This week's Ledger

Busy couple of weeks lately. On to the tally:

PLUS

• Dyson vacuum cleaners. In the past 6 years, I've been through 3 vacuum cleaners. In the old house, I was typically notified of the current unit's malfunction when I returned home to find the maids had left a note on the broken down shell of the thing indicating "this no work." I took them apart and put them back together a few times, trying to extend their lives for a few more runs across the carpet. But eventually, I would run to Target or WallyWorld and drop a $150 - $200 on a new Eureka or Hoover. And it would last a couple of years. And rinse, repeat. My latest one made the move with me, but was (literally) held together by duct tape, and the attachments barely brought the suck. So, armed with my 20% coupon, I ventured to the local BB&B to pick up a new one. As I was perusing the selection, the friendly sales person came over and started to show me the Dyson. I nipped that shit in the bud, saying there was no way in hell I was going to fork over $400 for a fucking vacuum. I kept looking at the other brands, but couldn't decide. Well, a few demonstrations and a little crackberry research later, I dropped my knickers like a Columbus schoolgirl and was walking out with the entry level Dyson. Got home, unpacked it and took 'er for a spin. Holy shit. This thing was unbelievable. Even after just using the old Hoover, I half filled (in a tiny shitbox apartment, no less) the cannister on this baby. After being initially squicked out (I was walking around on this shit for the past 4 months?), I was sold. So sold, in fact, that I started wondering if I settled by getting a model devoid of all the bells and whistles. I hopped back on the interwebs (and took a little advice from a friend, too) and soon began to realize that Dyson users are like a cult, except without Xenu. Or some carpenter. After assessing my needs (damned hairy cats), the next morning I returned to BB&B and "upgraded" to this model, the "Animal." The attachments were much easier to use, the suction was even better and I think at one point the lighting fixtures on the apartment below me were in danger of coming up through the floor. I'm fully sold on the efficacy and the payback.
• Well, while I was at BB&B perusing vacuum cleaners, I was looking at the aisle display for the Keurigs. I've used these before in selected office settings, but never thought about adding one to the home. After all, I love and worship my Cuisinart grind n brew (Jack had one just like it, in the future, on Lost Thursday). But there are sometimes after a pot or two in the morning when I just want one more cup, and don't want to go through the hassle of brewing an entirely new pot. Or I want a cup of joe after dinner. And what better way to accomplish this than with one of these babies? So, another 20% off coupon, another trip to BB&B, and here I am enjoying a single cup of Sumatra. (And the shiny blue lights make the fucker look like the bridge of the Enterprise). Thank god I didn't see another device during this excursion.
• Chatty time.
• The glorious return of warm weather.
• Nanny Brooke returns to the land of G-rated movies and decaffeinated drinks. (makes scrunchy face)
• The parking at the mall.
• Beer. Just because.

MINUS

• $70 tank fills.
• Some people are douchebags, not matter which way you slice it.
• Not having time to get to everything you need and want to.
• Going to the same grocery store for almost 3 months now, and still not being able to remember where the hell everything is. I swear, if BB&B had an "in-store GPS" that showed the location of various products, I'd whip out another coupon and be there in the morning.
• The Braves DL, a crowded place these days.

This week's Ledger

PLUS

• Has anyone noticed the fucking sunshine outside? Yeah, that's good.
• Amy Acker (Fred!) joins the cast of the increasingly interesting Dollhouse.
  
• The comfort food of always having a Braves game on the tube.
• Sea salt and black pepper potato chips. Good stuff.
• Podcasts. I think I've mentioned this before, but podcasts are a great way to pass the time when you're working out, or vegging out. Don't get me wrong, I like to listen to music on the iPod, but I'm much more about the entertainment and the information. I've found some podcasts I like, such as Ron Moore's BSG podcasts, the official Lost podcast, the unofficial Lost podcast with Jay and Jack, Pop Candy's podcast and Bill Simmons BS Report. Anyone have any other favorites out there that might be of interest? About TV, pop culture or something newsy and political in the Libertarian vein?
• Trusted mechanics. Someone at work knows a guy that services their (five!) cars, and he's a straight shooter. The Nazi dealership recommended a $2,100 brake job last time I went in, and I'm not that comfortable with their service or ethics. This dude looked at my car and gave the me the skinny. I had about 6,000 more miles, but I would need one. He used authentic Bimmer parts, and did the whole thing for $1,400. Still a huge chunk of money, but I've heard that "stopping" is an integral and underrated part of the driving experience.

