The Daily Bongo -- July 2005

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Sunday, July 31, 2005 -- Evening There is not alot going on in the Big Brother house other than scheming. Since Sarah won the POV and is going to remove James from the block, that means that probably Rachel or Howie will go up in his place. If that's the case then Kaysar will probably be going home on Thursday. He is preparing for this. However, they have all come up with a scheme. Kaysar approached Maggie and said that she should consider her options. After all, what are the chances that one of the sheep will win the HOH competition next week. They are the weakest players, and so far, the folks who have been winning things are on Kaysar's side. Kaysar tells Maggie that she should play the game strategically and not personally and put up someone from the sheep and then that will guarantee that she doesn't go out next week when Kaysar's side wins. I don't know what Maggie thinks of the plan, and neither do they. I think that the POV ceremony is tomorrow, so we will have to see what she decides. For more serious news, there is an issue with Discovery. There is some material that is dangling from the underbelly of the craft. This material will burn during reentry, and right now the scientists are trying to determine if the risk to the safety of the flight is minimal or not. If it is not, then the crew will have to make a spacewalk to either remove the material or shove it back into place and hope it holds. The flight itself is being extended a day so the International Space Station can be restocked and to help out in general. Sunday, July 31, 2005 -- Afternoon Training camp for the Steelers starts today, and there are alot of expectations on the Steelers this time. Last year, expectations weren't very high because we really didn't have a very good record in the previous season. This year, of course, expectations are out of the roof because of the 15-1 regular season, and the fact that we got to the AFC Championship. There are a variety of items that are of concern. First there is the fact that Plaxico Burress is no longer with us and Hines Ward is a hold out. That puts a hole in our wide receivers section that could cause problems. Personally, I don't think the loss of Burress is of much concern, but not having Hines Ward also would put a crimp in the Steelers' style. There's also some question about whether Ben Roethlisberger will sink under the pressure of trying to be good. After all, it would be something of a stretch to think that Ben could go undefeated again this year. We are going to have to expect some losses and not jump all over the kid. Last year our offense line held up well under pressure, but it wasn't that good the year before. Which offensive line will we have this year? when you throw all these items and more into the pot and give it a good stir, it's potluck. We might have a good bouillabaisse or an inferior clam chowder. We'll have to wait to see how the pre-season games go. Not only do we have high expectations for the Steelers, but we are also hoping for alot from the Penguins this coming season. There are rumors about Alexei Kovalev and Johan Hedberg returning to the Pens. Nothing has been said about either officially, but the sportscasters in Pittsburgh have been talking about the possibility. Also we have Sidney Crosby coming to town and possibly playing immediately. Speaking of Sidney Crosby, it seems that the kid was born to play hockey. Both is father, and his uncles on his mother's side were hockey players. When Sidney was a kid and first picked up a hockey stick, he took to it like a duck to water, and held it properly, even at the age of 2. His skating abilities were such that folks thought that he was older than he was because a kid his age couldn't possible skate that well. Our second round selection, Michael Gergen, will be heading to college first to do some maturing before he plays in the NHL. Sidney may be staying with the Lemieux family for abit here in Pittsburgh. Because of his age, his parents would prefer that he bunk with a more experienced player instead of being on his own. Who better to bunk with than someone who was in Sidney's position twenty one years ago? JK Rowling has inflamed some other authors with comments that she made about fantasy. Terry Pratchett thought that Rowling should have known that writing about witches, goblins and magic fall in the realm of fantasy. What raised his ire is that she seemed to minimalize the genre while obviously not knowing alot about it and while writing in that genre. As Pratchett says, she writes fantasy, and other authors who write good novels that sell well aren't given the media hype that Rowling gets. You