utenzi

It's a trifle silly but I was quite thrilled when the cowboys went from last place---and with a speedbump, to boot---all the way up to first place. Woo-hoo. Personally I would have gone with the incense instead of the forehead-flag thingy too. I guess it was a popular but harmful decision. I'm glad the cowboys forged ahead using the less traveled path. Isn't this all quite Thoreau-ish? Isn't this all quite Frost-ish? It doesn't quite work using the Frost name. :-( Not many teams I like left since I don't like the cops, lesbians, or models. Not crazy about the brothers either. Actually the only team I liked other than the cowboys was Jordan and Jeff and they got eliminated several weeks ago. That damn wine glass stacking did them in. Jordan was also great for cute quotes. You never could quite believe she was serious. Joan of Arc: Is that the guy with all the animals?

It's bright and early on Monday morning and someone is all smiles. I have to ask myself, is it because she's leaving? Or does she just really like orange juice? I guess I'll just have to wait and see. In the television realm, I wasn't very impressed with the teams on The Amazing Race and found the first hour of the show rather boring. I did like the second hour a lot better. I liked the girl that was eliminated but her boyfriend was a mite intense. Too bad the Poker Girls weren't eliminated at the end of the first hour, huh?

I picked up an excess of food on Thursday in prep for Kim's visit. She'd not been to my house yet and I wanted to be sure to have enough food on hand in case we didn't go out to dinner. The main items were a 3 pound bag of chicken thighs and a 4 pound package of 97% hamburger. Normally I'd go for smaller sizes but these were the ones that were on sale---and you know about me and sales! Kim and I went out to a Mexican restaurant on Friday night but for the most part we ate in after that. In so doing we managed to go through the entire package of hamburger but we never touched the chicken. I'll have to use that up on Monday, I guess. The picture here is me making a rather large meatloaf with the last 2 pounds of meat. It actually turned out quite well and we ate it along with some mashed potatoes that I whipped up while watching The Amazing Race. Rampant domesticity!

I was a little disappointed in the outcome of The Amazing Race tonight. One of my favorite teams was eliminated. It illustrates one of my pet peeves about the show---too often airport schedules dictate how a race will turn out when I think it should be the competitive games within the race. Of course usually the airport serves to allow teams to catch up, cases like this when a team is eliminated due to a lost connection are rare. As you can see over there on the left, we have snow here in eastern NC today. Supposedly we'll have 4-6 inches by commute time which is why I brought my laptop home from work earlier. Research doesn't quit because of a little snow, but I might well not feel like driving in. My brother lives near Atlanta and according to him, while they got more snow there in Georgia, it was early enough in the day that the sun burned off most of the white stuff by evening. And strong winds tonight are supposed to take care of the rest, but it made for pretty picture...

I just finished watching TAR and I'm glad to have been vindicated by the married couple from Virginia. Even though they lost, the husband was very supportive of his wife just as I thought he'd be. I can sense these things, you know? The episode was pretty good and seemed short. I've still not decided on a favorite team and yet again the show contained a challenge that I'd not want to do. Last week it was the bungee jump and this week it was paragliding. According to Janis, who did the paraglide thing last year off a mountain in Tennessee, it's great fun---but with my lack of love for heights, I doubt I'll ever do it. Running down the mountain would have been more my thing and I've have not even stopped to look over the precipice, let alone jumped off of it. *eeek* Switching gears a bit, Panopea abrupta , also known as Geoduck is a species of very large saltwater clam. These clams are featured in a March 2009 article in Smithsonian Magazine. And they're...

The premiere of season 14 of The Amazing Race was broadcast on Sunday night, February 15. I liked the participants this season much, much better than any other season within recent memory. The past 7 plus seasons of TAR have been characterized by casting driven by network needs for controversy and colorful participants. People like that often do not make good contestants so this season is a welcome change. At least that's the way I perceived the teams so far. Favorite team? Typically I have decided on my favorite team or two on the first show---but that was because there were so few good teams. This time I really didn't have a favorite team, and there weren't any that I strongly disliked either. Several people I know have denounced the "Hillbilly team" from Virginia and the deaf son and his mother but I don't have any problem, yet, with either of those teams. The husband, Steve, was rather intolerant of his wife's physical limitations but he also, at le...

It's almost 2am but I'm caught up with the night's viewing schedule. I watched a bit of the baseball game and it got me sidetracked. By the way, it's good to know that the Phillies didn't totally forget how to find and cross homeplate. I was really expecting the Amazing Race to have a non-elimination leg this week. As a result, I was surprised when the last team to finish was told to scoot. It's too bad 'cause they were not one of the teams I was hoping would bite the dust. However in the preview for next week, they show that the football guy finally tells off his wife. It's about time---she's very annoying! Anyway, it's time for me to go to bed 'cause I have to get up a couple of hours early. Work is going to start at 7am instead of 9am and 19 mice are seeing their last day. Sorry, mice. If it was up to me you'd have another week. I'm not going to name names here, but somebody got impatient and that means the mice and I are meeting ...

I watched The Amazing Race last night and I wasn't impressed. Whoever is picking the teams seems to be spending too much time making them "interesting" and not enough time finding ones that are likable. My favorite team is still the Mom/Son team and there's a few more that I like somewhat. The two computer guys, the long-distance dating team and maybe the Frat guys. There's a lot of folk I can't stand. Like that Football Wife. No wonder the guy was fooling around behind her back---she's a bitch. Actually there was a c-word I would have used but some folk find it objectionable. Go figure. And that dating couple where the guy is a freakin' basketcase and the woman is just out of her mind: "..and they didn't even say "hi" to me." Get over it!!!!! And those Southern Belles digging in the sand while several teams run right by them on the beach. Nothing clicked, eh? Oy! And at least this week the team that lost wasn't very inter...

Last night witnessed the beginning of the 13th installment of The Amazing Race (TAR). Like usual, I wasn't very thrilled with the first episode. There's too many people to really get a feel for any of the teams. It isn't until after the first 3 or 4 teams get eliminated that the show really picks up interest for me. I wasn't surprised at the team that got eliminated last night but I was hoping that they'd last at least the first few legs. They were one of the more interesting teams. Frankly, the only person that I liked much in the interviews was the mom on the mother/son team. Maybe some of the others will grow on me, but I don't have a good feeling about this season. :-( And another thing, usually the first episode involves some background on each team. This time they barely gave any background at all. Just a short one or two minute interview. Since the show depends a lot on being interested in the folk on the show, this seems like a bad strategy for TAR to...

I got 6 hours sleep last night. Finally. The last time I had more than 4 hours sleep was on Saturday and I really needed it. I might have to ask my doctor for some sleep drugs when I go to see her again in December. I watched the first episode of The Mentalist last night. It was... interesting. I don't know if I liked it or not, I'm a little on the fence about that show. I'll watch one or two more episodes before deciding. On the other hand, two days ago I watched the first two episodes of this season's House and I really liked them a lot. The Wilson-House drama is playing out well and the new character, a private detective, works well with House. Upcoming is some good stuff on the tube. Actually, it's not a tube anymore is it? Good stuff on the LCD sounds odd tho. In any case, on Sunday is the season opener of my favorite reality show, The Amazing Race . Here's some info from Wiki : In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bertram van Munster revealed that ...

Next week is the final show of the season. I'm rooting for TK and Rachel . They've been my favorites since the first episode. Jennifer is Lucifer in human garb. Witness the sinister beard as proof. *shiver* Not much was happening today. Tried to sleep in the AM, didn't work, made muffins, ate muffins, watched some TV to free up room on my hard drive, and did a few loads of laundry. My bed needed changing and those linens take up so much room in the washer. Fell asleep for a few minutes at a time about 4 times during TAR. Ugh. Back to work in 8 hours!

The past week we've been freezing our little nubbies off here in Eastern NC and now Monday and Tuesday have projected highs in the 70s. It's just too freaky. Overnight lows every day this week are higher than the high temps all last week. Mind you, I'm not complaining. I like it warm.... but 70s in January? In other news, my favorite team on The Amazing Race finished last on Sunday night's broadcast. That's just evil. It makes me want to eat enormous amounts of candy--which, now that I think about it, is how I always feel. But I'm more serious about it now. Where's those Smarties ? I finished watching the first 3 DVDs of Deadwood and all 7 episodes were excellent. I hope to get the rest of Season One from the library this week and start on Season Two the following week. Right now I'm half way through watching The Terminator 3 --I'll finish watching it before going to bed though I am rather tired. But a choice between sleep and exciting car chases w...

It's now in its 12th season with seven Emmies under it's belt and The Amazing Race is still going strong. This past Sunday the season started with 11 new teams embarking on what could be up to 30,000 miles of travel---assuming that team makes it to the end. The show airs about twice a year having first started in 2001. This season is starting a little early due to the sudden and dramatic demise of CBS's show Viva Laughlin . It only lasted two episodes. That hadda cost some people a bundle. But I'm not disappointed 'cause I didn't want to have to wait until February to see TAR. Wiki has a good breakdown on the show in case you've never watched it. It's the only reality show I watch. Well, I guess I have to include Hell's Kitchen too. So far my favorite teams on TAR are the brother/sister engineers (Azaria & Hendekea) and the hippie like couple from California (Rachel & TK). What team(s) do you prefer?

Just some notes on what I've been watching this past week. Last week's Heroes disappointed me so I was thinking the show might have started a decline. I'm glad to say that I really liked this week's show. The plot twist at the 45 minute mark was quite a shock to me. I didn't see it coming. While nothing huge happened in this episode it was very effective in setting up the plot line for the last 3 episodes. I expect that I'll really enjoy the way the show finishes the season. I just hope they don't leave too much on the plate for next season. That's why I stopped watching Lost 2 years ago. Too much prep and too little delivery. I was disappointed in how Sunday's The Amazing Race ended. I was really hoping that Danny and Oswald would make it to the end. On the other hand, there's really none of the teams left that I strongly dislike. I was a little surprised by Oswald calling Charla and Mirna a "class act" and endorcing them for the win....

