in a soft cast.

Tom Brady used to be my favorite NFL player (his was the first replica jersey that I ever bought), but now I’m just totally sick of him. There is still such a thing as celebrity overexposure, ya know. For the first time in years, I’m looking forward to the NFL offseason so the sports pages will be filled with something other than stories about what a perfect life Tom Brady has.

Ugh. I wish the media would give it a rest until after the game.

Yesterday was Media Day for the Patriots and Giants, the annual circus where players and coaches alike usually end up answering dumb questions posed by journalists from around the world. Case in point: a female “reporter” from Spanish-language station TV Azteca wore a wedding gown to the event and proposed marriage to several players, including NE quarterback Tom Brady.

Yeah, thanks a lot. I’m sure that will help average fans take female sportswriters and analysts more seriously. Why was that person even allowed anywhere near the podiums when event staffers saw what she was wearing?

Anyway, Matt Mosley and Mike Sando of the ESPN Hashmarks blog helped cover the event, and posted tons of entries about the various goings on. If you want to read through it, go here and then scroll down and click page 4 at the bottom to start at the beginning of the coverage. (Remember, these are blog posts, so the most recent stuff is at the top.)

That photo of the TV Azteca journalist was originally posted on the Hashmarks blog, but I don’t know which one of the guys snapped it.

I just read about a small Japanese company that offers its workers “heartache leave” to help them get over relationships gone awry.

According to this Reuters article, the founder of Hime & Company, a cosmetics marketing firm based in Tokyo, thinks that heartache leave is important because it gives workers a chance to deal with their grief and then return to the job completely “refreshed”.

CEO Miki Hiradate was quoted as saying,

Not everyone needs to take maternity leave but with heartbreak, everyone needs time off, just like when you get sick.

The number of heartache leave days allowed per worker varies depending on age, with younger women getting one day per year and older women getting 2-3 days off per year. The rationale behind this is simple, according to Hiradate:

Women in their 20s can find their next love quickly, but it’s tougher for women in their 30s, and their break-ups tend to be more serious.

I actually think that’s a pretty cool idea. God knows I could have used heartache leave when I was in my late teens/early twenties…. it would have been much better than showing up to work with red, puffy eyes and having everyone stare and ask questions all day!!

I was going through my son’s backpack today, when I found a memo from his preschool. Apparently, there’s a new little girl in his class who has cerebral palsy, so the teachers are going to give a talk about the whole “differently abled” concept on Wednesday. Parents are invited to attend as well, which is why the notice was sent home this weekend.

I think my son is a little young to really understand what’s going on here, so I’m planning on going in case he has any additional questions to ask. In the meantime, I better do some reading on CP to make sure I’m at least somewhat prepared to discuss the basics with my child.

I used to be a huge fan of AMA Supercross, but in recent years, the sport has become supremely boring to me. I think it’s because there always seems to be one rider who dominates each year and runs away with practically every race, making the sport similar to golf or tennis in that respect.

When was the last time someone other than Tiger Woods did anything noteworthy on the PGA Tour? When was the last time someone other than Federer or Nadal put up good results throughout an entire season (rather than just a single tournament). It gets boring seeing the same people win all the time.

In Supercross, this has been going on for years. First, there was Jeremy McGrath, who notched 72 career SX wins and seven 250cc titles. Then along came Ricky Carmichael, who won every MX championship series he ever raced in, and captured 5 Supercross titles to boot.

And now we have James Stewart, Ryan Villopoto, etc. It seems that there will always be that one guy who wins everything in sight. Like I said, it’s boring!

So I guess it’s no surprise that I haven’t been paying much attention to the 2008 Supercross series, which has already been going on for a month. I’ve been glancing at the race results every Sunday morning, but haven’t bothered with the live webcasts or TV broadcasts so far.

