The Great Debate

Recently the topic of my bowling sober vs not sober has been raised. A certain bald friend of mine has insisted for years that if I simply did not drink while bowling that I would bowl much better. I always insisted that it wasn't impacting my bowling (of course, all drunks say this, right?) and besides, I'm in it for fun anyway. What's the point of bowling if you're not drinking I've always said.

It seems that I couldn't finish. I could have a couple good games and lose it in the 3rd (see numerous posts in this blog backing that up). My 3rd game average is nearly 20 pins less than my 2nd. I figured I was just getting tired, the lanes were breaking down, etc.

Well, looking back on it I've always had some of my best nights when I was feeling under the weather. I always attributed that to the fact that being tired I slowed down and took my time. What I didn't realize was it probably had more to do with not drinking because I was sick.

For the past month or so I've struggled to average 185 or so, bringing my average down to right around the 200 mark. But Saturday, we were watching my nephew and I didn't feel like drinking (was I already sick???) so I just had water. I finally bowled decently and shot a 662.

Then on Wednesday I was still recovering from the fever I had Tuesday and didn't drink anything but water again. This time I shot a 713 with a 279 and 258. Ok, some how I shot a 176 in the 2nd game, which is typically my best game. Don't ask how I did that, I still don't know what happened.

So, what have we learned. Bowling while drinking beer: average about 200. Bowling while drinking water: average about 230. The funny thing is that I still had fun even without the drinking and I didn't have to worry about watching out for cops on the way home.

Does that mean I'm not going to drink while bowling? I haven't decided yet. We only have 2 weeks left and we're out of it. I think next week I will give it one more shot since I still have a chance at getting high series (should have had it this week).

Guess that SOB just might have been right all along.

Next thing you know he'll tell me I'd probably golf better sober too!

Evil Tetnus shot

So, during my physical Monday they said I needed another tetnus shot as it had been 10 years. This time it was recommended by the CDC that everyone get a whooping cough vaccine too. 18 hours later I had a 101 degree temp. Lasted about 10 hours before it broke. Man, that sucked.

While I was home shivering yesterday I watched Major League. It finally dawned on me where I knew Dennis Haysbert from. He was Pedro Serrano in that movie! Weird to think he because the greatest president ever in 24.

There comes a day...

in every person's life when they realize that they can no longer treat their body however they want and get away with it. That day has arrived for me. I was always the guy that could eat whatever, whenever. Drink whatever, whenever. Never an issue. Always burned it off, my body was a processing plant. Take it in, burn it off, do it all over again.

Well, 6 months ago I was working at the state of Wisconsin, in a place where it was very easy to bring in your lunch, eat right, etc and I did it because it was simple. Never had to think about it. Grab a few things from the fridge, take them to work, have a healthy lunch.

That all changed when I decided to move to a new client, an insurance company of all things. This is perhaps the most unhealthy place I have ever seen. Sure, they have the requisite Weight Watchers meetings, but that's because they have to! I've never seen so many 350 lb women riding around on scooters that the company buys them because, well, you know, it's a long walk and they're really fat! I've watched said women drive right up to the donut counter to load up their baskets. If that's not wrong, I don't know what is. And is there a good place for me to nuke a lunch or store some fruit? No, there's one microwave for 3,000 people. Talk about a line at lunch time! Is there a fridge? No, nothing. So, I like many others here, venture down to the cafeteria at lunch where they're very happy to take my $6 and give me back meatloaf and mashed potatoes or giant slices of pizza. Oh sure, there's a salad bar but come on, I've never needed to do that before.

Before... that was 12 lbs ago, that was back when my blood pressure was normal. Now, however, I'm faced with being overweight (I'm not in scooter range yet, luckily) and I now have what the doc referred to as hypertension, which means my BP is too high. I could be damaging my heart. Well, if that don't make you sit up and take notice, nothing will.

So, I now have reached that point where I no longer can do whatever the hell I want. I will have to eat right (less salt, more fruit, which for me is the hardest part as I'm a sunflower seed junkie) and exercise regularly (no, golf does not count much, nor does bowling).

I consider myself pretty lucky. I went to the doctor, caught it early and can do something about it. Don't be that person that ignored it forever until it was too late. Things can change very rapidly. My BP in November was 100/70 and it was 142/83 yesterday, just 4 months later. I'm not going on meds yet and am going to try to get it back on course with diet and exercise but I have genetics going against me too as my mom, her siblings and her mother all have or had high BP.

I guess you always know in the back of your mind when you're younger that "someday I will need to stop doing that." You can choose to ignore that part or do something about it.

At least there's still hockey

I don't have actual records for this but I'm pretty damn sure this is the first time I have not had a single team in the final 4 for the NCAA basketball tournament. I barely had anyone in the Elite 8 (just 2).

Luckily for me, I can turn my attention to the NCAA hockey tournament also going on now but of course, unless you live in the upper midwest or northeast you probably didn't even realize there was such a thing as college hockey.

So far it's been a great postseason for Wisconsin. Yesterday the women's team won their first national championship with a 3-0 win over Minnesota. They were lead by freshman goalie sensation Jessie Vetter from nearby Monona Grove high school. Her dad is actually my insurance agent if you can believe that. Congrats.

On the men's side, after taking 3rd in the WCHA conference tournament the Badgers got a number 1 seed in their regional and after an easy first game against Bemidji State, they needed to go over 11 minutes into the 3rd overtime last night to beat Cornell 1-0. It was the 3rd straight postseason shutout for Badger goalie Brian Elliott. They now face Maine in the next game. The other 2 teams in the final 4 are Boston College and North Dakota. The next games start on April 6th and the championship is April 8th.

On the local level we had a tough game last night, playing once again against the former NCAA player who again had 4 goals against us. I think he's scored 16 in 3 games against us this year. Crazy. He's so fast I think he could give me a 50 yard headstart and catch me at 75. Anyway, we were down 5-4 with a couple minutes left and they took back to back penalties to give us a 5 on 3 power play. We also pulled our goalie to make it 6 on 3 and I swear we had 20 shots on goal in those last 2 minutes including my blast from the left face off dot that went 2 feet wide and ricocheted out of the zone. Just couldn't get one in to tie it up. I was beat by the time it ended.

Prior to playing I took advantage of a beautiful 50 degree day and went golfing for the first time. Played 9 at the local course. Shot a 47 with an up and down round. Nice to shake the rust off. The driver worked great consistently. Hit every fairway with it, including a 290 yard blast on the 7th hole. For some reason I was pull hooking my irons though so I was missing greens by 40 yards to the left. I had some really good chips too and 1 putted 6 times. I did however flub about 5 chips and 4 putted from 60 feet on the 2nd hole for an 8. I did par 2 holes and managed to birdie the one par 5 with driver, 3 wood and a gap wedge from 100 yards that spun back to 2 feet from the hole for an easy bird.

Funniest shot of the day was on the next hole. Short par 3 island green. Came up 2 feet short on my tee shot so I had to go to the drop area to hit my 3rd. I pulled up on my sand wedge and hit a low screamer across the green. I groaned as I saw it heading for the water on the other side. All of a sudden I see the ball sail into the air and I knew it had hit the low rock wall around the water and I figured it was going in. But then I realized it was actually coming back towards me! It came to rest about 20 feet from the cup. I still 3 putted for a 6 but it could have been worse!

Our weather has finally turned the corner I think so maybe this is the start of golfing every weekend for the next 7 months. Yay!

Crying Athletes

When did this become acceptable? You got JJ Redick and Adam Morrison crying on national tv because they lost a freakin' basketball game? Are you kidding me? Bunch of fucking nancy boys, need a good ass whuppin.

I mean, it's not like I'm a totally insensitive guy. I cried when Brian Piccalo died and I cried when I watched The Champ. I am human. But crying because you lost a GAME? A college game? Where no money was involved? Have these guys switched from steroids to estrogen?

I can also accept tears of joy, you know, when you're soooo happy because you WON the big game that you can't help yourself. I don't really consider that crying. Crying is what a 4 year old does when you take away his Power Ranger action figure.

As Tom Hanks once said to a team of women (much like JJ and Adam), "There's no crying in baseball."

The curse of the newbie

Posts limited due to newbie instruction. I've been stuck at this dude's desk spoon feeding him code for 2 weeks. At first it was an hour or two a day. Now it's 8 hours a day which leaves me enough time to eat a quick lunch and check my email a couple times. He's restarting his test server now so I have 2 minutes to post this.

Bowling sucked once again last night. I stink, you stink, we all stink... I did win another card game which is really all that matters at this point. 3 weeks left, it can't end soon enough.

I'm seeing an accountant tomorrow. I believe it's too late to save my 2005 return but my main goal is to get 2006 fixed ASAP so I don't end up paying $35,000 in taxes this year...

Adios

Drawing to an inside blank

I got nothing...

I'm beat and brain dead and I need to find an awesome tax accountant pronto, so I'm a little stressed.

Time to go to my procrastinators anonymous meeting... aw, it can wait.

Later

Funny noises in my pocket

I finally figured out how to have my iPAQ automatically go check my email for me (I'm too lazy to do it myself). Only trouble is every 15 minutes (the time I have it set to check) I hear this musical number coming from my pocket. Wonder how long I can do that before I go nuts...

I tested out some software that allows you to shrink down your dvd's into the right size and format for windows media on pocket pc's. Did a couple different Band of Brothers ones (get about 5 minutes of test video). The quality is pretty decent. I think I'll buy one of them.

Only thing I'm still trying to work out is how to convert iTunes downloaded video (found a Dane Cook video from Comedy Central, plus they have the Colbert Report and John Stewart as well as Lost and a few other tv shows) into a wmv file. I dug around for a few hours during our baseball draft last night and couldn't find anything that could convert those files. I guess Apple doesn't want me playing those on anything but an iPod. Anyone have any ideas?

Speaking of the draft. Started at 8pm, done at midnight. My team's not too horrible (italicized guys were my keepers):
C: Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham
1B: Albert Puhols, Prince Fielder
2B: Chase Utley, Mark Ellis
SS: Felipe Lopez, Nomar Garciaparra
3B: Hank Blalock, Mike Lowell
OF: Carlos Lee, Grady Sizemore, Barry Bonds, Brady Clark, Nick Swisher, Luis Gonzalez
SP: John Smoltz, John Lackey, Doug Davis, Noah Lowry, Eric Bedard, Jeff Suppan, Chris Young, Derek Lowe.
RP: Chad Cordero, Bob Wickman, Danys Baez

My bracket is bustier than usual

Well, my bracket is busted pretty damn good... Trying to ride a feeling that the big 10 would be strong I took it in the ass. Iowa, Indiana and Ohio State all screwed me as did UNC but I'm sure NOBODY had George Mason making the sweet 16. Oh well, there's always next year and my final 4 is still intact.

I bought a new toy Saturday. It's an HP iPAQ hw6515. It's basically a windows mobile PDA and a quad band cell phone (from Cingular). It's got everything and I mean everything. Camera? Yep, 1.3 mp camera with flash. Video? Yep, integrated video recorder. Can it play movies? Yep, windows media player is integrated. Email? Yep, you can set up multiple accounts and automatically download at whatever increment you want to have it check.
About the only downside I've seen so far is the battery will probably not last more than a day and it's a touch complicated to make a phone call while driving (I do have a bluetooth headset for it but it appears it does not have voice activated dialing stock, I may have to download something).
I can even turn off the phone (flight mode) for use on airplanes. It takes an SD and a mini-SD card (2 slots) for memory. I'm thinking for my next trip that I'll load a few tv shows or movies on it.
And the coolest thing that I haven't tried out yet? It has integrated GPS, which means I load a few golf courses on there and I will know exact distance to the hole every time! Maybe I can load a disney world map on there too? Who knows.

Slow Starter

Man, I was staring down the barrel of a 4-3 start and the very real possibility that my bracket was toast on day 1. I've never had that feeling before, always been in it with at least a small chance to take home some money at least into the sweet 16. But yesterday was just a horrible feeling. If BC had lost I might have just torn up the bracket and thrown it away. But somehow they came back, fighting to the end and picked up the W. And with them I fought back as well, going 9-0 after that 4-3 start to rally back into the game. The 3 online pools I'm in have me sitting in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, at most only 2 games back. Not sure about the 4th pool, I gave some money to a guy at bowling. I hope he didn't use it to buy more pot...

I'm glad Washington won their first game. Maybe some of those nay-sayers will get off their back now. Sure they lost to Washington State... twice. But Dick Bennet has brought down a lot of better teams in his day (remember Wisconsin's final 4 run in 2000?). That said, I have them losing to Illinois next. Why do I do that? I hate Illinois and I love the Huskies, yet I pick opposite.

Today's first game is Wisconsin/Arizona at 11:30 CST. Looks like Ray Nixon will be playing after all. He sprained his ankle Monday in practice. I'll be leaving at 11 to go watch it at the bar with a friend or two or three... It is my half day after all. :)
I don't think they're going to win but I had to pick them to win one game so I could cheer them on. Nothing worse than picking against your team and then being torn whether to root for or against them. You know, the old "come on!" and then "well, it wouldn't be horrible if they lost". I hate that...

And now for something completely different.
I'm trying to decide if I want to replace my current phone with a new Blackberry 8700c from Cingular. It's gonna cost me a pretty penny but the upfront cost doesn't bother me, it's the $45/month on top of that for blackberry services that scares me. Is it really worth it? Any of you have one (besides you n1ce, I already know you have one)? I think I might be able to write it off as a business expense. A little help here, please.

Final 4 Picks

Ok, here are my picks:
UConn
Duke
Memphis
Boston College

UConn over BC
Duke over Memphis

UConn over Duke (JJ goes 2 for 27 shooting)

State Hoops Tourney = Blizzard

Every year around the time of the boys state basketball tournament we have a huge snow storm and this year is no different. Snow is just starting here and will be heavy most of the day, totalling around 4-7" by the time it's done this evening. Gives me a headache to think about what tonight is going to be like. I'm driving Cdubya to work this morning so she doesn't have to deal with it later. It really makes her nervous (being a California girl) to drive here... but hey, we've been here 7 years, there's got to be a point where she realizes that it's not that bad, especially when you drive a 5,000 lb GMC Yukon and can just put it in 4wd and go. I think she's more afraid of the other morons and I don't blame her for that (see previous article on semi-truck drivers).

I hate being jealous but when n1ce and AR show up for bowling last night carrying their new Blackberry phones I gotta say I was jealous. I have about 6 months left on my contract before I can sign up for another one and get a new phone cheap. I love the idea of a blackberry but I'm not sure I want to lug around a big heavy phone all the time. I'm leaning more towards a Motorola RAZR currently. I like having my phone in my pocket and not really noticing it.

Speaking of bowling... nah, fuck bowling.

Disaster!

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Feed Me

What a sad world we live in when poor fish are starving from lack of hand feeding. Someone give these guys a quarter pounder for christ's sake.

24 was awesome again last night. I'm not going to talk about it though, don't have much time this morning. I'm mentoring a newbie and I gotta get going.

One other note... we're going to Disney World! No, I didn't win the super bowl... we're taking my nephew and hooking up with some friends who are taking their kids for the first time. We've been many, many times and we figured it would be fun to be there for a kid's first trip. Kind of like getting to experience it new all over again. I just hope we don't lose him... not used to having to keep an eye on a little guy (he's 7).

Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead

In a dramatic recreation of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's mobile home landed on a woman, killing her when a tornado ripped through Missouri last night. We had some wicked storms come through yesterday.

Well, it's time for the big dance. Badgers got a 9 seed and play Arizona in the first round. My gut says they have no chance, especially the way they played Friday in the big 10 tourney. Outside of Tucker, they have no offense. Kam Taylor almost single-handedly threw the game away with some horrible shooting. Ryan kept him on the bench for long stretches and they outscored Indiana during those times but as soon as he came back in he'd launch a couple more terrible 3's and they'd get behind again.

Saturday I was able to finish my wainscoting (see Basement project link for some more pictures). Now it's on to the ceiling. I went out to the driving range too as it was 60+ degrees out and I felt the need to swing the clubs in preparation for a trip to Whistling Straits Easter weekend for a tournament. It felt great to put the windows down on the highway and get some fresh air for once.

Then there was bowling, I sucked again, I give up....

Yesterday we went shopping and ended up getting Cdubya a new 20" iMac at CompUSA. It's very sweet... I'm still looking for a new digital camera and am leaning towards the Sony DSC-H1, which is a 5 mp camera with a 12x optical zoom. It's one of the few with a super zoom and a big lcd (2.5") screen. I'm waiting for the price to drop and it should soon as Sony just released 2 new ones that should hit the store in the next month or two.

Hockey last night, we won 4-3 in a shootout. We had a 3-1 lead but blew it only to win in the shootout. I was credited with a goal that I'm pretty sure never went in. We had a face off in their end and the center drew it back to me and I was able to get off a hard shot that seemed to drill the left post and come straight back out. The whistle blew and they stopped play. I thought someone was in the crease but the ref asked who shot it and they called it a goal. I wasn't about to complain. We're 10-4-1 now, in 2nd place.

Watched the premier of the Soprano's last night. What a great start! And it was such a cliff hanger that they didn't even show scenes for next week!

Blast Off

This picture is of a moon of Saturn called Enceladus. Scientists say there is evidence of liquid water spewing from geyers leading them to think it may harbor life forms.

A fitting picture considering the developments on Survivor last night. SPOILER ALERT. In a combined reward/immunity challenge, which was part speed and strength and part puzzle solving, La Mina had a huge lead but astronaut Dan and Sally couldn't figure out the puzzle. Casaya enjoyed a big bbq with the local Panamanians.

The key to this challenge though was that Casaya was able to pick one person to send to exile island from La Mina and that person would not have to go to tribal council or face being voted off. They picked Sally. Sally was supposed to be the next one to go since the 4 remaining guys were in a tight alliance. They ended up having to send Dan into space (or just home to his geeky family I guess) due to his being weaker than the other three. They really had no choice, despite their admiration for this three time space shuttle passenger.

Scary POTD

Try not to scream, this is Eddie Van Halen.

TPOTD

Yesterday's song was from Rage Against the Machine. No one guessed it. Hell, no one even attempted. I even gave you a hint about not getting angry... *testing testing. Is this thing on?*

So, anyway, I'm giving up on the whole song thing. It's run it's course. Now, for your viewing pleasure, I will turn to seeking out... pause, wait for it, sound the trumpets:



The Picture of the Day!

Today's picture reminds us that a severe brain injury is no reason not to show your team spirit as this Southern Illinois cheerleader shows us.

Ok, on to more depressing topics. Bowling. I'm done. Out of gas. The season is too long, about 2 months too long. This happens to me every year. I just want it to be over, can't get motivated. I bowled like crap again. We still have 5 weeks left. I'm going to need something to get me to the end. More beer? Hmmm

Big 10 hoops tourney starts today. Badgers play Indiana at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon. Yay, I have a half day, I can watch the game.

Sleep now in the fire

Ok, back to the music. Friday's song was Jeff Healey band, correctly guessed by HUGE Patrick Swayze fan, n1ce. We're in the 90's for today's rock/punk song. See if you can guess it and don't get angry if you can't.

Lots of TV to talk about today but first, the World Baseball Classic. I see the US won 2-0. I'm not sure I can get into this, maybe next round. The Dominican Republic looks stacked. I wouldn't expect too much from the US, hell, we couldn't even qualify for the Olympics last time.

Ok, on to TV. I'm just going to free flow thoughts from Monday and Tuesday's shows.
Monday:
King of Queens, trampoline basketball, 'nuff said.

Medium. Anyone else watch this show on NBC? Not sure what it is but I like it each week.

Tuesday:
Premier of The Unit, starring Dennis Haysbert, who you would know as President David Palmer from 24 (or for those of you who don't watch 24, he's the guy from the All State Insurance commercials) and Robert Patrick, who was in Terminator 2. It also had Scott Foley, who is Jennifer Garner's ex-husband. I liked this show. Maybe because I like Haysbert so much. I wish he was really our president.

Amazing Race. SPOILER ALERT.
I'm so glad they're not doing the family edition this time. It's back to being fun with difficult tasks and people falling apart. I'm really pulling for the 2 hippy guys and they finished first this time. They just have a great attitude. Right behind them were the frat boys that were first last week. These guys are getting on my nerves and I know Cdubya hates them. It came down to the old couple who once again picked the wrong task at the detour, thinking that scaling a wet rock wall using ascenders would be easier than pressing some sugar cane into sugar water and making ethenol. I'm not sure they understand the game. Lucky for them the 2 older sisters fell apart and were last and eliminated. I'm going out on a limb and saying the old couple is next to go. The rest of the teams are fairly even, though team pink showed very little ability but they did go to tank tops for the rock wall climb so I was happy once again.

Sad Day in the Baseball World

No song today. Kirby Puckett passed away yesterday from a stroke he suffered on Sunday. He was 45. He was one of the truly fun guys to watch play the game. A lifetime .318 hitter, his career was cut short after only 12 years by glaucoma, which left him blind in his right eye. He will be missed.


I was all set to write about 24 from last night. It was really good, finally getting back to more action and cliffhangers. With Kirby's passing however, I just don't feel up to it.

Hell To Pay

Friday's song was Bottom's Up from Van Halen. No one even guessed. Oh well...

Today's song might be a little tougher, unless you've seen Road House.

My big excitement for the weekend was getting my new DirecTV High Def DVR. Now I can record HD shows in HD and even pause live TV. It does not, however, make the Academy Awards show go any faster.

After finishing off all the tv shows we had recorded on our old standard definition tivo box I had to quickly reroute a couple coax lines before the installer showed up (he was coming between 1 and 5). I also had to hook up a 5x8 multiswitch that would allow me to take 4 satellite inputs and 1 antenna input and route the signals to 8 different devices. Once I got all that done I hooked up the old HD receiver we had to our 26" JVC HD LCD tv in the bedroom. I ended up being ready for the installer by 1:00. He showed up at 3:30... That's when I screwed up.

I told him "this will be simple, just have to hook up the new box and turn it on." Fatal mistake. One of the satellite tuners couldn't get a signal, which meant bad coax somewhere along the line. First, I realized the line I was using to carry the antenna and satellite signal together (you can do this and separate the signals again using a diplexer) was RG-59, not RG-6, which can't carry both signals. Ok, we switched so that the 2nd line did that instead. Oops, no signal on that line. Down to the basement, replace connectors, still nothing. Turned out to be the coax coming from the wall to the box. Replaced, and everything was ok.

So, I thought. Now, I have a very, very week antenna signal (for picking up the local HD channels over the air). I used to have a direct line for that and now I was trying to use the multiswitch and diplexer method. Ok, I tried taking it out of the switch and combine it with one of the outputs using a diplexer in the basement. Better, but still iffy. Not like I had before. Only one solution, run another line. Before heading to my brother's on Saturday evening I stopped and picked up another 100' of coax. Sunday morning I got up and ran that line and everything is back to normal. Only downside is that now I only have that antenna signal in the living room, which means no HD local channels in the bedroom, just the local channels coming from the dish. Oh well, don't watch that much tv in there anyway and by mid next year all the local channels will be available in HD over the dish so I'll be able to get rid of the antenna then.

Spent a few hours working on the basement project in the afternoon while we got another couple inches of snow. I am soooo done with winter. Supposed to be 50's by the end of the week. I hope that's the end of it.

No hockey last night (bye week) so I watched the Oscars with Cdubya. Not too bad, John Stewart was fairly funny. What was with the montages? They must have had a half dozen different ones. I didn't even know what they were for. It was almost like they just said "in order to ensure the show runs a half hour late we will show you clips from old movies." Even Stewart said that they had actually run out of clips and if anyone had some more to please send them in.

Have a good week

Bottoms Up!

CB googled his way to the top yesterday with his "guess" of Guns 'N' Roses for yesterday's artist. Congrats, I emailed your check. Today's song goes back a little farther, back to a time when rock was a super hero fighting to drive away the evils of disco.

Finally caught up with Deal or No Deal from Wednesday night. Set a new record with a woman taking home $407,000. I thought she was nuts for getting that far but she could have had a lot more. If she had opened 2 more cases her offer would have been for a cool million. Oh well, that's better than the alternative of taking home 5 bucks. Next guy wasn't so lucky and got $64,000.
Guy last night ended up with $250,000 in an up and down round. He took a pretty huge risk when he got to $120,000 and it paid off. He did the smart thing at the end. He was down to 2 cases with like $400 and $500,000. He was offered the $250,000. Turning that down would have been idiotic. Basically saying I'll risk my $250,000 on a coin toss, double or nothing. No way is that a smart move. Next person was a mother of 7, yes 7... crazy. Anyway, she'll have to finish up tonight.

I missed out on Earl so don't tell me what happened! I did quickly watch the Office after I watched Deal or No Deal off Tivo. It was ok, nothing special, except Dwight giving a speech from Mussolini that had them all cheering at the sales meeting. That was pretty funny.

I have a lot of tv to watch off the Tivo box by Saturday afternoon. I ordered a new DirecTV HD DVR yesterday and it arrives tomorrow. The old Tivo box will be disconnected and I'll move the other HD receiver to the bedroom where we have the 26" HD LCD. The old Tivo box will eventually end up hooked up in the new pub room going into the basement.

Last night was also Survivor night! Spoiler Alert.
The Casaya tribe is a mess. There isn't anyone in that tribe that likes anyone else, yet they continue to win challenges. They won the reward challenge which was pretty disgusting, throwing around huge fish and having to chop their heads and tails off. Bruce started doing that for Casaya but it became obvious he had no skill for it. Bobby took over and he was amazing, whacking off their heads in one blow. That turned out to be the difference as they won all the fish plus rice and beans. Too bad when they got back to camp it was swamped and they had no fire. They ended up eating the fish raw! It was sick...

La Mina didn't go home empty handed though. They were given the choice of rice or beans and for some unknown reason they chose the beans. Well, anyone that's eaten a lot of beans and nothing else will know what happens to your system if you try that. It ain't pretty, as JD Fortune would sing.... Lots of puking and ugh, I don't want to talk about it. Terry was sent to Exile Island again where he stood on top of the giant idol as ruler of the world....

In the immunity challenge, La Mina finally won! They had lost about 7 challenges in a row and despite their intestinal distress they managed to get it done. Back at Casaya, they continued to show what a mess they were by arguing over who was going to go. First it was Bobby, Shane thought he'd flip at the merge (he would have been right). Then the girls suggested that Bruce was less helpful in the challenges so they switched to that. Shane then goes and tells Bobby he's in and the swear on it (on Shane's child again, that kid is going to get struck down for sure). Then the girls get together and decide it should be Bobby. Shane is beside himself. In the end 5 people got votes but Bobby got 3 so he was gone. I can't believe Courtney didn't get more votes, many on the tribe have said how she was one of the most annoying people ever. Oh well. Bobby called them all sorts of names in his exit interview, pretty funny.

TGIF!

Garden of Eden

Today's song is not from a Seattle band as the last few have been. They hit their high point just before the grunge scene took over. One of their members is now in a band featured here recently.

Yesterday we had Lithium from Nirvana, although the one on my iPod was sung by Marty Casey during Rockstar:INXS on CBS last summer. Marty took 2nd in the competition to be the new lead singer for INXS, with JD Fortune ending up being the new front man (I have the new cd with him on it, it's ok). Marty is the lead singer for the Love Hammers (out of Chicago). He also wrote the song Trees which has been getting some airplay lately. Great tune. I believe the Lovehammers are supposed to be opening for INXS on their world tour. I haven't checked it out to confirm this though.

Last night was bowling night. Prior to that we had a gathering at the local sports bar to celebrate a promotion. I found they have Guinness on tap so I have another place to go for the sweet nectar of the gods... so, after a couple Imperial pints (20 oz) I hurried over to the bowling alley for league. Didn't get much warm up but we bowled well (I shot 226) the first game and we won. We also won a close one the 2nd game (I had 203). But, unfortunately our luck ran out in the 3rd and no one really bowled very well as we got smoked (I had 173). We also lost total. Hard to catch up to the front runners with a 4-3 night and you're 12 points behind.

Didn't get to see Deal or No Deal, but I did watch Lost after I got home. Spoiler Alert.
The episode focused primarily around Claire and the 2 weeks missing from her memory when she was kidnapped by Ethan (remember him?) while pregnant. With help from the female shrink from the other side of the island, she starts to get her memory back. Her baby, Aaron is sick with a fever and a rash and she's convinced he has an infection and there is a vaccine in the place she was taken. She remembers Ethan giving her injections to protect the baby. She's also doped up and he's convincing her that she should let them have the baby to protect it and she will be free to leave later. She also remembers a young woman who helps her escape where she was found by the crazy french woman. Turns out that the young woman that helped her escape is probably the french woman's daughter who was stolen from her many years ago.
Claire, Kate and the french woman go looking for that place and they find it, another hidden bunker with Dharma on the doors. They go in but the place is deserted. Kate does find some disguises and make up that make it obvious that the guy they talked to from the "Others" was hiding who he really was. We did see him in one of Claire's flashbacks without the beard. There is no medicine there at all.
They go back to the beach and eventually Aaron's fever breaks and he's fine. They show this cute little baby who seems all innocent and that's when it dawns on me... the fortune teller that Claire went to see warned her that her child would be pure evil. Did Ethan inject something into the baby to make him one of them? How old will he have to be before he becomes evil? I guess this show will have to continue for another 10 years at least so we can find out!

And oh, Alison, sorry about Duke... heh heh (JJ 10 for 28, nice).

Lithium

Yesterday's song was Pilate from Pearl Jam. No one guessed, must have been too obscure a song. So, we'll make it easier today. I'll give you another hint. Almost half my iPod is filled with Seattle bands.

Two shows to talk about today, Deal or No Deal and Amazing Race.

First was Deal or No Deal. Up first was a black woman minister who brought not only her family with her but also her entire choir. She got down to 4 cases left with 2 small amounts and 2 big amounts ($500k and $750k). She decided to bypass almost $200k to go for it. Unfortunately the next case she opened was a big one which knocked her offer back to $80,000. Her family wanted her to keep going so she did and opened the other big case to the dismay of everyone, including Howie Mandel. She was left with $1 and $5. The banker made an offer of $2, it got pretty sad. She turned it down and opened her case to find the $5. Oh well... Lowest total I've seen anyone walk away with. Pretty foolish but gutsy. I love how people that realize they aren't going to win any money try to justify it by saying something like "money doesn't make me happy, these people make me happy." As far as I'm concerned that is utter bullshit.

Then came the 2 hour premier of Amazing Race. Already this season beats the previous incarnation of the family one. Tons of action, interesting people, interesting locations. There are a couple teams that jump out as fun to watch.

The 2 hippy dudes from San Fran that look like Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.

Team Pink with the spaghetti strap tank tops barely constraining their uh, you know... Honestly, I doubt I could tell you what they look like.

Team Geek was also really fun. A couple obviously geeky and proud of it, quite funny.

Too many funny parts to remember them all. Black guy getting introduced to white guy Lake, when he hears his name asks "like the ocean?" I just about crapped myself laughing. Black guy's girlfriend bent over a motorcycle on the streets of Brazil trying to work on it while a dozen guys whistle and holler innapropriate things at her. Boyfriend does... nothing. Unreal.

In the end, Will and Jack, I mean Scott and John, the non-dating gay friends from Boston, were the last to arrive and were eliminated.

Be sure to check out my newest blog "slang for foreigners" where I attempt to educate my non-American co-workers in American slang. Link to the right.