Minor victory of the day: Discovering Bravo still shows the West Wing!

For a few years, my local Comcast provider moved Bravo from channel 48 to 140-something, where I would never look for it. This morning, I was flipping channels and noticed 48 came up in the regular rotation. Even better The West Wing was on! It's only one of the top 5 greatest shows ever made for tv. The other 4 in no particular order are Arrested Development, Seinfeld, Battlestar Galacica, and Grey's Anatomy,(oops) Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

I just picked up a planner to use for 2010. It was an 18 month planner, and even though it started back in July 2009, I didn't get 33% off the thing.

I also noticed that all the 18 month planners run from July to December of the following year. Are there a lot of planners that end in the month of June? Or do people who rely strictly on the 18 month planners just ignore Jan-June events every other year or are there 6 month planners that cover half the year?

Top 5 Christmas songs:

5. The Little Drummer Boy (just for the ba-rump-ba-ba-bum part)
4. Where are You, Christams? (Faith Hill)
3. Jingle Bells (Batman Smells version)
2. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Andy Williams)
1. All I Want for Christmas is You (Mariah Carey)

A few years ago, I beat up a tv with a bat. Okay, I tried to beat up a tv with a bat.

That's nothing compared to what these guys did to a 60" tv. Of course, I'm not nearly as drunk or redneck as those guys.

It's been a productive morning in the goodwill department. I donated some toys (Jeff Gordon race cars!) for needy kids. I helped an elderly lady cross the street.

This probably means that I'm going to be kicking dogs and stealing kids' candy this afternoon.

NASA hopes to free Mars rover from sand

Taken from the article:
Spirit had traveled 4.8 miles from where it landed in 2004 when it got stuck on April 23. It had just rounded a small plateau the scientists call Home Plate and was driving across a patch of sandy crust when it broke through and sank hub deep. An effort to free it by getting the rover to spin its wheels to gain traction proved futile; the rover just sank deeper. By May 5, mission controllers gave up and began working on a new strategy.


For $400,000,000, you would think the Mars rover would come with roadside service or some emergency rocket boosters. For the price, I'm also not impressed with the vehicle's top speed of .0001095 mph. It does have a great GPS and video entertainment system. In NASA's defense, they did get a buy one, get one half off deal on the rovers.

The part of the article that surprised me wasn't that the rover got stuck in a sand trap. (I know that can happen from experience on a golf course.) It was that it was stuck on April 23rd and NASA spent a week and a half literally spinning its wheels before declaring their plan wasn't working. And then they've been working since May 5th to come up with this new plan to spin its wheels some more. And these guys are rocket scientists? I guess it really doesn't take an astronautical engineering degree to figure out how to change a light bulb.

I can't believe some people seriously think we should send people to Mars or to live on the moon. The way NASA runs things, a $900,000,000,000 People to Mars mission will have to be aborted when the crew runs out of toilet paper or peanut butter.

More evidence watching tv can help enrich your life: I cooked brussel sprouts today.

Up until a month ago, I had eaten brussel sprouts only once in my life. I remember it tasting really bitter and gross. I think my brother and I expressed our displeasure so greatly that our mom never made it again.

But watching Food Network shows has opened my palate to trying new foods and new cooking techniques. I decided I wanted to give brussel sprouts a second chance, but I was deciding on the best way to cook them. (Lots of butter and bacon was my initial idea.) We went out to a restaurant about 2 weeks ago and ordered some roasted brussel sprouts that were pretty good and not at all like how they tasted 20+ years ago.
So today I roasted some of my own, and even without the bacon (just olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and butter), it turned out really well. (Even Allison said so. And she's been watching all these cooking shows and now critiques food like an expert.)

I believe our next Iron Chef competition is coming up next month. Since we won the last one, we can pick the secret ingredient. Just be ready for the possibility of brussel sprouts ice cream.

I tried the Black Jack Taco from my favorite Mexican restaurant. It ranks above the chicken soft taco, but it still can't beat the Volcano Taco.

Try one for free this Halloween!