If you’re in New York, be sure to tune in to radio station 1190 AM today at noon for the premiere of “The O’Franken Factor!” This is the debut of Air America, the liberal talk-radio network. I have my walkman with me so I am all ready to tune in! Word has it that Al Franken’s first guest will be Michael Moore so it will certainly be entertaining. And if you don’t live in a market that carries the station, it can also be heard on XM Satellite Radio.

Today is the five-year anniversary of my very first interview with the Parks Dept. It was March 31, 1999 and the weather was fantastic. I was a senior at Vassar and woke up early that morning to take a Metro North train into the city. I first had a 10:00 A.M. interview with Primedia, the publishing company that produces several magazine lines. In retrospect it was a good thing I didn’t wind up working for them, because shortly after graduating, Primedia wound up laying off many of their employees. After finishing up with Primedia, I grabbed a quick lunch somewhere (can’t remember where) and then took the F-train into Park Slope for a Parks Dept. interview. The job I interviewed for at that time though was very different from the one I accepted two months later. The division I initially interested with did not interest me as much and I left the building that day figuring that I would not return. Funny how things work! Afterwards I traveled back up to Poughkeepsie where I had a senior class council meeting that night. It was also one of the Passover seder nights but considering everything else I had on my plate, I skipped out on the holiday that year.

I did not wake up at 5 A.M. today to watch the baseball game. Instead I got up at 6:30 and listened to it on the radio as I lied in bed. The Yankees got even from yesterday’s loss, beating the Devil Rays 12-1. The good news for me is that my guy, Carl Crawford, got a hit, a run and a stolen base. That should move me up the fantasy standings.

After work tonight I’m seeing “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” It got great reviews and I’m looking forward to it.

Long day. This is the first opportunity I've had to sit at a computer and write anything.

It started at 5 A.M. when I got up to herald the 2004 baseball season. The Yankees were playing the Devil Rays in the Tokyo Dome and it counts in the standings as the first game of the season. Being a frustrated Mets fan, I was amused at watching the Yankees lose by a score of 8-3. When it comes to my fantasy league, I had one player who I was rooting for to put me on the board and hopefully gain an early lead. He was Carl Crawford. Naturally, he went 0 for 5.

Then I went to work where the annual review with Commissioner Benepe at Green-Wood Cemetery finally took place. All went well as our two months of preparations paid off. My boss, Marty Maher, sure worked tremendously to put it together. It was especially nice to hear Commissioner Spiegel thank me by name in his speech. I could talk about the meeting and the presentations but all of that is boring shop talk and I don't think anyone reading this blog would be interested. But I do want to give Chief of Operations Charlie Gili credit for the anti-littering public service announcement. It was a great piece merging the "Crying Chief" PSA from the '70s with footage of Charlie and his staff, teaching a Brooklyn-style lesson to a litterer.

After the meeting, the Director of Green-Wood Cemetery took about 20 of us on a walking tour of the grounds. It was amazing to see the care put into many of the stones that were created in the 19th century. We passed Leonard Bernstein's gravesite and I was surprised at how simple the footstone was. All it had was his name and the years he was born and died. There wasn't even a headstone. We also visited the grave of Edwin Litchfield. Litchfield is the man who in the 1850s constructed and lived in the building where I currently work, Litchfield Villa. We also stood on the highest altitude level in Brooklyn and from there we were able to look down upon the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. It's an amazing place, full of NYC history. I intend on returning to Green-Wood on May 29 to go on their "Gangs of New York" walking tour. That will be based around the gravesites of Boss Tweed, William Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis' character) and victims of the Civil War Draft Riots.

The stomach virus is gone. Yesterday was the first day in three days that I didn’t throw up. Too much information for you? I don’t care! I’m just psyched that I’m feeling better!

Noticed another Vassar reference in pop culture last night. During “The Sopranos”, Tony and Carmela went to A.J.’s high school to visit with his college advisor. Inside of his office there was a very noticeable Vassar poster hanging on the wall. Whereas Meadow may have been admitted, A.J.’s 900 SAT scores kind of meant that he was out of the running. Speaking of Meadow, her TV movie where she plays Heidi Fleiss got TERRIBLE reviews in today’s newspapers. Normally I’d be psyched to see Jamie-Lynn DiScala prancing around in her lingerie but David Bianculli’s zero-star review gives me pause. Ah, the hell with it, of course I’ll tune in!

