. . . thanks to the ingenuity of the web, I can still pick my favorite Superbowl ads, after the fact.

Maybe you know I’m not much of a sports guy (an understatement), so my usual technique is to DVR the big game, then skip through the actual playing part so I can see all the commercials in about a half-hour. But this year I just checked out this website, which lets you look at every Superbowl commercial, and even sorts them by quarter.

I thought this little Letterman promo was the funniest:

And call me sentimental, but — with apologies to all my pals at Bing — I thought this Google spot was sweet, simple, elegant, and brilliant:

If you’d like to review all the commercials and pick your fave, the site is NFL Fanhouse. Way easier than actually watching an entire game!

More good works from the music community for the people of Haiti . . .

The Dave Matthews Band has established the Bama Works Haiti Relief Fund — an initiative to help provide long-term support to the people of the earthquake-ravaged nation of Haiti.

They’ve released a digital EP with five live tracks called The Haiti Relief Project. Here’s the track listing:

Butterfly
Cry Freedom
Out Of My Hands
Lying In The Hands of God
Dive In

The EP is downloadable now, and it’s only 5 bucks! Click here to get it.

You may have already discovered Eddie Vedder’s beautiful version of Bruce Springsteen’s “My City of Ruins,” which benefits Haiti relief. (The details are here.)

Now Pearl Jam’s guitar god, Mike McCready, is putting together an event called A Hootenany for Haiti on February 28 at the Showbox at the Market in Seattle. The featured guest will be Duff McKagan of Guns ‘N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver, and there’s a nice assortment of other great artists: Kim Virant, Kristen Ward, Kim Warnick, Mark Pickerel, Star Anna, Chris Friel, Gary Westlake, Jeff Rouse, Justin Davis, Ty Bailie and friends.

They’ll perform in the intimate surroundings of the Showbox to benefit Partners in Health, a 20-year-old organization that’s on the ground providing much-needed medical care in Haiti.

Tickets are only 15 bucks — how can you not go? Here are the details.

It means it’s time to take down the holiday lights.

Oh sure, some people might say you should take the lights down on, like, New Years Day. I say, what’s the rush? Why should I drag my big extension ladder out of the garage and around to the front of the house on some rainy early-January day, when I can wait until a mild, sunny-ish morning comes along?

Gee, now it’s only 10 months until it’s time to put them up again. Maybe I should’ve just left them . . . .

Here’s the latest chapter in the saga of my broken thumb.

Just to recap, I broke it in a bicycle accident on December 2. I wore a cast for a month, then I switched to a splint as I began physical therapy to restore my once-formidable hand muscles. It’s a long process, but I’m getting there. Check this out:

Enjoy this little collection of clips. (Parental warning: Some of the language is a little rough. Music lovers’ warning: Cheesy music starts playing halfway through.)

Anyone with a mobile phone and an account with a major wireless carrier can text the phrase “Haiti” to the number 90999 and donate $10 to the Red Cross. That amount is charged to the donor’s cellphone bill. The texted donations are being handled by a company called mGive, which started the campaign in a joint effort with the State Department and the Red Cross late Tuesday night.

Here’s the Red Cross websiste.

. . . because even though my cast came off this week, I now have a splint! Fun! Here’s the scoop:

On Tuesday afternoon, Brandi Carlile checked in on my show to fill everybody in on something very cool that she’s involved in:

brandi fight the fear.EDITwav

Through her foundation (the Looking Out Foundation) Brandi is spearheading a campaign called Fight The Fear. Inspired by a tragedy last July in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood when two women were assaulted in their home (and one was murdered), the project empowers at-risk women by teaching them self-defense skills.

There’s a kickoff event on Sunday at the Century Ballroom on Capitol Hill, where Brandi and her pal Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls will perform. It’s not exactly open to the public, unless you bid high for tickets on eBay.

All the details are here.

I promise . . . after this, no more whining about my broken thumb. My cast is supposed to come off on Tuesday! So, for the last time, here’s a little look at what I had to contend with over the holiday break: