HT: AOTS

And for those of you that actually want the MP3 of said tune, you may find it here for a limited time.

Oh, and the iPad does blend.

I will certainly miss the show, but the last three seasons have admittedly been alternately good and bad, action-packed and ponderous.  While this season has had some excellent character development in the relationship between Jack Bauer and Renee Walker, it has also introduced one of the the worst 24 subplots involving Dana Walsh, played by Katee Sackhoff.

This season has shown the limits of a drama that has reached a certain maturity in its story.  Basically, the writers have been hard pressed to come up with a new challenge to Jack Bauer.  Add to that its increasing cost and a desire to take the show to the big screen, and the decision makes sense.

So, it is with a heavy heart that I will take in the rest of Season 8.  I look forward to the finale and other happy returns in the theater.  Besides, imagine how much more foul-mouthed Jack could be on the big screen?

• Hot Tub Time Machine
  • On Saturday night, we took in the showing of Hot Tub Time Machine at the Landmark Harbor East.  For a nostalgic and hilarious look-back on the 1980s that is highly entertaining, go see this movie.  Rob Corrdry was the scene stealer in this movie, but the squirrel comes in as a close second.
• Gertrude’s at the BMA
  • Brunch at Gertrude’s was tasty, and the menu had a delicious selection of good eats.  I had a cup of the Cream of Crab and had the Eggs Gertrude–a variation on Eggs Benedict with broiled crabcakes on the English muffin.  A delicious precursor to touring the museum.
• Cezanne and American Modernism
  • Following brunch, we took in the Cezanne exhibit at the BMA.  The exhibit shows some of his works alongside those American painters where his influence was quite profound.  Again, a very enjoyable afternoon, with the exception of the rather loud (and new) audio tour guides used by other patrons.  Still, I recommend seeing the exhibit and also viewing the other items in the rest of the museum’s collection.

• Professionally, things are well yet busy.  I would not have it any other day.
• After the end of snow and the coming onslaught of rain, I spent today cleaning my house from top to bottom.  It needed it, and I actually feel like I accomplished something as a result.
• After some research, I decided to purchase a Blu-Ray DVD player.  Specifically, I ordered a Samsung BD-P3600 from TigerDirect.  TigerDirect was having a pretty good deal on the player, so I figured why not.
• Lately, there have been two songs that I have been unable to get out of my head.

• • The Filet-o-Fish Song

• • • Even with a DVR, I cannot get this stupid ad jingle out of my head.

• • Shots, LMFAO featuring Lil Jon

• • • Yet again, the music selection at my gym strikes again.  In this case, as I was wrapping up my workout on Thursday morning, this little ditty became permanently ingrained into my brain.  I have no idea who this other rap group is, but I am all too familiar with Lil Jon, thanks to Dave Chappelle. Damn you, Lil Jon!

• Opening Day 2010 for the Baltimore Orioles will soon be upon us.  I have yet to acquire a ticket, but I will begin that search soon enough.
• In the book-reading department, I finished reading The Quants.  Expect a review of that book sometime this week.  Also, I am almost finished reading SuperFreakonomics.

There you have it—a concise update.

The usual rules still apply while watching 24:

• Do not bother me during an episode.
  • No calls will be answered.
  • No emails will be written.
  • No tweets will be made.

“…hurtling toward failure.”

• LATFH – Look at this f!@#$ing hipster
  • Anyone who is familiar with my distaste for all things hipster can understand my newfound appreciation of this Tumblog.
• Windows 7
  • The “early bird” offer expired on Saturday, but those of us who participated in the Windows 7 Beta and Release Candidate “programs” had the opportunity to purchase Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional for $49 and $99, respectively.  I opted for Windows 7 Home Premium, and based on my experience with the RC, I am looking forward to the final version.  I actually purchased my advance copy from Costco.com with my membership, and the upgrade price was even cheaper.
• Windows 3.11
  • Thanks to the generosity of Evan, I have floppy disks containing Windows 3.11.  In what may wind up being a very small yet entertaining project, I am going to see if I can install Win 3.11 in a virtual machine.  The event will either be highly entertaining or frustrating.
• Getting Single Page Views on baltimoresun.com
  • In the redesign of baltimoresun.com, it looks like they have incorporated two terrible elements in a brazen attempt to garner pageviews.  One of these elements is an incredibly annoying ad on the first page of the site.  The second element, however, is the obfuscation of single-page viewing of their longer articles.  So, my new quest is to find a way to utilize baltimoresun.com in a way that gets me the content I want.  One thing that is sure to happen is adoption of AdBlock Plus in Firefox (again).  The other thing, though, is a way to set my browser identification to something that will just give me text back.  The latter is going to take some more effort.