LOST Moments 6

Since the Holiday Bowl isn't what I had hoped for, I thought I'd catch up on last week's LOST Moment. The last couple have been pretty uneventful and some have been downright awful. The sixth installment doesn't suck. But judge for yourself:

Holiday Bowl

I was pretty excited about the A&M vs. Cal Holiday Bowl tonight and had planned to write about that earlier, but I didn't get the chance to. Now, the game is in the fourth quarter and it is only going a little better than A&M's last post-season appearance in the Cotton Bowl two years ago. We came out strong and scored first, but the team didn't sustain the intensity the way it the did during the Texas game a month ago. The fact is, we're getting dominated on both sides of the ball tonight. I was obviously hoping for better. I think it's some of the same old problems that we have had all year long. We still have some things to work out if we want to be a contender in the Big XII next year.

UPDATE: The Aggies lose by a final score of 10-45. Bowl game underachievement continues.

I'm Engaged!!!

Tonight I got the only Christmas present that I wanted. I asked Roxi to marry me and she said yes! We are both so very happy with each other and she couldn't have been more surprised. I almost thought it wouldn't go as planned, but I should start the story a littler earlier than today.

I purchased the ring long before our trip to New York, but didn't bring it with me for fear that I might lose it before I had the opportunity to propose. I hid it in our house with the plan of giving it to her for our second anniversary which happens to coincide with Christmas. This afternoon, I asked Roxi if she would like to go see the Christmas lights at Acadian Village here in town. My plan of course was to ask her there, but she wasn't too hot on the idea because of the potential for a big crowd. After a little while, I asked her if she was sure that she didn't want to go and she said that if it was important to me, we could. I assured her that she wouldn't forget this trip...and she won't. As I said she was very surprised even though we have been discussing our pending engagement for the past few months. So it worked out perfectly, but for a little while I was a bit worried that I would have to improvise the time and place of the proposal.

We haven't set a date yet, but our families couldn't be happier with our engagement. They all know how happy Roxi and I make each other and are so happy to officially be getting new additions to their respective families. So Christmas came early for us and we both got exactly what we wanted!

Home Again, Home Again

We are back in Lafayette after a week in New York City as well as two additional weeks abroad for Roxi and we are both very glad to be home. Roxi can speak more about her time in Scotland and Italy, but as for New York I can honestly say we both had a wonderful time. We arrived back late last night after an afternoon of travel that saw us narrowly avoid being stranded in Houston for a night due to weather. Thankfully, our flights were all on time and were only a little bumpier than I would have liked. We spent most of the day recuperating and relaxing as we prepare for everyone to venture to Lafayette for Christmas in a few days.

During the day, I have been able to reflect further on our time in New York and although we had a really great time visiting our friends and family there, I don't think that either of us are in a hurry to move there. I am so glad that our friends and loved ones in the metropolis are having success and enjoying life in the city, but I'll stick to visiting for now. I feel sort of the same way that I did when I lived in Atlanta. Most residents of Atlanta were of the opinion that it was such a great place to live but I didn't understand or share their feeling for several reasons. I suppose when it comes down to it, for some people, there is a willingness to put up with many inconveniences (i.e. traffic, long commutes, crowded spaces, etc.) to enjoy the benefits of big city life (i.e. more options in restaurants, shopping, entertainment, etc.). When I lived in Atlanta, I realized that although I too enjoy those types of benefits, I wasn't willing to put up with all of the inconveniences. I realized that I needed a more moderately sized city with a better balance. I felt that my time in Austin and Nashville were closer to such an ideal. I suppose that my opinion will continue to evolve and change, but for now, New York is an excellent vacation destination, but not the place I could see myself making a go of it. So to our friends and family there, we will be back, but for now, it will most likely only be to visit.

Thanks to Joel, Katie, Garrett, Nicole, Melody and Gabe for showing us a great time and letting us save a little money by staying at their places for a few days. We love you all and look forward to seeing you again soon, be it in New York or somewhere else.

Buildings Around The City

Roxi and I spent the majority of the past two days doing what I love in a big city: taking pictures of really cool buildings. We made trips into Midtown on Monday and Tuesday giving me a great opportunity to get pictures of several of New York's most famous landmarks.

Flatiron Building









GE Building (aka 30 Rockefeller Plaza)







Chrysler Building





Empire State Building











The Skyline of Lower Manhattan

LOST Moments 5

I'm a little late on seeing and posting last week's LOST Moment, but here it is. It looks like we might find out something big about Cindy, the flight attendant last seen in the second season episode where the Tailies meet the fuselage survivors. I am afraid that this is more of a tease and that we won't really find out any more about Cindy for quite some time. Anyway, without further ado:

New York: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I have had some great experiences since Roxi and I have been here in New York, but on Saturday and Sunday, I definitely had what could be considered a couple of "sub-optimal" experiences. Saturday night, we went to the East Village to have a few drinks at a couple of bars. At the last bar of the night, the six of us in our group had about eighty dollars worth of drinks and as we were about to pay to leave, we were informed that the bill could only be paid in cash. Thankfully we had the cash between all of us, but it was fairly annoying that at no point in the restaurant, bar or menu was there any mention that the establishment was cash only.

As aggravating as that experience seemed, it was topped on Sunday morning at brunch. Garrett, Nicole, Roxi and I joined Melody, Gabe and four of their friends for a brunch. Our party of ten had a good and enjoyable meal, but when the three-hundred sixty dollar bill arrived, the waitress said that she could not split the bill between five credit cards...because it was too hard. Meanwhile, Gabe had already divided the total by five on his cell phone calculator. The waitress made a big deal about how she was going to get into trouble if she spit the bill five ways and told us to go to an ATM machine to get cash. We were all dumbfounded by this poor service and the idea that they would assume that one person would pay such a bill on one credit card. Those of us who have worked in the food industry were insistent that bills can be split several ways because we had all done it many times ourselves so eventually the waitress relented.

When she brought our cards, she said she couldn't do this again next time we came, to which I replied, "See you never." A little rude? Maybe, but I was fed up with the attitude of superiority and condescension she was throwing our way. As we left she asked me what I had meant by my comment, as if there was any question. I of course started to explain that in the real world people spilt tickets and don't act like they are doing us a favor by being snooty. She then complained that she had to do all the cards manually. I inquired as to what she meant by "manually" to which she replied, with absolutely no hint of irony, "I had to swipe each card separately." That was when I lost it and was about to really blow up when Roxi stepped in and simply told the waitress, "You poor baby. You have a hard job," and corralled me to the door.

