www.toreyhickman.com

Well, it’s fantasy football time again. The Salad Bowl kicked off its ninth season yesterday with Draft Day 2008. It’s a twelve man league, and I drew the eleventh draft position: the same position in which I drafted last year when I won the league. Could history be repeating itself? I was happy to see that Randy Moss fell to the eleventh spot. I was trying to decide between him and Clinton Portis. I figured Portis had the best chance to survive the turn and be there at pick fourteen; I was right. So, I took Portis with my second pick.

I made a questionable pick at the end of round three by taking Reggie Bush. I don’t like him, but when he was still there at the end of the third, I thought he was worth the pick. In retrospect, I may have been better off going with Michael Turner or a couple other guys, but it’s too late now. In the fourth round, I selected Jason Witten. It may have been a little bit early, I wanted to grab him or Kellen Winslow in the draft. I didn’t think either would be there at the end of the fifth round.

The league uses individual defensive players, and I was planning on grabbing Patrick Willis and DeMeco Ryans at the end of the fifth and beginning of sixth rounds. Unfortunately, Willis went about five picks before me, so that put a little monkey wrench in my plans. I still took Ryans, and in the sixth round I grabbed Derek Anderson.

The draft continued on, and I just tried to get the best value I could through the end of the draft. I didn’t fill all positions because I wanted to grab a couple guys who could end up starting, just in case things work out. So, before the season begins, I’ll have to make some roster changes, picking up a couple defensive players and a kicker.

Who doesn’t love a souvenir T-shirt? Okay, I can think of someone, but personally I like ‘em. So while I was in Mexico, I kept my eye out for one. I had found one in Teotihuacan that I thought might do, but I passed on it. As the trip went on, I thought that I might have missed out a souvenir for myself. But, the day before coming home in Tepoztlan, I found this beauty. I really like it—much more than that other one I’d seen previously.

Yesterday I flew home from Mexico City. I guess everything went okay, but I am exhausted now. The flight from Mexico City to Dallas went well enough. We had to enter a holding pattern around Dallas before landing though; apparently, there were storms around Dallas which causes a bunch of delays. Including my flight to Detroit. Yeah! What was already to be a late arrival was pushed back two more hours, to where I didn’t get out of the Detroit airport until 1:30 in the morning. Couple that with an hour-long drive to Toledo and not being able to fall asleep, and it was a late night. Then, I got a nice wake up call at 8:15 from my bank, asking if I’d used my credit card in Mexico. Don’t they read my blog?

Yesterday was my last full day here in Mexico. Steffen and I travelled south of Mexico City to the town of Tepoztlán. The town is situated in a valley, surrounded by beautiful, forested mountains. Atop one of the mountains, Tepozteco, sits the remains of a small temple. Steffen and I climbed for one hour to reach the summit and perch ourselves on the edge of the temple where we relaxed for a while. The climb wasn’t exactly fun but definitely worth the effort: the scenery on the way up was beautiful, as was the view from the top.

The town itself is pretty nice, too. There is a great, old church there. I believe the church was built by the Spanish around the 1570’s. The outside hasn’t exactly stood the test of time, as it appears to be every bit of 400 years old, but it looks all the cooler for it. And the inside walls and vaults are decorated with orangish and black motifs; I really liked the way they looked.

More pictures are available here: Tepoztlán.

Steffen and I took a trip to Coyoacán today; Coyoacán is a neighborhood here in Mexcio City. The area is kept up better than many of the other areas of Mexico City I’ve been to, and it has more of a traditional feel . . . at least what I would consider traditional. The area seemed to have a number of restaurants, cafes, and shops. I also went to the marketplace and bazar; both new experiences. I have to say, the neighborhood Mexican marketplace is not my thing. Although it looks like you can get a lot of nice, fresh fruits and vegetables, the place is crammed from floor to ceiling and wall to wall with every manner of thing—a few nice things, a whole lot of junk. I felt a little claustrophobic.  The bazar was a little bit better.  It was outside, so there was fresh air for one thing.  Also, the wares were a little nicer; I even picked up a couple things.