Written by my friend Betty Walls

For 2010, the MAC championship game will feature Northern Illinois against Miami (Ohio). I’d like to see it because it’s being played only a few minutes’ drive away at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. I’m looking forward to seeing two Midwestern teams face off.

Northern Illinois is ranked 25th in the nation, for its first top-25 ranking since 2003. I’m rooting for quarterback Chandler Harnish to have a big game. He’s a dual-threat pass-run quarterback with a solid arm and quick feet. I think Miami (Ohio) will have a tough time shutting him down with their defense. I’m a little surprised by Northern Illinois’ success this year, but the program has been providing steady competition every season.

Miami (Ohio) went 1-11 in Michael Haywood’s first season as head coach last year. But this year, he managed to turn the team around. A respectable 8-4, I don’t think Miami (Ohio) quite has the depth to contend with Northern Illinois. I can definitely see them improving though. Miami (Ohio) should be a perennial contender if Haywood can keep recruiting his kind of players.

Although the MAC championship game may not be as glamorous as some of the other conferences’ championship games, I’ll be watching it on Direct TV Satellite Deals. Since my hometown Big Ten conference doesn’t have a championship game, I’ll settle for one that’s being played nearby.

So we are thinking about making the switch over to Direct TV.  We only have very basic cable right now- just a few local channels for about $5 per month.  We’d like some more channels but to add digital cable to our plan would make our cable go up to about $70 per month.  Or we can go with Direct TV and an offer we got in the mail for $25 per month for pretty much the same thing.  Our cable company doesn’t seem to care, so we’ll probably go ahead and make the switch.  The only thing holding me back is the 2 year service agreement with Direct TV.  So does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on the matter?

This last weekend I went shopping for shoes (woo hoo!) and it’s time for some more shopping in a few days (woo hoo!). I have a great tip for those of you who are just looking to do some regular old, fun shopping.  If you’re looking for some great deals on born shoes I found a site for youl- you are going to be thrilled with the sale that is going on. Just click on any of my links within this post.

I love stocking up on shoes, you never can have to many pairs. I think I will be getting Hailey a new pair for Christmas as well. And Rich can always use a new pair of Columbia shoes. I found a few pairs I think he would like. The prices for Richs shoes seemed a little high, but I’ve never seen those kind of shoes before.

How about you?  Have any shopping plans for this weekend?  Do you stock up on clothes and shoes ahead of time for the upcoming seasons for your kids?

You know what I would love to have?  A faster internet connection.  There is only one choice that I know of where we live and it’s a cable connection for our internet.  Now compared to dial up, our internet is pretty fast.  But when I want to upload pictures it always gives me a hard time.  Or if we watch a movie online there is always a delay.  The thing that bugs me the post is when I want to play online games and the internet decides I am using too much connection or something. So, then my whole connection cuts out and Rich has to go do something or other with the modem and some wires to get it to work again.  Very annoying!!

I wish we had more choices where we live.  I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to be uploading in one tab, using a social network in another tab and playing a game on yet another one without losing my connection!