Not Television
John and I finally bought a coffee maker for our office (that exact one there), and I made two pots this morning. The first was undrinkable - basically brown water. The second is better, but still pretty weak. I'm leaning, though. It's nice to have cheap coffee, but I've added up the expense of the maker, coffee, sugar, all that jazz, and I'll need to drink this coffee for 17 days, or three and a half work weeks, before it all pays for itself (compared to getting coffee at Caribou every morning). That also assumes that these beans last. But still, I'd rather be able to make coffee here - I enjoy anything that's a process.
Ernie had another accident last night, but I am now certain that it's due to that quilt. It smells like something (probably Ernie pee) that he rolls around in and identifies as a place to relieve himself. So he just doesn't get that quilt anymore. Unfortunately the quilt was the most padded thing he had to lay on, now he just has a thin blanket and a towel for during the day. I'm keeping him penned in the front hall for the next two days just to be certian, but I'm confident that's the end of that. He also seems to want his night time walk to be right before bed, so I'm going to push it back from 9ish to 10ish, so he'll have just gone out before bed time.
Last night I kept him closed into the bedroom, and he was up most of the night, oinking around and licking the floor (a favorite pastime of his). I'm pretty sure that the noise and motion resulted in Maria and I both feeling tired this morning (no deep sleep), so I'm not going to repeat that again. As long as he doesn't have an unprovoked accident tonight, we'll go back to letting him roam the house. It's too bad he can't sleep through the night, but he seems to prefer short naps here and there, rather than a long sleep. I expect by Monday he'll be back to free reign of the kitchen at all times.
TelevisionThere is so very much good television around these days. We added three new shows to the DVR last night -
24,
American Idol (for Mz. Parrott), and
Love Monkey. Hopefully all will be fantastic.
LostLast night was the return, and it was a pretty good warm-up. Eco's back story was cool to see, and another extemely strange connection to the island was made. What was up with the black smoke monster showing him images? I think it was showing him his past, but it also sort of looked like the film strip, or who knows what? I like Eco, I think he's a really good addition; sort of like Locke, but with a very different flavor. Walt in the computer? Charlie's heroin stash? Shit's going down. It's great to get back into the story, they sort of took a break from forwarding the mythology before the holiday lapse. Also, Hurley continues to be the best character on any show currently on television. (Maybe.)
Holmes on HomesI think this airs on Discovery Home, and I've watched two or three episodes now. It's pretty cool, sort of like
This Old House. Holmes is a contractor in Canada who takes jobs that other contractors have tried to fix and failed. He points out everything the previous guys did wrong, and does everything exactly right, it's pretty cool. Last night he put a new roof and a new deck on this old mansion, and fixed some water damage inside. I especially liked watching them build the deck - it'd be awesome to be able to build like that. This made me realize I should be watching
Myth Busters. For some reason it's not being recorded - I'll add it tonight.
Two Television Comedys I really Love, but not enough People have SeenI never watched these when they were on the air, but through the magic of DVD we can all bask in what could have been.
Freaks and GeeksThis show was fantastic. I love the cast, you can watch the episodes over and over, and the plot line is simple but elegant. The characters are funny and loveable, and I find I identify with them. The show centers around a group of freshman nerds (or "geeks") and their adventures in highschool. They struggle to find love, make new friends, and defend themselves against bullys.
The main core of geeks is three best friends, who make refrence to themselves as a tripod a couple times - together they can get through anything, but apart they fall. I'm horrible with names, but you have the everyman, unsure of himself and always striving to be accepted, the overpoweringly nerdy nerd, who seems to accept his geekdom, but still jumps at the chance to be more popular, and the third is a scheming, shrewd buisnessman - always talking his friends into his plans and getting them in trouble.
The show also follows a group of freaks - a band of slackers, some more outcast than others from the popular crowd at school. They dabble in drugs and hang out, wanting nothing more than to stay out late, get in trouble, and accomplish as little as possible. The everyman geek's sister falls in with this crowd, drawn by a crush on their hunky leader. They seem like a group of bullies at first, but as the plot progesses we learn they're actually decent guys.
This is available on DVD, and if you ever want a fantastic, lazy weekend, pick this up.
UndeclaredThe spiritual successor to
Freaks and Geeks, this show contains many of the same cast members and writers. Here we follow a band of four dudes and three girls who have just arrived at college, and basically live out all the wacky shit we all wish had actually happened when we were 18. The characters are realistic-ish college guys, but they are frequently thrust into bizzare situations. The plot seems to be scattered, not necessarily maintaining continuity from episode to episode. This makes watching episodes back to back on DVD a bit odd sometimes, but they are great on their own, so it works out.
Only 18 episodes or so were made of
Undeclared, but it makes for a great nightly thing to watch for a couple of weeks. This show has a much goofier feel than
Freaks and Geeks, and is much less serious. Where F&G deals with more depressing issues sometimes,
Undeclared is more interested in seeing what happens when you get in a prank war with your RA, or your Dad watches porn with your roomates. It's pure delight.
Hahaha, great title. But seriously, my back hurts. I recall first hurting it when we were moving out of Bassett St., and it's sort of hurt on and off ever since. It's been pretty bad for the last couple of days since basketball, so I finally looked up some information on it. I'm pretty sure it's just a muscle strain, and my notoriously bad posture is preventing it from healing properly. The universal recommendation seems to be to rest the back, take some meds to control pain, and use a heating pad. So, I'm thinking I might look into getting a heating pad to use at work (maybe even a massaging one...), and I think I have a masage / heat pad thing at home (although I may have thrown it out when we moved - how ironic!). The point is I'm going to get semi-serious about taking care of this now, as I'm pretty sick of having to bend over like an old man to pick things up that I drop. Note that this does not mean I will stop playing basketball or tennis. I also now miss Basset St. because I mentioned it. Sigh... Mootzger...