I was still really aggravated and was very soured on the New York experience for the next hour or so, but I have been working to let it go since then. But it's the principle of the matter that gets me. I got this overwhelming sense of smugness from the servers at several of the restaurants we have visited despite service and food quality that are comparable to what we can find everywhere else I have lived. The only difference in these restaurants and any back home is the overinflated prices. Of course the attitude and the prices are a function of what people are willing to put up with for the "privilege" of living in New York. If that's your cup of tea, great, but I think I'll stick with the rest of the "hicks" in flyover country. At least they can handle the paperwork involved in dealing with credit card payments.

Seeing the Sights

Roxi and I spent the last two days seeing a lot of the obligatory sights of Manhattan. Joel took Friday off of work and spent the day showing us around some of the "touristy" highlights of the city. Our stops included:

The Brooklyn Bridge







Wall Street





and Times Square





Saturday, Katie joined us on our visits to:

The Dakota Building



Strawberry Fields



Central Park



and Rockefeller Center





Last night we had a quadruple date with Joel and Katie, my brother Garrett and his girlfriend Nicole and Roxi's friend Melody and her fiance Gabe. We finished off the night visiting a couple of bars in the East Village. We're still having a great time but it really can be exhausting to see this city. We stayed with Garrett and Nicole last night at their place in Brooklyn and are planning to continue our trek around city hot spots today.

New York, New York!

Roxi and I are finally back together again after her long trip to Europe! We rendezvoused in New York yesterday. After a full morning of travelling by air and about an hour and a half of train and subway travels, Roxi and I met at Grand Central Station. We then took a cab to Joel and Katie's place in Manhattan. We took in a little of the neighborhood while we were waiting for Joel to get home from work. Next we were joined by my brother Garrett and his girlfriend Nicole for dinner at Rack & Soul, a barbecue and soul food restaurant. We had a good dinner and then took a short walk to a must see spot for any respectable Seinfeld fan:





We finished off hanging out at Joel and Katie's apartment waiting for Katie to get home from choir practice. So far we're having fun and plan to have more today!

Tatooine Lives On

Despite the mediocre new trilogy, I am still a Star Wars fan and so found this article very interesting. The sets that were built in Tunisia to serve as the homes in the barren deserts of Tatooine have lived on as real life home to Saharan Desert dwellers. It's nice to see that Tatooine is still going strong after nearly thirty years and I sure wouldn't mind to visit some day.

Everything That's Wrong With Music In 5 Minutes and 22 Seconds

I was surfing around the Internet and came across a link to a YouTube video from the movie "Before the Music Dies," an indie documentary about manufactured music. From the preview on their official website, it looks like it should be a pretty good movie. What I found on YouTube is this 5:22 clip from the documentary showing how a pop star/song is manufactured from start to finish. It's pretty amazing really; disgusting, but still amazing.

Missing John

Gone too soon, but never forgotten.

LOST Moments 4

Another week, another LOST Moment...

Celebrate Repeal Day With Irony

Seventy-three years ago today, Congress enacted the first and only repeal of a Constitutional Amendment. The 21st Amendment to the Constitution repealed the 18th Amendment which prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol. This celebrated event is met today with a strong shot of irony. Today, the New York health board voted to ban trans fats in city restaurants. It's sad really because of comments like this:

Toni Lewis, catching a quick dinner at McDonalds before her daughter's piano lesson on the eve of the vote, acknowledged that yes, it might be an intrusion for the city to tell people what they can and can't put into their stomachs. But, she added, it was a welcome one.

"This is New York," she said. "People eat out a lot. We don't have a choice. We need someone to make it a healthier proposition."

So because of people like this who say they can't resist McDonalds, "we need someone" to make it healthier?!? Oh personal responsibility, where have you gone?

It's the danger a bad diet poses to children that has experts the most worried. It's also what worries Kathy Ramirez, a 26-year-old New York mother who takes her toddler to McDonalds every week. She approves of the ban and a related measure passed Tuesday, requiring restaurants that already disclose calorie counts -- mostly chain restaurants -- to post them right on the menu.

"It's hurting us, all this fat, but the kids really like it," said Ramirez, pointing to 3-year-old Amber, who'd just finished her dinner. "It would be better to know what we're getting."

She should have said, "I'm too lazy to cook for my daughter so I take her to McDonalds, but it's so bad for her, someone should pass a law..."

Don't get me wrong, I think the food at McDonalds is by and large gross. But if I want to eat an Egg McMuffin, I will. It's so easy to choose not to eat bad food. We don't need more laws or city ordinances. Can't we just take a tiny bit of responsibility dammit?

"It's basically a slow form of poison," said David Katz, director of the Yale Prevention Research Center. "I applaud New York City and frankly, I think there should be a nationwide ban."

Not everyone agrees with Katz -- he's gotten angry e-mails calling him and colleagues the "food police" and saying, "If I want to eat trans fats, that's my inalienable right." To which he [cynically -- ed.] responds: "Would you want the burden of asking your restaurant whether there's lead in the food? Whether there's arsenic in the bread? For all I know, maybe arsenic makes bread more crusty. But it's poison."

They've banned trans fats in NY, they are close to banning cigarettes in NY, how soon until someone proposes a ban on alcohol? It is, after all, a poison.

BCS

Florida will be playing Ohio State for the National Championship in January avoiding the rematch with Michigan by only a fraction of a point in the polls. Thank God because I could give a rat's ass about a game against two Big Ten schools!

The other games are:

USC vs. Michigan in the Rose Bowl
Oklahoma vs. Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl
Wake Forest vs. Louisville in the Orange Bowl
LSU vs. Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl

Here's the full bowl schedule.

Aggie Apology

A&M coach Dennis Franchione sent a handwritten apology to Texas coach Mack Brown and quarterback Colt McCoy for Kellen Heard's late hit in the final minutes of last Friday's game. Coach Fran posted the letter along with his comments on CoachFran.com:

I want to share with you verbatim a handwritten note I composed to FAX to Coach Mack Brown at Texas early this week. I spoke to him on the phone about it and he was very gracious and understanding:

To: Coach Brown, the Texas coaching staff, Longhorn football players, and Colt McCoy and family

From: Coach Fran, Texas A&M coaching staff, Aggie football players, and Kellen Heard

We regret and apologize for the late hit on Colt by Kellen Heard. We do not teach this type of play or condone it. After meeting with Kellen, I know he feels badly that this happened, and he expressed that he did not want to display malicious intent.

We will handle this situation as a coaching staff with consequences for the action. Kellen is in complete agreement and said that he wants Colt to know that he certainly regrets it and he apologizes for the incident.

Our game is one of the great days in college football and we want it to always be a class day for both universities.

Good luck in your bowl game.

