The "Bush Attacked By Reporter" Video

Who knew there was snow in Baghdad?

What About Bob?

Hats off to Bob, winner of Survivor: Gabon. After being given new life thanks to Sugar's plan to have the two of them vote for Matty at the last Tribal Council, forcing a tie as Matty and Susie voted for Bob, the physics teacher defeated Susie 4 votes to 3 for the million dollar prize.

Not bad for a 57-year old, wafer thin guy, who looked like a prime candidate for "first person voted off" when the show began.

But as the season progressed, Bob -- a very likeable champ -- started to dominate the game, winning challenges, and friendships at the most opportune time.

Plus, he did all of it while wearing a long-sleeved shirt and long pants. Remarkable.

This show has been on for 18 different seasons over the last nine years, and we still watch it every week. Our daughter, Megan said to me last night that I should try to go on the show.

I laughed. Although I do enjoy watching it, I have no interest in going on the show as a contestant.

I'd be ready to leave after the first night. Heck, after the first few bugs started to bite me within the first few minutes of getting off the boat, I'd be ready to pack it in.

Illinois: Land Of Lincoln, And Corrupt Governors

Maybe Rod Blagojevich thought that as Governor of Illinois, he was supposed to be a crook. He was just following the pattern. A nice recap from the AP...

Three former Illinois governors have gone to prison in the past 35 years.

_Otto Kerner, a Democrat who was governor from 1961 to 1968, served less than a year of a three-year sentence after his 1973 conviction on bribery, tax evasion and other counts. He was convicted of arranging favorable horse racing dates as governor in return for getting horse racing association stock at reduced prices. Kerner died in 1976.

_Dan Walker, a Democrat who was governor from 1973 to 1977, served 1 1/2 years of a seven-year sentence after pleading guilty in 1987 to bank fraud, misapplication of funds and perjury. The charges were not related to his service as governor.

_George Ryan, a Republican who was governor from 1999 to 2003, was convicted of corruption in 2006 for steering state contracts and leases to political insiders while he was Illinois secretary of state and then governor. He is serving a 6 1/2-year prison term.

In addition, William Stratton, governor from 1953-1961, was later indicted but was acquitted on charges of income tax evasion.

Thanks, Blogo, for upholding such a proud tradition.

But, at least your hair looks good.

Grammys

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards will air Sunday, February 8th, 2009 on CBS-TV. Nomnations were announced yesterday. The complete list can be found here.

Unlike a lot of other award show, I try to watch at least a few minutes of the Grammys, since the nominees actually perform on stage, and sometimes you get a memorable performance.

Can't say the same about the Emmys or the Oscars. But, wouldn't it make the broadcast more entertaining if nominees in acting categories went up on stage and acted?

Or casts from nominated movies and TV series were on stage reenacting scenes from their shows or films?

How 'bout a stage version of one of the death scenes from No Country For Old Men, complete with special effects, makeup, the whole nine yards.

Or in 2002, why not have Oscar winner Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton reenact their famous love scene from Monster's Ball.

Right in the middle of it, that's when you cut to the shot of Jack Nicholson for his reaction.

Now that's an awards show I'd watch.

iTunes Phillies Games

We have iTunes set up on the home computer, and I guess I never realized that there was a lot more available at the iTunes store than just music.

I was browsing a Phillies message board, and found a post from a fan that was talking about getting some of the playoff games on DVD. Someone in the thread suggested getting the games off iTunes.

So, I checked out their selections, and found all of the 2008 Phillies playoff games, available for just $1.99 each.

Shazamm! I purchased their wins in the NLDS and NLCS, and when watching the games on Quicktime, the quality is great, there are no commercials, and it's certainly money well spent.

I'm holding out hope that I get some DVD's of the World Series for Christmas, but if I don't, then I'll head back to iTunes to download the rest.

Next, I want to see if I can download all of the Cubs playoff games from the last two years.

I'll look under the comedy section.

Thanksgiving Recap: Double Stuffed

Everyone have a nice Thanksgiving? As I mentioned on the show we had a busy, but very enjoyable day.

It started at my in-laws for turkey dinner #1. A crisis was averted when after our youngest daughter, Sarah's bip was misplaced, I ran over to a nearby drugstore to purchase a new one.

I know, I know, not only shouldn't she have one by this point - she's almost 2 1/2 years old -- but this would have been a perfect opportunity to have her quit cold turkey. And, of course, quitting cold turkey...on Thanksgiving...it really was set up nicely for us.

But we couldn't do it. She mainly uses it when she's sleepy, and ready for bed. Judging by the mood of the room after a full plate of turkey, gravy, potatoes, etc., we all could've used a bip by the end of the afternoon.

From there it was on to my brother's house. He and his wife were hosting their first Thanksgiving, and it was a really nice time. Counting us, my parents, and his wife's side of the family, there were about 20 of us there.

Now, it just worked out that we arrived just as they were serving dinner, and not wanting to be rude, we, of course, had a plate of food. Again, it was all very good.

One of the highlights of the night was after dinner when several of us gathered around the TV to take a stab at playing the Wii. Bowling and Golf were the initial sports of choice.

Then, we discovered boxing. It's simple enough, in theory: Hold the two controllers provided, and make boxing motions during the fight. You actually can jab, uppercut, roundhouse, all the moves you associate with boxing.

Turns out, my daughters are a little better at it then I thought. Not sure if I'm happy about that, or frightened.

Our oldest daughter, Megan, who had never played the game before, proceeded to knockout my brother, a veteran of the game, in two separate matches.

Then I took her on, and got knocked out as well.

Of course, Sarah wanted to play also. The first go around, Megan dropped her like a sack of potatoes, as Sarah really had no idea what she was doing.

But...in the second fight, Sarah -- who was basically just moving her arms around without any rhyme or reason, but it was working -- took out Megan with a 3rd round knockout.

And, credit to Megan, who took it in stride, and was laughing about it, as she felt the same way we did after losing to her.

It was a fun way to cap off a great day. A day that featured a (ahem) 1-2 punch of turkey dinners that still has me feeling (burp) stuffed.

Here's me showing Sarah the ropes...



Megan tries to land a "right", moments before her Wii fighter gets knocked out by the Diapered Destroyer, Sarah...

Happy Thanksgiving