public opinion poll

Well, it's Fat Tuesday and I'm determined to spend as much time as I can in my pajama pants eating Haagan Daas' chocolate and peanut butter ice cream and watching as much mindless television as I can before I begin my Lenten fast. Apparently, many of you think I'm crazy. I think I just need to plan well. So here's what I'm thinking for my TV 'diet.'

Monday: Wife Swap (I know, I know. I can't help it. And there's not much else on on Mondays.)
Tuesday: Amazing Race 9 (Two dysfunctional people per team is the only way it was meant to be.)
Wednesday: Lost (Watch out for weeks when this is a re-run. I might just have to punch someone out of withdrawal.)
Thursday: Survivor (Duh.)
Friday: TiVo'd episodes of "My Name is Earl" and "The Office" (So try to avoid spoilers until Friday night, huh?)
The weekend: Two measly hours per day to catch up on TiVo'd episodes of House, Law in Order - Criminal Intent, SNL, or whatever else I couldn't fit in during the week. Oh, and The Sopranos if that promise ever comes through.

So, am I missing anything?

Also, there are some issues that I need some advice on. What do you think about:

• video games? (I'm thinkin' it shouldn't count. After all, it's interactive.)
• the morning news? (I tend to have this on in the mornings while I do my hair and make-up in the false hope that a blizzard willhit White Lake, Michigan and school will be closed. But will it cut into my time now? I certainly hope not.)
• the nightly news? (True, a girl should know what's going on in the world, however I have been wasting money on a newspaper subscription that's been largely going to waste...)
• sitting in the living room while Nathan watches TV? (I live in a very small house, people. Reading a book or the newspaper while listening to my i-pod should be safe, right? No?)
• movies. (I'm inclined to think that if I have to pay for it - rentals for instance - it should be okay. )
• movies in a movie theater. (I don't think this should count at all. After all, I have to leave the house to do this, and part of the goal here is to get my ass off the sofa.)
• being a guest in someone's house. (It would be just plain rude to demand a host turn of the tele, don't 'cha think?)

Well, I have retinas to burn on Law and Order reruns. It may take a small temper tantrum to get Nathan to turn Sports Center off, however.

what is it about blogging that makes me think you'll care about this?

I just realized that tomorrow is Fat Tuesday and the kick off of Lent, the 40 day period when good Catholics are supposed to abstain from something that they love as a sort of sacrifice. Seeing as I haven't officially given anything up for Lent since, oh, 1989 I guess I'm not a very good Catholic. Oh well, I guess you can't be good at everything.

Normally I don't really think about much more than 1,000 calorie donuts on Fat Tuesday, but I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday as I spent over 7 hours on my sofa watching reruns of Project Runway (which I've seen several times already) and Law and Order - I think I might watch too much television. I'm currently in the middle of three books (two of which I really enjoy) and I kept thinking that I really should be reading instead of gorging myself on pointless television, but my addiction to the shiny box in my living room was a bit too strong to ignore. Thus, I've decided to do something a bit crazy - I'm going to drastically cut down my television viewing for the 40 days of Lent.

Thanks to Survivor, the Academy Awards, Lost and the Project Runway finale there is no way that I'd be willing to quit TV cold turkey. The shock might kill me. But after tomorrow I'm going to attempt the unthinkable - I'm going to allow myself 1 hour of TV on weekdays and 2 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. Now, I know that there are plenty of people out there who think that one hour per day is a perfectly adequate amount of time to dedicate to TV, but those people don't really understand the full extent of my addiction. My DVR, although I love it, has only exacerbated the problem, and I have fears of turning into one of those 300 pound people that I love to watch on Dr. Phil. Hence, I'm going to give Lent a shot this year.

God, I must really love you.

Things that I plan to do now to fill my television-free hours:
1. Read
2. Cook dinner from time to time
3. Work out
4. Use that sushi making kit that I got for Christmas but haven't used yet
5. Firm up my plans for world domination*
6. Read more of the newspaper than the crossword puzzle
7. Finish a "medium" level sudoku puzzle
8. Finish my Survivor audition video

*I looked up my birthday today in a personality book and, apparently, people born on May 22nd tend to be megalomaniacs. Who knew?

