Exilarated

Lifted weights (one circuit, 10 exercises, 10 reps each, light weight) and rode the exercise bike a couple of miles this morning. Man, I love working out. Overcoming inertia is the key to anything new for me. We'll see if it lasts.

Workout predicted

Teaching: Made it through Chancellorsville in lecture. Won't be long now. Little Round Top & Pickett's Charge and then Ulysses. I spent Wednesday at the 2nd of a three-meeting "Seven Habits" seminar. It's good stuff, and really how we operate around here, but it's tough to not feel cynical at the earnestness of it all.
Home Improvement: My weed spraying in the front seems to of work, so I'll expand the eradication. Mowing today, weather permitting.
Reading: reading through a summary of Cigars, Whiskey, & Winning - basically "Grant on Leadership".
TV & Movies: Got in Top Chef and Last Restaurant Standing and little else this week. There is a bit of freedom in not watching regular shows on TV, and certainly the DVR lets one pick & choose, but I do feel like I'm missing out on things sometimes. I've got another episode of Battlestar saved.
Exercising: Finally took advantage of a gym membership available because of my job. Going to workout in a bit.
Dad's back at home and doing fine.

Teaching: Got all my classes nearly caught up - thru Bull Run and McClellan taking command + test grades, notebooks, and turning in our textbooks. Our librarian retired, so I could end chairing the school tech committee. Got a note from another school about teaching & coaching. AP essay assigned tomorrow. Got to put together notes, so not in the mood.
Home Improvement: Mowed the pasture today. Shined the bathroom Sunday.
Writing & Reading: worked on the Ancient Bridge campaign wiki with Paul.
Exercising: Dog Walks:Mile Friday, 1/2 mile Saturday, Mile & 1/2 Monday

Saturday

Dad's recovering from heart surgery.
Went to see him at the VA in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Had some legendary Cosmo's Pizza in Birmingham - not bad.
Went to the first day of 'Seven Habits' training on Thursday:
Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind.
The week at school was largely a waste, with so many activities, but we did have a test on Wednesday and watched the first episode of Ken Burn's Civil War.
I'm going back down to Birmingham with Paul today - Saturday.

Sunday Morning

- I'm doing my best to keep the house under control.
- At school, I gave notes all week: Trails West, Texas & the War with Mexico, James K. Polk, The Compromise of 1850, all the way through the 1850's to Lincoln's election & secession. Plus we watched the beginning of Ken Burns' Civil War. Gotta make ready with the test.
- Saturday went across the river with Tobermory. We delivered a snake present to Animal Trax. Met up with Paul & Ferlie, ate Chinese, visited the Booklegger (picked up a 1966 Scifi collection & the classic "The Worm Ouroboros"), & cruised the Barnes & Noble for Moleskine. Came home & watched Crazy for You, my school's spring musical.
- Today: the lawn tractor.

Late Tuesday

Teaching: Giving notes though powerpoint about westward expansion Mon & Tues. -sectionalism tomorrow.
Home Improvement: Sprayed half of the "Appian Way" along the front of the yard.
Writing & Reading: Summarized several more chapters of 38 fiction mistake
TV & Movies: Last Restaurant Standing and Top Chef
Internet: My Mallet friends have discovered Facebook so I've been touching base.
Animal Kingdom: Returned Cindy's Pixie frog - very active. There is a chameleon in our future.
Exercising: 1-mile dogwalk Monday & Tuesday.

The Wolf

You are the king of smooth -- enough said. Take the What Pulp Fiction Character Are You? quiz.

Lincoln, of course, said it best:

On a country run by Nativist Know-Nothings:
"When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy [sic]."
Abraham Lincoln - August 24, 1855 - Letter to Joshua Speed

Positive Atheism's Big List of Quotations by and about Abraham Lincoln

After a look at the weather radar

There's just swirling crap out there, with no rhyme or reason.

