Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

Monday night was both historic, and epic. In fact, it was early Tuesday morning, if, like me, you are in the UK, when the Green Bay Packers travelled to Minnesota to face the Vikings. It had been hyped and hyped and hyped all week long. It was Favre against his old team, Favre against the man they chose to replace him with, Aaron Rodgers, and, in fact, the possibility of this game had been bubbling away in the back of people’s minds ever since #4 signed with the Vikings.

Yes, if I could choose one word to describe the game, it would be historic. It was historic because of Favre. It was historic, because of the age-old rivalry between the teams. It was historic because no cable television show has ever drawn such an audience before. Before the very first snap, the dome flashed like a lightning storm, as the fans rushed to take a photograph of the first snap. Yes, it was historic. If I could choose a second word, it would probably be epic. Certainly, I’m very glad I stayed up till nearly 5 in the morning to watch it.

The Packers came with an obvious game plan: shut down Adrian Peterson, the best runner in the league, and force the 39-year-old Favre to throw on them. They probably didn’t expect that he would pick them apart as efficiently and ruthlessly as he did. He converted on nearly all – if not every single one – of his third downs; he launched laser-precise passes all over the field, and had no trouble hurling rockets when he needed to. He played a very nearly perfect game, with only a handful of interceptions.

Sometimes – not often, not when you have #28 in the backfield – but sometimes, teams will be able to shut down the run. And when they do, you need to be able to rock n’ roll. They certainly did that on Monday. And that, I suppose, is why you bring in Favre.

The Favre Factor, they call it, and I think I agree.

At work today, our office was abuzz. For weeks now, we knew that today would be the main sprucing up day, the day of replacing, of cleaning, of freshening. But I don’t think anyone expected it to be as hectic as it was. Not only have we been changing things around, moving things, selling things, updating things. Needless to say it has been a hectic day. People have been running in and out, speeding around sorting things out and taking things from one place to another, and it has been difficult to find time to breathe, really. Some of the people I don’t think even work with us … they were brought in, I suppose, to help out, because someone cleverly anticipated the madness.

I think I can live with the madness, though. It was much needed. The fax machines have gone, and new models will be brought in to replace them.

The computers have gone, too, and they, will be replaced. Indeed, the computers were most in need of replacing. They were not only big and bulky, but incredibly slow; sometimes so slow that you couldn’t very easily run Word, or other such programs, without a tremendous amount of waiting around.

Our very dated phones have already been replaced by cordless phones that, in my opinion, are pretty swish.

Yes, everything has been updated, or changed, or replaced. The only thing that hasn’t are the desks and the shelves … even the folders, I think, are new. Most of the office equipment is new. And already, even though the revamping project isn’t complete just yet, it’s making a difference. It’s certainly a lot nicer working in an environment that isn’t painstakingly slow, or loud, or untidy.