Day 4. I promise someday I will shut up about the smoking thing. It's just kind of front and center in my life right now. Justin decided to quit too and we were joking about how we could not stop eating last night. I've been better today - I had lunch, but no snacks. Now that it's a bit warmer out, I need to like go for a walk or something when the urge to light up hits me. Although I'm a little worried that I woudl walk all the way to the store and buy a pack! I need to make sure I don't take any money with me when I go.

The picture above is of my new pajama pants that have little cartoony cats on them (I don't know how well you can make them out). They are super comfy. I got them at Old Navy I think. I love them. A couple of readers wrote in to let me know that the reason my cats are acting so crazy is because there's a full moon on Saturday. Makes sense to me!

I watched me some good TV last night. First I watched West Wing. When I first went to college, I was a Political Science major and this show reminded me why. I love all the political maneuvering and strategy sessions. I did not like all the statistics. The reason I changed my major was a class called "Scopes and Methods of Political Science" which was all about how to interpret surveys and make fair questions and such. BOOO-RING! I wanted to learn about the Boys on the Bus and spin-meisters. I wanted to live inside the Beltway. In fact, I almost went to American University or Catholic University or Georgetown b/c they are all in DC. But then I thought they were too far away from home.

Anyway, it got to the point where I looked at the course catalog and couldn't find any classes I wanted to take in my major. I had taken "Politics and the Mass Media" and "Women and Politics" and "The Presidency". I wasn't interested in international policy. I wanted to take a class on how to run a campaign! I wanted a class on smear tactics! So I changed my major to English and Communications, thinking I could take PR classes instead. I did, and they sucked, but that's a story for another day.

So West Wing reminded me of all that. It's a great insider's look at the White House and how business is really done, and how imperfect people can still be leaders, and I love it. I loved how they kind of dropped you in the middle and didn't do the whole "introduce each character and his or her story arc" thing that most shows do in the pilot. Instead the viewer was forced to kind of slowly piece things together, and I'm sure will continue to do so over the season. Martin Sheen was awesome as the POTUS.

Then I watched the season premiere of Law and Order. I was really excited about the addition of Jesse Martin to the cast, but now I'm not so sure. He kind of bugged me. Then again, I don't like Angie Harmon either, but I still watch the show.

Late night, I watched Stand By Me. What a great movie. It's even weirder to watch it knowing that River Phoenix dies, Corey Feldman's career dies, Wil Wheaton goes Trekkie and Jerry O'Connell slims down. It makes it that much more poignant, I think. Who would have predicted when the movie came out that Vern would end up with the best future career prospects?

Then I watched New Jack City. I've seen it before, but I don't know if I ever saw the whole thing. That's another one with a bunch of recognizable actors: Wesley Snipes, Chris Rock, Ice T, Judd Nelson, Delroy Lindo, Michael Michele, Vanessa Williams. It's a story that has been told a million times by now, but at the time seemed so innovative, to me at least. One of the things that cracked me up watching it now was the fashions and hairstyles. They were so current in 1991, but they seem so dated now. It was also right around the time of the genesis of the "New Jack Swing" musical style, and the movie features Guy, Troop, Levert and Keith Sweat in musical interludes. Ice T's not a bad little actor either.

Warning: clicking on these links will launch a new browser window.

Adam Sandler discusses his animated web offering "The Peeper". While I usually find Mr. Sandler amusing, this didn't do it for me. Too slow.

I swear to God TV executives are on crack. I can't believe I saw the sentence "it could be argued that [Damon] Wayans is enough of an established star to merit such a blind commitment" in this article. Do they really think Damon has enough star power to carry a series? 10-10-not in this lifetime!

I'm interested in this new Sony Walkman that can play digital music, but I need more details.

I have no idea what this means, but Axl Rose released some info on the new G'n'R song.

I'm kind of excited about the Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary Show on Sunday night.

I admit that getting trapped in a site is no fun (and it's happened to me!) but can you really legislate it? And how annoying are the terms "pagejacking" and "mousetrapping"?

An interesting article about the Columbine investigation; largely that most of the "facts" reported back in the spring are not true (and is anyone really surprised by this)?