could say that it is sour grapes, but Pratchett is a well-known and acclaimed author of fantasy. I think that he just wants Rowling to admit what she writes and be proud of it. Fantasy and mystery books are not anything to be ashamed of writing or reading. Saturday, July 30, 2005 -- Evening Big Brother is on this evening. On the live feeds, the fish are gone, and it seems that Sarah has won the power of veto. Now she may use it on James, or she might not because she might be told to leave it the way it is because James will be safe and they want to get Kaysar out. This is a sad turn of events because it probably means that Kaysar will out this week. Now on to the recorded show. Of course, as usual, the show opens with a recap of past events. Ivette says that she loves Eric and will miss him more than anyone will know. Meanwhile Sarah says that she's happy that he is gone. Janelle says the same thing. Howie said that Eric took things personally, and Howie was going to give him a hug, but Eric was the slug that he is and wouldn't acknowledge it. As Evilette says, we lost our man but he is still in our hearts. Maggie says that she is going to attack this at a strategic and personal level. Kaysar says that losing HOH is a huge blow to his group. Howie says there is alot of animosity between the two groups. As Evilette (the racist bitch says) payback is a you know what. We then hear whiny Sarah saying that she doesn't want to go home. Sarah claims that she and James won't rally against their team that they are now on (which according to the live feeds they did). Howie thinks they will target couples because of the money. Evilette says that she will fix Maggie's house and buy Eric a BMW. Janelle says that even though it will be one of them, they will all stick together. Maggie and Ivette are talking in the storage room saying that they will play for Eric. We saw a picture of Maggie's boyfriend, Dave, and he is really on the ugly side. James said that he saw these putrid little rats running around kissing Maggie's ass. Kaysar yelled out congratulations Maggie. We then see Maggie and Rachel talking. Maggie says that she is torn between things and that she likes Rachel. Maggie says that she sees Rachel as totally grey. Maggie then calls in Howie. Maggie asks how Howie feels about everyone being split in two, and being on the other side. Howie basically says that he was HOH. Howie says that James and Maggie are strong players. Howie said that he saw Rachel giving him the look, and he said that the goal of the couples is to get to both of the individuals in the couple to the final two. Maggie asks if she doesn't nominate them if they will keep her in the house next week if they get HOH, and Rachel said that she has no problem with that. Maggie then says that if their keys are in the box tomorrow, then they have a deal. We will see in the end if Maggie sticks to her deal. After the commercial break, we see James talking to Evilette and Beau and trying to get himself safe. As Sarah says to Janelle who notices him talking to the group, he doesn't know that's what's going to hurt him with both sides. Maggie then says that James is not on the grey side with her. Ivette and Maggie said that James should have stayed with them because he would have been safe. Meanwhile, James tries to "rationalize" that he was trying to save himself. They can't see it. As far as they are concerned, James should have let himself go. James then went to Maggie's HOH to apologize after Maggie walks away from him. Maggie asks James who he would put up. James said the most dangerous people are the ones who are not pairs. He also says that he would rather Sarah get voted off. James seems to have trouble saying who he would nominate. James thinks that Maggie is a cop because of the way that she interrogated him, and how she positioned herself on the bed and him in the chair and how she talked. She also said that they probably do the same thing for a living. So James must be in law enforcement somehow. We then learn that Howie likes Boobies. And that Howie is obsessed with boobies. All the girls agree that the only word he mentions all the time is boobies. He also calls them breastests. Kaysar tells them all that he thinks that the other side is going to try play on emotions. Janelle thinks that it will be James and Kaysar. Kaysar tells sarah that if James goes home, she needs to fight for revenge. Meanwhile Sarah tells the audience that she will do anything to keep James in the house. Including selling herself to the other side (and winning the POV as the live feeds show). After the break, Ivette makes a bird feeder out of a coffee mate jar. Evilette came up with checkers, the ghetto slide and the coaster game