Back in the Saddle

- I fell off the blogging wagon for almost a week there. Must get back to work.
- Today, April 1, is our (Tobermory's and my) 22nd wedding anniversary. Seems like we've only been together a little while and like we've always been together.
- I've covered the reform movements of 1820-1850 in my classes. Test on thursday/friday. I've had a lot of days out of class for 'school activities' and it drives me insane: school pictures, registration, government day, clubs & 'bus evacuation practice' tomorrow, all during History classes. Better cover all my curriculum though!
- Saw the 3rd episode of Top Chef last Wednesday. I really enjoy the show. I guess the cooking seems to make it a cut above other reality for me.
- Played poker on friday - lost a couple of bucks. I was up, but bet some weak hands trying to push it, of course.
- Watched The Mist with Clyde Frog. I liked it quite a bit, I was a little disappointed with the ending. I understood that it had to be either ambiguous or dark, but I still prefer the heroic rather than tragic.
- Have made little progress on the house. I have kept back the doggy tide, however. We're babysitting a frog for a week. He's a little more lively than Tarquin.
- Tobermory got Horace & the girls (Thisbe & Ada) new beds and their pretty nice, I think I want one.
- Commented on a link at BoingBoing - I'd just had enough anti-fun.
- Links - The 101 most useful websites, Eos Books (Harper Collins SciFi), I'd offer you some, Hitchens unleashes on Hillary, The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource

A busy rest

Saturday evening and all is well.

Back in the Swing

Internet: Read a lot of stuff today
- David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal' puts him much more in the Libertarian camp
- A column about what Hitchens thinks about Eliot Spitzer - Hitchens on Spitzer's Lust: Why else do men run for higher office?
- Something we will see more of in Asia and Africa - Dictatorial Capitalism, based on China & Russia
- Arthur C. Clarke, RIP
and at Gizmodo this evening
- Graphene Chips,
- First Military Pilot Review of the F-35 Strike Fighter (Verdict: Kicks Ass)
- OLED - TV's immediate future
Writing & Reading: Picked out my favorites from the largely sappy, but useful, Life's Little Instruction Book as a start in reviewing my 'success literature'. The glue gave way and much of the book came loose from the binding. I won't spend much time thinking about what that might mean. Since then I've picked back up summarizing 38 Mistakes
TV & Movies: Nothing the last couple of days. Less and less as time goes on.
Music: I've wondered why so many people seemed to care if Amy Winehouse slowly fried her brains. So I got ahold of her album, which won her five Grammys btw, and as it turns out I really liked it. Sounds like a soul singer with a modern edge. She may have only one good album in her, and if she dries out she may not be any good anymore, but I certainly appreciate the effort expended and quality workmanship done in entertaining me.
Animal Kingdom: All is well.
Home Improvement: Working on maintaining an even strain with us both at work.
Teaching: My kids worked on maps comparing 1821 U.S. and 1861 U.S. on Monday and Tuesday my Honors worked on a book assignment on industrialization & my AP on slavery.
Exercising: A mile on Monday & two 1/2-mile dogwalks on Tuesday evening.

Saturday Night's Alright for a Zombie/Vampire Holocaust

- Took a trip to the Priceville Bookmark and The Booklegger used book stores on Saturday with Tobermory.

- Picked up Lyra's Oxford by Phillip Pullman and a little summary/book on Richard Dawson and The Selfish Gene.

- Clyde joined us and we watched I Am Legend. It was really good, except for a little fate/religion tacked onto the end.

- Letting everyone I know in on hulu, which has NBC & Fox Shows you can watch online, like the entirety of Firefly.

Friday!

We got some more cleaning in and Tobermory came back from her 2 weeks of manager training. Woo Hoo!

Laundry Day (Thursday)

- I have been washing clothes and straightening this place for more than 12 hours (except for a trip to resupply DMD).


- I'm not certain that it seems that anything has actually gotten done, but it damn sure has, nonetheless.
- The Tournament started today, and truthfully, I just don't care.
- Top Chef is up and running and has started well.
- 1-mile dogwalk with Thisbe this evening, followed up with another 1/4 mile+ with Ada.
It's not just me When it comes to the Fischer Space Pen.

Soon

Battlestar Galactica

If I weren't a history teacher...

I'd probably most enjoy a job fixing home computers.
- On Wednesday I got one up and running that had been out of commission (for Cassondra's manager-friend) and cleaned it up a bit, downloaded updates and so forth, & had a great time doing it.
- Ate lunch with some coaching friends from my old coaches' staff, including Jeff Miner, a really smart guy who's in Tennessee now. He's frustrated, just as I was, by his head coach. Outsmarting the other guys is not always enough. (And got lunch free from the manager!)
- Ate supper with a couple of the Goodfellers and had a fine time.
- Everyone here was well-regulated, but no extra work got done.

Big Wednesday Morning

Not Really.
Yesterday:
Washed a ton of clothes.
Pets were all properly cared for.
Overpaid for a Waffle House breakfast.
Watched most of the first episode Top Chef.
Dog-walked a 1/2 mile in the morning and two 1/2 miles in the evening.

Notes on the Robot Holocaust

My latest post over at "I'd offer you some, but they mine."

Spring Break Woo-Hoo!

Teaching: see post title
Home Improvement: Maintained our gains in the front room, hall bedroom & kitchen. Washed several sheets & changed & freshened the bedclothes.
Pets: Everybody was on schedule & I think Tarquin (the frog) actually ate a cricket.
Writing & Reading: Nothing today
Movies & TV:: Watched the first & second episodes of John Adams with Bromide this morning. It's good work. Not overwhelming, but workmanlike.
Internet: Ironically spent time looking at productivity blogs this evening.
Exercising: Slacked off today

No Country for Old Men

TV: Bromide came to visit and we watched the preview episode (ep.2) of John Adams. It appealed to my history geekdom, especially emo-Jefferson - about the Declaration, as it's being edited, "Well, that's what I think."
Movies: No Country for Old Men - watched it the last two nights - it's damn good.
The House: Got the hall bedroom setup for Bromide, front room is orderly chaos, and the kitchen is chaotic neutral. Beware the Den.
Exercising: Walked a mile this morning.

Post 33 - Saturday morning.

33 was the 1st episode of the new Battlestar Galactica.

I've been keeping up with things mundane for nearly a month now. It has really helped me be more productive by trying to make sure I have something to write about.

Teaching: Friday was "Spring Picture Day" in History classes, but my AP kids still had to finish their Jackson essay - "To what extent and in what ways did American politics change between 1824 and 1840?" - that's right up Bromide's alley!
Home Improvement: A week w/o Tobermory and the place hasn't fallen in, but it is on the edge. No disgusto, just lots of stuff to be washed & coordinated.
Pets: We are settled into a one room existence for the dogs for now until the girls get better canine toxic waste management skills. Ada went with Thisbe & me last night for her first night walk - canine chaos ensued.
Writing: nada
Reading: Read a few articles from Arts & Letters Daily, including one on military success in Iraq and one by a UVA professor on these kids today.
Movies,TV: despite having the place to myself, very little viewing.
Internet: Film School Rejects, Cracked, just a guy thing, The world's 50 most powerful blogs (according to the Guardian, YMMV).
Exercising: Walked morning & night Friday and Saturday morning as well.

The Man Who Was Thursday

Chesterton's Book
Teaching: Kids did a test review yesterday & took their test today on the Age of Jackson - AP guys are working on an essay - a dash of whining, but I think they may actually be toughening up.
Home Improvement: There is an a ton of work keeping up with these pets. I'm gonna have to make sure I do my part from now on. Front room 'clean', working on the dishes.
Writing: Quick article on writing at io9 - 8 Unstoppable Rules For Writing Killer Short Stories
Exercising: Walked a mile with Thisbe thursday am.

A Lost Tuesday

Teaching: Jackson, Clay, Van Buren, formation of the Whigs; AP Essay & Test research & a jacksonian test review
Home Improvement: Garbage Morn, Pet Maintenance
Exercising: A mile this morning with Thisbe
Destroyed the Jeopardy internet category at lunch.
There was a nap and lost time in there somewhere.

Weekend

- As good a weekend as could be had, considering.
- Clyde came to visit and Tobermory worked a lot. Saturday Clyde & I watched the 2nd half of season two of Dexter. Just a damn fine show. It had us on edge, and really that's about all you can ask from a TV show.
- Good Geek stuff at geekdad @ Wired. And serious list of lists at The List Universe.
- Sunday we scouted out Tobermory's "manaher" training site - looks like she'll have plenty to do. She'll be gone all week, so we'll be stirring up trouble alone.

Friday

Teaching: Let my guys know the plan for a short pre-holiday week: Andrew Jackson.
Home Improvement: Big floor & garbage clean-up
Internet: Article: Strategy Game Pits Players Against Desktop Invasion - Game: Desktop Tower Defense
TV: A little South Park on Clyde's visit

Weds./Thurs. in Review

Teaching: Getting ready for next week - the week before spring break and after state testing - the kids will be soo focused - one more day of babysitting
Home Improvement: I've spent a lot of time on puppy toxic waste lately.
Writing, Reading: I've got to get off the couch & out from in front of the monitor
TV, Movies: Finished up Firefly with my captive kids during testing/babysitting and will finish Serenity today.
Internet: Another fine Gary Gygax tribute at xkcd.
Exercising: Fail

Lazy Wednesday

- Took the day off, so no grad exam babysitting today.
- Gary Gygax died. D&D led to a lot of the games, books, & movies that have been my entertainment. We'll roll a d20 for E.G.G.
- I've been making a list of webcomics/comics that I should check regularly. And tributes to Gygax showed up in a favorite, Full Frontal Nerdity and in one I'd missed - Order of the Stick.
- Added some door gates to block off canine ambitions.

Monday Night Home Improvement

Teaching: No teaching (Grad Exams) but I did make a list of the most frequently used subs, which should be quite popular with the faculty.
Home Improvement: The hall bedroom is cleaned out and setup for visitors (and more storage).
Internet: Looked at the scifi trade journal Locus this evening. It led me to SFSite, which is largely book/story reviews. Also to FantasyBookSpot and the bookslut scifi column.
Exercising: Worked my butt off around the house.
Tobermory worked late - now off to bed.

Early Monday

- Watched 30 Days of Night and it was surprisingly good. There is actually a heroic story within the Vampire madness. It surprised me like Sunshine, in that it was much better than I expected, and I'm surprised there wasn't more positive press. Plus Ben Foster plays crazy very well in a supporting part, as he did in 3:10 to Yuma.
- Almost done with the hall bedroom. All carpet gone & 1/2 the furniture (and books) are back where they should be.
- Tried, but couldn't find anything particularly good on the internet yesterday.
- A mile Monday morning with Thisbe.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Had a good day.
- Tobermory's cellphone is up and running and I guess mine is to. The downside of teh 21st century - ubiquitous access to info means that people expect to be able to reach you too. ugh.
- We went to a reptile-oriented Pet store in Madison - Animal Trax.
- Followed up at the Booklegger and finished up collecting the Wheel of Time oeuvre with the New Spring prequel. Let's hope George RR Martin finishes his...
- Ate at Macaroni Grill. Certainly my favorite chain restaurant. Had a Guinness Draft.
- Dropped by Mamaw's (ma'am-aw) place yesterday to wish her a Happy 81st birthday. She was born in 1927.
- Fell asleep on the couch with the dogs...
- Continued to wrangle Thisbe & Ada. They are getting along better, but sleeping (for me) is still iffy.
- Walked a mile with Thisbe this morning.

Friday/Saturday Morning

- I showed Firefly to my captive 9th graders (I'll have them for about three hours in the morning for the next week). What a great show. Showed The Patriot to my afternoon classes. It drives me nuts to sit around & not teach during the grad exam - but that's what we have to do.
- Working hard at regulating dog behavior and toxic waste.
- I've had a chance to surf the net a lttle and have been mostly checking out scifi sources and the new io9 is pretty damn good.
- I'm entertained by the Iron Man Trailer
- I've added a few good del.icio.us links lately as well
- Walked a mile this morning with Thisbe
- Spent the rest of the morning trying to fix the Austin High wikipedia page, which had obviously been done by a Decatur High plant.

Thursday - not a bad day

Tobermory worked this evening, so I brought Chinese takeout and we had an "Escape" picnic.
Teaching: Taught most of the highlights of next year's class (11th) for my students so that most of them will pass the graduation exam. Now it will six days of babysitting.
Home Improvement: Regulated Ada's room access to establish some order in waste elimination.
Internet: Darkness Scare (Onion), Subprime Humor (NSFW), State of the art in evolution research, seemingly intelligent culture mag - SmartSet
TV: New Gordon Ramsay

Early Week Blur

Ada has settled in with Thisbe pretty well. Sleep has been a little difficult, but that will settle down soon. Tobermory heads to B'ham in couple weeks for PetSmart manager training & we will all be lost.

Teaching: Taught about Monroe & the "Era of Good Feelings", up late making up the quiz and gave it on Wednesday - otherwise my efforts have all been in preparation for Friday's Social Studies grad exam (testing 10th graders on 11th grade material...)
Home Improvement: The hall bedroom is very close, just another couple of hours at most and there will be a bed in there.
Movies: No time.
Internet: I've surfed very little, but what I noted I listed over in the right column ->
TV: Tony Bourdain and Holmes on Homes this week,
Exercising: 1/2 miles Mon & Tues am

Sunday

- Rode back from Birmingham with Paul.
Writing: grinding through 38 Fiction Mistakes by Jack Bickham.
Home Improvement: Closer in the Hall bedroom - pulled up more carpet, stored toys, and moved some shelves around. Also made the pink bathroom sink workable.
Exercising: 3/4 mile walk in the evening
- We added a new puppy dog, Ada, she's a lab/Australian sheepdog mix. Sweet as can be.

Saturday in Birmingham

- Got up and went with Paul to our friends in Birmingham for our RPG.
- Played, ate, watched some boring boxing. Slept on a couch, and ate quite well.

Friday, again already

Tikka Masala: Tobermory, Paul & I went to the Sitar Indian Restaurant in Huntsville (inspired by last night's show with Gordon Ramsay fixing a curry shop). Food was great!
Teaching: More work on the Era of Good Feelings
Home Improvement: Ripped up carpet in the hall bedroom!
Exercising: 1 mile this morning

Any excuse for a little Firefly

Teaching: Students using multiple books to cover from the Hartford Convention to the Monroe Doctrine
Home Improvement: More cleaning of the hallway bedroom
Movies: At "school" I had to sit with freshmen during the Sophomore Writing Assessment - so I showed then the pilot of Firefly and, to my surprise, it went over very well.
Internet: When Wikipedia Won't Cut It: 25 Online Sources for Reliable, Researched Facts
TV: This evening it was this week's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare
Exercising: 1/2 mile in the morning

Tobermory a Manager!

Woot: Tobermory will be promoted to Pet Care Manager at the Petsmart! Very excited. We've always known she would be dangerous when loosed upon normal humans.
Teaching: Got my grades in. Prepared my students for the Writing Assessment they'll do tomorrow.
Writing: 50+ Open Courseware Writing Classes
Internet: 10 Emerging Technologies 2008
Exercising: 1/2 mile this morning

Voice of the Black Bears

Teaching: Almost done with grading AP essays.
Home Improvement: Cleaned up some in P's old room
TV: Last Restaurant Standing was on while I graded
Announcing Coach Knox and I announced Austin's Northwest Regional basketball game against Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa on ESPN 1400 (we lost). One of their announcers was John Merrill. He was a great SGA politico (& President) when we were undergraduates at Alabama (when the earth was still cooling). He still has the dive-bomber handshake.
Exercising: 1/2 mile in morning + calisthenics, 1 mile in the evening

A day off?

Teaching:Presidents Day Holiday - Graded AP essays about the Articles of Confederation & the Constitution off & on all day
Internet/Writing:Spent some time trolling Amazon for writing books.
Home Improvement/TV: Watched Holmes on Homes and How clean is your house? during the day and the new Tony Bourdain's No Reservations about Jamaica last night

The Weekend

Writing: Taking notes on The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes: (And How to Avoid Them)
Movies: Eastern Promises - great story & acting by Viggo & Naomi & Armin Mueller-Stahl,
3:10 to Yuma - slightly above average, Ben Foster had a great turn as the #2 bad guy: very intense,
Resident Evil: Extinction was a whole lot of fun and as usual Milla kicks butt.
Internet: Always interested in this sort of thing.Technological Challenges of the near future from the National Academy of Engineering and specifically Machines 'to match man by 2029' and I reorganized my bookmarks in Firefox
TV: Law & Order Criminal Intent on Sunday Night on USA
Exercising: 1/2 mile Sat AM and Sunday PM

