Gray Friday and Not Much on TV (for me)

Today's weather here started off foggy and gray. Then it became misty and gray. The ornamental kale above shows the misty effect. In the winter, it will look like cabbage and has been called snow cabbage. It will lose its color. (Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.)

It's one of the first nights this week with the exception of Big Bang and Survivor nights that I haven't felt like immediately napping after I got home from work. The problem is, when I do that I tend to wake up several hours later instead of my planned half-hour nap. Hopefully that will change since I'm now off the Coumadin as of last night.

Alas, there isn't much I'm interested in watching on TV tonight. Not to fear, I can watch the shows I recorded and catch up a bit!

I have the Survivor review up over on TV Squad and a new TV Shows Off the Beaten Path column up over on CliqueClack TV.

As much as I didn't care for the divorcees on The Amazing Race, I must give them kudos for being caring people. They've set up a charity called The Amazing Grace which will accept donations for an impoverished country visited by TAR each season. This season's start off country is Cambodia. Both women were struck by the poverty in the country.

Today's musical non sequitur:
The city lights, the pretty lights
They can warm the coldest nights
All the people going places
Smiling with electric faces
What they find the glow erases
What they've lost the glow replaces.
-- "Neon Rainbow" by The Boxtops

I leave you in the morning fog of the local train station.

Survivor Gabon: 11/13 Show Post

The show has started here on the East Coast. While I won't be live-blogging it per se, I will update this entry with the big news. My full review will be going up on TV Squad later tonight. As always, have fun in the comments!

Fang won reward and send Bob to Exile Island.

Merge on! Susie wins the first individual immunity building fire.

Whoops! Lost my pool player -- Charlie was voted out in yet another blindside by Kenny.

The Amazing Race - 11/09 Show

I know I'm a few minutes late getting this posted. But, once again, we're on a delay here. I don't know how late the show will start but I'm watching 60 Minutes now. Hopefully soon. I'll update when it starts here in the NYC area. My full review of the show will be posted later on TV Squad, but I'll get the important updates posted here.

8:25 PM ET - The show is finally starting here.

@@ at Kelly in the Roadblock.

First to Pit Stop are Nick and Starr -- they won a trip to Hawaii.
2. Toni and Dallas
3. Terence and Sarah
4. Ken and Tina
5. Andrew and Dan
6. Kelly and Christy -- Philiminated

NEWEST 'Dancing With the Stars' Blog Discussion

Boy, lots to talk about this season, eh? Here's your latest blog discussion post for Dancing With the Stars -- a place for you to talk about the show with your friends from the blog.

(At least Cloris Leachman is gone.)

NEW 'Grey's Anatomy' Blog Discussion Post

Folks have been asking for it, so here it is -- your new home for discussion of Grey's Anatomy. The official website for the show is here. But right here on the blog, you can gather in your comfy chairs with snacks discussing it with your friends. Have fun!

No Criminal Intent Tonight, Yet Tagged

Angry much? I found this poor pay phone in Plainfield, NJ.

Alas, I was looking forward to the debut of Jeff Goldblum on Law and Order: Criminal Intent tonight. Sniffle. They've decided to push it back until 2009 so they can air all sixteen new episodes in a row. Now, that doesn't matter to me with a show like L&O. I hate the long hiatus periods between mini-seasons on shows with continuity like Lost or Heroes. Grr.

Later tonight I'll get up new discussion posts for DWTS and Grey's. Do we need anything else?

An odd note: They're renaming the Triborough Bridge to the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. Yes, a worthy tribute. But it's going to be hard to remember -- they should have done it a few decades ago, don't you think?

Lastly, Donna in Al has tagged me with a meme. I usually don't get too involved with the tagging stuff as it can get overwhelming. But since most I know to tag have already been tagged, I'll answer and not tag anyone else. (Unless you want to get in it.) Here we go:

1. Clothes shopping. Hmm, I'm not so huge on this. Given my druthers I'm a jeans or slacks, sweaters and polo shirts, and sneakers kind of person. I do enjoy sweater shopping. I argue with high heels.