with the hole in the coffee table. Ivette came up with alot of different food items. Now we see the food competitions. There were four panelists and six contestants in a game show. Sarah, Kaysar, Howie and April were the panelists. The others were the participants in a Match Game type setup. They had to get two answers that matched. The first question for Saturday: Pete is so obsessed with food, he tried to tie his shoes with string ___________. Rachel said cheese, and Sarah and Kaysar also said cheese. Beau played for Sunday. The grocery clerk was so hands on that one customer complained that he tried to grab her ___________. Beau was thinking of boobies, but said buns. Sarah and Kaysar said Melons. April and Howie said Buns. Food for Sunday. Jennifer is Monday. Dumb Doris was so dumb, she flew all the way to France to get French ___________. Jennifer said fries. Sarah and Kaysar said bread and April and Howie said Fries. Janelle is up. You know you are flying first class when the stewardess offers you chocolate covered __________. Janelle said Strawberry. Sarah and Kaysaar said sundae, and April and Howie strawberries. James for Wednesday. The frustrated baker blamed his girlfriend when his _______ refused to rise. James said bread. Sarah and Kaysar said dough and April and Howie said bread. Ivette is for Thursday. Donna said, my husband the pastry chef is getting a bit nearsighted. Last night he went outside and tried to __________ the dog. She said bake. Sarah and April said bake. Kaysar and Howie said cook. Jennifer went for Friday. The chef's cooking class was so boring that one student fell asleep in his apple __________. Jennifer said pie. Sarah and April said cobbler, and Kaysar and Howie said pie. So there is food for the entire week. Getting the bonus question right also gave them a prize--two numbers, 57 and 46. They realize that it is the final two numbers for the safe in the gold room. Break is done, and everyone is in the gold room. Jennifer is there, and Janelle is there too. Howie said to spin it a couple of times around and then Kaysar was able to open the safe. In the safe was a plate of PB&J sandwiches. In one of the sandwiches is a PB&J pass that allows the person to never have to eat PB&J again. The pass can be given to someone else to use too. Everyone gets a sandwich. Janelle has the pass. She was very excited. As Sarah says, alot of people will be willing to give up things to get the PB&J pass. Now we see Howie and Beau pretending that they would kiss. Howie says that because he is so great looking, he attracts all sorts of people. As Howie says, if he has to kiss the gay guy to stay in the house, he will. Then we see Sarah going up to the HOH house where Maggie, Ivette, Beau, April and Jennifer are. This is were Sarah bashes the other group and tries to claim that she is not part of their group. Beau thinks that Sarah is not a strong player, but guess what, she is feeding them a line to save her and James to stay in the house, and they are buying it. Maggie comments that Sarah said that James is not the strongest player and as Sarah says they are not part of any group. Maggie know that she did everything to make James look good. Maggie is trying to get rid of people who would get rid of her. Because of this, Maggie wonders to the group if she should nominate James and Sarah. It's now time for the nominations. Maggie is collecting all the keys. Howie says that he doesn't feel safe this week at all. James doesn't think Maggie is here now to play the game, but to avenge Eric's death. Maggie is keeping in mind that the person doesn't forget who nominates them. Janelle says that she is not worried for herself, but for Kaysar. Maggie knows that there are some people who are expecting to be nominated. They are all called in for the ceremony. Maggie says that when she won HOH it was very clear cut to her that it was black and white in this game and clearcut where everyone stood. In the first 24 hours, things have become more gray. The first key is pulled. It is April's. She is safe. Ivette is safe. Jennifer is safe. Beau is safe. Rachel is safe. (Rachel thanks Maggie.) Howie is safe (thanks Maggie). Sarah is safe. Janelle is safe. That means that James and Kaysar are up for eviction. Maggie says that she has seen them rally people to support them, and that is why they are nominated. Maggie says that she can't trust either of them. James says he has to have the veto because he can't let Maggie win. Sarah says that what Maggie says is garbage and that Maggie is taking it personally. Kaysar says that the competition, not only for the POV but just in general will be fierce. As the credits roll, we see Sarah in the bathroom crying. And so the show ends. Saturday, July 30, 2005 -- Early evening The POV competition may just be starting now at 6:30. The house guests have been waiting for it to start all day. It seems that Sarah and James have been scheming and are playing both sides. James seems to be pretending to be on the side of Kaysar and company while he sends Sarah up to Maggie and company to pretend to be on their side. I suppose that is a good strategy--play both sides. He thinks that will keep him in the game, but when he gets rid of all the players on his side, the sheep will get rid of him. I am hoping that Janelle wins and saves Kaysar because those are the two players that I would like to see at the end. I don't think that will happen, but I can hope. I think that if the show comes down to just being Maggie, April, Jennifer, Ivette, and Beau, I'm going to have a hard time watching it because that group annoys me with their pity bullshit. Ivette was comparing Kaysar to Osama Bin Laden. Talk about a racist bitch. Early in the week she was making comments about how she calls her cheap friends Jews. vote Evilette out!! Plaxico Burress injured his knee this morning in a practice with the NY Giants. He was able to come back to practice in the afternoon, however. I don't think that Burress will be as good as the Giants think he will be, so it will be interesting to see how he plays if he remains injury free. Saturday, July 30, 2005 -- Afternoon I am waiting for the NHL draft to start. It should happen in the next few minutes. It will be exciting to see the formal and official offer from the Pens to Sidney Crosby. Crosby has been creating quite a stir. They are "choosing" now. I guess that they can't immediately say that they are taking Crosby. Craig Patrick and Mario Lemieux are there. They are now all heading to the stage. It was only a minute or so. Craig Patrick is making the announcement. They select Sidney Crosby. Surprising, isn't it? He looks small next to Mario, and stocky. There are pictures of Mario and Crosby holding the number 87 Penquins shirt, and right now, he has the jersy on and pictures are being taken with Craig Patrick and Mario on either side of him. The sportscaster there talked to Crosby. Crosby says he is happy right now, and it is amazing. The interviewer asked about the heavy expectations, and Crosby says that is not on his mind now. I was really amazed because Crosby was very soft spoken and polite. The folks who are commenting on the draft said that they see aspects where Crosby is mimicking Lemieux in the way he talks and stands. Mario is being interviewed and says that it will be a huge step for Crosby because it will be an adjustment because of the size and difference in players. Lemieux says that Crosby has the tools so it would just be a matter of giving Crosby the time to adjust. Lemieux has also said that there might be a room for Crosby to bunk in with the Lemieux family for a year or so. When Mario came to Pittsburgh, he stayed with a family here because Mario was also just 18 years old when he was drafted. Some astronomers are considering the discovery of the object orbitting beyond Pluto as the tenth planet. Right now, it is only being referred to as 2003 UB313, but a name has submitted for the planet is now in the approval process. Speculation, because at this point we really don't know for sure how large the object is, is that the planet is larger than Pluto. This does raise some questions though. The question then becomes what constitutes a planet. Do we set a size limitation? Some people think that Pluto should have its planetary status removed because it really isn't large enough to be considered a planet, and might even be a moon of Neptune that escaped Neptune's gravitational field. Of course, as I will say over and over again with alot of the things that are mentioned in astronomy, it's speculation. We need to have more robotic missions to these areas to gather alot more information before we can claim to be sure. Friday, July 29, 2005 -- Late evening I missed seeing this when it happened on the live feed, but it seems that James and Kaysar are nominated for eviction. Sarah has been playing Maggie and Company by telling them that James isn't with Kaysar and crying. Also, James has told Ivette that he would nominate Rachel and Howie if he was HOH. All I have to say is James is really a snake, and not someone that I would trust. The question is will the sheep vote out James or will they go for Kaysar. Also Kaysar is talking of having Janelle compete with him for POV. If she gets it, she can take Kaysar off, and keep herself safe. What would the sheep do then? Friday, July 29, 2005 -- Late afternoon Lots of scheming in the HOH room. Maggie, Beau, Ivette, April and Rachel are on the bed discussing the nominations. It seems that the consensus is for the nominations for eviction go to James and Kaysar. Maggie is thinking about this strategically and says that James would be the best person to get rid out of the pair. As she says, James has a partner and Kaysar doesn't. Even if he has a following, there's no way that he has the guaranteed vote that James does. Maggie is plotting the POV competition, and the group is discussing talking to Howie and Rachel, and telling them to go ahead and win, but not to use it--or the partner goes up. So that would pretty much guarantee that the nominations stay as they are. Maggie and company are leaning to voting out James, and they think that the other side would feel the same. Maggie is smart. She keeps on trying to tell the others that still have their partner that the loss of the partner is key at this point, and that they need to go for the partner angle. There is alot of discussion of whether Janelle plays for Kaysar, and if she wins and takes Kaysar off, then they will have to put up Howie or Rachel. Maggie is a clear thinker, and I admire that in her. I think that she is much better at this game than Eric ever was. Meanwhile Eric was the huge fan of Big Brother as he admitted on the House Calls show. April tells them that need to act strong as a group at this point. Friday, July 29, 2005 -- Mid-afternoon The Houseguests got the first safe open in the Gold Room. Inside it was a platter of PB&J sandwiches. One of the sandwiches had a pass in it that would allow the person to not eat PB&J. That person would have the pass for one week, and could give the pass to anyone for a day. Each houseguest picked a sandwich, and when they opened it, Janelle had the pass. Now the houseguests are in the storage room loading up on food since they have food for the day. Friday, July 29, 2005 -- Afternoon I watched House Calls today because I wanted to see what Marcellas and Gretchen would say to Eric since both really don't like him. The show was good. It was quite obvious that Gretchen and Marcellas were trying to keep their cool and ask non-confrontational questions. However, you could see that Marcellas was getting involved in the conversation, and he caught Eric in a lie about the promise that Kaysar made with him. Meanwhile Eric denied that he said it. As Marcellas said afterward, he doesn't know how Eric passed the psych test because Eric obviously believes the line of "whooie" that he's been spewing. Eric denied that when he leaped from his chair and charged at Michael that he wasn't planning some physical move. As Gretchen said, they were trying to get Eric to see that he had a sliding scale of morality and integrity that always leaves Eric on the moral side and everyone else on the slime side. After seeing the interview, I have to admit that I dislike Eric even more. It just amazed me to hear Eric say that he didn't see a problem in breaking that alliance that he initiated. He is such a jerk! The House Calls show ran for 55 minutes, so by the time I got to the live feeds, they were in the middle of the food competition. I have no clue of what they are trying to do, but it appears that they are working as a group. In fact, it's hard to tell if the competition hasn't started yet, or if it's over. In fact, I think it is over, but I have no idea yet if they are getting food or not. From looking at the message group on Morty's TV it looks like they have food for the week by playing a match game type of game. Friday, July 29, 2005 -- Late morning The houseguests on Big Brother are preparing for the food competition. It seems that there was a sleep over in the HOH room with Maggie, Ivette, April, and someone else--I am assuming Jennifer. I really don't like Maggie and Ivette (Marcellas calls her Evilette). It's really disappointing that Maggie got HOH, but I am hoping that the other guys will come back next week. Friday, July 29, 2005 -- Morning There is still alot of talk about the negotiations between the Steelers and Hines Ward. As the Steelers management says, they have made a "healthy" offer of approximately $8 million dollars. The Steelers do have a reputation of making fair offers to their players, and it seems that in the case with Hines, they actually made a very good offer that is one of the best ever offered by the Steelers, but Hines wants more. I think that what has to happen here is that both sides need to compromise, and that means that Hines needs to give abit too. Alot of football fans in the city are saying that the Steelers should do everything possible to make Hines happy. The issue though is that Hines already has a year left on his contract, and is obligated to play. We'll have to see what