Blogging I've been struggling with Wordpress, my blogging software, as of late. Seems whenever there's an upgrade -- or just randomly -- I lose the ability to log in and write blog entries. Seems renaming the old plug ins folder (through FTP access to the server) and creating a new, empty plug ins folder does the trick. I mention it here on the off chance any of you have encountered the same problem and are ready to pull your hair out.
Reading
I rarely read Maureen Dowd, but I have to say that her October 4 column in the New York Times hits on two things I despise passionately: Sarah Palin and bad grammar.
On the book front, I'm digging into author Jennifer Traig's second memoir of sorts, "Well Enough Alone." It's an often very funny glimpse at hyponchondria as a historical phenomenon and its impact on her own life. (In a strange, small-world turn of events, it seems Traig is married to an acquaintance of mine and has recently moved to Ann Arbor. Hoping I'll get to meet her soon.)
Skipping
Yesterday, I had the opportunity -- and free tickets -- to see Bruce Springsteen perform a live acoustic set at an Obama rally at Eastern Michigan University. While I thought it would be a cool thing to witness, the truth is -- as much as it borders on blasphemy among many of my pals -- I'm just not that into Springsteen. I appreciate the dude as a member of the prole. I admire his unabashed use of politics in his music, including the oft misunderstood and misappropriated "Born in the USA." (Why do both parties use this song at their conventions without listening to the lyrics and realizing it's ironic?)
However, I had much on my plate and the chilly, grey day didn't help convince me to trek over and brave the crowds in the middle of a work day to see him. Will I regret it? Maybe. But I got my work done and slept fine last night, so really, it can't have been that erroneous a choice.
Watching
We just got in the first DVD of the last season of Slings & Arrows, which we've been enjoying for the past few months. It's still sitting in its Netflix wrapper, unopened, as we're painfully aware we're about to embark on the last six episodes of the show. Then it's over. Done. We'll have to move on. And I'll miss it. Good stuff.
Fortunately, I have everything else to distract me. And I do mean everything else. Over the summer, we bit the bullet and got satellite cable, which came with DVR. Which -- will all due respect to electricity and penecillin and the like -- is the best thing every invented. Or, if you're keeping track of how much TV it means I'm watching, perhaps the worst.
The new seasons of shows are starting and that means the episodes are lining up in my DVR like good little soldiers, waiting until I feel like watching them. And fast-forwarding over the commercials. Oh, Dr. House and your ridiculously improbable cases, how good it is to have you back! Californication and Dexter, yay! Boston Legal, Law & Order SVU, Dirty Sexy Money, The Office, Ugly Betty, Pushing Daisies, how I've missed you! And while I'd never confess in a public forum to watching such ludicrous brain-cell-stealers as Gossip Girl and the new 90210, well, I'm not saying I'm not watching them either.
In fact, what am I doing typing this when I could be watching TV?