NBC Olympic Coverage

I have seen numerous articles/posts pointing to the low ratings NBC is earning in its Olympic coverage. Seems like each article can point to different reasons for this. For me, it is pretty simple - I just want to watch the sports I like. NBC's primetime coverage goes from 8 to 12 EST tonight and for the life of me, I cannot tell when they'll be showing what event. I can stand about 5 minutes of ice skating coverage, but enjoy most of the skiing events. Why can't NBC put out a schedule, even if they only do it two hours before airtime of what they'll be showing when. I try to catch the events I want to see. I flip to the Olympics when I think of it, but rarely catch the event I am looking for. I also think they should run an event from start to finish. Show the Skating tonight from 8 to 10 then show Snowboarding from 10 to 10:30. This way, people can tune in for what they want to see and skip the stuff they don't. NBC is giving itself the bad ratings, cause no one is going to tune in for 4 hours of coverage to see 30 minutes of the event they like. It is ridiculous.

Serenity

I finally got around to catching Serenity the movie. I had heard a lot of good things about it and it lived up to the hype. The first few minutes had me confused like you wouldn't believe, but that just helped to get me hooked. I probably would have had some clue as to what was going on if I had seen any of the Firefly Series (that inspired the movie). There on my "to watch" list now. Hopefully they are as good as the movie.

Reading List - February 16, 2006

After months of keeping my reading list only in my head and not being real organized about it, I decided to jot it down and post it here - that way I don't forget about something I really wanted to read. So here goes:

Just Finished:
Days of Infamy by Harry Turtledove
End of the Beginning by Harry Turtledove

On my Nightstand:
The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Friedman

Up Next:
The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia - The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia - The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia - The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia - The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters by Dick Winters
On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore by Brian Bagnall
Star Wars: Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn
Star Wars: Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn
The Google Story by David Vise
The Search by John Battelle
The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy by Byron York
Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America by Mark Levin
The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas Woods

That's it for now. I know there are some others that I am leaving off. I'll modify the list as needed.

Napoleon Dynamite

After hearing "I really loved this movie" and "I really hated this movie" from so many people, I finally watched Napoleon Dynamite over the weekend. I wasn't impressed. The movie lacked a plot and decent acting. The dialog was annoying. Yes, there were funny parts, but not enough to make this a good movie. I'd be interested in seeing Jon Heder in another role and seeing if he can act or not.

This might actually be one of those movies that better suits a late night viewing with a large group. But I doubt if I'd try and get friends to sit through it with me...

Down on the Farm

This past weekend I headed to Harrisburg with the family to check out the 90th Annual Pennsylvania Farm Show. The Farm Show is the largest indoor agricultural event in America and people come from all over the Northeast to see it. I think I read that 500,000 people attended last years show and I'm sure at least that many will make it out this year. We try to hit the show each year with my parents and brother. This year, my Grandmother, Aunt, Uncle and cousins came along too. It was a blast.

Here are some pictures -

Animals:




Farm Equipment:




1000 Pound Butter Sculpture:





To Scale replica of the Star Barn:




Compared with these pictures of the real thing:




Misc:

Important Announcement

I would just like to point out that this blog is not published anonymously so if you find it annoying, please sue me and leave the Feds out of it.

CNET: Create an E-Annoyance, Go to Jail

20K

On the way home for lunch today, the car rolled over to 20,000 miles. Took me almost 3 years to the day to get there. At this rate, my Hyundai warranty will last the full 10 years.

Close, But No Cigar!

Wrapped up the regular season family football pool over the weekend and I fell short of the title. Second place isn't so bad and there hasn't really been any hope of catching the lead for a while now. Dusty, you earned the win. Good Picking!

Here are the standings:

Bill's Pool 2005 Regular Season Standing

Rank	UserName	Win%	W-L-T	TieDif
1	MW MAKER	75.4	205-67-0	185.6
2	BLANKMEYER	74.7	204-69-0	138.0
3	BILL B (Sr)	73.6	201-72-0	128.0
4	LISA M	72.9	199-74-0	230.0
5	MOM B	72.2	197-76-0	171.0
6	JOE B	72.1	196-76-0	184.0
7	DAN B	71.8	196-77-0	147.5
8	BCBLANK13	71.4	195-78-0	156.0
9	JOHNCO	70.6	190-79-0	147.0
10	MATT_R	69.6	190-83-0	183.0
11	Tim S	67.4	184-89-0	142.0
12	NOELLEO	67.0	183-90-0	134.0
13	RUS S	65.4	178-94-0	133.0
14	PHILLYFAN1138	64.3	175-97-0	199.0
15	FLY EAGLES FLY!	63.5	172-99-0	126.0
16	KRIS B	59.2	161-111-0	255.0

Now we start in on the playoffs!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and a safe New Year's. 2006 is upon us - time flies I guess. As promised, I will be posting more regularly this year, just wanted to kick it off with well wishes for MMVI!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I know it has been a while since I posted anything new. I hope to get back to regular posting after the New Year. I hope you and yours all have a safe and joyous Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Bill