Bryan’s Ramblings

I hardly ever do this. However, maybe I’m growing a little. No, it doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and rent Titanic, but it does mean that I will probably continue watching Today on NBC in the mornings, at least semi-regularly like I’ve always done. Okay, so part of it is that it’s finally in HD, but unfortunately, the other part is that I liked Meredith Vieira on it…and damn it I wish I didn’t, because then I wouldn’t have to admit it. I mean she’s no Katie Couric, but it is her first day, and, I hate to say it, but she’s likable. I never could stand the The View. It made me insane watching those women yap about stuff. I also thought the daytime version of Millionaire that she hosted was second-class. However, removed from those rotten shows, she’s not so bad.

Let’s give the producers at NBC a little credit here. They knew this was a good opportunity to start filming in HD, and they also knew there would be nay sayers like me who would tune in during her debut anyway. For this they had the segment where they talk about her past and pull you in and get you to respect her and like her and all that. Not too stupid of them. Maybe that’s why they are producers for the Today show.

What does this all mean? It means that I might watch the news more with Katie Couric on at night and Today in the morning. Truth be told, I hate watching the news. It’s not because I don’t care what’s going on in the world around me, it’s just because I usually prefer a filtering system like the Internet or someone I know, so that I only get news on a need-to-know basis. I also generally care more about what movies are coming out and what new gadgets are coming out than what goes on in the Middle East or in Washington. I realize this is shallow and close-minded of me, but I’m a spoiled Southern California kid. What do you expect?

So if you had your doubts about Meredith, take it from me: she’s not so bad. This is all making me realize that the new season of television is here and maybe I shouldn’t just assume that all the new shows suck. They can’t all be as good as Arrested Development, though. I guess I’ll have to record more than I planned and see what sticks with me. Oh well.

Goodbye Summer! … Hello Fall!

It’s been months since thoughts from my head have been regurgitated onto this page. There are plenty of reasons for that, none of which I plan on writing here. However, I am now back by request and hopefully more frequently (an empty promise I make to myself after every blogging dry spell).

Now is a good time to start again, however, since the summer is basically over and the season is a changin’. The Spring/Summer catalog of shorts, tanktops, flip flops and bathing suits has been thrown away and the new Fall/Winter catalog full of sweaters, scarves, beanies, and gloves (or t-shirts and jeans if you live in Southern California) has been sent out. You may know either from previous blogs or just by knowing me that I am not a fan of the [Fall/]Winter season and much prefer the Spring[/Summer] season. However, I am trying to stay a little bit more open minded this year since I have a lot of great things going right at the brink of the season switch.

Since my last post in June, a lot has happened. Pluto is no longer a planet. Mel Gibson went insane. Katie Couric left the Today show and started CBS Nightly News. The Crocodile Hunter is no longer with us. The Dodgers are still in first place (woo hoo!), but it has been a rocky ride (and it still is). As far as what I’ve been up to, though, well, there’s still been a lot.

The good news is that two of my early New Year’s “goals” (not resolutions!) have been realized: piano lessons and fitness training. I have weekly piano lessons and am [almost] disciplined enough to practice on a [semi-]regular basis. I have had six sessions with a personal trainer at the gym and I’m going 3-4 times a week and feeling great about it. There is still more work to be done to officially complete my 2006 goals from January, but the summer definitely helped point me in the right direction.

I also made one of the top three purchases of my life: I bought a MacBook. I have never been more in love with a piece of machinery or happier to see upwards of $1000 dollars leave my bank account. I can’t endorse a product more than that. Go buy a Mac, people.

Of course, I also “discovered” a game called World of Warcraft, which, for all intents and purposes, has pretty much consumed my life for the past few weeks. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is a passing fad and so I am working on controlling my near-addiction, which I have done well recently, but did not do well with early on. Despite all of this, I would reccommend this game to anybody. It is maybe the most fun computer game I have ever played.

Also over the summer I went to a lot of theater, a wedding, and I helped my [beautiful, talented, sweet and loving] girlfriend move into a condo in the valley with her friend. In the past years of my life this would have constituted a blog in and of itself, but while I know it will not make life any easier having her further away from me, I also know that it isn’t really a problem since we are both adults and able to handle the “distance” (all 30 minutes of it).

I’ve planned a NY trip and a Vegas birthday trip to happen in the next couple of months. Now, school has started up again, and so has a new softball season. So things are in full swing. I’m hoping some regularity in my schedule will help normalize things a bit more.

So now we’re all caught up. I hate these kinds of blogs, though, don’t you? They are like those Christmas cards about the kids of friends you haven’t seen in decades. The best part of it is that, in this case, anybody who would actually read this page already knows all of this information. Doesn’t that just make me feel important? Hopefully there will be more “meat” in my next blog.