Sincerely,

Coach Fran, staff, Kellen Heard and teammates

Whenever disciplinary action is necessary with players, I consult with staff and also have a session with the Leadership Council to get their feedback on what they think is appropriate. The staff reviewed our game video extensively, as well as the national telecast. Accountability for behavior is taken very seriously in our program in competition, in academics, and in social life. But I also feel strongly that it is important to handle these matters privately, as you would expect it to be handled if it were your son involved. Kellen and his teammates know this will not be dealt with lightly, and that's enough for the public to know, too.

As I said before, I would feel that benching Heard during the Holiday Bowl would be an adequate disciplinary action, but I support the decision for things to be handled by the team.

College Football Week 14

As noted last week, Texas A&M's regular season is over but my other alma mater, Georgia Tech, is playing Wake Forest for the ACC Championship and a BCS berth in the Orange Bowl. Right now, Georgia Tech is leading by 6-3 but Wake has been keeping up all along. During my grad school days at Georgia Tech, I never really could get that excited by ACC football. The conference is much better now that Virginia Tech and Miami have joined but I'm still always preoccupied with how A&M is doing during the fall. It stands to reason as I spent four and a half years at A&M (five football seasons) and only a year a half at Georgia Tech (one football season). In any event, I do like to see Georgia Tech succeed (as long as they aren't playing the Aggies!) so here's to the Yellow Jackets beating the Demon Deacons.

Also going on today is the Cal vs. Stanford game. As announced earlier this week, Texas A&M will be facing Cal in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. If Cal wins today, they will have an identical 9-3 record when they face the Aggies on December 28. Right now Cal is leading Stanford with a score of 3-0. Of course there are other bigger games going on today like the Big XII and SEC Championships which have BCS bowl game implications as well as USC vs. UCLA which has national title implications. We'll see how they all shake out this evening followed by the rest of the bowl announcements tomorrow.

UPDATE: Wake Forest just kicked a field goal to tie the score. Eight minutes left to play.

UPDATE: Wake Forest just kicked another field goal giving tham a three-point lead over Gerogia Tech with under three minutes to play.

UPDATE: Wake Forest are the ACC Champs and Orange Bowl bound after beating Georgia Tech by a score of 9-6. It was a game of defense and inconsistent offense in which no touchdowns were scored. Congrats to Wake Forest, a team that has certainly worked hard over the past few years to put themselves in a position to play for a conference title. Meanwhile, it's halftime in Berkeley with Cal leading Stanford by a score of 13-10.

UPDATE: Cal beat Stanford by a final score of 26-17 giving them a 9-3 record when they meet the 9-3 Aggies in the Holiday Bowl on December 28. They are going to be a tough team but if we play with intensity and focus, we can win. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, UCLA is working on an major upset against USC. UCLA is leading by a score of 13-9 with only five minutes left to play. This is why they play the game!

UPDATE: UCLA pulled off a major upset against USC by winning with a score of 13-9. USC will not play for a National Championship for the first time in three years. The BCS computers just started smoking.

UPDATE: The Big XII Championship game just started and Bob Stoops is wearing a cap instead of a visor. It looks just plain weird. Meanwhile, Arkansas seems to have momentum in the SEC Championship even though they are down by three. All over Michigan, people are gearing up for an Ohio State rematch.

UPDATE: Florida beat Arkansas by a score of 38-28. So who will be playing Ohio State for the National Championship? Will it be a rematch with Michigan or will it be Urban Meyer's Gators? Meanwhile, Rutgers and West Virginia look like they are on the verge of heading into triple overtime to determine the Big East Champion.

UPDATE: West Virginia edged out Rutgers 41-39 giving the Big East crown and trip to a BCS bowl game to Louisville while Oklahoma took advantage of Nebraska mistakes to give them the win by a score of 21-7 and a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. So now we wait for the votes to be cast to see if the National Championship game is something I'll care to watch. I don't really care in either scenario but there is one that couldn't care less about. Can you guess which one that is?

LOST Moments 3

Here's the LOST Moment that appeared this week during Day Break. All I can say is I'm glad there is such a thing as YouTube!

Happy Holiday(s) Bowl

Texas A&M has officially accepted in invitation to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on December 28. A&M will be facing the University of California Golden Bears who are 8-3 with their annual game against Stanford still remaining. I am excited about this bowl game! I just hope the Aggies don't come out looking like they did in the Cotton Bowl two years ago. That was horrible. But I think that this team will be very pumped up to play especially with their excitement and momentum after upsetting Texas last week. It's a big game where A&M can make a really big statement about what they plan to do next season. BTHO Cal!!!

MPAA WTF!?!

The MPAA has a brilliant idea. For those who don't remember, the MPAA is also known as the organization that is the second most resentful of its own consumers right after the RIAA. So what's their big idea you ask? They want to get a law passed making "unauthorized" home theaters illegal.

The MPAA is lobbying congress to push through a new bill that would make unauthorized home theaters illegal. The group feels that all theaters should be sanctioned, whether they be commercial settings or at home.

The bill would require that any hardware manufactured in the future contain technology that tells the MPAA directly of what is being shown and specific details on the audience. The data would be gathered using various motion sensors and biometric technology.

The MPAA defines a home theater as any home with a television larger than 29" with stereo sound and at least two comfortable chairs, couch, or futon. Anyone with a home theater would need to pay a $50 registration fee with the MPAA or face fines up to $500,000 per movie shown.

Do these a-holes really wonder why people are downloading movies online? But it gets better. Head a-hole Dan Glickman has this to say:

"Just because you buy a DVD to watch at home doesn't give you the right to invite friends over to watch it too. That's a violation of copyright and denies us the revenue that would be generated from DVD sales to your friends," said Glickman. "Ideally we expect each viewer to have their own copy of the DVD, but we realize that isn't always feasible. The registration fee is a fair compromise."

F-you Dan Glickman!

I Had To Pinch Myself This Morning...

...because I was sure that I only dreamed that the Aggies beat the Longhorns in Austin. I checked the Tivo and sure enough, it still said that we won the game. ESPN confirmed the same. What a day and I couldn't help but write another post and bask in the glow of victory. I promise, I will move on soon, but it has just been so long since I was this happy about the outcome of a football game on the day after Thanksgiving. Gotta love the it! I'm looking forward to see where we'll be playing our bowl game. Until then, Gig 'Em and BTHO ____!

UPDATE: I just found this photo online and had to include it here.

