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They lost.
By two points.
Because of a 4th down pass interference call.
And a 35-yard field goal.

But, and I have to credit them here, they played well. Eighteen (18) rookies and a weakened defensive line and they showed that they had what it took to take the game down to the wire. I’m not happy that they lost, but I am happy with the way that they played. If this is any indication, then this will be a very good season.

And, it seems as though the Panthers gave up their game to the Cowboys late in the 4th quarter, as well. *sigh* Looks like Miami is the chance I have for a winning team today/tonight. We shall see…

Namaste.

Sunday
Ten minutes to football. Life is good. Or, as Langston Hughes wrote: “Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!” It will be even “better” after Wednesday morning when we get the new satellite system installed.

::: Football Update :::

The CBS feed that we get is showing the Ravens game! Hoo-AH!

On the negative side, neither Ray Lewis nor Michael McCrary are playing, due to injuries. That leaves a couple of potential problems on the defensive side of the field. Hmm. Yeah, big problems: On their first drive, the Colts have just marched it downfield. And scored. Not good.

On the positive side, the offensive unit looks like they have some cohesion… and some skills. And a little fire, too. There is hope.
::: End Update :::

Yesterday wasn’t a bad day either…

• They rebroadcast “The Stuff of Heroes” (Season 3, ep. 2) of X-Men: Evolution, which I missed when it aired a few weeks ago.
• Talked to the paternal parental unit and the paternal grandmother unit.
• Went to lunch with Jess and some friends.
• We then saw The Transporter at Larryland North the Gateway. After the movie, we wandered around the shops for a while. We even stopped in to say “hi” to (or “harass,” depending on your p.o.v.) .
• More wandering.
• Bowling. My first game completely sucked ass; the second game was much more respectable. and her friend Debi joined us for a little pin-killing action.
• Breakfast at the V.I. We sat around and told bad jokes. And people-watched (as usual). And made bad jokes about the people we were watching.

What’s on tap for the post-football part of the afternoon? No idea. But, it’s Day 2 of the three-day weekend, so it doesn’t really matter. It’s all good. Uh-huh! Great. Now, I’m quoting gangsta rap from M.C. Hammer. That cannot be a good sign.

Quote of the Day: Last night, at the V.I., scored the QotD crown with: “You can’t touch me anymore if you’re going to scratch.”

Namaste.

Saturday
Day 1 of the three-day weekend.

More later.

Peace.

Friday (coda)
Work was a little busier than I was expecting. I was going to try and leave around 16:00… but couldn’t, because mail volumes were too high. So I figured that I’d hold my lunch for a bit and see if they would offer early dismissals shortly thereafter. So, I waited. 16:30. And waited. 17:00. And waited. 17:30. And waited. 18:00. At this point, I contractually had to take a lunch. So I did. Two minutes before my lunch was over, they made the call and let us go. Two minutes!!!

::: braincramp :::

So, I clocked in from lunch and clocked out for the day. Went on an excursion to Ye Olde Shoppe of Comics. It’s amazing just how much stuff will accumulate in your reserve box after two months.

Came home for a bit. Didn’t do too much (translation: “I didn’t do a damned thing.”) A little after midnight, when Jess got off work, we went to breakfast at the not-so-local-but-semi-regular Village Inn with and Kristen. And then (now) back home “…jiggety-jig.”

NPR/PRI Stories
The World
Talk of the Nation – Science Friday
All Things Considered

: Check out TotN-SF. They had medical stories that might interest you. Also listen to the “Medical Tourism in Thailand” story from The World, too.

Stray Toasters:

• Former President (and person who also says “nucular”) was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
• I learned, this morning, that I still remember 99.96% of the lyrics to The Eye of the Tiger. Yes, that one. By Survivor. From Rocky III. How did I discover it? It was playing on the radio when I was on the way back from the gym… and I was singing along. *sigh*
• That Eye of the Tiger thought also reminded me of the Saturday Night Live sketch “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood,” in which Eddie Murphy was playing drums and singing that song… when one of his neighbors yells and tells him to stop playing and be quiet. He doesn’t. Then, Mr. T bursts in, grabs Mr. Robinson (Murphy) by the neck, looks at the camera and says,”The new ‘Word of the Day,’ boys and girls, is pain!”

Quotes of the Day:

Steve: That’s an unusual place for a zit!

…and, after a rather extended quote-free hiatus:

Dee: People always use me to adjust their crotch.

And now, off to The Dreaming.

Peace.

Friday (part II)
Kicked some metal ass! I got the wild hair to do a mini-set to push myself while doing bench presses. 175 lbs. And I did it. Only got 2 reps, because I did it after my normal sets… but I did it!!! Hoo-AH!

