Doughboy jailed! Jack fooled! Curtis did not smile! Audrey has guts and looks prettier than last season!

Okay, I need to stop with the headline lest I have nothing to blog about here.

"24", 4pm to 5pm.

Another excellent job by the writers/producers of shaking up the formula. Jack is out of the picture much of the hour, then, is shown as human! He meets up (shows down) his CTU mentor, Christopher, who Jack helped, well, end up kicking him out of CTU, due to some no-no's Christopher denies he ever did.

He's gone into private sector work, and just so happens to work for the company that made the gas we're all waiting to be "set off" by the bad guys. "But we sold it to DOD, it's not my problem!", Christopher says.

Oops. After some dialogue and a token laying down of the gun, Jack gets duped. Hook, line, and sinker. When he ends up in a locked room realizing part of the computer he was using earlier was actually a bomb, he admitted fault.

"How could I be so stupid?"

I say that 15 times a day, but, then again, I'm not Jack Bauer.

But, in another great choice by the show, they go ahead and take care of the "bomb" storyline rather than extend it into the next hour, because I found it much more motivating to know Jack's going for his (beep) next hour as opposed to "will he survive the bomb". We know he will, so thanks for not using that as the hook for the 47th time.

Other thoughts:

--Doughboy jailed!!! I'm beginning to wonder if Audrey didn't decide earlier to just keep sneaking around him, so he'd become so raving mad he would fall into the Article 112 trap. Maybe I'm too much the conspiracy theorist tonight....

--Curtis rocks! Takes consideration of Article 112; argues need for evidence, then later, when presented with bucketfuls of evidence, calmly kicks Doughboy to the curb. My favorite moment? When the guard brought in by Doughboy says, "What do you want us to do, Mr. Manning?" GREAT moment.

--Russian President is NOT happy. No, go beyond the heat seeking missile. He knew something was awry long before the fireworks began; he read Martha like a brochure at AAA. So, placing that knowledge into the cauldron of an assassination attempt, you know he's going to somehow, someway, either overtly or covertly, go after the "real answer" of who spilled the beans on the motorcade route. The Prez HAD to have something to do with it; otherwise why would Martha act like she "KNEW" something was about to happen??

--Now, off to next week----the promo for the two hours of fun. (Two!! Woo hoo!!)

1) Doughboy isn't done. A co-worker made a great point tonight that the "Presidential Connection" will come into play at some point, since he threw the term "sent by the White House" around so much. I've been so looking forward to the "CTU invasion" by his sister's friends, who are, by the way, co-conspirators, so the "card key" can be discovered and Doughboy REALLY implicated in the whole mess.

2) Buchanan's wheels will be turning as to the President's reaction to the "news" of the assassination plot. If CTU just turned it up, how/why does Prez react like that?

3) Mike is going to have to save Logan, period. He will somehow come up with something that will at least stave off the truth leaking out for several hours. If he could lock up his equal in season two trying to get the Veep in as Temp-Prez, he can certainly devise something.

4) Finally, my big prediction on the "shocking surprise" promised for next week.

TONY'S GOING BAD.....

Always notice the marriage of dialogue and picture in any television commercial, promo, etc. There's always subliminal signs. Nothing is "thrown together" (unless it's poorly done)....so, thus....

The "shocking surprise" discussion....in the middle of it....who do they show for one second? Tony Almeda, rising from his bedside, pulling off his eyepatch.

Remember, when Jack found the assassin in Tony's room, he had killed the doctor already so he could "be the plant", then he went for Jack, resulting in the fight and his demise.

Tony's fighting for life in a hospital bed, completely defenseless. Why doesn't he just shoot him quickly and have his "secrets" die with him? Remember, Jack had to talk to him! Why hasn't he "had" to the last several hours? Several things just don't add up here, which is why I'm looking for Tony to snap.

Long-term plan to change? I don't know. MAD because Michelle died? Could be.

This reminds me of watching your favorite "good guy" wrestler become the "bad guy".

We'll see if sticking my neck out here was smart or not. :)

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FEBRUARY'S WINNING NUMBERS: 1, 8, 15, 17 and 25. One more and I could've played Mega Millions tonight!

But I'm not up for it.

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Oh, and did I forget to say Audrey Raines looks sexy in the "secretary glasses/DOD woman-in-charge/kinda open blouse/kick your butt" role, as opposed to last year's namby-pamby, "oh, Jack how could you torture my husband after I've bad mouthed him to you in bed for the past year??"

This year's Audrey.....much better.

Friends.....

....have as many as you can.

....make sure they know you appreciate them.

....be really grateful for the close ones.

....treat them with a servant's heart and tell 'em you love them.

....and there are only a few really close, really great ones that will come along.

....with them; hang on tight and don't let go.

And, in closing, pray your heart out that God's Spirit is present with them, so you'll be present with them......in His Kingdom, forever, and ever.


This post is for my favorite foursome in Ashland. :)

I hope the Panama Canal didn't hurt Central Americans like this......

I had my first root canal today.

Novicaine and lots of gas. That was good.

I have a small mouth and the work was in the bottom left hand corner. That was bad.

Came home and slept the day away. That was good.

My jaw hurts and I can't eat on one side of my mouth for a week. That's bad.

So, it's not the tooth that hurts (yet), it's the stinkin' jaw.

What else is gonna hurt? Trying to go back to work after spending a Wednesday (albeit for a price) in bed.

But, that's much better than more jaw pain. :)

Olympics, Daytona, work, and sleep......

...there.

My Sunday in five words. Oh, I bought gas, too. And showered.

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Since we last met.....

...U.S. Hockey is suffering. Ladies get stopped by Sweden, while the men can't find the goal against same nation today.

...U.S. Curling Men make it to the medal round!!!!

...I'm very disappointed that the ladies didn't, because I was REALLY enjoying checking out the matches during the first few hours of a day at the office. Curling babes! From cold country!!! I'll take a curler in an ice rink over a plastic surgery patient lying on the beach anyday!

We FINALLY have a CCM station again!!! The 90.5 frequency in Fredericksburg is now back on track with CCM thanks to a new simulcast with WPER, Culpeper.

First thoughts on CCM circa 2006:

---alot of the music sounds the same....
---kinda gruffy sounding male lead....
---lotsa acoustic and don't forget the drums....

....and I never played most of the artists I hear on the air. Boy, has life really passed me by??? I, to my defense, know that I'd know more had he had a CCM station all this time. I look forward to listening more.

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I'm looking forward to Wednesday like I'm looking forward to a root canal.....

...that's because I'm having my first root canal......

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Anyone know when the Muslim season of "Cartoon Killing" ends?

Now, let's see how one justifies killing 16, including three children and a Catholic priest, through this cartoon crap.....

I understand the biggest row made by area Christians today was when Shoney's prematurely ran out of tomatoes on their salad bar.....

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY!!! Celebrate your favorite! Here's mine!

Oh, this MUST be said.....

I had a really, really good morning today.

:)

Ch-ch-changes, and quick tidbits....

1) The age of the Cougar is coming to a close. February 9, 2006 will go down as an important day in Witham Nation history.

2) The "conversion van" era is now underway. Long story (no pun intended), more to come as time allows.

3) Bill O'Reilly positions his show as an "opinion/interview" show. I don't see him being an "anchor" on something labeled a "newscast".

4) Go to msnbc.com and look at the TV main page......see how they describe Countdown with Keith Olbermann as "news without the snooze".

5) Therein lies the rub. Keith, call Countdown what it really is, an opinion/commentary show; one that's currently being hidden under the thin veil that is the term "newscast". You know, the same veil the big 3 networks have used for many years.

I don't care if you lean left, right, or unusually center, to the back, whatever...

....if you want to work your opinion/agenda into it, fine. But DON'T CALL IT A NEWSCAST!!

Those are the things with which I lose respect for people, entities, etc....simply because it's easy to see through that aforementioned veil.

CARTOONS:

Okay, now we're REALLY seeing the nutcase wing of the Islamic community. I mean, how long will they burn things and attempt to kill people and exact revenge before they can "get over" cartoons?

One march? Yes, but should be peaceful....Two? If it seemed the message didn't get across, I could understand.

But we're hitting double digits in the amount of days these extremists are going out and, let's face it, wreak the havoc they love to wreak in the name of "anger over something sacreligious".

Isn't it about time we began to ask serious journalistic questions, such as, "What's your end game?" or "Do you plan on doing this until the year 2065?"......

More to come. I have to hide the funny pages from my kids before going to bed. Peanuts and Beetle Bailey can be extremely offensive, causing me to rally for two years......

What a week.......

Ever had "one of those..."....of course you have. We all have. Many of them. This was one of them.

Workload at work "exploded". Now, don't get me wrong, that's a GOOD thing. I just didn't expect it. With Valentines Day coming, I should have known this was going to happen, but for some reason I didn't have any warning bells about it in my mind from past years.

I was going to work before the Super Bowl Sunday to "get ahead", and I didn't. Too tired. I paid for it Monday and Tuesday.

So, I pitched a tent Wednesday and Thursday nights, making sure I got home by 11pm to watch Match Game on GSN. Hey, you can't beat a little blankin' circa 1974 with Gene, Brett, Richard, and the gang!

Gene Rayburn, great host; perfect timing. He passed in November 1999, but click here for a sad story from Al Roker, who by chance ran into him in 1996.

Richard Dawson, one of the anchors (but not THE anchor in my opinion, having relived the game 32 years later...) of the panel, the prime choice to win $5K, and the one who benefited the most career-wise by being on the show (can anyone say Family Feud?)

Brett Somers: I've come to appreciate her role on the show more and more recently. She picks at the audience and the judge; her answers are, sometimes, out of left field, and she plays herself as insecure. But what I like the most is she can throw a zinger to someone, and then, when they returned fire, she'd laugh her head off.

Charles Nelson Reilly: Official poker of fun to Brett, who was good sport to all the hidden gay references on the show, which, in the 1970's, reflected the less-than-welcoming attitude of the day, BUT, having said that, it was more welcoming of the issue of being gay, in an "under-the-radar" way.

Many other great guests come and go, (my personal favorite in the bottom right chair was Patti Deutsch), but we cannot end this impromptu Match Game tribute without the man who started every show.

Johnny Olson: Best known for his work on The Price is Right, he played a small, but important role as announcer for Match Game...

"Get ready to match the stars!!"

He always got the chicanery started. God bless ya, Johnny!!

Okay, well, let's go back to this week....

We survived a busy Friday today (it's always the busiest and most stressful day of the week), but I will be making appearances in the cubicle this weekend.....

....unless.....

IT SNOWS!!! WHAT!??!!!

We've had a warm winter, now, out of nowhere comes a chance of snow for the weekend. Heh, I'll believe it when I'm sweeping it off the van.

So, I finish the week in a mood best described as, "estaticly miserable". Make sense??

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JANUARY'S WINNING NUMBERS: (how could I forget??)

1, 3, 10, 11, 17, 18, 28

It was a Happy New Year!

:)

Free speech.......

Piss Christ.

Maybe you remember the row in the mid-90's when the NEA funded an artist's work which depicted a crucifix immersed in urine....thus its title above.

Christians and conservatives called for not only its removal, but for the plug to be pulled on the NEA, period. That hasn't happened.

This post is not about the NEA, or urine.

It's about Muhammad.

Cartoons....think about it.....cartoons, have created a worldwide furor, claiming nine lives, causing millions of dollars in damage, great schism in multiple nations, Ambassador recalls, and, as another example of the lunacy.....Norway now wants compensation from Syria after their embassy in Damascus was set ablaze.

Let's compare, shall we?

Christians: Call for ending of government funding of above discussed depictions.

Muslims: Call for end to the violence over this cartoon fury (thank goodness!)

Extremist Christians: Would protest the author, and, a few looneys would consider killing him/her, a la knocking off abortion doctors.

Extremist Muslims: See above.

Now, this is a pretty fair look at the "average people" of the two religions.

BUT......

....have you ever heard of embassies being attacked....NATO troops being engaged, and people killed because of "Piss Christ"?

No, you didn't.

Did nine people die in its protest?

Did thousands and thousands erupt in the street?

Think not.

As I asked in a previous post.....there are cases of Muslims who, in Muslim nations, where there is no freedom of religion, will go down to the Christian church and either kidnap or injure or attack or kill people because of their status as "infidels".

Last time I checked, the only stampede I've heard of from a bunch of Christians after a Sunday morning pep rally was to the all-you-can-eat buffet to, of course, get there before the other denomination gets there and takes the best fried chicken off the bar!

The next time some lefty wacko (or, say, Keith Olbermann), decide to cry out the horrific behavior of American Christians, remind to reply with two words:

The Cartoons.

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Here's an interesting aside.....the comedy geniuses in Iran decide to hold a "Holocaust Cartoon" contest to test the tolerance of the West.

Should Jews be outraged? Sure! The Muslims were! I wouldn't be putting money on thousands of Jews storming buildings and killing people over it, though.

So, to our friends in Tehran; careful when playing a game of "tit for tat"; it actually may backfire and expose your extremism.

Man.....I've disagreed with mechanics, but.....

....I wouldn't shoot one point blank after doing me a big favor to further the war on the war on terror.....

Welcome to 1p to 2p on "24", here's some brief notes:

---I was concerned in retrospect with Mike's look on his face last night. I can't believe he'd turn heel (little wrestling reference there), so we'll follow that one.

---When (if) he goes back into hiding, Jack should just open a little air business with helicopters, and, since he has a radio voice, he could contract himself out to do live traffic reports on the local rock station.

---Nice to see our guest star this week is an alumnus of "The Pretender". His role turned out to be much less than I thought, but it did carry us into the next hour.

---Did it occur to anyone else that the 15 year-old girl was very handy with a gun? And where'd she get it, anyway??

---President Logan. He needed two or three more right smacks from the Missus. Something isn't right there, either....keep your eye on President Logan.

---Why? Let's see, last week he wants Jack to disappear....this week, he begs Jack to stay and help save his legacy as President...I...I mean stop the gas. (My wife has asked me to stop the gas for years, but that's another story...)

---Oh, speaking of the wife; she thinks Walt was killed and planted to make it looked like he hung himself. Hmmmm....

---But the best analysis comes from a former parishoner, always a friend from church who is in his first season of "24".....

.....what if the needed "chip" were implanted in the 15 year-old girl?

Barksdale is back where it belongs!

114 seats.

That's all there is in the original Barksdale Theatre, at Hanover Tavern. And, after a 10 year absence, the magic has returned in a beautifully renovated facility that hasn't changed the ambience one bit.

Remember, Patrick Henry, John Marshall, and many others slept there.....

I went to two plays in the theatre before it was closed and renovated over the past ten years. I'm SO glad it's back.

There we are, to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary, on the front row on the left side, close enough where I can touch stage props. There'll never be a better place to watch theatre (sorry, Broadway---and I've been there.)

And, they selected a marvelous production to begin the new era. Neil Simon's 1963 comedy, Barefoot in the Park. Bonnie's seen the movie; I know nothing about it. So, she's spending the show comparing it to the movie, while I'm watching the story of Paul and Cory unfold for the first time.

And, in a word, the show is.....HILARIOUS.

Click here to see the review from the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It's dead on, except I didn't see Cory as over the top in the first scene.

Tremendous, tremendous. You live in Richmond, go see it. It ends March 5th. It will be an evening while spent.

Later this spring, "No Sex Please, We're British"; that oughta be a hoot. I hope to be there again.

WELCOME BACK BARKSDALE!!!