Some observations

when i was browsing the internet this morning - reading some news, getting sports updates, etc - i noticed a couple of things:

1) what is the deal with the bias against the seahawks? they have been to the playoffs 5 consecutive seasons, have a 51-29 record over that span (including a super bowl appearance); showing the kind of consistency that lies out of the grasp for most teams in the nfl. despite all of this, they don't have a monday night game this season while 12 teams who didn't make the playoffs last season do, including lame ducks like the 49ers, cardinals, jets (the schedules were made BEFORE they got favre), raiders, and bills. that's simply a joke. they also have to make the long-haul trip to the east coast 4 times for games this season. i'm starting to think that the nfl simply doesn't want the hawks to be successful, which makes me like holmgren and company even more for continually defying them.

2) while i am getting used to germany, something really important is going on in the states - the democratic national convention in denver, co. i try to stay up to date on our national political scene as much as possible. after reading many different articles over the past few days, i can't help but notice how much mccain's side bashes obama/biden's. why do they have to spend so much time saying what their opponents are or are not doing? for example, hillary clinton yesterday endorsed obama at the convention. mccain's people jumped right out after her speach and said all these negative comments about what she neglected to say. is this what it has come down to? instead of telling americans how you will make their lives better, you tell them how bad your opponent is? it just doesn't make any sense to me. it seems to me that they have gotten away from what is really important.

anyways, yesterday i went to the market in bad salzuflen with kirsten, it's very much like a farmer's market in the u.s. i feel like i'm eventually going to sound like a broken record, but everyone was really nice there. the town of bad salzuflen itself is really cool. most of the buildings are very old, and simply walking through the downtowm portion of the city with kirsten is like a history lesson. very fun. later in the day i was able to get a nice long run in yet another beautiful forest. so many more people, it seems to me, get out and exercise here in germany compared to the states. the trails were just infested with people walking and jogging.

anyways, it's time for me to have some breakfast (which is incredibly delicious here, i'll get to that another time).

russ