Weekly TV Recap for September 8th

Yes, I was lazy and typed this today.  One reason it's so late.  And with so few shows on, too.  We're definitely in the wind down between summer ending and fall not quite beginning yet.

Stars Earn Stripes - Again, it's hard to root against anyway.  I was hoping Todd Palin or Dean Cain would win it all, so I was disappointed.  But it was truly hard to root against anyone.  It did seem like the teams who came later on did better, so I'd say getting to watch was a distinct advantage.

White Collar - Alex was back.  If they want to build a romance between those two, I would be all for it.  And I loved Neal being arrest twice and Peter's comment about it.  Very funny.

Covert Affairs - I'm still trying to decide if I was shocked by the ending or not.  I had heard it was coming, so I knew to expect it, yet my jaw dropped.  Still, what did I say when they cast Nina Myers on a spy show?  Never trust her.  The episode was packed, certainly felt more like a summer finale than a regular episode, so I'm thrilled we get two more episodes.

Royal Pains - I'm sure you're tired of hearing me say this, but how cute are Evan and Paige together?  How he wanted to fix things but trusted Hank and just let them be.  And the General coming to him.  But it was obvious the main plot of the week was just a set up for Paige to reunite with her parents.  And when the woman showed up and the end, I knew who she was.  Next week will be interesting for sure.  One last thing, I liked Paige being involved in the medical part.  She has such a great bedside manner.

Wipeout - Yes, I watched.  I think that's about all I have to say right now.

New TV on DVD Reviews:

Reba - Season 4   

Disneyland Weekend

No, I didn't just run down to Disneyland for the run.  I spent all weekend there.  And boy does that not help your legs or energy level after running a half marathon.

Since I didn't have work on Friday, I headed down in the early afternoon to pick up my packet for the race. That went smoothly, and I even caught a preview of Reba's new show.  I wasn't super impressed, but I'll still give it a chance when it premiers in November.  Then I met up with Chris and his friend Keith.  Marsha got into town that night, and I spent a little time with her before meeting up with my family at their trailer.

Saturday started bright and early.  I met up with Marsha and other Trixie friends Angelique and Julie for a day of fun.  We had brunch with Sue Ann Jaffarian and Shirley and Doug, which was fun.  Then we spent all day in both parks.  We met up with my family in the afternoon for a little while as well.

Sunday started even earlier with the race.  After cleaning up, it was time to hit the parks again.  This time, it was just Marsha, Angelique, and myself.  We hung out in Disneyland most of the day, and then I met up with my family for about an hour or so in the evening.  I would have liked to hang out with them more, but I was dead on my feet most of the day.  Ironically, I got a second wind about 6 and felt wonderful.

Monday was just me and my family in the park, and it was a fun day.  This was my niece's first trip to Disneyland, and it was lots of fun seeing it from her point of view.  Some stuff scared her, but she really enjoyed much of it.  And seeing her meet Mickey for the second time was a complete joy.  They were so cute together.

Yes, I did pop in for an hour or so on Tuesday on my way north.  But it was hot and I was tired and I wanted to get home, so I didn't stay for long.  I left in time to beat the worst of the traffic, which was nice.

Running a Half Marathon

As I mentioned yesterday, I did it.  I ran the Disneyland half marathon on Sunday.  This has been in my sights for 8 or 9 months, so I am quite happy to have accomplished it.

The race started at 5:45.  Yes, that is in the morning.  And yes, I signed up for that knowing when it would start.  Even as I type that, it's a little hard to believe.  But I got up and I was there in plenty of time.  I would have liked to have gotten there a bit earlier, but the parking was a problem.  Then I had to fight to get to my corral.  But I made it.

You'd think there were 15,000 or so people running it.  I mean, it was a zoo at the starting line.  I was in the fourth group to start, and I was surrounded by people the entire time.  Yes, we spread out enough eventually that I had some room to maneuver, but I was never lonely.

We started out running around the outside of the parks before heading into CA Adventure and Disneyland.  The course took us through just about every way we could go through the parks without hitting a dead end, including back stage a couple of times.  We did get to run through Cars Land, which made me really happy.

After that, we hits the streets of Anaheim.  And we were only about 3 miles into the race by that point.  The next stretch was fairly unexciting.  But then again, my training runs are on city streets around here, so they aren't exactly exciting either.  I did like one store we passed along the way.  They had changed their marquee out front to read "Finish lines are just dreams with deadlines."