The only noteworthy bit of info to come out of the series (at least IMO) is that James Stewart decided to have knee surgery rather than battle for the championship. That leaves the door wide open for Chad Reed to score his second SX title, and is eerily similar to the way Reed won in 2004 when Carmichael opted for surgery during the Supercross series.

Anyway, in case you’re interested, Reed is leading the Supercross class with 97 points (3 wins in the first 4 rounds), with Kevin Windham in second (78 points), and Tim Ferry in third (57).

In the Lites West Class, Ryan Dungey is on top with 86 points (2 wins in four rounds), Dan Reardon is in second (67) and Jason Lawrence is in third (63).

Villopoto doesn’t start his assault on the East series until February 23 in Atlanta, GA.

(Photo from supercrossonline.com)

Even though we’re on the national Do Not Call Registry, we still get sales pitches from time to time. For instance, just this morning someone called in wanting to know if we’d like to subscribe to a TV-related trade journal named Screen Digest or something (I wasn’t paying too much attention).

First of all, I want to know how we would even come up as candidates for such a thing. Neither of us have ever worked in any kind of TV field, and we’ve never subscribed to a trade journal of any sort. Plus, we never enter any of those contests at the mall where you can win a car, cruise, or TV because we know that those names go on marketing lists.

Second, I’d like to know who thinks reading about high-definition televisions, cable service providers, or HDMI switches makes for a compelling leisure time activity? No, thanks — I have much more interesting things to do!

Anyway, I wish these marketing calls would stop, especially when the people are pedaling products I’d never use in a million years.

Seven years ago today, Jerry and I said “I do” at a small oceanside chapel in Honolulu. A lot has happened in those seven years — most of it good. In fact, I would go so far as to list my marriage as the most stable part of my life right now. No matter what happens with jobs, friends, and all of the other external stuff, I know I can always count on my husband for support.

We don’t really do big celebrations, so we’re just planning on going to Outback for dinner tonight. After that, we’ll either catch a movie at the theater (Jerry wants to see Rambo) or rent a couple of DVDs and relax at home.

Either way, it should be a fun evening!

My mom works at a major insurance company, and just got word today that seven of the 14 members in her immediate team were laid off. This is part of a wider restructuring project that is taking its toll on workers in all departments.

Fortunately, my mom’s job was spared — which was surprising as she’s 59 years old and makes a hefty salary. I guess the company’s business performance management software indicated that she was too valuable to let go at this time, so for that we should be grateful.

My mom is hoping to hold on for at least three more years before retiring. That would boost her pension and make things a lot more comfortable in her “golden years”.

I hope she makes it that long too!

This week’s Booking Through Thursday meme poses a pretty interesting question:

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

Well, I think it all depends on who I’m talking to at the time. But in general, I would say that Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost is received with the most blank stares. Perhaps some people might be familiar with the opera, but in my personal experience, very few know the novel.

Another one that I love is Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Many people, of course, are familiar with Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince, but relatively few know Wind, Sand and Stars, which tells of his experiences flying a mail route across the Sahara. This book is very philosophical and spiritual, and is truly a fantastic read.

I can’t think of any others that people have never heard of. I typically stick to the classics or bestsellers, so it’s not often that I delve into obscure works!

Have you been following the story about French banking behemoth Societe Generale’s disclosure of a $7 billion fraud perpetrated by one of its own employees?

Apparently, a junior trader named Jerome Kerviel was somehow able to pull this off by recording a complex series of fake transactions to cover his trading losses. As one news report described it, Kerviel was essentially like a gambler who kept going double or nothing at the roulette table even though he was losing.

How Societe Generale failed to discover this scheme until losses hit the $7 billion mark is something to wonder about. Obviously, Kerviel has been fired, as have his immediate supervisors.

Additionally, Societe Generale will be pursuing legal actions against Kerviel. While that will likely land the guy in jail, there’s no way to get the money back — which makes me wonder how many people will have to take out a cash advance or loan because of putting their funds under Kerviel’s management.