"Lip my stockings. Lip my stockings!!!"

This quote is from the scene in "Lost in Translation" where a...shall we say...escort visits Bill Murray's hotel room and volunteers her services. After a hilarious back and forth, he realizes that she wants him to rip her stockings. This scene and many many others make "Lost in Translation" a joy to watch. I initially saw it in November and thought it was very good but I was even more impressed with my recent second viewing. Sofia Coppola's writing and directing almost redeems herself from her "Godfather III" disaster. Almost. But seriously, she does a great job portraying the isolation one feels being alone in a strange land, and the relationships that can develop between similar lost souls. Scarlett Johannson's predicament was similar to Carrie Bradshaw's in the "Sex and the City" finale. Don't be surprised though if you feel jet-lagged at the film's conclusion.

Still in a Japanese mood, I caught some of the Yankees exhibition game today. They played the Yomiuri Giants at the sold-out Tokyo Dome. It's amazing how the Japanese people are even more enamored with baseball than Americans. One day I will have to make sure to visit the country, only after my trips to London and Rome though.

Not too long after I wrote yesterday's blog entry, I started feeling ill again. Since I already finished the work I needed to do, I left work early and took a nice 3-hour nap at home. Still felt nauseous throughout the night but have been feeling great since waking up this morning! In the meantime I'm being careful about what I'm eating.

The latest Netflix films to arrive are "The Rundown", "Intolerable Cruelty" and "Open Range". Reviews to follow!

Baseball season starts at 5 A.M. on Tuesday morning as the Yankees play the Tampa Bay Devil Rays... in Japan! I'm all ready for the season as my fantasy team is ready to go. Special thanks to Tim for serving as commissioner of "Fantasy's Finest" on yahoo.com. My team is called "Thugz Inc." and it features an all star lineup of catcher Jason Kendall, first baseman Todd Helton, second baseman Marcus Giles, shortstop Jimmy Rollins, third baseman Mike Lowell, outfielders Luis Gonzalez, Jim Edmonds, Shawn Green, Carl Crawford, Carlos Lee, and utilityman Desi Relaford. The starting pitching is my weak link but the ten guys that I have are Livan Hernandez, Brian Anderson, Steve Trachsel, Jae Weong Seo, Horacio Ramirez, Kirk Rueter, Tomo Ohka, Ramon Ortiz, Elmer Dessens and Ryan Franklin. The bullpen consists of Robb Nen, Arthur Rhodes, Rocky Biddle, Shigetoshi Hasegawa and Rafael Soriano. C'mon guys, win me some money this year!

Oy. I feel sick. The body aches continued throughout the night and into the morning. I’ve had no appetite to eat anything and even threw up this morning. (Hindsight says I probably should not have had a beer last night when I went out with my coworkers) The temptation was great to stay home today but I had to write our biweekly report. So I trudged into work and am actually feeling a little better since I’ve arrived. Still have no appetite though. But I already got the biweekly over with so I no longer have to worry about it if I happen to take a turn for the worse.

The annual White House correspondents dinner was held on Wednesday night. It’s traditionally an opportunity for the president and other politicians to make fun of themselves. Bush took part in that tradition by showing a video where he is wandering around the Oval Office, looking underneath the furniture, saying “Those weapons of mass destruction have to be here somewhere... Nope, no weapons over there. Maybe under here.” It’s funny because it’s true! The families of Iraq war victims don’t seem too think it’s too funny though.

How great are these testimonies before the 9/11 commission? OK, they’re not “great”, but they do make for interesting TV. Albright, Cohen, Powell, Rumsfeld, Tenet have all gone and now the heat is on Condi Rice to testify. Richard Clarke socked it to the Bush administration yesterday by apologizing to the victims families for the government’s failures. The Bushies are furious, especially after one woman who lost her son praised Clarke for being “brave enough to talk openly about the truth.” John Kerry needs to send Clarke a thank-you card for putting Team Bush on the defensive and distracting their efforts to negatively portray Kerry.

A 16-year old Palestinian teen was apprehended by Israeli forces before he could execute a suicide bombing. The kid later admitted that he was paid off with $22 for his family and the promise of 72 virgins in the afterlife. So sad. Besides, the kid wouldn’t know what to do with 72 virgins.

Life has grown stagnant and it has become frustrating. Changes are on the horizon. Time to shake shit up.

Last night I decided to lay off the deep thoughts that have plagued me for too long. So I watched two mindless movies, both of which were a great distraction! The first movie was “Old School”. It reminded me of those college frat movies they used to make in the 80s. This was even more enjoyable because I could identify with the 30-year old characters who resisted settling down, in favor of some good old-fashioned partying. Will Ferrell’s comedic skills were a high point of the movie. I also enjoyed Vince Vaughn’s shtick of signaling for his kid to cover his ears by telling him “earmuffs” and then feeling free to curse like a drunken sailor. And although many of the supporting roles were tired movie stereotypes...the evil dean, the fat black kid, the horny old man...they were still amusing. The second movie that I watched was “Party Monster”. Wow, Macauley Culkin sure has come a long way from “Home Alone”. His performance and the movie-at-large was similar to a train wreck...a complete mess yet I couldn’t turn away. It seemed as if Culkin was trying too hard to be over the top. But that could have been an intentional effect of the story since those Club Kids were the definition of “over the top.” I particularly enjoyed the efforts of Seth Green’s character in writing a novel. Two years to write two pages. One week to write a sentence. Almost reminds me of someone!

It looks like tonight’s “Survivor” is going to be a recap show. Hence, no prediction as to who will go.

You know what I hate? When you call someone and they tell you that they’re currently on another call but will call you right back. And then they don’t call you back. Grr...

WWE held a draft lottery last night, shuffling up the Raw & SmackDown rosters. The coolest part was the Pier 6 brawl at the end between the red shirts and the blue shirts. Haven’t seen that big of a brawl since the old WCW/nWo days.

A new blog has recently made its debut! Check out Sarah’s Entertainment Spot for reviews of all things entertaining and not-so-entertaining.

Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, was assassinated last night by Israeli forces. After engineering the murders of scores of innocent civilians, I say good riddance. Many readers of this blog may decry Israel’s action claiming that it won’t help matters and that assassinations are wrong. That may be true. It certainly won’t help in the short term as the followers of Hamas are sure to seek revenge attacks. But it may very well help in the long term. Peace in the middle east will never happen as long as terrorist organizations such as Hamas exist and are bent on the destruction of the Israeli state. Hopefully, by cutting off their head, their influence will eventually diminish. The U.S. should be so lucky by murdering Osama Bin Laden.

I saw “Monster” this weekend. It was a good film with an excellent performance by Charlize Theron. Her physical transformation was astonishing and we got an excellent glimpse of her emotional torment. Christina Ricci was solid in her supporting role.

I also saw “Duplex” on Netflix. Bad!!! I wanted to like it since they filmed it a few blocks away from my office in Park Slope and I often walked over to the set to watch. But it just wasn’t funny! Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore tried their best but the screenplay just wasn’t delivering.

“The Passion of the Christ” was defeated at the box office this weekend by “Dawn of the Dead.” If they make a sequel of “Passion”, that could be its subtitle.

Click here for a great article about recent statements from former White House terrorism advisor, Richard Clarke. Clarke maintains that the Bush administration ignored the signficiance of Al Quada for over eight months and even after 9-11, tried to pin the blame on Iraq.

Prospect Park looks amazing right now. The snow is falling and has settled on all the trees. It was quite a sight to see as I walked toward the park this morning. Sometimes Prospect Park reminds me of the idyllic Vassar campus but that might be because there aren’t too many other open green spaces in NYC.

I have my radio alarm set in the morning for the Don Imus show on WFAN. This morning I awoke to Colin Powell’s speech from Baghdad, where he extolled the virtues of the U.S. invasion and occupation. (Usual talking points from the administration) After going on for a while, Imus cut him off and began ranting about the lies and the failure to find WMD. It was pretty funny. Unfortunately I fell asleep again and didn’t awake until 10 minutes before I had to leave for work.