Around mile 9, he reached the Honda Center, where the Ducks play ice hockey.  And we got to run through the parking lot.  Thrilling again, right?  Then we hit a bike trail by a creek/drainage ditch before we reach Angel Stadium.

Now that was actually fun because we got to run around the outside of the field itself.  They even filmed us and put us on the big screen, but I missed seeing myself up there because I realized it too late.

From there, it was a run back to the finish line outside the Disneyland hotel.  And by this point, I was so ready to be done.  I knew I could finish, but it took all my willpower to get me through the last 3 miles.

But I finished.  My official time was 2:35:27.  I finished in the upper half overall, but in the lower half of the men.  What's funny is that almost twice as many women as men run this race.

Unfortunately, my family, who had driven down especially to see me finish, got some bad information and then were stuck in traffic and got there after I had finished.  However, I did meet up with them and talk to them afterward.  Since they couldn't have seen the finish line anyway, I'm more upset for them that they didn't make it than I am for them not actually being there.  The fact that they made the effort means the world to me.

I had two friends who ran it as well.  Marsha, from my Trixie boards, and Chris, who I've run several races with this year.  Chris was finished long before I was (started in first coral and finished 45 minutes faster than I did), and I never did connect with him.  But Marsha finished in about the same time I did, and we chatted some at the finish area before hashing and rehashing parts of the race over the rest of the day in Disneyland.

Word Association for September 4th

Yes, I ran a half marathon this weekend.  But you're going to have to wait to hear about that because tonight all I'm going to do is the word association.

1. Tenure :: College Professor
2. Baptism :: by Fire
3. Holders :: Cup
4. Irritation :: Allergies
5. Academics :: Schooling
6. Mug :: Shot
7. Charge :: Battery
8. Percent :: 100%
9. Clears :: Storm
10. Selfless :: Generous

Weekly TV Recap by September 1st

Stars Earn Stripes - My TV/DVR were acting strange, and the sound and picture were messed up.  Turns out I could have waited and it would have fixed itself, but I didn't know that until I had erased it.  I really couldn't follow the mission, but I did see we lost our first woman.

White Collar - Once again, it was a scene that would never happen in real life, but the scene with Peter and Sara "making out" while Elizabeth and Neal coached was an absolute riot.  The plot seemed a little complicated, even for this show.

Covert Affairs - Annie has a problem.  Her mark has fallen for her, and I think she's beginning to fall for him.  How they resolve all of that is going to be very interesting.

Royal Pains - Paige is really struggling with the revelation that she was adopted.  Not that I expected anything less.  The singer in the episode was completely stereotypical, but I did like her, especially her down to earth attitude and the fact that she wasn't wild and crazy.

Necessary Roughness - Wow.  Was there anything they didn't throw into that episode?  I mean seriously, it was packed from wall to wall.  Rayjay in trouble with the cop.  TK escaping and going back to rehab.  Matt getting the receiver they needed.  And Pitman dying.  Of course, I called that one early on thanks to the previews.  At first, I thought they might be talking about TK, but as soon as the plane went down, I knew who they really meant.  (Stop with the spoiler teasers, guys).

Melissa and Joey - I was actually expecting them to end with a cliffhanger of some kind, so the fact that they ended the marriage when and how they did surprised me.  On to season three.

Wipeout - I loved the pessimist.  That was the funniest part of the episode by far.

New TV on DVD Reviews:

Once Upon a Time - Season 1    

In Plain Sight - Season 5   

Weekly Word Association For August 30th

Here's this week's word association.

1. Call :: Phone
2. Instinct :: Basic
3. Toffee :: Candy
4. Cleaner :: Wash
5. Gut :: Check
6. Leveled :: Picture
7. Discover :: Find
8. Together :: Apart
9. Attack :: Parry
10. String :: Along

Summer League Tourney

I swear, I don't intend to leave this blog for days on end like I do.  I was going to post this on Monday.  Then yesterday....

So, Saturday was the season ending tournament for my ultimate Frisbee Summer League.  Last Tuesday, we had our first win of the season.  Was momentum on our side?  Would we shock everyone and take the whole thing?

Um, no.

We wound up only getting to play two games, and we lost both of those.  Our first game was against the 3rd ranked team in our league, and we lost 8-13.  (I take some pride in the fact that the next team to play them only got to 6.)

Then we had a bye, then we had a rematch against another team that was also low ranked.  In fact, we were their only regular season win.  We started out way behind, but then we tied it up before they scored a couple in a row to win.