College Football Week 13

Today marks the start of the last weekend of the regular season of college football. There are only a few games today, but for us Aggies, there is only one game: Texas A&M vs. Texas. I must say that his year has been a surprise to me in two ways. The first is that we started off so strongly and were able to bounce back and win our next four conference games after losing the conference opener to Texas Tech. The second surprise is that we lost our last two games by a total of two points. Despite our 8-3 record, a lot of Aggies are pissed at Coach Fran. The record is deceptively good considering our margins of victory for a majority of our wins. But all will be forgiven by the Aggie faithful if Fran and the Aggies can pull off an upset win against the Longhorns in Austin. We've played Texas tough for the past two years but failed to carry the momentum through the fourth quarter. But today will be the day! The Aggies are going to surprise the Longhorns and the rest of the state of Texas. I'll be watching while we trim the Christmas tree in less than two hours. Gig 'Em Aggies and BEAT THE HELL OUTTA tu!!!!!

UPDATE: Ags win by a score of 12-7! This is the Aggies' first win over Texas since 1999, the first win in Austin since 1994 and Coach Dennis Franchione's first win against Texas. The last time the Aggies beat Texas, I was a student about month away from graduation, so this win has some extra weight to it for me. Sadly, the end of the game was marred with some bad behavior by Kellen Heard. After the Aggies intercepted a pass by Colt McCoy to essentially clinch the game, Heard tackled McCoy well after the play was over. Heard was flagged and ejected from the game. The Longhorns had one more opportunity to win but with 0:20 left in the game, Martellus Bennett tackled McCoy in a play and he had to be taken off the field on a cart. I don't blame Bennett for McCoy getting hurt in the game, that's part of it. But Heard was pretty classless and a lot of people in Texas will be talking about that personal foul even though it didn't have any effect on the outcome of the game.

That being said, I am still very, very happy that the Aggies were able to upset Texas in Austin, a tough feat to say the least (only the ninth win for A&M in Austin in eighty games!). With this win, Texas' Big XII title hopes rest on Oklahoma State beating OU tomorrow. So A&M improves to 9-3 with a shot at getting ten wins if we can win our bowl game. I have had my doubts about Coach Fran since the Army game and this doesn't necessarily put him in the clear but he does have a one year stay of execution, so to speak. He needs to win the bowl game and a get a lot of offseason improvement out of the team so that next year we can win those games we lost this year. I am hopeful about the bowl game and next season, but we should enjoy this win for the next several days and then get ready to face a tough foe in December.

Gig 'Em Ags!!!!!!!

LOST Moments 2

I didn't watch "Day Break" last night and I still have no plans to. These LOST Moments are barely worth watching on YouTube...

The Worst Part of Thanksgiving

The thing that I really love and hate about Thanksgiving is that it kicks off the Christmas season. I hate how it seems that the Christmas decorations and advertisements come out before Thanksgiving. This year it seems like most stores skipped directly from Halloween to Christmas. But I still love the month of December and how the lead up to Christmas feels. But I wouldn't miss the Day After Thanksgiving sales extravaganzas if they suddenly went away.

On our way to Roxi's parent's house, we passed Best Buy and saw two people sitting outside as if they were waiting for the store to open. On our way home seven hours later an actual line had formed along the front of the building and around the corner. I asked Roxi to turn around and pull into the parking lot so I could get a picture. I asked one of the people in line what they were waiting for. I thought it had to be a new shipment of Playstation 3s. But no. These damn fools are camping out, as I type, to be the first to shop at Best Buy on the day after Thanksgiving.







I'm all for capitalism and I think that people can do whatever they want, but I also reserve the right to call them idiots for it. The Christmas season has officially begun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

College Football Week 12

There's no Texas A&M game today as the Aggies take their first break since the beginning of the season. All that's left is the day after Thanksgiving game against archrival Texas. So no football to watch today unless you are interested in watching No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Michigan. I guess that might be a good one!

LOST Moments 1

In an attempt to keep viewers during the interminable 13 week hiatus of LOST, ABC has decided to give us "LOST Moments" each week during the replacement show Day Break. Day Break might be a fine show, but I'm not watching it just because it is in LOST's time slot. Plus everyone knows that the previews will show up on YouTube anyway. So without further ado, the first (disappointing) LOST Moment of the hiatus.

College Football Week 11

I can't believe that the season has gone by so fast but here we are at the last home game of the year for Texas A&M. Today the Aggies will face the Nebraska Cornhuskers who look to be the Big XII North division champions. I wouldn't be watching the game if it weren't for a trip to Houston today. The game is not being shown in Louisiana in favor of coverage of Ohio State vs. Northwestern (?). But Roxi and her friend Amy had to make a trip to Houston for Sat Nam Rasayan. While they're busy with that, I'll be watching the game with my parents. We are 0-1 when I watch games in Houston so I hope that record moves to 1-1 after today. Nebraska is doing pretty well with a 7-3 record (4-2 conference), but A&M is technically doing better with an 8-2 record (4-2 conference). A&M can't win the Big XII South but we can compete for a better bowl and a win against a good Nebraska team would help do just that. So here's to beating those shuckers at the seniors' last game at Kyle Field. BTHO Nebraska!

UPDATE: Ags lose...by one point...again. I hate Fran so much.

"I Do"

This is it. The last episode of LOST for THREE MONTHS! It probably was the best beginning to end episode of the season, but still a far cry from the show that I fell in love with. So without further ado, here are my thoughts.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!

This episode was about Kate, but it really wasn't. Like most of the other episodes this season, the flashback was incidentally connected to the story on the island, but it seemed to be much less relevant or parallel to the island storyline. In any event, we finally got to see who Kate was married to and who almost got her pregnant: Captain Mal Reynolds. Okay in LOST his name is Kevin and apparently, Kate told him that her name is Monica. So what else did we learn about Kate? Nothing we didn't already know. She can't stay put and she likes to taunt US Marshal Edward Mars. BFD. I don't like Kate anymore. She has too much baggage, she's a liar and you know she's just going to leave Sawyer just as soon as they get settled down in their hovel on the beach.

While Kate's stock is falling, Jack's is rising in my opinion. I really didn't like him much last season and that carried over in a big way this season, but starting last week, I started to like him again. I think the real reason is that he has the upper hand on Ben now. But pretty much anyone who can screw with Ben's head is okay in my book.

Ben is a real a-hole. The same goes for Juliet, Pickett and all of the Others. They are all terrible liars who are hypocrites and ego maniacs. If you think I'm being too hard on them, it's not my fault. The producers have given me ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to like them. At least they didn't bother saying the played out "we're not killers" line this week the numerous times they said they would kill Sawyer. They are full of BS.

So Sawyer and Kate finally did it. Is anyone surprised?

Locke decided that Mr. Eko would be buried where he died and not at the beach so as not to upset the other Losties. How very Jack of you Locke. Keep hiding stuff from your friends. At Eko's funeral, Locke said he thinks that there was a reason for his death, he just figure out what it is. Hey I have an idea...ask the damn island! It seems to work every time Locke has a question! Hasn't he figured that out yet? Man they are dragging this show out.

So Jack is conned into performing surgery on Ben to remove the giant tumor. Ben sets it up so that he can see that Kate and Sawyer "got caught in a net." Right before going under anesthesia, Ben asks if Alex asked about him. She did but of course Juliet lies because that's what the Others do. I wonder what the bond is between Alex and Ben. Is she Alex's real father? Too bad we won't find out until Season 5. So Jack starts the surgery and Pickett takes the opportunity to kill Sawyer. Thankfully for Sawyer, Jack cuts Ben's kidney sack which will kill him in an hour if it is not fixed. Jack gets all Sidney Carton on the situation and volunteers to stay behind and save Ben if Pickett lets Kate escape with her Charles Darnay who we know as Sawyer (This episode should have been called "A Tale of Two Cities"). We are left with Ben sedated on the operating table (I called it!), Sawyer with a gun to his head and Jack telling Kate to run and let him know that she is okay within the hour.

So that's it for more than three months. I guess I'll be itching for a new episode eventually, but I don't think it will be until after Christmas. I'm sad that this season is not moving along quickly enough but it's because there are so many loose ends from the first two seasons not to mention these first six episodes of the third season. Who are Adam and Eve? What is the Smoke Monster? Who are the Others and why are they such a-holes? What is the Dharma Initiative? What's with the giant foot statue? What happened to Michael and Walt? Where are Yemi and Christian Shepard's bodies? Why was Ana Lucia such a bitch? What's going on with Penny Widmore and the Portuguese guys at the listening station in Antarctica? Was Libby really crazy or was she part of Dharma or both or neither? Why did the Others wear fake beards during the first two seasons? Where are the kids from the tail section of the plane? What happened to Cindy from the tail section? Who is Karl and why was he in the cage? Why hasn't Danielle found Alex yet? Who is Jacob and who was on his list? Who's the guy with the eyepatch and what station is he in? What do the Numbers mean? What's up with Desmond? WTF is going on????

NEXT YEAR(!) on LOST:

Borat Sagdiev

Roxi and I saw the Borat movie last night and although I enjoyed it, I kind of feel like it fell victim to the same fate as most SNL movies. Granted it is better than most of those, but I still feel like the shorter sketches on Da Ali G Show just work better than the plotline designed to fill in the spaces between the sketches in the movie. The show sketches leave me wanting more while I felt like the movie was losing a little steam by the end. Still very funny and worth seeing, but it got off to a slower start than I expected. I must say though that Sacha Baron Cohen is a very good actor not only being able to pull off the ruse on unsuspecting people, but many of the other scenes had a believable emotional element considering the absurd premise.

www.GiantOmelette.org

This afternoon, Roxi and I went to Abbeville, LA a short drive from our house to attend the climax of the Giant Omelette Celebration. I remember my mom taking me and my brothers as a young child, but I didn't realize that it is an annual event. We just happened to see a flyer for it on Friday and thought, "We must be there."

Roxi's parents joined us for the trip to the square in historic downtown Abbeville. We walked around through the arts and crafts tents before making our way to the courthouse where the giant omelette preparation was about to begin. We got there just in time for the ceremonial cracking of the 5000 eggs. As you can imagine, it takes a while to crack and beat 5000 eggs, so we took the opportunity to enjoy some Abita beer and some of the Cajun foods on hand.

The only thing that takes longer than cracking 5000 eggs is cooking 5000 eggs. We didn't really want to stick around for the long wait, but before leaving we made sure to get pictures of the army of chefs cooking the omelette. It was a great day to be outside at another of the many festivals in and around southern Louisiana.

College Football Week 10

It's a big day in College Station, TX for the Texas A&M Aggies and the students and fans of the team. ESPN College Gameday is on campus today for their weekly show and the Aggie crowd looks great! Tonight, A&M faces Oklahoma, who admittedly is a little down this year, but they are still very dangerous. They are a great team and they are in the position to play spoiler to A&M's hopes of winning the last three games and going to the Big XII Championship game in December. Right now the Aggies have an unbelievable 8-1 record (4-1 in conference) and actually control their own destiny in the Big XII South, but these things really have to be taken one game at a time. I've had trouble with some of the decisions of the coaching staff at times this season, but the players really do seem to have a lot of guts to stay in all their close games and manage to pull off wins in all but one of them. This week will be hard if we can't keep up with OU, but having home field will be a big help and the crowd will definitely be a factor like it was in all of the recent OU games at Kyle Field. I am looking forward to this one and I really hope that the team is as fired up as they should be. It's a good day to be an Aggie and a win would make it a great day! Gig 'Em and BTHO OU!!!!

UPDATE: Ags lose by one point. Risky coaching and the stupidest of mistakes (12 men on the field!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) when they had more than enough time to get their play figured out. STUPID! How could a coach let that happen? UNFORGIVABLE! Fran is dead to me.

UPDATE: After having a night to sleep on it, I may have been a bit hasty in my post-game sentiments. The players fought hard all game and the Aggie defense did a lot to keep the team in the game by not allowing Oklahoma to score touchdowns after two in the first quarter. The offense worked hard to get the team back in the game but they could not capitalize by scoring points off of two Oklahoma fumbles. The offense managed to pull within one point of the Sooners off of two field goals, but was unable to get the ball back to attempt the game winning field goal. Of course that brings us to the horrible mistake of having twelve men on the field on the crucial fourth-down stand. But Bob Stoops is certifiable and only he would have the balls to go for it on fourth from his own 29-yard line. But the gamble paid off and Oklahoma won the game.

The Aggies played a good one and the score was much closer than it probably could have been considering how close games against worse teams have been this year. We just came up short last night and that's the breaks. It was really only a matter of time. I would like to think that the Aggie team can use this as motivation going into next week's game against Nebraska, but they are starting to click and will be coming into Kyle Field as the leaders in the Big XII North. We are still playing for a good bowl game so two more wins would not only put us into a better position but it would be the first ten-win season since 1998. Plus ten wins would mean we would beat Texas and I think that would make any Aggie forget about the loss to Texas Tech and Oklahoma.

"The Cost of Living"

So we have come to the penultimate episode of LOST for 2006 and again I am conflicted. There isn't really much more I can say without specific episode details. So...

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!

