If you thought you heard a lot of screaming, or felt a disturbance in the Force last night at, oh, sometime between 10 and 10:30 pm EDT, you can probably trace it back to the Red Sox losing 7-4 to the Devil Rays, a result that sent the Sox from leading the AL East to out of the playoffs (if the season ended yesterday).

I thankfully avoid most sports media (Cooch notwithstanding), so the Red Sox Nation suicide watch that must surely be going on does so without me. Given how the team has played this season, what disappointment I'd feel if they didn't make the playoffs is tempered by the season-long display of inconsistency. It's not like you couldn't see this coming.

Besides, it's all working out as MLB planned, what with the three game series against the Yankees to end things. It could turn out that we'll win the AL East after all and somehow banish the Yankees from the playoffs.

Not that I'm expecting it. But it could happen.

The Patriots, on the other hand, are a cause for concern. They did not look good last week, and have to play Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Atlanta over the next few weeks. Most of these games take place on the road, to make matters worse. It would not be surprising if this team is sporting a 2-4 record at some point. It would also not be surprising if they then finished the season 12-4 or 11-5 and get into the playoffs.

The current offensive coordinator by committee will take its fair share of heat should the losing come to pass, but given how the defense let Jake Delhomme connect on a number of what can only be called eephus passes, you have to look over there as well. Mostly at the defensive backs, who are awful young. Super Bowl or no, they're still learning, and while you'd expect them to make more mistakes in big games, the idea that they'd play back to the mean over a number of games makes sense.

Only a month or so before I can start kvetching about the Bruins and Terriers. Things go right for the Sox, I can complain about all four in one post. That should drive off even the most persistent reader.

A return to bar trivia tonight, as Everybody Loves a Cane made a slight improvement on the last time out with a second place finish. As with last time, here's a sampling of the questions we didn't do so well with:

In the summer of 1941, what country became the first to use frogmen to fight an opponent? Italy (OTC) - Italian frogmen apparently took on the British, who were our guess after we summarily dismissed the French as a little on the nose. This was the first question of the night, which made for an inauspicious start.

What nationality has produced the greatest number of Nobel Prize winners? - USA - One of us said Britain, one said Germany, and I said the USA. So we played 3 Answer Monte by writing an answer each on an answer slip and had the fourth person pick. Unlike the popular hustle, where you win the first time to get sucked in, we did not find the lady, so to speak.

Rome and what four other European capital cities are spelled with just four letters? Riga [Latvia], Bern [Switzerland], Oslo [Norway], Kiev [Ukraine] (OTC) - we got the first three, as I had a brain fart and thought Minsk was the capital of Ukraine (it actually being the capital of Belarus). I threw out a guess of Baku, which is the capital of Azerbaijan. For what it's worth, they are in the European qualifying group for the World Cup. Had I only been able to make that argument last night.

What city in the Po River valley is known as Italy's food capital? Bologna (Ted) - we went with Parma, given the ham and the cheese (it's also the home to Parmalat, they of the frightening shelf-stable milk). Not sure if it's really in the Po valley, though. It's in the neighborhood, but none of the maps I've seen make it clear to me if it's in the valley or up in the hills.

Not sure if Bologna deserves this given what its self-named luncheon meat has become, but I suppose it's not their fault.

What US state has had its capital move the most - 12 times? Texas (Greg) - we were leading going into this question, which was the good news. The bad news is that we had no clue about this question. We did mention Texas, but then again we named about 20 of the states. We settled on New York and Georgia, flipped a coin, and guessed New York. We bet the minimum, thus only losing one point, but were passed by a team that got the question right and finished in second place.

As for the capital moving, Texas apparently had several temporary capitals when it became indepdendent. Which makes me wonder about the construction of the question, as I can't remember it verbatim. Not sure if they worded it such that it would allow for moves when Texas wasn't a US state.

We're recently returned from Hilton Head (well, we got in very early this morning, but you get my idea), and for you, a recap.

Saturday we drove to Hilton Head, which isn't as bad as it sounds given that there were seven available drivers between two cars. We spent the early part of the trip getting info about Hurricane Ophelia (which was then looking like it was going to hit somewhere in South Carolina), shifting later to baseball (the dreaded Y@nkees, given where we were going through).

