My wife has introduced some wonderful things into my life, not the least of which is realizing the incredible versatility of the paper towel.

Like many of you, I was brought up under the tyranny of the home-utility paper industry. That is to say, we used paper towels, but also napkins and facial tissue. We may have even at one time used the industrial-strength paper towels for big messes.

My mom brought up the idea of using paper towels as napkins, and many of your finer bar/restaurants do the same. And do you miss the napkin? Not really. The paper towel has the same function as the napkin — to wipe things up, in this case off one’s face or, if necessary, clothing.

My wife had the same idea — however, she took it to full-on everyday use. But the extension of the paper towel into the facial-tissue realm was all hers.

At first, I resisted, as I was concerned about the more coarse consistency. But my wife, who has very prevalent nasal allergies, had no issue with using the paper towel on her nose.

It’s really not that big a difference. A slightly scratchier experience, but all told, not so much you’d complain.

Now, there are exceptions. First, there’s the common cold. In this case, you will be using a paper product on your nose on a more frequent basis and comfort is key. In such cases, you want to try and go all out — get a good soft tissue, possibly something with aloe to relieve skin irritation. If you’re going to be suffering anyway, why make it worse.

Secondly, there’s toilet paper. You can’t make paper towels into the all-purpose home paper product. Toilet paper is used on a much more sensitive area. Again, comfort is key. If you have to resort to paper towels in such situations, it is very unpleasant.

But all told, paper towels can represent 75-80 percent of home-utility use. So it saves money to buy a bunch of rolls in bulk and use them that way.

I’ll be honest with you. Had you told me 10 years ago that I would no longer be a Redskin fan, I’d have called you a liar and a fool.

But then, I’d never have anticipated what Daniel Snyder would’ve done to this franchise.

It started with Snyder hiring Steve Spurrier as his head coach.

Now, to many folks, Spurrier may have at the time seemed like maybe it was a good idea. Or at least interesting. To me, it meant that my mortal enemy, my nemesis, as a Georgia fan through and through, was in charge of the Redskins.

So I took my leave as a ‘Skins fan. I considered myself almost a fan in exile. I told fans I was looking for a new team, but I thought eventually I’d come back.

And when Snyder hired Joe Gibbs back, I thought, OK, I’m back.

Unfortunately, Joe — God bless that man — didn’t really have it anymore. He also didn’t really have the players. He did the best he could, but finally he retired.

And now… the reasons I’m not a Redskin fan at all:

1. Snyder decides to replace Gibbs with a man who had never actually called a play in his life, Jim Zorn.

2. The Redskins started the season playing five winless teams. Their record in that time span? 2-3.

3. They took the playcalling away from Zorn, basically making him a head coach in name only, and gave it to Sherm Lewis. Lewis, who at one time was considered a strong candidate to be an NFL coach, had spent the last few years calling bingo.

4. Snyder charges people for EVERYTHING. Watching practice. Tailgating. The man sells beer in the bathroom!

5. They insist on starting Jason Campbell at QB. This is a guy that is basically not awful, he’s just kind of a cypher. A null set. He’s not much of anything.

And that’s really the beginning.

So I’m basically a free agent right now. I’ll be honest — ever since Spurrier was the ‘Skins coach, I’ve lost my zest for pro football in general. This year, I’ve picked it up a bit, probably because I’m covering some high school games, but that just heightens how much I despise what Snyder has done to the ‘Skins.

Back when I was a kid, a classmate would try to get my goat by calling the team the “Deadskins”. I think right about now, he’s pretty much dead on.

Hey there…

So we’re changing things up a little bit here. This started out as a music-heavy blog and there’ll still be plenty of music.

But I’m taking a cue from a new favorite of mine but a blog that’s been around for a good while, kottke.org. Basically, Jason Kottke writes about what he likes, which covers a lot of ground: Technology, art, history and more.

So I’m basically taking the same philosophy, writing about things I like. Which are:

– Music

– Movies

– Food/restaurants

– Sports, specifically baseball, Aston Villa soccer, Georgia athletics, football and basketball in general and the Olympics

– Technology

– Social media

– Books

– Travel

If there has been anyone that has been at the forefront of trying whacked-out uniform designs it’s the Oregon Ducks.

Where other schools (Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan, USC) trot out the same uniforms year after year, likely because alumni would be apoplectic if they did anything with a modicum of change, Oregon seems to go the opposite route, throwing caution to the wind and saying, “We trust you, Nike, to not make our team look completely ridiculous.” Even if that trust shouldn’t be readily earned (see right).

This year, the Ducks and Nike got together and set up a situation where Oregon can dress in any one of 160 different combinations (not counting the throwback uniforms used already once this season).

The Oregonian’s Web site seized on the opportunity and made a “dress your Duck” interactive. It’s really cool, and I tried a few different looks.

I settled on the one you see at left, and a lot of people agree, especially for the Ducks’ game against USC on Halloween night.

What better look than to dress at night on Halloween like ninjas. Might be the best chance Oregon has at beating the Trojans — to dress like, and somehow acquire the powers of, ninjas. To disappear into the night, only to reappear in the end zone seconds later.

Or just to simply realize that black is still the new black. And looks awesome.

(Thanks to Every Day Should Be Saturday for the link and the idea!)

I neither agree with what A.J. Daulerio did last week with his ESPN rumors, going live with them in what can only be characterized as a malicious attack, nor do I condone anything ESPN has done in the last decade.

I feel that ESPN has ruined sports in a major way. And that Daulerio set blogs back about 5 or 6 years.

A pox on both of their houses.

That is all.

You know… Villa’s gotta get better in Europe. It’s nice to be a good solid team in your own league, but Europe’s where the real money is…

Aston Villa 2, Rapid Wien 1 (2-2 aggregate, Rapid advances on away goals)

Noting a familiar theme?

Anyway, I was going to post a couple of angry photos about how poorly Villa had played its first two games, but never got to it. But Monday?

Well…

This is by a Brooklyn singer-songwriter, Reyna Perez, and was shot on an iPhone 3GS. Think it was the first one — at least, that’s what BoingBoing says:

Oh man! What happened!

I put the shame on Manny, he goes down for 50 games, and I forget where I blogged!!!!

So… now that he’s back… I guess I return too…

Here’s hoping I have a better second half than Manny.