So, I decided to give up bread and bread products for Lent. 

What falls into this category? I've been thinking about it and decided that this category includes:

Bread of all kinds, obviously
Bagels
Doughnuts
Tortillas
Pitas
Pizza
Biscuits

as well as...

Cakes
Muffins
Scones
Cookies
Brownies

So I guess I should also add cake and cake products!

EEKS.  I think I can do it.  I am glad to hear that technically, Lent does not include Sundays - which means I could eat the Redeemer mini-muffins or cookies. But I am going to try not to eat them then, either. 

Here's a hint:

After a HARROWING experience getting through the crowds to the barricades flashing my City ID, getting LIFTED by an NYPD police officer onto the other side of the barricades and then losing my City-issued Nextel (argh), my coworkers and I finally made it to the roof of one our buildings.  As the parade was downtown, I didn't have to call in "sick" to see the parade!  My boss actually told us where to go to watch it.

The madness:

We love you ELI!  Strahan, you're a MONSTER!

By the way, isn't the ZOOM on my camera impressive? 

Being a fair weather fan (never watched a Giants game until the NFC championship game against Green Bay and the Superbowl), I didn't know who any of the players were, except Manning.

Like... who's this guy?

Eli is so cute in person!

And to prove I really WAS there:

And oh yeah, there was something else going on today, too - huh?

Last year, I watched the Super Bowl at the US Embassy in Tashkent!

http://www.xanga.com/private/yourhome.aspx?user=lakim40&nextdate=2%2f4%2f2007+23%3a59%3a59.999

This year, I watched the Super Bowl in my NY apartment, with my youngest sister.  It's actually really good that we weren't in a public place.  We were going CRAAAAAZY, especially during the last 30 seconds of the game.  Oh.my.stress.

Even though Tom Brady went to Michigan, I rooted for the Giants because they came SO FAR and worked REALLY HARD to get to this point. Of course, the Pats did, too, but they were *kind of * dominating the entire season.  I always root for the underdog, and sometimes, I get rewarded for that!

We had an office pool where we could potentially win up to $1,000.  I won't explain how it worked here, except to say that it's totally random AND I would've won only if the Patriots score ended in 8 (?!?!?!) and the Giants score ended in 5 (!@#$).  After the game ended, I chirped (via Nextel) my boss and told him "JOE, are you ready for tomorrow?" (many of our staff are involved in preparing for the ticker tape parade on Tuesday)... and his response?  "DID I WIN THE MONEY?"

What a fabulous game.  I'll remember looking forward to the defensive line breaking through to tackle Tom Brady (who is so cute, by the way!); the agony of watching the Pats march down the field methodically for a touchdown; the amazing Eli escape + throw + Tyree catch; and of course, the beautiful TD.  I would venture to say that even if the Giants lost, I would've been really proud of them!

But they didn't - sooo - GOOO GIANTS!  (If I get to go to the ticker tape parade tomorrow, I'll post pics later!)

... that way, I wouldn't want to eat them.

http://www.asaltandbattery.com/

SO good.

And I loved the guy taking our order. I couldn't understand a word he said.