Sunday reading

Some of the good reads that piqued my interest during the last week ...

Sports ...
a Small fish tries big pond: Undersized TE aims to beat odds ... This one came from my friend Chris, who knows my allegiance to the Northwest Bearcats. Mike Peterson's a darn good football player, and I'd love to see the Packers keep him.

TV ...
a 'Back to You' is solidly anchored in comedy

Politics ...
a Networks Dismiss Hillary Landslide
a Why the Press Turned on Obama
a Hillary Clinton gets her own Letterman Top 10 list

The Internet & media
a In the Internet Age, AM Radio Needs Fine-Tuning

Life & other (cool) stuff
a At 107, Livermore centennial lightbulb is still a real live wire ... Kates and I saw this story on the news the other night. So cool!
a Putting Words and Music to Her Life
a Couple's cozy car turns heads, saves them money
a One-man concert against high gas prices draws a crowd, and the police

Stuff

Sigh.

Before tonight's A.I., I said aloud that I'd only be shocked if either of the Davids went ...

And it ended up being Brooke ... Oh, sweet, adorable Brooke.

Dang.

Her style was too tame and indie-ish for me to ever truly believe she could win the whole she-bang. But it was that same style that had me admiring her big time from the first moments I heard her Carly Simon-ish voice (who, by the way, gave her a big endorsement today). I've rooted for Brooke more than any other contestant in my measly two seasons of Idol-watching ...

My first thoughts after she was eliminated tonight were I can hardly wait to get her album.

(And for the record, I barely care about "Paula-gate" and all the conspiracy theories. It was just another amusing moment of Paula being Paula in my book.)

* * *

... I spent $40 filling my little tank of gas today. Kates spent $50 on hers ...

... Makes my memories of complaining just a few years ago of $1.20-a-gallon gas in Independence, Mo., seem really distant ...

... It also makes me think of my favorite gas-related political cartoon of all-time. Every time.

* * *

I returned to my office space yesterday. Had to get back some time, I've been telling people.

I had 432 e-mails to sort through. Yeah.

* * *

I got started with a story about Sheryl Crow's tour swinging through the region and spent some time pulling up some good stuff on YouTube ...

Here's Big Hair Sheryl singing "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" with Michael Jackson on the "Bad" tour. Classic!



I also stumbled across this cover of "All I Wanna Do" from English singer/songwriter Amy Studt. I kind of like it ...

* * *

Commas, Turning Up, Everywhere

WASHINGTON—In the midst of a crisis that may have reached a breaking, point Tuesday afternoon, linguists, and grammarians, everywhere say they...

Sunday reading

Some of the good reads (and links) that caught my eyes during the last week ...

Let's start it with this video of one sports anchor's look at the Duke-Belmont upset ... Clever!



Baseball ...
a Season forecast: Tom Verducci's playoff picks and surprise teams for '08 campaign
a A-Rod won't address allegations
a Cubs, WGN celebrate diamond anniversary
a As Jinx Turns 100, the Friendly Confines Are Getting Feisty
a Wrigley, Cubs in limbo as Tribune chief Zell seeks home-run deals
a From Reggie to Chub: One Last Roll Call ... It's been a dream of mine to get to Yankee Stadium ... Unfortuately, it's not looking like it's going to happen this year.
a Deep Inside the Big Ballyard in the Bronx
a You Can’t Just Blow Up History
a The Spirits of Yankee Legends Permeate a Locker Room
a Ballparks Come, Ballparks Go, the Memories Are Forever
a Shea in ’64: The Planes Above, the Mets Below

March Madness ...
a With No Issues, Williams Is Content
a Ford Field, Reliant Stadium raise regionals
a Time to appreciate Big Ten's last 2 ... This story came out, of course, before both teams lost.
a Wisconsin Becomes a National Power by Staying Close to Home

Politics ...
a Okay, Barack. Now Show 'Em Your White Side

Media & the Internet ...
a 'The Simpsons' announces the death of print ... my good friend Matt pointed me to this one.
a LeBron James' Vogue cover called racially insensitive

Life & other stuff ...
a Pottermania lives on in college classrooms ... Good stuff from my good friend Raechel. Some days I long to be in college again just so I can take some of the classes they're coming up with these days ...
a It's a gas: $2.49-per-gallon gaffe lures bargain hunters
a Families speak about switched identity ordeal ... Gripping story. I couldn't imagine what this would be like ...
a In new book, crash survivor ponders why she lived ... different read, same gripping story as above.
a Get Ready to Step Up, Dad ... hey, I'll step up.
a Western Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses
a The Washington Post: Peeps Show 2

Gassed up

Gas prices are spiking again ...

Great.

Today we watched them rise 15 cents in just a few hours ...

Suddenly, this image from a post I wrote last year has become planted in my head ...

Relief at the pump?

So they discovered a new oil field in the Gulf of Mexico?

Let's go bonkers ...

Who killed the electric car!?

Veeeeeeeeeee-ry interesting.

Go to http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/electric.html

Click on the Trailer link at the bottom of the page.

Why bother?

... So I'm watching my evening news (this is a fascinating little read ...) and I just saw a commercial for this.

Interesting.

... But I'll be sticking with my sleek little cell phone for talking only, thank you. And my iPod for listening to my own music collection.

... I don't understand it. Just give me the phone for talking. Don't gook it all up with these other features and charge me $200 for features I'm never going to use ...

...Then again, I didn't understand the reasonsing for putting CD players in cars, when the radio always suited me just fine ... until I got a car with a CD player.

* * *

Back to the news ...

...Has anyone else been wondering if those prophecies about the end of the world are finally coming true?

Let's see ... we've faced 100-degree heat for, well, the month of July. Gas prices are still skyrocketing, along with interest rates and the adjustable rate mortgages. Fighthing is still out of control in the Middle East. And now the media is telling us to watch out for Hurricane Chris ...

Gasing up for a long summer

...This morning I paid $15 ... for five gallons of gas. FIVE gallons. A HALF TANK of gas!

Ugh.

...Oh, how I long for the days that I could fill up a 10-gallon tank on a $10-bill.