Purging the Notebook

I don't know what was going on today, but all of the fast food restaurants were packed during my lunch break. I didn't even get food until 12:30, at which point my break was halfway over and I had approximately twenty minutes to eat if I wanted to be back at the office on time. I'm a notoriously slow eater, and that's not a lot of time for me.

I'm going to try tonight to catch some of the vice-presidential debate. This one may turn out to be more even, since Mr. Cheney seems to be a little higher on the food chain, intellectually, than his boss, but I really hope that John Edwards disassembles him the same way that Kerry did Bush. It occurs to me that Dick Cheney reminds me a lot of my high school biology teacher, who in turn always reminded me of the prototypical mad scientist.

I caught a little bit of Real Time With Bill Maher last night on HBO. I like Maher--his Politically Incorrect show on ABC was brilliant before it went off the air--but I must admit the main reason I tuned in was because George Carlin was one of his guests. I love George Carlin. Sure, he's a comedian, but he's a sharp guy. I didn't get to watch very much of the show, but one of the topics they talked about was the ludicrous role that religion plays in American politics. I was pretty interested, so I recorded a later showing of the same program so I can watch it tonight.

I would love a nap right now, followed by a grilled cheese sandwich.

Baseball's regular season is now done, as, perhaps, is Barry Larkin's career in Cincinnati. That's very sad if it turns out to be the case. After playing for so many years with the Reds, under no circumstances should he have to finish his career elsewhere. If he wants to play again, I say GM Dan O'Brien should sign him up. It's not like there's another clear choice to play shortstop next year, unless they're going to bring someone in from outside the organization. Given the Reds' history, I'd say that's unlikely.

I wish Reds' owner Carl Lindner would invest some money into putting a good team in the new ballpark in Cincinnati. His vast wealth indicates that he has some business sense in his other ventures; I don't see why he lets this particular investment languish the way it has for the past several years. Cincinnati is a good baseball town. If Mr. Lindner would lay out some money to bring in a couple of good players to surround the quality core the Reds already have, the team would be able to compete, and he would be rewarded with a packed stadium (hence a much larger revenue stream). I'm not a big fan of George Steinbrenner's mercenary tactics of fielding an entire team of carpetbaggers, but getting some help for the guys we have only makes sense. It's the only way the Reds are ever going to compete.

Speaking of baseball, the playoffs start today. I don't really care about any of the teams involved (and in fact actively dislike most of them), but I'll probably watch anyway. I can't help it. I was a baseball fan first on my road to becoming the sports fanatic you now see before you, and I love the postseason no matter who is involved. I'd really like to see St. Louis and Anaheim make it to the World Series most of all, although I must say that seeing Boston win it all(although I don't like the Red Sox) would be pretty cool.

I took a lot of pleasure in watching Ohio State lose to Northwestern this weekend. I still try to like Ohio State, but I fail most of the time. Maybe that will change next year when Troy's Todd Denlinger plays for them.

I watched some pretty interesting television on Sunday evening. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I caught Desperate Housewives (I was at a friend's place) and found it to be quirky and amusing. I'm not promising that I won't watch it again. I also watched an episode of The X-Files. I've only seen a couple of episodes of that show, and it's probably a good thing. I could easily see myself being hooked. However, I missed Listen Up last night, for the second week in a row. I haven't seen it since the series premiere. That makes me sad, because I really hope the show does well. All in all, though, I really can't be too disappointed in my inability to watch television.