Batten down the hatches. More snow is coming tomorrow. We still have Tuesday’s snow lying on the ground. I guess winter is getting its last licks before spring starts on Saturday.

Fellow Vassar alum and fellow Jew, Ethan Zohn, got voted out of “Survivor” last night. I’m bummed about it. His departure was not unexpected though as he was targeted from the beginning because of his status as a past winner. Now all of the past winners are gone. With 10 members left, Chapera has a 6-4 lead and are in a position to vote out the remaining Mogo Mogos one by one.

The neighbors next door are renovating their house. All I hear when I’m home is “BANG BANG BANG.” How long will it go on?

You might notice that I have made some changes to this blog’s visual interface. I first decided to go with a white screen as it is easier on the eyes. I feel a little bad taking the green screen down on St. Patrick’s Day and all but whatever. The second change is that I decided to do away with the comments feature. It became a compulsion of mine to constantly check the blog and see if anyone left any comments. Now I have one less annoying compulsion to deal with. Besides, my e-mail address is still at the top of the page so y’all can still hit me up if you got something to say.

What’s up with the freaking snow storm? At least I got a good workout last night shoveling.

Best part of “The Sopranos”? When Carmela put in the videotape of “Citizen Kane” to show to her film group (consisting of mob wives), and watching their uncomfortable reactions as the FBI Warning appeared on the screen.

The NCAA basketball tournament starts tomorrow. Which means that “Survivor” airs tonight! I’m still thinking that Alicia will get voted off from Chapera for the same reasons I talked about last week. If Mogo Mogo goes to tribal council again, they’ll be in deep trouble as they’d go into a merge down 6-4. If that happens, either Ethan or Jerri will be targeted. My guess is Ethan.

I know, I know. I watch too much TV.

There was an old “Peanuts” cartoon where Lucy bemoans, “Another holiday season has come and gone and as usual I didn’t get what I really wanted." Charlie Brown asks her, “What’s that?” Lucy’s reply : “Real estate!”

That about sums up how I feel. I’ve become addicted to this program on HGTV called “House Hunters”. It follows people as they search for new homes or condos. More and more as I watch the program I think, “Hey, I want one!” But here’s the dilemma. I love New York City and want to stay here. On the other hand, real estate values are in the range of ridiculous. Right now I have a basement studio apt. in Sheepshead Bay, Bklyn and it currently suits my needs. But for how long? Do I need to wait until I’m in a serious relationship with someone before I’m in a position to buy or at least pay one of those higher rents? A single guy who works in the public sector just doesn’t have too many viable options. Not that I’m complaining about where I am now but I guess it’s just human nature to always want more.

Beware the Ides of March. Now that that Julius Caesar reference is out of the way, it's time to record my observations on last night's WrestleMania event!

A great time was had by all. Briar, Bartow, Jon, Emily and I first met for dinner at Jack Demsey's on 33rd & 5th. It's a great place to eat but we're worried if they'll ever let us back in. Briar fell off his chair after drinking too many waters, but not before Jon and Emily asked him to be best man at their wedding! Isn't that cool? Bartow and I will also be on hand as part of the wedding party. Don't worry Emily. Despite our teasing, it won't turn into a wrestling wedding. No cakes are going to be thrown if I have any say about it! It's all happening on Memorial Day Weekend 2005 and I'm looking forward to it.

From there we walked to MSG screaming "Whooo!!!" all the way. The line stretched around the block but it moved pretty quickly as there was no security checking people. We got to our seats at around 6:45 and it appeared to be the section reserved for people who either works for WWE or knows someone who works for WWE. We fell into the latter category. Thanks, Tony!

The Harlem Boys Choir sang "America the Beautiful", Vince's national anthem. We then saw a video opening montage that culminated in a shot of Vince, Shane and Shane's new baby. I can't wait for the power struggle in 30 years between Shane's baby and Stephanie and HHH's eventual kid.

First match was John Cena winning the U.S. Title against the Big Show. Good idea to start with Cena as he got the crowd going. Then Booker T & RVD retained the World Tag Titles. Nothing too special there. Christian then defeated Chris Jericho as Trish turned heel and aligned with Christian. Poor Jericho has now lost at three straight WMs. Trish should be fun to watch as a heel though. I couldn't hear JR's commentary but I imagine that he screamed "What a Jezebel!" The next match was Evolution defeating Mick Foley and The Rock when Orton pinned Foley. The crowd was solidly behind Ric Flair during the match. Right above us a banner was draped across the rafters that said, "Whoooo! Thank You Ric Flair." Unfortunately, before the PPV started, MSG ushers took the banner down. They had an old lady usher do it because if it were anyone else, they might have gotten beat up. Sometime around here we saw the Hall of Fame inductees. Great to see Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura and Pete Rose. Good to see Tito Santana, Don Muraco and the kin of Big John Studd and the Junkyard Dog. Indifferent to see Sgt. Slaughter since he's always on TV.

The fifth match had Sable and Torrie beating Stacy and Jackie in an evening gown match, which degenerated into a bra and panties match. Standard T&A fest. Then, the cruiserweight open took place. Chavo Guerrero won it but the highlight was Tajiri inadvertently spraying Akio with his mist. Akio was then unable to enter the match which led to a fan behind us to yell "You Screwed Akio." Bartow's response, "No, Akio Screwed Akio." During the match we chanted the names of cruiserweights we would have liked to see included such as Super Calo, Silver King and La Parka. The next match was perhaps the most bizarre match in WM history. Goldberg defeated Brock Lesnar. The problem was that both guys are leaving WWE. They say that only 10% of the fans read the internet, but every one of those 10% must have been in MSG last night. Fans chanted "You sold out", "Nah Nah Nah Nah, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye", "This match sucks", "Stun them both", "Austin Austin", "We Want Bret", "Hogan", and lots more. Neither Goldberg nor Lesnar looked too pleased with the crowd reaction. The next match was my requisite bathroom break as Rikishi and Scotty retained their Tag Titles.

Upon returning from the bathroom I saw a promo promising "Edge is coming." Funny, I thought Val Venis was coming. The next match had Victoria defeating Molly. Molly then had her head shaved. She now looks a little bit like the bald chick from the first Star Trek movie. Then, Eddie Guerrero defended the WWE title against Kurt Angle. It was a very sound match from two of their best. The next match featured the return of the Dead Man. That's right, the Undertaker came back with Paul Bearer and Druids. This was to Bartow's chagrin who wailed "No good can come from druids!" Indeed, the druids kept dropping their fire and a lackey had to keep running out with his fire extinguisher. Oh yeah, Undertaker won. The final match had Chris Benoit winning the World Title from HHH and HBK in a triple threat match. This was by far the best match of the night. The crowd was solidly behind Benoit and we went ballistic when HHH tapped to the crossface. I almost lost my voice in all the excitement! To close the show, Eddie Guerrero came down to congratulate Benoit as confetti fell from the ceiling. Benoit's wife (Woman) and children also came down. Five hours after the show started we made our leave. Except for Jon and Emily who left after the Undertaker's entrance.

Special thanks to the entire nVo crew for treating me to my ticket. Its a much appreciated birthday present. If I can ever give you a nice B-D present five months after your actual B-D, I'll be glad to.

For another amusing take on last night's festivities, read this link from the ESPN page.

Yesterday was the first day since I started this blog that I didn't update it. Today's update will also be brief as I am soon going into Manhattan for WrestleMania XX!!! A full summary can be found here tomorrow. Word life.

In New York, the Deputy School Chancellor was forced to resign over a nepotism scandal. In order to ensure that no such scandal happens again, they picked a replacement who is not related to anyone.

WrestleMania XX is this weekend and the band is getting back together. Looking forward to seeing the entire nVo crew as we’ll be there in MSG. For a full history of the nVo and our adventures dating back to 1996, read this!

My “Survivor” prediction was accurate again as Colby was voted out. His teammates cited the same reason I did yesterday, that they needed to vote him out before a merge, otherwise he’d win all the individual immunity challenges.

No longer will talk radio be dominated by the ultra-conservatives voices of Rush, Hannity and their ilk. Beginning on March 31, “Air America” goes on the air! This is the long awaited liberal talk radio station. In New York, it will air on WLIB (1190 AM). Highlights will include Al Franken’s noon – 3 pm timeslot. His show will be called “The O’Franken Factor.” I’m sure O’Reilly will not be pleased. Also, comedian Janeane Garafolo gets the 8 pm – 11 pm timeslot with her show “The Majority Report.” And Robert Kennedy Jr. will get a weekend show. I’ll certainly tune in from time to time. Now all we need is for them to get on the air in swing state markets!

John McCain made some news yesterday. When a reporter asked him about the prospect of being Kerry’s running mate, McCain refused to rule it out. They have gotten along very well in the Senate due to their Vietnam experiences and there is no love lost between Bush and McCain. But the idea that McCain would even consider switching parties had to be jarring news to the G.O.P. The good senator from Arizona is highly respected by most Americans, including those who are independents. A Kerry-McCain ticket would be devastating. But it won’t happen. A Kerry-Tom Brokow ticket... that could be good too!

It’s time for my weekly “Survivor” predictions. In Chapera, Boston Rob and Amber have made an alliance with Rupert and Jenna. They also have an alliance with Big Tom. Only Alicia is left out. Rather than betray one of their alliances this early, they should opt to vote Alicia out. Then Rob and Amber can keep their options open as they head into a merge. In Mogo Mogo, Lex has emerged as the power player. He seems to have alliances with everyone and everyone trusts him so far. Colby is on thin ice though. He’s already rubbed Jerri, Shi Ann and Kathy the wrong way. Ethan is also weary of him since Colby presents tough competition. Since Colby was a master at winning immunities in Australia, I think they’ll want to get rid of him before the merge happens. Therefore, depending on who loses the challenge tonight, I predict that either Alicia or Colby will be voted out.

I am annoyed that the BlogSpot banner ad that can be seen at the top of this screen currently features Republican propaganda. That is inconsistent with the political beliefs of this blog!!!

The Game Show Network has renamed itself “GSN”. This is in the tradition of The Learning Channel renaming itself “TLC” and The National Network renaming itself “TNN” (before changing that one to “Spike TV”) Don’t you dare call them by their full former names, otherwise an irate entertainment CEO will come after you. I love acronyms that don’t stand for anything.

Last year I dumped Cablevision and got a satellite dish instead. It’s been great. More programming choices, clearer reception, lower rates. Now I’m really glad that I chose DirecTV because their competitor, the DISH Network, has dumped all of the Viacom stations during price negotiations. That includes CBS. How insane is that? This standoff can only hurt DISH Network. Much more than the standoff between Cablevision and YES. DirecTV better not pull any stunts like this in the future!

In an effort to make their menu healthier and to defend themselves against lawsuits, McDonald’s is dropping the option to “SuperSize” your order and they are increasing marketing for their salads. Because whereas a cheeseburger has 11.5 grams of fat, a Chicken Caesar salad has 18.4 grams of fat. Way to go, guys!

In celeb death news, the guy who played the painter on “Murphy Brown” passed away yesterday. Didn’t it take him something like 6 years to paint Murphy’s house? He was ALWAYS there. Maybe there was more than some paining going on, nudge wink.

The latest celebrity who died is Paul Winfield. Winfield was a celebrated actor with a long career but the role that I most distinctly remember was in “Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan.” Winfield’s character joined Chekhov in their visit to City Alpha V. After being captured by Khan and his cronies, they had those disgusting looking beetle larvae inserted into their ears. The larvae were first extracted from this huge insect that Khan kept in an aquarium tank. They were then put inside Winfield and Chekhov's space helmets so they could crawl along their faces and into their ears. That scene made such an impression on me when I was a kid. My friends and I would act it out, mimicking Winfield and Chekhov’s horrified expressions as the larvae attacked them. Ah, great moments in film history.

Lots of news this morning. First of all, the Iraqi Governing Council signed a constitution that will supposedly go into effect when Iraq regains their sovereignty on July 1. I’m feeling all patriotic about Iraq now. I wonder if they have a national anthem. If they do, I’d like to sing it. (I’m reminded of Nikolai Volkoff, the evil Soviet wrestler who became a good guy when the USSR abandoned communism. Suddenly his renditions of the Soviet national anthem went from “How dare he sing that!” to “Aw, isn’t that cute?” WWE can do the same thing today with a “reformed” Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa and Gen. Adnan.)

In other wrestling news, Hercules Hernandez (real name, Ray Fernandez) died over the weekend. Another ex-wrestler added to the dead pool.

John Henry Williams also died from leukemia over the weekend at the young age of 35. This is Ted Williams’ son. The same guy who had his father frozen in a cryogenics laboratory. Maybe now that he’s out of the picture, Ted Williams can be given a proper burial.

In better news, someone who we thought was dead, isn’t! That girl who disappeared on her way from Poughkeepsie to Brooklyn resurfaced over the weekend where she was chilling in the Hamptons. Hmm. Well, it is spring break, right?

Newly acquired Mets, Karim Garcia and Shane Spencer are in trouble. They got drunk at a pizzeria a few days ago and Garcia took a piss on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant. When a delivery boy chased after them, they confronted him, causing him to fall over some bushes. Now the delivery boy is threatening to press charges. Let’s Go Mets.

“The Sopranos” came back last night with a bang! A highlight was a waiter getting whacked when he demanded a bigger tip.

Just got back from a successful shopping expedition. Among my purchases were a new watch (have been without one since my old watch broke on New Years Eve), a new keychain (my Vassar bev-key held up for five years but no more), the "Monday Night Wars" DVD, and Caren Lissner's new book "Starting from Square Two." Caren is a great new writing talent who I had the pleasure of meeting a few months ago. I'm glad to give her a plug, so buy her book!

"The Sopranos" starts its new season tonight. Can't wait!

Martha Stewart - guilty! Or as she would say, it's a bad thing. Well at least she'll have the best decorated cell on the block.

Saw two good movies recently on DVD. "Pieces of April" and "School of Rock". Highly recommended. "Pieces of April" actually got to me a little bit.

I was wondering how long it would take after Bush started airing 9-11 images in his campaign ads before there would be a backlash. The answer turned out to be...not long. As soon as the ads hit the airwaves, 9-11 families charged him with politicizing the tragedy and a big protest is planned for this afternoon at Ground Zero. All of a sudden, what was supposed to be a positive ad to kick off his campaign has caused the Bush team to go on the defensive. The thing is, without 9-11, he doesn’t have too many other cards to play. Bush will need to invoke it all he can in order to avoid talking about the economy or Iraq.

Speaking of the campaign, I’m very depressed this morning with the national poll results. Bush and Kerry are in a dead heat with Nader pulling 6%. That’s 6% that could have given Kerry a decent sized lead. What’s wrong with these people who would still consider voting for Nader, especially knowing what happened last time? It’s too depressing to think about.

Turns out I was right (again) with my “Survivor” prediction. Susan Hawk is gone, having had a nervous breakdown and quitting the game. She’s got some emotional issues to work out.

Big announcement from NASA the other day. The Mars Rover found a rock. No big surprise there, if there’s one thing Mars has a lot of, it’s rocks. But this is no ordinary rock, ladies and gentlemen. This rock has evidence on its surface that water once existed atop it. There is water on Mars! Or should I say, there was water on Mars. As Jon Stewart points out, this leads to the inevitable conclusion that Mars once had waterparks. Next thing we know, the Mars Rover will send back photos of a Slip ‘N Slide.

As we get excited about amusement parks on Mars, there’s lots of tumult going on in the Disney empire. Michael Eisner was stripped of his Chairman position by the stockholders and he is being replaced by George Mitchell. Yes, George Mitchell, the former Senator and broker of the Irish Peace Accords. Is there anything the man doesn’t do?

