On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
"This could be Heaven or this could be Hell"
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain,
"Please bring me my wine"
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine"
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
"Relax, " said the night man,
"We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! "

Went walking through town just the other day
with nothin much to do.
As the sun came breakin down through the clouds
I never seen the sky so blue
I saw a cajun man with a red guitar singing on the side of the street
I threw a handful of change in his beat up case and said play me a country beat
And it sounded like....

Met up with some friends outside of town
we were headed towards the lake
I hopped into the back of a jacked up jeep and felt the wind upon my face
We got to the spot and the sun was hot, everybody was feelin fine.
So we jumped on in for a midday swim and then we lost all track of time.

It was the perfect day
What I'd give if I could find a way to stay
Lost in this moment now
Ain't worried about tomorrow
When you're busy livin in a perfect day.

As the moon came out and the fire burned
everybody was singin along
To some Ramblin' Man a little Curtis Loew and all them feel good songs
We danced all night without a care, no place we'd rather be
Cause these are the days we'll talk about, when we lived so wild and free

It was the perfect day
What I'd give if I could find a way to stay
Lost in this moment now
Ain't worried about tomorrow
When you're busy livin in a perfect day.

We were sittin in the sand as he grabbed my hand
And then leaned in for a kiss
I couldn't help but think with the stars above it don't get much better than this

It was the perfect day
What I'd give if I could find a way to stay
Lost in this moment now
Ain't worried about tomorrow
When you're busy livin, feels like dreamin', slowly drifting, through this perfect day.

Did you ever feel the pain
That he felt upon the cross
Did you ever feel the knife
Tearing flesh that's oh so soft

Did you ever touch the night
Did you ever count the cost
Do you hide away the fear
Put down paradise as lost

Yeah you're blinded by rainbows
Watching the wind blow
Blinded by rainbows
Do you dream at night
Do you sleep at night
I doubt it

Did you ever feel the blast
As the semtex bomb goes off
Do you ever hear the screams
As the limbs are all torn off
Did you ever kiss the child
Who just saw his father shot
Do you ever she'd a tear
As the war drags on and on

Do you ever touch the night
Or is it just another job
Do you feel the final hours
Put down paradise as lost

Yeah you're blinded by rainbows
And faces in windows
Blinded by rainbows
Do you dream at night
Do you sleep at night
I doubt it

Do you ever fear the night
Could it be the war is lost
Do you fear the final hour
Do you kneel before the cross

Youre blinded by rainbows
And watching the wind blow
Blinded by rainbows
Do you dream at night
Do you scream at night
Do you smell of fear
Is your conscience clear
Are you caked in sweat

Are your clothes all wet
Do you see the light
Is the end in sight
See the face of christ
Enter paradise
I doubt it

Each year I have set myself a challenge. In 2010 we had the Photo A Day Challenge (and I am still promising myself that I will create a photo book from all the wonderful photos), then we had the 2011 eat less, move more challenge - again I have a year's worth of photos of food that I ate. Some how I don't see a photo book of all the food (and snacks) that I have eaten. Then there was the 2012 10,000 step a day challenge. While I have worn a pedometer for about 2 years now, the trusty pedometer has given up the ghost, but I have least learnt to know what 10,000 steps a day feel like. I continue to walk when ever I can just to get my steps in.

The other day I was having lunch with a colleague who asked me eagerly what my 2013 challenge was going to be?

I hadn't really thought that through.

And then I thought of what I wanted to do this year, and I realized you really don't need a January 1st to decide to set some things in motion. So here goes...

1. Declutter and get more organized. I have been following loosely the January Cure on Apartment Therapy (one of my favorite blogs of all time.) I have decided to do a January Cure - but instead do it in March (not February - it is a short month.)

2. Read more poetry

I used to love reading poetry. I have decided that Friday is Poetry day. Poems are like old friends. I am also including the lyrics to songs. I am looking forward to visiting old friends, and discovering new ones.

3. Enjoy Life

We get so caught up in the day to day living. I am going to make a conscious effort to slow it down, and take the time to enjoy every precious moment.