We tried to stop for the night in Petersberg, Virginia, which proved problematic as NASCAR was up in Richmond. Rather than pay $159 for a Residence Inn or $90 for the shabbiest looking Days Inn I've ever seen, we continued down to Emporia, Virginia, where we found somewhere whose price to shadiness ratio was better.

Sunday we completed our drive, though not without getting lost a bit thanks to a missing street sign. We stayed at a timeshare that's part of the Port Royal Plantation, one of several former plantations that now serves as a resort, most often for golf. The timeshare is crammed into a lot on the plantation property, and is probably the least inspiring place we've stayed on one of these family vacations.

We noticed early on that navigating Hilton Head would be difficult, given that all the signs for businesses are at street level, of moderate size, and mutely colored. If you're into forest green, shades of brown, and gray, Hilton Head is the place for you. Also, most places are off the street, so you more often than not see where you need to go when you are right on top of it. Thankfully, the main roadway gives you ample opportunities for turning around.

Didn't do much upon arrival, just settled in.

Monday continued the settling, at least for me, as most of the group went shopping or played golf. I considered the latter, though it was for the best that I begged off - turns out the course had water on pretty much every hole, and I'd likely have lost a good dozen balls if I'd gone out.

Had dinner at the Hofbrauhaus, which I chose for the novelty if nothing else. Food was pretty good if a little pricey (another theme of Hilton Head), and sadly we were too early for the live music.

Tuesday was our day trip to Savannah, a city of considerable beauty and charm... located downwind from a paper mill.

We took a trolley tour around the city, which wasn't particularly edifying. It's really a city that calls for a good walking tour, especially if you have an interest in architecture or like to tour houses. The most instructive thing we did was go through the Savannah museum at the tourist info center and see their short movie, which suggested that James Oglethorpe learned the value of diversity - just well after his actual death.

Returning to Hilton Head, we went miniature golfing for some reason.

Wednesday started with a kayak tour in what the locals call a creek that is actually an inlet. We got to see dolphins (which I missed, lagging behind), oyster beds, heron, and various other fauna. It was a good way to spend part of the morning, and I never even felt like I was going to flip (the kayaks being smartly weighted to make capsizing nearly impossible).

In the afternoon I finally got out on the golf course, which I was going to recap Couture-style but can't get the table to display here properly. Suffice it to say that I was many, many shots over par. Even so, I did manage three legitimate par opportunities, none of which I converted (worst being a par 3 that turned into a 6). I can drive pretty well, have no feel for my irons or wedges, and apparently need obstacles to putt with any accuracy.

Thursday saw a lazy morning lead to a trip to Harbor Town and the Hilton Head lighthouse. Harbor Town is located in the Sea Pines Plantation, which costs $5 a car to drive into (a fact not noted in either of our guide books, underscoring the uselessness of both publications).

The lighthouse was underwhelming; rather than being built for the usual lighthouse purpose, it was constructed in 1969 to attract pleasure craft into the harbor and its shops. Those shops are priced for people who can afford to spend time cruising in pleasure craft, looking for marketing-constructed lighthouses to entice them.

This was easily the worst tourist-related outing we had all week.

Friday was even lazier than Thursday, as the heat continued to climb (into the high 90s). I passed on both shopping and the driving range, and didn't do much of anything except hit the library to check my email and such (not a bad library, but a little under-air conditioned for my taste). We had a dinner of trademark-dodging at the Pasta Garden and the Marble Slab Creamery (though the websites suggest that Marble Slab predates Coldstone).

Saturday we drove home in one shot, which I wasn't crazy about but the sister-in-law and her boyfriend had to get back as they had Sox tickets for today (which isn't exactly working out for them, as the A's are currently leading 12-3).

The drive home was about as interesting as the drive down. The Carolinas are incredibly boring, with only the South of the Border billboards to break things up in their inane and vaguely racist way. Virginia isn't much better, but you do go through Richmond and skirt Washington DC.

