Why do I watch?

I’m that close. For five years now, Monday nights were sacred. At 9 p.m. (or sometime after that once Tivo came around) I hung out with the coolest dude on the planet.

We went on wild adventures together, took amazing trips around the country, and killed a few bad guys in the meantime. Me and Jack Bauer, nothing kept us apart.

Now don’t get me wrong, the plots, timelines, Jack’s amazing ability to travel from Mexico to LA in minutes via helicopter, all were hard to swallow. But it never mattered. It was all about the ride, and one heck of a ride it was.

Until this year, after a beginning that left me breathless, the show has nearly lost me. I find that it usually ends up as the last show I watch on the DVR, sometimes with a couple episodes stacked up. And when I do watch, like I am now, I find myself doing something else, like blogging.

It’s just too much this season. The same thing. Jack goes rogue, double agents in CTU, Jack’s loved one in trouble, a duplicitous vice president, traitors. I’ve seen this season at least twice already. I’m going to give it one more week, but that’s about it.

At least I can still spend time with one of my favorite 24 alums, David Palmer (the prez), on one of the best shows currently on tv, The Unit.

How bad will it be?

So the Lions 2007-08 schedule was released today, leading every die-hard Lions fan to ask: how bad will the team be this season?

I took a quick look at the schedule, here’s my take:

Week 1: Sept. 9, at Oakland, 4:15 p.m., Fox – Win, 1-0, Super Bowl here we come
Week 2: Sept. 16, vs. Minnesota, 4:05 p.m., Fox – Loss 1-1, we can still go 15-1
Week 3: Sept. 23, at Philadelphia, 1 p.m., Fox – Loss, big, 1-2, umm, 14-2
Week 4: Sept. 30, vs. Chicago, 1 p.m., Fox – Loss, 1-3, crap, here we go again
Week 5: Oct. 7, at Washington, 1 p.m., Fox – Loss 1-4, it’s officially Lions season now, let the depression begin
Week 6: Bye – Tie 1-4-1, wait, you can’t tie the bye week?
Week 7: Oct. 21, vs. Tampa Bay, 1 p.m., Fox – Win 2-4, and the peasants rejoiced
Week 8: Oct. 28, at Chicago, 1 p.m., Fox – Loss, embarrassingly, 2-5, cue up the QB controversy between Kitna and Brady Quinn
Week 9: Nov. 4, vs. Denver, 1 p.m., CBS – Win, 3-5, Dre Bly allows final TD pass on blown coverage in first game against Lions
Week 10: Nov. 11, at Arizona, 4:15 p.m., Fox – Loss, 3-6, Leinert lights us up
Week 11: Nov. 18, vs. New York Giants, 4:15 p.m., Fox – Loss 3-7, playoffs officially a pipe dream
Week 12: Nov. 22, vs. Green Bay, 12:30 p.m., Fox – Win, 4-7, can the Thanksgiving magic spark a late-season run?
Week 13: Dec. 2, at Minnesota, 1 p.m., Fox – Loss, 4-8, the answer is no
Week 14: Dec. 9, vs. Dallas, 1 p.m., Fox – Loss, 4-9, free-fall mode has begun, Shaun Rogers officially gives up on season
Week 15: Dec. 16, at San Diego, 4:15 p.m., Fox – loss 4-10, Fire Millen marches begin
Week 16: Dec. 23, vs. Kansas City, 1 p.m., CBS – loss, 4-11, Planned walkout at final home game fizzles, again
Week 17: Dec. 30, at Green Bay, 1 p.m., Fox – loss, 4-12, driving snow mercifully prevents Detroit TV viewers from being able to see the carnage.

Final tally, 4-12. I’m already ticked off. It’s great being a Lions fan.

Random Thoughts

It’s amazing to me that Easter is this Sunday. It came up so fast. Seems like just days ago we were celebrating the Lord’s birth, now we’re honoring His death and rising.

God certainly has been working wonders in our life recently. On top of Jackson being such an amazing baby, God’s blessed Amy and I in our finances as well. With taxes, home improvement, hospital bills from the birth, and my EMU bills, the first part of this year has seen some crazy expenses. God continues to bless us with extra work for Amy, and opportunities for us such as a great refinancing of our home mortgage, among others. His faithfulness to us, deserved or not, continues to amaze…

Just watched Children of Men tonight. Wow, I’m not really sure what I watched. It was good, well acted, well shot. But I have to digest it more to really know what to think of it….

I’m working on a Web site for the company that is building our deck. I’ll keep you posted as it comes along. The current site is www.trexguys.com. If weather holds, we might have the deck tomorrow…

For those of you out there who enjoyed Shaun of the Dead, the same people are releasing a new movie called Hot Fuzz. Opens sometime in April in the US. Looks hilarious…

Finally, happy to see The Office returns with a new episode Thursday. How we’re missed that crazy crew from Scranton.

Planet Earth Ep. 3-5

I’ve really been enjoying Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth. Amy’s getting into it too. See below entries for info on the first two shows. Here’s my take on episodes 3-5:

Ep. 3 – Deep Ocean – By far the best sound of the five shows so far. Something about water and being underwater that makes for a very cool sound field. Some interesting species explored, too. Of course the dolphins are always a favorite. I think the whales were my favorite in this one though. They had some really great shots of them. Also some cool shots of underwater volcanoes that erupt, creating this black smoke and superheated water.

Ep. 4 – Deserts – The time-lapse photography of Death Valley blooming was amazing. Who knew that Death Valley could actually look like a scene from Little House on the Prairie? The video of Ibex butting heads was both interesting and sounded very cool. I have to rewatch this one because I was working through the first 25 minutes and didn’t get a good look at the early parts of the show.

Ep. 5 – Ice Worlds – I found the story of the polar bear most interesting. The fact the global warming is threatening this creature was very sad. I’m not sure, but this is the first species I’ve heard about recently that is being threatened not by hunters but by the earth’s climate change. The melting of the polar ice caps means less places for polar bears to hunt. There was also a very cool video of a polar bear attempting to get a kill among a herd of walrus. He lost. Of course not trip to the poles would be complete without the Emperor Penguin.

Episodes 1-5
We’re at the halfway mark (there’s actually 11, but who’s counting?) and so far I’m not disappointed. If I was ranking them so far, it’d look like this:

1. From Pole to Pole (Ep. 1)
2. Deep Ocean (Ep. 3)
3. Ice Worlds (Ep. 5)
4. Deserts (Ep. 4)
5. Mountains (Ep. 2)

The two highlights that stick out in my mind are the slow-motion shark attack, and the birds of paradise, both found in the first episode – From Pole to Pole.