Clash of the Choirs Finale Tonight!

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Thanksgiving 2006, with more RPG!

Mood: chilled
Listening to: Chillcast Cocktail Party Mix
Reading: The Magic of Thinking Big
Eating: ham, eggs, and biscuits, with low acid orange juice and black Folger's coffee
Watching: (last night) Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy

(It's interesting to note, as I was filling out the status info above, the potential for links and affiliate links. I should definitely look into that stuff.)

Jennie had to work Wednesday night and last night, so yesterday Keisha and I went to a Thanksgiving dinner at church. We brought some honey bbq wings and some hot chicken tenders. After eating a few of us guys went upstairs to the auditorium and played Halo 2 using an Xbox 360 hooked up to the projector screen. I can understand why role-playing games (RPG) are so popular now. I was the newbie of the group, but I still had fun learning my way around the game.

Related tags:

journey+inside+my+mind journeyinsidemymind jimm dan+johnson thanksgiving2006 thanksgiving chillcast ugly+betty grey's+anatomy xbox+360 rpg halo+2

My Comment on the Latest Grey's Anatomy Episode

some people like to feel important. for me, now is one of those moments. sort of

Keisha gives a shout-out to the Cheetah Girls

Greetings from the Groesbeck branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County!

Keisha and I walked over here from home, and she's sitting next to me, typing a "shout-out" message to the Cheetah Girls on Disney.com. Here's what her message is:

Dear Cheetah Girls,
   I love you and your music. Can I ask you a question? Can I be a Cheetah Girl?

Keisha
Age 9, Ohio

TV Volume Poltergeist

Mood: happy and tired
Listening to: Keisha getting ready for bed
Eating: leftover LaRosa's pizza
Watching: 1st half of Glory Road

We were puzzled earlier tonight. It seemed that, for no reason whatsoever, all of a sudden the volume on our TV would get increased to the maximum. The Mute button on the remote control wouldn't work, and when we tried to turn the volume down with the remote control and by hand, it wouldn't stay down.

So we'd have to turn the TV off and turn it back on. That seemed to work. For a little while.

Jennie and I were trying to figure out what was going on. It seemed as though someone else had control of our TV. We speculated that it was because the TV was 10 years old.

And then I got up and walked around the coffee table:

Yesterday I disconnected our digital cable box and our cable modem. I put the remote control for the cable box with this stuff. It appears that the remote control can still control our TV, even though it's not connected with the digital cable box anymore. I saw that the cable modem was sitting on the remote control, pressing the TV and Volume control.

Whew. And we were thinking that Otis, our house ghost, was back. What? I just heard a sound from somewhere in the apartment.

JIMM 53 - Double Shots

Mood: tired with a slight headache
Reading: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)
Eating: everything bagel with cream cheese
Watching: Dead Zone: The Complete Fifth Season - season premiere

I posted the latest podcast episode yesterday. Check out JIMM 53 - Double Shots.

So Grateful

Mood: grateful, relieved, superblessed
Listening to: Jennie calling Keisha inside for dinner
Eating: spaghetti with grilled veal steaks
Watching: (later) the series finale of 'Alias'

Jennie's maternal uncle came by this afternoon and fixed our car. All that needed replacing was a fan belt, and apparently it was really easy (for him) to fix. Yay! Our car runs even quieter than it had been. And he charged us a really really really good rate for his service.

I just came back from testing it out on Colerain to Ronald Reagan Highway to Blue Rock, back to Galbraith. No problems whatsoever! YEE HAA!!!!

Broken Car with Hidden Blessing

Mood: slightly surrenedered, tired, and still a bit congested
Listening to: 11 o'clock news
Reading: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)
Eating: bbq turkey, dressing, carrots and broccoli - water to drink
Watching: season finale of Desperate Housewives - The Complete Second Season

Our car, the 1993 Saturn we bought back in January, is broken. Fortunately, it's in front of our home. One of the fan belts has frayed and is broken, which explains why the car got overheated so quickly and the battery light was on.

