Now He Belongs to the Ages, Part 3

A few days ago, Johnny Carson died.

Like most people who remember his glorious reign over The Tonight Show, Carson was a kind and gentle soul. Unlike other comics, he made fun of the leaders, people, and trends of the day. However, he did it with respect, a trait which some comics have lost (witness some of the tasteless jokes during the Lewinsky mess). In short, he will be missed.

Don't Stay Here

Unlike most times, I watched the Apprentice a bit late. Don't ask why. It was interesting none the less. This week, the teams had to fix and work at a motel. The team that got the best score in Yahoo! reviews would win. As the tasks progressed, both teams done poorly. Brian, who was Net Worth's leader, made poor decsions by throwing away toliets that were still useful and ignoring the rugs, which cost them. They was a certain bitterness between Net Worth itself that graced itself in the form of Brian and Kristen, who got into a row over the lack of a budget. As a side effect, Kristen got on her teams nerves by going on and on about the entire row. Magna was no better. It was consumed over a row between Michael and Verna with Verna ending up walking away.

When the task ended, Magna won. I felt the prize was pathetic. They went on a yacht with Steve Forbes. In my mind, that's the blind leading the blind. The boardroom was very good. Brian took responsibility, asking to be fired. He lashed out at teammates, swearing at them. That made Trump and his minons angry. In the end, he got his wish.

Were did they find this loser?

Free is cool!

Yesterday I was finally able to do something besides sitting around due to the intense cold. I celebrated the end of the cold snap (for now!) be attending the library. Besides have a ton of books, they now have recent DVD's - all without rental fees. To me, it's the poor person's NetFilx. While I was at the, I found something special - the 1952 edition of the Revised Standard Version - for free! This edition is important due to the fact this was the first time the RSV Old Testament was in print (it was released the same year). I had a copy of it before, but I think I lost it or something like that.

Anyways, i'm pretty pleased to have a classic - again. Now I hope I can find a copy of the 1946 New Testament, the 1957 Apocrypha, the 1977 updated Apocrypha, the 1965 Catholic edition, plus the 1982 Reader's Digest abridgment.

That would be good.

Flipping Burgers

The Apprentice is back!

This season (I think that's the word) Trump split the the 18 candidates into teams based on their education. The 'book smarts' team named themselves 'Magna' and the 'street smarts' team named themselves 'Net Worth'. Their first task was to create an advert for the burger. Magna chose a triple cheese burger. Net Worth chose a Western Angus beef burger. Generally, the task executions were the same, with a few differences.

Magna, with all the years of schooling, were unimpressive here. Danny was plain erratic and unprepared; Alex trained too few people to manage the restaurant. In general, their restaurant was dour. Net Worth was different. They awarded a trip to Las Vegas and generally worked well together.

In the end, Trump chided Alex (whom I thought was safe) for making the decision to train too few people. Todd got barbs as well for not controlling Danny and for training too few people. In the end Todd was fired.

That is the how the game goes.

World on Fire

I am going to bet that most of you, dear readers, have heard about the massive earthquake that lead to the tsunamis that have brought death, destruction, and general chaos.

I encourage everyone to do something. I also hope this brings people together.

Dear [Insert Deity here], I hope and pray peace and comfort comes upon those afflicted.

Amen.

Holidays

Now that the holidays are over, I think the time to reflect is now.

Christmas was well. I got a new TV with DVD, MP3, and audio CD playback included. It's really, really, nice - the picture and the sound are incredible. I got my annual copy of the almanac. This year, it was Time's edition since the World Almanac folks have sold out in a big way (IMHO). I got some new clothes and candy as well. In short, I enjoyed X-mas. I got to see people and they got to see me.

New Year's seems better in a way. That's the day were I (usually) rest. That's the best part of all.

I'm only glad it's once a year.