Riding with the window down…

Don Imus is sueing CBS for $40 million (the remaining amount left on his contract - plus incidentals.) I really hope he wins.

Alright, put down your stones and let me explain. First off, my opinion of Don Imus isn’t that he is a racist or a bigot, he is just an unfunny radio dude whose humor is often at the expense of others. So what. Name ONE comedian who hasn’t said worse. Name one rapper that hasn’t said worse. Name one CBS executive that hasn’t told something off-color around the water cool. (Okay, I can’t verify that last one, but you get the idea.)

More important that stopping the Don Imus’ of the world from uttering the phrase “nappy headed hos,” (check me on that phrase, Grammar Girl) is making sure that our right to speak freely (no matter how stupid) is preserved.

Do I think this is a ‘line in the sand’ stand for freedom of speech? Do I think this is a crossroads that will forever change our inalienable rights? No… its just one ripple in an ocean of waves pushing back and forth. Do I think it matters? You bet… the break in the levees after Katrina started with just a little bit of water spilling over.

A bit too dramatic? Yeah, you’re probably right… but I do hope the clueless old codger wins the lawsuit.

Wow… today is going to be a marathon sprint. Yeah, I know it’s an oxymoron, but I will be hustling to get everything done and it will be going on all day… so deal with it.

It started at 5:30 when, as I posted on Twitter, “Crazy tomcat making murderous noises outside - Lou started barking inside - woke up - let him out - chase ensued - cat bolted - all quiet.” From there, it was walk the dog, do the dishes, start the laundry, make some breakfast, answer email, and do this post. It continues with compile the rankings for the Pod Music Countdown (PMC Top 10), record the show, edit it, tag it, upload it, finish the laundry, shower, and shave. That’s just by lunchtime.

After lunch will be the new episode of A Fresh Review, tag it, upload it, and post it. Then its pack the laptop, headphones, adapters, cables, etc. for the Copperheads game, edit some footage from a video production client, output it to .AVI, design the DVD menus, burn it, package it, and invoice it. Somewhere in there, I will also need to pack for the trip to Victoria tomorrow morning, get Lou’s stuff ready, give Lou a bath, and burn a couple DVDs full of MP3 for my brother. (All legal)
Then when ‘Mighty’ Mike and ‘Dangerous Dave’ arrive, it will be time to head to the Berry Center where the Copperheads play arena football. We need to arrive shortly after 5:00 PM so that we can setup the equipment, record the pregame show, have the pregame media meal, grab all the needed documents for the show, and start pouring over the stats. The game will kickoff and we will be busy until it ends around 10:00 PM. At the end of the game, we will scurry into the bowels of the arena for the post-game press conference. (Hopefully, to discuss the team’s brilliant performance.) The media frenzy will end about 11:00 PM and we will pack up and head home.

About midnight, I will make it to the house, let Lou out after 7 hours of ‘holding it,’ unpack all the crud from the laptop bag, sit in my recliner to relax a second, remember that I need to post the PMC Top 10, post the new countdown, and call it a night.

All that so I can get up early and head out of town.

(It may seem like I wasted a lot of time writing this post, but I am going to print it out as today’s ‘to-do’ list.)

Have you noticed R2D2 on the streets of Houston? Check this out.

A couple of recent events have made me pay attention to manners. Its not that I’ve run into a large amount of rudeness - just a lack of common courtesy. The simple things like “thank you,” “you’re welcome,” and someone holding a door when you are entering right behind. I hope its just coincidence because its the everyday kind acts that keep us from ripping each others throats out.

Have I mentioned how much I appreciate you as a reader? Thanks

Have you hugged your local unabomber lately? As I returned from walking Lou this morning, I noticed my look in the mirror and totally thought unabomber. It could be just me, but it reminds me an awful lot of that sketch used to catch him. Okay, there are a lot of differences, but it just popped into my head and it seemed funny at the time.

I sit here blogging at 1:18 AM because I have an appointment at 2:00 AM and needed something to kill the time. My circadian rhythms are taking a major hit the past few days.

My normal bedtime is around 1:00 AM and my normal morning starts around 7:30 AM. These six and a half hours of sleep a night are actually an increase from what they have been most of my adult life. I used to thrive on about five a night, but find six and a half much more doable the past year or so.