Maryland reminds me that I have to apologize to Delaware. While their $7 in tolls is a lot for the 25 miles or so you drive on a round-trip drive along I-95, Maryland whacks you for $5 when driving northwards. At least when you get robbed of $6 on the George Washington Bridge, you get to actually cross the bridge and feel like you've paid for its upkeep and the view of the city. The Maryland toll just feels like you're lining the pocket of various elected officials.

New York's stretch of I-95 is the worst of the lot, from the congestion to the absolutely screwed up roadworks that have been going on for at least a decade between the Cross-Bronx Expressway and the New York Thruway toll. Complain all you want about the Big Dig, it's at least made obvious progress. The roadworks in New York just look like they've been moving lanes around on a whim.

Anyway, we got back very early this morning, and are happy to be back, work tomorrow notwithstanding. I don't forsee us going back to Hilton Head any time soon.

I've been away for this long, and all you're getting is talk about football? I'd be pissed, too. Sorry, Greg.

* As happy as I was that the Pats won their opener, I hope they're not going to look that sluggish all season, especially during this opening part of the schedule. Too early to panic, but I would like to see them get Dillon more running room.

* I got killed in both of my cut-throat games on the opening weekend, as I went with Denver and St. Louis, figuring that playing Miami and San Francisco would be the shortest routes to wins. Whoops. Even worse is that St. Louis was my pick in ESPN.com's eliminator game, meaning that I managed to get knocked out even earlier than last season, when I took Green Bay in week 2.

* I did manage to win my first FFL game of the season, which means I've already gotten 25% of my win total from last year. I managed to overcome my application of strategery that resulted in Curtis Martin starting over Deuce McAlister, which was pretty lucky.

* On the college front, it would make some sort of sense in the season where I've put Notre Dame on personal probation that they'd open the season 2-0 and crack the top 10. I think that's too high too quickly, and their game against Michigan State has classic let-down potential. A week too late for Craig, though.

* Though I suppose Craig was somewhat pleased to see Ohio State lose at home to Texas. In the back of my head a USC-Texas tilt for the national title seems pretty likely, though the Big XII title game is usually ripe for an upset (as Texas should know, given their upset of Nebraska back in the day).

* I was mildly irritated that that team from Newton moved up in the rankings after beating BYU and Army. Not the most challenging start, really, though probably a smart one given that they get to jump right in with Florida State as the welcoming committee to the ACC.

* Can someone at Temple finally give in to reality and drop their program to 1-AA? Please?

I really don't have much to say, but figure it's been a while so I should at least check in.

The long weekend was a little shorter for me, as I had to work on Sunday given that upperclasspeople were coming back. Turns out those that did didn't want to rush their student service needs, so it was pretty quiet and I got out early. So I can't complain all that much.

Saturday was full of domestic minutae (oil change, shopping for odds and ends), while Labor Day was actually pretty labor intensive (cleaning prior to having houseguests). Did get the chance to go to New Hampshire to visit family for a while, which was nice. It was a beautiful weekend, which I sadly didn't get to enjoy as much as I'd like.

Undoubtedly, it'll snow next week.

I've been trying to follow the aftermath of Katrina, and have come up with two conclusions regarding the death and destruction:

1. It's everyone's fault.
2. It's no one's fault.

I mean, when you have a Category 4 storm hit levees that are meant to withstand up to Category 3 storms, all of the planning in the world may not help you.

And while I'm leery to wade into the rush to judgement, I do think that having a FEMA director with qualifications somewhat more in line with emergency management than being an executive in the International Arabian Horse Association would be a good idea.

So for all my inability to name all the Whig presidents or figure out the length of a regulation bowling alley, I did get some news this week regarding my ability to answer questions: my MTEL results.

Communication and Literacy Skills

Reading Subtest

Miniumum Passing Score: 70
My Score: 97

Writing Subtest

Minimum Passing Score: 70
My Score: 97

Health Education Subject Test

Minimum Passing Score: 70
My Score: 100

While I liked the twin 97s, I did feel like I'd done well on that test. The 100 on the health test, though, that surprised me. I know the tests are scaled, but I didn't figure on that.