happens, although at this point, it is obvious that Hines will be missing the start of training camp. Tomorrow is the NHL draft. That means that we will officially be selecting Sidney Crosby. It seems that the Pens have been impressed with Crosby both on and off the ice. Now the question is how much money will it take to seal the deal. It seems that some foam may have hit Discovery. At this point, it appears that the shuttle can stil make a safe re-entry to Earth. It seems that there are 11 "indications" of what could have been impacts from foam. There are four areas on the wing that might have been damaged. Astronomers have found an ice lake in the northern pole region of Mars. The lake lies inside of an impact crater in the area. It appears that the ice is highly visible, so it's not just a matter of speculation, but appears to be a valid observation. Meanwhile there have been further discoveries in our Solar System. A fairly large object has been found orbiting the Sun out past Pluto. Of course because of its distance, astronomers are sure if the object is a large, dim object or a small, bright one. Speculation is that the object is composed of rock and ice. There's not alot of information on the discovery because of how far it is from us. Fox has hired an independent counsel to investigate claims that Paula Abdul had an affair with a contestant. It will be interesting to see what the counsel turns up. Meanwhile, Fox is still supporting Abdul in the claims. Thursday, July 28, 2005 -- Evening It's eviction night on Big Brother. The show started with the usual recap of the past week. Who will be evicted? Eric or Maggie. Tonight they are also going to tell the houseguests that everyone is a partner and what it is $250,000 for second place and $1 million for first place. The first thing we see is Beau pushing his face in front of James--just being a baby. Now we get to see on televsion how Eric and Maggie take the nomination. Eric claims Eric and Kaysar aren't worth his eyesight. Eric gave his favorite line "don't piss in my ear and tell me it's raining". That was said to Sarah who went to console Eric and Maggie. Eric said that it was just a game except when it came to this nomination. What a hypocrite! Then Eric says to Ivette, "look me in the eye and say you weren't part of this". Of course, that means that everyone else is evil. Only Eric and company are the "good guys". Eric was totally blindsided by the nominations. Maggie doesn't want to burn bridges. Maggie thinks she will leave the house. Janelle, Kaysar, Sarah, James, Howie and Rachel talk about who they want to say. They think that Maggie is the smarter player. Maggie tells Eric to play like he's staying. Maggie would sacrifice herself for Eric. Unfortunately, he wouldn't do the same for her. Maggie says it's a huge loss for whoever stays. Julie chen first asks James what surprised him most about the game. He says everything. And he would do it all over again next week unless he gets HOH. Then Julie asks April about favorite food. April says any sort of seafood. Then there is Beau. She asks Beau who has the best fashion sense. He says Ivette. And worst is Howie and Eric. Then Julie asked Howie how to spell rhubarb. Before the commercial break, we get to hear Janelle, Jennifer, Sarah and April say. April says Maggie is a strong player. Jennifer says Maggie is her closest friend. Janelle says that she doesn't like Maggie, and that she thought Eric used his family stories to get to the girls. April thinks Eric putting his life on the land says something about Eric. Sarah is very sad. Jennifer and April voted to evict Maggie and Sarah and Janelle voted to evict Eric. After the commercial break, we find out more about Kaysar and Janelle and how their families feel about this "odd couple" working together. Kaysar thinks he and Janelle are the normal. Kaysar's sister was interviewed, his family is obviously very religious. They came from Iraq when Kaysar was a boy. Janelle came from Grand Rapids. As her sister said, Grand Rapids never had enough pizzaz for her. The sister also said that Janelle doesn't let people get close to her, and playing ditz. The sister says that Janelle is very well read and not the ditz. Kaysar's sister said that Janelle is not the typical person Kaysar would associate with. Kaysar's sister likes the way Janelle acts. Janelle's sister says that she thinks Janelle is drawn to Kaysar as an ally because he is foreign and so different from her. Kaysar's sister thinks that by them joining forces they will bring down the house. Now we talk to Kaysar in the HOH room. Julie asks about the Kaysar and Janelle alliance. As Kaysar said, it was sprung by circumstance over what was left over. Kaysar learned to trust