Thursday, I was up until around 1:00 AM just doing my typical stuff. Friday I woke up a bit earlier than usual, around 6:30 AM and started my day. Friday night ended up being a long one as I was covering the International Fight League (IFL) event at Reliant Arena. By the time the fights ended and the hour and a half press conference finished, I made it home around 2:00 AM. Because I knew I had to get up early on Saturday and head right out in the morning, I went ahead and did some work on the computer (real bright idea.) About 4:00 AM, I decided I better get some sleep because I had to be at the Berry Center at 8:00 AM for the Texas Copperheads football tryouts. I finished up there around 2PM, went home to eat, and decided to blow off my dog park meeting that was scheduled for 3:00 PM. Instead, I took a catnap (about 30 minutes) while watching TV.

The appointment I have setup for 2:00 AM is an interview with a musician in the UK (hence the weird time) that I plan to feature on tomorrow’s Pod Music Countdown. But, before you decide its all over and I can sleep all Sunday, it too is packed.

The Pod Music Countdown is played on several radio stations around the country and because of that, I am on a deadline. I have to get the show done before noon. The show takes about two and a half hours. That means that in order to get up, get dressed, walk Lou, edit tonight’s interview, start the show, and complete it all by noon, I have to wake up by around 7:00 AM. But it doesn’t end there - I am going to a Super Bowl party with the Copperheads team and as we all know… those things go all night. So after Sunday night, I will have averaged about four and a half hours of sleep in the previous four nights.

These weekends are rough - I’m ready for the work week to start so I can get some rest.

Okay, so it was all a really stupid promotional gimmick for a really stupid television show… what is the underlying lesson here? I am sure that over the next few days and weeks, the message you will often hear will be how dumb it was for these guys to run this promotion. I think that is the wrong takeaway.

What about the paranoia of a nation that thinks everything is a bomb despite the fact that we have never had a “suspicious looking device” like this actually turn out to be a real bomb from a real terrorist group that did real damage? (Wow… how is that for the mother-of-all runon sentences (questions?))

What’s next? Is the NSA, Homeland Security, and CIA going to swoop in the next time I am out geocaching? Think about that. There are hundreds of thousands of these caches hidden across every state in the US - a large number of them in ammo cans. Will this activity be banned? Will you have to register hidden items with Homeland Security… or will sanity somehow be restored and our government officials and news media stop feeding us fear long enough for us to just live our lives?

Early, early this morning I heard a crash in my attic. I couldn’t imagine what it was… the only thing that came to mind was that maybe Nardo got up there and fell down the heater/ac vent or something. After seeing Nardo relaxing peacefully, I decided I better investigate. When I opened up the door to the furnace, I immediately saw a piece of PVC pipe laying askew and not connected to anything. As I looked further, I saw the vent coming off the furnace that should be connected to the roof was also disconnected and laying on the side. That meant that my heater was venting into the house - sounds like a recipe for gas asphyxiation. (Remind me to tell you about my ski trip to Colorado when the entire hotel was gassed.)

I figured I better change my schedule and take care of it, so I cancelled my tire rotation, and called Dave. No, not so that he could come fix it, but as an insurance policy. The attic is a dangerous place with cramped quarters, nails sticking through the roof right at temple level, and very few solid 2×4s to stand on. I asked him to call me in an hour to make sure I didn’t fall through the sheetrock, get stuck in the brain with a nail, or gotten gassed.

Turns out, it was a pretty quick fix. In about 20 minutes, I had everything repaired, duct taped, and running smoothly. The interesting thing was that I found a BOATLOAD of tools up there. My nephew Brian who has a habit of not taking care of my tools was the last person in the attic. When he was staying at my house, I had him go up there with me to fix something. After it was fixed, I went down while he finished taping things up, cleaning, etc. I guess it was silly of me to assume he would bring the tools with him.

The good news is that I have several tools back in my toolbox, and that my pipes in the attic are fixed.

I generally make resolutions throughout the year when it strikes me as a good idea… but I may try this New Years Resolution thing. I am just stumped as to what to list.

Should I lose weight? Exercise more? Should I try to save money? Maybe I should relax more? Visit my mom more often? Or maybe I could clean my house a little more frequent? I really don’t know.

Hmmm… the more I think about it… the more I realize my old system works better for me. I resolve to make resolutions when they strike me.

Well, I have a new visitor to the backyard. For the first time, I have seen an Oriole in my backyard wilderness. I didn’t think they were around these parts, but apparently they have started to migrate through here recently… or maybe I just never noticed them. These appear to the Baltimore Oriole (not the baseball team) from the looks of them and will be heading back up north soon to breed.

The last really cool new avian visitor I had was the House Finch I started seeing back in 2004. It has now become a regular guest. It is cool when I spot a new breed - especially one as colorful as this.