Happy Anniversary Melanie and Nathan!

Two years - is that all? Hope your day was great :-)

No, I did not fall off the face of the Earth

Sorry I haven't been around in, oh, ten days. Had a busy couple of days in Syracuse last week and then headed home to Cleveland for the holidays and long weekend, where Internet access is minimal. I will try to be better during December since I only have TWO more days of class! Yay!

Go Buckeyes!!

Ohio State 37, Michigan 21. Enough said.

What a fight!

Did everyone see or hear about that fight at the Pacers/Pistons game Friday night? Wowza. It started with Piston Ben Wallace getting annoyed by a foul and shoving Pacer Ron Artest. And then it just exploded from there. The players were throwing punches and shoving each other for awhile. Artest, who actually tried to stay out of the melee on the court and laid down on the scorer's table to calm down, I suppose, got a couple drinks thrown on him by fans and that was it. Artest bolted into the stands to go after the schmuck-o who threw the drinks at him and really punched the daylights out of him. Some of his teammates' headed into the stands to go after other fans, too. It was way CRAZY! They ended up calling the game early (there was like 45 seconds left) and then as the Pacers were corralled into the locker room, they all got drenched by all these a-holes from the stands, who continued to throw drinks and bottles on them. It was seriously insane. Today, Commissioner David Stern issued indefinite suspensions for three of the Pacers and Ben Wallace of the Pistons. Indefinite suspensions! That's got to be a HUGE blow to the Pacers team, which started last night's game with only 10 players anyway. It's like their three best players who are suspended, too. But, come on. You don't go into the stands to start fighting with fans, no matter how big of an asshole they might be. Oh, and as Brent Musburger said, "Now Ron Artest will have all the time off he wants to promote his album."

Double whammy

And, how about that episode of The Apprentice? I knew from the moment that team got rid of Kelly that they were going to lose and I just knew it was finally going to be Maria's turn. There was no way she was winning this game and it would just be a matter of time before she got her due. So, no shocker there? But a double firing?! How exciting was that? I laughed when Wes said, "I would have at least liked my own cab" at the end. I can't wait to see the others' faces when they find out two people are gone.

Just as an aside, Jennifer really bugs me. I don't like how she is constantly sliding by, either. Or getting all the credit by the Levis guys. What was up with that? And, what is so difficult about understanding how a wheel works? Ugh. She sure did look pretty while posing for those pictures, though.

Survivor week 10

Well, another episode and another man is gone. Chad. I liked Chad but he really didn't have much of an impact on the game, when you think about it. He was just one of a crowd. As is typical at this point in the game, I wish somehow things would just get mixed up a little! Oy. At this point, I really see Leann winning. Not sure why. Because she's quiet and likable, I guess. Anyway, my recap should be up sometime tomorrow (well, later today), whenever they get to it. I feel like I added a lot more commentary than I usually do, but I know I was definitely a little goofy. That's what happens on four hours of sleep. So why am I not in bed, then? Good question!

In Communicado

Oh I've been so busy the last few days, all because I had a huge major project due in one of my classes. I basically spent the last five days working on it non-stop. I'm CIPA-ed out. Now I have to get caught up on all my television-watching from the last week. Plus, I have to catch up on sleep (four hours just doesn't cut it), write my Survivor recap tonight, and do something about my mess of an apartment! Oh yeah, and I might try to find a job, too.

One thing I did sneak in during a break was Dream Job. Congratulations to Dave Holmes! I'm happy for him. Grant really choked, didn't he?

The Amazing Race news...

Don't forget that the new season starts tomorrow night. At 9pm, EST. But, before that, two of the hosts from The Early Show are going to take part in the first leg of the race, too! Harry Smith and weatherman Dave Price participated in the first leg and, while they aren't an official team, of course, it's going to be a great way to see behind-the-scenes of the show. Here's the info about that (via Futon Critic), which starts airing tomorrow morning. And, of course, it begs the question: When are they going to have a celebrity version of that show? That would be awesome! Of course, maybe not fair because the celebrities might be recognized in the other countries.

Meet Brian...