So, Jennie's got a cab ride to work tonight and probably home tomorrow morning. Her uncle is a mechanic, and he said he'd call us tomorrow morning. Hopefully he can diagnose what's best for the car, and even more hopefully, it won't cost a lot to get fixed.

Earlier today Jennie and Keisha were about to go to church, when Jennie decided to come back home, too tired to make the drive. I was in bed, still feeling ill. We see that as a blessing.

JIMM 46 - Super Rock Mix

Mood: very tired
Listening to: Dave's Lounge
Reading: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)
Eating: Domino's XLP - Pepperoni
Watching: Grey's Anatomy - Season Two

Are you ready for some rockin' independent music? How about 50 minutes of nonstop rock. Check out the latest JIMM Podcast episode (JIMM 46 - Super Rock Mix), and you'll get just that. And some other fun stuff, too.

Let me know what you think!

Stars Hollow Podcast

Jon, the Official Cheesehead, who you may know from the Tanfastic podcast, sent me some news today:

Podcasting is so much fun.

My wife and I started a new podcast as well. It's a fan podcast for the show the Gilmore Girls. It's not just for girls you know. It is a great show. We put the first episode up last week and I am going to post another today. Check it out if you get bored: starshollowpodcast.blogspot.com

Thanks man.

Official Cheesehead Jon

Season Finale Wednesday

I love season finales. I hate them, too.

Tonight I watched the season finales of 'Lost' and 'Alias', two hit dramas on ABC created by J.J. Abrams and company.

I love season finales because they reveal a lot of plot information I've been longing for throughout the season. At the same time, I hate them because of the cliffhangers and the long waiting period before I'll get to see what happens next.

SPOILER ALERT!

J.J. Abrams and company do an excellent job with this. There I was, excited that a boat had come to rescue the group of "Lost" survivors, only to find that they wanted young Walt and blew up the raft his dad and the other three men were on! Similarly, after all the hubub going on with "Alias", the Rambaldi stuff - Sydney and Vaughn are driving along, contemplating getting married. Vaughn tells Syd that he's really a bad guy, and, before she, and we, get a chance to digest this - BAM! they're in a terrible car accident!

When Staying Up Late Isn't So Bad

Mood: eager
Listening to: 'Alias' on ABC
Watching: 'Alias' on ABC

In less than two hours I will be sitting in a movie theater with a bunch of other crazy Star Wars fans, watch Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Now is a great opportunity to talk about that and some great developments at work:

Heading To the Big Show

I had ordered my tickets via MovieTickets.com earlier today, and, on the way home, I stopped by the movie theater to pick them up. I had not been at the Cincinnati Mills mall for such a long time. The last time I had spent any considerable time there, it was still called Forest Fair Mall.

I could barely recognize the inside of the place, and I needed help finding where the movie theater was. I followed some signs as I drove, and eventually I got to the top of a parking garage and went inside.

I asked someone for directions, and he steered me in the right direction. I walked up to the box office and picked up my tickets. Because of the large anticipated crowd, they've already got a special area cordoned off for us moviegoers.

Jennie and Keisha are already asleep, and I'm feeling a bit tired from staying up late last night. I'll have to pick up an energy drink or two before I head to the theater. I may get some popcorn and a soda, too.

At Least the Commute Will Be Lighter

Fortunately, I'm going to be working closer to home tomorrow. My employer has an office here in Cincinnati, and, while it's been used more as a sales office, from time to time, people will work out of there.

I'm looking forward to being able to work part of the week, not having to drive so far to work. Jennie is off work tonight and tomorrow, so she'll be able to have the car tomorrow after she drops me off.

Limited Home Internet Activity

Mood: Deliberate
Listening to: Classical Music for Contemplation CD
Reading: The Stepford Wives
Eating: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Watching: L O S T and the season premiere of 'Alias'


Our home internet usage is being severely limited. I'll have to post more from the library and other such places.

Feel free to check the archives, however.

Congratulations to 'Survivor' Winner Chris Daugherty

Yahoo! News - Highway Worker Daugherty Wins 'Survivor'

Chris Daugherty became the winner of 'Survivor: Vanuatu'. He hails from South Vienna, Ohio, about 40 miles east of Dayton. Congratulations to this hero from the Miami Valley!

Great Movies

I'm watching The Rookie on ABC right now. I love inspiring movies like this one!

Speaking of which, I've seen a lot of movies lately, including

• Walking Tall - great action flick with The Rock
• Fight Club - eerily reminiscent of Se7en (same director)
• 13 Going on 30 - terrific, sweet movie with Jennifer Garner of 'Alias' and 'Daredevil'
• Mr. Jones - the definition of bipolar/manic-depression
• Gone in 60 Seconds - suspense/action/thriller with Nic Cage
• Goodfellas - gangster movie with Bobby De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta
• Usual Suspects - another thriller, with Kevin Spacey, Benicio DelToro, Kevin Pollack, and others - 'Who Is Keyser Soze?'

Check out the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) for other great movies.

Look for 4th Season of Alias in January 2005

ABC announced Tuesday (May 18) that the fourth season of its cult-hit spy series is being held back until midseason as way to solve the on-this-week, off-the-next-two-weeks scheduling that has plagued the show.

It will be back in January 2005 with 22 consecutive episodes. Way cool.

'Alias' No More?

It was a great season finale this past Sunday. I read in USA Today ABC's plan for the fall schedule, and Alias is not on it. I'm very disappointed. It's like the X-Files all over again.

Maybe I can get them to reconsider. When I was a kid, I wrote the independent network when they cancelled "The Monkees", and they wound up putting it back on. Who's to say that we can't do this with Alias?

UPDATE, 5/27/2004: As if I had nothing better to do with my life, I Googled "Alias cancelled ABC" and found a discussion forum that has the scoop. Alias will be returning midseason, in January 2005 with 22 episodes instead of 20. In addition, they will be consecutive; i.e., we won't have any repeats.

Sympathy for the Devil on 'Alias'

This MSN Entertainment article is all about "Arvin Sloane, a villain fans love to hate," adroitly portrayed by Ron Rifkin, who said:

My wife and I went over to Paris, which was difficult, to do press for the show. Apparently, it's a huge hit in Paris. People stopped me on the street saying, "Mr. Sloane, we love your show. You're an evil man."

Rifkin provides some other background into Sloane's character, which is definitely worth reading if you enjoy the show.

I'm an avid fan of the drama series, and I hope that ABC will keep for the next season. Yesterday (22 Apr 2004) I read in the Dayton Daily News that it's on the infamous "bubble". It was there last year, as this post on SciFi2K.com news archives from Feb 2003 mentions:

Feb 1: Alias On the Bubble: Fans of Alias might want to get the cards and letters ready - the save the show web domain name bought and sites designed designed. ABC is getting tired of Alias, despite the post superbowl ratings. Even with the 14.7 ratings it was the lowest post superbowl rated program ever. If the ratings don't start an upswing soon Jennifer Garner will be spending all her time as Electra on the big screen. Alias kicks ass people, but for some it might be too complicated. Like so many other shows, ratings rein supreme, quality does not.

I've Found Another 'Alias' Fan

On Sunday, March 7, 2004, Mercy Bell wrote in her blog, mercy me:

Only Sydney Bristow can run up several flights of fire escape stairs in high heels and a miniskirt and not be winded or sweat, lol. Just another day in the life of Alias.

I like the show because it uses dramatic irony so well. We know more about what's going on than some of the other characters do.

Case Closed on 'The Practice'

Say it ain't so. My wife and I have enjoyed this season's episodes thoroughly. I like James Spader's and Rhona Mitra's characters. Apparently those two are being approached with the idea of a spinoff series. This year's season finale will also be the series finale.

According to "Plug Pulled on 'The Practice," which comes via E!Online, wrapping up this season and the series will mean a lot of drama in the upcoming weeks. Look for guest appearances by William Shatner and Dylan McDermott (aka Bobby Donnell), for example.

One reason we watch the show is that it comes on after 'Alias', naturally.