Treadmill time

I went to the gym last night, despite not really having a lot of energy. It was just one of those days, but I knew I needed to go. I did a quick (for me) 1.5 miles on the treadmill (about 21 minutes) then called it quits. If I could have found the UT/S. Carolina basketball game I might have stayed longer.

But I did get to catch up on some TV last night. I know someone who is on the new season of Survivor. We never watch the show, but now we have to watch and pull for Krista. She can't say how she did or what happened. I couldn't imagine the pressure of not being able to talk about it. The premiere was OK -- not much of her. It's a show you can watch while ironing or doing the dishes.

It's Christmas Time

Christmas is coming very quickly. Our schedule has kept us running in different directions so we have yet to put up our Christmas tree. But it is going up this weekend. My excuse right now is that the cable guy is coming on Friday to figure out why we're not getting a high definition signal to our TV in the family room and the tree would just be in the way.I think the signal strength is low, which was an issue with this room when we had Time Warner, too.

We finally have bedroom furniture on its way. We bought a king size mattress a while ago but have had just the hardest time finding furniture that we liked, that fit the space, or that we were willing to pay for. (Really liked a bedroom set at Crate & Barrel -- didn't like the price.) But we got one that we had looked at several times before, and it will be here Friday (hopefully not at the same time that the cable guy is here). Our bedroom is pretty much bare now as we moved most everything out. We'll finish tonight so when the furniture comes in they can get it put together and in place quickly and easily. It'll be nice to have everything matching and looking right.

The furniture also came with an LG flat screen TV, so we'll have all flat screen TVs now. Hooray for no more bulky, heavy TVs. Now we just need to get those old sets out of the house.

Misc thoughts

Well, I've been neglecting the blog a bit lately thanks to the lazy random postings on Facebook instead. But just a few thoughts here ...

Lately, I'm feeling more and more like a music junkie again. I got a few iTunes gift cards for Christmas and started visiting the iTunes store more, and taking my iPod with me. Surprise, surprise ... there's actually some good new music out there afterall. I've found a lot thanks to my XM radio. I can't tell you how much I like the satellite radio. Much more than I ever imagined. It's worth the mild monthly rate to not have commercials constantly. Plus I'm hearing music that local commercial radio would never have introduced me to. So thank you, XM.

We were very happy to have LOST back, even if they insist on introducing even more new characters in the final season. As for favorite TV shows, I think 24 has run its course. I'm convinced that the writers have some sort of Jack Bauer Mad Lib that they are using to write the show now because it all seems so formulaic. I keep watching, but this is definitely my time to iron my clothes for the week, because I surely don't have to pay attention anymore.

I had another thought, but I lost it somewhere between the last sentence and this one. Bummer.

Watch the Guild

I've recently discovered the web series, The Guild. It's my lunchtime distraction right now. It is something I can watch while I eat (as opposed to trying to play Bejeweled with a PB&J in your hand). Each episode is about six minutes long. I found it because I re-watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog a few weeks ago, and the lead girl is the creator/writer/producer/star of The Guild. I've never been an online gamer, although I've played my share of Ultima and Might and Magic back in the early days of video games. But The Guild is based on a bunch of online gamers who game together. I've just finished season one. At 10 episodes, it only took a few lunches to get through, and was funny enough to keep me interested.

TV worth watching (and not)

Have you watched Better Off Ted yet? If not, you should be. It is one of the funniest new shows I've seen in a while, with smart humor (and a little geeky, Big Bang Theory-style humor).

And then there's talk about a Michael Vick reality show. Now that's something that doesn't ever need to exist. It's sad that, in the absence of football, the spectacle that is his life is the only thing he has left to turn to.

CBS needs to catch up

We realized that around the holidays, when our DVR was goofing up and missing a few shows, we missed two episodes of The Big Bang Theory. I went to the CBS website to see about watching them online, only to find out that there are no episodes available online. The I went to How I Met Your Mother and they had two episodes available, from last season, and not in order, either. CBS really needs to catch up with NBC and ABC here, because there really are times when you miss a show and would actually like to watch it -- not because you have nothing to do on a Monday night, but actually because there is a real quality show out there.

Frickin' Time Warner

Last night Jeni and I were settling down, finally getting home at a reasonable hour (about 8:15) when Jeni realizes our DVR isn't recording, so we were missing Biggest Loser. After watching an entire season, it stinks to miss part of the show with two shows left. So I tried to set it to record, but it thinks it is recording, even though it isn't. So we missed the beginning, and then got a phone call, and missed the end (OK, my fault there because I had recorded what we could upstairs on the other DVR, but thought we had seen it all downstairs and deleted it, forgetting we had the homecomings still). And of course this is one show NBC only offers their 2-minute recap.

But as frustrating as it that is, Time Warner tried an even more frustrating stunt with our bill. We received a notice saying that our promotional period was ending and our bill would go up $10. Funny thing is, we didn't have a promotional deal. I see this as an attempt to raise our bill without calling it an increase. So we called to see what was up, and they claimed we actually were under a promotional from when we moved into our house two-and-a-half years ago (that would be when they took away our other "promotional" and raised our bill). Well, Jeni handled it, got us under a new "12-month promotion" that actually lowered our bill $2. But how ridiculous. Especially for the people who won't call and are suddenly paying an extra $10 a month for no reason.

OK, enough fussing ... next post will be about our weekend in Cincinnati and include a picture of me in a cowboy hat!

Biggest Loser

Biggest Loser almost lost us last night. Jeni and I have watched this show since season one, and it has always been an amazing adventure as you watch these people transform themselves and change their lives. Despite the competition aspect of the show and the elimination that occurs at the end of every episode, throughout the seasons the house has remained mostly supportive and positive. Until this season, at least, where a triumvirate of players, let by an overly cocky and smarmy Vicky, seemed positioned to steamroll the results of the game with "game play" and "alliances" the likes of Weakest Link, where the players got together with a majority and pretty much determined the outcome of the game before it started. Fortunately, one player (Amy) saw through this and upended the plans. Otherwise I think we would just jump to the end and watch the weigh-ins. This has been the least likeable group the show has put together since the show started. Unfortunately, having a bad guy to root against isn't making the show more fun, but instead is souring the goodness of the show.

And while I'm talking about TV shows, I'm sad about how un-funny Kath & Kim turned out to be, because I really like the cast. Still, as blah as the show is, I'd watch an entire season of Kath & Kim before I watched a second episode of Worst Week (aka Worst Show). Thank goodness for shows like Big Bang Theory, The Office, 30 Rock and Chuck.

A reason to watch ER

A former Columbia boy that I met a few times is going to be on ER this Thursday. We gave up on ER after Dr. Green died. Things really started to decline from there, but I think I'll have to turn in this week.

Dr. Horrible

I'm sorry I missed Dr. Horrible during it's one week run online. I'm tempted to buy this one off iTunes.

LOST thought

We haven't watched from last night, but I thought this was interesting -- I was poking around the internet and realized that Michael Faraday was a pioneer physicist in the field of electromagnetism. And you know all the attention to detail, and the fact that Daniel Faraday is the scientist who came to the island. Just think it is an interesting connection.

LOST thought

After watching LOST last night, it is clear that Claire is dead, and probably died in the house explosion. It just makes me wonder how many of the other "survivors" of the crash are actually dead, but moving around like they are alive (like Horace, or the one-eyed Russia that blew up Charlie).

Writer's strike

I'm glad the writer's strike is over ... I almost read a book!

Arrested Development movie?

Rumor has it that the very very early prenatal rumblings of a possible Arrested Development movie are starting. Eonline said that Jason Bateman and Jeffrey Tambor are both on board if it actually happens. Our fingers are staying crossed.

LOST premiere

We were very excited about LOST coming back last night. The premiere just confirmed what we thought at the end of last season, that the flash forward was not to the end, but to the middle of the show, and hopefully alludes to the season finale of this season with Jack, Kate and Hurley returning to the island. Nice to have some TV worth watching again.

Map of the LOST island

With Lost returning on Thursday I think it is fitting that I stumbled across this website post on Strange Maps -- a Map of the Island in Lost. Sure, this map is not perfect and it resolves absolutely nothing about the show. And without re-watching a lot of Lost episodes, I'm not sure how much accuracy is truly represented. But it is obvious some dedicated (obsessed) fan poured a lot of time into creating a map with key events noted. I'm geeked about Lost coming back on. Let's just hope we get the full season in!

Lackluster weekend

As Sunday came and went, Jeni and I found ourselves mourning the end of our football season. The Colts lost to the Chargers in an uncharacteristically sloppy game. We were bummed, let down, deflated. We thought, How could this evening get worse? Then we watched the Golden Globes "Winners Special" on NBC. The Golden Globes is the one awards show we usually get excited about. This year, because of the writer's strike, the show was altered and instead we got Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell reading the results to us from a podium. It was awful. Painful. And to top it off, no one we wanted to win even won. What a crap way to end your weekend. We later found out we could have watched the actual Golden Globes on CNN, which had to be better than what NBC offered. On the bright side, with no sports to watch for a few months it means we can do more on the weekends again.

Gladiator!

I am sadly excited about the return of American Gladiators. Jeni and I had been watching Gladiators on ESPN Classic before we knew it was coming back, and had even commented that we'd like to see it brought back. I just with they had brought in Nitro or Blaze or one of the veterans to commentate.

Nerd Herd

I really respect when TV shows actually build the web sites that are part of their shows. Last night on Chuck there was a very subtle web address for the Nerd Herd at their help desk. It was scanned by so fast that I actually had to back it up to see the actual address, but I checked today and Nerd Herd Help is an actual web site. So kudos to NBC and Chuck, which is quickly becoming my favorite hour-long show.

OK, while talking about the new season, let me just say, without a rant, that I think Desperate Housewives is a desperate show and it shows. Also, Grey's Anatomy is looking pretty weak, too. Are they doctors or high schoolers? Like Jeni said the other night, I can't believe how disappointed I am that Lost isn't coming back until the spring. I thought there'd be other returning shows to keep me entertained until then.

Chuck

Chuck is on tonight ... finally some TV to get excited about!