A WORTHY CAUSE
A woman who received the nation's first face transplant advocates for organ donation: 
"There is an initial shock upon first glance at Connie Culp, the woman who received the nation's first face transplant nearly two years ago. She taps her way through the hospital waiting room, feeling along the floor with a cane and smiling hesitantly at a visitor, even though she can only make out shadows and shapes.  Her face is wide and square-jawed. It is altogether too large for her diminutive frame, and therein lies the jolt of surprise: Up close, it's clear that this face does not belong to that body...."It don't matter what you look like, somebody's gonna find fault with you," she says, waving a hand dismissively. "Either the way you talk or something, you know? Nobody's perfect."  Life is on the upswing for Culp, 47, who underwent her final surgery in July. In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday at the Cleveland Clinic, Culp discussed her plans to become an advocate for organ donation. It was the choice of one anonymous donor that spared her from a life of eating and breathing through a tube, she says."

ON THE OTHER HAND...
Does this surprise you much?
"Americans continue to fail at fitness -- but at least we're acing it in the kitchen. And some of us seem to be cooking up quite a sweat during meal prep or while we add a lime to our Corona, according to the results of a new survey on physical activity.  A report published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine recaps the daily nonwork, nonsleep activities of 80,000 American adults, and splits them up based on relative intensities (sedentary, light, moderate and vigorous). Only 5 percent of people evaluated got any vigorous activity -- think running, biking or strength training -- in a given day. Could it have been because they were too busy in the kitchen? After all, food and drink preparation was the most frequent moderately vigorous behavior reported by study participants. And when we weren't preparing all-out repasts, we were probably whipping up a quick snack. Along with phone calls, television and reading, snack prep ranked high on the list of preferred daily activities."

We certainly need to do better.  Daily exercise really helps me--makes me feel better.  At the same time, I'm a moderate on things like this.  I don't believe in health nazism or that it's always wrong to eat some mac and cheese or have a piece of chocolate cake.  We need to enjoy life, too; and that can mean eating some good (though calorie-filled) food once in a while.  Moderation...in all things, moderation.

FRIDAY FOOTBALL PICKS
Last week I didn't do too badly.  Taking my college and pro picks together, I won 6, lost 3, had one "push" (tie).  Let's see how I do this week:

COLLEGE:

Texas at Texas Tech--my pick:  TECH to win in an upset.  The Red Raiders are at home.  Texas is trying to install a power running game, but I have the suspicion it continues to sputter.  Meanwhile the Tech defense is improved.  Look for the upset here.

NFL:

Atlanta 5.5 over Arizona.  My pick:  FALCONS.  Traditionally the Cardinals don't do well when they have to travel cross country and play on the road.  Meanwhile the Falcons really need this one, and figure to play better.

Kansas City 4 over Cleveland.  My pick:  CHIEFS.  The Browns are at home.  But they might not have starting QB Jake Delhomme, and that was a horrible loss for them, blowing a big lead late last week at Tampa.  Meanwhile I see the Chiefs as much improved.

Philadelphia 5.5 over Detroit.  My pick:  EAGLES.  The Lions are at home.  But they've lost starting QB Matthew Stafford for a few weeks, and so must rely on retread, ho-hum backup QB Shaun Hill.  In the past, the Lions have floundered badly in situations like this.  Meanwhile the Eagles lost their quarterback, Kevin Kolb, but...as a backup, they have the he-appears-to-have-his-dynamism-back Michael Vick.  Go with the Birds.

Tennessee 5 over Pittsburgh.  My pick:  TITANS.  The Steelers were fortunate last week; their backup QB, Dennis Dixon, made mistakes...but the Falcons played poorly and conservatively enough that the Steel crew got away with it.  Don't bet on that this week at Tennessee against a tough bunch of Titans.

New England 4.5 over the NY Jets.  My pick:  JETS.  They're at home.  And New York will not play as poorly in week 2 as they did on Monday night.  Rex Ryan knows how to defend Tom Brady.

Houston 2.5 over Washington.  My pick:  TEXANS.  Yes, this game is at Washington.  Yes, the Redskins have a good defense.  But in my view the Texans are for real, and their offense right now is at a stage far advanced than that of the Cowboys, whom the Redskins made look average last week.  The Texans are hitting on far more cylinders.