I have to go (back) to Best Buy to exchange/replace an adapter tip for my laptop. The power adapter tip that I use… um, used, decided to go AWOL and I bought a new one Wednesday night. I went to use it last night only to discover that it was the wrong size. And, did I mention that it said on the packaging that it was for my make and model of laptop? I didn’t? Well, it did.

::: braincramp :::
So, off to see what they have that I can use.

Song of the Day: In keeping with the title/theme of the 07:44 post, and because I’m in rather good mood, I’m going to make Ceiling Unlimited (Rush, from “Vapor Trails”) the SotD. In fact, I think that I might even dedicate it to , who seems to be having something of a “day,” already. Lyrics here.

NPR/PRI Stories (Thursday)
The World
Talk of the Nation
All Things Considered
The Connection – Copyright Law and the Public Domain

I think that yesterday was the most fun that Julia and I have had listening to TotN in the 10 months that we have been listening to it. What was the topic? Of all things: The House’s passing of the resolution to give the Shrub “infinite cosmic power (…itty-bitty living space).”¹ Yeah, yeah… I know that the resolution, in itself, wasn’t funny, but we kind of turned the whole thing on its ear. And then it was hysterical. Neal Conan asked Steve Inskeep (NPR correspondent) about the final tally of the voting; Steve said that he had missed that. We started speculating on what would/could make someone (i.e.: the person who is there for that purpose) miss the vote. The things that we came up with weren’t pretty. They were funny, but not pretty. ::: evil grin ::: And we turned most of the comments about the representatives and the vote into a some lurid… and dripping (no pun intended) with sexual overtones (and undertones and a few things in the middle).

And as for the rest of the stories, check out the links. There were a lot of good ones on all of the programs listed above. Twas indeed a good news/information day.

Stray Toaster
Cats are still funny.

Peace.

¹ Apologies to fans of Disney’s Aladdin… but I couldn’t resist.

Friday
“When you woke up this morning
Mama said you’d be the Chosen One.”
-“Woke Up This Morning” (the theme from The Sopranos), by A3

Close, but not quite…

Actually, when I woke up this morning, the thought: “Nothing wrong with kicking a little mental ass” was the first thing that went from one side of my brain to the other. And that’s one Hell of a way to start the morning!

It’s going to be a good day.

And now, off to kick a little metal ass at the gym.

Peace.

Thursday
This waking up at 6:45, without an alarm, is a little odd. I haven’t gotten up that early with any regularity since I was in high school. And grade school. Anyway… I was up, again, at 6:45. Stayed in bed, but couldn’t doze back off. I tried. On the “plus” side, I did get to the gym a little early.

NPR/PRI Stories (Wednesday)
The World
Talk of the Nation
All Things Considered

TotN talked about the West Coast port lockouts (good information and background info, too), “There Ought to Be a Law (pt II), and an interview with former NPR producer Neenah Ellis about “Living to Be 100 Years Old.”
ATC had good stories on the new additions to the European Union, Russians in Cuba and S.E.T.I.
And, The World had an interesting piece on Ireland’s “Bloody Sunday.” All that I had really “known” about it was from the U2 song Sunday Bloody Sunday. This was an informative and well-done piece.

Stray Toaster
In more “news” of doings of “The Church,” last night, Jay Leno had the two men from Puppetry of the Penis on the show. KSL, the local NBC affiliate… and owned by “The Church,” refused to air the show. The local WB affiliate did air it. In fact, Jay made a comment about it and was openly grateful to KUWB for airing the show. (Sidenote: Unless they have changed recently, KSL doesn’t show Saturday Night Live, either…. KUWB picked/picks up the slack there, too.)

::: braincramp :::
HELLO?!? We’re talking network television. What in the Nine Hells were they afraid that they were going to do?!? Idiotsticks. I watched the show. The PotP guys were pretty cool. They came out, fully dressed, and talked. Imagine that! They were on a talk show… and they talked! I wasn’t aware that they were going to be on the show until I talked to a friend of mine back home, who had already seen it, told me about it. He asked me if I had heard about “the controversy.” I hadn’t. I watched. I didn’t see anything untoward about their appearance.

::: braincramp :::
Have I said “Idiotsticks,” yet? I have? Okay. Well… consider it said again.

Song of the Day: Dead Man’s Party by Oingo Boingo, from the CD “Farewell.” And the other “Three-for-Thursday” songs: Weird Science and Gratitude.

And with that, I’m off.

Peace.