Friday, at least

Internet: Historically inaccurate, but damn funny and a good list - The 5 Most Badass Presidents of All-Time
TV: Watched a little Gordon Ramsay in the afternoon and then Reno 911 and South Park in the late night.
Teaching: Tons of make-up tests early a.m. & gave test on Jefferson/Madison, graded & recorded.
Announcing: Sub-Regional(?) basketball game - Austin defeated Buckhorn by 25+. We didn't get on 'til almost half because our "engineer" forgot to show up. Bruce Hamilton, my partner from last year, announced with me. He's got great basketball knowledge & he's funny as hell.
Exercising: 1/2 mile in the morning

Contrived Holiday Day

Took Tobermory to Panera Bread and had a fine time. I've enjoyed getting an executive summary of The Closing of the Western Mind

Teaching: Africans in America and A Midwife's Tale
Internet: My kind of list - Top 50 Dystopian Movies
TV: The new Gordon Ramsay.

A little more sick today. Got some faux Nyquil tablets and I'm about done in. More tomorrow.

Three Times is a Habit.

Favorite link today: 50 Tricks to Get Things Done Faster, Better, and More Easily
Teaching: Showed PBS's A Midwife's Tale to my AP and A&E's Lewis & Clark bio to my Honors classes.
Home Improvement: Shuffling the deckchairs in my desk area
Writing: Great post on short story writing at Write to Done
Internet: Fooled around a good bit and I managed to set up a feed of my delicious bookmarks (over & down) and I checked out a place to possibly have my students make a wiki - wetpaint.com and also made the feed from this blog show up on twitter. Gotta stay on top of geek stuff.
TV: Watched Tony Bourdain's latest No Reservations on DVR. How did we ever watch anything before?
Exercising:1/2 mile this morning (damn cold) + 1/2 mile this evening (even colder)

Tuesday

In between coughs, I roared this one today:
"There is no democracy in Art!"
Teaching: Students working on their own. I graded & put in grades (in the computer), but am still putting off the AP essays. Must grade them soon, I have no choice. (Of course, there is the down-the-steps method).
Home Improvement: A pretty successful pre-dawn Garbage Day operation. I took down the spider habitat/storm windows on the kitchen windows and now you can see out of them. (I also "accidentally" shattered a big piece of trash glass - woo hoo!)
Internet: I like reading SciFi.com Weekly News, essentially a sci-fi tv & movie info overdose.
TV: a little Gordon and tried to watch Last Restaurant Standing on BBCA, but got snoozy.
Exercising: Stretched my back + a 1/2 mile this morning

Not a bad Monday

Macbeth's last words: "Lay on, Macduff; And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'"
Teaching: My students did classwork on Jefferson & Madison's Presidencies and my AP guys took their objective test on Washington & Adams and I've got it down to just AP essays left to grade.
TV: Just a little Gordon Ramsay - Moore's Place.
Internet: Found another list of most popular webpages right now - purrl.net.
Reading: Before sleep last night I read "October in the Chair" by Neil Gaiman. It's a short story in the Locus collection I've been in - outstanding, melacholy and very Bradburyesque.
Cooking: Made garlic/cheese toast to go with frozen "lasagna" and corn - really not half bad for slop.
Exercising: 1/2 mile walk & light calisthenics this morning.
Announcing: We broadcast Austin's Basketball game on 1400AM, beat archrival Sparkman and will play at home on Friday. That one will be on 1490am.

Week in Review pt. VII - Travel/Shopping

- We actually went somewhere this week! We drove up to Nashville Saturday & spent time with Paul & Ferlie and Veronica (and an aunt & cousin). They are a lot of fun and we had a great time - very relaxed.
- Ate at an amazing international buffet, where we were definitely minorities. Had some octopus, chicken claw, & a few other oddities and your regular Chinese food buffet.
- Went to Aquatic Critter - it was packed and is an outstanding non-chain fish & reptile pet store. Tobermory started off Veronica on pets with a Betta (in the old days they were Siamese Fighting Fish, a much cooler name).
- Paul took us to McKay's a used book store that was more like a library. Very impressive, I think it's in an old Service Merchandise and has an arcane system almost as weird as that old chain. Nonetheless, a great used book & DVD place. I picked up a Sci-Fi Hall of Fame novella anthology from the 70's and Altered Carbon, which has been on my list for a while. Picked up some more Perry Mason for Tobermory.

