Have you noticed in the past few months that a lot of celebrity-related gossip stems right out of posts that people make on their Twitter accounts? For example, when Kanye dissed Taylor Swift, most of the news articles about the incident included a bunch of comments that people like Pink and Kelly Clarkson made via Twitter. Hey, no need to get an interview when you can get quotes straight from Twitter, right? And today some newspaper just published a short article about Fred Durst getting divorced — with the source for the article being Durst’s tweet where he confirmed the rumors.

In the realm of collegiate and professional sports, some Twitter accounts have gotten people into serious trouble. NBA player Michael Beasley posted a picture with what looked to be marijuana in the background, and subsequently checked himself into rehab. Several NFL stars have closed their Twitter accounts after questionable tweets that disrespect fans or other players. A Texas Tech player was suspended for one of his tweets complaining about head coach Mike Leach being late for his own meeting (Leach later banned all Tech players from Twitter), and a New York Jets reserve was benched for one game after complaining about lack of playing time on his Twitter account.

Personally, I’m getting tired of reading “news” articles that include references to Twitter and tweets. I guess it’s kind of cool that these celebrities can “talk” directly to their fans or whatever, but there’s just really TMI out there now. Twitter overload for sure.

For the second week in a row, the Chicago Bears came away with an ugly victory instead of a crushing defeat. This time, they spotted the Seattle Seahawks a 13-point lead before pouring on 17 unanswered points, and then holding off a steady Seattle attack to seal a 25-19 victory.

Jay Cutler had a good game, completing 21-of-27 passes for 247 yards and 3 touchdowns, including a 37-yard hookup with Devin Hester in the fourth quarter for his second-consecutive come-from-behind win. But Cutler also made some miscues, including an interception and a lost fumble, as well as a fumbled snap that the Bears ended up recovering.

The defense looked pretty bad again, giving up 346 yards on the day. They also benefited from several Seattle mistakes, including two missed field goals (just like last week’s game) and lots of dropped balls. But, again like last week, the defense held on the final drive, preventing Seattle quarterback Seneca Wallace from getting any kind of downfield passing game going and making him settle for short-yardage gains.

The Bears have NOT looked good through their first three games. There’s still a ton of room for improvement. But wins are wins, and this one was big since everyone else in the NFC North also came away with victories today. Next week the Bears take on Detroit before heading into the bye. Thankfully, the Lions won today, so there’s little chance that the Bears will look past them.

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

I’m no expert or anything, but I want to try my hand at picking some NFL games against the spread (ATS). I hardly ever get these things right, so I wouldn’t go wagering your entire paycheck based on my “insight”! Also, I’m just choosing a handful of games, not the entire slate.

Baltimore Ravens (-13.5) over Cleveland Browns — The Browns are so completely inept that I have no problem picking against them, especially when they’re going up against the Ravens. Baltimore is coming off a very convincing win in San Diego and their offense has stepped it up several notches.

New Orleans Saints (-6) over Buffalo Bills — How can the Saints be favored by just 6 points here? Have the oddsmakers been watching how many points Drew Brees has put on the board? Tom Brady’s touchdown record is in jeopardy for sure. The Saints should roll in this one.

Atlanta Falcons (+4) over New England Patriots — The Patriots have looked terrible in their first two games, while the Falcons have been taking care of business. I’ll take Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Tony Gonzalez, and the points over Brady & Co.

Chicago Bears (-2) over Seattle Seahawks — Jay Cutler has that first win behind him and should be settling into the offense now. Johnny Knox is emerging as a go-to guy, and the defense did surprisingly well against the Super Bowl champs last week. I think the Bears can take this game, especially with Seneca Wallace starting in place of the injured Matt Hasselbeck.

San Francisco 49ers (+7) over Minnesota Vikings — Ok, so I don’t think the Vikings will actually lose here, but the Niners will keep it close. Adrian Peterson might be slowed down by a minor hamstring injury, which should help the Niners, and Brett Favre hasn’t been in a position where he’s had to throw the ball so far this year. I think if it gets to be a shootout, the Niners can hang — and maybe even get the upset. A Vikings loss would help the Bears tremendously, so I’m definitely pulling for the Niners.

This is just an amazing story that involves my friend Kat. I am so completely thrilled for her that she got to reunite with her three siblings! I am having a hard time processing this, and I’m a complete outsider. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of emotions Kat herself is going through. Take a look at the video clip below, which is from the Today show this morning:

I admit that I’m addicted to tech toys and can’t help spending money on these gadgets. For instance, even though I already had two iPod Nanos that worked perfectly well and weren’t filled to capacity, I went out and bought the latest model the week it was released — just because it had some new features like a video camera, voice recorder, and FM radio tuner. Then today while browsing through Buy.com, I came across this Mobile Digital Scribe pen from IOGEAR, and haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.

The Mobile Digital Scribe is a pen that allows you to digitize your handwritten notes without a special notepad, tablet, or digital ink. To be perfectly honest, I’m not even exactly sure how this thing works. Apparently, you just write on any kind of paper as usual, and then the special receiver captures what you’ve written. From there, you can upload the data to a computer to transform your notes and drawings into digital text or JPEG files which can then be edited and shared.

This is obviously a gadget that I don’t need, but it just sounds do darn cool! Plus it’s on sale right now for just $69.99 at Buy.com and comes with a $20 rebate to knock the price all the way down to $49.99 — 50% off the regular list price of $99.99. I am really tempted to buy this IOGEAR Mobile Digital Scribe even though I don’t sit in meetings all day… I can always sell it again if I end up not liking it, so the purchase wouldn’t be a total loss.

I have been so totally swamped lately that I haven’t had much time to hang out online like I usually do. The first 3 weeks of grad school were pretty easy. There was a lot of reading, but I had no problem keeping up with it. Then when Week 4 (last week) hit, I suddenly had a bunch of fairly long papers to write — in addition to the regular reading load. The trend continues this week, as I’ve got a couple more papers due on Friday night.

It’s been a struggle for me to juggle work, school, and family recently. I’m trying to stay on task more, so hopefully I’ll be able to to a better job of it in the next two months. That being said, I’m already counting down the days until Thanksgiving break!

The Chicago Bears came away with a huge win against the Pittsburgh Steelers today. It wasn’t pretty, but at the end of the day, they got the “W” that they needed. The defense gave up some big plays and the offense had some trouble moving the ball (particularly in the first half), so there’s still room for improvement.

Jay Cutler bounced back from his dismal debut and completed 27-of-38 passes for 236 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 interceptions. He looked great, finishing the game with a passer rating of 104.7. It’s awesome having a confident QB back there for the Bears — Cutler has some swagger, which has been missing for a long, long time.

Other players who came up big were Kellen Davis, Johnny Knox, Greg Olsen with a fumble recovery, and Adrian Peterson on the first half touchdown drive. Alex Brown and Charles Tillman played well on D.

I was kind of expecting the Bears to be 1-1 after Week 2, but I figured they would beat the Pack and lose to the Steelers. It would have been nice to win that division game of course, but 1-1 is far more encouraging than 0-2. We’ll take it!

(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)