Friday, 14 November 2003: A very big congrats go out to Katie who just nailed an economics exam with a 100%. For a girl who's done nothing but gripe about taking the class, she sure pulled this test off in grand fashion.

Thursday, 13 November 2003: Yesterday afternoon, while here at work, I received a call from Katie. She said, very businesslike, "hello, I would like to schedule a date with you for tonight." At first I thought she was kidding. Especially since she was going to be at work until 9 p.m.

She wasn't kidding. So we went to see Runaway Jury. There's not a whole heckuva lot else open that late at night. And it was a movie we both wanted to see. And it was a chance to spend time together and get the heck out of our apartment for at least a little while.

It was a damn good movie and she and I had fun going out and doing that. When you're as busy as we are with two jobs each and classes on top of that for her, you gotta take advantage of the little time you have left in a day.

I had fun, hon... thanks.

Wednesday, 12 November 2003: Do you remember a little while ago when I posted a blurb about having read two pretty intense books, so I decided to read something a little simpler. To that end, I chose Louis Sachar's Holes. Remember that?

Well, the two "intense" books I had read were David Saliba's Wounded and John Lawson's Witch Ember. Both of the books were request reviews by the authors who had individually come across my website.

So yesterday, I receive an e-mail from David saying that he had been checking out my archives and found that particular post, and this was the rest of his e-mail to me...

Did you know that John Lawson (author of "Witch Ember") and I are friends and that John used to work for me?

Apparently, neither of them knew that they were both requesting reviews from me. What are the odds? They've gotta be pretty slim.

Tuesday, 11 November 2003: I have a new addiction and its name can be summed up with a two-digit number... 24.

Yes, the TV series starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counterterrorism Unit (CTU) field agent Jack Bauer. I never really watched it during the first season because I never figured out when it was on. By the time I did, it was too late to try to decipher what was going on, so I didn't bother. During season two, I watched an episode here and there but never committed despite enjoying what I had seen. This year, however, I have watched all three episodes that have aired thus far and I'm loving it! God, I can't believe I didn't tune in regularly in the past. Thankfully both of the first seasons are available on DVD. Gotta check them out.

If you have time on Tuesday nights (8 p.m. CST), tune in. This show is great and it's still early enough that you can jump in and not have to worry about playing too much catch up.

Suffice it to say that if Sutherland keeps up the way he's going this season (dealing with the heroin addiction and all his other crap), he's the first strong competitor for the Best Veteran Actor in a Drama category for this year's Kapgar.com Primetime Awards.

Monday, 10 November 2003: Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.

That line cracks me up. Allow me to explain why... I was watching Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring extended edition yesterday and I was watching the scene where Frodo wakes up in the elf village of Rivendell. After talking to Gandalf for a bit, the head of that particular order of elves, Elrond, welcomes Frodo by saying, "Welcome to Rivendell, Frodo Baggins."

Well, the guy that plays Elrond, Hugo Weaving, is the same guy from The Matrix films who plays Agent Smith. In those films, he always refers to Keanu Reeves character by his human world name of Mr. Anderson, refusing to acknowledge his matrix moniker of Neo.

One day, on a web message board, a guy I talk to said that a friend of his went with him to see either LOTR: The Two Towers or maybe it was Matrix: Reloaded and blurted out the line "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson" when Weaving's character first appeared on screen. And it's been stuck in his head ever since whenever he sees Weaving. So seeing Weaving intro himself in Fellowship like that made the line pop in my head. It kills me.

Sunday, 9 November 2003: Okay, the Bears are a losing cause (I say that in the present tense because they could still wind up above the .500 mark). However, when all things looked their bleakest, you always had the kicker to count on. Bears fans could always rely on Paul Edinger.

Until today, that is. Before today, I think el Kicker Extraordinaire was either 16 for 17 or 17 for 18 with field goals which is a damn impressive number. His one miss came two weeks ago against the Lions in which the special teams line broke down and Edinger's kick was blocked. Today, the King booted one low that was blocked and he completely missed on another. This is so unlike him. God I hope he comes back strong next game because if we don't have Edinger, then we've got absolutely nothing.