Odds and Ends...

A few things that either happened during my mini-vacation earlier this week, or have just popped into my mind in the last few minutes that I thought you might be interested in:

• Cool TV recommendation: Cash Cab airing on the Discovery Channel. Amazingly simple game show concept -- and very inexpensive to produce as well -- in which passengers that unknowingly enter the special "cash cab" are able to answer trivia questions for cash. The questions last as long as their cab ride, or until they get one wrong.
• Good grief! Is this how Angelina Jolie looks these days? It almost makes me feel sorry for Brad Pitt. The guy actually upgrades from Jennifer Aniston, only to spend most of his time traveling to third world countries, adopting a child-a-day it seems, and now, his white-hot girlfriend is wasting away right in front of our eyes. Almost feel sorry for him. He's Brad Pitt after all. I think he'll be fine.
• Sarah is in full crawl mode now. Her first birthday is on the 18th. She's actually ahead of Megan's pace. Megan didn't even really crawl at all, and didn't walk until she was 17 months old. One of these days, I'll upload a video clip of something related to the girls.
• So, am I supposed to feel bad for these two brothers, who were gored by a bull during the running of the bulls in Pamplona? Sorry, not happening. If you're dumb enough to participate, then you have to deal with the consequences. My level of sympathy for these two -- and anyone else that messes with the bull and gets the horns -- falls somewhere around the level of sympathy I feel for people that get injured playing with fireworks, and those that overdose on heroin. These guys were celebrating a victory over cancer. Hey, they beat cancer, that's great. Really. So, go buy a bottle of champagne, have some friends over for a cookout, and hire a stripper if you feel like it. But, going to Spain to run with the bulls? Dumb (and dumber).
• If you've heard the show, or read certain parts of the blog, you know I love me some Gordon Ramsay. Well, there's another cooking show I'm into now. Top Chef, on Bravo. I know I'm a little late to the party, but I'm really digging it. Even though my personal fave, Camille, has been booted. Who knows if she can cook or not, but she certainly added some sizzle.
• Attention music fans: There's a guy on youtube that plays a mighty mean acoustic guitar. He's truly amazing, and the videos on his page are simply him sitting at the computer, absolutley nailing each song he plays. I stumbled upon several of his versions of old Genesis songs. There are some Beatles tracks as well as dozens of others. He's exceptional. Plus, he has gone through about 37 different looks over the year or two that he's been posting videos. My personal favorite is the short hair, sans facial hair. It makes me think Keith Olbermann is the one on the axe.
• While on vacation, we pulled off one of our favorite one-two meal combos. It started with burgers and (bottomless baskets of) fries at Red Robin, and concluded with ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. You can't go wrong with the Banzai Burger -- the pineapple sends it over the top -- and the Mud Pie Mojo at Cold Stone. Yes, I'm hoping someone from either chain reads this and feels inclined to set me up with freebies.