SPOILER ALERT : don't read if you haven't see the episode from tonight! This post concerns the TV show The Amazing Race which here in the US is showing season 11, the All Star edition. I really liked tonight's episode of The Amazing Race but I bet there's a lot of people pissed off at the Beauty Queens. I actually like them--they have so much enthusiasm for the competitive spirit of the race. In fact, I like all four remaining teams though Charla and Mirna do annoy me frequently. They're often so self-riotious it's quite annoying. And Mirna is always whining!! ( oh, I always have to drive ) That said, the team I'd like to see win the most is Danny and Oswald. And they nearly blew it tonight. It's being labeled as karma getting back at you but that's silly. The Beauty Queens (BQs) were the instigators so they're the ones in the hot seat and they finished first. Karma? LOL Personally it's not the BQs that I think are the most underhanded--t...

I watched a DVD last night and also saw last night's episode of The Amazing Race. I really liked the movie. I was quite disappointed in the outcome of TAR. More about that later... I really like my Panasonic DMC - FZ 7 camera. I bought it a year ago soon after it was introduced. As you can probably guess by that time span, Panasonic is now releasing the update, the Lumix DMC - FZ 8. This means that there's clearance sales around on the FZ 7 and if you're in the market for a good 12X zoom digital camera --and don't want an SLR-- this is a great buy. There's one site I found ( Vanns .com) that has it priced at $230. Hell, the lens is worth more than that! And isn't it pretty? I like the way the SLRs look more but there's a couple of features of SLRs that I dislike enough to keep me from buying one. First, I don't like having to open the camera up, and possibly letting dust in, while changing lens and secondly, I really like having a live preview on the...

It's a little weird that this season is called All Stars . While there is one team that won their season and two teams that came in second most of the teams finished a lot lower. In fact the modal finish was 4th place (3 teams) with another finishing 5th and two teams placing 6th (and Danielle who finished 7th). All Stars? Hardly. It's also-rans. Despite that, I do think this will be a lot of fun for anyone who's watched the race before. Most of the teams are interesting and it should be fun to see how well they play together. There's a good mix of teams that compete compassionately and teams that go for the throat. In my humble opinion, it's the Beauty Queens that are the most brutally competitive. They finished Season 10 in 4th place but really deserved to do better. They were eliminated mainly because they'd screwed so many other teams over that everyone wanted them to lose. I wonder how they'll play the game this time? So who would you pick to win? I hav...

After Ren left to go back home I watched 60 Minutes and The Amazing Race: All Stars . TAR was the first episode in the new All Star season. It's really kinda ridiculous but I love that show. I didn't think I'd like this new format--but I was wrong. I just eat this show up. There's only one team that I don't like though two of the other teams have one member annoys me. The team I don't like is the cousins and they managed to squeak by elimination tonight. Darn. My favorites are Rob and Amber , of course. He's so competitive he pisses a lot of people off but I enjoy the humor he displays when he's trying to get ahead. The guys in Team Guido strike me the same way. In the first season they were rather mean spirited but I suspect the past 5 years have mellowed them a bit. I won't give anything away about the episode since I know a lot of people haven't seen it yet. Here's a link where host Phil Keoghan talks about the new show a bit. Mary and I...

Here's a brief break from serious science posts. Let's talk some television. I watched a show last week that was dreadful. It was originally supposed to show in the Fall but kept getting bumped. The name is The Knights of Prosperity and the episode I saw was so bad that I immediately deleted the show from my recording list. I didn't want to take a chance on seeing another episode by accident. It was that bad. Last night I watched a half hour show on Steve Irwin that's named Crikey, What An Adventure! I'd recorded from Animal Planet on Sunday. It's being played a bunch of times this month along with Ocean's Deadliest , the special that Irwin was in the process of filming at the time of his death. I'll watch Ocean's Deadliest tonight and expect that it'll be quite interesting albeit sad since we won't be seeing anything new from Steve though it does seem like Bindi, his daughter, will be getting a lot of exposure. A week and a half ag...

I'm going to mention a few spoilers about TAR below so don't read that section if it's going to ruin your day, okay? The middle segment on 60 Minutes last night was about chemicals in the brain and how they affect memory. I thought it was very interesting but not terribly surprising though some of the implications were dicey. The segment was titled A Pill to Forget and it described research into Propranolol, a drug currently used to treat high blood pressure, and its affect on memory. It apparently acts by blocking epinephrine (adrenaline) binding sites in the brain. It's long been known that epinephrine acts to enhance memory. Who hasn't been in a scary situation which remains in the memory far longer than any normal memory? The adrenal cortex releases epinephrine when we're mad or scared (often referred to as the fight or fright reaction) and the resulting memories are often our most vivid. That fight in 3rd grade, or when we heard about 9/11, or the car acc...