Funny but true story from the Daily News...
THREE SENIORS HURT IN SALAD-BAR SLUGFEST
There’s nothing like a good old fashioned food fight. Just ask any kid in junior high school and the old folks at Spring Haven Retirement Community.
A brawl over the salad bar send three seniors to the hospital during the weekend.
Words were exchanged when a 62-year old man spent a little too much time picking through the greens. He “only likes a certain kind of lettuce,” said his 80-something mom, who also lives at the home.
When the other folks at the home berated the man, he punched an 86-year old in the nose and bit a 78-year old man on the right arm, the News Chief newspaper reported yesterday.
The lettuce picker has now been evicted. “This is the first time in 25 years I’ve ever heard of something like this happening,” said Jill Andrew, spokeswoman for the facility.

Susan Hawk is going to be the next one eliminated from “Survivor”. Take that to the bank.

Congratulations to John Kerry – the Democratic Presidential Nominee. With wins in 9 of the 10 Super Tuesday states, Kerry is the last standing major candidate as John Edwards is expected to drop out today. The only primary Kerry didn’t win was Vermont as, despite dropping out, Howard Dean picked up his home state. At least the good doctor will always have Vermont. President Bush called Kerry last night to offer his congratulations, to which Kerry responded, “Go fuck yourself.” Or maybe he really said, “I look forward to debating the issues of our nation’s future.” Either way it’s going to be a long and nasty campaign. Chris Matthews remarked, “8 months?!? You can have a baby in nearly 8 months.”

Aristide is bitching from his exile that he never left Haiti voluntarily and that he was the victim of a U.S. coup. Maybe so. It’s hard to condone removing a nation’s elected leader but the bottom line is that we saved the guy’s life and prevented a hell of a lot of violence that would have broken out if the rebels stormed the capital.

Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi... steroid junkies! This is bad for baseball, very bad. It’s been obvious from looking at the size of these ballplayers that something’s been up but now the shit is hitting the fan. Giambi is now a fraction of the size that he used to be and looked downright sheepish when reporters questioned him yesterday. And Sheffield’s rep released a statement that he never “knowingly” took steroids. Didn’t take them long to break out the legalese.

This use of illegal steroids makes Pete Rose’s gambling seem insignificant by comparison. Yet he is the one who is barred from the MLB Hall of Fame. Enter Vince McMahon! Rose is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame at WrestleMania. From 1998-2000, Rose made cameo appearances by getting into scuffles with Kane. So on March 14, Kane will present Rose with his plaque. Jesse Ventura will be on hand too. Can’t wait to see the wacky shenanigans that will ensue!

Yesterday at work, an Orthodox Jewish employee entered the office of an Irish employee. After a brief meeting, the Orthodox Jewish employee left and accidentally left behind a plastic bag. A half hour later, the Irish employee first noticed the bag and said, “Ooh. What’s this? Did someone leave me a present? What could it be?” He then opened the bag and examined the object. “Hmm. Not quite sure what this is. It looks like an ammunition belt.” He then walked out of this office to show his staff his new ammunition belt. After a long laughing fit, we informed him that he was holding tiffilin, a ritual prayer accessory used by Orthodox Jews. The tiffilin was soon returned to its rightful owner.

It’s Super Tuesday, which means that after months of reading and watching news coverage about other states primaries, I get to vote in one myself! After work, I’m heading to P.S. 206 – the same building where I attended Pre-Kindergarten through the 5th grade, and am going to cast my vote. If Kerry sweeps, as is expected, Edwards will likely drop out tonight. So today is probably the final day of the primary campaign. Sniff sniff, what will we talk about for the next few months?

I got 17 out of my 21 Oscar Predictions correct. Not too bad. The only categories that I missed were Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Sound Effects and Makeup. Although I thought Sean Penn was fantastic in “Mystic River”, I wasn’t sure if the Academy would honor him because of his controversial reputation. Fortunately I was wrong as Penn is a very deserving winner. I was also surprised that “Lord of the Rings” won every single award is was nominated for, tying the record set by “Ben-Hur” and “Titanic”. Otherwise there weren’t too many surprises on Oscar night. This morning I have the song from “A Mighty Wind” stuck in my head and it won’t leave. Damn you and your comic genius, Eugene Levy!

I cannot get over how warm the weather is outside. No more heavy winter coat! The deep freeze of winter has finally ended...although there are still patches of snow that can be found here and there.