MINUS

• Brake jobs.
• Kids on TV. Please make it stop.
• Asswipes at work.
• Sunshine, the theatrical kind. I was eager to see this movie, and picked it up at Blockbuster last week. The first two thirds was fantastic. Exemplary special effects, a fairly realistic and intriguing premise and grounded performances. Then, the whole thing goes to shit in the end with a ridiculous slasher film mash up. Very disappointing.
• Washer and dryer withdrawals. Here, I'm using the standard issue, come with the apartment units. Nice to have them, of course, but they just pale in comparison to my front loading Nautilus units in storage. Clothes just aren't as sparkly clean, wrinkle free and fluffy as they could be.
• Sometimes, everything just sucks.

This week's Ledger

PLUS

• Podcasts for working out.
• Wearing shorts and not having everyone look at me like I'm crazy.
• hulu.com. For reasons too complicated to go into, I didn't TiVo The Office on Thursday. However, I was able to watch it in all its painful, awkward glory (I think I've thrown a dinner party like that before, too. Except I was better at the games) on hulu.
• Flying into a warm climate, and being surprised with a convertible as a rental car.
• Countdowns and iTunes. I always seemed to get sucked into watching one of those music channel "50 Greatest blah blah blah" countdowns, and want to get that song. Now, it's so easy.
• BSG DVDs. Features and commentaries are awesome. Not to mention the actual eps themselves.
• Finding a good parking spot. Sometimes, it really is that simple.
  

MINUS

• Getting the window seat. Twice.
• No grills in apartment life. I wanted a steak and wine last night, so hello George Foreman. Not quite the same.
• Losing touch.
• One of the kids has an aversion to the broken litter box (while I wait on the shiny new replacement). I haven't fingered the culprit yet.
• Trips down memory lane.

This week's Ledger

PLUS

• Musically, this week felt like a return to the salad days of college life. Two of my favorite bands with obvious connections to the motherland released new albums. I downloaded both REM's "Accelerate" and the B-52s "Funplex." I had lost touch a bit with REM over the last couple of albums, as they seemed to lose a spark and be a tad more ponderous. But "Accelerate" is a total kick-ass return to the form many of us loved about them in the first place. It's short, aggressive, uptempo and a great ride. And the B-52s? The name says it all: "Funplex." If you like the B's, you'll love this album. After just a few listens, I'd put it right up there with "Cosmic Thing." I was blogging and reading through some of the BSG boards on TWOP while it was playing in the background, and found myself "chair dancing" right along to it even though I'd never heard a single note from it until then. Also highly recommended, and not just for nostalgia.
• The motherfrakkin' return of Battlestar Galactica. Has it really been 55 weeks? I can't believe I was in another state -- geographically and psychologically -- when I last saw a fresh ep (not including "Razor") of the best show on TV. And it didn't disappoint.
• I was so jazzed about the return of BSG, that I went frakkin' nuts on Amazon. I purchased the original mini-series, Season 1, Season 2, Season 3 and "Razor" on DVD. As we all know, I loves myself some TV, but there are very few shows I own lock, stock and barrell on DVD. There are the occasional one season wonders (Wonderfalls, Profit, Firefly) that are easy purchases to make. But there are also other great, fantastic shows I adore that I don't necessarily feel compelled to purchase in their entirety (The Sopranos, Sports Night, Deadwood, etc.) and probably wouldn't watch over and over. BSG will now rest on the shelves (well, when I actually have some fucking shelves, and not just wine boxes stacked up beside the TV) beside the complete runs of Buffy, Angel and Farscape. At some point, I need to add Arrested Development to this mix.
• Swiffers. I was late to the Swiffer party, but now I have the Swiffer duster and the Swiffer wet-jet. How awesome are these things? Anyone else find the Swiffer indispensible?
  
• Finally catching up.

MINUS

• Odd bouts of insomnia. I don't sleep that much compared to some folks, but twice this week I found myself in bed "actively" trying to go to sleep without much success. Even the brain numbing foolishness of Horatio Caine couldn't make me let go of my tether to the world to the waking. And of course, I still wake up at 6.
• This week has been good for watching the Braves, because they were on FOX yesterday and MLB Extra Innings has had a free preview this week (thanks for the reminder Freebird!), but because TBS needs to air more Sex and the City reruns and Frank TV, they've banished "America's Team" to the backwoods of something called "Peachtree TV." Which I don't have here as part of a local sports package. So hello purchase price for Extra Innings!
• Seeing birthdays pop up in the Outlook calendar and not celebrating them like you did.
  
