Tag: tv

Lazy Sunday

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[Posted on Monday, October 22]

We all kind of slept in on Sunday morning. We headed up to IHOP for breakfast at around 10:30 AM and afterward, I dropped AJ and Denisse off at the metro station so that they could head home.

Most of the rest of the day was a very lazy one for me. I finished watching Season 4 of The Shield and naturally, immediately wanted to watch season 5. Fortunately, season 5 and 6 are available on the iTunes store, and in fact, it was far cheaper to buy them from there than order the DVDs online. So I downloaded all 21 episodes that make up seasons 5 and 6 and I watched the first 4 or 5 of them.

I cleaned up the house a bit, but didn’t end up doing any laundry, as I’d planned to do. I called Doug and left him a message. (He called back but it was after I’d gone to bed.) I also called he11o_sunshine and we spoke for 10 minutes or so. But I was pretty tired, having been up so late last night. I ended up climbing into bed at around 7:30 PM.

Tedious!

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I spent 4 hours at work this morning doing some painstaking, manual database edits to fix and issue that couldn’t be otherwise scripted or automated because I couldn’t think of a way of programming a script that would be able to make intelligent decisions. Where are these fancy AI systems that we’ve been promised for decades now? I could have really used one today!

In better news, I had dinner with Kelly yesterday after work. She’d been out of town for 5 days and it was good to see her again. I stopped in at Best Buy and bought Season 4 of The Shield and then proceeded to watch episodes until about 1 AM. I’ve got season 5 on order through Amazon, but I still have about 9 episodes to go in season 4. strausmouse‘s suggestion that I watch the show has now cost me about $200 and nearly 34 hours of watching time. But it is a good show, so I really can’t complain.

A good night’s sleep

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I finally managed to get to bed early last night and got a really good (meaning long) night’s sleep. The lights were out around 9 PM, and because I still can’t go to the gym because of my ribs, I didn’t have to get up until 5:30 this morning, which made for about 8-1/2 hours of sleep. And for a wonder, I slept well!

Kelly is back from her trip to Florida and we are having dinner after work tonight. I have a design review meeting today that goes from 4 – 6 PM so we’re meeting after that.

Incidentally, I’ve now watched the first 3 seasons of The Shield (it’s part of what’s been keeping me up later at night). I’ll probably pick up season 4 in the next couple of days.

Sunday, lazy Sunday

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I was supposed to go back to the convention for day 2 today, but I didn’t. I got to bed late last night and I had a lot of errands and chores to do, so I decided to stay home. I stayed in bed late, watching episodes of The Shield, but eventually managed to get out of bed and shower. I got in touch with A.J. and Denisse and we agreed to meet for lunch. I headed down to their place at around noon and I was at there front door just after 1 PM.

We went to the Guard for lunch, where I managed to have a Monte Cristo sandwich. You don’t see those in too many places, and I love those sandwiches and it was quite good, but truth be told, their fries were even better!

Afterward, we wandered around Georgetown, stopped in at Haagen Dazs for Belgium Chocolate shakes, and then walked down to the waterfront, where we debated politics and economy endlessly. We walked back to A.J. and Denisse’s and shortly thereafter, I headed home.

I had lots of laundry to do and I managed to get through most of it, watching more episodes of The Shield in between loads. My ribs were acting up so I decided to take a pain medicine, even though they’ve been making me feel nauseous. This time it seemed to work a little bit better.

The annual rental property inspection of the house is tomorrow and I have to meet the inspector here at 5 PM. I have a presentation I’m giving at 3 PM but still hope to get out of work a little early to ensure that I get home in time to meet the inspector.

Pads, paws and claws

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One thing you can do when home from work, medicated, with a rib injury is pay bills. I paid the American Express bill (a whopping $200 for the car rental in L.A. last month), the electric bill, my Mileage Plus Visa bill, and I renewed my AAA membership.

I keep meaning to automate the payment of all of these bills, but for some reason, I keep putting it off. I hate the process of paying bills, but I’m not yet 100% keen on having a computer pay them automatically for me every month.

I finished watching Season 1 of The Shield this afternoon (thanks again, strausmouse). Of course, now I want to see Season 2, but that will have to wait. It really is a good show, well written, well acted, and good story lines. There is definitely an edge that non-network TV shows have over the networks.

Zeke caught a mouse today. He managed not to kill it, however, and I before I could get to it, is dashed back into a wall, so I now have to keep an eye on Zeke. I don’t mind him stalking the mouse, but I do mind that a mouse is there in the first place.

I took my pain medication as recommended by the doctor. I took 1 pill at 4:20 PM and by 4:50, I could feel it working. 2-1/2 hours later, it’s still working pretty good.