2. Furniture shopping. I'll occasionally buy a piece, but unless something breaks I don't have room. None of my furniture will be heirlooms and few pieces actually match. Hey, I like it that way!

3. Sweets. I'm a chocoholic. I like dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate ... as long as you don't mix nuts in it. I'm not so fond of cake unless it's chocolate. I refuse to admit I have a problem and you can't make me!

4. City. I live close to my lifetime all time favorite city in the world -- New York City. Unfortunately, I can't afford to live IN the city itself. What I pay for my apartment here wouldn't get me a tiny one-room studio in any sort of decent neighborhood in Manhattan or Brooklyn (the two places I would be if I could). Where I live now is a city, albeit small scale and Jersey-rough. But I enjoy my city. Even though it has a bad reputation, I find the folks friendly, polite, and I've never had any sort of problems at all. There are many good people here but folks tend to lump it in with a Newark or Elizabeth. Perhaps even an Orange. But I like the diversity and conveniences of living here. I can go to the top of the nearby hill and see the Manhattan skyline.

5. Drinks. I'm not a big drinker -- usually going months without alcohol. I like to try out micro-brew beers or drink things like frozen strawberry margaritas in the summertime. I can't stomach Scotch, hard bourbon or whiskey drinks, and never have had a martini in my life. More than a few glasses of wine tend to give me a headache. I learned my lesson about Rusty Nails when I was 19. (Drinking age was 18.) Talking non-alcoholic, I'm enjoying Coke Zero these days, but also like a good ginger beer, too.

6. Music. Eclectic. I have a bit of everything in my collection in every medium from vinyl to cassettes to 8-tracks (yes, I still can play them and tell myself I have to record them to another medium) to CDs and MP3s. Old jazz, rock, some country, even a bit of rap, lots of folk music, plenty of classical, a bit of gospel, you name it.

7. TV Series. Many too many to name.

8. Film. I'm a big Alfred Hitchcock buff. I have a gazillion movies on VHS and DVD ranging about all the genres except porno. Well, I have Midnight Cowboy which was originally rated X back when I was too young to see it. In today's world it only rates an R. I don't go to the movies much but do tend to collect them when the video stores sell 'em cheap.

9. Workout. I used to ski, rollerskate, and do all kinds of outdoor sports before my knees rebelled. Now I do about fifteen minutes a day on my stationary bike and do some exercises meant to rebuild the muscles in my knee. I also walk a lot.

10. Pastries. Mmm ... yes! I don't really have them often, but (of course) anything with chocolate is good. I also like things like apple turnovers and such.

11. Coffee. Yes, please. I grind my own beans and like to try different kinds. But I rarely buy the fancy ones at Starbucks unless it's beans to bring home.

Survivor Gabon - 11/06 Show Post

True, this isn't my Survivor logo -- it's an update on that ornamental kale I photographed a few weeks ago. I am alive, my apologies for not posting much. I'm still fighting extreme fatigue and I'm tending to fall asleep after getting home from work.

Tonight's musical non-sequitur which I meant to post on election day:
It's time for a new direction
It's time for jazz to die
On the fourth day of November
We need a purple high.
-- Prince "All the Critics Love You in New York"

The show has started here on the east coast. I'll update this with major events and post my review on TVS later. Everyone is welcome in comments!

Ohhh ... not a merge, a reshuffle with numbered stones, odd and even. New Kota: Bob, Marcus, Susie, Crystal, and Ken. New Fang: Sugar, Charlie, Matty, Randy, and Corinne.

Matty won Immunity for the new Fang tribe, good thing as he would have been the target had Fang lost.

Whoa ... Kenny worked his mojo on Susie and Marcus was voted off!

The Amazing Race - 11/02 Show

Oh my, the show is actually starting on time here tonight. That's two weeks in a row. They're spoiling us! While I won't be live-blogging tonight's show per se, I will update this post with important events. Later on tonight or early tomorrow morning, my review of tonight's episode will be up over on TV Squad.

Nick and Starr made it first to the Pit Stop, each won an electric car.
2. Kelly and Christy
3. Toni and Dallas
4. Terence and Sarah
5. Andrew and Dan
6. Ken and Tina -- Still in -- non-Philimination

They will encounter a speed bump in the next leg -- a task only they will have to do.

Happy Halloween!

Don't let the ghouls get you! Zoetawny made us a neat new Halloween graphic for the blog. Give her some candy!

My latest Survivor review is up over on TV Squad and a new "TV Shows Off the Beaten Path" should be posted over at CliqueClack TV sometime later today. And I'm off to work. I'm going as myself. I figure that can be scary enough.

Survivor: 10/30 Show

The show has started here on the East Coast. While I won't be live-blogging it per se, I will update this entry with the big news. My full review will be going up on TV Squad later tonight. As always, have fun in the comments!

Kota wins reward - helicopter trip for a picnic. Guess who went to Exile? Yep, Sugar. Kota also got letters from home.

Marcus won individual immunity and had to pick someone from Fang to give individual immunity. He chose Sugar hoping a power player will go from the tribe.

Whoa! Sugar betrayed Ace! Yay! He's been voted out, blindsided by Crystal, Kenny, and Sugar.

Kota voted out Dan.

I Interrupt This Blog ...

So, there I was heading to the train station to go off for my blood draw and ... what is that up there? Yes! Yes! It looks like ... the return of ...

... ROOFUS THE CAT!!!

Alas, I had to go to the track on the other side away from Roofus, but he moved and started grooming himself. It's him! I had to zoom more than usual, so the photos aren't the best. Today was the kind of day I see him there -- chilly but with sunshine on the building probably making it the purrfect napping spot.


If you click on the images, they will enlarge.

Double-Deckers, Rat Race, Rat Poison, and Survivor

Yep, I'm still alive. Tuesday I came home from work, fell asleep. Last night I worked late, picked up my rat poison ... er, Coumadin prescription, at Target, shopped some while there, and headed home catching one of the few new fancy-schmancy double-decker trains on my New Jersey Transit train line. Very cool trains. Sure, you have to do stairs to go either up or down but there are entrance level foyer kind of areas with seats. I bumped into a train friend I haven't seen since pre-surgery and I kidnapped him to sit in the top level with me. These night shots without a flash are lacking a bit as my arms were full of Target bags while taking them. Clicking on the images will enlarge them and show more detail.

Then I went home and fell asleep sometime during the Obama half-hour. Sigh. My stamina is really shot. But I woke up at five this morning ... what a joy!

Still no sightings of Roofus the cat. But it has been overcast, raining, sleeting, extremely windy, and snowing each time I've been at the station. In the past when I saw him, it was when sun was shining on the building. It's been a rough weather week around here.

I'm off to go visit the vampires. Countdown time -- two more weeks after this one. (Yay!) At least it's not snowing today and it's supposed to be nice tomorrow for the kids. I'll be posting the Survivor post tonight when the show starts. I hope to see you there!

Tv Stuff and My Return to the Rat Race

Just another plant in the wall. I always enjoy man vs. nature kind of shots. I took this last week at the old stone wall surrounding the Old Presbyterian Graveyard in Bound Brook, NJ. I also took some interesting old grave shots ... but I'll save them for Halloween.

I returned to work today. I lived. But I'm really tired. I didn't review The Big Bang Theory for CliqueClack TV as it was a rerun. My Reality Clack column went up there this morning and tomorrow morning (Tuesday), a Halloween special post with a video I made will be posted around 9:00 ET. All of my work there can be found at this author link, but check out the place ... quite a bit happening! Last night my review of The Amazing Race went up over on TV Squad.

