Brendon to Breakers

I ran 7.5 miles this last Sunday in the Bay To Breakers 12K race. Didn't break any world records, but I didn't break anything else AND I finished, and that's a record for me.

Yay, me!

Scrubs must die

After last night's sappy, thin season finale episodes, I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that it is time to retire Scrubs. It has been a fun show, I have enjoyed the wacky antics, and I admit that I would probably pay money to see Doctor Acula if it came out in theaters. But this last season has fallen into a formulaic syndrome that I found both sad and annoying: ten minutes of wacky, then sad music halfway through as we set up whatever lesson we're going to learn, back to wacky, and then finish with the overused song montage/voice-over to wrap things up with said lesson. Lazy.

During the finale, when they crammed a new relationship for JD into about fifteen minutes, and spent the rest of the time making penis jokes, I knew that the shark had officially been jumped. Time to go out on the highest note possible.

Oh...

I spent ten minutes this morning, looking all over our apartment for my belt. I got frustrated because I remembered where I had put it, remembered seeing it, and I just could not find it. I was convinced that my wife had moved it, and got a little more frustrated because of that.

Until she pointed out that I was wearing my belt.

I may need to start getting more sleep. And I probably owe her an apology.

New Google toy

By now, I imagine most people have had some fun playing with Google Maps (I got a kick out of the fact that, at some point, the owners of my former childhood home put in a pool...how many times, growing up, did I look out my back door and wish there was a pool?), so it is definitely time for a new toy.

Behold: Google Trends, for the hidden statistician (say that a few times fast) in all of us. If you need some explanation before diving right in (that smacks of reading directions, but I suppose some people enjoy such things), here is an article explaining how it works. If you are in need of a little geek-out time, you came to the right site. Enjoy.

Dirty, filthy Diana

We went to see the ballet Sylvia yesterday (by the way, if you are keeping count, that's two ballets in the last three weeks...that, and I wear a suit to work every day...what happened to me?), and overall, I was impressed. Like the others, I cannot stand it when they break the story to have a dance recital; this one was even worse, because not only did the story come to a grinding, screeching halt so the leads could have their solo time, but after they danced, they bowed to the audience! Why not just hold up "Applause" cards, and let the other dancers on stage drink coffee? My better half assures me this is normal for ballet, so the lead dancers can assert their alpha dog dominance over the others, but for me (the admittedly uninformed viewer), it is just boring and painful.

The interesting thing with yesterday's performance was that it was the last of the season for this particular show, so they let someone from the company (she's at the top of the window) dance the lead role. I am not sure if that means she is getting promoted, or if they were just throwing her a bone on the last day; either way, she was okay, but the male lead and the principal in the role of Diana were definitely the showstoppers.

Close, but no steroid-laced cigar

We went to a Giants game on Sunday. If you know me, you know that I am such a die-hard baseball fan that it would take me a minute to remember who they played, but I can tell you that I did eat a hotdog, and I did manage to get an awkward sunburn on the top part of one of my arms, leaving the rest of me nice and pasty. Sweet.

What I did not get to see was Barry Bonds hit a homerun. Even if you think baseball is as boring as I do, you are probably aware that he is closing in on Babe Ruth's record (714), and with last night's shot, is now within two hits of tying the Babe. Barry did hit one out to the wall late in the game, which got everyone on their feet, but that's as close as he came while we were there.

By the way, there was something oddly fascinating about seeing thousands of people with cellphones in hand when Barry was at the plate; we have become the paparazzi.

The Great Quake remembered

Not sure how much national press this is getting, but today the City is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake that devastated not only San Francisco, but towns up and down the coast. This site has some very interesting articles, photos, and videos about not only the earthquake, but also the resulting fires that destroyed the City, and the subsequent rebuilding efforts.

And, just to add the element of fear, here is an article that estimates the amount of damage a similar quake would have today, and here is a link to some new maps that show the liquefaction (when solid ground becomes sandy liquid due to the shaking of a large quake) risk when the next big one hits. Neat.

Celebrating the resurrection of Christ with hot man-on-man action

The subject line is one way of looking at my trip to the ballet on Easter Sunday to see the touring company of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. This version puts an new twist on the classic Tchaikovsky ballet, and while I admit that I have not seen the old version, after having read the synopsis, I am glad that I never did. The classic version sounds pretty stodgy, and while the new version certainly had its slow moments (the second act looked like a recital at a dance school, with various groups of swans running on stage to do their act, then running off, and the third act had a similar scene at a party where various groups of dancers had to get in their "solo" time), it had funny parts, sad parts, kept my interest, and even included what had to be the best dance combination ever: disco ballet!

Maybe if Antonio Banderas had taught that combination to sassy inner-city kids, his movie wouldn't have flopped.

Excellent...

Exactly...

Is it just me?

Any time I don't really enjoy something that seems universally praised, I have a bad habit of asking myself: did I just not get it? But then I also sometimes wonder: when art is so widely praised, is it because others have asked themselves that same question, and continue said praise so as to avoid looking like they didn't get it?

I call this the Thin Red Line syndrome.

I have shades of this syndrome after finishing The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss. I really liked Leo, one of the main characters, but have to admit to being tired of the lots-of-different-storylines-coming-together-at-the-end thing that seems to have plagued literature in recent years. I was not overly impressed by the book as a whole, and certainly never found myself "vertiginously excit[ed]," but again, maybe you have to be a critic to get that excited about a novel? Tough call.

For me, I'll give this book a C+; I finished it, and I enjoyed looking at the world through Leo's eyes, but overall, I feel this book is overhyped.

[yawn]

What happened this year? There are always some fun upsets and buzzer beaters in the first round, but I don't remember a year of March Madness where the Final Four and championship games were all so god-awful boring. Twenty-point routs I expect in a 1-16 matchup, not in the Final Four.

But no worries, NCAA...we'll be back next year.

WOW!

Just watched the season finale of The Shield (we taped it last week, and are just now getting around to it...I realize this makes me sound incredibly old, but I just can't stay up that late to watch it, and we don't have TiVo...damn it!), and I still believe that it is consistently the best drama on television. I realize that there is another show that some people may vote for in that category, but I don't have HBO, so my voting field is narrower.

Can't wait for next season.

George Who?

Yeah, I had never heard of them either, but they have certainly made all of us take notice. Here is their athletic site, here is their university's main page, and here is a historical information page where you can learn more about the man behind the name.

How to kill your office copier AND win your office pool

Ahhh...so this is how to win in March.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Three more down...

Finished the Dublin (California) St. Pat's Day 5K yesterday; the good news is that I (a) finished, (b) am not too sore this morning, and (c) got the cool t-shirt I can send to my brother. The not-as-good news is that I was not in top form: I mananged to run the first mile, as usual, but then was in some somewhat serious ankle/leg pain for the second and part of the third mile. I have been using the recent weather as a great excuse not to get out and run in the mornings for the past several weeks leading up to yesterday's race, and it showed.

Time to step it up if I'm going to be ready for May.

Hey, Malkovich! You suck!

Is this real? If it was any other actor, I would automatically say yes, but Malkovich...?

p.s. if you are looking at this while at work, don't click on the t-shirt models...not something you want people to see over your shoulder.

Worst. Bracket. Ever.

"Eh." That was my general feeling yesterday when we watched the Brackets get announced, and realized that NONE of the teams in the dance that we would like to see are in our region. Is that looking a gift horse dead in his smelly mouth? Maybe. Am I still thrilled that next week I will be seeing some Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games live? You bet.

But do I wish that we were going to have a chance to see several other teams in person? Yeah.

Hell, I was even hoping to see the Scooby Doos.

Drink and Fight!

WAY too funny, and her willingness to do this is a large part of the reason I think Natalie is fantastic. WHAT?!

No Shining Moment

My Colonels, who won the OVC tournament last year and thus secured their first NCAA tournament bid in decades, got stomped in the opening round of the OVC tournament last night, thus ending their hopes for a return to the Big Dance.

Travis, why did you leave?

About time!

Finally, our pets will start earning their keep! They have been sleeping and eating for free long enough; it's about time they became contributing members of the household.