Cost Plus asks that you do not park near this two-foot wide curb.

Also, upon returning to our car, there was a large SUV parked to the right. The windows were up, but Korn's "Got the Life" was heard loud and clear. The door opened, to which a heavy-set man in his late-thrities stepped out and declared "Yeah, that IS good."

1998 was awesome dude, sorry you weren't there to see it...

Hey...how you doin'?

Dear Connie,

I have ADDED NUMB3RS to our Season Pass list. Please do not SUBTRACT it because I believe it will MULTIPLY our fun. I hope this does not DIVIDE us.

Sincerely,

- Dave

1'm h00k3d 0n NUMB3RS.

Last night, Kyle, Sarah, Connie and myself watched NUMB3RS. Our initial enjoyment came from the cast of characters on the show. Rob Morrow, David Krumholtz, Judd Hirsch (Judd Hirsch!? COME ON!), and Peter MacNicol (which I still argue had his best role in Bean). It's like someone had been keeping tabs on all the actors that were just about to fall into the "Forgotten Hollywood" folder, and when they had enough for a full cast, BOOM!, NUMB3RS was born.

Then came The Math. The Math (capitalized because it's just as powerful as sassy Judd Hirsch) will prove to solve every crime that the FBI was apparently too weak staffed to solve. The best part about The Math is the Matrix-style effects and breakdown of the scene when Krumholtz's character "sees" the solution. Chalk-like writing dances across the screen with titles like, "VICTIM = KILLER," whatever the hell that means.

I can't wait until Krumholtz's character is trapped in the field and successfully defends himself by calculating the distance between him and an assailant and then heaving his hefty TI-85 at the assailant's gun. And you know there's going to be at least one dramatic moment where he looks at a moisture ring left on a table from his iced tea and declares, "Why didn't I see it! I need to find the circumference of asymptote times the multiple of the derivative! The killer is in the warehouse!"

I give NUMB3RS a 6.022 x 10^23 out of 10.11 x 10^23.

Back in December, I complained about a new [possibly trashy] neighbor and the fact that she had Christmas decorum up WAY before Christmas.

Well, I'm now officially eating my words.

Day twenty-five of January will show that Connie and myself are yet to de-tree our apartment. The artificial fir still stands proud, blocking our walkway to the kitchen and mocking us with its decorated branches.

The problem being that our storage area in the parking shelter is blocked by another tenant's car, and we don't think dude is ever home. The car hasn't moved from its spot in two weeks.

So merry February everyone.

It's been awhile. This time she brought a friend.

My dad sent photos from back home, a foot of snow over night and a wonderful 23 degrees outside.

I'm going to go count palm trees.

Remember those gloves and moon boots that would change color to reveal a design? I think they were popular in grade school, my bad math skills believe that would have been late 80's.

I vaguely remember that I HAD to have them and that they neither kept my small digits warm, nor kept any water out. But they were SO cool.

Anyone know if they had a name?

Day four of embracing the future started today and my opinion of our affectionately named, Thomas the TiVo, remains gently rocking on the trend-fence.

Before I continue, let me say that we are digital cable subscribers. Therefore, TiVo can't be fully embraced by us as many dish subscribers are able to. The trade-off of course being that some dish users are stuck with the box their provider gives them and can't truly enjoy a Series Two TiVo. Kyle, back me up here.

The first problem, being that we have cable, is that we can only record one item at a time. When a show is scheduled to be recorded, we are forced to change the channel when TiVo wants to record it.

Now, of course, I understand there are a few ways around this. The first being that if we have a previously recorded program, we can watch that while the TiVo records away in the background. Fine, but right now Connie and I have nothing in our queue so sometimes, we're just forced to watch. The second way is to set up the cable so that when you put the TiVo on standby, it still records while you flip through un-TiVo'ed TV. Or finally, I can just stare at Connie in silence for the first 15 minutes of the program while it's recording, then we can watch it. Rod suggested that we can read a book for 15 minutes, but he's also wearing a shirt today that appears to be fashioned from terry cloth, so what the hell does he know?

But anyway, why don't I have the option to NOT record what I'm watching? I understand that this thinking goes against the entire point of TiVo, but at the same time maybe I just want to watch "Scrubs" while "One Tree Hill" records. Maybe I just want to watch "Joey" while "The O.C." pollutes my TiVo. Cable users should be allowed to say, "I know it's wrong, but I don't want to record what I'm watching in order to record something else."

My next argument is quality. I'll admit that I'm a quality queen. I'm somewhat let down by the fact there's a clear difference between what showed up on my TV prior to TiVo as to what there is now. Colors are sometimes weird, pixilation occurs, all the good things that happen from playing shows off a computer.

Now again, I know I can change the quality settings. But why? Why do I have to make the decision whether or not to record "Arrested Development" in "Basic" or "Best" quality? We have the 40 hour TiVo and regardless of that, it should always be best, and my TiVo's "space" shouldn't be affected by that. If I wanted to watch television with a basic quality, I would have just bought another VCR.

And finally, this isn't so much a statement against TiVo, but against all current cable networks. Nothing has made me more frustrated than going hunting for my season passes. I was physically and emotionally devastated when I found out that no one within the confines of my cable listings carried, "Mr. Belvedere," "Small Wonder," "ALF," or "Perfect Strangers," (side note, if you had to follow any of those links to find out what the show was, get out of my America).

So that's where I stand. I'm sure once our queue is full and our season pass list lengthens, I'll love Thomas more. But right now, I'm not sharing my Oreos with him.

So Connie and I finally joined the TiVo family. And she might be more excited about it than I am.

"Verne Troyer is the Paris Hilton of midgets."

- Connie Sommerville

Here we go, all in an order without any order...

1. Call People: Many of you can attest to the fact that I'm horrible at keeping in touch with people. I contact people in Chicago like once a month and if you're lucky it's you I'm calling. I owe calls to a lot of people and I'm going to start trying to call someone once a week.
   
   
2. Exercise: We were playing softball once a week, and even then I was just an alternate so playing time was really limited. I just need to get out two or three times a week and run for 30 minutes. Get the heart rate up, sweat a little, you know...work out.
   
   
3. Complain less: Another leftover from '04. And a pretty obvious one.
   
   
4. Don't walk away from opportunities: I passed up a few chances in early 2004 and I don't quite feel like I've earned the right to take this off the list.



5. Write one quality 30 minute script: I'm in a great position to get some things done and I need to get past my procrastination. Put up or shut up.

And here's something to wrap your brains around. Us 1996 Libertyville grads are going to be getting our ten year anniversary invites soon. You've got 365 to come up with a cool story about your life and impress us all.