Just Kill Me Now

Last night I drove a minivan to soccer practice. Seriously, someone please put me out of my misery.

I'm spending the week in St. Louis with my nieces and nephew, babysitting the youngest two during the day. I love them dearly, and we're having a splendid time, for the most part. But as I sat by listening to the other parents obsessively trying to coach their kids from fold-up chairs on the sidelines (because they couldn't be bothered to make the commitment to actually be a coach) I wanted to walk up the hill and out into the middle of the highway. It would have been less painful. Because we all know how much I love soccer. (And for those who don't know...I loathe it. I despise it. It makes me sick to my stomach just to think about it. I CAN'T STAND THAT SISSY SPORT!)

Ok, now back to Jimmy Neutron and the Dora the Explorer pinball game.

Slante!

You're 45% Irish

You're probably less Irish than you think you are... But you're still more Irish than most.

How Irish Are You?

Actually, the correct answer is 1/4 (via my maternal grandmother). And if you don't understand the title of the post, you need to learn to toast in more languages.

The next Rudy?

Just to be clear, I'm talking about maudlin sports movies, not presidential hopefuls. Is this latest Mark Wahlberg vehicle anything more than the pro sequel to college-set Rudy? Or less, as the case may be, according to the early reviews.

Yes, you can study for pub trivia contests

The next time you've got a half-hour to kill, check out this list of "The 25 Most Important Questions in the History of the Universe." And go ahead, feel smug that you already knew about No. 2 pencils and B-cell batteries. I did.

Nerd Reality

How could I possibly have missed this show before now? Ok, fine, so it was buried among such jewels of the reality programming empire as Last Comic Standing and America's Got Talent. But now I know, Treasure Hunters is the reality show for nerds. History, word games, basic map skills...what's not to love? Fortunately, I can read the online recaps to catch up before next week's live finale.

Cuba Libre, pt.1

I've been waiting to post on the inevitable demise of Fidel Castro until I could really formulate what I wanted to say. I've been fascinated by Cuba for years, and have long struggled with what I thought should be U.S. policy w/r/t Cuba (and Castro). I'm still not quite ready for my full treatment of the subject, but The Lost City finally arrived from Netflix and is first on tomorrow night's viewing schedule. Maybe that will help my ideas coalesce into a cogent post. In the mean time, check out one of the famous Top 11 Lists on Nihilist in Golf Pants.

If you can make it there...

I hate New York. I enjoy visiting *briefly* in order to see a museum or visit an old friend, but I can't wait to get out. But I did this anyway, because Odderie has all the fun games. Could someone please explain to me why the author of this little diversion thinks "conservative" and "appreciate good art and culture" are incompatible attributes? The people I knew in law school that had opera or symphony subscriptions were also 3 of the most conservative people I've ever met. Perhaps "good" is being used as a euphemism for "modern" in this instance.

You Belong in the Upper East Side

You're an aspiring blue blood, and you want the best of New York high society. And while some may think you're conservative, you still appreciate good art and culture.

Where Should Your Inner New Yorker Live?

Bad Neighbors

What makes someone think it is ok to take a section out of my newspaper? I pay for that! There are three or four of us in the building that subscribe to the Tribune and at least once a week, the Tempo section is missing from my paper. And that's the best section - the Sudoku and crossword puzzles! One of my fellow-subscribers left a semi-nasty note the last time the theft started up; maybe it's time for a reminder. And it has to be one of our neighbors, since it's a locked building. Or maybe our landlord, who has an office downstairs. Either way, I have a message for the guilty party, "NOT COOL."

Things that make you go hmmmmm

The New York Times has endorsed Ned Lamont over incumbent Joe Lieberman in Connecticut's Democratic Senate primary. This is the same NYT that endorsed the Gore-Lieberman ticket in 2000. So, let me get this straight, he should have been Vice President (and, let's face it, had they won in 2000, Gore-Lieberman would have gotten the NYT endorsement again in 2004) but he shouldn't be a Senator. Could someone please explain this to me? Consensus-building, moderation, and sensibility must have gone out of fashion at meetings of the Old Gray Lady editorial board sometime in the last couple of years.