The Shield

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A word of acknowledgment needs to go out to strausmouse whose occasional ranting about how good the show The Shield is stuck in my mind last night when Tivo happened to record the pilot episode of that show. I watched it and found myself wanting to see more. I ran to Target but they didn’t have it on DVD. I finally managed to get Season 1 on DVD at f.y.e. and I watched 3 more episodes before going to bed last night.

Good show.

So, the score so far: vickyandnorm, 2 (House, The Office); strausmouse, 1 (The Shield).

I don’t know whether to love these guys for introducing me to great shows, or hate them for the same reason.

Why is the post season on TBS?

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I just finished watching the last part of the Colorado game and I cannot figure out why baseball messed with a good formula and chose to put the post season on TBS. It’s just not the same. Sure, the game is played the same. But I’ve grown used to hearing that FOX baseball theme play before a game. I’ve grown used to Tim McCarver and Joe Buck. I’ve grown used to the FOX hype. There is no hype on TBS and the game fell somehow flat.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Fortunately, it’s looks as though it’s just the divisionals that will be on TBS this year. FOX has the ALCS and the World Series.

Smallville and The Office

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So I stayed up last night to watch the season premiers of Smallville and The Office and both were great. It looks like it’s going to be another exciting season for each. And can I just say that I am actually happy that Jim and Pam finally are together and dating. (I know that vickyandnorm will disagree because they don’t like the romance nonsense in the show.)

I was up at 4:20 AM this morning, but I’m not going to the gym until later today. I had a lot to do this morning.

Oh what a night

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I definitely need to chill out a bit when I got home from work this evening. So I spent the last couple of hours in front of the TV. I’m about to get into bed but I figured I’d share my evening with you.

For the first time since moving to the D.C. area, I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. I used my own secret recipe and it proved two things: (1) it was a fantastically delicious sandwich; (2) the stomach cramps I now have illustrate why I’m dangerous in the kitchen. Still, grilled cheese and a caffeine-free Coke was just the anodyne I needed from my day.

I sat in front of the TV and watched two shows that Tivo diligently recorded for me. First, Inside the Actors Studio (Tom Hanks), followed by the season premier of Heroes. Both were good.

Spoke to Doug and he110_sunshine on the phone this evening.

I got the latest issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN in the mail today and it looks like a fascinating issue dedicated to the future of space exploration. I can’t wait to pick my way through it.

And now, I’m off to bed and bid you all a good night!

Early in the morning

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I’ve been getting to bed pretty early the last couple of nights. I was in bed before 8 PM last night and had the lights out an hour or so later. Also been sleeping with the bedroom window open because it’s been nice out, cool, but not cold. (Of course, today that might change–it will be close to 90 today and tomorrow and I may need the A/C again.)

I’m up early for the gym–cardio day–and I wanted to point out that just because I get up extremely early (4:20 this morning) doesn’t mean that it’s easy for me to do so. Friends at work seem to make this assumption. I actually woke up around 4:10 and I more or less stared at the clock for 10 minutes wondering if there was any way I could get additional sleep. When I realized that there was no way I could do that without forgoing the gym, my next step was to begin to think about when I would be able to sleep next–my lunchtime nap. I also thought about how early I would get to bed tonight. So what that it’s season premier week, that’s why I have Tivo, right?

And speaking of Tivo, yesterday I watched the Star Wars episode of Family Guy, which Tivo had recorded on my behalf. I’ve seen only one other episode of Family Guy–one that AJ insisted that I watch while visiting him and Denisse one day. But the “Star Wars” episode was rather hilarious.

Last night was quiet. I watched some TV, did no reading or writing and in general felt and acted lazy. I did call Andy and talked to him for a little while. He sounded pretty tired on the phone, but that’s what one would expect from someone with a newborn on his hands. I also spoke to Dad. And I played phone tag with Doug.

I’ve got to head over to the metro in a little while to catch my train into work.

Psych

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I’ve recently seen a few episodes of the TV show Psych with James Roday and Dule Hill and I like it. It’s a funny show with a cool premise. It’s frustrating to discover another show I like. I already watch way too much TV. Nevertheless, if you’ve never seen it, check out an episode. They are available from the iTunes store and I recommend the pilot episode to get you started.

Pearls of wisdom from William Gibson

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I was browsing through William Gibson’s website licking my fingers in anticipation of his latest book, Spook Country, when I came across this gem of insight on how he is able to write so much:

I suspect I have spent just about exactly as much time actually writing as the average person my age has spent watching television, and that, as much as anything, may be the real secret here.

Elsewhere, he says,

Today I probably spend as much time [on the Internet] as I do anywhere, although the really peculiar thing about me, demographically, is that I probably watch less than twelve hours of television in a given year, and have watched that little since age fifteen. (An individual who watches no television is still a scarcer beast than one who doesn’t have an email address.) I have no idea how that happened. It wasn’t a decision.

I really need to drum up the courage to get rid of my TV because I can’t seem to drum up the discipline to stop watching it.