Why one should always carry a sharpie

Oh what I would have given to have a permanent marker on hand this morning. I flew out of Las Vegas this morning back to Madison, and who should I walk past this morning...yes, you guessed it, Tony Bennett. I don't own any of his stuff, but I know who he is and would have been thrilled to have him sign my iPod which was in my pocket at the time. I guess he played in Vegas the night before.

The American Idol 4 Finale - The Best thing on TV since the Sydney Olympics

Wow, what a show! Carrie Underwood won, and to be quite honest, although I voted for Bo, I was thrilled for Carrie. I think deep down I wanted her to win because she is a lot less experienced than Bo and, as Simon put it, was very brave. Regardless of the winner, I will be buying both Bo and Carrie CDs. Oh it was great!

What do you do when the rule you fought against ends up going your way?

You throw a victory party. At least, that is what I hope the Queensland team did after game 1 of the State of Origin last night. The game was won on a "golden point," a recently introduced tie breaker overtime play that was being contested by the Queensland team last I was in Australia a couple of years ago. The argument in contesting the game was that a tie is a real outcome of a game, so why should we force either team to artificially win. Interesting thought. Real in many ways.

So what happens if Bo and Carrie perfectly tie tonight on American Idol? Wouldn't that be something. I think Fox executives would feint in unparalleled joy if that happened.

Bo Bice 4.0 points, Carrie Underwood 3.7 points

The USA has until midnight tonight to vote on your American Idol. It was close, very close. Watching the show it seemed that both performers were very nervous, with Carrie being more nervous than Bo. Turning the visual off and listening to just voices (which I did after watching the show), as one would on the radio, and ranking each performance of a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best, I gave Bo an average of 4 points and Carrie an average of 3.7 points. So, I am voting for Bo tonight as my American Idol. However, if I threw in just a 0.5 point advantage for Carrie due to years less experience then Bo, which could be more fair, I would actually be voting for Carrie tonight. But I decided to vote on an as-is basis. Do as you will America. Here are the numbers:

To vote for Bo: 1-866-436-5701 or 1-866-436-5703 or 1-866-436-5705

To vote for Carrie: 1-866-436-5702 or 1-866-436-5704 or 1-866-436-5706

And remember, you can vote as many times as you can get through until midnight tonight!

My Committee Meeting, Star Wars, Apprentice and a Hail Storm, A Series of Unfortunate Events

Yesterday was a doozie. In order of sequence:

1. I gave my 2005 Committee Meeting (I'm in PhD school). I had spent two solid days, and well into the nights, re-working my slides to include enough background and context so that the one committee member who does not attend our regular lab meetings would be able to understand and appreciate the headway I have made.....He showed up 5 minutes after my last slide.

2. I dragged my tired, sleep deprived body to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, because I thought it had to be better than the first two recent films. I was wrong. Three times the audience actually burst out laughing the script was so aweful. Do not go see this film if you are hoping to see a good movie. See it only to know the details of how Anakin goes from point A to point Darth Vader.

3. While in the cinema I missed one of the best Thunder/Hail Storms Madison has seen this year. It flooded the street I live on which was actually quite cool. Kids were out playing in it and city-bound SUV drivers were out in force actually using their 4WD setting in splashy shows of automotive power. The unfortunate thing is that I actually missed the downpour because I was busy watching a poorly scripted and badly acted movie.

4. I sat down to watch the Tivo'd finale of Apprentice 3. Ouch. Donald Trump manage to prove on live TV that he doesn't remember all the contestant's names, doesn't really know what is going on behind the scenes and that he is a male chauvinist. He offered the winner, a female, a choice of either running a beauty pagent or renovating a beach house. The last two winners, both men, were put in charge of two huge realestate and construction projects in major cities. Needless to say, that is my last time watching Apprentice.

But I did get a phone call from my Mum last night, and that was nice. She's overseas right now and I don't hear from her much when she's out of the country.

Download Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood mp3s

Yes, I love Bo. And he will win American Idol 4. And I will buy his record. BUT... the competition is a good one. Despite Carrie's apparent botoxed facial expressions and body movement, she is actually VERY good. No you say? Can't get past her lack of expression? I understand. Nor could I. And then I discovered Amercian Idol By Request. It is a yahoo group allowing you to freely download every song in mp3 format for American Idol. So I downloaded them, put them on my iPod, and have been listening to them at work. Without SEEING Carrie, I find myself listening to her covers as much as I listen to Bo's. Her voice is amazing. I think she channels all the emotion that would normally play across a person's face right into her voice. Don't believe me? Try it yourself. Go to American Idol By Request, sign up, and start downloading. If you are still unconvinced go ahead and leave a comment telling me so. All I know is that I would pay big bucks for a Bo and Carrie duet album.

Amazing Race 7 - Finale

Some things are right in this world. In a nut shell (because I am so incredibly busy right now and don't have time this month to really keep up with the blog):

Uchenna and Joyce came last on the first leg so lost all of their stuff. Spending hours trying to get money, they fell far behind. But then reality TV karma decided to intervene, and POW and beauty queen got lost on the way to the airport in Peurto Rico. Then Uchenna and Joyce got on the same plane going to Miami as Rob and Amber by the good grace of the pilot, tying up the game on the last leg. And then luck of all luck, Uchenna and Joyce got a bilingual cab driver which gave them a BIG lead over Rob and Amber, eventually allowing them to win. It was FANTASTIC.

So my question is this. When is the movie "Million Dollar Haircut" coming out?

Amazing Race 7 - Episode X

From Istanbul to London. Nothing particularly interesting, except that beauty queen lady looks the worst out of all of them without make up on. (She even borrowed some strangers lipstick in a desperate attempt to make herself look better). As expected, Meredith and Gretchin finally get the boot. They went far but they and everybody knew they couldn't win. Next week is the finale! I hope Uchenna and Joyce win!

Finally, an experiment worked

I've been very sick, very busy, and very sick again (a resilient cold) trying to get a new assay working with my experiments. I calculated some of the data today, and amazingly, it works! I'm actually going to start writing the paper this afternoon. I can't believe it! I've been working on this paper for 18 months now, always thinking I'm just a few days away from being able to write. I found this cartoon by Tom Cheney which summarizes my feelings today. (Original here).

Amazing Race 7 - Episode IX

In one of the finest examples of Reality TV karma, Rob (of Rob and Amber) tries to throw off two other teams by ambiguously asking "Did you get on the earlier flight?," not thinking there was an earlier flight. Uchenna and Joyce and Meredith and Gretchin take the bait, and using a strangers telephone, find an elaborate, but earlier flight, arriving in Instanbul 2 hours ahead of Rob and Amber and the POW & Beauty Queen team. Brilliant. No eliminations this week. Rarely justice does indeed move swiftly.