and understand her. Janelle listens to him and gives advice. Julie asked if Kaysar's nominations are part of payback for Michael. He said in a way it was, but he also wanted to make a ripple in the house. Kaysar also thinks that it they know what is best for them, they will make Kaysar a target next week. Commercial break is over. Julie talks about secrets being revealed, and what this is doing to everyone's strategy. Howie has a sense from day 1 that others knew each other. Eric outed James and Sarah. At first Ivette, Beau, Jennifer, and April denied they were pairs. Eric admitted that he knew Maggie. Ivette said that she was shocked that everyone else had pairs. She is incredibly stupid. Then Howie and Rachel admitted to knowing each other for 10 years. Howie says that it's weird that you have five couples and four wild cards. Then we see Ivette crying crocodile tears. She goes on about how much it sucks that she is playing on her own. Meanwhile April and Jennifer kept on swearing and saying that she wouldn't lie about their friendship. April and Jennifer admit to knowing each other to both of the groups. Eric said when he heard that he can't trust anyone. Then April turns to Ivette and asks so you and Beau are together. Ivette denies that they are friends, but say that they were paired because they were both gay. Eric being stupid, buys it. Then we see Beau, James, Howie, Rachel, and Ivette vote. Howie said that Eric had a dictatorship going on. Beau calls him a leader, and James calls him a cult leader. Howie says that Maggie can't take a joke. Howie and James vote to evict Eric and Beau and Ivette vote to evict Maggie. We don't hear who Rachel nominates because we are to be left in suspense over who is evicted. I am sure that it is Eric. It's now time for eviction. We get to hear from Eric who wants to thank Big Brother for giving him some nice experiences. He said that he will have friendships that follow him outside of the house. Maggie wants to thank Big Brother and ALL of the housemates (she stresses that herself) and her boyfriend David and others. Julie reads the name--by a vote of five to four, Eric is evicted from the Big Brother house. He looks all red, and keeps on saying no tears, and I love you guys. Sarah doesn't go near him. Only Howie is in line to say good bye. Eric tried to avoid Howie, but Howie gave him some pats on the back on the way out of the door. Ivette, April, Maggie and Jennifer run off for alone time together. Maggie was talking to someone, but we didn't see who. Julie talks to Eric and says that last week he was HOH, and this week he is out. Eric said that deals were broken, and Julie turned on him and said, didn't you break deals. Eric admitted that he had to help lobby to get James out of there. Then he was angry that Kaysar broke his deal and nominated him. Eric does not believe that Kaysar is the shy, religious guy. Eric says that part of the game is to hide yourself, but that Eric couldn't hide himself. Integrity. Eric says that he will tell his kids that he is a man of his word. He also says that the friendships mean more than the money. Maggie says that others in the house will see another side of her. She says that Eric brought more to her as a friend than she can ever repay. Eric thinks they have way underestimated Maggie. He thinks that Maggie is stronger which is what everyone else was already saying. It's now time for the HOH competition. Kaysar can not compete. The game is called power roller. Each person gets one ball, and has to be closest to the hole at the end. Unlike the board that they got to use earlier, there are three other holes. If it falls in one of the other holes, you are out. Janelle stays on the field. Then comes Howie, and he goes out and gets eliminated. Then it's Ivette's turn and she is eliminated. Then comes James, and he stays in, but Janelle is closer. Janelle is still the one to beat. April falls in a hole and she is eliminated. Beau is next, and is too far out and is eliminated. Next up is Jennifer. She goes into a hole and she is out. Then comes Maggie. She is the new leader. Next up is Rachel, and she is too strong and eliminated. Sarah is the last person and has to get closer than Maggie's ball. Her ball goes right into a hole and Maggie is the new HOH. Of course the six are very upset because they know that one of them will be going next week. After the commercial break, Julie is going to reveal the secret about the money. We are back from the commercial break. Julie gives a summary of what is to follow. There will be another twist next week. All the houseguests are in the living room. Julie officially confirms that every player has a secret partner. Julie says that everyone entered with someone they already knew from the outside world which blows Ivette's claims. Julie then says that second place for a pair is $250,000 and $1 million for the winner. Julie says there are more secrets. James looks worried because he is sure that he is going to go up. Maggie is talking, but everyone including Ivette looks disinterested with what she has to say. Thursday, July 28, 2005 -- Late afternoon Hines Ward has said that he definitely will not attend the Steelers training camp on Sunday unless he has a deal with the team. As Hines said, "You said you want to make me first priority, now here it is a couple days from training camp and we're still negotiating." Everything should work out, but I think the stumbling block is on what is fair market value. Thursday, July 28, 2005 -- Afternoon I watched House Calls today, and it was hilarious. Gretchen dressed as a nurse, and Marcellas wore a fireman's helmet and had a muscle suit on. They were pretending to be Eric and Maggie. Marcellas was yelling and saying "I have integrity--I have a family--do to bed it's 11:30". I was rolling on the ground. Everyone's prediction is that Eric will go out. As Gretchen said, the only thing missing from Marcellas costume is a diaper and a baby pacifier. Eric really is acting like a spoiled, baby, poor loser. Gretchen said that Eric really acts like a big a**hole. I can't wait for tomorrow's show. Eric should get evicted tonight, and I would love it if they would ask some of the questions that we all have about Eric's behavior and how he rationalizes it. Discovery docked with the International Space Station today. Before docking, the shuttle did a back flip so the astronauts in the station could take pictures of the underbelly for any damage. The shuttle astronauts then went over to the station where they were given bread and salt which is supposed to bring you luck in the Russian culture. Meanwhile NASA has announced that future shuttle flights are grounded due to the debris issue that NASA has with the fuel tanks. The question my boyfriend had this morning is why all of a sudden has debris become a problem. We just didn't know that it has been a problem of late. It seems that there were problems with the Columbia flight in 1997. The scientists found that there was more damage to that Columbia flight than there has been in the past--with damage in areas that should not have been damaged and of a greater intensity than in the past. What they suspected was the reason is that they changed the way they were making the foam. Originally it was made with freon, but in the interests of being environmentally safe they changed the chemical makeup. Now the problem could be due to the adhesive that attaches the foam to the tanks or the actual makeup of the current foam. I say go back to the original formula even if it isn't environmentally correct. Hines Ward has turned down an over $7 million dollar signing bonus with the Steelers yesterday. Negotiations are still on, and things will be worked out, at least according to the local sports analysts. The Steelers really do want to sign Hines, and it's probably just going to take some compromise on both sides to make it happen. Training camp starts this Sunday so we will have to see if Hines shows up for it, or if he will be a hold out. It's about time! Bob Goodenow is stepping down as the head of the NHLPA. After he wrecked havoc with the players and hockey in general, he steps down. It seems that even though there were several years left on Goodenow's contract, he wasn't too happy with the labor agreement so he stepped down. Goodenow is one of those people who believe that a stone can release blood if you squeeze it hard enough. For what Goodenow did to hockey, the only I have to say is good riddance! In other hockey news, The Dominator, Dominik Hasek will continue to play for the Ottawa Senators. The Dominator should make $2.8 million this coming year. I have to admit that the Dominator is one of my favorite players. He has such a slinky spine, and makes the most amazing saves. Wednesday, July 27, 2005 -- Evening I am catching up on some of my shows on the DVR. First up was the second season of Endurance. The fifth episode is titled Rollerball. It started with a recap of the last show. Annie could notice nervousness amongst the others. Michelle wants to win even though they have an extra ball. The game: each of the teammates have to take an end of a board and roll the ball from one end to the other which has a basket on the very end. If the ball falls, they have to start all over. Everyone has to get two into the basket except for Orange who have to get an extra ball. Brown got the first ball into the basket, followed by Green. Yellow got a second one also. