[Last episode concluded with the house having partial power on Super Bowl Sunday.  My level headed wife convinced me to call the electric company, rather than banging the electric panel with a wrench.  Smart move.]

270 minutes until Kick-Off

Picking up my cell phone, I found the number for the electric company.  Following the prompts, I was informed that our neighborhood was indeed experiencing power outages.  The estimated time for repairs was two hours.  Power would be back on well before the Super Bowl, no problem.

240 minutes until Kick-Off

Rather than putter around the house, we decided to head out and have some Midwestern fun.  Oh yeah, that means a trip to Target.  Midwestern as fun can be.

We also figured that it would make sense to head to the gym.  The boys could play basketball and I could run, in advance of Super Bowl caliber caloric consumption.  What a plan!  What a day!  A Super Day for a Super Bowl!

210 minutes until Kick-Off

I headed out first with the boys to Target.  Charlene headed directly to the gym.  We agreed that we would meet back at home by 5PM, thirty minutes before the game.

180 minutes until Kick-Off

After getting our Midwestern fill of Target and some time at the gym, we headed home.

30 minutes until Kick-Off

We pulled into the driveway to see my beautiful wife (let’s just be clear that Gisele Bündchen has got nothing on my lovely lady) sitting in her car, which was parked in front of the closed garage.  The power had now gone completely out and the garage door would not open.

I soon became apparent that we would need to enter the house the old fashioned way, through the door.  Heading to the front door, we realized the storm door was locked.  The key would not work there.  Apparently, the guy (me) who was supposed to fix the broken storm door (the reason it was locked to prevent it from swinging open in the wind) had never gotten around to it (never mind, such details are not important and we should forgive the unpaid repair man, who was supposed to fix that door, I’m sure he has been very very busy).

No worries, we would try the back porch door.  Turns out the house key does not work there.  Who knew?  Guess I should have.

No worries, again.  Perhaps the door to the basement would open with the key.  Problem.  The basement door does not have a key hole.  Who knew?  Out of desperation, I tried the handle.  Out of pure mercy and the unintended side effect blessing of absent minded children, the handle turned.  The kids had left the door unlocked.  I smiled at our mixed fortunes.  Sure we had no power, but we could now enter the house and it appeared as if we were the first ones to discover the unlocked door.

0 minutes until Kick-Off

Somewhere, a football was lofted into the early evening sky.  The Super Bowl was underway, deep in our American as apple pie souls we knew this to be true.

[To be continued…]