If size matters then I am king

Monday night

Hey kids, what's news? Not much here, just doing some late nite internet crap while I wait for the Monday night football game to end. And there is lots to do. Between watching my fantasy fooball team, doing surveys, catching up on posts from friends, and entering Coke caps, I have plenty here to keep me occupied.

As I type my football team is up 15 points. I would take comfort in that if my opponent didn't have Randy Moss. Thankfully he has been pretty quiet so far, 67 yards receiving (4 points), whereas I have John Carney, the kicker for New Orleans, and he has a field goal and 5 extra points (8 points total) but I can't see my kicker outscoring Moss for an entire game. Thankfully I started the night with an 11 point lead, so I have a little bit of a cushion to work with. As it stands my chances for making the playoffs are okay, I am 6-5 with three games left (including today's) and the top 6 teams make the post season. Out of a twelve team league, two spots have been clinched and two teams have been eliminated, meaning it is 8 teams vying for 4 spots, of which I am second place of those 4 teams (4th place overall) so the easiest way to make the playoffs would seem to be just to win games and not rely on the outcomes of other games looking for help. As I type that Carney just missed a field goal that would have extended my lead, but thankfully there is only 5 minutes and change left in tonight's contest.

As you may have noticed, I did put some of my notifications for Swag Bucks on my blog. Technically I could do this any time I win one, but usually I just go with the automatic update to my Facebook page. I continue to tinker with the service, I am up to $95 in Swagbucks, I just bought my second $5 Amazon gift card yesterday and thankfully we can stack those in our account, to my knowledge there is no limit to the number of Amazon gift cards one can redeem per order, so I just add the volume to my account there and when something strikes my fancy I will use that money instead of cash. If I am lucky, really, really lucky, maybe I will get to add a gift card from Scratchix as well. One of the prizes in Scratchix is a $30 Amazon gift card, provided one collects 10 tokens. I finally won my first one for the gift card the other day. I have done well in the last month, picking up four tokens, but three of them were for prizes that were only available for the month of November, two for the DVD of the month and one for the Game of the month. You have to collect 10 of each of those to win those particular prizes, unlike the other prizes that can be collected over time, each month those prizes change and the tokens for them reset bac to zero.

And its a final, New Orleans beats New England 38-17 so Randy Moss didn't beat me. A 78-63 win puts me at 7-5 with two games left in our regular season. The win also moves me into third place, first amongst the teams vying for the last 4 playoff spots. One more team got eliminated so we are down to 7 teams in competition for the last 4 spots. Doing some very quick math and I am thinking one win in my final two games and I will qualify, now I just hope I can pull it off.

Lots of other things to update on however. Anyone who pays remote attention to the updated threads will know that I have been adding to the Neverending Thread semi regularly. I have been taking a book most everywhere I go these days which has allowed me to add some titles to the list of reading material. That will probably slow down a bit, not because I have stopped reading but because I am in the early stages of reading Walter Issacson's biography of Albert Einstein, which is a tome of a book. So far it has been relatively easy reading, which was a concern given the amount of science that could be involved in such a work, but it still just long with a capital L.

I have added to the change meter again as well. Another $2.24 have been found by yours truly, making the total now a respectable $137.01. I almost don't feel like a fool for starting that quest now, though I would still like to pull $100 in a year to be justified in doing it. Right now I think I am just a couple of dollars off of that happening.

I even managed more Coke Reward goodness. Turns out we had three cases of 20 oz. bottles at work that went out of date. Our Coke distributor gives us credit for those purchases, and unlike Pepsi who requires that you return all unused product, Coke simply is content to have the rep verify it and then we can throw it away. So after getting the store credit for those cases I got to pour them down the drain and keep the caps on them for my on personal Coke reward usage. Not sure how many points I will end up with, there were a few loose bottles involved as well, but at 72 points a case that is 216 points that will get added to my account right there, not including any other points I find through the course of my daily activities. The problem is that Coke only allows you to enter 120 points on any given week, they seem to go back and forth on that, sometimes they impose a limit, other times they do not, right now they have a limit. I managed to max out my points last week and will probably do so again this week, if I can keep from being so lazy as to not enter the codes. I am currently halfway done, 60 in this week, so I am on my way.

I even managed to snag 6 Pogo badges this week, something I haven't done in a long time. I completed the two weekly challenges, as well as the special challenge, my personal (though it was a repeat of a badge I had already done) and picked up the level 10 badge in Boggle and another badge for completing 30 word search puzzles. I tend to make the word search harder than it has to be by putting it on insane level and then hiding the word list to start. Finding words without a list grants double tokens for each word, then once I have found all I can find that way I unhide the list and pick up the rest of them. Depending on the theme of the puzzle I can usually get about half of them without the list.