I like this article (via MediaBistro) that sort of atttempts to introduce us to Brian Williams, who will be taking over the NBC Nightly News from Tom Brokaw on Dec. 2nd. I've always really liked Brian, for some reason, so I'm happy for him. Although slightly disturbed to find he's a NASCAR fan...

The Apprentice

I haven't talked much about The Apprentice this season but I guess I will tonight. It was a pretty predictable episode, too, but I found it pretty amusing. I liked how Chris basically gave up as soon as he found out what the task was. Come on! What a quitter! All he needed was some marketing ideas and they could have won! That woman was out of control in offering help! But how funny was it when they showed all the people lined up waiting to get into Mosaic's sale and then switched to Apex and Ivana running to open the doors - to two people in line. Just funny! I also liked Wes helping the girls shop - "You look like a princess!" He made me laugh. This is the one time I really didn't understand why the project manager didn't bring three people into the boardroom, either. But I guess when you think that Chris was the project manager and made bad decisions from the start (from last week, really, when he called out his team in front of Trump), then it makes more sense.

Survivor episode 9

Well, I wrote my latest recap and hopefully it will be up sometime soon. Who knows? This episode was okay. There was lots of discussion of something different happening but in the end, exactly what was expected is what happened: Sarge got voted out. I'm kind of annoyed with all the talk about "gender wars" or the boys vs. the girls and stuff. This one article I read refers to Ami as a "man-hater" because she's been voting off the men. Give me a break! It's only a war of gender because the two original tribes were divided by gender! No one had a fit when the original members of Tagi stuck together in the first Survivor. Or how about when Lex-Tom-Ethan-Kim made it to the final four together in Africa? Same thing with Thailand. It's not unheard-of that a tribe sticks together throughout the game. In fact, it's kind of expected. It's called an Alliance! Anyway, it just annoys me that they are making a bigger deal out of it than need be. The girls aren't sticking together solely because they are all women - they are sticking together with the people they bonded with on Day One!

Happy Birthday Melanie!

Another day, another friend's birthday! Happy Birthday Melanie! She is a friend I used to work with and this is her first birthday as a mommy so I'm not sure any gift can ever be better than that :-). Hope your day was great!

Reading...

Ah, there used to be days when I read for pleasure. Sometimes I could read a whole book in one day. Lately, the only reading I've been doing is for school, though. So, when my classload dropped to only three classes last week, I was intent to read for pleasure again. I got a chance to finish a book I'd started in August, pre-grad school. Yay! Anyway, I read The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith. It's in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which I got started on in my old book club, probably about a year ago. Anyway, I think it was the last book in the series and it was okay. Once I start a series, I feel compelled to read all of them. So, I did. So-so.

Happy Birthday Marci

Today is my friend Marci's birthday, so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Marci and I have been friends since freshman year of college, so that's actually quite some time! We have kept in touch all this time despite living in different states and she is still one of my good friends! Anyway, I hope she has a great day :-)!!

Day of registering...

Today was the first day to register for courses for Spring Semester and luckily, everything went off without a hitch. Yay! I got into all the classes I wanted - and needed - unlike this current semester. I haven't entirely decided if I'm going to keep my schedule the way it is right now, but at least I'm enrolled in four classes.

IP article

Here is my latest column for Inside Pulse. I look ahead to The Amazing Race 6, which starts next week. Seriously, if anyone has ideas for columns, let me know because I am seriously stumped for ideas.

Dream Job

I'm enjoying this season of Dream Job and now we are down to two: Dave Holmes and Grant Thompson. I really thought Dave was going to be a goner after he totally f'ed up the assignment but luckily, Anish did also. He is the luckiest guy in the world because I'm sure he thought he was a goner, too. I honestly don't care which of the two of them wins because I like them both. But, truth be told, does anyone ever catch last season's winner Mike Hall on any Sportscenter telecast ever? Because I don't.

SNOW!

Well, gang, the first snowfall has hit my new city. There were a few flakes flying through the air as I headed to class but I wasn't really prepared for after class, when there was a measurable amount on the ground and on my car! Probably not even an inch, but still. It's snow. November 8. It looks like it is supposed to be warmer the rest of the week so I don't think this is the start of anything big. I hope. I'm not ready. I don't even have a snow brush.

Good grades

It's been a good 24 hours grade-wise. I got some scores back from my management class yesterday and I ended up getting 160 points out of 166 from three assignments. My "interview of a person in management" paper earned me 97 out of 100 points, but better than that, I was apparently the best in the class. Ha! Not that it really surprises me that I wrote a paper well, and especially comparing it to the others in my class. It's an online class and I can see how the others post. It's frightening, actually. This is graduate school so these people all somehow made it through undergrad.

In the class from hell, Intro. to Competitive Intelligence, I learned that I finished with an 'A' (that's all he would say) so that makes me happy that I've struggled through that class mentally but still ended up with an 'A'. We had the final 50% of our grade due last Monday so I've been waiting a week to hear my grade.

I'm addicted to...

Candy corn. Yep. I didn't have any all pre-Halloween when you could find them anywhere but then I got a big bag of it for 99 cents at Target (after-Halloween markdown) and I swear I ate the whole big bag in about two days. And now it's gone. Looking at the bag options, I think maybe it was the 24 oz. I refuse to believe it was the 50 oz. bag but honestly, I have no idea. It could have been. The bag itself is long gone. I ate them by the handfuls. And now, I feel like I'm going to go into withdrawal. Seriously. Yesterday, as my supply was dwindling down, all I thought about was which Target should I try to get more from but today, I was out running errands and I decided to just refrain. Now, I'm thinking that was a bad decision. Ugh. My favorite part of that site is the link for the nutritional information. Uh huh. Hey, at least they are fat free. Also interesting: serving size is 22 pieces. Where else can you find that? 22 pieces! That's probably close to TWO handfuls.

Sometimes my teams win...

Well, my President might not have been elected in the last week and the Cavs might be down 0-2 already this season, but at least I can claim success for TWO college football teams today: Syracuse pulled out a victory in double overtime over Pitt to give them second place in the Big East and a good shot at a Bowl Game, while Ohio State pulled out a squeaker against Michigan State. The score of that Ohio State game is highly deceiving of how close the game actually was. And, with the win, the Buckeyes are now "bowl eligible," which I guess is what happens after a team gets six wins. Yay!

Survivor episode 8

It's up to 8, right? Anyway, here's my recap from Thursday's show. I have to say, I wasn't too sad to see Rory go. I wanted to like him, but really he was just such a complainer. He couldn't figure out why the guys didn't really like him when he kept to himself and didn't help out at camp and then he couldn't figure out why the girls didn't want to include him in their alliance when they already had a solid alliance. I mean, I was glad he was able to stick it out and figure a way to stay longer then he should have, but stop complaining all the time! And, I understand him wanting to get rid of Ami because she is a major decision-maker in the female tribe, but I don't see how she treated him so badly, like he told all the guys and all the home viewers. He just strikes me as one of those guys who can't understand why no one likes him and never thinks he is to blame for any of it. Anyway, there was a little suspense finally in the 'which way will Twila & Julie vote?' plotline, but overall, the season is still way lame. I have to admit, though, that I think I've finally picked someone to root for and that is Twila. I think she was very smart to get rid of Rory and although the women still think they are on their side, I'm guessing before it is all said and done, she and Julie will be back with some of the men again. Twila and Julie are not going to roll over and let Ami take it home, like those loser "all-stars" did last year with Rob and Amber, I'm fairly certain. Or, at least, I hope.

Doesn't he remember "Gigli"?

Gossip guru Liz Smith reports (like towards the end of the fifth paragraph) that Ben Affleck is reportedly going to make one or more appearances on Alias when it returns this season. You know, because he's dating Jennifer Garner. Why don't these actors just stay out of each other's work?

I'm sorry for all you Phillies fans.

I remember a few weeks back I posted a story happy that former Indians manager Mike Hargrove got hired by the Seattle Mariners. Well, this week, it's the Philadelphia Phillies who hired an ex-Indians manager: Charlie Manual. WHAT are they THINKING? The man is a nice guy but a real dope. He beat out guys like Jim Leyland, Jim Fregosi, Buddy Bell and Don Baylor. It's frightening how much pull Jim Thome must have with that organization. Good riddance, I suppose. Now you really aren't going to get that ring.

Oh boy - I just noticed that David Bell is on the Phillies. They could have hired his father to coach him!

Screech!

I happened to be looking at the schedule of upcoming events on campus here and Dustin Diamond is coming! He played Screech on Saved by the Bell, if I need to actually tell anyone who he is. What the heck is that about? It's sponsored by Hillel, which is the Jewish group on campus so I assume he'll be talking about his faith, but I don't know. Maybe he's doing stand-up. The Hillel Web site doesn't even mention him coming.

As usual, though, it's on a Tuesday and I have class so even if I wanted to go, I couldn't. Every speaker/celebrity/author who has come to campus to speak and is the least bit interesting happens to come when I'm in class.

The day after...

Well, there isn't much left to say. I guess, looking on the bright side, things can't get much WORSE in the next four years, right? I have to say that when Kerry gave his concession speech this afternoon, he seemed really sad and disappointed and that's more than I can say for Gore last time around. I wonder if you are going to lose the Presidential election, is it better to lose it in a really close race like those two men did or is it better to lose like Walter Mondale did, when he only got like 13 electoral votes. One of the commentators today mentioned that John Kerry received the second-most votes for President in history, but is that supposed to make him feel better? Maybe it does. At least he still has his old job.

Even though I know the results, I've still been captivated by CNN's online election coverage. Their map is awesome. You can check the results state-by-state and county-by-county so I've spent a lot of time seeing who got votes where. It's really amazing to see that even in most of the "blue" states, the majority of the counties in those states are actually red. Kerry seems to be able to only win the highly-populated, big city counties. For instance, almost every single county in Illinois was won by Bush. Yet, Kerry won Cook County, where Chicago is, resoundingly and therefore, won the entire state. In fact, Kerry won more counties in Ohio than he did in some of the other states where he earned the electoral votes. Kerry won almost every major city in Ohio: Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Akron, Canton, Dayton, and Youngstown. In fact, he won Cuyahoga County 67% to 33%, which is something for me to be proud of, I suppose. Unfortunately, the rural areas of Ohio outnumbered the big cities.

One last thing to say is that apparently, the main issue that drove voters to the voting booths is their desire for a candidate with "moral values." All I can say to that is WHAT THE F**K? Certainly John Kerry has moral values, but, regardless, what good are moral values when you don't have a job? Or a home? Or an education? Or when your children are dying in Iraq? And when did it become the President's job to infuse values into the country - isn't that a parents' job? Take some responsibility, people. If you are upset that you saw Janet Jackson's breast during the Super Bowl - well, no one put a gun to your head to force you to watch the Super Bowl halftime show. If you don't like what Howard Stern says on the radio, listen to a different station! If you don't believe in abortion, then don't have one! If you think gay people shouldn't be married, then don't attend their weddings! I have a lot more respect for the people who kept Bush in office because of the Iraq issue than I do for the a-holes who voted on the "moral issues" agenda.

Election coverage...

I'm so nervous about the election as the results roll in and no resolution in sight. This stuff about Florida maybe needing until THURSDAY to count all their votes and the fact that Ohio (!) is just about dead-even. Oy oy oy. Give me a heart attack, why don't you?

I got home from school about 9:00 and had two hours of coverage to catch up on and it went remarkably fast. Fast-forward through all the local coverage. Fast-forward through 99% of the interviews. Fast-forward through some of the polling problems. I was all caught up by about 10:30. Not bad. At that point, I was able to start channel-surfing, which I much prefer for this kind of thing.

(11:18 pm) So, how sad is it that I'm preferring to watch MTV's election coverage rather than CNN's while Tom and Tim take a break for local news? Who decided to give Larry King a spot during the election coverage? Where is Anderson? Also, I have not even turned CBS on once. Not once.

Hey! Tom just called Ohio "Florida's twin." I don't like that, Brokaw.

(11:34 pm) Seriously, I cannot change the channel fast enough when Karen Hughes comes on.

(11:40 pm) Hmm, ABC and CBS have given Florida to Bush. But no one else is. Fox News has Kerry way behind in votes compared to the others. I can't figure out which state(s) they won't give to him.

(12:32 am) NBC just had a reporter on the phone from Gambier, OH, home of Kenyon College, where we heard from a student that he has been in line for nearly 10 hours! Ten hours. Kudos to him for waiting that long but yo, that's crazy. They said they only have TWO voting booths for everyone in the city and the campus. I hope the people still in line are Kerry supporters, but I don't know if it will make a difference...

(12:36 am) Oh no. Jennings just announced he was going to be chatting with Ken Blackwell in a few moments. That is not a good thing. That man is evil.

(12:50 am) Blackwell was all right. According to TV Newser, Fox News gave Ohio to Bush. Here is the network that was hesitant to call any Kerry states early, yet they jump out quickly to give Ohio to Bush way before any other network. Therefore, he for all intents and purposes is the winner by their counts. I'm not doubting it, but just commenting on how eager they are to give it to Bush. I think I want Kerry to win Ohio just to prove them wrong now...

(12:59 am) Brokaw does it too. What is wrong with the country? MSNBC JUST gave Alaska to Bush also. So it's over. I'll repeat, what is WRONG with this country?

(1:19 am) I like how optimistic Wolf Blitzer is - he remarks that there are times in American history when people went to bed and woke up to find something completely different happened. Okay, Wolf. I do have to say that I like the CNN graphics with the constant running totals, though. Anyway, they've given New Hampshire to Kerry, which marks the first state that has switched from 2000.

(1:37 am) Hey! I don't think my vote has been counted yet. Mr. Head of the Republican Party in Ohio mentioned on NBC that 24,000 some odd absentee and provisional ballots from Cuyahoga County will be counted in 11 days. Does that mean mine? According to Blackwell, the absentee ballots get counted first. Who is right? (I imagine Blackwell knows better than Republican Party guy.)

(1:41 am) Blackwell is on CNN now being interviewed by Wolf, saying the same stuff he told Peter Jennings. He takes offense at being compared to Florida, too, though. Ohio is NOT Florida. For one thing, all of our senior citizens have moved to Florida. Uh oh. Wolf just implied Ken will be come the 'Kathryn Harris' of 2004.

(1:49 am) Like the second time I turn CBS on all night and who is Rather interviewing? Ken Blackwell. He is flubbing his words, though. I guess he's tired of repeating the same things over and over and over. CBS, though, has not declared Ohio either way and has also given Kerry Minnesota, but not New Hampshire yet.

(2:28 am) Edwards makes an appearance. "We've waited four years, we can wait one more night" and "Every vote will be counted." That was about it, not counting some thumbs-up signs. Yep, dude, that's what you would be doing for four years if you guys win.

(2:30 am) Wolf just announced Michigan for Kerry.

(2:32 am) I just noticed that Kerry got 90% of the vote in D.C. Why is that? Why is DC so Democratic? Oh, now Wolf is giving Minnesota to Kerry as well. Umm, CBS did that an hour ago... Iowa won't be announced until tomorrow, I guess. Well, later today, I think they mean.

(2:34 am) Okay, now Wolf is declaring Hawaii for Kerry. This is kind of a joke, the way they are about ready to call it a night and then suddenly bim-bam-boom three states. These old farts on CNN are half-asleep. Seriously. Larry King sounds like he's drunk. And the mic keeps cutting out.

Is it too late to change my vote?

Okay, yes it is. My ballot has probably already been counted. And I wouldn't really change my vote because of this. Probably. Maybe if there was another choice. However, today, just moments ago, on the special 'Presidential candidates' version of Sportscenter (yeah, I'm serious, even Sportscenter got into the fray), John Kerry just gave major love to Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick. Now I realize that Belichick is a beloved head coach in the part of the country where Kerry is from but when he was coach of the Browns, he was a major, MAJOR a-hole. Did I say major? Yes, I mean major. It's hard for me to believe he's become so fabulous in a mere ten years.