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We got invited by our friend J. for Super Bowl this year. I'm not much of a sports fan, but for the first time I really enjoyed watching football. I understood the gameplay better and the rain made for some hilarious fumbles and turnovers. We rooted for the Chicago Bears because K. is from Illinois, but Rex Grossman's subpar quarterbacking was just tough to overcome. The Indianapolis Colts simply played a better game and deserved to win.

Halftime wasn't bad, either. Prince's performance was probably the best halftime show in years that I could recall. There weren't any Janet Jackson costume accidents, but I wondered if his guitar's phallic reflection would generate any complaints. Little did I imagine that an ad would cause the controversy this year. More on that later.

I was planning to make a spinach dip to bring over but didn't have the time. Then again, with a large half veggie, half meatball/pepperoni pizza and a large order of spaghetti from Gondola's, we didn't mind.

We enjoyed hanging out with J. and his 12-year old golden lab Maui, even though it was sort of a bittersweet visit. His parents were there the last time we hung out, and it turned out to be the last time we would see his mom who died of a long term illness soon after.

Maui herself isn't doing very good. She's suffering from arthritis and can barely finish a walk down the block. It takes a lot of effort for her to stand up and fetch her toy when we throw it, getting so winded she just plops down where the toy lands instead of bringing it back.

Here's a picture I took of Maui. It took several shots because she's shy; every time I pointed the camera she would turn her head, making for some very fuzzy pictures. I caught her midturn in this one. Good girl, Maui.

One last tidbit: it turned out an acquaintance of mine who went to the same high school and lived in the same town I did in the Philippines lives just a couple of blocks down from J. I knew she bought a home around there somewhere but didn't realize how close until we passed by it on the way to J.'s place.

D. joked that we should drop by so he can pry embarrassing high school stories from her about me. I said absolutely not; it would be rude to show up unannounced and gossip about me on top of it!