I continue to tinker with the Mysurvey site as well. As you may remember I cashed out of there in October for a coffee pot worth $35.50. Since that time I have started building up my kitty again, my account balance is back to $3.35. Not that I can get anything for that amount of money, but it is the beginning of hopefully another cool prize or maybe I will just take the cash this time around. I really haven't decided yet.

Tuesday night

I would like to say that I plan on finishing this blog entry up tonight, but I know for a fact that will not happen. Just too sleepy because I took an afternoon nap yesterday then when I woke up last night, around 10pm, I couldn't get back to sleep till after 4am, and when the alarm rings at 5am that makes for a very tired me.

I did do some more online goodness tonight, managed to get some more of my Coke reward points in, I think I have about twenty points left that I can enter this week before hitting the cut off point for one 7 day period. As an added bonus, the caps I had from the caffiene free Diet Coke were also good for a free entry in a $10,000 drawing. Technically I could buy entries for 3 points a piece, but since I do not expect to win I just took the free entries rather than spend hard earned reward points.

I alos went about trying to add even more Scratchix friends on Facebook. Seeing my Game and DVD of the month tokens disappear again was enough for me to think about increasing my chances of winning. Currently I have 99 friends that use that application. Well friends is a little bit of an overstatement, more like 99 people with which I have a common interest. And it paid off again today, I did win another token, my first for the Belgian Chocolate prize, where you need 25 to claim it. That is a prize that I might just opt out for the cash value instead, I still have chocolate Easter bunnies in my apartment, the last thing I need is more chocolate. Of course I am a long way from cashing out on anything, so maybe I shouldn't put the cart before the horse just yet.

I did get my new Amazon gift card today from Swagbucks. The thing I like is that they are free money, just 45 swagbucks to claim one and they are stackable, that is, you can continue to add to your gift card total, you are not limited to one gift card per order. The bad thing is, even if you win one, they only issue them twice a month, on the 16th and the last day, so while you may have the bucks to claim one, you don't necessarily get the gift card code right away. I lucked out in that I cashed out at the end of a month and everything was pushed back a day due to Thanksgiving, so I got my code in pretty short order, but I can see where if I had cashed out today instead I might get a little antsy waiting around until the 16th to get my new gift card.

　

Saturday afternoon

Yes I took some time off putting this thing together, hopefully I will finish sometime today. Right now I am typing while watching the Pitt/Cincinnati game with a BCS berth at stake for the winner. The winner of the game gets the BCS bid by finishing the year as Big East Champion. If Cincinnati wins they finish the year undefeated and have a long shot chance at playing for the national title (they would need Texas to lose to Nebraska and the pollsters to move them ahead of TCU and the loser of the Florida/Alabam game). Pitt has no such national title aspirations but a win here still gets them into a New Year's Day BCS bowl (or whatever day they play those games now) but a loss could drop them all the way from a BCS game to something as inconsequential as the International Bowl in Toronto.

While the game is on, rather than turn this into a glog, which I have little to no desire to do, I might as well pick up where I left off on the blog. Now where exactly was that anyway?

I guess I was babbling about Swagbucks, well I am up to 24 in my account again, halfway to my next Amazon card. Pretty soon I might be able to get some free junk from them. That would be cool.

Pitt just scored on their opening possession, a drive that consisted of all running plays and it is an early 7-0 Pittsburgh lead.

I also knocked down a couple more surveys on mysurvey.com. I racked up another $3.10 so I am better than halfway to receiving a $10 check, if that is the prize I opt for. I haven't really decided yet, but there aren't many prizes that I am all that interested in, leaving cash as the best option. There is a movie night out package where you get two free movie tickets and a $50 dinner gift certificate, but as I was looking at the participating restaurants and the stipulations on the gift card are not reasonable enough. Some want you to have a dinner party of 4 or more, others want you to spend $100 or more, obligations that I have no desire to meet in order to get a $50 credit. More hassle than the free movie is worth. And really, how many movies are even worth the free price of admission these days? All of the trailers I have seen I wouldn't even want to see on DVD at a later date, let alone making a trip to the theater for it.

It looks like I will be getting more free stuff at work. Pepsi is running a contest for its vendors where if they buy 10 or more cases of Muscle Milk over the course of three months they qualify for free prizes. There are also prizes for those that buy 20 or 30 cases of Muscle Milk, but it isn't big enough of a seller for us to think we will get to those levels. We did pass the ten case threshhold, so there is something coming our way.

Cincinnati just scored and we have a tie game in the first quarter, 7-7.

As I was a mere sentence ago, I brought it to Brian's attention that we had a prize coming to us, he said that I could pick it out and keep it. I am leaning toward the director's chair, but haven't completely decided yet. It will be a ton of paperwork to fill out, I have the entry form plus I have to make copies of each entire invoice in which we received Muscle Milk, which will be a time consuming process to be sure. But it is free stuff and who am I to pass up free stuff?