I can’t believe that in this day and age, there aren’t more sophisticated safeguards aimed at preventing an individual from single-handedly causing a collapse of these proportions.

I gave up watching TV news programs a long time ago because I hated having to sit through a bunch of stories that some random producer thought were newsworthy when in reality they were just designed to grab ratings.

When things like the Natalee Holloway disappearance and the Laci Peterson murder get more airtime on national news programs than the war in Iraq and congressional happenings… well, something’s wrong with that picture.

Even so, I’ll admit that I haven’t been doing a great job of keeping up with international news on my own. I usually read about the biggest business, tech, and political news in the U.S., but don’t extend the same attention to the international scene.

I want to rectify this situation, so from now on I’m going to make a concerted effort to become informed about what’s happening in the rest of the world.

Let’s see if I can stick to this resolution!

I’m currently updating my list of Places I Want to Visit (before I die) because there’s a chance that we might actually get to go on one of these vacations this year. It’s been a while since we’ve been to a really interesting place, so hopefully Jerry can take a nice block of time off from work in the next few months.

1. Egypt (for the pyramids)
2. Tanzania (for the Serengeti)
3. Athens and the Greek Islands
4. Switzerland
5. Australia (for the Great Barrier Reef)
6. Fiji — just for that “exotic island” feel
7. China (for the Great Wall)
8. Monaco
9. Disney Cruise to the Bahamas (for my boy)
10. Las Vegas — What can I say, I’ve never been there!

There’s no way we can afford #1 or #2 yet, but several of the others are probably do-able (especially Vegas).

I don’t know why I’m thinking about this today… winter always gives me a bit of wanderlust!

I was leafing through a women’s magazine at Barnes & Noble today, when I came across one of those quizzes that seem to be in every issue. This particular quiz dealt with personal style, and asked a bunch of questions about the kind of clothes I’m most comfortable in, what I would wear to certain events, how much I accessorize, etc.

As it turns out, my Style Quotient is very low. I guess that’s because I don’t care about wearing designer outfits, don’t have any fine lingerie, own fewer than five pairs of shoes, and never wear any accessories other than a watch and my wedding ring.

Oh, well. I’d much rather be comfortable than hip and trendy, so I doubt that I’ll lose any sleep over the results of this quiz!

I just got done watching a fantastic game between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers. The Giants edged the Pack 23-20 in OT to win the NFC Championship and secure a trip to Glendale, AZ to meet the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Quarterback Brett Favre looked uncomfortable all game long, and ended up throwing an interception in overtime that led to the Giants’ winning field goal. Favre completed 19-of-35 passes for 236 yards in the miserable Green Bay weather, and had two touchdowns to go along with two INTs. Now, the offseason in Green Bay is sure to be filled with more talk about whether or not now is the time for Brett to retire.

On the other side of the field, Eli Manning had a very good day for the Giants. Though his stats were hardly spectacular (21-of-40 for 254 yards), he completed big plays when he had to and didn’t turn the ball over at all.

Now the Giants move on to the Super Bowl against the undefeated Patriots. These two teams met back in Week 17 when the Pats won 38-35 to record the first 16-0 season in NFL history. Will they be able to repeat the feat, this time with much larger stakes?

Tune in on Feb.3 to find out!

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

We invited a bunch of friends over today to watch the football games. It’s just after halftime now, and we’re pumped to see San Diego hanging in there with the Patriots. I don’t think anyone here really cares who wins (we’re all Bears fans); we’d just like to see a competitive matchup instead of a blowout.

Anyway, the house is already a mess from the party — and we still have a game and a half to go! There are empty pizza boxes and paper plates all over the place, plus an assortment of minor spills and messes. We’ve also gone through a case of beer between us, with no plans of slowing down. I’m going to need a can crusher to make sure all the empties can fit into the recycling bin!

Oh, well, it’s definitely worth it. Nothing beats watching playoff football with a group of friends.