• The Baltimore Sun sports section. Although the AJC Sports section got a lot of criticism from the locals while I was living there (and some deservedly so, between the ancient ramblings of Furman Bisher and the one-note racial blatherings of Terrence Moore), you don't appreciate a decent Sports section until you don't have one. Even the Sunday Sports section in the Sun takes about 5 minutes to read. Here's how it goes: Orioles suck, lacrosse, local minor college minor sports news, Orioles suck, women's lacrosse, truncated MLB and NBA box scores, men's lacrosse, TV listings, college lacrosse, professional lacrosse, will the O's ever trade Brian Roberts, high school lacrosse, tidbit about the Ravens, and oh yeah, more about lacrosse. Calling it a "fishwrapper" would be an insult to fish. Thank the gods there's news about more than lacrosse out here on the interwebs.
• Sporadic communications.

This week's Ledger

PLUS

• Remember this "Should I watch it?" post? Well, I made an executive decision, and deleted Breaking Bad and decided to give Eli Stone a chance. And I was rewarded for my efforts. Eli Stone is a funny, whimsical and compelling show, filled with charismatic performances. Definitely worth adding to the TiVo.
• Speaking of good TV, In Treatment finished its run Friday night. At the end of the day, it's hard to say whether or not Paul was a good therapist. (SPOILERS) He tried to fuck one patient, but couldn't, though that made her appear to be on the road to understanding how she uses her sexuality to her detriment. One patient killed himself. Oooops. One patient, portrayed by the breathtaking and revelatory Mia Wasikowska, seemed to be happier and healthier after her time with Dr. Weston. One couple was headed for divorce, but after the wife fucked her boss, I can't see where that would go anywhere good anyway. But Jake was more well balanced after the fact. And Paul was a mess at the end of the day, but committed to talking about it with his shrink. Regardless of whether or not Paul put up some scoreboard successes with his patients, the 30 minutes per night mini-dramas were fascinating and anchored by outstanding, Emmy-worthy performances from each and every actor.
• Catching up with an old friend. Again.
• The return of kinda warm weather.
• Braves on TV tonight!
  
• Did everyone watch the BSG specials on Friday like I told you to? They were great. I particularly enjoyed the "Phenomenon" show, where various celebrities espoused their total geek love for BSG. Joss, as usual, was fantastic. If you didn't TiVo it, no fear. Check it out, peeps:
  

• Listening to Lost podcasts while taking a walk. Of course, I'm probably going to be caught up in figuring out the rules of time travel or contemplating Ben's master plan and walk right into traffic. Keep monitoring the news for the headline: "Man in Dharma t-shirt walks into freeway listening to iPod."
• Ahhh yes. The t-shirts. I got a geeky wild hair last week and ordered these beauties:

Geeky? Yep. Awesome? Frak yeah.

MINUS

• The unexpected fizzling of something kinda cool.
• The Braves not on TV every night. It figures with my Schleprock like luck that I would move JUST when TBS decides to take the Braves off national telecasts and confine them to regional Georgia broadcasts, only viewable here if I pay out my ass for the Extra Innings package. At least I'll get to watch them on Washington Nationals local broadcasts. I think.
• No more Lost until April.
  

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.

This week's Ledger

PLUS:

• Having a good reason to not watch Lost on Thursday.
• Getting Sports Illustrated gifts. For some reason, I forgot to change the credit card info (my new address) on the auto-renewal for my subscription (why SI doesn't link the cc info to the mailing info is another story). My subscription "lapsed" for a week before I got to the bottom of it. However, that made me a "new" customer, and I was entitled to the gifts one gets when you sign up. So I'm the proud owner of a new fleece pullover and a t-shirt. You could choose your favorite NFL team, so I'm probably the only person in Maryland, and quite possibly the only person in the free world, who was shipped an Atlanta Falcons garment package. Much more practical than an football phone. The only issue I missed was the swimsuit issue, but I've heard rumors that you can easily find pictures of scantily clad women on the interwebs.
• Seeing some live theatre. Last night, I went to the downtown area to see Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead. The play was very entertaining (I had read it in college) and it was sparingly and effectively staged. I had forgotten how skillfully the play engages in wordplay, and what it has to say about predestination and the state of "being."
• I've often bitched about the lack of southern hospitality here, where most strangers act like you have oozing sores and are wearing a coat covered in Anthrax. However, last night, while parking on the street and trying to figure out the legality (and cost) of such parking, I asked a group of strangers walking by if they knew the dealio. They were helpful, friendly and nice, and even welcomed me to the state. Now, if they could just get a part time job bagging groceries.
• I parallel parked like a fucking champ in the space mentioned above. Haven't had the chance to do that in years, and the skillz haven't eroded.