Wednesday
For some reason, I woke up at 06:40 this morning. Waking up a little early is good, but this borders on ridiculous. Especially considering how far beyond tired I was last night… at 21:45. My body is still getting used to this schedule. Hopefully, it will balance out soon. *sigh* Gymtime. Back in a bit.

::: time lapse :::

Gym GOOOD!!! :::gesture :::

I am craving a Cinnabon®. That’s not necessarily a “bad” thing… aside from the fact that I’d have to head up to Fascist Fashion Place to get one. Of course, that would put me in a decent position to take my laptop to get looked at. We shall see…

NPR/PRI Stories
The World
Talk of the Nation
All Things Considered

TotN started their Men’s Health series (a companion series to the Womens’ Health series that they had in ___). The topic was Prostate Cancer. Then, they switched gears and talked about the shootings in the D.C. Metro area. The last hour covered reactions to the President’s speech. It was interesting to note that the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) did not air the speech. Why not? Basically, it boiled down to:

1. Because they were not asked to, so to speak;
2. The network execs didn’t see a reason to air what they deemed a “pep rally;” and
3. The execs felt that there would be ample coverage from the cable/satellite news channels. In fact, NBC apparently told viewers that if they wanted to see the speech, that they could tune to M$NBC. How’s that for cross-promotion?!

ATC had interesting stories about ephedra (found in Metabolife products) and also a recent obesity report.

Song of the Day: Big Time Sensuality by Bjørk, from the CD “Debut.”

Quote of the Day: “I’m pretty much a lazy shithead.” – Paul (co-worker)

Stray Toasters
During a break yesterday, Dee, Steve and I were talking about how local/network “news” is getting to be less full of “news” and more fluff-laden. This digressed into something that apparently was discussed this past weekend at the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (…as the commercials used to say: “You know… the Mormons.”). It seems that President Hinckley (top kick in the LDS Church) is urging schools to stop having activities on Monday nights. Why? Because it interferes with “Family Home Evening.” FHE is basically an evening where families get together and do… “family things.” FHE isn’t a “mandate,” but it is, from what I have gathered, something that is smiled upon by the honchos at the Crotch Office Building. Umm… I mean Church Office Building. I said that I would stop calling it “Crotch Office” after the Olympic banner came down… Oh well. Heaven forbid that Little Johnny or Susie should have an activity meeting on Monday. Or, that they would want to play sports… which the entire family could go see.

::: braincramp :::

This, to me, is almost as bizarre as when people here wanted to have the Great Salt Lake included as one of the Great Lakes. (If you have access to a map, juxtapose the size of the GSL to the other lakes… and do the math.) “After all, it has ‘Great’ in the name. Why shouldn’t it be a ‘Great Lake?'”

::: boggle :::
And that’s about it for now. I’m off in search of a bag chock full of Cinnabon goodness… and either a frozen mocha or a Mochalotta Chill.

Peace.

Tuesday
This morning, Sissy (the Wonder Kitty) barely waited until I turned off the alarm before she was on the bed. It was kind of funny. The progression went something like:

• *alarm*
• ::: listen to song for a moment :::
• Sissy leaping on the bed. Hellooooo! Scratch me!!

It’s a good thing that she’s so cute. Got up, got ready, got to the gym.

Song of the Day: The Witch, by The Cult, from the CD “Songs from the Cool World”… which, if you aren’t aware, is the soundtrack from the movie Cool World. Horrible movie. Great soundtrack. In fact, the two best things about this movie (despite the fact that it starred Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne and Brad Pitt):

1. The soundtrack.
2. The words “The End” and the closing credits.

Watching this movie hurt so much that I friend and I named our scale for bad (and “not really good, but tolerable”) movies the “Cool World – Long Kiss Goodnight Scale.” And you KNOW that I consider Cool World a bad movie when I rank it lower than Deep Blue Sea, Batman and Robin, FearDotCom (see previous rant for details), and…. “that movie,” which shall not be named, but was based on a very popular role-playing game. *twitch*

And now… off to work.

Peace.

Monday (pt II)
Not a bad day at work. It actually went by pretty quickly. And painlessly.

NPR/PRI Stories
The World
Talk of the Nation
All Things Considered
Radio West (Local Program): Body Language
Marketplace

There was a segment on TotN about the shootings in the D.C. Metro area. At one point, a caller made a comment about violence in games being a possible factor. He mentioned that the shootings mirror a scenario from Grand Theft Auto. He then went on to recount how Dungeons & Dragons came under fire in the late 70s and early 80s because of a group of players who were enacting situations from the game. As a teacher (and a mother), my mother was completely freaked out by the D&D scandal when I was younger. When she found out the I actually played the game, that didn’t do much to help…

Marketplace talked about people and their pets and how some owners will spend exorbidant amounts on/for their pets. It was a rather enlightening discussion (moreso than I would have originally thought), given that I am a relatively new pet owner.

Meanwhile…
The Shrub gave a speech tonight about his plans for action in Iraq. Maybe I missed something, but I didn’t hear anything new to sway my opinion. I did, however, hear him say “nucular” twenty-one times!!! At one point, he was saying it almost faster than I could make tick marks on the paper. God bless comic relief.

Song of the Day II : Hell, by the Squirrel Nut Zippers, from the CD “Hot.”
(I’m adding this as an SotD since it seems that some people from my Friends List have had days that range from “somewhat crappy” to “straight down the shitter.”)

And that’s it for tonight.

Peace.

Monday
I was in bed at the unprecedented (for me) hour of 01:00. I spaced off The X-Files and SG-1 because I was completely drained last night. So making it a relatively early night was definitely a good thing. I was up at 07:20, thanks to Ye Olde Clock of Alarms, and at 07:21, there was a wee kitty standing next to me on the bed, awaiting her morning scratches. Made it to the gym. Good workout – I’m up to benching 155 lbs. Again, at that weight, it is a slow set… but I’m doing it.

Post-gym, I came home and chatted with my sister Kristen. She was looking up some information for a Constitutional Law class, so we didn’t get to talk for very long. I did show her a couple of places to look for the information, though.

I also saw on the news where a 13-year-old boy was shot in the chest in a Montgomery County, MD school. A child. Authorities are not sure whether this is the handiwork of the same shooter(s) who have been terrorizing the greater D.C. Metro area. Whomever it is, they need to be brought to justice. Quickly. And painfully.

Song of the Day: Human by The Pretenders, from “Viva el Amor.” This song was also used as the theme for the short-lived ABC show Cupid, starring Jeremy Piven.

Quote of the Day: This is actually from Saturday night, but I forgot to post it yesterday. Oh well. Jaysin (a former waiter at our favorite Village Inn) showed up at the V.I. …and proceeded to take charge of things, as only he can. He came over and talked with us for a while. At one point, he was telling a story when Keith (new to the group) interrupted him and attempted to start a story of his own. Jaysin looked at him, indignantly, clapped a few times in Keith’s direction and said:

You’re new here, aren’t you? Don’t you know that you’re not supposed to talk when I’m talking?! The spotlight is on me.

And, with that, Jaysin resumed his story.

And now, time for a bowl of vitamin-packed cereal goodness… and maybe even last night’s ep of Alias. And then, off to the place that we call “work.” Well, we don’t really call it that, but I’m trying to take the high road.

Peace.

Sunday
Good day. No, a very good day.

• It’s my father’s birthday, so I gave him a call this morning. All is well on the east coast front.
• Called my uncle and talked to him for a bit.
• Called a friend in Maryland.
• Jess, Mary, Chelsea, Kristen, Aaron and I headed to Park City for the afternoon. We had brunch at Cisero’s and then wandered through some of the shops on Main Street.

  We got about a quarter of the way down the street when we passed the Phat Tire Saloon and decided to pop in for a quick drink. That turned into a three-hour stop (…a three-hour stop!) . We started playing pool (and I, apparently, need a shitload of practice) and just hanging out when this guy came in and asked if he could play a few games. We said sure. He introduced himself; his name was Ryan. Not wanting to seem snobbish, we introduced ourselves. Nice guy. A little on the cocky side, but on the whole: not bad. We still have a few questions about him, but decided that for the most part, he comes under the “Mostly Harmless” category.

  We wandered around for a little bit after that including a stop in Cows for tasty iced creams! (Pictures from the Park City excursion) And then, we headed back to Salt Lake (and Jess’ parents’ house) for dinner and…

Sunday Night Football
The Ravens vs. the Cleveland Browns on ESPN. It was a good game. Again, the Ravens looked like a (more or less) balanced team… especially in the second quarter. Again. It wound up coming down to the last few plays of the game. And the winner was:

This means that two of my teams (the Ravens and the Dolphins) had games in the “W” column. The Panthers lost by a field goal. Oh, well. It happens. And, there is always next week.

I am definitely calling it an early night tonight. Okay, “relatively early.” I still have to decide if I want to stay up and watch The X-Files and/or Stargate SG-1. Decisions, decisions…

Peace.

Saturday
Stray Toaster/Sidebar: As I typed in “Saturday,” I had a flashback to the mid-70s: Between cartoons, back when they actually showed cartoons on Saturday, NBC had a 07-10 second lead-in mini-toon/announcement just before a new ‘toon came on: Saturday morning fever… is on the rise…. on NBC!” Bizarre what flashes through one’s head at random moments.

Froeliches Geburtstag to .

Looks like it’s going to be a pretty lazy day. And that is just fine with me, as I was up far later than I had planned to be: The compulsion to draw was upon me and I was powerless to resist its call.

I need to take my laptop somewhere to see about getting a bracket replaced. Yay. Other than that nothing on the agenda. Other than bowling, of course. One must maintain some traditions, after all. Maybe I should put “straighten/clean up the apartment” on the agenda… “Eat something” might even find its way on there, too. Soon.

NPR/PRI Stories
The World
TotN – Science Friday Chock full of scientific goodness. In fact, , today was right up your alley.
All Things Considered

There was a story on ATC about a $28 billion tobacco lawsuit award. Yes, that was billion, and not million, Dr. Evil. Largest award ever; the previous record was $3 billion. Do you think that this will get appealed…? There was also a pretty cool story, by Walter Cronkite, on the 45th anniversary of the launching of Sputnik… a story that he reported, in fact. Also, listen to the “Ig Nobel Awards” story on The World.

Well, time to see what kinds of trouble that I can get into.

Peace.

Friday
And, so, another work week is nearly over. On the whole, it’s been a good week. I got up a little before 07:30 this morning and hit the gym (Day 20); Steve was there when I got there. The workout was good. Now I’m home, I’ve performed the hygiene rituals and had a bowl of cereal. And I’m watching this week’s Smallville, “Heat.” They are doing an… interesting… take on the development of Clark’s heat vision. Interesting… and amusing. This is another show that I think is very well-written.

NPR/PRI Stories (Thursday)
Fresh Air
Talk of the Nation

What would you do if you discovered your child would be born with a disability? Thursday on Talk of the Nation, guest host Lynn Neary talks with one couple about their daughter, Naia, who was born with Down syndrome.

God and country — what do you do when allegiance to one seems like a conflict with allegiance to the other? Some Christian leaders are challenging the notion of a military conflict with Iraq. How do your religious beliefs shape your view on war? Join the show in its second hour for a discussion.

All Things Considered

: Check out TotN and The World, there are a few medical stories that you might be interested in.

Song of the Day: True Faith by New Order from the CD “Substance.”

Stray Toasters

• Cats are still funny.
• Five people shot and killed in Maryland. And the killer is still at-large. As far as I am aware, the victims were chosen randomly. *sigh* Have I mentioned that we seem to be circling the drain…?
• I am seriously considering writing an email to the producers of Talk of the Nation about one of their guest hosts. After listening to a few shows, I (and a few others) have noted that this host lacks… something… which is not a good thing for this format. More on this later.

And that’s it for now.

Peace.

Thursday
I don’t know why, but I was up a little after 07:30 this morning. *sigh* I laid in bed and juxtaposed the pros and cons of staying in bed vs. grabbing a handful of morning and starting my day. I decided to make a go of it. I got to the gym and worked out and was finished by the time that I am normally just getting done with the cardio portion of my workout. This put me about 0:45 ahead of the curve. Not bad. I may try (operative word: “try”) getting up a little earlier on a regular basis. Of course, that would also mean going to bed earlier…

A guy at the gym asked me about part of the routine (reverse fly) that I did today. He’d never seen anyone do them… nor had he even considered the prospect… so he asked what areas they worked. So I showed him. He said that he had never really thought much about working his back, but that he would have to try it. I also showed him a couple of other machines that would be useful. And then, I went on to the rest of my workout. I passed through that section of the gym a little later and he was doing the reverse flys. I asked him what he thought of them. He laughed and said that they were a little more of a workout than he had originally thought, but he liked them.

NPR/PRI Stories(from Wednesday)
The World
Talk of the Nation
All Things Considered

TotN had an hour on “The Book that Changed My Life.”
Check out the “Songs of the Criminal Life” segment on ATC. Bizarre… and oddly amusing.
: “Malaria Milestone” story on ATC. Bio-med stuff.
: Hurricane Lili story on ATC
Sorry, no new Northern Snakehead stories.

Song of the Day: The Heartbreak Kid (from the CD “Man of Colours”) by Icehouse. Yes, that Icehouse. No, not the beer. The Australian band who gained some popularity in the 80s for their songs Electric Blue and Crazy. And since it’s Triple Play Thursday, we’ll make Nothing Too Serious and My Obession the other two SotD.

Peace.