FREE BEER!!!

I've got a fridge full of beer. And salami. And holy crap, the cream cheese. Come raid my fridge!

The Super Bowl is over. And it was pretty super, in my less-than-humble opinion. Green Bay came out strong in the first half, making it look like there was a possibility of a blow-out. But Pittsburgh pulled it together and made it a game. And lost in the end, which is what I was hoping for. (I give my condolences to my Steelers Nation brothers, especially my brother Dennis, who runs a Steelers bar, and was certainly serving up Roethlis-burgers to a lot of sad faces last night. But hey, you people had a good season, and you've had two trophies this decade, so my sympathies only extend so far.)

Our gathering ended up dividing into two camps: Green Bay fans in the living room (or "The Future") and Steelers fans in Alex's office (or "The Past"). It was a bit of a time-warp in our apartment yesterday, as it seems the Comcast cable service which Alex's tv is hooked up to is on a 10-second delay. The tv in the living room is hooked up to good olde-fashioned rabbit ears, and while it glitched out from time to time, it still provided a pretty clear picture, 10 seconds ahead of the digital cable. Alex worked very hard to try to eliminate this time delay, purchasing a DVR online to hook up to and pause The Future tv, so we'd all be living in the same time zone. Alas, the DVR requires a phone line, which we don't have. So, Alex then purchased a Magic Jack to hook up to our laptop to hook up to the DVR to hook up to The Future tv. But the Magic Jack proved less than magical. Customer Service could do nothing to help. So, the Steelers fans in The Past were hearing the cheers or the groans from the Green Bay fans in The Future, trying to decipher the degree of the cheering (was that a first down? a touchdown?)or groaning (was that a sack? a fumble?) while the Green Bay fans were treated to a 10-second delayed reaction to whatever play caused the cheering or groaning. It actually added an extra element of fun. The two camps were cordial with one another, not antagonistic or spiteful, but as a Green Bay fan, any good play made by my chosen team was made extra-good by hearing the defeat from the back room. All in all, a good time.

And I must say, I loved the Half-time Show. I mean it! I know there are a lot of people out there saying it was awful, but I enjoyed it so much, I watched it twice. Seriously. I'm pretty sure that if I had been at that stadium, I would have been moved to tears. Not that it takes much to move me to tears. But that show was like the biggest Broadway spectacle ever! The silly costumes, the light displays, the cheesy references to nostalgic moments from our youth (Slash? for real? and that song from "Dirty Dancing"? Oh no, they didn't!), I found it Super Terrific! I think that such a show can only translate so well on tv, and I know that this event is reaching millions more on tv than the 100,000 fans at the stadium. But it translated just fine for me and the people watching from The Past. (The Future was less enthusiastic. In fact, phrases such as "worst halftime show ever" and "you've got to be kidding me" were making their way into The Past. I guess in The Future they prefer halftime performances by old-man-bands performing their time-tested hits of yesteryear, the acts of choice since the horror of Nipplegate. Which is fine, I mean, Springsteen totally rocked 2 years ago, especially when he did that stage-slide that had his crotch slamming into the camera. But The Who? last year...oh no.) And clearly, the people in the stadium loved it. The people performing (including the thousands of dancers decked out in Saran Wrap and Christmas lights) were having a mighty good time. And I love to see performers enjoying themselves. So, I give it a thumbs up. Then again, I wanted to buy almost every product advertised yesterday, I was entirely susceptible to their not-so-tricky schemes which made cars seem super-cool and Doritos seem...well, actually, that Doritos ad, where the guy is licking Dorito-cheez off of another guy's fingers, it was kinda gross. I need no Doritos today, thank you very much. Regardless, I was rather exhausted yesterday from stuffing all that cream cheese into all those mushrooms, so I was giddy by the time the Black Eyed Peas descended onto the stage. Perhaps if I was less tired, my sense of cynicism would have been more intact and I would have found myself offended by the whole spectacle. I am glad for the exhaustion.

And now, now I've got a fridge full of beer. Seems everyone who came over brought beer, and no one drank very much of it, and now it's all hanging out in my fridge. And on my balcony. (No more room in the fridge.) It's hanging out right next to the salami and pepperoni that are left over. I stopped eating salami around the same time I stopped drinking beer. My fridge, which would look like the best Christmas morning for some people, is looking like a gag gift to me. There's so much goodness in there, and I can use none of it. Well, I guess I do eat cream cheese, but I don't need 2 pounds of it. So, who wants to come raid my fridge?

Seriously, if you are in the Seattle area and want some free beer, come to my place! You can take it all. I've got Stella, Alaska, Fat Tire, PBR. Host a party, or just make your roommates happy. I'll throw in a pound of salami (unless you're a vegetarian, in which case, I've got a big ol' tub of hummus with your name on it!) No one left my home hungry yesterday, and no one left empty-handed (I forced food on people to the extent where they may fear a return visit). Still, I've got more food here than Alex and I can possibly eat, even with the sickest case of the munchies. And we're heading to Florida on Wednesday, so it's really of no use to us. Please, I beg you, come raid my fridge. I'm far too Irish to consider throwing out all that beer, and we're moving to a new apartment next week. That beer ain't moving with us.