Wish me luck.

saturday shuffle

Carrie did this yesterday to avoid work, and I'm doing it today to avoid the 50 essays that I should be grading on 19th century American feminist literature. I guess the idea is to put your mp3 player on shuffle mode to see what kind of embarrassing tracks rear their ugly heads. For reasons I'd rather not get into here I prefer the number 12 to 10, so although 10 is the number we're "supposed" to stop at, I will be going 2 further. (Don't bother asking; it makes no sense.) So here it goes:

1. "Streets of Fire" - The New Pornographers
2. "Two Sides/Monsieur Valentine" - Spoon
3. "Red Right Ankle" - The Decemberists
4. "White Moon" - The White Stripes
5. "Pedestal" - Portishead
6. "Ask" - The Smiths
7. "Till my Head Falls Off" - They Might be Giants
8. "Talk to Me, Dance with Me" - Hot Hot Heat
9. "Fighting in a Sack" - The Shins
10. "Rock of Ages" - Def Leppard
11. "A Time to be so Small" - Interpol
12. "Shake our Tree" - The Rosebuds

Hmmm...not all that embarrassing really. I suppose some people might be embarrassed to have Def Leppard and The Smiths on their i-pod, but those people don't exist in my world. And the Portishead song reminds me that after 8 years of sitting on their ass, Portishead will finally be releasing a new album this year. I'm so freakin' excited I could spit!

Well, that didn't waste nearly enough time, so let's try Nathan's i-pod:

1. "Things You can Do" - Deltron
2. "Once Around the Block" - Badly Drawn
(I must take a moment to say that I love this song soooo much.)
3. "Idioteque" -Radiohead
4. "Summer in the Sand" - Domestic Problems
5. "Up Against the Wall" - 'N Sync
(Ahh...Here it is, now we're finally hitting the embarrassment motherload.)
6. "Black Tambourine" - Beck
7. "Say My Name" - Destiny's Child (Yes!! Thanks, Nathan.)
8. "Turn the Page" - The Streets
9. "Last Stop: This Town" - The Eels
10. "Coffee and TV" - Blur
11. "Street Spirit Fade Out" - Radiohead
12. "Rock This Town" - The Stray Cats

I knew I could depend on my husband, whose musical taste refuses to take itself too seriously, for a silly song or three. I wonder what "the girl who stands front and center in my aerobics class so she can check herself out all hour" would have on her shuffle mode? Ahh..another post for another day.

"voldemort can't stop the rock"

This is proof of what a complete dork I really am. I have a day off of work and instead of going shopping or seeing a movie I'm watching Donny Osmond on Martha and downloading songs off the Internet written about Harry Potter. They are funny songs, though, so that should turn the dork level down a bit, no?

Oh, hell - stop judging me already. I rule. And if you are awesomely dorky like me you too can download "Wizard Chess" and "Save Ginny Weasley" while you wait with baited breath for the release of the 7th Harry Potter novel.

Rock.

detroit zoo update

The bad news:
Barbara-Rose Collins, Detroit city council member, made it clear that a large part of her motivation for voting down a plan to save the Detroit Zoo was to keep it out of the hands of white suburbanites when she likened the city of Detroit to a whore and the suburbs as her pimp by saying: “This is not a plantation. We are not owned by everyone else. Black folks are not owned by white folks anymore. I made the point Saturday that the state Legislature was pimping the City of Detroit, and that we should not play the role of prostitute. That upset a lot of people, but I stand by my words. The symbolism is that Detroit is a black city, and we’re not able to govern ourselves. It’s a racist attitude and I resent it.”

The good news:
The Detroit city council has showed some common sense by announcing that they have developed a plan to save the zoo, and they expect to vote on this new plan some time next week.

The bad news:
L Brooks Patterson, Oakland County Executive, decided to further exacerbate racial sensitivities by claiming that the Detroit City Council belonged in a zoo. Seeing as 8 out of 9 council members are African American, the comment was perceived by many as a racial slur.

The good news:
The Fox 2 Problem Solvers are on the case to save the zoo.

The bad news:
The Fox 2 Problem Solvers are homophobes.

The good news:
You can feel like you have the tiniest bit of control over this by signing this online petition to save the Detroit Zoo.

the rebirth of arrested development?

According to this guy, it sounds like a sure thing that Showtime will be picking up Arrested Development for 12 episodes.

Since I don't have Showtime, pardon me if I don't get too excited.

speaking of dangerous literature...

The writers at McSweeney's must read SIHNT. Check it.

gatsby under fire

"Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Just when I thought things were getting boring (what with a student teacher who is doing my job for free and all) I get a phone call today from a parent who is outraged at the novel that I am making her son read in his public school American Literature class. The novel under fire: The Great Gatsby. Her list of complaints after reading the first two chapters:
1. a man slaps a woman in the face,
2. a man is cheating on his wife,
3. one character is reading a racist book

and her biggest grievance (brace yourself for this one),

4. the Lord's name is used in vain.

The entire time I am listening to this woman on the phone it was all I could do to keep myself from asking, "Are you out of your f-ing mind?!"

Every year I brace myself for parent complaints about two works in particular, Romeo and Juliet and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (both of which I am required to teach, for what it's worth). No one seems to mind that two kids kill themselves in Romeo and Juliet, but I do see it as my duty to explain all the dirty jokes to the freshman who are forced to spend four weeks of their lives studying that damned play. I've been waiting for five years to hear from someone about that, yet, no calls. The "n-word" is used almost 200 times in Huck Finn, Jim is (debatably) a "black face" stereotype and organized religion is sharply satirized, yet still no calls.

But Gatsby? Are you serious???

Using my amazing interpersonal skills, I convinced her to READ THE ENTIRE NOVEL before passing judgment on its moral message. The crisis seems to be temporarily adverted, that is, of course, until she reads the part when Daisy hits Myrtle with a car, killing her and ripping her breast from her chest. Really looking forward to that. Better still will be when we study Of Mice and Men. Explaining why Curley wears a glove full of vasoline should be tons of fun.

I love the smell of controversy in the morning.

detroit zoo woes

Welcome to the monkey house...

I didn't think it was possible, but the Detroit City Council and Kwame Kilpatrick have proven today how completely ineffectual they both are when it was announced that the Detroit Zoo will be closing. 150 zoo employees will be pink slipped because the council considers the zoo to be an "nonessential operation" and Kilpatrick waited until the 11th hour to present a proposal to the council that would save the institution. Apparently in the face of a $300 million deficit, culture is now considered to be nonessential in the city of Detroit. Seriously, how are you going to have a major metropolitan area without a zoo???

Most importantly, where's the sign-up list for spider-monkey adoption?

my irrelevant oscar predictions

With the Oscars one week away, I think I'm pretty much come to terms with the fact that I've seen about as many of the nominated films that I'm going to see, although it seems that I have seen most of the major contenders. I don't claim to know a whole bunch about acting and directing, but I can make a pretty educated guess about those areas. However, I know jack shit about editing and sound mixing and I have seen none of the foreign or short films, so I won't bother even addressing those nominees. And with that, here it is, my completely irrelevant predictions for the 2006 Academy Awards (watch out, this post's a long one):

Best Actor
Nominees: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Terrence Howard, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix, David Strathairn
My Prediction: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
I think I've gushed enough about this film enough already, but I loved it and thought that Hoffman was incredible. True, his voice was grating at times, but Truman Capote was a bit much and one would have to be a bit annoying to portray him accurately. It wouldn't break my heart if Heath Ledger won, however.

Best Actress
Nominees: Judi Dench, Felicity Huffman, Keira Knightley, Charlize Theron,
Reese Witherspoon
My Prediction: Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)
Yeah...I haven't actually seen any of the films these ladies acted in so this is a total guess. I hear Witherspoon made a good June Carter though, so why not.

Best Supporting Actor
Nominees: George Clooney, Matt Dillon, Paul Giamatti, Jake Gyllenhaal, William Hurt
My Prediction: George Clooney (Syriana)
This was a very hard choice for me for some reason, but Clooney's my choice and I'm stickin' by it.

Best Supporting Actress
Nominees: Amy Adams, Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams
My Prediction: Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)
Williams spoke very few words in this film, but her face spoke volumes. Who knew the chick from Dawson's Creek had it in her?

Animated Film
Nominees: Howl's Moving Castle, Corpse Bride, Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
My Prediction: Corpse Bride
Yeah... I haven't seen any of these either, but I liked The Nightmare Before Christmas better than Chicken Run so I guess that's what I'm basing my prediction on.

Documentary
Nominees: Darwin's Nightmare, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, March of the Penguins, Murderball, Street Fight
My Prediction: March of the Penguins
This film made more money than all of the films nominated for best picture combined. 'Nuff said.

Adapted Screenplay
Nominees: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, The Constant Gardener, A History of Violence, Munich
My Prediction: Capote
I thought these were all excellent screenplays, but I really appreciated the synthesis of Capote's biography and In Cold Blood.

Original Screenplay
Nominees: Crash, Good Night and Good Luck, Match Point, The Squid and the Whale, Syriana
My Prediction: Crash
This was another hard choice, but it boiled down to personal preference. I simply enjoyed Crash's storyline the best.

Original Song
Nominees: "In the Deep," "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," "Travelin' Thru"
My Prediction: "Travelin' Thru" (Dolly Parton)
Although I think it would be absolutely hilarious to have the title "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" engraved on an Oscar statue, Dolly's good so let's give it to her.

Original Score
Nominees: Brokeback Mountain, The Constant Gardener, Memoirs of a Geisha, Munich, Pride and Prejudice
My Prediction: Brokeback Mountain (Gustavo Santaolalla)
The music in this film was absolutely gorgeous and served as an incredibly serene backdrop for the film. I'm not sure I even noticed the music much in the other films.

Visual Effect
Nominees: The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, King Kong, War of the Worlds
My Prediction: King Kong
In the words of a wise man, "duh."

Cinematography
Nominees: Batman Begins, Brokeback Mountain, Good Night and Good Luck, Memoirs of a Geisha, The New World
My Prediction: Good Night and Good Luck
I can't be 100% certain what cinematograhy is, but if it's making a film look real cool, than GN and GL's cinematography is pretty great.

Best Director
Nominees: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), Bennett Miller (Capote), Paul Haggis (Crash), George Clooney (Good Night and Good Luck), Stephen Spielberg (Munich)
My Prediction: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
Sit down Spielberg, Lee's got this one hands down. The scenes in this movie were shot impeccably and the result was absolutely breathtaking.

Best Picture
Nominees: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich
My Prediction: Brokeback Mountain
I'm been so back and forth on this one. Personally, I liked Capote the best and I'm still not convinced that Munich won't win, but I think that Ang Lee is such a shoe-in for best director and the film that wins the best directing Oscar typically is the one that wins best picture, hence, I predict Brokeback will win.

So there. Any questions from the academy?

confession thursday

So, blogger tells me that this is my 50th post. Let's celebrate by revealing some of my eccentricities and some embarrassing confessions.

1. I cannot walk past hanging towels, mine or yours, without straightening them.

2. Your feet gross me out and I'd rather you never, ever touch mine. Thank you.

3. The best part of most any meal is the burnt parts. Especially if the burnt parts are cheese.

4. I lovelovelovelove the smell of dogs' paws.

5. I'm sorry, but I just don' t see what the big deal is with the Olympics.

6. When your kid shows me his wiggly, loose teeth I have to fight not to vomit and can just barely resist the urge to slap him so he'll stop. (I'm going to make a fabulous mother, no?)

7. I avoid getting haircuts (only about two per year) because I hate small talk with strangers that much.

8. I can only identify the 50 states with 60% accuracy. (Seriously, those plain states are a bitch, and does anyone truly know where Delaware is if you don't live there?)

9. I have a unnatural dislike for odd numbers. Imagine my relief when 2005 turned into 2006 and I could finally relax.

10. I spent far too much time yesterday taking pointless personality tests on the Internet. Turns out, of all the Sesame Street characters that I could be, I have to be Bert. Great.

11. I took that damn test two more times, trying to manipulate the answers in the hopes that I could be anyone else. Snuffleupagus, Ernie, Big Bird, anyone. Nope. Still Bert.

12. I get really, really excited when a Def Leppard song turns up on my i-pod's shuffle mode, especially if that song is "Love Bites."

So there.

if you truly loved me, you'd buy me this for v-day...

valentine's love fest

Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, and apparently not everyone is feeling the love. After second hour today, I discovered an anonymous love note on my desk suggesting that my student teacher "sux" and that I should get off my "ass and teach us something because Mrs. H is old and doesn't know jack-shit." Lovely. Apparently Mrs. H needs to teach her how to spell "sucks." I'll have to suggest that for tomorrow's lesson plans.

Anyway, in the spirit of the day, here's a poem written by this blog's namesake that, unlike the love note I received, may actually make you feel warm and fuzzy. Use it as you see fit.

i carry your heart with me - ee cummings

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the secret that nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Okay, I feel better already. Happy Valentine's Day and try to save any nasty, passive-aggressive notes for the 15th.

holy crap, capote's good

This weekend I did something completely uncharacteristic of me; I went to the movie theater not only once, BUT TWICE (gasp). Yes it's true. I love movies, but for whatever reason I hardly ever go to the theater, however I couldn't not see Capote seeing as it's the only film out of the five "best picture" nominees that I hadn't yet seen. I knew very little about the film going in except that Philip Seymour Hoffman is considered by many to be a shoe-in for best actor. So, I suppose I didn't have incredibly high expectations and perhaps that's why I was so impressed with the film.

Hoffman was brilliant (of course), but I didn't expect the story to be as brilliant as it was. Admittedly, I have neither read nor seen In Cold Blood, so the story was completely new to me and maybe that 's why I found it so intriguing. All five of the films nominated this year are really thoughtful and important, but surprisingly, this movie lingered in my mind longer than Munich or Brokeback Mountain.

For those of you who haven't seen it yet (which, considering its limited release is probably most of you) this film tells the story of the six years it took Capote to research and write the book that became his claim to fame. Capote reveals himself to be impossibly narcissistic as he befriends and probably falls in love with Perry Smith, one of the murderers, apparently only to use him for his story. He hired him a better lawyer to win him an appeal with the purpose of keeping Perry alive long enough to finish his book. When the appeal fails and Perry needs his help, Capote ignores him; he's got what he needed from him and now has to impatiently wait for him to be executed so his book can finally be published. The entire time Capote seems to be tortured by these events that have absolutely nothing to do with him, even complaining that he was being "tortured" when the murderers received a stay of execution.

Most intriguing to me was how similar Perry and Capote are to one another. Both share similar childhoods yet their futures take completely different directions; they are despicable yet likeable, sensitive yet completely insensitive and show moments of kindness and moments of complete monstrousness. Ironically, Capote comes off as being worse than the murderers, as he uses the people touched by the violence to receive the love and admiration of millions.

More than any of the other Oscar contenders, I finished this film and felt the burning need to talk about it with anyone who would listen. (Well, that's not entirely true. Nathan and I did spend quite a long time discussing Syriana, but that's only because he had to explain the whole film and most of the last 30 years of Middle East - American politics to me.)

Although I loved Brokeback Mountain, dare I say Capote might be my favorite film of the year?

i saw brokeback mountain and now i'm a gay cowboy. eh.

Well, maybe not, but it was a pretty great movie. So far, Ang Lee is probably my pick for best director. The film was directed flawlessly (not that I know much about directing) and the pacing was perfect. I'm not sure that Jake Gyllenhaal will get the best supporting actor Oscar, but I'm pretty sure that Heath Ledger's jaw line deserves an award of some sort. (Was it me, or did he have his jaw wired shut throughout that whole film?) One thing that surprised me was the absence of love scenes. After reading the short story, I expected the film to be much more graphic than it was. I mentioned this to Nathan on the way home, and the conversation went something like this:

Me: After reading the story, I thought that there would be more love scenes than there were. It surprised me a bit.

Nathan: Yeah, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, and if you take those thousand words that are in the story and put them into a picture, then

Me: (interrupting) Huh?? If a picture is a worth a thousand words and those words were put into a thousand pictures, then - what???

Nathan: No. You don't get it. You've missed the point entirely.

Me: Sorry. Can you repeat it again?

Nathan: No. It's an abstract thought and can't be put into words. Just admit that I've blown your freakin' mind. Eh.

Me: Eh.

So perhaps I paraphrased a bit, but you try reliving that conversation. I'm sure Nathan will post a comment that will clear everything up.

I'm planning on seeing Capote tomorrow, which will mean that I will have seen all five of the flicks nominated for best picture and will actually be able to make some educated speculations on the Oscars. I'm sure you're all dizzy with anticipation.

Eh.

nathan's so quotable

For those of you who are interested (and you all BETTER BE!), Nathan has been quoted in today's Free Press on the impact overhauling Orchard Lake Road will have on his store. There was supposed to be a picture of him in there too, but the photographer asked him to come in on his day off for the pic and then never showed up. Oh well.

This marks the second time Nathan's job has led to an appearance in a relatively large media venue. The first time was when he was working at Michigan's Adventure operating Shivering Timbers, one of the largest wooden roller coasters in the country. He appeared on a show on (what else) roller coasters that aired on The Discovery Channel and was quoted as saying, "hold on tight and enjoy the flight."

Again, hands off girls; he's mine.

yes, i did get a makeover. thanks for noticing.

Do you love me now that I'm pretty?

one mississippi, two mississippi...

"The only thing that matters now is guns...There's a new sheriff in town. Ya'll best get used to it."

So really, this whole thing was just one loooooooooong con? Even the droopy, puppy-dog eyes at Kate? And convincing Charlie to join the dark side - awesome. Sawyer has taken being a bad-ass to a completely new level. So deliciously evil!

So maybe it wasn't the big beach-dwellers vs. others battle we were all hoping for, but that will do Lost, that will do.

haiku of the week

Damn global warming,
making snow days infrequent -
rare as the yeti

super bowl weekend

Well, the weekend's over and our visitors have departed. For those of you who weren't aware, Nathan and I entertained some out of town friends this weekend, Paul 'n Carrie and Steve 'n Melissa. The plan was to go downtown on Friday night to check out the Motown Winter Blast and then travel west to Ann Arbor to see Aimee Mann on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Aimee Mann postponed the show due to the death of her brother-in-law, Chris Penn, but we still had a blast despite the unexpected change in plans.

As planned, we did travel to downtown Detroit on Friday night to check out the super bowl festivities. Like most other Metro Detroiters, I was incredibly excited to see the city looking so awesome and jam-packed with so many visitors. Unlike most metropolitan dwellers, Detroiters are not used to having their streets packed with people and having trouble getting into local bars and maneuvering through the city on a Friday night. It was pretty awe inspiring to look down the street and see hundreds of people stretched out in front of me. As for the Winter Blast itself, we expected it to be crowded, but I don't think any of us expected it to be as crazed as it was. It was pretty difficult at times to walk through the streets and the events, and it was damn-near impossible to get into any of the restaurants or bars. Lines to use the bathroom (especially the women's room) were uncomfortably long and waiting for the shuttle back to our car at the end of the evening was a bit of an adventure (that's Nathan holding the shuttle sign with a very nice volunteer), but the weather was pretty mild on Friday, which made waiting in those lines a bit more pleasant than they might have otherwise been. Thanks to the crowds we didn't do much more than look around while downtown, but it was a pretty amazing thing to be a part of, and we had fun nonetheless.

For Saturday night we headed to Ann Arbor, hoping that the crowds wouldn't have spilled out that far west. Thankfully they didn't. In Ann Arbor we enjoyed shopping at Borders and Urban Outfitters, a great meal at Zanzibar, and then traveled to The Blind Pig, a local bar, where Steve and Melissa schooled all of us at darts. After Ann Arbor, we braved the weather to head back to our tiny house and rounded off the evening with more food, darts, and hanging out in the sink for a bit.


Sadly, it's Sunday night again and I have to wake up in seven hours to brave 140 14-16 year olds, but I had a fantastic weekend and some very funny pictures as a souvenir. Now, Nathan is shouting at the television, Chloe has collapsed from the exhaustion of protecting her guests when she wasn't molesting them, and I am ready for bed. Thanks to everyone who came to visit our humble abode and here's to hoping that Kwame can keep up the momentum that the super bowl has brought to my city.

Video Arcade

Lost was a rerun, so there goes everyone's usual Thursday post. I offer you a sampling from my Video Arcade to entertain you instead.

Jesus won't survive.

I now return this blog to it's rightful owner.

the world is here

I'll be honest, I couldn't care less about football. Much like chess and driving a stick-shift, the damn game has been explained to me up-teen times and I still don't get it. But football-schmutball, I'm wicked pumped for the superbowl this year. And here's some pics from last year's winterblast to pump you up too...

















I love The D!