Work has been okay recently. Brian actually appreciates that I have taken up the cigarette ordering with Ed gone, one less thing for him to worry about.

Scoring update, a Pittsburgh touchdown and we are at 14-7 in the second quarter.

That being said, things haven't been all wine and roses at work. Curtis has been pretty much an idiot recently. We have a closet on the sales floor, it houses two furnace units. We keep nothing in there because those units need to be accessible for fire code reasons. When I first started my stocking gig I brought it to Ed's attention that people had been storing junk in there, and he made it clear at that time that he wanted the area cleaned out and nothing was to be put in there. Well I find out this week that Curtis is again throwing stuff in there, trying to save a trip to the stockroom by leaving stuff upstairs. I brought this to Brian's attention and he had me clean out the room again and post a note on the door to not put anything in there again. So what happens the very next shift? Curtis is working and puts stuff in there again. It is stupid shit like that that makes me want to see him fired or at least slap the taste out of his mouth. After all, if we are paid to go to the stockroom and bring stuff to the sales floor and coolers and that process is too demanding for you, then might I suggest you picked the wrong fucking line of work.

Another score, a field goal by Cincinnati and it is Pitt with a 14-10 lead now.

Almost as quickly as I typed the last score Pitt runs a flea flicker and Baldwin makes his second touchdown catch and the score is now Pitt 21-10. Still just the second quarter though and neither defense has been all that impressive.

I should note that today is the first snowfall in Pittsburgh for the year. Yes I am making hot chocolate to celebrate.

An interception by Pitt sets up a field goal and the lead increases to 24-10.

Another problem at work is we are once again having a pissing contest with our Coke vendor. Basically it comes down to pricing, we are quoted certain prices for Coke products then the prices change with little to no notice. This of course upsets Brian, so much so that he cancels all Coke deliveries until the situation is resolved. That isn't bad for me in the short term, one less truck to catch on Friday, but long term it blows because I know eventually all will be resolved and forgiven and the longer this little melodrama plays out the more crap I will have to do once it is completed. Instead of catching a weekly order, I will be catching a month or more of orders all at once to make up for it.

Pitt blocks a punt and three plays later we have another touchdown, Pitt 31-10 now and it is still in the second quarter.

Since I woke up early this morning I went about checking some sports news. I always go to check on my fantasy teams and maybe to get some scores I missed on late games. As I was checking out the ESPN site I saw that they had the draw for the World Cup and the talking heads on there seem to think the United States got a favorable draw, with England, Algeria and Slovenia in their pool.

Cincinnati just returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown and the score is now 31-17 and we still haven't reached halftime yet.

As I was saying, while the talking heads were saying England would present the biggest challenge in the bracket, the US should be able to win against the other two pool entries and move on to the second round of the World Cup. I really hope not. I don't need another round of bullshit stories about how this will finally be what makes soccer popular here, it will never be popular here and to type otherwise is to live in a fantasy world of one's own creating. It will be a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. Far better for the US to go 0-3 in their pool and soccer to climb back under a rock for another 4 years. Soccer may be popular elsewhere, but it just isn't here.

Halftime and Pitt leads 31-17.

Speaking of sports, can we now take golf off of the list of hobbies that are called a sport? Let's review, Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world. Hundreds of golfers can't beat him yet one woman kicks his ass? Check please, that isn't a sport.

I realize that right now I might have put together the most convoluted blog entry of my many years of blogging. I should get a trophy for this or something.

Second half of the game started, I am playing boggle. I have come to like the game a little bit on Pogo and since I have all of my badges done for the week I have nothing to do over there but play games I like.

Well we have our first score of the second half and it belongs to Cincinnati and the score is now 31-24 Pitt.

If I seem a little distracted I am watching the game a lot more than I am typing.

Pittsburgh finally scores in the second half and once again it is a two touchdown lead, 38-24.

And following another big kickoff return Cincinnati gets another touchdown but misses the extra point so it is 38-30.

Tie game at 38 as Cincinnati scores again and converts on the two point conversion. Pitt has been outscored 21-7 so far in the second half.

1:36 left in the game and we have another touchdown by Pitt, but they fail on the extra point so the lead is just 6, 44-38.

1 minute and three seconds later and Cincinnati scores and they take the lead 45-44.

And that is that, Cincinnati wins 45-44 and will go to a BCS game and Pitt will get sent to Northeast Siberia for their bowl game.