Week in Review pt. VI - Home Improvement

Home Improvement:
- Replaced the showerhead in the black bathroom with a steampunk concoction of an on/off lever (to stop a drip) and a cool silver articulated arm with can head like an old watering pail. Picture soon.
- Unstopped the slow-draining sink in the pink bathroom.
- Replaced the water line to the tank of the toilet in the pink bathroom (no more leak) & replaced the float contraption in teh tank - it doesn't run anymore!
- A decent week for plumbing - however, the floor beckons.

Week in Review pt. V - Reading

Reading: I'm still cranking through the The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy - here are the contents.

An amazing lesson in great science fiction. (Getting freaked out by Gene Wolfe is one of my favorite things to do.)

I skipped the longer pieces and haven't gotten to the last couple of stories - looking forward to the Gaiman. I read a couple while in the car (parked, at least) while I ran errands on my Friday "sick day".

Week in Review pt. IV - Internet

Internet:
- Daily I check Drudge, FARK, and BoingBoing for what's going on in the world.
- I check for the newest stuff at popurls.
- Lately I've added the science fiction blog from Gawker - io9. It's pop sci-fi with a lot of lists and links, but usually worth the time.
- lifehack.org is my favorite productivity blog, with lifehacker.com alongside. I probably need to compile a list of these to check weekly.
- I like the goal of The Art of Manliness - we'll see if it's any good.

Week in Review pt. III - Movies

Movies: We watched Sunshine by Danny Boyle this week. It is one of the best science fiction movies I've seen. I think a lot critics and movie people missed the boat. Science and Reason vs. sentimentality and superstition, plus trying to save the world. What's not to like?

Guilty Pleasure - I watched Layer Cake again this week, while making out my test. It's probably my favorite English gangster movie.

Week in Review pt. II - TV

TV: Gordon Ramsay and Tony Bourdain, as usual.
Tony's episode about New Orleans struck just the right chord and was outstanding.

I watched a couple of episodes of Scrubs for the first time...slightly above mediocre.

Week in Review pt. I - Teaching

Teaching: The Washington & Adams Administrations.

A big focus, especially for AP, has been the Jefferson vs. Hamilton ongoing conflict over the nature of the New Republic's government.

Blogging at "I'd offer you some..."

I'm blogging over at "I'd offer you some, but they mine" and I'm slowly building GateTree.com.

Our kind of Top 20

Most Popular Myths in Science

List of Web 2.0 Sites

Top 100 Web 2.0 Sites

Lists and Lifehacking = Nerdvana

2006 LifeHack Review: Best 50 hacks for your Life

Oh my

A list of year-end lists - yes!

Video Links

Outstanding collection of links to video all over the internet - OVGuide.

Another Fine List

The Top Ten Films of 2006 -- In No Particular Order After #1 at Cinematical..

They Burn Witches Don't They?

Our general positions over at I'd Offer You Some.

"Let the 'End-of-the-Year' Lists Proliferate"

Time is, of course, not my favorite source for things, but there are some slightly under the radar sites if you're not too much of a web junkie - "50 Cool Websites".

Sam Harris spells it out for us.

10 myths and 10 truths about atheism in the LATimes just in time for Festivus. Sam Harris is the author of "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason" and "Letter to a Christian Nation."

Can't resist a website list

The new 100 most useful sites in Technology Guardian

Which one is the lesser evil anymore?

We've been on this for a while and now the big guns have come out - Liberaltarians by Brink Lindsey at Cato and in The New Republic.

Chess master...Terrorist!?!

Now is not soon enough for Putin and the old KGB (and the old CIA for that matter) to be gone - Garry Kasparov: 'We will march!'. More.

The new group blog is a lot of fun.

"I'd offer you some..."

Ugly Duckling

I'm working on new CSS for the blog from scratch. I went to 456 Berea Street and worked through a how-to. The colors are intentionally awful & I'm still working through some other stuff. It's been pretty fun & much easier than I expected.

"Big" books on the Market & Economics.

TCS Daily - Books for Brooks

I'm not alone

Somehow I picked up on this stripping down & redoing meme out of the ether - SimpleBits.

Update your AVG!

AVG Free Advisor: Installation files & documentation

Ben Cook at Lindys with a great take on the coach search thing

A handbook on how to play "Coach Search": "Sit back and wait and see just who eventually winds up behind the podium being introduced at a press conference ... and hope your man doesn't look scared to death when he's up there.That could be a sign that you will be playing the game again in three or four years."

This cartoon says it all.

gapingvoid: cartoons drawn on the back of business cards

Our new group blog, I'm excited.

"I'd offer you some, but they mine."

Ivan Maisel's take

ESPN.com - NCF - Maisel: Crimson Tide face crucial coaching decision

Cue the media frenzy

TUSCALOOSA | Mike Shula has been dismissed as the University of Alabama’s head football coach, multiple sources close to the Crimson Tide football program told The Tuscaloosa News on Sunday night.

Sam Harris vs. Dennis Prager

Sam Harris, the author of the 'End of Faith',
puts the wood to a talk show host -
Why Are Atheists So Angry? A Debate with Dennis Prager :: Sam Harris

See also: Richard Dawkins

Here's my holiday reading

Special Report on Brilliant Minds Forecast the Next 50 Years - New Scientist

Not a bad list

The Top 100 - The most influential figures in American history.

Great Science for the Holiday

Genetic breakthrough that reveals the differences between humans

Finebaum has a hole that Mike Shula's made as well.

Time for Tide to fire Shula - Paul Finebaum

You know I love a list particularly one with such schadenfreude

PC World - The 13 Most Embarrassing Web Moments

Love this show.

Is Mythbusters the Best Science Show on Television? - New York Times

Been saying this for a while.

The Dilbert Blog: Atheists: The New Gays

More fonts for Tobermory

Search Free Fonts - over 13,000 free fonts available for download

The Hole that Mike Shula's made.

Saturday I tried to fill the hole that Mike Shula's made in my stomach with Key Lime Pie and Swiss Cake Rolls (and Ribs and Steak). The empty feeling I get when I think about our football team that was never there before, even in 1984 or 1998. It comes partially from the guilt I feel for wanting him gone, and the rest from the obvious fact that he's just not very good. Cecil Hurt has the same feeling - CECIL HURT: Does Alabama have the best coach it could have? | TideSports.com

Only a matter of time...

Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth

The prosperity of modern times is based on his work

Free market economist Milton Friedman dead at 94 - outstanding wikipedia article.

Oddly enough.

I watched about 30 minutes of this guy the other day & thought, "He's charismatic but not really funny," and turned it off - now CNN's caught up with me - Is Dane Cook the funniest man in America? - CNN.com.

Sweet.

Time Waster - WSJ.com

Twitch Guru seems to be a good site.

MMR: The Scariest Games of the Decade | TwitchGuru

My favorite video game commercial ever.

This site is incredible

College Football Data Warehouse

We are these people.

Weird Al - White & Nerdy

I get the goose bumps.

Apple - Trailers - 300 - Teaser Trailer - Large

Hard to pass up a list like this.

  THE 100 SCARIEST MOVIE SCENES at
  retroCRUSH: The World's Greatest Pop Culture Site

More Conservatives Bail.

Breaking the Silence

Reading Daniel Dennett makes me happy.

Edge: THANK GOODNESS! by Daniel C Dennett - Yes, I did have an epiphany. I saw with greater clarity than ever before in my life that when I say "Thank goodness!" this is not merely a euphemism for "Thank God!" (We atheists don't believe that there is any God to thank.) I really do mean thank goodness! There is a lot of goodness in this world, and more goodness every day, and this fantastic human-made fabric of excellence is genuinely responsible for the fact that I am alive today.

I would buy just about anything they have to sell.

Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust