This week's Ledger

PLUS:

• You gotta start with the Hoop Dawgs run to the SEC tourney championship. A limited roster picks the perfect time to get hot and put on the Cinderella slippers. Fan hardships with the weather aside, how frakkin' sweet was it to win that thing on the home court of the North Avenue Trade School insects?
• 22-10 after the first round of the brackets, with all my Final Four still intact. Not great, but I'll take it. (This, of course, is in my "real" bracket. I offered up a $10 entry fee sacrifice to Karma, picking the Dawgs to go all the way in a "bonus" bracket. Surely this gesture of goodwill will count toward something when the real sport rolls around the fall, right? Because we all believe in the supernatural, right?)
• Littermaid customer service. I've long been a user of the Littermaid automatic litterbox. The more things can be automated and out of sight, out of mind, the better. Check the food, water and litter once a week, and that's about it. Yet another reason why I love cats -- so self-reliant and hassle-free. However, like most things mechanical, from time to time there's a malfunction. And Littermaid has the best customer service this side of Nordstrom. I went through a drill I've been through a couple of times before, and once again, the response is stellar. The litterbox "rake" gets off track and can't be fixed easily, so you call them. You send them a brief note of explanation, a couple of parts off the catshitter and a receipt, and a few days later, they send you a perfectly new unit. How awesome is that?
• If you're not watching HBO's John Adams, you should be. A brilliant cast and an important story. All the bullshit today makes you forget that we started this goddamned country to escape excessive taxation and religious zealotry. I got chillbumps watching the founding fathers discuss the true meaning of freedom and liberty.
• After a few cocktails last night, I pulled out Buffy's S6 classic, "Once More With Feeling" as a pick me up. Despite not having the theatre room cave with surround sound at my disposal, the quality of this ep never fails to disappoint. And if you echo those sentiments, here's a flowchart you should enjoy.

MINUS:

• I didn't do a ledger for last week. So either that's a minus for me for being slack and lazy, or it's a minus because the week was so lame and nondescript that it didn't even merit a few bullet points.
• Still can't find Once More With Feeling (the soundtrack) on iTunes.
• I've just been frelling exhausted lately.
• As noted above, watching John Adams, you recognize the eternal wisdom of the men who established this country. Seeing the choices today for our government leadership makes you sick to your stomach, and eager to go dump some tea in a harbor.

Today's Guilt

Just what it sounds like. Things I feel guilty about today.

1. I really like UT basketball coach Bruce Pearl. Of course it's in my DNA to hate all things UT, and generally they make it easy with their pompous, backwoods and borderline illiterate football coach, mind-numbing "Rocky Top" song, checkerboard end zone, toothless inbred fans and school colors that look like the result of feeding a digestively challenged toddler too many strained carrots. But for some reason, I like Pearl. He led a small school to the dance previously, is about as charismatic as they come (today's appearance on PTI was another example of his wit and enthusiasm), produces results on the court, and of course there's his compelling train wreck of displaying school spirit by showing up shirtless and body painted for a Lady Vols game. Dammit. I hate this.
2. After starting off with an exhilarating 4 hours, this season of 24 has degenerated into a boring mess. Yes, there's always a lull in the middle hours. Yes, they still have one of the all time great TV characters and total badasses in Jack Bauer. Yes, Chloe is still endearingly annoying (kissing Morris for a "breath test" last night; telling former President Logan last week "Sorry, I'm feeling ambivalent. I'm going to go.") But the plots (after nuke detonation to begin the season) feel stale. I loved DB Woodside on Buffy, and even as the junior Palmer in previous seasons when we was just that -- a junior Palmer. But as president, he just doesn't have the gravitas to carry it off. Even the scenery chewing of Powers Boothe leaves the Oval Office feeling empty. I hate Milo (Eric Balfour), and the detour into the fucked up Bauer family was nothing but a semi-entertaining distraction (dry cleaning bags on the head are fun. James Cromwell's a hell of an actor, and Rena Sofer is hot. But still). Like I typically do, I'll continue to Tivo it and see if it picks up,(and I'm surprised it hasn't with all the talent available both behind and in front of the screen) but must-watch-TV had become I'll-get-around-to-it-later-especially-if-Heroes-is-on-TV.
3. I have a hankering for a huge plate of chili cheese fries. Not only are they a messy pain in the ass to make, and I'm a creature of limited willpower, but I've heard they're really not good for you.