I watched Heroes tonight, but I'm getting more mind-muddled by the week with the show. I don't know -- since they have Marlo and Bubbles from The Wire on it, maybe all we need is McNulty to look into the case and explain it all.

I think I'm going to have to head to bed early. I've got to get used to this working for a living kind of thing again. Grr, now that my 401K has been hit so hard lately, I'm not thinking early retirement!

The Amazing Race - 10/26 Show

Oh my, the show is actually starting on time here tonight. I just might faint. While I won't be live-blogging tonight's show per se, I will update this post with important events. Later on tonight or early tomorrow morning, my review of tonight's episode will be up over on TV Squad.

Pit Stop Order
1. Starr and Nick - Won a trip to St. Jean
2. Toni and Dallas
3. Terence and Sarah
4. Ken and Tina
5. Kelly and Christy
6. Andrew and Dan
7. Ty and Aja - Philiminated

There goes my team in the blog pool!

OFF TOPIC: I'm So Vein, I Thought This Clot Was About Me

The sign outside my pharmacy. Er, okay. It's a pest control place I walked by today. But it reminds me of my Coumadin! Hmm ... maybe I can give them my leftovers when I ... get off Coumadin in three weeks! Yes, I'm leaving the rat poison and vampires behind in just three more weeks. The good news is that no new clots have formed. The bad news is that there is a bit of vein damage and an increased possibility of blood clots in the future. The doctor said that the risks of continuing on with it at this point are more dangerous than the possibility of another clot when mine was directly connected to the knee replacement.

Below is a shot I took of knee replacement parts and other knee implements of destruction. I took that at the orthopedic surgeon's office yesterday. Yes, I do have a metal stake down my tibia and some of those parts.

Thank you all for your concern.

TV Squad, CliqueClack TV, and Signs of the Times

Roaming the neighborhood near my orthopedic surgeon's office yesterday, I found these two signs about a block apart. The first one is so welcoming, so um ... bilingually friendly. The second is forbidding. Sure enough, as I was shooting the second sign, a very vicious watchdog started barking furiously at me. But they're both typically New Jersey -- a rising Latino immigrant population meets The Sopranos.

My latest Survivor review is up over on TV Squad for your perusal. Later today (not sure when), my latest TV Shows Off the Beaten Path column will go live over on CliqueClack TV.

As for me, I'll be heading out to the vascular surgeon appointment before long. I'll let you know when I know.

Survivor Gabon: 10/23 Show

The show has started here on the East Coast. While I won't be live-blogging it per se, I will update this entry with the big news. My full review will be going up on TV Squad later tonight. As always, have fun in the comments. But if you make a mess, you have to clean it up yourself! I've had enough to do with cleaning up Mandarin spam for days now. Sorry about missing a few. I reported the spam blog owner, but still getting it. You guys only saw a few -- it's been about two dozen a day all week.

Argh ... Sugar gave Ace the idol for "safekeeping."

Kota won reward -- baked goods, coffee, tea. They once again sent Sugar to Exile Island.

Kota won Immunity again, thanks to Ace thinking he's Boy Wonder on Fang.

Kelly was voted out.

Some TV Stuff, Some Other Stuff

This is a cool tree fungus I found in my travels. I really should have kicked the litter on the left out of the way.

Let's see ... what sort of TV have I been watching? Well, you know about Survivor and Amazing Race -- both shows I review over at TV Squad. Letterman is in reruns this week. I'm hooked on Bonnie Hunt and will be recording that one next week after I return to work. I've managed to watch (and make sense of) the entire run of The Sopranos on A&E, but have yet to see the finale.

As for new shows this season, the only one really hooking me in is Life on Mars. I think a big part of the hook are my own memories of 1973. I was in college back then and recall some of my visits to NYC which was a few hours away from my school. So I think the familiarity has a lot to do with being hooked.