Wow! That was a surprisingly exciting superbowl. The Baltimore Ravens won 34 to the 49ers' 31 points. 2 points that the 49ers scored thanks to a Raven intentional safety. Who would have thought that would have happened. We also had the joy of a 35 minute power failure - did the Beyonce half time show take up too much juice? Did a poor intern flip a switch by mistake? The NFL are investigating.

Well I have turned this into a bit of a tradition. Every Superbowl Kevin and I watch, and I take notes of the adverts.

1. Coke vs Pepsi

Every year I decide which soft drink giant wins the best superbowl add. I am not counting that the Half time show was sponsored by Pepsi. So we have the Pepsi Next ad - which features a house party gone wild, when parents show up and are won over by the Pepsi Next. And then we had a truly aweseome Coke ad which shows exercepts of security cameras leading up to "let's look at the world differently." I thought that that ad (shown during the first quarter was more powerful than the Coke Lawrence of Arabia meets Mad Max.) So Coke wins.

2. Beer commercials.

Just really meh commercials. I thought that the Bud Light "It's only weird if it doesn't work" themed commercials set in New Orleans were kind of fun. But nothing really stood out and wow'd me. So no honorable mentions, and no winners. I just didn't feel it. Even a the trusty Clysdale Budweiser horses didn't do it for me. 

3. Auto commercials.

We have the Audi "Prom Nite/ Black Eye", numerous hyundai commercials that made me yawn, the toyota Rav 4 Genie commercial that I thought was fun, the VW Beetle "Get Happy" White dude with inappropriate Jamaican accent also enjoyable. I will give the Lincoln ads a big thumbs down. Meh! Jeep with Oprah was good but mainly because it was supportive of our military. The "Respect the Tech" Kia ad was also kind of cool - I loved the fembots. The Mercedes ad "Set your Soul Free" was a clever ad campaign where teaser ads had been shown during the play off games. This one was the conclusion. It was ok, and in normal years would have easily won against the usual round of boring pick up and GM ads. But this year the auto commercials were actually quite a decent lot of creative commercials. The "Where do Babies Come From?" Kia ad also deserves Honorable Mention. The best auto commercial (drumroll please) is (and I never in a million years would think this was the one I would pick) is  "God Made A Farmer" Dodge Ram commercial.

Honorable Mention: Kia - "Where Do Babies Come From?"

Winner: Dodge - "God Made A Farmer..."

4. Food / Snack / Fast food category

Some really great commercials in this category. The Dorito "Goat 4 Sale" and "Daddy and friends play dress up" were excellent. Watching The Rock in the "Got Milk" ad was very enjoyable. And a huge shout out for the M & M ad "I would do anything for love..." Honorable mention has to go to the Oldees Night on the Town, by Taco Bell. What a hoot. The best in this category - Oreo, "Cream vs Cookie" fight in the library.

Honorable Mention: Taco Bell - "Night on the Town"

Winner: - Oreo - "Cream vs Cookie fight in the library"

5. Other

There were a stack of movie promo's, and endless CBS promos. The only one I thought was funny enough to deserve a mention was the Big Bang Theory promo. But then I am a huge fan of the show, so my bias is showing. The Sketchers Go Run ad was also fun. Kinda of fun to see the guy tackle the cheetah. I have a suspicion I have seen a version of this many years ago... mmm. I can't end this round up without mentioning Kevin's favorite - the Go Daddy ads. As always, they never seem to be able to reach the heights of their very first showing. But I thought the Sexy meets Smart ad with squelchy kissing noises was kind of good. Their "Big Idea" slot was also cute.

The Cars.com "Without the drama - wolf and wolf cub" deserves a gold star for effort. Another gold star must go to the Tide advert -Joe Montana miracle stain on t shirt which gets cleaned by wife (a Ravens fan) and her trusty Tide.

That's all folks. But not to worry, in no time at all the NFL Season will be starting all over again....

High Flight by John Gillespie Magee

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air...

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark or even eagle flew --

And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

##

This poem was a favorite of my grandfather