Cranberry relishit.

Thought I'd try it this year at Thanksgiving. I don't think I've tasted this since I was a kid. Hated it then and I still hate it.

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TGIF! presents....Chuck Kraemer's "Ode to Christmas"!

Or Ode to Black Friday, as this is the Friday after Thanksgiving - the biggest shopping day of the year. A day reserved, quite frankly, for the insane.

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I hate cranberry sauce.

 

Be thankful....for the Wisconsin cranberries you're eating today.

"You might think that Massachussetts is the country’s primary producer of this native bog-growing berry — after all, it was one of the foods available to the Pilgrims — but you’d be wrong. Wisconsin grows more of the tart red berries than any other state in the nation." - from MSN. 

18,000 acres of these babies. I do like cranberry jelly. Brother Jason made some this year. 

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Be thankful. There's always someone or something who has it worse...like this turkey.

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Have you seen this turkey?

The Bubbler Gobbler has been captured! My virgin turkey in my new home in Greendale ("the bubble"). Never used a knife to carve - meat pealed off. Thanks, Erica, for helping make the time pass faster.

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Origami No. 16. "To V.W."

"To V.W."

This person –
Her demeanor entrances me
Anxiously I ponder her being
Not having met
Kept from me
She radiates beauty
Gushes with passion
In her I see myself –
Vibrant, vivacious, vexing
Inherent in complexities
Numb to anything but “the now”
Gregariously grateful. Me.
Copyright © 2008 by Jeffrey James Ircink

Origami is sort of my catchword for a featured blog entry that highlights my original writings - could be an excerpt from one of my plays, a poem, a song, a rant, a rave, a cursing, etc. Origami is the art of folding paper (the word is of Japanese origin). So, within the folds of this particular blog feature you may find something really beautiful, meaningful or poignant.

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Favre & Co. Carve Up Their Own Brand of Turkey (I mean Lion) / 10-1

I am stuffed. Had a wonderful long weekend in Santa Barbara with family and to top it off, the Green Bay Packers stuffed the Detroit Lions at Detroit on Turkey Day. It was especially nice watching the game with my Uncle Bob and Cousin Mike - visiting from Wisconsin. I don't get to see many games with family.

Brett set a Green Bay Packer record of 20 consecutive completed passes (he set his own personal best when he hit 15); he had his 7th 300+ yards passing game, which ties his own team record; it was Brett's 63rd game with 3+ TDs, which broke Dan Marino's record of games with 3 or more TDs, and he had his 8th game this season of a 100+ passer rating - a personal best.

Game highlights - go to Nov. 22 - NFL Scoreboard game highlights - http://www.packers.com/multimedia/video/recent/

More to follow - I think the triptophan is kicking in.

Brett and Ruvell Martin sharing a moment after Martin's TD catch.

This Thursday on the NFL Network = Green Bay 10-1 @ Dallas Cowboys 10-1. This could be a big game as it may have implications for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Brett's never won at Dallas (and Dallas has never won at GB). Dallas MAY have an edge in some categories but DO NOT underestimate the Packers - not this year.

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Green Bay Packers = More Than Just Football

As Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I thought I'd enlighten you as to some of the things the Green Bay Packers organization does that don't necessarily revolve around the game of football, per se - since it's Thanksgiving.

1) The Brett Favre Forward Foundation's http://www.brettfavre.com/foundation_about.php
mission is to provide aid to disadvantaged or disabled children in Wisconsin and Mississippi. It was founded in 1995 and hosts three annual events to raise funds for the Foundation. These events are: The Brett Favre Celebrity Golf Tournament, The Brett Favre Celebrity Softball Tournament, and The Brett Favre Steak Dinner. The Foundation works with agencies such as Special Olympics, Make A Wish Foundation, Boys and Girls Club and Gaits to Success, to name a few. Brett and his wife, Deanna, love children and are thankful that they are able to make a difference in the lives of children that are less fortunate than their own two healthy girls.

Brett celebrating a TD "Favre-style" as GB defeats the Carolina Panthers - November 2007.

The Brett Favre Forward Foundation prefers to support organizations with a national constituency that provide programs in Wisconsin and Mississippi. In order to fund worthwhile projects, charitable giving interests are focused on the following areas: programs that help remove barriers to attain self-sufficiency for disadvantaged children and youth programs for disadvantaged and disabled children.

2) Chunky Soup has been helping to feed the hungry for years...you undoubtedly have seen their commercials featuring various NFL players. Check out their Click for Cans promotion at http://www.chunky.com/ClickForCansVote.aspx You vote for your favorite NFL team - that's a "click" - and those clicks translate into cans of food for hungry people. Last year (not sure if that was the first year they did it) the Packers had the most votes. This year - again - the Packers are beating the 2nd place Colts by something like 1,000,000 votes...with almost 2,000,000 votes! I think that's pretty phenomenal - 2 million fricken votes! Where the hell are all these so-called "fans" supporting their teams, for Christ's sake?? The big New England Patriots = 31,000 lousy votes. At the bottom, loser Peyton Manning's brother, loser Eli Manning's New York Giants = 10,000. I think that says a lot about our fan base. We're not just cheering for the Packers on Sundays but we're cheering for our team in other ways that benefit those less fortunate than us. THIS from the smallest market team in the NFL. This from the ONLY team owned by the PEOPLE (no individual or corporate ownership). THIS from a team who packs Lambeau Field for intersquad games and lines the street to welcome their team home after losing a Super Bowl - they way they greeted them when they won it. THIS from a team that has been sold out since 1960 and has a 35-year waiting list for season tickets.

3.) Lambeau Field rated #1 - In a recent Sports Illustrated poll on SI.com rating the game day atmosphere for each NFL team, the experience of seeing the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field ranked first. Fans were asked to grade every aspect of the game day experience, including ticket prices, team performance, tailgating, stadium atmosphere and the surrounding neighborhoods. The poll gathered over 17,000 responses from around the country, with the league's longest-tenured stadium taking top honors. Described by fans as a "religious experience", Lambeau Field remains a living shrine to what football is all about. "For all the glitz and money the NFL exudes nowadays," the article said, "football's heart is still on that 'frozen tundra,' where tough guys grapple with each other while fans warm themselves on cold bleachers with hot chocolate and full-throated cheering. And that is still the essence of Lambeau."

Read the article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/nfl/11/01/fvi.intro/index.html?eref=T1

4. A couple weeks ago, the CBS Sunday Morning Show did a feature on a local Green Bay fan who's been leading a caravan of Packer fans down to Kiln, Mississippi (Brett's hometown) to help out victims of Hurricane Katrina - rebuilding homes from top to bottom. Excellent story - the guy they had been helping quite often got emotional, saying, "No one has ever helped me out like these people". Brought a tear to my eye.

5. Also, the Green Bay Packers Foundation consists of the following: the Packers Scholarship Program, and on behalf of National Football League Charities - Community Quarterback, Junior Community Quarterback, NFL's Coach of the Week program, Junior Volunteer Stars grant, NFL Join the Team initiative, and the Hometown Huddle program.

By the way, Favre is leading ALL football players in Pro Bowl selection votes. Thought you'd find it interesting that a "dead man walking" could actually be considered for selection in the Pro Bowl. If the status quo remains, he SHOULD be the league MVP - for his fourth, the most of any player ever. But Tom Brady's having a record pace year. So is Randy Moss. We'll see.

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