I’ve never kept a running diary before so I’m jumping into uncharted waters. Sit back and relax and prepare to be catapulted into my weird and odd observations as I watch 24. If you haven’t seen it yet – spoilers to follow.

No injury can keep Jack down.

Hmmm, anybody think those nukes won’t make to the necessary facility???

Doyle got something up his sleeve – he’s been waaay to nice lately.

Why can’t the Chinese just get over it already?

Dang Morris and his component…he’s the reason all of this has gone down.

Hmmm Jack has 1 hour to get the component…1 hour…1 hour…could there be any significance to this…no probably not…

I love the nicotine patch on Gary Payton’s (Wayne Palmer) neck

Did Carrot Top re-incarnate and turn into Shawn White?

Just saw the preview for “The Condemned”. I thought the wrester posing as an actor movies would end with the Marine.

Wow! We finally found a resignation that Gary Payton would accept.

It’s official. Those Mac/PC ads are annoying.

Does anyone every tell Jack no?

CTU needs a stringent no-relationship policy.

Silver Spoons needs an attitude adjustment and our favorite CTU agent is just the person to give it to him.

Guess the the Glove needed a stronger nicotine patch. Yippee! More Powers Boothe! Who can we nuke next? My vote is for Canada.

This week should have been one of those double header episodes because there was no resolution at all. It’s as if the writers got done with the season and realized they only had 23 hours. So they drew out the beginning of Jack’s new mission. This might be the first episode in the history of 24 where it actually took someone 30 minutes to drive somewhere…

Well, it’s been fun. Stay alive Jack.

While I was lucky enough to get my very own Nintendo Wii awhile ago it seems as if the shortages are not just affecting the consoles and accessories.

I went to Hollywood Video today to rent a game for some friends coming over tomorrow and they not only were they out of the game I wanted but every single Nintendo Wii game in the store was checked out. Every single copy of every single game.

Now I know how those people in Russia felt when they tried to buy bread only to find none on the shelves…

wait…what?

I was just thinking…

The smell of a fresh bag of properly cooked popcorn is one of the best things in the world. The smell of a burned bag is one of the worst. Just a few seconds in the microwave separate one of life’s great experiences from 2 days of horrible stench in your kitchen.

It’s either really good or really bad – there’s not a lot of in-between.

Here are a few more things that are either the best or the worst:

• An orange – you never really know until after you bit in and sucked down some juice
• Your favorite team in the championship game
• The Matrix trilogy (1st 2=awesome, 3rd=worst. movie. ever.)

Any other ideas?

I read a lot of tech news sites and inevitably about once a day one will mention the web browser Opera (pronounced like the funny singing). And even though its spelled differently, I guess I’m so used to seeing Oprah Winfrey’s (the media mogul that has the women of America as her slaves (in another post another time I’ll lay out my arguments why I believe Oprah is poised to rule the world-by force if need be)) name in print I automatically think the article is talking about her. This has led to some funny thoughts. Below are some of the more intriguing headlines I’ve scoured.

• Opera experiments with new “social press release”
• Opera Christmas Widget!
• 10 Things You Can Do Only If You Use Opera
• Opera Mini has inspired more than eight million users
• Is Opera Bloated?
• Opera is a full-featured Internet tool
• Opera passes the Acid2 test!
• Get to know your Opera
• Opera has great widgets

It’s the holiday season and the festivities have begun. Saturday I participated in the time honored tradition of trying not to break my neck falling off the roof or electrocuting myself on power lines, or more commonly known as “hanging the Christmas lights.” When we lived in our town house there weren’t a lot of options for decorating – basically a string around the garage was all I could muster but our new house has presented a whole new opportunity.

Mid-morning Mia and I made the journey to our local Wal-Mart to scope out the light scene. I didn’t know really what I was going to do, but I at least had the foresight to measure our roof so I had some semblance of how many lights we needed. What I wasn’t prepared for however was the range of choices that I was presented with at Wal-Mart. Speaking of Wal-Mart, is there any other place in the world you can buy a goldfish, have your oil changed, watch a plasma tv, and be greated by a friendly elderly person? Didn’t think so.

