Sunday Chronicle

Happy New Year to everyone! This is the Rick's Writing Again Sunday Chronicle.

Eating better is a goal for 2011. 

Well, the Detroit Lions ended the season on their highest "high" in more than 10 years. Everyone's hope is high for next season, and that should be the case. The Lions only were blown out twice, in consecutive games against the New England Patriots (whoa! great team) and the Dallas Cowboys (whoa! no longer America's team!). Overall, it could be considered a solid season for the Lions.

Word on the street, or at least the John Mellencamp email discussion list, is that Mr. and Mrs. Mellencamp are no more. He met Elaine back in the early '90s at a shoot for the video "Get a Leg Up." They married, had a couple kids, etc. Apparently, on the latest tour, during "Small Town," he no longer sang the line "my wife was 13 years old when I wrote this song." When things like that happen, avid fans notice.

I remember during the 1993 Billy Joel tour when he was suddenly playing "My Life" again — after years of saying he would never play it live. The words, the theme, made me think that maybe he and Christie Brinkley were calling it quits. The concert was November 19 — and the couple split during Thanksgiving.

Saw a Harley sticker on a Cadillac. We were on our way to Chicago, via South Bend, to watch Billy Joel back in 1993. It was a great concert at the then Rosemont Horizon, which had great acoustics. 

It's "back to the grind" at our household. Tomorrow the alarm will sound at 6 a.m., so we'll be up and at 'em. I hope to lose some weight this year, work out more, ride my bike more, etc. It's a big year for me, so it's time to change a few things.

Eating better is number one on the list. Lori and I really worked on that during break, cooking at home most of the time. As a cereal addict, it will be hard to give up the cereal, but a better breakfast — based in protein — seems to be the best bet. I read The South Beach Diet a couple summers ago and am working on The Four Hour Body right now. Everything I read, including the Eat This, Not That series aims us toward protein.

Happy New Year!