Countdown to Thanksgiving II: One Week!

One week from now, Thanksgiving II will be in full swing. Things accomplished today: thought about seating/serving arrangements. Bought turkey. Drank some cider and contemplated how fucking cool this party is going to be.

TV Critic Corner

Today I will weigh in on the two TV shows I actually watch voluntarily. (I also end up watching House almost ever week, because I'm already sitting on the couch when Todd sits down and changes the channel, and then it's too late for me to get up and do something useful with my life.)

First, I'd like to go on the record and state that of course I'm on Team Pam. How could you not be? She's sweet and shy and smart and weird and awesome. For me, though, this is not merely a case of rooting for the underdog. You see, boys and girls, a mere two years ago I was Pam, although with much cooler hair. Working in an office where I felt no particular enjoyment. Stuck in a relationship that, it was increasingly apparent, was going nowhere. Flirting with the cute . Like Pam, I broke off the unhappy relationship. Then I jumped on the cute detective. Fast forward to now, we're happy domestic partners. Of course I'm on Team Pam. Everyone in their right minds is.

Second, I'd like to lodge a complaint about the Gilmore Girls. This season, probably the last, hasn't been great, but I don't think it's been as bad, writing-wise, as a lot of people are saying. A change in regime always brings criticism, and it's certainly different, more forced, but it's not as awful as everything else on TV. My main problem with the show at this point is that it's taken my two favorite characters in the television world, two strong, opinionated, independent women, and turned them into kept ladies. Both mother and daughter are now involved with incredibly wealthy men who take care of their every want (luxurious vacations, extravagant apartments, pricey dinners, etc). Part of the greatness of Lorelai and Rory was that they had a drive to succeed because they had to, because no one was going to do it for them. Now, they've each got a man to do anything and everything for them, and their work/school trials have gotten forgotten in favor of romantic entanglements. Look, I'm all for a good romantic entanglement, but not at the expense of a complete life.

Taking off the critic cap now. Thanks for reading.

My Fellow Employees

Two pieces of data I learned about my fellow employees today:

1) They think it's gotten too cold to go outside to smoke. Evidence: Brand new "No Smoking" signs in the women's bathroom.

2) They're more than a little bit country. Evidence: Company Intranet's Employee Poll indicating that 43% of employees' favorite type of music is country.

Conclusion: My fellow employees are not as sophisticated as they appear.

The Crazy Cat Lady

I don't want to become the crazy cat lady, so I will just post this one picture of Lenny, the cat Todd and I just adopted. She's already taken over the world of the apartment. The one weird thing, though, is that she won't jump. Most cats jump on everything. Lenny will not jump unless she's expressly told to, encouraged to for many minutes, and then finally you just have to pick her up and put her wherever you wanted her to jump. But otherwise, she's lovely and a nice addition to the household.

High School Flashback

If you didn't read the Principia Discordia in high school (or college, if you were a late bloomer), then it's really too late for you now. I did, though, and so I find it interesting that it's in the news today with this appropriately odd little twist.

Synchronicity

I was reading an article... somewhere... about how people feel like their iPods can read their minds and often while on shuffle will play an appropriate song for a given moment. My iPod wasn't on shuffle this morning, but I was listening to Irresistible Bliss (for stuff that a lot of people brushed off as a novelty, Soul Coughing's music still stands up for me, or at least makes me go all toe-tappy on the el platform) anyway, and Super Bon Bon was playing (you know, Move aside and let the man go through) and I was headed in the crowd up the stairs at Clark/Lake, and then these two Securitas guys with their big muzzled mutts barge down the stairs, and I did indeed have to move aside and let the man go through.

OK, not as interesting now as it was at the time. But isn't that what blogs are for?