Interrestingly, when each test was broken down into specific areas, the area where I did the least well was on study skills. Which seems appropriate, given that mine deviate pretty broadly from what everyone is told to do. But they work for me, and I suppose these results underscore that.

This all leads to the "now what?" question, which is a good one. I do appear to be qualified for an initial licence (which requires passing the tests and having a BA), but I'm not sure what I'd do with it, especially as I've just started something that, so far, I like. Something to think about.

So while not as vaunted as the Big Quiz Thing that Boggie keeps mentioning, I have been playing in a pub trivia game at the Elephant & Castle with the wife, some former Babsonians, and assorted others. Last night was my third time playing, and we collected our second third-place finish (sandwiching our one win, which qualified us for a Tournament of Champions come October).

In the spirit of having something to write that calls for your comments, and in the way of telling the story of the night, here are some selected questions from the evening. Take your best guess in the comments, with plaudits going to the first one to get it right. Looking up the answers, of course, isn't really in the spirit of things. I'll never know, but you run the risk of whatever post-mortal punishment you think might exist (unless you think it's none, in which case we'll all talk at your wake about how we thought you cheated at trivia).

As questions get answered I'll share in how they were significant for the evening.

Anyway, the questions:

* The Star of India is the largest example of what kind of gemstone? Sapphire (OTC) - This was the first question of the night, which we missed. The wife, we discovered later, knew this. Had she attended, we'd have finished second. So we're blaming everything on her for not being there.

* In 1918, 97 people died in the deadliest rapid transit accident in history. In what US city did this occur? New York City (OTC) - We had a very short list for this question including NYC, Boston, Philly, and Chicago. We discounted Boston as I'd have known about it if it were here, and Philly for no real reason. I then engaged in some song clue analysis (the song played after the question is often a clue), and theorized that the line "Well the Illinois Central/ and the Southern Central Freight" from the Doobie Brothers "Long Train Running" suggested Chicago. We went with it, and were wrong, losing 5 points.

I generally over-analyze one song per game. Too bad this time it was on a round-ending bonus question.

* Name the four US Presidents from the Whig party. William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore (Paul) - This question ended the first round, and we only got Taylor and Fillmore. We said Martin Van Buren (which in retrospect I should have caught as wrong) and Franklin Pierce, forgetting about Tippicanoe and Tyler Too.

The interesting wrinkle here is that Tyler got booted from the Whigs not long after taking office, so he spent most of his Presidency as a Democrat (which I guess doesn't even make the question technically wrong; from what I first read I thought he was a Democrat elected on a Whig ticket). Paul's conviction that John Quincy Adams was a Whig does have some merit - he was elected to the US House as a Whig after his run as a Democrat-Republican President.

* In the movie The Shining, what baseball player's signature is on the Louisville Slugger Wendy Torrance uses on her husband Jack? Carl Yazstremski (Paul) - We got halfway there, figuring it for a Red Sox player given King's fandom. Rather than go contemporary, we went classic and said Ted Williams. Had we thought about it for another 30 seconds... we'd probably have still said Teddy Ballgame.

The wife knew this one, too. More room to blame her, then.

* What is the only state without a national park? Delaware (Shawn) - Apparently, Caesar Romney's house doesn't qualify.

This was the final question of the night, where you could bet up to 20 points (and risk losing half if you're wrong). I knew this (from writing a question and from being a national parks geek), so we bet the max. But so did the team we were tied with at the time, requiring a tie-breaker question!

* How long is a regulation bowling alley? 62 feet - Our tiebreaker question, which we were a little stunned to get given that we didn't expect all that many correct answers to the final question (there were at least two others, as the team we tied and the winner both got the question right).

We started off with 60 feet, based on a TV commentator saying something about "60 feet to victory." I thought my teammate said baseball at one point, so I thought there was some confusion. This led to us thinking if I could lie down 10 times on a bowling alley (being 6' 3"), and I didn't think so.

If nothing else, this confirms that I can't judge distances worth a damn.

So we went with 40, which in retrospect is clearly too short. The other team in the tiebreak went with 75 feet. So instead of getting a $25 gift certificate that'd have covered a large chunk of our tab, we got free Sam Adams Black Lager beer (we could have also gotten hats, but passed as we'd gotten hats a couple of weeks before). I wound up drinking two of them, and to be honest I'm not a huge fan. It's OK, better than the typical mass-brewed lager but nothing that would turn me away from ales... which now makes me wish the trivia game was sponsored by Harpoon.

I suppose that's what we get for ignoring the first rule of trivia games - trust your first answer. Then again, we did that a couple of other times in the game and got burned. So maybe the first rule is that there are no rules. Except that seems a little anarchic for something as geektacular as bar trivia. So maybe we just have to learn how to use The Force.

I've been having kind of a running battle with headaches, most notably a couple of weeks ago when they were of the pulsing, head-in-a-vice variety. After getting checked out today, it looks like a double whammy of sinus problems and glasses which are too strong. The former I'd suspected; the latter I hardly expected. The headaches were worse when I wore my glasses, but I'd worn them steadily for some time without real problems.

So after a quick course of medication and new lenses, I should be OK. Keep your fingers crossed.

If anyone out there has an ESPN.com Fantasy Football draft coming up, be prepared for a very problematic Java draft applet. Of course, it could just be us freeloaders who get it. I suppose they'd figure it's what we get for not padding Disney's coffers.

While I've not read the whole thing, there is an article in today's Boston Globe that posits that it would have been better for the Sox to lose the World Series last year. The thesis seems to be that any team can win a World Series (Cubs notwithstanding), but losing them, especially in dramatic fashion, is much harder.

Clearly the author is missing the point that you play the games in the hopes of winning the championship. If you want heart-wrenching endings, go to the opera.

As a cycling fan (probably more a Tour de France fan - I follow some of the other major races, but nowhere near as closely), the latest allegations regarding Lance Armstrong and doping give me room to pause.

But only a little.

In case you've missed it, here's the skinny - the French sports newspaper L'Equipe ran an article earlier this week claiming that urine samples belonging to Armstrong - backup samples taken in 1999 - tested positive for EPO, a banned substance. They did not test positive back then because there was no test for EPO, and they only tested positive now because the lab that had them was using these old samples to perfect current tests.

These samples are anonymous, but the paper managed to link them to Armstrong through some paperwork that connected him with the sample numbers. It's not enough to sanction Armstrong - he'd need positive results from tests on primary samples, which are long gone - but it was proof enough for the paper.

These are probably the most serious allegations of the many levelled at Armstrong regarding doping. Lance, of course, continues to deny that he ever doped and thinks that there's some sort of conspiracy out to get him.

As much as this sounds like he's asking to get fitted for a tinfoil hat, he may have a point.

Consider that the parent company for the newspaper also owns the company that runs the Tour. Which means that when the tour director accepted the story as proving Armstrong's doping, he wasn't just stating opinion. He was toeing the company line.

Consider also that Armstrong has admitted using EPO - not while competing, but while fighting cancer. He's more or less said that EPO kept him alive during treatment. The more cynical might figure that Lance, seeing the benefits of EPO, didn't quite abandon it once he was all better.

Perhaps the biggest thing to consider is that a Frenchman hasn't won the Tour since 1985. Americans have won fully half of the Tours in that span. Riders from Denmark and Ireland (!) have won the Tour in the time since Bernard Hinault took the top step of the podium in 1985.

(Speaking of the podium, a Frenchman hasn't been present on one since 1997.)

This year was an even bigger famine for the French, as they won only one stage - the one on Bastille Day, when the French riders ride a little harder and the other riders let them (as long as it doesn't upset the leaders). If Bastille Day was in, say, October, the French may not have even taken a stage win.

(And, just in case you were wondering, the French were also shut out in the sprint, climbing, and young rider competitions, which were won by guys from Norway, Denmark, and the Ukraine.)

A generation of building futility in a race you pretty much invented will make people mad. They'll look for someone to take it out on.

Enter Lance Armstrong.

I suppose it all boils down to what you think deserves more consideration - the piles of circumstantial evidence tying Armstrong to doping, or the rabid machinations of the press (French and others) who have been gunning for Armstrong since his first Tour win. I can't say I fully trust Armstrong, but I have very little faith in the restraint and ethics of Europe's sports journalists. So I'm sticking with Armstrong - for now.

I've learned something important today. According to Pat Robertson, "take him out" does not mean assassination. It can also include many less lethal options. I assume a trip for ice cream would be included if taken literally, but probably wasn't where Robertson was going with this.

Had I the skill level, an alt history novel about President Robertson's term in office could be very entertaining.

Some good news coming out of the BARC meetings today, at least if you're from New England and have a stake in such things: the New London sub base and the Portsmouth Naval Yard aren't going to close. There is at least one reader who's worked at both and can perhaps provide some personal observations. All I can say is that Maine can use all the jobs it can get, and keeping Portsmouth open will help.

***

A technology-related question: would I be better off getting Tivo or going with the DVR offered by Comcast?

Now that I'm back among the fully employed, we've decided to put some of our new gains into some sort of DVR system. I mess up the VCR thing enough between missed endings and tape-overs that it seems like a good thing to do.

Tivo would cost $13 a month and whatever we pay to buy the box. Comcast's DVR is $10 a month and is combined with our cable box. I've been comparing the services and can't come up with too many differences, though I think the ability to skip commercials is one of them. Not sure if that's a big deal or not; I'm used to fast forwarding through ads when using the VCR.

I'm tending towards the Comcast box just so I don't have to worry about having to buy new boxes in the future, but if you've got something to say here, please do.

***

Not sure why I'm separating things with the asterisks. Do you like it?

***

Still plenty of time to vote about what state I should dislike. Knowing some of you as I do and your love of hatin', I can't imagine why the vote totals are so low. Unless you're hatin' on the poll, which I can respect.

An update from the wife: she does not hate football. She hates the volume of football she's subjected to, which I'd alluded to yesterday.

Which is kind of funny, given that the "volume" of football I watch has actually gone down in the last 10 years. It's just that there's more football now at times you'd not expect it (like Arena games in April and college games on Tuesday nights).

So I guess it's kind of a break-even thing.

***

The Bruce's recent swipe at three states gets my support, at least in two cases. Well, one and a half, really.

I can't talk full smack about New Hampshire, as I do have family there (though in a place where a surveyor's hiccup could have landed them in Massachusetts). And I do like most of the state from an aesthetic standpoint. I'll agree with the Bruce about the Hampton tolls (even worse, the state is getting rid of the toll tokens that you used to be able to get by the roll for half-price), and that their libertarian ethos may be undermined somewhat by having state liquor stores.

Though I suppose if it's a choice between getting people drunk or payroll taxes, New Hampshireites will take the former.

I do, of course, have complete and utter disdain for the UNH men's hockey program (and the women, too, I suppose, now that BU's made the jump to varsity).

Florida gets my full-on approval as a state to dislike. And if you idiots send Scarborough to the Senate, I will personally come down there and start kicking ass. I suppose winding up with Senator-elect Katherine Harris might motivate the same reaction, but it'd be less surprising given that you rewarded her performance in 2000 by making her a US Representative.

The only thing that primary race needs is for David Duke to file papers.

It doesn't help the state that they have weather that I can tolerate for about two months of the year.

Homer Simpson called Florida "America's wang" for a reason, folks.

I've never been to Oregon, so no comment there. I know at least one reader lived there for a while and perhaps will comment on it. After mulling things a bit, my short list of a third state to hate includes:

* Delaware, for supporting its tax-free status by making you pay $39.50 to drive their 4 miles of I-95.

* New York, just because. Though that might be a little on the nose (or perhaps redundant) for a Red Sox fan.

* Indiana, for being the Alabama of the midwest.

* North Dakota, for its idiotic quest to rename itself because north=cold. People were fooled by the name Greenland - in the 12th century. You can call yourself what you like, and it won't change the fact that you probably have the greatest temperature extremes of any state in the continental US. Though I'm sure there's nothing that takes the edge off of a 98 degree day like the thought of the coming -25 degree days.

So, with all this in mind, go vote.

Sticking with today's sports theme (but leaving football), Chris Bourque signed with the Washington Capitals yesterday. Some of you will know him as the son of Bruins great Ray Bourque and burgeoning star of the Boston University hockey team, who left school after this past season to play in the major juniors, only to wind up with the AHL's Portland Pirates.

I know hitting the books wasn't his thing, but he may wish he'd sucked it up a bit more given the prospects for the Caps this year. Heck, a season in Hershey would be an improvement; at least they've got all that chocolate.

Sticking with football, I've set up a couple of ESPN.com groups for the college game:

College Pick 'Em
Group: Pickin' and Grinnin'
Password: touchdown

Thursday Night College Football Challenge
Group: Touchdown Touchback
Password: touchdown

An important fact about tonight's Pats-Saints exhibition: the wife will be attending.

I will not.

A guy at her office had tickets he couldn't use, and offered them up to the first takers. So, she and some of her work buddies got together and claimed them. Leaving none for spouses, friends, or other such people.

Thanks.

I know, it's pre-season, why should I care, except for three reasons:

1. The wife doesn't like football. Although she's now amended her stance to disliking my habit of watching football. So it's not the Pats, but the other NFL, NCAA, AFL, and CFL games.

I don't buy that for a minute.

2. The only Pats game I've been to was a dismal affair which I think I've mentioned here before: a loss to the Seahawks in a cold drizzle in the upholstered toilet that was (at the time) Sullivan Stadium.

3. I've not been to Gillette Stadium. That's really what I'm most irritated about. Though perhaps I can talk the wife into going to the US-Panama World Cup qualifier on October 12. It may wind up being irrelevant (a win against Mexico next month gets us in), but if not it could be the clincher, which would be cool.

So I just got around to changing my voice mail, and I ran into an unusual problem with the internal greeting, which is just my name.

It was too short.

The messaging system, disapproving of the economy of my name, subbed in my regular greeting, which is much longer. I finally got my name in, but had to say it very slowly. It sounds like I'm talking to a three year old.

Looking at this week, I will have made dinner at home exactly once.

Sunday: Subway
Monday: The Continental
Tuesday: The Elephant & Castle, a mock-British pub in the Financial District. They serve what I'd call "modern English" cuisine (minus the New Wave hair). I had a dish where roast beef and onions were stuffed in a Yorkshire pudding. Yum. I was there for pub trivia, where my team finished third. We got Sam Adams hats. Woo.
Wednesday: I had to cook. Boo. Turned out fine, considering.
Thursday: Picco on Tremont in the South End. The name is short for Pizza and Ice Cream Company, which sums up their menu pretty well. There are a few non-pizza items, but just a few. No appetizers, either, which was odd. Got their "Alsacian Variation" pizza, a combo of sour cream, bacon, caramelized onions, and gruyere cheese. It was quite tasty. Dessert was gingerbread with whipped cream and fruit topped with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream, which was fantastic.
Friday: The Barking Crab, down on the waterfront. You may remember this as the place that got shut down a few years ago when they managed to have some of their sewer pipes drain into their shellfish tanks. They seem to have corrected the problem and persevered, but just the same I'm glad the fish is already filleted. Had the fish and chips, which was fine.
Saturday: Had plans to go out with family to celebrate a run of birthdays, but they fell through. But we're still fired up to eat out, so we're going on our own. We may continue to eat our way around Route 1 (another reason for our stop at The Continental), but perhaps we'll stay closer to home. Good thing we ate at the Barking Crab yesterday; too damn hot today to eat somewhere that's not air conditioned.

Along these lines, I got free lunch all week as a welcome to Wentworth and as an opportunity to get together with folks from my office and the admissions office, which is in the same division. This was four days of the limited menu at the dining hall (they're renovating) and Friday at Qdoba. Now how did I get suckered into making my own breakfasts?

Seeing Craig's football look-ahead (and Greg's non-football one), I thought of something:

Wentworth: no football
Babson: no football
BU: no football (now)
New England School of Law : no football (or any varsity athletics, it being a grad/professional school)

I have to go all the way back to high school (or the last academic year, depending on how you want to look at it) to find an institution whose football season I could handicap.

Considering the Hornets of Manchester-Essex went 0-11 last year, looking ahead may not be that compelling.