Le Superbowl en francais!

Hello, all

When we were back in the states I realized I wouldn't be around for an annual tradition: going to Buffalo Wild Wings with my dad and high-school buddy P to enjoy the Superbowl - well, really, to enjoy the commercials. So instead before I left we went to see the Giants/Packers game, which unfortunately resulted in a Giants victory. Hey, R (from Wisconsin), what did your wife L (from NY) say to you when you got back from the game? :)

Still, old habits die hard, so because we have a TV in our new place, I decided to try to stay up late to watch at least part of the Superbowl. Turns out French TV did carry it, on local channel 2. Game time was 20-whatever minutes past midnight.

Mahn, what a boring game. Apparently it scored as the most watched Superbowl ever - why I don't know. After the first two drives yielded the 7-3 score, both defenses clamped down - so much that neither team could even get into field goal range! After the Giants finally scored at the beginning of the fourth quarter (~3:00 a.m. for me), I turned off the TV and went to bed. And apparently that's when the fireworks began.

But that's not all of what made the game boring for me. Of course, being French TV, none of the American commercials were carried at all. In fact, very few commercials of any kind were carried! Really only three, the same three: Head and Shoulders, some kind of shaving cream, and Renault. That's it! The Renault commercial bears some description: it showed a tour bus going through what looked to be Beverly Hills; the tour is of course given in French. All along the way you see the world's most expensive, kewl-looking cars parked in the driveways - Porsches, Lamborghini's, what-have-you. And then after the bus goes by some guy says in English on his cell phone (with French subtitles): "Okay, there' gone," and everybody suddenly pulls these cars in the garage and out come the cars they really drive; you guessed it, they all drive Renault's. Just a fantasy that the French have, I guess!

So what did they fill the rest of the time with, you ask? Curious, aren't you! Well, like American TV they had a round table of guys, about 6-7, all waving microphones in front of their faces and babbling in French - about the football game, I presume. And behind them they had both real and computer-generated-flapping American flags on TV screens, and football helmets sitting on the tables. Most of these guys were pretty beefed up - I could only guess that they were perhaps rugby players or something - but the moderator was this slight-guy with the coiffured hair and smarmiest expressions (looked like he belonged on the comedy channel), babbling in his French way. Looked like a cross between Tom Hanks and Tim Robbins. You get the picture.

They even talked over the half-time show! For half-an-hour! The only part of the show they actually displayed was the last and first parts of two adjacent Tom Petty songs - and then they went back to talking in French.

Mahn, what a boring game.

So I tried other channels. Only have five or so. Not much on, late night on French TV. One old black-and-white movie in French, some ballet (of course), music videos, and a 24-hour ski channel. That's it!

But get this: thanks to the invaluable assistance of a friend from church, who spent four hours with us just to talk to different internet companies over the phone and help us get our order in, we are now eagerly awaiting the arrival of our ADSL internet modem - which we've been told will be available for pick-up at a fashion store in Ferney-Voltaire in at least ten days, possibly as long as three weeks! Apparently this avoids certain charges for delivery direct to our address - even though that's how we will receive our wireless card...

This friend tells us that it is possible for us to receive American cable in France using something called a "slingbox". If we know someone back in the states with cable and high-speed internet (Ma? :), that person can install the slingbox and pointcast the cable over the internet to our computer address. Badabing, no language barrier. And we can watch the Twins and Vikings anytime we decide to stay up at 4:00 a.m....

But even though we miss many things about Minnesota, when we hear what the weather is doing over there we're more than glad to be away from it! Here it has not ceased to be sunny and 40's, up to 50. More often than not you can see the Alps just fine.

In other news...

Meanwhile, some apparent water damage to our apartment is getting worse. Right before we moved in we found out the previous tenants were filling out insurance forms for water damage that was discovered in the bathroom ceiling. Now the dining room ceiling (on the other side of the wall) is also peeling off in one big sheet, and the wall is bubbling - see the photo. K thinks she sees and smells mold underneath it all. The landlord and the caretaker ("concierge") have been notified - who knows how long it will take for something to get done, and how severe the action will have to be!


...And the flu/cold I was getting over has relapsed somewhat. Makes biking to work problematic, so K has been dropping me off in the morning and picking me up at lunch time to trade use of the car.

For Ben, he's getting high marks from his therapists - after having been absent for two months, they say that his progress is so good they don't really need to press for more appointments just now. They want us to focus on getting him to use both hands to hold and play with things in front of him, such as drinking from a cup.

Take care,
-PKBD