zoom zoom zoom...

so monday we bought a car - mazda3. pretty exciting stuff, considering we haven't owned a car in about 2 years, and we've never owned a car that was made before we entered middle school. i think i "over-paid" by about $350, but considering it's exactly what i wanted before i entered the showroom i think it was worth it. of course the guy did his job and had us drive the pimped out grand touring. it was nice and of course jen and i both wanted it. but after sitting on it a few days we realized all we really wanted was a gray car with a moonroof and side curtain airbags. ta-da! we got it. good times.

cubs - they blow. i somehow managed to go to 3 of the past 6 games. i know what you're saying - why would you pay good money not once, not twice but THREE times to see the third worst team in baseball?!?!? to that i respond "shut up and drink your beer!" anyway, i said going in if they lost all three games i'd sell the rest of my tickets. well thankfully (or regretably as the case may be) they managed to win last night (despite losing in agonizing fashion friday (neifi perez has replaced todd walker as my least favorite cub EVER)). they played well tonight, but it didn't work out. the past two nights though it really felt like wrigley field of old, and by old i mean 2 years ago. people were into the game, and not agitated by ever minute mistake. hopefully the cubs will turn it around and at least make a run at 3rd place. a boy can dream can't he?

fantasy baseball - i may as well not field a team in the league i won last year because every week i get smoked. i think i only lost 3-7 last week, but it's just ridiculous - my team blows. in my other 'main' league i'm still holding 'second' place because i'm better than all the other crappy teams in my division. i only have the 4th or 5th best record overall, but all the other decent teams are in the other divison. i'll take it. in my landlord's league i took over first place by a half game, so that's exciting. there are 3 good teams, 2 decent teams, and 5 bad teams (sorry sarah :( ). in my i-don't-know-anyone league i'm still undefeated. it's pretty sad how badly i'm crushing everyone else. not only am i undefeated, but i've scored at least 132.5 points more than any other team. after that team, which by the way is 2-6, the next closest team is 5-3 and 300.0 points back. good night, drive home safely.

finally, congratulations to sunny and steve on the birth of beautiful baby violet. being our first tufts friends to have a child i feel like there should be some serious beirut action or something. seriously though, congratulations guys - jen and i couldn't be happier for you and we're looking foward to seeing violet in july.

MO

oops i did it again

bad news - muppet won. good news! - i'm never watching that stupid show again! ok so katharine didn't win. she was the better singer. i guarantee the muppet will not have a career. moreover, i think this was the beginning of the end of american idol. despite its ratings, i think a lot of people will be disappointed with the quality of the winner, as well as the quality of the performances in general. this week and last week were both horrible. based on those 2 weeks, elliott should have won - he's the only one who didn't choke. anyway, i'm over idol. over it.

pearl jam - the show last wednesday was awesome. they played all their crowd favorites tuesday night, and saved wednesday for rarities. check out the setlist - totally insane. they kind of plowed through the first part of the show, aka the new songs, so they could get to the old ones. i think lukin was the highlight for me. as was the entire second encore - unbelieveable. they played with 50 times more energy than they did on last tour. if they're stopping by your city, definitely find a way to get tickets.

news - so jen got her job working for the man at the history factory. other than the commute she seems to like it. personally i don't think 45 minutes out 65 minutes in is that bad. assuming the el is running on time, and assuming i don't *just* miss a train, it takes me 45 minutes in the morning and 50 at night, and i'm only travelling 4 miles.

as a result of this job, we're forced to get a car. we've been looking for about a week, and i'm confused by several things. when did cars get so expensive?!?! i think we're kind of torn between the mazda3 and the new civic. we both kind of like the mazda more, but we're not sure about it as we only know 1 person who's ever owned a mazda. the civic looks better in person than in pictures, but it's still a little goofy. and it only has a 140hp engine, which is my main problem. seeing how i've been obsessing over this for a week and not getting more than 4 hours of sleep because of it, i hope to have this dilemma resolved sooner rather than later. suggestions and comments are welcome.

finally, beanes decided to make a run for the highway today. he crept down the back and went out the gangway. luckily we noticed he was missing after only 5 or 10 minutes, so he didn't get very far. where would beanes go on his own? to the house with the man that always gives him biscuits of course! jen was smart enough to think of that, so he's home safely. lesson: keep your dogs and children on leashes!

MO

and the winner is...

...katharine. she sounded worse than muppet last night, but can you seriously picture muppet on trl? no. and neither can everyone who voted for everyone but him. i have to say, this being my first idol final week, i'm pretty disappointed. i didn't know they sang songs they've previously performed. nor did i know they sang them poorly. i seriously want that 45 minutes of my life back. hell, i want the past 2 months back with all the time i've spent thinking, talking and blogging about that stupid show. anyway, while everyone thinks he's going to win, he won't. because he's a muppet. and everyone knows muppets can't sing a lick (see: every muppet movie ever made).

MO

real quick like

1. getting ready to go see pearl jam - whoo hooo!!! i made the mistake of not going to last night's show, and frankly i don't know how they can top last night's setlist. i'm going to be there to find out though. full report tomorrow.

2. idol - katharine's rainbow was the best of the night, but her other 2 songs were weak. elliott's 3 were the most consistent. taylor's cocker song was good, but i realized my deal with him - just like chris, he's only capable of making one sound - the joe cocker sound. he has no range or ability to sing anything different, which is why i've been tired of him for seemingly months now. in any event, my gut tells me katharine goes home, but my head tells me fox doesn't want 2 dudes, and ugly dudes at that, in the final. so i think elliott goes. sorry my funky white brother...

3. jen got a job! whoo hoo!!! full report on that tomorrow too.

4. why is my dog afraid of rain? thunder and lightning, ok maybe. but rain??? i can only assume he associates it with the others, and thus hides under the couch expecting the worst. poor chicken beanes...

MO

hi-larious III

thank you dan pashman, senior producer at air america, for telling me about this clip. admittedly i don't watch the colbert report, or the daily show. i know, i'm a loser, i suck - you're the 10,000,000th person to tell me that, do you feel like a big person now? anyway, stephen colbert spoke at the white house correspondence dinner a few nights ago and ripped bush while bush was 2 seats away. the speech was hilarious on it's own, but when you consider bush is sitting right next him it's even funnier. it's 24 minutes long, so grab a drink, but it's funny. good times.

idol - wow. i love that chris went, that rocks like nickelback! wait a minute... anyway, katharine deserved to go, and she knew it. i still cannot believe the muppet has yet to be in the bottom two - unbelieveable. next week should be interesting. as a first time idol viewer, i have to say that i'm kind of annoyed with the filler - like i need to see priscilla presley show me elvis' gold records. by the way, what happened to priscilla? her face is expressionless. i don't think she's capable of smiling. train. wreck. anyway, i'm really hoping for an elliott/katharine final. go ahead, tell me i'm a sucky loser again.

finally, i'm proud to make another jen announcement. after months of searching, and interviewing, jen has finally found...a new favorite show to replace west wing. what, you thought i was going to say job? yeah, no. jen is in love with tour de gorge. if you have inhd or inhd2, you're probably familiar with this show - it's competitive eating in 30 min segments. specifically, she's in love with eater x, tim janus (read about the inner workings of x here). conversely, i'm in love with cookie jarvis. i mean, just look at his 'bib sheet' - cannolis, chicken fingers, corned beef, french fries, ice cream - he likes everything i do. except he likes his by the pound. i can only hope that i would look so good as i finished my 21st cannoli. you think yankee/red sox games get us pumped, you should see us when x and cookie go head to head for 8 minutes of dumpling action (seriously, cookie ate 91 (NINETY-ONE!!!) dumplings in 8 minutes. i love him.

MO

sad day

1. jen's computer died yesterday. supposedly, it went out in a blaze of glory, complete with a bright white screen, some flickering, a few puffs of smoke as it took it's last breath and a few fizzles letting everyone know it was time. considering it was on about 15hrs/day for the past 5 years, i think we got our moneys worth. and luckily when it crapped out the first time 3 years ago we bought a backup drive, so all her stuff is safe. still, a sad day. goodbye compy - we loved you.

2. katharine is so going home tonight. when you a)forget the words to the first song and b)over-sing the second song, you're done. sad, because she's clearly the best pure singer. elliot, for about the 3rd week in a row, rocked it. chris sounded exactly the same as he does on every song (although his first song was kind of worse than usual), and taylor was his usual spaz. he's such a train-wreck. i just don't get him at all - i think he sucks. anyway, i'm happy that 3 of my initial final four are still alive, mandisa being the only idol missing. and frankly, she's 10,000 times better than the muppet.

3. cubs still suck, losing streak at 8. how can they possibly suck anymore i ask you? the answer, my friends, shall be divulged tonight when they suck against the giants, and finally give up bonds' 714. and maybe 715. they're so pathetic, i dont even want to talk about it.

MO

'lost' in the dark

once again i was kind of money with idol. i think 1 of my bottom 2 has gone home 3 or 4 weeks in a row now, pretty sweet.

as great as idol has been, lost is really starting to get on my nerves. i was all about this show last season - easily one of the top 3 shows on tv. this season they're driving it straight into the ground. they're getting nowhere with this current plot line. henry was fun for a week or two, but nothing has been done. the fact they have to create these 'huge, unbelievable, startling, amazing, you're-not-going-to-believe-what-happens-next' twists EVERY week tells me they have no idea what they're doing and they're just jonesing for viewers. you had me, you lost me. get it? hey-oh! they did teach everyone a valuable lesson that most college football programs could use - you get caught drinking and driving, you get shot.

wedding planning - good times. we just need to find a dj (suggestions in chicago?), invitations and rings. we actually found invitations we like, we just haven't done anything about it. save the date cards will be going out this weekend, i swear. yeah, they were supposed to go out in january, but what are you gonna do? other than that, i don't really have much to report. i feel like we should be doing something, but i'm not sure what.

sopranos - i was a little late (and by a little i mean 5.5 seasons) getting into sopranos, but now i'm addicted. i'm on season 3 thanks to my dear friends at netflix. watching them consecutively, i have to say i feel they jumped the shark a little with season three, especially in the first episode. lots of weird camera effects and angles, crazy music with 3 songs playing at the same time, and much less violence. it picked up after the second episode, but the first 2 seasons were by far better. at least for now.

cubs suck.

MO

3 things

1. pearl jam album is good. favorite songs so far are marker in the sand, comatose, parachutes and gone. i think. need to listen to it some more, but it's good and now i'm even more psyched to see them in 2 weeks...

2. cubs suck. last 4 games: 34-4. canNOT hit left handing pitching - unbelieveable. i'm glad they won the game on monday because i was there and it broke a personal losing streak (shout out to bill o. for the ticket), but man are they sad.

3. idol. elliot and paris were the best, but paris doing mary just doesn't work, sorry. chris sang the same song again, just different lyrics. shocking, i know. katharine's first song was horrible, but her second song was one of the best last night. taylor - what can i say. powder blue shoes with pink shoelaces. i hate to run things into the ground, but seriously - can he say anything other than "soul patrol!"? i've got paris and soul patrol in the bottom two, with (hopefully) the muppet going home.

MO