It’s time for the Pro Bowl again. This year, the league decided to squeeze the game in the week before the Super Bowl — and also move it to Miami from Hawaii. I have no idea why… maybe to try to get more people to watch it?

I won’t be watching it, that’s for sure. I don’t really need to see a game that’s going to be devoid of hitting and real contact, nor do I want to watch the AFC dig down to the 8th choice for quarterback with David Garrard. Really? This is supposed to generate excitement? Yawn.

The game starts at 7:20pm ET for those of you who do want to watch it.

Kurt Warner, quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, announced his retirement yesterday after 12 seasons in the NFL. He broke into the league with the St. Louis Rams back in 1998, and didn’t start a game until 1999 when he was 28 years old. But man, what a year he had, as he took the league by storm and led the Rams all the way to a Super Bowl championship, while earning NFL MVP honors for himself. Even as a Bears fan, I couldn’t help but marvel at what Warner was doing.

Warner seemed like such a class act that it was easy to root for him during his stints in New York and Arizona as well. I have always liked him, and was very happy that he found success in the NFL after being a grocery store stock boy prior to signing with the Rams.

He had an amazing career and will surely end up in the Hall of Fame someday. Thanks for all the aerial shows over the years, Kurt!!

Even though I have exactly zero extra money to spend, I still enjoy browsing through the sale pages over at Buy.com so I can drool over all the cool stuff and make a Wish List for the day when I do get enough money to order everything I want!

Anyway, this morning I saw this neat-looking Wireless Video Baby Monitor, which I would love to buy for my sister-in-law who just had her second child last week. This baby monitor comes with two cameras, allowing you to either get two views of your child in his crib or set up a camera in two different rooms so you don’t have to constantly rearrange everything when you take baby out. The best part is that the cameras come equipped with infrared lights, giving you the ability to see in complete darkness for a range of 15 feet! That is very cool! The monitor comes with a 2.5-inch screen and the cameras are designed as cute little daisies.

I totally wish I could buy this video baby monitor right now, especially since it only costs $134. I actually haven’t bought a gift for my new nephew yet, so this would be perfect. I’m sure my sister-in-law would appreciate not having to schlep up and down the stairs every 10 minutes to check on the baby. Well, maybe I’ll manage to scrape the funds together somehow!

J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, died yesterday at the age of 91. The report came from his son, who said the author succumbed to natural causes.

Salinger was mostly a recluse after the overwhelming success of Catcher. He rarely granted any interviews (the last was 30 years ago), and except for a couple of story collections and a novella, never published again after Catcher. But a writer doesn’t just while away his time watching TV, ya know? I wouldn’t be surprised if there are at least a couple of full-length manuscripts that come out after his death.

As for Catcher, I loved that book when I was in junior high, just like every other adolescent out there. I thought Holden was cool and had the right ideas about nonconformity. But upon reading the book again as an adult, I didn’t feel it had the same impact. It’s definitely something for the teenage crowd to hold onto. BTW, the book has sold 60 million copies to date, and will undoubtedly continue to sell well as long as it is included on nearly every American Lit class reading list.

RIP, Salinger.

I am not an American Idol fan at all, but I think some of Simon Cowell’s remarks are hilarious! I try combing YouTube for clips of his put-downs and have found a few good videos in the past, but not nearly enough. Here’s a decent one that shows him getting exasperated with a number of would-be contestants.

I know it’s hard to imagine right now, but spring — and then summer — aren’t really that far off. (That’s what I’m going to keep telling myself, anyway!) For my family, that means more and more time spent out in the backyard enjoying the warm weather and sunshine from the comfort of our lovely deck. There’s nothing better than grilling up some burgers, hot dogs, or steaks and having a cold one while unwinding in a chaise lounge. I can picture it already!

Well, I take that back. One thing would make the scenario better, and that would be if we could have some music out there! As things stand, we kind of have to prop one of our radios up against the sliding screen door on the patio, but that’s kind of a pain because we end up tripping all over the thing when we go in and out of the house. That’s why I’m thinking a pair of Wireless Indoor/Outdoor speakers from Audio Unlimited would be a smart buy right about now.

These wireless indoor/outdoor speakers do pretty much what you’d think just from the name. You can set up the speakers anywhere within a 150-ft range of the transmitter and enjoy great music without the hassle of running cables and cords all through the house. Plus, if I buy an adapter cable, I’d be able to connect the transmitter to my computer, thereby gaining access to my iTunes library. That would be great!

Right now the wireless indoor/outdoor speakers are on sale for just $79.99, which is $50 off the regular price. That’s not bad, especially since I know we’d get a lot of use out of these things. I would love to give them a try!

This is one of my favorite poems of all-time. I was thumbing through a book of poetry last night and came across it for the first time in years. Reading it again made me remember why I love it so much. This might sound silly, but I can never get through the last stanza without my eyes tearing up….

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.