MINUS:

• I'm sure there are roads in Baghdad that are smoother than some of the thoroughfares here. Trying to drink a cup of java while driving down town is like an epileptic chihuahua attempting to drink from a garden hose at 50 feet away.
• 2 weeks ago, I took a suggestion on a local steakhouse for a dinner meeting with an old business associate. Part of the reason for visiting that establishment was to check it out for a larger business meeting the following week, when I would be bringing several clients. The first meeting went well. The food was outstanding and the service was top notch. However, when we went for the other meeting early last week, it was a debacle. Two steaks had to be sent back, the service was inattentive and slow, the "wedge" salads didn't resemble an actual "wedge" (like they had during my previous visit) and the server's explanation was that "sometime the lettuce doesn't come that way." I complained to the manager, and they took off some desserts and a round of drinks, but I was aghast at the wide delta in the quality between my two visits. To top it off, the server had the gall to bring me my check and explain the deductions, and add, with an eye roll, that she didn't put the tip on the bill yet (which she probably would have already done, given the size of my party) because "evidently, you thought the service wasn't good." Yikes.
• I went downtown early this week for a trade show, and wound up parking at a hotel's pay lot by the convention center. Nothing wrong with that per se, except that the parking spaces (like many here in the state) are painted to accommodate a Schwinn, not an automobile. When I returned, there were cars on either side of me, and I was about one order of fries from having to climb up the hood of my vehicle and enter through the sunroof.
• Despite the great company and intellectual stimulation at the play, there was a snafu. The little plastic cup they gave me for my shiraz evidently had a small leak in it, and now there is a stain on my pants leg. And of course, it was one of the rare occasions when I chose to wear lighter colored pants and not black. We'll see how Dual Power Spray and Wash works on the demon grape.
• Finally, as many of you know, I've been extraordinarily happy with all the recent technological additions to my arsenal the past few months. GPS, iPod, XM Radio. However, last night I get in the car and the XM is inexplicably fucked up. No signal coming through, and all my preset "favorites" are missing. I'm trying to drive across town and figure this out. When I get on the phone with XM, I go through a voice activated messaging system. I'm using a hands free headset, but every time I start to say something to get to the right department, the GPS voice blurts out "turn left in .5 miles" or some other command, and the phone mic picks this up and transfers to me to another unwanted department. I finally stop and get the right person, who resets the signal. (During this conversation, I have a choice of actually hearing the person helping me and then hearing the feedback of my own comments, or barely hearing her instructions above a whisper level). This would have worked immediately, had the unit not turned itself off "FM modulation." I have no idea how or why this happened, with my car and the radio off, parked outside from Friday to Saturday. I'll get worried if I get in the car today, try to turn the radio on again, and it says to me "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

This week's Ledger

PLUS:

• A trip to the new dentist, which didn't feature too much scraping with the metal hook thingy. That sound rattling around in my head drives me fucking crazy.
  
• A good steak.
• Lost continues to rock the world.
• A double feature that included The Other Boleyn Girl and Death Proof. The former was good as a costume drama with an underplaying ScarJo and a bitchy, manipulative Queen Amidala (sadly, the accusations of incest in 16th century England weren't directed toward the sisters), though Henry VIII remained something of a cipher. The latter was a rollicking Tarantino thing with exceptional stunt driving, a slimy and entertaining Kurt Russell and an adorable Zoe Bell (who will be appearing soon on the freighter on Lost).
• Friday night cocktails.
• New windshield wipers. I didn't realize until I got new ones how ineffective and noisy the old ones were.
• The one little c-store who gives me a free Bic when I buy ciggies. It almost takes the sting out of being taxed enough to provoke a tea dumping in the harbor incident.
• This little beauty. In a perfect world, I'd have a connection/dock in each room of my surround sound wired house to access the iTunes. But here in the shitty cardboard box called "home," this works wonderfully in a pinch. Great reviews, good sound for what it is and a handy carrying case. Carrying cases really make a difference for the OCD enlightened.

MINUS:

• Going to get the 60,000 mile check on the vehicle and getting a huge bill (though this is known as the "big one" for drivers of Teutonic wheels). And not only that, but having them "recommend" another two grand worth of brand work.
• The dealership itself here. Back in the motherland, I was used to making an appointment at a specific time, pulling right up into the covered bay and having someone greet me immediately and get everything handled quickly. And if I chose to wait, I had a top shelf coffee maker, wi-fi and HD TV to keep me company in a luxurious atmosphere. Here, you get in a long line and wait until they call you, and even though they recently moved into a new facility, it still strikes me as more Goober's garage and less high-end dealership. Plus, they forgot to vacuum the car, which pisses me off, since I don't have a garage with a handy shop vac ready and waiting.

This week's Ledger

PLUS:

• Very inexpensive haircuts. And no, I'm not talking about a Flowbee. And creative tipping.
• Bowling! After a lackluster opening in the 130 range and fueled by a Lebowski inspired white russian, round two was in the 180s.
• Southwest's new boarding policy. I had never flown the cattle car of the air until a few months ago, and was aghast at the lack of assigned seats. However, provided that you login and check in online at the 24 hour prior to flight mark, you can now easily find yourself an aisle seat. Once again, thank god for the crackberry.
• Watching TV shows on the iPod on the airplane. You'll see a few things I tried to find on iTunes below, but couldn't. However, I did manage to snag a Classic episode of the original Star Trek (Remastered!) to help me ignore all the noisy family travelers in the long, cylindrical tube of flying death.
• Text messaging.
  
• Aaron!
• Falcons win the coin toss. And have someone who might actually turn that pick into something.
• Big spikes in readership of this here blog. It seems lots of folks ventured over for the Super Bowl ad blogging, and decided to stick around. Thanks for wasting part of your day here at TNRLM.
  

MINUS:

• No AC/DC on iTunes. Nor any Def Leppard (what? I went to high school in the 80s)
• Picking out a show to watch on recent flights, I didn't find Pushing Daisies (I still want to catch up with this, dammit) or Dexter Season 2.
• Removing the guns from the Indiana Jones trailer. This is also the same director who turned guns into walkie-talkies in ET for the DVD, and the same producer who made Greedo shoot first. Not sure about the rumors that the Nazis in Schindler's List will be replaced by bunnies.
• Non-smoking hotels. Couldn't each floor have one of those little glass "petting zoo" type rooms like in the Atlanta airport, where the demented smokers could all huddle in the morning in their bathrobes drinking overpriced coffee, dying together? It's even more of a pain in the ass when it's snowing outside. Of course, I wasn't desperate enough to risk the $250 "cleaning fee" by taking a few furtive drags in the room's bathroom, like a few of my business associates did.
  
• Carrying things. I'm so fucking sick of "toting." I feel like an abused burro looking for the treasure of the Sierra Madre. In the house, I could pull into the garage, and load and unload the car (golf clubs, luggage, bags from the store, etc.) in just a few steps. Now living in apartmentland, I have to walk down a long hallway, down some stairs and out into the parking deck to reach the car. Also complicating matters is the fact that there is no curbside garbage pick up in an apartment, so you have to make that every few days trip down to the car with a big bag of refuse. So mornings, you're dragging your ass down a hallway, trying to balance a briefcase with a laptop, a jumbo coffee and a bag of beer cans and cat shit. Coming home, you're hauling a briefcase, dry cleaning, mail and if you stop at the store, 15 plastic bags looped around your digits until all the circulation stops in your hand after about 10 feet. I want a moving sidewalk. Or a personal valet.

This week's Ledger

Plus:

• Blue potato chips. This sounds positively unappetizing, but damn if they're not so tasty you overlook color that shouldn't be food.
• Dinner and a movie, though both are open to interpretation.
• Finally getting significant usage out of a mac-daddy new red and black window scraper.
• The writers' strike is officially over.
• Buffy, season 8.

