Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - March 2, 2014

Welcome to yet another Sunday morning off television topic reflection of the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. It's still cold. It's still winter. I am starting to have doubts that this winter will ever end. While they've changed our forecast for today from a serious winter storm to just a plain old winter storm, it's depressing. We're supposed to go back into the deep freeze for most of the week after having two days of over 32 degree temps.

Wah.

I am SO over winter this year. I know, come summer, I'll be SO over the heat and humidity. I'm not saying I want that. I want SPRING.

For those of you who plan to be at the blog party for The Amazing Race tonight -- I'll set up a post shortly before 8pm ET for it. Meanwhile, the Magnificent Margo (and Mom) have made the random blog pool match-ups. The good news is that no one had to pseudo-support the "twinnies." The bad news is that I ended up with the Afghanimals. To be honest, I didn't really mind them as much as some of the others last season. We'll see. The blog pool match-ups can be found on this post here.

I really don't have much to report this week. It's getting very same old, same old kind of like Groundhog's Day, the movie. Get up before the dawn, bundle up, go out, head to work thankful for pocket warmers, work, head home, still grateful for pocket warmers, rinse, repeat ... all week long. The sciatica is still present, but quite diminished. Alas, it ruined my sleep last night and I overslept this morning -- thus this post is up later than planned.

I have a Peapod delivery scheduled later today. Usually they're decent with the out of stocks or give a standard substitution. I looked at my invoice online. Sigh. My big family pack of chicken is out of stock, no substitution. That was going to be five meals! Gah. My family pack of hamburger is coming, but not the hamburger rolls I ordered. No substitution. Gah! Between the two items, that was a lot of meals. Sure, I'll still have the hamburger which I tend to freeze in portions anyway. But the local bodega's cheap rolls (when they have them) are horrible and I'll have to brave the cold to go to a real grocery store. The chicken I'll just have to go without this month. In the good news, they had Vincent's cat treats.

Onto the photos for the week ...

Almost sunrise

Until next week when the time change goes down, it's just about sunrise when I wait for the early train to work. Plainfield Train Station.

Dramatic skies in the 'hood

Before sunset with the sun hanging low in the sky. East Front Street, Plainfield.

Reflected sunrise

The red sunrise is reflected in the windows of the apartments over Danny's Bakery at the corner of North and Watchung in Plainfield.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

The Amazing Race: All-Stars - Blog Pool Match-Ups

Hopefully tomorrow night's show will begin on time! After being so buried in snow here forever ... okay, two or three months, it really irked me last week to have a delay for GOLF. It was like rubbing salt into the wound.

"Oh, one of your favorite shows is having its season premiere? Oh, you've had a horrible extreme cold and snowy winter? How 'bout we delay that show with golf from a warm sunny wherever?"

Grr.

Any way, the Magnificent Margo (and Mom) have done the random match-ups for the blog pool. Without further ado, here they are:

Flight Time & Big Easy - Laurie, Donna in FL, nicklepeed

Mark & Mallory - SueGee, jonMD1627, Margo

Jen & Caroline - Lynn1, Buzzmaam, DLA

Dave & Connor - Becky, Auntie Leigh, Rochelle

Margie & Luke - Donna in AL, Monty924, PDXGranny

Brendon & Rachel (Brenchal) - Terry in TX, Brian

Jessica & John - Sharon S, David, Rbennie

Cord & Jet (Cowboys) - ML, Nana in NW, Delee

Joey & Meghan - Brenda, Zoetawny, Dusty

Leo & Jamal (Afganimals) - Jackie, Jennamom, Merrilee

Survivor: Cagayan - Season Premiere blog party!

It's HERE -- the 28th season of Survivor! Of course, with two seasons per year, that's only 14 years, but still ...! This is the first time they've gone with a brains, beauty, brawn scenario on the show, so we'll see how that works out. I still say the qualities tend to overlap and infringe upon each other.

Lifeguard Laurie's random blog pool picks were posted late last night. However, for ease of trying to pick out your pick when we don't know these castaways yet, here it is again for easy reference:

Beauty
Jeremiah Wood - LostChyld
Alexis Maxwell - Donna in FL, Petals
Brice Johnston - Karen in CA, PDX Granny
Jefra Bland - David, Sharon S.
LJ McKanas - Lorraine, ML
Morgan McLeod - Donna in Alabama, ORKMommy

Brains 
David Samson - Jennasmom
Garrett Adelstein - Brenda, Paula Bell
J'Tia Taylor - Knickelpeed, Merrilee
Kass McQuillen -Delee, MikesGirl
Spencer Bledsoe - Becky and Monty924
Tasha Fox - DKNYNC, Rochelle

Brawn
Trisha Hegarty - Jackie
Cliff Robinson - Dusty, Margo
Lindsey Ogle - Brian
Sarah Lacina - Buzzmaan, Tammy
Tony Viachos - Lynn1, Zoetawny
Woo Hwang - Laurie, SueGee

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this entry with the major happenings. Refresh the page to see the latest! As always, the real party is down in the comments. Come join us! And, if you're not in the pool, go ahead and find a castaway to cheer on for the season!

Each tribe chooses a leader -- LJ Beauty, Brawn is Sarah, Brains is David

Leaders have to decide who is the weakest and most expendable. LJ picks Morgan. Sarah picks Trish (my blog person, eek!). David picks Garrett. The three chosen head to camp early, don't leave the game, and need to make a "decision" on the part of their tribes.

Notes on trees -- help themselves with a clue to a hidden idol or help their tribe  (bag of rice for the tribes). Garrett helps himself. Trish goes for the rice. Morgan goes for the idol. Garrett found his idol. Morgan, caught by her arriving tribe members, lied and told them she picked the supplies over comfort for them. Not too shabby thinking, I must say.

Oh my. Beauty got fire first!

The immunity challenge is a convoluted obstacle course ending in a puzzle. First two tribes done win immunity. The reward is fire. First is a fire-making kit, but the second winning tribe only gets flint to make fire.

Jeff calls the Brains effort one of the worst ever coming out of the gate. Beauty wins! Brawn is second. Brains will go to tribal council.

Time to tally the votes:
J'Tia, David, J'Tia, David, David, David ... Yay! He's obnoxious!

Second immunity challenge time! Swimming out into bamboo cage, retrieve fish traps, puzzle. First two win immunity. Reward - 1st tribe, large fishing kit. 2nd, fishing supplies. Brawn tribe wins! J'Tia is once again screwing up for Brains. Beauty was way behind, but is now pulling into second place. Beauty is second place. Brains goes to tribal once again.

Tony (Brawn) found a clue to the idol in their reward basket. He's got the idol! He sounds like he's having an orgasm. :X

Second Tribal Council. J'Tia admits she threw the rice in the fire after Garrett decided they should have an open talk about voting her out.

The tally -- J'Tia, Garrett, J'Tia, Garrett, Garrett ... voted out with his idol in his pocket. Wait, even worse ... he forgot to bring it to tribal because he was so sure it would be J'Tia going home!

Survivor: Cagayan: Blog Pool Match-Ups

Survivor fans ready? The Lovely Lifeguard Laurie has made the random picks for the blog pool. So, the pool entries are currently CLOSED. If you missed signing up, you can choose your own castaway to cheer on throughout the season. After all, it's not like we're in this for the big bucks, right?

Beauty
Jeremiah Wood - LostChyld
Alexis Maxwell - Donna in FL, Petals
Brice Johnston - Karen in CA, PDX Granny
Jefra Bland - David, Sharon S.
LJ McKanas - Lorraine, ML
Morgan McLeod - Donna in Alabama, ORKMommy

Brains 
David Samson - Jennasmom
Garrett Adelstein - Brenda, Paula Bell
J'Tia Taylor - Knickelpeed, Merrilee
Kass McQuillen -Delee, MikesGirl
Spencer Bledsoe - Becky and Monty924
Tasha Fox - DKNYNC, Rochelle

Brawn
Trisha Hegarty - Jackie
Cliff Robinson - Dusty, Margo
Lindsey Ogle - Brian
Sarah Lacina - Buzzmaan, Tammy
Tony Viachos - Lynn1, Zoetawny
Woo Hwang - Laurie, SueGee

Wednesday night, 8pm ET. Bring snacks and tasty beverages!

The Amazing Race: All-Stars season premiere blog party

Yep, the time is here! Of course -- delayed by golf about fifteen minutes, not a good way to start out the season. (Grr.) It's the season premiere of The Amazing Race: All-Stars! Have I ever told you I'm not too keen on returning competitive reality show teams, houseguests, castaways (you name the term)? I'm not. And, many of the teams this season will irk me. Yet, I'll watch this show no matter what. You know that.

Yet, there's one team out there I really would love to see. That's Dave and Connor, the father/son team. In their season, they were at the top of the pack when Dave ruptured his Achilles tendon and they had to stop. I'm thrilled they have another chance.

If you haven't signed up for the blog pool yet, you still have time. We're delaying the pool as there might be some cast changes in tonight's episode. If I'm wrong, I'll apologize. But both spoilers and the promos indicate something is up. If you want in on the pool, you need to sign up at this link right here. Please don't sign up on this blog party post as your comment might be missed. And, of course, we don't want that!

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this post with the major happenings. Please refresh the page to get the latest news. However, the real party and the real skinny on our reactions to what's happening will be in the party in the comments area -- come join in!

Ah, the UCLA marching band is doing the show's theme song.

We have Jet/Cord, Caroline/Jennifer, Natalie/Nadia, Brendan/Rachel, Jessica/John, Flight Time/Big Easy, Dave/Connor, Joey/Meghan, Leo/Jamal, Margie/Luke, Bopper/Mark.

Uh-oh. Phil says that one of the racers had an emergency visit with the race doctor. Bopper is out -- the doctor doesn't think he's healthy enough. (Just as the spoilers said.) Phil offers to team up Bopper with someone else so he can still race and race for Bopper, too. Mallory, also from Kentucky, will be racing with Mark.

The first leg has them heading to China, again with two Express Passes ahead -- one to keep, one to give away.

Afghanimals, cowboys, Dave/Connor, twins on the first flight. Once in China, they have to search wedding dress stores for clues in a town known for its wedding dresses. From there, it's onto Canton Tower, home of the world's highest Ferris wheel. The Cowboys are currently in the lead.

The Roadblock has them doing acrobatic wire acts. It's Cowboys in the lead followed by Brenchal (ick).

From there, they need to head on foot to the Pit Stop.

1. Jet and Cord. They get the Express Passes and win apparently nothing else.
2. Brendan and Rachel
3. Dave and Connor
4. Margie and Luke
5. Leo and Jamal
6. Mark and Mallory
7. Flight Time and Big Easy
8. Jessica and John
9. Caroline and Jennifer
10. Joey and Meghan
11. Natalie and Nadiya - the "Twinnies" - PHILIMINATED

Good. That's one team I didn't like down the drain.