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the patriots lost super bowl LII tonight, their third loss under the belichick-brady era (other times 2008 and 2012). i'm not as devastated because the philadelphia eagles really were the better team tonight and they deserved their very first super bowl win. nevertheless, the patriots kept it interesting all the way to the final seconds, and everyone was anxious until the very end, when new england still had a very slim chance of possibly tying the game to go into overtime like last year. as much as i'd like to see the patriots win their 6th super bowl ring, the philly story is more compelling, having lost their MVP quarterback at the end of the regular season and heading into the playoffs once ranked as number one now the underdog with backup quarterback nick foles.

now that the season is officially over, it's easy to look back at new england and see the weaknesses of the team. we lost wide receiver edelman and defense captain hightower, our two stars, and then we lose brandin cooks in the super bowl to a vicious heat shot. our defense was serviceable but never really dominant, and the few loses we had in the regular season shows that. our schedule was such that we didn't face too many great teams, and of those that we beat (e.g. pittsburgh), it was by narrow margins and could've gone either way. our path to the super bowl was also one of least resistance, with untested opponents like the titans and the jaguars, who helped us out by defeating opponents that would've given us more trouble, like the chiefs and the steelers. the eagles on the other hand were being seriously battle tested by real contenders like the vikings and the falcons. but the fact that the eagles manage to defeat the patriots means they're the best (at least for today), since in order to be the best you have to beat the best.

our defense was seriously ineffective tonight, and couldn't stop the eagles from advancing the ball. philadelphia must've advanced the ball on every 3rd down, and even if they didn't, they were aggressive and went for it often on 4th as well. their offensive seemed to catch everything, or at least all those that mattered. why malcolm butler didn't play remains a mystery, even though he was suited up on the sideline and was crying during the national anthem. our offensive line was solid, except the 2nd to last drive when one of the philly defenders managed to strip tom brady to prevent the patriots from taking the ball into the end zone for a come-from-behind touchdown to maybe win the game. when i saw that all i could do was smile, because i knew it was over (or close to it at least), even though the patriots had a another final drive with just under a minute left in the game to try and score 8 points for a tie.

like every other NFL teams who've lost, we're putting our hopes into next season. hopefully guys can stay healthy, and we can improve both offense and defense. it'll be tough though, since both offensive and defensive coaches are leaving to be head coaches of rival teams. next year will be a rebuilding year, partly the players, but also the coaching staff. but in belichick we trust.

at least we'll always have this now classic saturday night live sketch with natalie portman:

today was a grey day and it began to lightly drizzle by the time i made it to harvard square to take the bus to my parents' place. as they were out of drinks, i brought half a dozen cans of pomegranate-flavored seltzer that sloshed noisily as i walked to the station. the driver shouted at two european foreigners who tried to get off the bus at mt.auburn cemetery without paying, that made me smile inside. "go pats!" a pretty blonde girl cheered as she got off the bus, dressed in patriots hat and leggings.

we get the lowest solar production with any kind of low hanging precipitation clouds, and today we only managed to eke out 7.58 kWh, enough for daytime usage without turning on any supplemental space heaters.

i squeezed out another bottle of fresh orange juice before i left the house, this time using 4 small oranges and 1 large orange, hoping not to dilute the flavor too much. it was quicker work because i didn't bother to weigh them like i usually do. when i gave it to my mother to try, she still said it wasn't as sweet as last week, which meant the problem was of dilution but rather the small oranges i had weren't very sweet.

my sister arrived later in the afternoon to prepare a super bowl feast for us that included ribs. she stayed to watch the game but complained that the lights in the living room were too bright and told my mother to turn them off even though my mother was knitting. so naturally my sister them stormed off in anger (my mother and i were secretly smiling to one another, this is typical crazy for my sister), taking the dog with her, leaving behind a mess of dishes for my mother and i to clean up later during halftime show. i could care less about justin timberlake, but why invite him back and not janet jackson? double standard.

by the time the game was over and my father gave me a ride back home, it was a steady rain by that point. i don't mind because the rain will stop in the early morning before sunrise and tomorrow looks to be a sunny day, i'm predicting 30kWh of solar production at least. traffic typically for a sunday night is light, but there were more cars than usual, filled with angry and sad patriots fans returning home from whatever super bowl party they'd been previously attending.