Some actual "Gilmore Girls" talk

This is a couple of musings here related to the show and not recent episodes itself, because certain people I know watch the episodes later than I do. [EDIT (for Dr. Pookman): no plot points are mentioned here. Only a couple of characters' names. It's mostly harmless and tangential.]

One, missing the premiere was a horrible mix of my first day at work and forgetting my phone. All matters that were rectified, thanks to the wonders of BitTorrent and fellow fans in Indiana, who, thanks to the lack of DST, actually see episodes one hour later. Oh, the things you learn from television. Since then, I have been shipping episodes off to Japan, because I can't show them the episodes directly from my laptop anymore. And apparently, I have another convert without even knowing it! Big shout out to the folks in Awa! Chiba chiba y'all! (God, I'm white.)

Two, the new season has kicked off without a hitch. The show really hasn't missed a beat for a few years now. I wonder how things are going on the alternate universe Earth-J, where the Jess spin-off actually got off the ground. I hope they aren't feeling jealous about how well our series is going with Daniel Palladino still being Executive Producer and wanting to cause a Crisis on Two Earths. (Sorry, comic book geek tangent.)

Three, certain middling composers felt it necessary to sweep up the lovely and talented Liza Weil as his TV girlfriend, thinking I might do the same. Sorry, Antonio, if I made such a choice, it would have to be the second Becky, who might not be seen very often at Sacred Heart hospital this year. (Of course, Alexis Bledel looks much prettier this season, so watch this space. Or not.)

Four, I love pointless links to sites in foreign languages. I imagine that if Maddox actually cared to look here, he would blow a gasket.

One of those "I want to see PCU again" moments

The struggle against the color of Kinnick Stadium's visiting locker room has come from within. Well, not really within. The professor is a visiting law lecturer who began her crusade against the pink locker rooms in her blog. I won't mention her name here, because some Iowa fans saw fit to post anonymous threats in her comments. She has a right to her opinion and to express it, but so do I, and the pink should stay. Her definition of what is politically correct and what is offensive is trumped by a man who actually majored in psychology.

Even if a college football tradition is morally questionable, like the names of certain sports teams, if there is an interesting story behind it, people should consider preserving the tradition. You can ask this guy about the origins of the Washington Redskins name, because when I tell it, it just doesn't have the pizzazz.

(Edit: As an egregious non sequitur, HIlary Duff turned 18 today. My brother owning the Lizzie McGuire Movie on DVD is now slightly less creepy. Only slightly.)

I guess this is the point of blogs

I’m going to vent about Chicago (my dad pronounces it shi-kaw-go) baseball in this post. If you don’t care, I don’t blame you.

Watching the Bears blowout of the Lions this Sunday, that blowhard Joe Buck felt it was necessary to mention how badly the Sox (not the Red, the team that actually has “Sox” on their hat and uniform) have played lately. Friggin' Cardinals fan.

First off, the Sox WILL make the playoffs. The Sox’ magic number is 11. The Indians are 3-10 against the Sox this season. If the Sox go .500 for the rest of the year (their record since the All-Star Break), the Indians have to go at least 9-4 to win the division (including 6 games against Chicago). Right now, I doubt the Sox will break their streak of 88 years without a playoff series victory, but they’ll play more than 162 games this year.

It seems that whenever the national media mentioned the White Sox this season, it was necessary to bring up the negatives. Frequently, the team would be coupled with the Cubs in terms of attendance or their fans would be lambasted by certain idiots for low turnout on a weeknight game in May against the Royals with a 42° game-time temperature.

I think I now empathize with overexposed Red Sox fans, considering how often Babe Ruth and the Yankees were mentioned in every Red Sox national broadcast this decade. I think the only people who weren’t sick of it were Yankee fans (for good reason, mind you).

I’m not going to go into specifics about how the Cubs became the #1 team in Chicago and neighboring areas, but I will say that things are probably evening out in the metro area, due to a consistent TV deal for 20 years, as well as a family-friendly ballpark (and I will suffer no argument to the contrary).

The biggest problem I have with the Sox-Cubs comparisons is that I pull for the Cubs as well. Normally, in sports fandom, part of the fun is Schadenfreude for a rival team’s suffering. However, my dad is a Cubs fan, so I didn’t enjoy games 5-7 of the 2003 NLCS. Nothing would be cooler than seeing both Chicago teams make the playoffs. However, the Cubs of the last two years are like the Sox from 2001-2004, when they had talent, but not the consistency (and that is usually a managerial issue). If it comes to a Windy City World Series on the 100^th anniversary of the last one, I’m all for it. But you won’t see me wearing red and blue that October. Sorry, Dad.

I am NOT on Kanye's Workout Plan

(Warning: this post has been rated PG-13 because I discuss, among other things, dog pee. There. I said it.)

Of my single-digit audience, there are some of you I haven't seen in some time. Thanks to the miracles of a Japanese diet (or, more precisely, my diet in Japan), I lost 15 to 20 pounds in the last year. I am trying to continue that by having an exercise regimen, but it has been stop and start for some time. One of those spurts of activity happened when I walked my dog, Kristie, for roughly two hours last night. While that may sound impressive, it wasn't even 5 miles. That's right, I checked the route. I'm such a dork.

Anyhow, I moved so slowly because my dog was stopping every 50 feet to smell something. Normally, I begrudge her this, because she's probably bored with the smells around my parents' home and yard. Lord knows I have. However, she often follows up her olfactory excursions by peeing. This always boggled my mind. She isn't like one of those people who has to get off the highway every half hour, so why does she have to take a leak every few minutes whenever we walk?

Suddenly, it hits me. It's like when Keanu is looking at Matrix code and talking with Cypher. I'm seeing blades of grass, lampposts, and fire hydrants, when, as best as I can represent, this is what Kristie is thinking:

"Hmm, beagle, german shepherd, ooh, chocolate lab! I wonder if it's true what they say..."

So, the walk I am going on is just a doggie dating service! And her pee must be like her leaving her phone number! Considering how much my dog gave out her number, I'm glad she's spayed. She would be such a slut.

My own private Krishna (is that sacrilegious?)

Yahoo! (copyright, all rights reserved, and all that malarkey) has this feature where you can create avatars of yourself. Many folks in my fantasy football league started using it, and I felt like jumping on the bandwagon, hence the creature you see above. I call him Cuspy, which will also be explained soon.

I'm too cheap for Tivo

Detailed explanation of the name coming soon. Snickers and guffaws may come now.

In related news, I missed the season premiere tonight, because I had to "work" until 6:30 and the "commute home" takes 45 minutes. I can't believe I just typed those words.

Oh well, thanks to the quirks of Indiana television and a helpful friend (who is also quirky), a "video tape" will be in my hands soon. To those e-archaeologists scavenging dead internet sites in the future, this will help you understand. Woo-hoo, first link!