ABC has been hyping that one of the survivors would die in this episode but I think most people knew who it would be. This episode followed the formula for killing off characters: the flashback was about the character, the character came to an important realization about themselves, and the character was arrested for some driving related issues during the hiatus. I'm conflicted because there were really only four characters that I still really cared about on the show and now that Mr. Eko is dead, there are only three: Sawyer, Locke and Desmond. And according to Locke, Mr. Eko's last words were that they were next. So I am bummed about losing Mr. Eko, but I guess the producers had to kill someone pretty important otherwise they would be accused of coping out. But why did the black smoke kill Eko? It didn't kill him when he faced off with it before. I guess I'm supposed to be excited that we got to see the smoke monster, but it didn't really explain anything.

I was glad to see that Locke brought some of the other survivors to the Pearl Station but are we really supposed to believe that Locke never thought that the other monitors might be linked to the other stations? I know he was pissed off the first time he was in the Pearl Station, but that doesn't explain a complete lack of common sense. Anyway, we get to see one of the other stations and clearly see a person with an eye patch. No big surprise here since it was in the preview, but I have heard an interesting theory on a couple of podcasts. The theory goes back to some clues we got in Season 2.

When the Tailies found the abandoned Arrow Station, they found a trunk with a radio, a Bible and a glass eye. The glass eye probably belongs to this mystery person, but who is he? For that we go to the Bible. The secret of this Bible is that it contained a short reel of film that had been edited out of the Orientation Film for the Swan Station. In the Season 2 finale, when Kelvin was telling Desmond about the hatch, he said that Radzinsky was his previous partner in the station until he killed himself. He also said that Radzinsky was responsible for the edits in the Orientation Film. So did Radzinsky really commit suicide or is he this mystery eye patch wearing man? For my money, that's a pretty compelling theory. Too bad we won't find out for a very long time.

Meanwhile on the other island, Jack is invited by Ben to attend Colleen's funeral. The strange thing about the funeral was the music playing over the loudspeakers. It sounded like a Patsy Cline. I'm not sure if it was, but it would be interesting because her music has appeared at least three times in Kate's flashbacks. Connection or red herring?

Before the funeral, Jack confronts Ben about his tumor and Ben nervously denies it but then confirms it for our benefit in a conversation with Juliet. So then Ben sort of tells Jack his original plan for "breaking" him and making him want to perform the surgery. I'm not sure if the producers are intentionally setting us up by making me doubt the sincerity of everything that Ben says, but I did like his comment about God and the plane crashing on the island.

Finally, Juliet secretly conveyed a message to Jack about a coup against Ben. She appears to be telling Jack to agree to perform the surgery but have an unforeseen accident. She implies that the Others want a change in leadership and that she will protect Jack. I sort of want to believe her, but all of the Others are liars. It seems like a very conveniently placed setup for next week's cliff hanger. My guess is that Jack will perform the surgery and the episode will end with the "complication." So we won't know if Ben lives or dies until February.

So this episode was very bittersweet for me. I'm really going to miss Mr. Eko. So long Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje.

UPDATE: I just wanted to respond to the comments this post received so far. First off, thanks to Kat for informing me that the song during Colleen's funeral was by Brenda Lee and not Patsy Cline. According to the Jay and Jack Podcast, the song is titled "I Wonder."

Secondly, I thought I'd clarify a few of my comments based on Roxi's questions. I grew weary of Kate during Season 2 because she always seemed to get the group in trouble most notably in "The Hunting Party" where she follows Jack, Sawyer and Locke when they go looking for Michael. She got caught and was used as a pawn for the Others to take Jack, Sawyer and Locke's guns.

I guess I liked Ben's God comment because it might have given some indication of his motivation. If he is telling the truth about when he found out about his tumor, I thought it showed that he is just as scared and as human as the Flight 815 survivors.

Despite everything the producers have said about plotting out the entire story for five seasons, they are definitely making up BS padding along the way. At this point, all of the Tailies are dead except for Bernard (who we haven't seen yet this season), Cindy (captured by the Others just before Ana Lucia shot Shannon) and the kids (also captured by the Others just after the crash). What was the point of developing their stories last season if they were all going to be gone by the beginning of season 2? Couldn't the same plot have been executed sooner by characters we already knew?

LOST has definitely lost it's edge. Although there have been some developments in this first part of Season 3, they have lacked any emotional impact. I am sad to see Eko go, but I wasn't as shocked or surprised like I was when Ana Lucia and Libby were killed. Nothing this season has been as cool as the light coming out of the hatch door after Boone died or when we found out that Locke was in a wheelchair before the crash. Nothing has been as creepy and disorienting as "Make Your Own Kind Of Music" playing in the Swan Station at the beginning of Season 2. Don't get me wrong; I've enjoyed parts of Season 3, but the stories haven't really been all that compelling to me. I might have pretty high expectations, but that is only because LOST was so very good in Season 1 and at times during Season 2. The producers really need to stop doing the marketing for the show and get back to making a great show. The marketing will take care of itself. Word of mouth made the show what it is, not some gimmicks like "Bad Twin," real-life Apollo candy bars or The Lost Experience. At this point, there probably won't be that many new fans to the show, so the producers should really concentrate on not losing the the fans they already have!

NEXT WEEK on LOST:


CANADIAN PROMO:

Happy Halloween!

ESPN College Gameday at Kyle Field

Through all of the near losses this season, A&M has built a very respectable 8-1 (4-1 in conference) record. Currently the Aggies sit at second place in the Big XII South behind Texas and in front of Oklahoma. The powers that be has deemed this weekend's matchup with Oklahoma as worthy of a visit from the ESPN College Gameday crew. I only hope that this visit works out better for the Aggies than the last visit did in 2000. We played a heck of a game that day, but it was OU's year. No telling if it is either of our year this time around, but I would welcome a win over OU this year and any other year for that matter.

College Football Week 9

After the overtime win against Oklahoma State last week, I'm ready for a game that is an easy win, and there was a time when a game against Baylor was just that. However, for the past few years, Coach Guy Morris has lead the Bears to challenge many of the middle tier teams in the Big XII. This culminated with Baylor's upset of the Aggies in Waco two years ago. It was the first time the Bears beat the Aggies in about twenty years and let me tell you it sucked. It came a week after the Aggies had just edged out Colorado in overtime at Kyle Field. So this year's game is very reminiscent of our last trip to Waco. Again, the game is not televised so Aggies will have to settle for listening to it or reading online stats. This is the easiest game we have left on our schedule but it's definitely no "gimmie." They all get progressively harder down the stretch. Gig 'Em Ags and BTHO Baylor!

UPDATE: Ags win! By the time I tuned in to check the online stats, the game was almost half over and the Aggies were only up by a touchdown. Shortly after halftime, the Bears tied the score. The Aggies then made two trips inside the Baylor 5 yard line but only came out with a three point lead. However, the Aggies finally made the game clinching touchdown with a little over two minutes left. After that, all the Bears could do was try to score twice, but their hopes ended on an interception by the Aggies with under a minute left to play. When time expired, the Aggies were victorious by a score of 31-21. Unfortunately Baylor is no longer an easy win, but at least this outing resulted in another win for the Aggies.

"Every Man For Himself"

I am so very conflicted about LOST this season. I have liked some parts of it, while I've grown very tired of other parts of it. Tonight's episode conflicted me as well.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!

My big conflict comes in the form of my fondness for this show, but am having trouble seeing where this season is going so far. The producers have said this would be the season of the Others and that our opinion of them would change. Well my opinion is changing alright...I hate them more and more every episode. I am getting really tired of how they keep talking about how they're good yet they are beating the crap out of Sawyer all the time. Don't get me wrong...con men are bad but this is just getting ridiculous.

I was glad that this episode picked up where we left off last week with Desmond. Now that he is fully dressed, he went on to continue demonstrating his ability to see the future. When he took the golf club and put it high up on the bamboo pole, I thought for a second that he was making an antenna, but then realized that it was probably a lightning rod. Score one for me!

The Others are not winning my affection by "implanting" a killer pacemaker in Sawyer. Forget that it all turned out to be a con on Sawyer, Ben Linus is really starting to piss me off. I guess that makes Michael Emerson a good actor, but I really want to see something bad happen to Ben at the hands of Sawyer. Did anyone else notice what Ben and Tom were talking about when Sawyer first woke up? Tom said something about the communication link being down since the Sawn Station implosion that caused the sky to change colors. Interesting...

So Colleen ended up dying from being shot by Sun. Juliet couldn't do anything to save her so she got Jack to help but of course it was too late. I know we still have no idea about the Others' motives, but until they are revealed I have absolutely no sympathy for them. And did Ben say something about a "sub?" Is that how the Others got onto the sailboat undetected? Jack also saw some spinal X-ray films and I thought for sure they were going to be Locke's but it looks like they are probably Ben's. Will Jack have to save Ben to get off the island?

I guess there were two big reveals in this episode: Sawyer has a daughter and there are two islands! Sawyer conned another con to get money to take care of his daughter so he has a good heart after all. And the big finish was that Ben showed Sawyer that he, Kate and Jack are being kept on a different island from the one they crashed on. This Other island is apparently twice the size of Alcatraz. Now it makes sense that Rousseau has never stumbled across the Other's village.

This episode was just okay in my opinion. There have been far better, but there have also been much worse. And now we are down to only two more episodes before the ten week break. Some people have been saying that fans are expecting too much from the show, but I think that is BS. This show was really, really good during the first season and it has slumped since then. The fans are not to blame for the disappointment thus far. The blame rests on the shoulders of the producers for hyping the show all summer and then dropping the ball on delivery. I really want something purposeful to happen in the next two weeks. I don't want a gimmick though, I want something important to happen that actually progresses the story, otherwise we might be watching the beginning of the end of LOST.

NEXT WEEK on LOST:

Rice Festival

Last night Roxi and I made the rainy drive out to Crowley, LA for the annual Rice Festival. I used to go to Rice Fest every year during high school with my good friend and Hek-Atomic Cherry, Charles. He is from Crowley and his parents live a few short blocks from the festival site. This year was no different. Roxi and I joined Charles, Claire and Jeffrey in enjoying the food of the festival. It rained all day Saturday which sort of put a damper on the activities during the day, but it let up enough Saturday night for us to make the walk down Parkerson Street and be very gluttonous among the famous fried and fatty foods of south Louisiana. We started with boudin balls and fresh craklin' and then made our way to several barbeque burger stands. We then moved on to proper boudin links and Roxi and I finished stuffing ourselves with some fried alligator on a stick while Charles and Jeffrey searched out the best deal on funnel cake. It was indeed a gluttonous evening, but we can all allow ourselves such a night every once in a while. Unfortunately there are no pictures as I didn't want to risk my camera getting wet in the sporadic rain, but I'd still classify this Rice Festival as a smashing success!

College Football Week 8

Today the Texas A&M Aggies start a two week road trip that takes them to Stillwater, OK to play Oklahoma State. The game is not televised. I'm not really sure what to expect this week. Two weeks ago we were almost beaten by Kansas while last week we started clicking and upset Missouri. I expect to win this game and it would be nice to again defeat Ok State on their homecoming like we did two years ago. The one thing that I fear is a letdown after a big win last week. I hope the Aggies capitalize on what they have learned over the past two weeks and continue to win conference games building up to the difficult stretch at the end of the season. Gig 'Em and BTHO Oklahoma State!

UPDATE: Ags win!! The game was knotted up all night with the lead changing several times. At the end of regulation, the game was tied at 27 with A&M forcing the overtime with only three seconds remaining. In overtime, the Aggies had the ball first and put up seven points before Oklahoma State took over. Oklahoma State scored a touchdown and appeared to be about to send the game into a second overtime, however their extra point attempt was blocked and the game ended with the Aggies winning by a score of 34-33. Not exactly the win that I had envisioned, but a win none the less. Next week we are on the road again at Baylor and it will not be the easy game either. The last time we played there, we were defeated for the first time in more than twenty years and last year's game at home was no cake walk. Next week is a must win, for both remaining in the conference race as well as for personal pride because honestly, no one likes to lose to Baylor.

"Further Instructions"

Finally, three weeks into the third season of LOST, we got four things that have been sorely missing: Locke, Desmond, Mr. Eko and an episode that was actually worth watching! Say what you will about the few nuggets of information revealed in the first two episodes of the season, but they were both really boring. This week, we finally got the action that the producers have been promising!

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!

I liked how the beginning of the episode mirrored the beginning of the pilot episode, this time with Locke waking up disoriented in the woods. I was expecting Vincent to come running out of the grass. This scene is obvious paralleling Jack waking up in the pilot and then springing into action as the leader of the group. As we saw by the end of the episode, Locke has now asserted his leadership over the Losties and everyone seemed responsive of it.

I enjoyed the vision quest that Locke embarked on in the sweat lodge, and it was great seeing Boone again, but what is with his hair? I guess the urban legends are true about your hair continuing to grow after you die! Speaking of hair, what's with Charlie's? Did his exposure to the implosion of the hatch make him grow a mullet??

In Locke's flashback we see that Locke was in a cult!?! But of course we also learn that he is a sucker and got conned again by that undercover police officer. I was really expecting him to kill the cop. After we found out how Jack was a stalker and Sun was a big liar, I expected to find out that Locke was a cop killer. But alas, he couldn't do it.

I wish we could have gotten a little more of Desmond's story this week, but we did get a juicy little hint in his conversation with Hurley. It would appear that Desmond might have done a little time traveling since the hatch imploded. Some one on the Fark message boards pointed out that he looked a lot like Jesus after Hurley gave him is huge T-shirt. I can't argue with that. So what does this all mean? Is Desmond time traveling, is he a prophet or is he the true savior of the Losties? I don't know but I sure can't wait to find out!

I was expecting for Mr. Eko to be a little more involved in the episode, but at this point I'm just happy that he didn't die. I thought for a second there that he had expired after talking to Locke. There are not too many characters that I would miss [especially if one of them was Jack (ed.)], but Mr. Eko would be a big loss.

This was without a doubt the best episode so far this season. I hope that we don't have to wait through two more boring episodes before we get another good one. I know that they are going to drag out as much of this show as possible, I just hope they don't do so at the expense of progressing the story and losing too much more of the audience.

NEXT WEEK on LOST (American Promo):


NEXT WEEK on LOST (Canadian Promo):

Let Love Rule!

We did it! For over a year I have been writing about what we could do to get the ridiculous and anti-free market Wright Amendment repealed. A bill setting up a time frame for repeal was passed through Congress on September 29 and officially signed into law by President Bush this week. Although the Wright Amendment won't completely be history until 2014, on Thursday October 19, Southwest Airlines will begin flights from Dallas to twenty-five "new" destinations that were previously restricted by the Wright Amendment. I expect further expansion of Southwest low-cost operations in the future now that Love is Free!!!

Festivals Acadiens 2006

Festival season is in full swing in south Louisiana and Roxi and I are taking full advantage. This weekend's event was Festivals Acadiens. It is a festival celebrating Cajun culture in the Acadiana area. Like most festivals, it's all about food, drink, music and crafts.

Roxi and I took advantage of the liberal drive-thru daiquiri laws in Louisiana and purchased our very large pre-drinks on the way to Girard Park. Once we arrived, we partook in some fantastic jambalaya and fried alligator-on-a-stick.

After our Cajun food we took in some music from Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas and The Pine Leaf Boys.

Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas:


The Pine Leaf Boys:


Finally we rounded out the afternoon with a walk through the crafts tents.

I found it very interesting celebrating Cajun culture so soon after celebrating German heritage twenty miles away last weekend. I never really thought about the juxtaposition before, but I think that is mostly because the two cultures merged with each other while maintaining separate identities. What a history lesson I have had over the past two weekends!

College Football Week 7

Today's the day that pretty much defines the rest of the Texas A&M football season. The Aggies are playing the University of Missouri, the team that appears to be in the "drivers seat" to win the Big XII North division title.

The Aggies have played very poorly the few times that I have seen so far this season, and typically worse during those games that I have been unable or unwilling to watch. The team is committing far too many penalties to sustain drives and often moved the ball backwards in it's win over Kansas last week. Furthermore, the coaching decisions at key moments in the game have been very suspect on both offense (vs. Army) and defense (vs. Army and vs. Texas Tech).

Still the Ags are 5-1 (1-1 in conference) with several challenging games left this season and the 6-0 (2-0 in conference) Mizzou is primed to be upset on the road. A well played game and a win against Mizzou would make me more optimistic about our chances with Nebraska and Oklahoma, but a loss would make me worry about all of our remaining games including Baylor.

Today is the first day of the rest of the season! BTHO Mizzou!

UPDATE: Ags win! Despite the odds and this season so far, the Aggies upset a ranked, and thus far undefeated, Missouri. We're not out of the woods yet with two upcoming road games in a row, but as Tim Smith put it in an email this afternoon, the Aggies are now bowl eligible for only the second time in Coach Fran's tenure. What bowl we play in depends on the next several weeks. The trick now is to avoid the letdown on the road against Oklahoma State next week. The biggest regret I have now is losing to a very bad Texas Tech team. If only A&M could have held on for another couple of minutes two weeks ago...

Friday the 13th!

Here's a little history on the subject of Friday the 13th. Enjoy!

UPDATE: More on the history of the day from our friends at the Wall Street Journal.

At Least "The Office" Is Worth Watching

I only watch a couple of shows on TV but so far this season, I have been a little disappointed with the quality of the new episodes of "Nip/Tuck" and "LOST." Thankfully there is the shining light of "The Office" to make me happy every Thursday. Tonight's episode was no different. Brilliant! By far it has the best acting of any show I have seen on TV in a long time. This series has proven itself more than I ever could have imagined.

"The Glass Ballerina"

Tonight's episode of LOST was better than last week, but I still won't be totally happy until I see what happened to Locke, Mr. Eko and Desmond (which appears to be next week...finally!).

Again, I'll let someone else recap the episode, but I'll offer my thoughts.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!

I was a little surprised to see that Sun really did have an affair with her English tutor, Jae Lee. I know that's where the show seemed to be leading last season, but I thought it was a red herring. So I guess the baby might be Jae's after all, although that would have to mean that Oceanic 815 would have to have crashed fairly soon after Jin was sent to kill Jae. I guess we'll have to wait until much, much later in the season to get any answers on that.

As far as the Others go, I'm ready for at least a few answers as to who they are and just what in the hell is motivating them. Is it just me or is anybody else getting tired of the Others telling the Losties that they're "the good guys?" If they want the Losties to trust them, they need to prove themselves a little bit. So far, the only thing that the Others have done is kidnapped, killed or ambushed the Losties, so I think that the onus is on them to give a little. I mean it's great that we got to learn fake Henry Gale's real name (Benjamin Linus) and that he has spent his whole life on the island, but what the hell are these people doing on the island? Why are they having Kate break rocks while Sawyer hauls them away? And if Alex is trying to tell Kate and Sawyer something, she should just tell it already! What the hell is going on?

Meanwhile, I think that one of the mystical powers of the island is to make military strategists stupid. Sayid has now been duped twice by the Others in a matter of days. First he got sent to the fake camp in last season's finale and now the sailboat got taken.

One thing I can say is that Sawyer is fast becoming one of my favorite characters. He seems to be the only Lostie willing to treat the Others exactly how they deserve to be treated at this point. He is such a smart ass to them and until they quit treating the Losties like crap, Sawyer should keep being a smart ass!

Like I said, I'm ready for Locke, Mr. Eko and Desmond. I might be setting myself up for further disappointment, but if next week's episode isn't good, this might be a pretty mediocre season. We shall see!

NEXT WEEK on LOST:


And here is the Canadian preview which seems to shed a little more light on the effect that the failsafe device had on Locke: