Some Sunday Things

I sat down today to work on a new version of my tutoring company's training manual. So I opened a blank Microsoft Word document and stared at the blinking cursor for about 20 blinks before deciding to procrastinate by heading to the piano. I sat at the keyboard, put on my headphones and loaded up the recording software, Logic. Then I remembered that the thing I was in the middle of is kind of icky to work on because I need to put in the drums but I need to re-record everything first to get it all in rhythm. So I procrastinated from working on the music by opening up the old blog to write a blog entry. I opened the "Compose" window of my blog and stared at the blinking cursor for about 20 blinks before deciding to procrastinate from starting an entry by figuring out what else I could put on the side of this blog.

I got the idea in the first place because I was visiting some other blog the other day and the guy had all of this other stuff on the side and it made me jealous. So today I clicked around a bit and checked out my options and ended up throwing a poll and this "Followers" thing on the side. Very exciting.

The poll is a fantastic way to get to the bottom of the "guys vs. girls" question once and for all, and I expect everyone here to do their patriotic duty and vote.

As for the little box of "followers," if you read this blog you should probably be an official follower, because having "followers" sounds fun. And beyond my own personal enjoyment, there's a practical purpose-- you can just head to www.blogger.com and it'll let you know when there is an update here or on any other blogs that you decide to "follow" (which you can do even if a blog doesn't have the little box of heads like this one now does).

A few other notes while we're here:

-The A-Rod news is thrilling. I know as a baseball lover I'm supposed to be sad about this. But I simply hate A-Rod and the Yankees enough that I take great pleasure in his demise. At least the Yankees didn't just sign the new "most hated player in baseball" to a 10-year, $275,000,000 contract. Deep, happy breaths.

-A couple people have very meanly pointed out to me that Hulu.com is far from a "new thing," after I acted like I discovered it last week. Well if it's been around so long maybe someone should have told me about it at some point. Someone also pointed me to surfthechannel.com, which is another amazing place to watch TV and movies for free.

-I've been having weird dreams. Two nights ago I dreamt that I had gone to the grocery store, and returned with, among other things, a six-foot-tall jar of peanut butter. In the dream, I was really upset with myself for purchasing the jar and was trying to figure out what the hell I had been thinking when I bought it. I made a vow to stop going to the grocery store hungry. Then last night I dreamt that I was in charge of babysitting Sasha Obama. It was very stressful because I didn't want to botch something, but in the end she turned out to be a very pleasant young lady and we had some good fun, including watching the Oscars. I told you-- weird ass dreams.

-People talk about caffeine like it's some silly little thing that happens to be in coffee. It's not-- it's an intense drug. At least when consumed in coffee-level quantities. Earlier today, I had a large Starbucks coffee—sorry, a Venti Starbucks coffee—and I was a complete psycho for three hours and now that whole stretch of time just feels like a blur. I'm not sure what I said to people or what kind of massively ambitious undertakings I committed to, but to call me "sober" during that time is completely incorrect.

Then again, maybe it's not caffeine's fault-- maybe it's the fact that Starbucks is a blatant drug dealer:


-On a nerdy note, I'm really obsessed with podcasts. They have turned commuting and errands into thoroughly enjoyable and productive experiences. I was recently introduced to the Ricky Gervais podcast. Gervais was already basically my favorite person in the world, and this just seals the deal. Other recommendations include:

• The Economist
• Front Page (New York Times)
• Planet Money (NPR)
• Intelligence Squared (NPR)
• Brain Stuff
• It's All Politics (NPR)
• World View (New York Times)
• This American Life

And three TV shows that work great as podcasts:

• PTI
• Meet the Press
• 60 Minutes

For Baby Boomers and anyone else who doesn't know how to get podcasts, just browse around in the podcast section of the iTunes store and "subscribe" to the ones you like, and then they load onto your iPod automatically when you sync it with the computer.