Okay I took a little break, after a game and a disappointment like that one needs a few moments to catch their breath. And trust me it was a disappointment. How the hell do you blow a 21 point lead? And who came up with that last play call for Pitt? A play action pass? Who the hell do they think they were fooling? It was 4th down and 50 yards just to get into field goal range, nobody but nobody was playing run there, the fake just ate up time, aiding in getting the quarterback sacked. The scenario does present itself where Pitt goes from playing on New Years Day now to, if they lose whatever bowl game they end up in, a 9-4 record with three straight losses that may leave the season as being viewed as a failure. Had they not lost to West Virginia the previous week, Pitt would have probably still went to the Gator Bowl with today's loss, not a BCS bowl, but one of the better non BCS bowls. Now who knows?

I also used the time to once again hop over to mysurvey.com. Not to do another survey (I did check, they didn't have any) but to see if I could link this page to theirs. There will be a 7 to 10 day review process of my page (so by all means lob your insults now), and if my page is found worthy they will send me the linkage material so that I can slide an ad right underneath my swagbucks ad.

I am sitting here listening to The Spy right now, something I have been doing on almost a daily basis since they came back on the air. How I missed listening to good music with the radio offerings here in Pittsburgh. It is so bad that I went out and puchased a radio/cd player for the basement at work just so I could bring my own stuff in to listen to.

I actually picked the radio/cd player up last Sunday on my trip that eventually saw me collect all of those Coke caps. I was in the mood to try a new breakfast place and couldn't think of where, then I remembered from my old days at 1360 that the first bus that went out past the station left downtown at 7:10am and ran out to a Walmart in that area. As an added bonus it also went by both a Denny's and a King's. Obviously for most readers I need not get into the breakfast goodies that can be found at Denny's, but if I went there I would have a brisk walk to get back to WalMart and my bus stop, whereas King's was right in the same shopping center. For those unfamilair King's is just your standard fare restaurant, nothing overly fancy. The thing they are best known for, or at least were known for, was their desserts (I say was because I didn't see the old offerings on the menu, but then I was looking for breakfast food, not dessert). They used to have a thing called The Castle, which was basically a bucket of ice cream with a bunch of toppings. I remember my friend Rich and I took our girlfriends there one time and we all ordered dinner, when they couldn't finish theirs we did that for them and then ate Castles on top of it. I don't think my stomach ever felt quite so bad (nor so full) in my life. But we did get the pins that said "I ate The Castle at King's" which we wore proudly out of the restaurant. Anyway I got a decent breakfast there, better than some places, worse than others, but I could tell that many of the people there were regulars and it was interesting to just kind of sit there and observe between bites of food and reading my book.

The trip to WalMart was worth it too. I needed a few things, some groceries, the radio, a USB flash drive and what not and I figured if I got out there early enough I could be back home at a decent time and not have to deal with a bunch of shoppers. It worked out to, I was at King's by 7:30 and out of breakfast and WalMart and headed back into town by 9:30. Had I not stopped by work I could have proudly said I had gotten a huge amount of stuff done by 10am, but the detour at work, unpacking and setting up the radio, dealing with returns to Coke and working on a couple of small projects that I had on my plate and I didn't make it back till after 11am.

Just snagged another Swagbuck, this one off of a code and my account is at 25. And as I type this Alabama just helped out Cincinnati in its national; title aspirations, beating Florida 32-13. When I did the pregame description of the Pitt/Cincinnati game I mentioned that Cicinnati has slim national title hopes. First they had to win, which they did and then they had to possibly vault three teams:TCU, Texas and the loser of the Alabama/Florida game. Florida, as the loser of the Florida/Alabama game will not be in contention. the argument for the loser of that game would be if the game was so close or competitive that it might merit a rematch for the national title, but a 32-13 loss will not stoke the fires of anyone to ask to see that again. Now Cincinnati would need Texas to lose to Nebraska tonight and for the pollsters to move them ahead of an undefeated TCU squad, which they may do since Pitt was ranked (13th) and the game was a road game for Cincinnati, it may bolster Cincinnati's strength of schedule enough to pass TCU.

I am watching the players being interviewed after the game and the running back for Alabama is being asked about the game and he is going on about how first he has to thank god spiel. Really, did God have money on the game? Does he hate Florida? If God is picking football favorites then I want the phone number to his bookie. Once I find out where he is putting his money then I will do the same. A few bets riding God's coattails and I could be set for life.

I just saw a commercial for the PGA Tour where a bunch of golfers come on, one at a time, spouting the premise "I believe..." and then some rather noble cause like educational funding or disaster relief. I would have died if one of them had said "I believe Tiger can't keep his dick in his pants." That, my friends, would have been priceless.

Sunday morning

So much for finishing this on Saturday, but I got caught up in the late football game and then just decided to be all sleepy and stuff. Sleep has been problematic recently. Obviously in my first entry I was up most of the night typing, but even when I go to be at a semi reasonable time anymore I sleep for about two hours and then wake back up and find myself puttering around the apartment until I can get back to sleep at whatever god forsaken time my eyes want to close again. Usually it will involve a bad dream of some sort, not the kind that is all gory and stuff, just what I would call angry and I have no desire to fall directly back to sleep and start up that thought process again so I end up reading or making a sandwich or checking my email, anything to eat up a little bit of time and clear my troubled mind.

I did say that I stayed up for the late football game, that was the Texas/Nebraska game. I mentioned the bowl implications in yesterday's entry so I will not revisit them here, but lets just say that as good a game as the Pitt/Cincinnati game was from an entertainment standpoint, Texas/Nebraska was ugly. The final was Texas 13 Nebraska 12 on a last second field goal that crushed the BCS hopes of Nebraska and the national title aspirations of both Cincinnati and TCU.

Now it is on to fantasy football this afternoon as well as a Steeler game. My fantasy hockey team has little going on today, just one guy has the chance of playing so I will pay little to no attention to it for the day.

My landlord emailed me this weekend about renewing my lease. The thing is my lease runs until the end of August, but because I live on campus many students end up moving out in April, they either sublet their apartment for the remaining months or just eat the money and end up paying rent on a place that they don't live in. But still that means that in order to guarantee occupancy for the following school year he is already seeing who is staying and who is going so he can determine how many apartments he has to rent. I like proactivity like that, so I asked to stay, it has been years for me in this place and I have grown comfortable in my place, enough so that I have no desire to pack up and leave and go through that hassle if I can help it. I doubt there will be a problem with me staying but I just want to make sure so I fired off an email back that said I was going to be here. Most of the places around me will end up turning over, students graduate or find different living arrangements, so having at least one person stick around is probably a slight bit of comfort for him.

Tomorrow starts my Christmas shopping. It will be the earliest I have started shopping in ages, but it needs to be done. My family does its normal getogether on Christmas Eve, which is cool, it gives me a chance to hang out with members of the family I don't see nearly enough and then Christmas Day my mom, her husband and I do the the normal Christmas stuff amongst ourselves and try to sneak in some visiting to see what the kids all got. It is one of my favorite times of the year but because my job is open all year round I will end up missing Christmas Eve this year. It is a Thursday and since I work weekdays from 7am-3pm that all but leaves me out of the festivities. I could in theory run home, but I workl Christmas Day as well, again 7am-3pm, so for me to go home for Christmas Eve, come back for work the next day and then head home again Christmas Day after work would be the equivalent of about 150 miles travelled and that wouldn't include my trip back Sunday after Christmas to work on Monday morning. That being said, I will have to buy my gift for the gift exchange Christmas Eve and then mail it up for the family getogether, which means I have to get cracking to make sure it arrives on time. My plan is to find the gift tomorrow after work, come home and wrap it and hopefully mail it out on Tuesday. I am hoping to find a box big enough for it, whatever it turns out to be, at work so I don't have to go box shopping of all things as well.

You know, I said that this wasn't going to turn this into a glog, but I think that was a lie. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am going to glog the Steelers/Raiders game coming up at 1pm. After all, this game on the schedule didn't look like all that much, the Raiders are just downright awful and the Steelers are the defending Super Bowl champions, but Pittsburgh has lost their last three games to fall to 6-5 and all of a sudden the game has taken on more meaning, a loss and Pittsburgh will be lucky to make the post season to defend their title. Add to that the controversy surrounding Hines Ward's comments about Ben Roethlisberger sitting out last week's game with a concussion from the previous week and now the game has taken on a meaning that heretofore wasn't expected. The defense has been less than special this years as well. While the Steelers have lost 5 games, in 4 of those games they held the lead in the fourth quarter only to give it away, in the fifth they were tied in the fourth quarter, so there have been defensive lapse of note. Add to that injuries to Troy Polamalu and Aaron Smith and a season that had started with so much promise is now in danger of spiralling downward out of control. The Raiders could provide a panacea for all of that, if only for a week. They are only 3-8, have no realistic shot at the playoffs and are on their second quarterback, Bruce Gradkowski after Jamarcus Russell proved to be incredibly ineffective earlier in the season. Offensive weapons for the Raiders are few and far between, the two best are probably tight end Zach MIller and kicker Sebastian Janikowski. Still the Steelers have had a habit of playing down to their competition, look no further than the Kansas City game where they thoroughly dominated in yardage and time of possession yet still found a way to lose in overtime. Special teams have been less than special this year for Pittsburgh, they have allowed 5 kick returns for touchdowns, a problem that continues to rear its ugly head, regardless of who is on the kick coverage unit. For the record I have no fantasy players in the game, so I will get to watch just for the sake of watching, unlike last week when I had Ray Rice of the Ravens, which pulled my loyalties in both directions, to root for the home team or to root for my team.

First things first, time to fire up the oven and pop in some french fries. Lunch today will be hot dogs, french fries and iced tea. Yum and double yum. It takes little to please me on the food front, as long as it is semi tasty I will eat it.

Two more Swagbucks today for those keeping track at home, I am up to 27 now and just 18 away from Amazon card #3.

Okay, it looks like we are just about underway here from Pittsburgh. I had best go and fire up my sportsline window for the game, just to make sure I get most of the stats right.

Opening kickoff and Pittsburgh receives and Stefan Logan returns the kick 83 yards and Pittsburgh starts in great field position.

A quick wide receiver screen from Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes gets 5 yards.

Third down and 6 after a one yard loss by Rashard Mendenhall and Santonio Holmes drops a pass and Pittsburgh will try a field goal and the 33 yard attempt is up and good, Pittsburgh leads 3-0.

I am starting to smell the french fries baking in the oven. Cook faster, cook faster.

Pittsburgh kicks off to Oakland and the problems on kick coverage continue, a 34 yard return by former Steeler Gary Russell and Oakland starts 1st and ten from their own 42.

Two plays net zero yards and on 3rd and ten Justin Fargas nearly gets all ten yards on a carry, coming up just about a foot short of a first down, and Oakland looks like they will go for it on 4th down, or at least try to draw Pittsburgh offside here.

A roll out pass by Gradkowski to Fargas is good for 10 yards, easily converting the first down.

Two more runs by Darren McFadden get nine yards and we are sitting on a 3rd down and 1 here, but McFadden's third straight running attempt gets nothing creating and other 4th and 1 and on comes Sebastian Janikowski to try a 48 yard field goal. It is good and we have a tie game, 3-3.

Okay, back from the kitchen and grabbing my lunch, all I missed was Pittsburgh's kickoff return, which wasn't nearly as successful as their first one, just a 13 yard return by Carey Davis to the 28 yard line.

Most likely Oakland opted not to kick it to Logan again after the last return.

A quick three and out for Pittsburgh, two runs which netted a total of -1 yard and an incomplete pass and here comes the game's first punt.

A 37 yard punt by Daniel Sepulveda and Oakland will take over possession on their own 36 yard line.So far Pittsburgh has run 6 offensive plays and gained a total of 3 yards, not a particularly good start for the offense.

Yum, french fries with seasoned salt. Always a tasty treat.

First down and Gradkowski goes up top to Johnny Lee Higgins for 19 yards and a first down.

First down Fargas runs for -4 yards and to add insult to injury slams the ball to the turf earning a delay of game penalty as well. Third down and another penalty, this for intentional grounding on Gradkowski and Oakland will punt it away back to Pittsburgh. The punt rolls into the endzone for a touchback and Pittsburgh will take over 1st and 10 from their own 20 yard line.

First down and Pittsburgh goes back to the play that has worked best so far, the wide receiver screen pass, this time to Hines Ward and again for about 6 yards.

Second and 4 and the give is to Rashard Mendenhall and he breaks loose for 60 yrads and a first down.

Two more carries by Mendenhall net 9 yards and Pittsburgh is facing a 3rd and 1 yard to go, once again inside the redzone. Mendenhall comes up short and Pittsburgh opts to go for it on 4th down. A Roethlisberger quarterback sneak does not do the job and Pittsburgh comes away from the drive with no points and we remain tied 3-3.

Two runs by Justin Fargas and Oakland will face a 3rd down and 3 to go when we come back, but that is the end of the 1st quarter with the game tied, 3-3.

As an added bonus to today's coverage I just found out my fantasy quarterback left his game with a shoulder injury. His return is questionable. That doesn't help my chances this week in the least.

Gradkowski goes deep on 3rd down and he has Louis Murphy open but just overthrows him to bring up 4th down.

48 yard punt and no return for Pittsburgh so they start on their own 39 yard line.

First down and Roethlisberger passes to Hines Ward, good for 27 yards. And just one play later it is Roethlisberger again deep to Santonio Holmes from 34 yards out for a Pittsburgh touchdown. With the extra point Pittsburgh again takes the lead, 10-3.

Oakland gets the ball back and will start their next drive from their own 21 yard line.

First down and Gradkowski throws again, this time to Zach Miller, good for 16 yards and a first down.

Pittsburgh gets flagged for a facemasking call and that is 15 free yards for Oakland and another first down.

A designed quaterback keeper on a roll out for Gradkowski good for 20 yards but it comes back on a holding call on the Raiders, negating the Raiders biggest play in the game thus far and creating a 1st and 20 situation.

3rd down and 14 yards to go and Oakland takes their first time out to talk over what they plan to do here.

The defensive problems continue for Pittsburgh, 3rd and 14 and they give up a a 22 yard pass from Gradkowski to Higgins and the drive continues.

3rd down and 8 yards to go and Oakland tries a halfback option pass which is overthrown creating a 4th down and 8 and here comes Sebastian Janikowski to attempt a 43 yard field goal and he is now two for two on field goal attempts and Oakland cuts into the lead, 10-6.

Pittsburgh gets the ball back on the ensuing kickoff and will start from their own 26 yard line.

Willie Parker gets his first carry of the game and he rushes for 5 yards.

Parker again with the ball and gains another 9 yards or so, plus an additional 5 yards are tacked on for an Oakland penalty.

Two plays, including a holding call later and Pittsburgh has a 3rd and 19 to go for a first down.

Tack on another 5 for a false start by Pittsburgh and it is now 3rd and 24. A short pass to Santonio Holmes gets some of the yardage back but not nearly enough for the first down and Pittsburgh is forced to punt.

Sepulveda's punt is a good one, covering 53 yrads and going out of bound at the Oakland 5 yard line.

I got my first fantasy touchdown today, a Chad Ochocinco pass reception. Woohoo! Of course I keep checking on my quarterback and he still isn't in yet.

Oakland goes three and out and Pittsburgh gets the ball back off of a punt.

Roethlisberger finds rookie Mike Wallace for 13 yards and another Pittsburgh first down.

Another pass and another completion, Holmes with the grab, good for 10 yards and another Pittsburgh first down as we reach the two minute warning.

Commercial break and good news. No, not a good commercial, just that Matt Schaub is back in for my fantasy team. Yay for the Argonauts, I need all of the help I can get.

Mewelde Moore gets his first carry today, good for 7 yards.

Another pass to Wallace and another first down, needing 3 yards the pass is good for 6.

First down and a pass into the end zone is picked off, a bad decision by Roethlisberger and a scoring opportunity is lost as Oakland takes over on their own 20 yard line on the touchback.

First down and Gradkowski goes back to his favorite target Zach Miller and gets 11 yards.

A holding call costs Oakland 10 yards, so it becomes first and 20 and Darren McFadden gets the carry, good for 4 yards. It looks like the Raiders may be content to go to the locker room down 4 points. Another carry by McFadden and Pittsburgh calls time out, perhaps in hope of getting the ball back again.

3rd and 15 and Fargas rips off a nice run, good for 14 yards but bringing up 4th down so Pittsburgh again calls time out so they will get the ball back on an Oakland punt, but with few seconds to work with.

7 seconds left and Pittsburgh is on their own 21 after the punt. I can't see them doing anything stupid here. And they don't, a quick kneel down and that is the end of the first half with Pittsburgh leading 10-6.

A quick fantasy update, I currently trail 29-17.

Okay, second half is underway. Pittsburgh will kick to the Raiders to start the third quarter.

Oakland will have a first and ten from their own 26 yard line. Two plays net 1 yard but on third down Gradkowski finds Zach Miller once again for 10 yards and a first down.

Gradkowski eldues the rush on first down and again looks deep and just overthrows Higgins who was open down the sideline.

A gimmick play by Oakland on a first and 10 from the Pittsburgh 39, a pitch to Darren McFadden with a throwback to Gradkowski who looks to throw deep but is sacked before he gets the chance resulting in a 16 yard loss. Lamar Woodley gets credit foir the sack but it was James Harrison who effectively blew that play up, not being fooled by the original pitch.

Two more incomplete passes and on 4th and 26 the Raiders are forced to punt, Pittsburgh will get their first possession of the second half. A 55 yard punt that rolls into the endzone resulting in a touchback and Pittsburgh will take over 1st and 10 from their own 20. Shane Lechler has now punted 5 times for an average of 48 yards per kick, with a long of 58. He may very well be the Raiders best weapon to this point.

Three straight running plays by Mendenhall get 13 yards and gives Pittsburgh another first down.

Two more Mendenhall runs and Pittsburgh is looking at a 3rd down and 7. Roethlisberger will probably pass here, his first attempt since the interception. A dump off to Mewelde Moore gets 6 and on 4th down Pittsburgh will punt the ball back to Oakland, still nursing a 4 point lead.

Oakland has the ball 1st and 10 from their own 18 and on first down Lamar Woodley gets his second sack of the game.

The drive quickly stalls and Oakland punts is again, Pittsburgh gets the ball back on their own 42 yard line after a 41 yard punt.

I just realize that I have a hell of a lot of spell checking to do. Bad enough what I had typed before today, but now this, I will be here for hours fixing the numerous mistakes I am sure to have made. Maybe I better save this just in case my computer crashes or something.

Pittsburgh gets a first down on a third and short by giving the ball to Mendenhall again. He currently has 87 yards rushing on 14 carries, though 60 of it came on one carrry, so the rest of the time he has been relatively ineffective, 13 carries for 27 yards.

3rd down and 6 to go and Roethlisberger finds Hines Ward for a 14 yard gain.

Mendenhall again on first down for all of two yards. Maybe it is just me but is anyone else tired of him trying to spin his way out of trouble only to find him going back first into the line of scrimmage.

Guess what, it is Mendenhall again and again it is 2 yards. Third down and 6 and Oakland comes up with a sack, leaving Pittsburgh with a decision here, it is 4th and 15, a field goal attempt would be 53 yards, but a punt would probably end up in the end zone, so do you opt for the long field goal attempt or play field position?

The Steelers try the field goal and it is no good, so the score remains 10-6.

Technically we are now in the 4th quarter and again Pittsburgh has a lead, but they have lost leads in the 4th quarter in 4 of their 5 losses this year.

3rd down and 7 yards but it looks like Oakland is just short. The referees will bring out the chains to measure but it is inches short. Quarterback sneak and that is easily enough for the first down. First down.

Third down and three and again it is Gradkowski using his legs to pick up a first down, this time on a 8 yard scramble when nothing was available downfield.

Oakland is driving here, 3rd down again and 2 yards for a first down after a 5 yard pass to Higgins.

An option pitch to McFadden gets 6 yards and another first down.

Gradkowski finds Chad Schilens in the end zone and it is a 17 yard touchdown pass. The extra point makes it Oakland 13-10. The Steeler defense has once again given away a fourth quarter lead.

Stefan Logan with a good kickoff return out to the  Pittsburgh 40 yard line to start the next Pittsburgh drive.

First down and Roethlisberger finds Santonio Holmes who breaks free and goes all the way to the Oakland 3 yard line for 57 yards. One play later and Mendenhall goes in from 3 yards out and Pittsburgh has the lead back at 17-13. The defense will have a chance to redeem itself here as they have once again been spotted a fourth quarter lead.

Goiod coverage by Pittsburgh on the kickoff and Oakland will take over possession on their own 16 yard line.

Two plays get 8 yards for Oakland, a Fargas run and a Gradkowski pass and it is third and 2 for a first down and Gradkowski looks deep for Louis Murphy and finds him for 75 yards and a touchdown. Yes, the defense has given up a fourth quarter lead twice in this game. Oakland leads 20-17.

The kickoff goes through the endzone, Pittsburgh will take over on their own 20 yard line looking again to find a way to get the lead back.

First down and Roethlisberger eludes the rush and finds Heath Miller for a first down and 27 yards.

Mendenhall gets the handoff and picks up 8 yards leaving Pittsburgh with second and short, which is easily converted when Roethlisberger finds Hines Ward on a second down pass.

Roethlisberger again finds Holmes on first down, 20 yards and yet another first down. Where was this offense in the first three quarters?

2nd down and 9 and Roethlisberger keeps it on what looks like a busted play and still comes close to a first down. It will either be third and inches or another Steeler first down. It looks like they gave him the first down and the game has reached the 2 minute warning.

One play later and it is Roethlisberger throwing to Hines Ward for the Pittsburgh touchdown. Pittsburgh has the lead again, 24-20 with 1:56 left to play. The question is did Pittsburgh leave too much time on the clock given the way the defense has played in the 4th quarter.

A short return on the kickoff, made worse by a holding call and Oakland will start the drive from their own 12 yard line.

First down and Gradkowski finds Higgins for 17 yards and a first down.

Two incomplete passes and it is 3rd and 10. Gradkowski finds Todd Watkins for a first down to keep the drive alive. 1st and ten from the Oakland 41.

Again Gradkowski finds an open man downfield, it is Louis Murphy for 19 yards and on the play defensive back William Gay is hurt, which actually benefits Oakland as it is a free timeout for them when the clock is definitely an issue. First and ten Oakland from the Pittsburgh 40 yard line.

Gradkowski throws the ball right into the hands of Joe Burnett of the Steelers and he drops the potential interception.

Louis Murphy again makes a grab on a Gradkowski pass on second down and he gets out of bounds at the Pittsburgh 17 yard line.

A stupid penalty by Ryan Mundy, leading with the helmut and it is 15 free yards for Oakland and another first down at the 11 yard line.

Touchdown Louis Murphy with 9 seconds left and the defense has blown three leads here in the fourth quarter, it is Oakland 27-24.

Bruce Gradkowski is looking like Joe Montana against the Steeler defense, he is 20 of 33 for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Pittsburgh has the ball 1st and 10 on their own 35 yard line. A pass to Hines Ward gets 14 yards but leaves Pittsburgh 51 yards away. A hail mary pass falls incomplete and the losing streak reaches four for Pittsburgh as they lose to Oakland 27-24.

Well that is that and maybe, just maybe I will stop typing now. I have a lot of spell checking to do.

Well before I go I guess I can give you another fantasy update, I now trail by a 48-47 score with the 4pm games waiting to kickoff.

And on that note I conclude the latest line of babbling. Goodnight from Pittsburgh.