I know I'm looking forward to the new season of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. It's going to be on Friday nights at 9 PM on USA. I really want to see how Jeff Goldblum is going to do in his new role on the show.



The new season of Frank TV kicked off and I'll watch that now and again. TBS has sent me lots of promotional stuff for the show and I feel guilty because it's not always my cuppa tea. But I do like the travel mug!

Okay, onto the other stuff. Last week I went for the Doppler exam on my legs to check out the condition of the existing clot and look for new ones. They told me that the doctor was away and he'll call me with my results on Wednesday (now today). I didn't like the look on the one giving the exam's face, nor her increased attention to my left leg (the surgery one with the clot). But she can't say anything.

The next day when I got the call about my weekly blood draw results, I was told my level remained the same (has for four weeks). But, in a rather unusual move, they want to raise my INR levels, so they increased the Coumadin dosage. Now, from what I understand, the only reason for them to do that is if there is a higher risk of new clots. I'm hoping I'm wrong.

On Tuesday (yesterday), the doctor's office (the vascular surgeon) called me. Instead of him calling me today to go over the results of the Doppler, he wants me to go to the office on Friday to discuss it. This just doesn't sound good, but I can't let myself get all worked up over it. I did find out during the Doppler that the pain and swelling I've had in my left ankle is probably due to the clot. With the major knee surgery it's hard to tell what symptoms are from the surgery and what are from the clot. Nonetheless, I'm actually walking quite well and without the pain I endured the three years between the first surgery and the knee replacement. And I don't have the huge swelling or constant pain which is symptomatic of a large clot -- never really had that.

Tomorrow I go for my weekly blood draw, then to my pre-work release visit at the orthopedic surgeon. On Friday, I'll find up what's up with the clotting status. On Monday, I'll be at work at 8 AM. Life goes on.

The Amazing Race - 10/19 Show

Sigh. Once again, the show is delayed in this area due to football. 60 Minutes started at about 7:45 PM ET here. I'm going to go ahead and open this post for comments in case the show started on time elsewhere. While I won't be live-blogging tonight's show per se, I will update this post with important events ... once I see them anyway. Remember, it's going to be Phil's father at the Pit Stop tonight!

Finally, it's starting ... recaps.

Uh-oh. My team in the pool -- Aja and Ty -- have a flat tire. I can't believe neither know how to change a tire. That should be required knowledge to drive a car as far as I'm concerned!

Maori warriors are cool.

Pit Stop Order

1. Ken and Tina - used FF. Won a trip to Rio.
2. Terence and Sarah
3. Kelly and Christy
4. Toni and Dallas
5. Nick and Starr
6. Andrew and Dan
7. Aja and Ty
8. Marisa and Brooke -- Philiminated

TV Squad, CliqueClack TV, and Off Topic Photos

My review of last night's Survivor episode is alive and well over on TV Squad. And, I have a new TV Shows Off the Beaten Path column up over on CliqueClack TV. I want to thank everyone for the well-wishes. I'm feeling okay now, mainly just really tired. But that didn't keep me from going to the vampires for my weekly blood draw or my Doppler test yesterday. I won't know the results of the latter until next week, but I didn't like the look on her face as she did the test. The sounds would make a cool Halloween wav noise, though.

Here are some of the photos (click on them to enlarge) I took on my rounds yesterday:


Now, what are the chances of me noticing this bench graffiti on the way to my blood draw? I think it's the same vampire slayer as in this older post of mine. Along with the vampire reference, it had that "lovescool, warkills" tag line.

Detour on the way to the Doppler test.

The hawks were circling above me. No, I am not a small bunny, nor am I a mouse!


I think this ornamental kale was perhaps planted a bit early as we have been having a warm streak lately. But it's a neat plant nonetheless.


Perhaps if we all go to the market and invest, do you think we might actually have peace on Earth?