Or do all the people on the weird deal Big Brother that premiered last night seem to be nothing more than young, arrogant, snotty, self-centered spoiled brats?  Oh…..and one middle-aged woman that is trying her best to be like that.

I mean…it’s always good to have a guy you can hate in the house.

But…this season….I can honestly say…..I HATE ALL OF THEM!!!!  Thank God the writers signed the agreement and soon there will be other new, much better stuff to watch.

And is it just me, or does the host seem to have a fascination with his pen.  Moving it back and forth between his hands, placing it on his podium and picking it back up to scratch his knows.  Pointing it to…well….make a point.

I have dubbed it “the magic pen”.  Because otherwise why would the host need it to manage the show?

Magic Pen.  Which bugs the hell out of me.

That is all.

You know…(ashamed whisper)….Big Brother?

Because who in their right mind would sill be watching, right?

Yeah, right. I have a spouse who had a hernia that hurt, got an operation, and now can’t move around all that well. I’m not saying I’ve been house-bound or anything, but I do feel like I should hang around in case he really does need anything (which is rare).

So anyway, lots of T.V. watching and asking if someone needs anything (which they rarely do and I have to practically channel Radar O’Reilly to guess what he needs so he doesn’t try and do it himself).

Not much on right now, is there?

USA has a good new show…”Burn Notice”. And of course there’s “Rescue Me” and “Big Love” and “SYTYCD” (if you don’t know, I’m not gonna spell it out for you). I like “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” but I can’t stand “Singing Bee”.

And then there’s Big Brother 8. When the first show came on, I thought – no way will this hold my interest. I HATE EVERYBODY!! But as with anything…..even crappy shows….after a while it sucks you in. So here are my thoughts so far in a list:

1. Evil Dick is my hero! Who DOESN’T just wanna say whatever they’re thinking as they’re thinking it? I LOVE how he talks to Jen!

2. Speaking of Jen….HATE HER. H-A-T-E HER!! I, me, I, me, my……..waste of oxygen that one.

3. Kail…..stupid…and boring.

4. Jessica…..Princess.

5. Daniele….WAY smarter than she looks or acts.

6. I know this because….yes….I admit it…..I’ve been tuning into the SHOTOO stuff at night sometimes (okay, a little each night but it doesn’t rule my life).

7. Joe…..glad he’s gone!

8. Dustin…I actually like him for some reason. Don’t know why really. But would he change out of that ratty old grey t-shirt already?

9. Amber – town crier. Can’t be trusted. Plus she needs to lay off the mascara.

10. Mike – very quiet game player but it’s coming to light that he actually does have a plan.

11. Nick – player. Poor Daniele.

12. Zach – although it wasn’t unpleasant to watch him streak last night….I really don’t have much use for the guy. He’s a liar, and not even a good one at that.

13. I LOVE JAMEKA!! She’s so funny.

14. Eric. Go get on those tasks, boy! I actually feel sorry for him because really he’s not allowed to play the game since he just has to do what people say.

15. Carol who?

The Boy started watching with me the first couple of shows, and now he just asks me for a recap once in a while. Not even interesting enough to hold a 13-year-old’s interest even though there are bikinis and showers.

I’m hoping I will lose interest soon because I really do feel like a total moron for watching it. Oh well…time to go check on my reluctant patient.

You know how I’ve been complaining about how the news constantly covers weather that doesn’t effect me? Tonight it was the same….at seven…an hour before AI was supposed to air. AND, the night before my birthday!!

I was SO pissed at the local network T.V. stations.

And then….the tornado sirens sounded.

We looked at the map.

We listened to the weather guys jabber about how DON’T WORRY, THERE ARE NO TORNADOES, THIS IS JUST A PRECAUTION BECAUSE THERE’S WIND.

WIND?????!!!!!!

And then…..the power went out. For two hours. Which sucked. Because I missed AI. Oh sure, it was great having quality time with the family, sitting on the porch watching the rain…commenting about the tree that snapped off and fell on the neighbor’s car.

I guess we had some weather. And it might have even deserved a little ticker thing at the bottom of the screen. But running the sirens and turning off my power for hours? Totally uncalled for.

Damn weather. Why can’t it happen when we’re sleeping or during daytime hours when there’s nothing on T.V. anyway?

P.S. I just checked the InterWeb for AI results. I think they should have sent Jordin home instead of that bald guy. Oh, well…

That I LOVE that ABC has the most recent episodes of Grey’s on their site?

Okay, so here’s the deal. I set my dual tuner DVR to only record the new episodes of Grey’s. So of course Verizon listed a repeat episode when it was actually a new episode this past Thursday. And THEN, instead of showing the repeat on Friday night…..our local station (here in Bible belt hell) showed a BILLY GRAHAM CRUSADE THING!!!! Which meant that I did not get my Grey’s fix this week. And I can SO NOT be in the know and live!!!

So after watching Brother and Sisters tonight (because how could I NOT watch that show because it’s so great…has something for everyone)…I logged on ABC.com..ya know…just to see if there was a chance.

And…YES!!! I am currently watching Grey’s from last Thursday.

Life is good.

That is all.

Okay, let me just say that the over-the-top losing project manager is WAY too much. So much so that I don’t even remember his name (Joe maybe)?

And the winning project manager (Heidi – I think) was all sleek class and style, but she definitely was not afraid to get her hands dirty when she needed to.

To be honest, I’m a little sick of The Donald, even though his Rosie bashing has been quite entertaining of late. She really should have been smarter about all that, but he’s lowered himself by slinging insults like they’re going out of style.

But I digress. The real reason I watched was to see what the whole tent vs. mansion thing was all about. Parenthetically, I must say the whole show was better after pre-drinking three before starting my DVR recording. Because really, do they REALLY have to have THAT many commercials?

So anyway, they made them all put the tent up together and the two people that tried to take charge were named the project mgrs. It was kinda funny to watch them jockey for position.Then they had to run a car wash. Ya-da ya-da ya-da….Heidi won. Because she had signs they could read.

Then the losers had to camp out in tents with outdoor showers and cooking in the balmy LA heat while the winners got to drink champagne and lay by the pool. Winners went to Spago while losers age burgers in the dark with beer . Considering they were all spoiled successful rich people already, it was kinda funny to watch them deal.

And then….the winning project manager got to be Donald’s right hand in the board room (with Ivanka…and can I just say that Ivanka kicks ass and does NOT pull any punches – she kicks ass and I like her a lot).

Anyway….they fired some pompous professor ivy league guy that kept quoting all these sayings…not sure how they applied but everyone saw right through him. Good riddance, Martin with the polka-dot tie and striped shirt (or vice versa..I can’t remember but it was horrendous).

Will I watch again? Prolly. After a few, it was pretty entertaining watching the tent people vow to win their spot in the mansion. I can’t wait to see how they try to get in there and kick those mansion people to the curb! And if I were a guy..yeah I’d prolly go for Ivanka. She was pretty hot.

Well, she was in a suit but you get the idea. That is one powerful woman who doesn’t take any crap!

Not sure how it will be sober, but I’m not about to find out. I better stock up on the rum before next week!

Being the parent of a gifted child can be a challenge at times. You see, gifted kids have this undeniable need for knowledge, and it seems that if they don’t learn something new every day they become bored and moody – basically really hard to get along with.

Lately The Boy has been talking about things he’s seen in a show on Discovery called “Man vs. Wild”. The show he watched earlier this week featured Bear (the host) being dropped onto an icy mountain where he basically showed viewers how it was possible to survive for days with little to no provisions. The Boy basically memorized all the survival type things he learned from the show…like how to build a snow cave, how to warm up snow to make water, how to ice fish, how to efficiently use your time, etc. Sounds interesting, right?

So tonight there wasn’t much going on (Tommy’s off to Buenos Aires again) and the show was on. Have you seen it? Well, now I have. And I can basically sum the thing up in the title of this post…yucky, yet informative. Tonight Bear was dropped in the middle of the Sahara in northern Kenya. He had just a knife, a flint, and a bottle of water. The first bit was more about how and when to walk in the desert, how to avoid wild animals, how to find medicinal herbs…that kind of thing.

Well, I think The Boy knew what was coming. He said something like “Mom, you know there’s some pretty gross stuff in this show. Last week, Bear bit into a trout to break its spine and fish guts spewed all over the place.”

But the thought of fish guts SO did not prepare me for what I saw tonight. This Bear guy is hard-core. About half way through the show he got dehydrated, and he remembered a trick an old Ranger told him about. He found a fresh pile of elephant dung, held it over his mouth…and squeezed. That’s right. He basically drank elephant crap juice. I’m not kidding about this…I damn near threw up right then and there.

The Boy said something like “See, mom. It ain’t pretty, but he actually does teach you how to survive if you need to.” I guess I can take some comfort in the knowledge he will drink elephant crap juice if he needs to, but the very thought even now makes my stomach clench. Yuck.

Then the guy got hungry. And yippee!! He saw a bunch of really full vultures that were so big from what they ate they could no longer fly. He found a “fresh” Zebra carcass that had been picked clean by lions and vultures…almost. Yes, that’s right. He found some meat still on the thing. And he ate it raw on camera, taking some along with him in his pockets for later. Again – yuck. It doesn’t beat seeing the elephant crap juice thing but it was pretty bad.

So, to summarize…Man vs. Wild is indeed yucky, yet informative. We (The Boy and I) now know how to avoid elephants, rhinos, and hippos, what plant to use on a fire to keep mosquitoes away, how to get “water” and meat if we need it, to walk at night instead of during the heat of the day, and that you need to follow the water upstream instead of downstream if you’re in a desert environment.

I’m not sure I’d recommend the show after eating a homemade pizza when you’re working on getting rid of a headache you’ve had all day. But you will learn something if you watch it.

Now…where the hell did I put the Tums?

1. I have had a half a bottle of wine in the last hour or so, and you must take everything with a grain of salt.

2. Dancing With the Stars..how great is Mario? How hot is he with his partner (I can’t recall her name)? Everyone else pails in comparison to him. There is nothing else to say about that.

3. LOVE Friday Night Lights! I’ve asked Tommy about some things I’ve seen in the show, and he says yes, it all happens (he grew up there after all). Yes, community leaders try to coach the coach on coaching. Yes, the whole community goes to the games (and many go to the practices). Yes, the players come from all walks of life. Yes, this is a fairly accurate representation of the coaches and the teams that participate in West Texas football. It IS their life.

4. Nip/Tuck. Brooke Shields. How about that tattoo? And Larry Hagman? Playing his part perfectly. And poor Sean. But I have to say they might be copying Rescue Me with the whole talking to the dead thing.

5. Boston Legal (there will be a few on this since I don’t have a laptop and have to pause and run back and forth to the kitchen computer. Buffi knows where it is and the size of our house. It’s a walk that requires maybe another half drink at least).

6. Anyway…LOVE the dwarf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She tells it like it is (as you do when you are vertically challenged – I’m not as vertically challenged as her but I get it; my son is less than three inches shorter than me and he is 12 and it sucks).

7. Shirley! And a cannibal client!! And she needs Allen’s help! How great is that? She said “I’ll bring the condiments”!

8. Wait…I gotta go watch more so I can blog more.

9. The smoking dwarf… in the courtroom ….with Denny Crain. How great is that line where he tells her at some point she has to say to herself “I’m a dwarf.” How great are they handling the dwarf thing? GREAT!

10. The wine is definitely helping with this post, and I am getting exercise as I think EVERYTHING is funny and have to run back and forth to the computer to tell you how funny everything is.

11. Because you need to know.

12. Have you ever noticed that when you’ve had a half a bottle of wine you need to backspace more when you type?

13. Well I have.

14. Back to watch more of BL…

15. I’m back…less than two minutes later. Eww… they cannibal client ate his friend’s thigh because he was starving.

16. The D.A. says there are no pleas and Shirley says he cannot call him Shirley (how great is that?). Back to the show…

17. Allen wants to be called Shirley…kewl. And how great is the reference to election politics? Sickens us all, no?

18. I’ve decided that the Allen/Shirley scenes are the only ones worth talking about.

19. Except to say..how great is it that the dwarf kicked that guy?

20. Anyway..Shirley and the whole “I’m phenomenal in bed…men have trouble forgetting me”…thing?

21. And Allen saying if he got Denny’s blessing, and Shirley’s saying then they’ll talk…thing?

22. Captivating. I must watch more.

23. Note: Honestyrain’s best at the BL blogging but she’s too slow so I must fill in.

24. Ha….everything they have is theirs to share (Denny and Allen). Except for Shirley. Denny says,”Keep your root away from Shirley.” Funny.

25. I saw the previews. I think the wrestling match is about to be proposed.

26. Side note…Denny likes the dwarf now. Dwarfs are cool.

27. The wrestling match!!! Denny with the cigar…Allen with the Indian garb…

28. Over in four seconds. Denny wins (of course).

29. Mark my words..Allen will never be with Shirley.

30. In the end, Denny decides if he ever met God, then God would challenge him to a wrestling match for Shirley.

31. And they won the cannibal guy case.

I’ve already had to drop Celebrity Duets (I know, lame..but it was one of the only things on at the time) and Deal or No Deal most nights. Tonight I got to Survivor (after 10) and Grey’s. I still have to watch ‘Till Death.

Come ON people! Don’t the networks know it’s prime time hot tub weather and I don’t have time to keep up with all these shows?

Today I had to watch Justice in the afternoon. I still have Standoff and Heroes on the DVR. And we won’t even talk about the Throwdown and Iron Chef episodes I’m behind on.

Can’t all these network people just mix in some more lame shows so I can keep up already? I mean seriously. There’s band performances and homework and hot tubbing and cocktails and pool to play and guitar lessons to go to. People have lives, right?

Ya know I thought I would never say this…but I’m actually wondering if the dual tuner DVR is a good thing….

But I always have commercial-free shows to watch in the queue, so it’s not all bad. I guess.

That’s what it was to watch the 20/20 thing with Steve Irwin’s wife. But I have to say….I think she at least deserves to be listened to if she has something to tell us, given that she shared so much of her husband with the world.

I’m having drinks and watching my DVR’d Boston Legal now. But that was absolutely crushing to watch. What a strong, brave woman she is. We can now all understand why he married her. He could trust her to carry on with his work after he was gone.

Back to BL and drinks. And good thoughts for Terri.