I'm relieved when I see Brady stomp around the sidelines clapping and yelling because it reminds me that he still has the same competitive fire he had when he took over as starting QB. There's some NFL films footage from the 2001 season - maybe the playoffs - where he gives the bench some vicious high-fives and yells…

Facebook happy couples - yeah, you can be comforted by the fact that they're cherry-picking the best moments for display. Much harder to deal with are random happy couples out in public, just walking down the street. You can tell they're together even when they're not holding hands, and you're not watching a highlight…

Winter is great because the cold brings everyone roughly into parity in their suffering. I can go outside and not have to encounter anyone having a good time - just people huddling, struggling, wishing things were different. I feel like I have home-field advantage for a few months.

Pros from the Denver game (from a Pats standpoint):
- Gronking out on 3rd down conversions
- Bit players in the secondary stepping up (Arrington, Chung, Butler) to prevent big receptions
- The O-line is alive and well

"You can stumble around in an Elmo costume and badger people for a dollar. It's all happening out west!"

That's so apt an end to this arc that it should be tagged as a spoiler.

Madison Bumgarner: "I wasn't that valuable. You know who the real World Series MVP was? Meep." [buries head in hands]

Send Alex Gordon blarrrggghhh!

I can't feel happy for my friends when they succeed. In fact, my most common reaction to their good news is hidden jealousy. I don't want them to feel good until I feel good. Being aware of this tendency in myself, I frequently feel like a nothing friend. I know that I'm just defensive about my own life…

Try Parenthood. Lauren Graham will be there to ease you through the show transition.

If you go to Goodwill, they should have a pile of old Rock Band/Guitar Hero guitars.

I missed the first 3.5 seasons of this show, so I'm starting from the beginning on Netflix. These are the first episodes I've seen where Haddie is actually a regular, so it's like I'm watching Parenthood prequels. Everything I learn about her now is a surprise. She hid pot in her backyard… troublemaker!

Something the tech geek said to Amber got lost in the shuffle because he ultimately didn't stand fully behind it: "Many beautiful, clever people have baggage, and it's often what makes them interesting." A little trite, but I personally don't think it's off-base. What I'm most curious about when I meet someone - as a…

Cosmic Osmo and Manhole

I should ask him.

Speaking of AWOL commenters, I haven't seen Major Dada or Hero of Akron-Canton in weeks.

I hate my new roommate's face. He has a beard but no mustache, meaning he chose to look that way so I can't take him seriously as a person. He's always asking me how I'm doing and speaking with a chipper lilt. He calls roommates "roomies". It's like, shut up with your inane patter, you're older than me and should know…

Radiohead - Faust Arp
Zola Jesus - Ixode
Bear in Heaven - Dust Cloud
Graham Coxon - All Over Me
Fleetwood Mac - Sisters of the Moon

You could always hand her a handwritten note stating your intentions and your phone number. It gets around the issue of her feeling cornered at work. I tried this once with a girl at a food truck, and it went kind of well. She texted me later with the rejection, so there was no face-to-face awkwardness.

It's much harder to change your romantic fortunes without the skills gained through low-risk experimentation in the great laboratories of high school and college. Back then, everyone's messing up but having fun and getting better at it. If you miss that boat, though, then afterwards you're operating a built-in…