But I was happy with the day.  Oh, sure, I would have liked to play more games and actually win one of them.  But I played so well.  All season I was saying that I felt like I could contribute more.  Well, Saturday, I did.  I got the disc quite a bit when I was on the field and successfully passed it on.  In fact, I can only think of one major drop, and that was in the end zone.  However, I got the D, so I made up for it on that same point.  And I scored one goal each in both games, something I hadn't done all season.  So it was the best I could hope for given the season we'd had.

And a funny thing always happens at these tournaments.  Even though we've had a horrid season, losing so much, I still want to keep playing.  I'm so bummed we don't have a game this week.  Or next week.  Depending on everything else going on, I may try to get on a winter league team.  But man, I so wish I were playing again right now.

Weekly TV Recap for August 25th

Two summer finales tonight with two more coming next week.  Time for the lull before fall, I guess.

Political Animals - They promised a big shock, and they delivered.  I couldn't believe it when the President's plane went down.  That was certainly a shock.  If the show comes back, I wonder if he will survive or not.

Stars Earn Stripes - I hate to see anyone go because they are all doing so well.  And I loved how everyone cheered for Nick when he jumped out of the helicopter, over coming his fear.  It would be easy to root against him because that would mean he was going home, but that's not what they did.

White Collar - Mozzie centric episodes are easily my favorite.  Not much connection to the episodes around it, but it was fun to have a light episode that resolved itself.  And there were so many great lines.

Covert Affairs - I'm not that surprised by the last few moments of the episode, but I am surprised at how they ended it with Joan.  Are they really writing Joan and Arthur out of the show?  That's what it looks like.  Is this going to just be the Annie and Auggie show now?

Royal Pains - I was cringing for so much of the first half of the episode.  But the last part was so nice.  The way Mr. Lawson rallied around Paige was sweet.  And the revelation at the end?  Yikes!  I can't wait to see where they go with that one.

Necessary Roughness - Captain Awesome!!!!!  Oh yeah, and in the non-Chuck part of the episode, I actually wasn't super comfortable with the tennis pro's storyline.  Not unexpected how it turned out, but not happy about how they got there.  But the other storylines?  Amazingly tense.  I can't wait to see where they go next week, especially with the teaser.  Okay, so the friend's storyline wasn't tense at all, but turned out to be the much needed light moment in the episode.

Melissa & Joey - My favorite part of the episode was Ryder's attempts to eat junk food.  And the tag at the end was classic.

Burn Notice - I was so worried that Jessie was going to be the one to turn on Michael.  Card isn't much better, but we don't have nearly enough invested in him.  That last scene where he was lying to Madeline was so good.  Speaking of which, she was outstanding in the episode.  Good to see her again.  And the ending?  The "red shirt" sacrificing himself for Michael and the team?  Great stuff.  Can't wait until November.

Suits - Wow, wow, wow.  Let me say it again, wow.  Everything we've gone through this season was to get Hardman back in control of the firm?  And he faked it?  My mind is blown.  I honestly expected him to get control at the end of the episode, not the beginning.  And I expected it to follow through the rest of the season, not appear to end tonight.  Now, Mike and Rachel.  When will those do ever get things figured out?  And when are they going to let us in on the secret of the can opener and the thumb tacks.  (Not that anything will live up to the imagination.)

Wipeout - Two hours, but since the episodes were the same people, it wasn't bad.  The person I was rooting for one the first hour, too.

New TV on DVD Reviews:
Hey Dude - Season 3   

Working Part Time

This has been an interesting week work wise.  I got another temp job, but this one turned out to be part time.  I was working at a company training their new accounting person in the accounting software, which I know how to use, but also trying to teach her bookkeeping stuff.  Furthermore, no one at the company really knew much about what was going on, so it was interesting trying to figure out my way and how they do things so I could figure out what to recommend and how to train her.

The commute didn't turn out to be so bad.  I missed the traffic going down because I went in late, and I found an alternative way home, which at least kept me moving.  It probably took the same amount of time, but when you are driving instead of inching forward, it feels like it's shorter.

All told, I got about half a week's worth of work spread out over 3 days.  It's some money coming in, but it's not what I need to be getting full time.

But it also makes me more willing to travel for a job.  I'm not sure why my attitude changed this week, but it has.  Hopefully that sticks around when I do find something.

Word Association for August 23rd

Here's this week's word association.

1. Course :: Correction
2. Delusion :: of Grandeur
3. Silly :: Funny
4. Intrepid :: Explorer
5. Candle :: Light
6. Entrance :: Exit
7. Voracious :: Reader
8. Taste :: Food
9. Bobble :: Drop
10. Horror :: Movie