Mia and I decided on some icicle lights. Now there are good icicle lights and bad ones. I really don’t like the ones that hang down half-way to the ground and I really don’t like the ones that actually look like icicles. In a moment of brilliance I also picked up some light hanging thingies that turned out to be awesome.

Climbing up the ladder I had several Clark Griswold flashbacks only if I fall it’s to my concrete driveway… Not sure why I didn’t choose to do this the previous weekend when it was literally 50 degrees warmer. I love to get on roof tops. I think every guy gets satisfaction when you climb to the top of something. I’ve been watching the Everest series on the Discovery channel and for a brief second on the summit of my roof I imagined myself on the summit of Everest… I had conquered my roof. I am man. I am awesome…or something like that.

Got the lights hung without too much drama and then came the part that I dread – the re-mounting of the ladder. Not sure why but I get really freaked out when making that first step back on to the ladder. It always feels like the ladder will fall and then I’ll fall and I’ll die… Made it down though and plugged the lights in and……………………………….they worked!!!…………..for 5 minutes…

Turns out when the box says you can connect 3 strands together it actually meant 3 and not 7…

Luckily only the first strand blew a fuse which by the way are the most ridiculous things to try and replace. I almost went back to Wal-Mart to buy a new set cause I couldn’t get that stupid fuse out. Finally wrestled it out with a steak knife, put in a new one, ran an additional cord and presto, we have lights!

Now I just need to start working on convincing Mickie to leave them up all year…

Besides the wheel, fire, and the internet, probably the greatest invention of all time is fast food. (Note: sarcasm is fairly hard to convey while typing without the use of “quotes” or the three dotted thingy…neither of which could convey the amount laid on by the last statement.)

I’m inclined to agree with Morgan Spurlock (of Super Size Me fame) that it is addicting. How else can you describe something that is horrible for your body but we consume in mass quantities anyway? That said I enjoy my fast food anyway.

Here are my top picks for fast food items:

1. In ‘n Out Burger
2. KFC Famous Bowl
3. McDonald’s French Fries
4. Jimmy John’s Turkey Tom Sub
5. Burger King Whopper w/Cheese
6. Wendy’s Frosty
7. Fazzoli’s Bread sticks

I’m not quite sure if something has been in the air lately or what but I’ve had a resurgence of nostalgia for the old video games that I grew up with.

It all started a couple weeks ago when I found a web site that has emulated over 250 classic Nintendo games that you can play right in your browser. Nearly all of my favorites are there – Rad Racer, Ninja Gaiden, RC Pro Am, and of course the king of all NES games (Nintendo Entertainment System) Super Mario Bros. 3. Mickie then got me a throwback Atari system for my birthday which has 15 or so classic Atari games in one console. That really took me back because the Atari was the first game system I ever owned.

I mentioned in a previous post that my family was slow to get on the technology bandwagon and video games were no exception. I think we got the Atari system after the Super NES had come out. But I wasn’t complaining it was a blast!

Mickie has an old NES at her parents house and I’m trying to lobby to get it up here. Like I need more distractions…

Today I found a list that some people had compiled of the top 100 games for the NES. If you are a Nintendo fan the descriptions on the list will bring back some great memories, frustrations, triumphs, and excitement.

Of course the number one game on the list was Super Mario Brothers 3 – quite possibly the best video game of all time. One of my friends and I would always try and rent it when I came over. (I’m not sure why he never bought it – probably would have saved his mom a lot of money…) We had to walk about 3 miles to grocery store (is dedication or insanity?) where it was available to rent. I can’t begin to explain the excitement when we would see the yellow box on the shelf or the disappointment when it wasn’t but it was a truly ‘religious’ experience.

Here is a list of my favorite games for the NES, what are yours?

• Rad Racer
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 – The Arcade Game
• Ninja Gaiden (I II and III)
• Mike Tyson’s Punch Out
• Super Mario Bros. (1 ,2 and 3)