American Idol - top 10 guys

The guys were much better this week. But my attitude for them is still: Meh, who cares.

Bring on the gals!!!!

American Idol.... top 12 girls

The ladies were so much better than the guys. Some of them were still pretty bad, but four of them really made an impression on me.

Lakisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle brought the house down last night. They should definitely be safe tonight. In fact, keep all the black gals and send the white chicks home. They all pale in comparison. Well, maybe Gina Glocksen can stay. She did pretty good.

Antonella Barba confirmed my prediction that she shouldn't have been put into the final 24. She fell on her face. Every single note was out of tune. Bow out now, sister, before you embarrass yourself even more.

If Lakisha or Melinda are in the bottom three tonight I'm gonna be pissed. Those two gals can SANG.

American Idol's top 12 guys

In a word: BORING.

A night of boring songs, boring song interpretations, and off key singing.

Chris Richardson and Blake Lewis were passable, with Chris easily being the best of the night. Phil Stacy ended strong, but not one note of the first 45 seconds was in tune and I can't get over that.

Jared Cotter scares me. He looks like a Romulan from the Star Trek universe. If I were Randy, Paula and Simon I would be afraid that he would transport up to his Warbird and annihilate L.A. from orbit with plasma torpedoes and disruptor blasts.

See the resemblance?

NASCAR is back!

And we're done with the quasi racing that is restrictor plate racing (at least until 'Dega). I'm so happy that my favorite driver, Jeff Burton, made it through the Daytona 500 without being involved in a crash.

Now on to California Speedway and real racing!

Go Jeff!!!

Battlestar Galactica... redeemed

Sunday night's episode, A Day in the Life, redeemed this season for me. I absolutely loved it. Peeking into Adama's psyche was intriguing and interesting.

The subplot of Callie and Tyrol being in harms way worked perfectly with the feeling of loss that Adama has for not being a part of his children's lives. Kudos to Ron Moore and the rest of the writing staff. More shows like this one will revive television's best drama!

Valentine's Day dinner

On a whim we decided to go out for dinner last night to celebrate Valentine's Day. Trisha came by the shop and when I finished up the three of us headed over to Earnie's Restaurant.

We had intended on getting their Vday special that my sister had told us about: NY strip steak, salad, potato and soda for two. We walked in and were seated very quickly, but we had to go to the very back of the restaurant because most of the tables were already reserved. We waited and waited but no one ever came to take out order. Eventually we decided that none of us wanted steak and decided that we would all have their buffet. The BBQ on their buffet is usually excelent and I was looking forward to it.

We continued to wait and wait for service. I was ready to get up and leave when Trisha told Melissa to go ahead to the buffet. Melissa went to the buffet and came back and we still hadn't seen a waitress. At this point I'm more than ready to walk out, but Trisha insists that I let her handle it. She tells me to go ahead to the buffet and she would have our drinks at the table when I got back.

I went to the buffet and she walked up to the owner, hands him our menus and asks him if he can bring a Coke, sweet tea, and an un-sweatened tea to our table. That suddenly got the attention of almost the entire staff. Needless to say we were well taken care of after that.

In the end I didn't enjoy the BBQ that I wanted because it was too salty. Everything else was pretty good, and I really enjoyed the salad, so I guess it wasn't a total wash.

I've learned my lesson, though. Never go out to dinner on Valentine's Day. Go before or after, but never ever on Valentine's Day.

Cats... the good, the bad, and the cute

We 'rescued' a cat a few months ago. I use the term rescue loosely because I think he picked us our of all the houses in the neighborhood and we didn't really have a choice in the matter.

One morning as I went outside to start my truck to let it warm up I heard soft meowing coming from underneath Trisha's car. I peeked underneath and saw him, barely old enough to be away from his mother, looking back at me with bright eyes. I couldn't convince get my hands on him, so I went inside to get some help. Melissa came out with me and by the time we got back outside he had moved from under the car to a new hiding place behind our garbage can. Melissa grabbed him quickly and we brought him inside.

He was dirty, smelly, and flea infested. He was also the cutest gray tabby we'd ever seen. We washed him, took him to the vet and loved him. Melissa named him Tiger. The name may seem uninspired... until you meet him. His attack is vicious and I have the scars to prove it. I jokingly call him Demon Kitty, and most people agree that it's pretty accurate after they meet him. He's been destructive like all kittens and refuses to leave our dog Boots alone. Boots tolerates him well and watching them play fight is very entertaining unless it's three in the morning.

Tiger is now about three months old, and is starting to calm down just a bit. We're waiting for the day that he can go in for his surgery to remove his boy bits. I hope that will calm him down even more. He can be the sweetest kitten you've ever met, but those moments don't last long and I'm looking forward to the day that those moments are longer and more frequent.

Why we love dogs

I read this interesting article about why we love dogs. If you've never loved a dog you haven't lived.

Battlestar Galactica

If you know me then you already know that Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite TV shows. The mini-series and the first season were definitely the best science fiction ever produced for TV and probably the best drama ever produced for TV.

Season two was great, but in my opinion it didn't quite reach the level of season one.

This season, I've become perplexed a bit. Some episodes are great, while others fall far below average. I realize that it's impossible to hit a home run with every episode, but it seems that the show has become more of a gamble recently.

Last night's episode, The Woman King, left me a bit confused. I admit that I was very tired and probably need to watch the episode again (thank goodness for DVR's), but I never got the reasoning behind setting up the camp of people on the Galactica. Was it explained and I just missed it, or was it just a cheap plot building stunt? Will we ever see these refugees again?

I did like that overall story of discrimination, and I think Agathon's character deserved a bit more fleshing out especially since he's done a few unpopular things recently, but the setup just seemed cheap and over the top to me.

Anyone else have any ideas? Post them in the comments.

New camera, new pictures

After wanting a Canon Digital Rebel XT since they came out I finally broke down and bought one this weekend. That means that there will probably be lots of pictures for you all to see. Here's one I snapped this morning of my mom.

New to this whole blog thing

I've recently been inspired to start a blog after seeing the success of several friend's blogs, notably Mick's and Jamie's. I only hope that I can manage to convert my streams of consciousness to a written account that people can understand.

Keep checking this space to find out more. If you have any suggestions for me, shoot them to me at benatarfan@gmail.com.