Hard to Believe It Took 8 Months For Scalabrine to Hit the Blog

I am amused by this article about former Celtic Brian Scalabrine playing amateurs one-on-one.  I enjoyed watching Scalabrine during his Celtic years, partially because he was such an enthusiastic member of the team and partially because he looked like he could be related to me.  (There are too few ginger professional athletes.)  Some fans forget that even the bench warmers on NBA teams are elite players.  Payback!

Back In Business

One of my first lessons of 2013 is that, for me, blogging is like exercising.  If I get into a good routine, I'll do it on a daily basis.  Once that routine is disrupted, however, I'm toast.  Just like the exercise bicycle in my bedroom that has been serving as clothing storage, this blog has not been living up to its potential.  I took a little break for the holidays and then I took a longer break for the post-holiday depression that kicks in every January.  As days passed and The Boss ragged on me for not adding any new content to the blog, I started to feel pressure to post something a little more substantial than a photograph and a sentence upon returning.  Although inspiration hasn't really hit, I'm going to press the "publish" button this afternoon regardless of how lame this post is.  There has to be a first day back on the bike even if I pass out after ten minutes.

I am nearly half way through A Dance with Dragons, the fifth book in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.  I feel like I've been making my way through these books for a decade.  I took a tiny pause in early December as I waited for book five to arrive at my house.  During those few days I reread Charlotte's Web.  What a delight.  Not only do I love that book, but it was also very portable.  My current hardcover is bulky and heavy and I am sick of lugging it around.  Now that I have roped my grandmother, father, and two uncles into this series, I should probably zip it and pretend that books four and five haven't been disappointing.  I am hoping that book six will be a return to form.  The Dude bought me a bunch of (paperback, perfect for commuting) books for Christmas and as soon as I finish A Dance with Dragons, I can't wait to start plowing through that stack.

Downton Abbey, Cougar Town, and Girls are back on TV, and Community starts back up shortly.  I may have to adjust my work schedule to part time in order to keep up with all of this programming.  On Downtown Abbey, Poor Lady Edith just can't catch a break.  I did appreciate learning from her that "Spinsters get up for breakfast."  That explains why my cats have not been bringing me breakfast in bed.  Mystery solved.

I watched Pitch Perfect with The Dude last week.  The non-musical content of the movie was not great, but I really liked the songs.  (Anna Kendrick's Beca was a giant B.  And based on her name, either she or her parents are dopes.  I strongly dislike creatively spelled names.)  The riff off was fun and I wish they had included more than two categories before ending it.  With the number of songs featured in just six minutes of the movie, I am sure they had to reign things in so they weren't paying royalties for 50 different songs.  The main guy in this movie loves The Breakfast Club, so that won serious fondness points with me.  I watched that movie SO HARD when I was a teenager.  I don't think I have watched it since graduating from college over ten years ago, so just seeing little snippets of it during Pitch Perfect put a smile on my face.  It didn't hurt that of the many songs featured in this movie, they made sure to include a song from The Jacksons too.  Nice!