Minus:

• Having to actually use a mac-daddy new red and black window scraper.
• Dealing with egomaniacal, game playing asswipes.
• Colds that won't go away.

This week's Ledger

You know, I completely forgot to assemble a "ledger" for last week. I think that's because the past couple of weeks have been a blur. Other than a few diversions, work has been kicking my ass, mainly in a good way. So there's not much to report. However:

Plus:

• Lost. Mind? Blown. Welcome back.
• Instant messaging.
• Freshly ground coffee. The staple that keeps me going.
• In Treatment. There's something about this 30 minute drama that keeps me coming back, despite the fact that all the characters are fucked up. Or maybe because all the characters are fucked up. When you think about it, that's a 2 and a half hour TV show for the week. But it's much like trend toward mini-desserts. Or the wonderful tapas dinner I had Monday. Or the pony bottles of Miller we drank in college. So small, there's no guilt about overindulging.
• The mortgage interest exemption on your taxes. A small consolation for the financial havoc wreaked upon me last year, but hey, it's something. Live in the present, right?
  
• Interesting and eye opening conversations.
• Signing day. Welcome to the fold, AJ Green.

Minus:

• Static electricity. Before the winter is over, I think I'm going to be electrocuted in my office hallway.
• Super Bowl commercials. Overall, a disappointment.
• Super Bowl victory. Yes, it was a great game. But we faced the Sophie's Choice of hearing obnoxious Boston fans crow all year, or obnoxious NY fans crow all year. Blergh.
• Speaking of which, football is over. Damn.
• I think I have some type of bug. Not sick enough to see the doctor (not that I even know who the fuck mine is up here), yet not well enough to sing from the rooftops. Because we all know how often I do that. Still, I feel like I'm just dragging my ass around. (of course, that could be because it's my ass).
• Intently watching and reading about the presidential primaries, and realizing I hate all the candidates and no one really speaks for my issues (without the baggage of being at cross purposes with my beliefs). November is gonna blow.

This week's Ledger

PLUS:

• More options for sportstalk on a road trip. Having the XM makes a huge difference for passing the hours in a car voyage. Now, XM Sports has added Tony Kornheiser in the morning, followed by Dan Patrick. Say what you will about TK on MNF (and I find him passable, but not as good as he is on PTI. But then again, I liked Dennis Miller), but he kills on radio.
• The return of Chuck. I forgot just how damned enjoyable that show is.
• Speaking of TV, Torchwood returns tonight, and Lost next week.
  

MINUS:

• Running out of the last "Georgia Priced" ciggies.
• Getting a cold.
• Not having a garage right beside the kitchen door to unload groceries. For some reason, I feel that I must take everything in one trip. Sure, you can cut off all the bloodflow to your fingers looping 14 plastic bags around your digits, but it really gets complicated when you have additional items like cat litter, 12 packs and dry cleaning to schlep up the stairs and down the hall like an abused burro.
• It's tax time. Also, on the "plus" side, Mike Huckabee is a fairy tale believing loon, but it was nice to hear someone speak up for the Fair Tax in a national forum.
  

This week's Ledger

PLUS

• Snow. It can be kinda cool.
• Make your own mocha frappucino. Because nowhere around here is a convenient drive thru, I experimented like a mad scientist with various ingredients to make my own frosty treat. Somehow, between doses of chilled coffee, Starbucks ice cream, Nestle Quik, sugar, ice and milk, I found a mix that was passable.
• The new Sarah Connor show. Yes, some of the time travel paradoxes can make your head hurt, and some of the established "rules" are bent (how did the "head" go through the time bubble?), but it's a decent enough attempt at fun sci-fi and stands out like the Fountains at Bellagio in a desert of reality glop.
• Text messaging.
• iLounge. A must visit site for new (and old) owners of iPods.
• EZ Pass. No more fumbling for change at a toll booth.

MINUS

• Snow. It can be a pain in the ass.
• Cardboard is flammable. Earlier this month, I used a coupon to order a free pizza. I didn't eat it all, and put the box in the oven to keep the cats - mainly Mulder - from trying to have a feline Papa Johns feast. In the old days, I'd just take the box out to the garage and put it in the dumpster. However, I now have neither a garage nor a dumpster, so I have to remember to take the box to the central facility dumpster the next day. Oooops. So this week, I was going to preheat the oven to cook some snack, and just turned the knob to 450 (sadly, no digital touchpad here in apartment land. Nor an eye level window into the the top of two stacked ovens. Just a floor level device that looks like something June Cleaver used) and went about my business. About 20 minutes later, I smelled something. I thought it was outside, so I walked out there, but didn't find burning couches (I don't live in West Virginia, after all). After a while, the whole pizza box in the oven thing dawned on me, and I discovered a smoldering cardboard box in the oven, with charred remnants of a former pie going smoky in the tiny kitchen. I made like Tommy Gavin (without the drinking, fucked up family and sex with random hot chicks) and put the box into the sink, while opening the door to the deck to let the smoke out. Of course, it was about 5 degrees outside. Great experience, and killed my enthusiasm for warming up some cheese sticks. I haven't seen anything this stupid since some college buddies, under the influence of the devil's happy lettuce, tried to cook a Tombstone pizza with the cardboard circle still attached to the bottom.
• Only 3 more football games left.

This week's Ledger

PLUS

• In a tiny matchbox of an apartment, the AC can really change the temp quickly. In the old "McMansion," you had to start the AC on a Wednesday in order to get every room to a comfy 67 by Friday. That, or retreat "cave." Of course, I loved it in the cave. Here, when some unseasonably warm weather comes, crank that sucker down and 5 minutes later you can feel the glorious cool of artificially frozen air.
• The combination of XM radio for the desktop and iTunes when searching for new (more likely, old – since I try to avoid anything "new," since they all have a "featuring" in the artist credit) music. Just scroll along all the genres and formats and you'll find something that makes you go "oh, cool. I wish I had that." Then, one click and 99 cents later, you do!
• Special Guest Bloggers!
• The Onion AV Club in general (though the hipper than thou commenters are a bit precious), but particularly the "My Year of Flops" movie review series. Here's a link to the latest, about Prince's Graffiti Bridge. But if you have some time, read through as many as you can. Funny stuff.
• Mini bags of microwave popcorn.
• Profit on DVD. I'm more than halfway through, and damn, is this show good.

MINUS

• Once More With Feeling (the soundtrack, not the ep, which I already have on DVD) is not on iTunes.How can that be?
• Only 7 more football games until we enter the vast wasteland of sports, with only hockey and hoops to sustain us.Crops aren't the only thing barren in the winter.The WGA strike makes it even worse, as far as being continually entertained and distracted by the big expensive box in the middle of the living room.
• Parking lot spaces in Maryland.They paint parking spaces here like proprietors of Neyland Stadium do seats:way too small for a normal vehicle/ass.
• Lack of good interweb blog "countdown timers."I wanted to put up three "countdown timers" in the sidebar:one ticking down until the return of Lost, one for the return of Battlestar Galactica (everyone catch the awesome "Last Supper" pic in EW?) and one for kickoff between the Dawgs and Georgia Southern. The only ones I found are clunky and not that customizable.

This Week's Ledger

Plus

• Obviously, no "plus" list starts off without mentioning the "tallboy" can of whoopass the Dawgs opened up on our visitors from the island. That was a dominant performance across the board, particularly from the D.
• No more Bryant Gumbel on my TV for the football season.
• My shiny new iPod. More on that later in a separate post.
• Friends -- both expected and unexpected -- who call and text during the "Blackout" in the Sugar Bowl.
• Short work weeks.
• The return of Original Recipe Law and Order. And I like both the new cast additions, though we've yet to see Sisto go Billy Chenowith craaaazy, and the new ADA has got to put down the CrackBerry in every scene.
• New Gawker geek/sci-fi blog: IO9.
• Cate Blanchett looking hot and evil from the new Indiana Jones Flick.
• The fact that I don't write checks any more, and have to constantly mis-date them with "2007" for a few weeks.

Minus

• The FOX announcers on the Sugar Bowl. Obviously, they were disappointed to be part of a blowout with no drama (other than if/when Colt Brennan might wind up like the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, bloody and limbless) but their ineptitude and dismal, scolding performance was barely listenable. Figures, one of 'em went to Tennessee.
• Fuck you Maryland Governor. Ciggie taxes are now $2. Not per carton. Per pack! I'm going to have to drive to another state, start doing business with Indian reservations or find kindly friends in tobaccy-friendly states to ship me my fix, man.
• Coupons for free pizza. I admire Papa Johns for sending a coupon for a free 'za when the service was less than spectacular, but damn, if they send it, I will order it.
• No more college football for months.

New Feature: The Ledger

All the year end list making got me thinking. Originally, I was going to try and summarize the year that was, with a complicated and arcane points system to see how the year wound up for me. I spent about half an hour crawling around in a spreadsheet on this, and decided that A. it was just too onerous a task to undertake, and B. seeing all the red numbers/negatives pile up was just too damned depressing, even for me.

So, for the sake of sanity and pithiness, I will be implementing a new feature here at TNRLM called "The Ledger." It will be a simple plus/minus of the week that was. So, without further ado...

Plus

• Huge bottle of crown from coworkers.
• The guy at Autozone who helped me install a new car battery. Doesn't sound like such a big deal? Drop the battery under the hood and hook up a couple of cables? Not so fast my friend. My battery happens to be in the rear cargo area. Under a panel. Under the full size spare tire. Under a series of supporting braces that each have a different size bolt. Did I mention that it was pouring rain? And we did this in an uncovered parking lot? And that he didn't charge "extra" for it? So instead of paying $400+ for the battery and installation at the Nazi dealership, I got out for $120 + a $20 tip I gave the soaking wet dude who helped.
• A whole channel devoted to Led Zep on XM Radio. Can't find anything on the other 200 channels? All the sportstalk taking a commercial break at the same time? There's always "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" or "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" just a button away.
• DirecTV and TiVo. Yep, I've had it for a couple of weeks now, but the importance just can't be understated. I know that if I've set up a season pass, it will be recorded.
• Angel: After The Fall. Just like "Buffy Season 8," this canonical comic book continuation of Angel (S6) is intriguing, well written and well plotted.
• The DVD set of the series Profit that I bought last night. Created by David Greenwalt (of X-Files, Buffy, Miracles and Angel fame) and John McNamara (Eyes, Brisco County Jr.), this is truly a "brilliant, but canceled" show from the 90s. It only lasted 8 episodes, but was about a sociopathic corporate climber perfectly played by current Heroes star Adrian Pasdar. It was ahead of its time (kind of a great grandfather to Mad Men, too, in a way) and Fox and their affiliates (surprise) didn't "get" it despite rave critical notices. Now, it would easily find a comfy home on HBO, Showtime or FX and get the Emmys it deserves. In addition to the nuanced and terrific Pasdar, Profit featured a stellar supporting cast: Lisa Darr as Profit's executive assistant, Keith Szarabajka as the CEO of the multinational conglomerate, Lisa Zane as the investigator suspicious of Proft, Lisa Blount (fantastic and so hateable as Debra Winger's slutty friend in An Officer and a Gentlemen -- where's she been?) as Profit's stepmom and "friend," Jack Gwaltney as the CEO's drunken younger brother, Allison Hossack (Sam's mom on Reaper) as the younger brother's wife. I saw the original 4 eps that aired originally, but have yet to see the 4 that didn't make it to the screen back then, so I'm really looking forward to making my way through the set and listening to all the commentaries.
• The Baltimore Sun FINALLY managed to deliver a Friday paper. I've been subscribed to the Fri - Sun edition for 4 months, and they haven't made it here with a Friday paper until yesterday, despite my calls to customer service every single Friday afternoon.
• Winning my Fantasy Football Super Bowl Championship.

Minus

• The Holidays. They just suck.
• Taking a salad to work, then losing the fork that I brought to eat it with. You know, I actually had this thought process: I should just buy a cheap set of forks to use when I bring my lunch. That way, if I throw it away by mistake or lose it, it won't affect my perfectly matched set of 16 that I don't even know that they make anymore. Nahhh. When's the last time I actually lost something? Fuck. Now I'm one fork down. And don't think I won't obsess about this every time I open the cutlery drawer. I already do over a butterknife a mindless trollop lost a couple of years ago.
• The fact that my XM radio was hooked up to the power in my car incorrectly, and drained my battery (which admittedly, was long in the tooth anyway), causing me to have to join AAA on X-mas Eve in order to get my car jump started in order to make a run to the grocery store or order yet another pizza. (On the "plus" side, Best Buy did fix the hook up last night, and while I was waiting, I discovered the Profit DVDs).
• The WGA strike. Of course, I'm totally on the writer's side in this, but I'm hoarding the last bit of scripted TV on TiVo like Sheryl Crow hoards toilet paper squares.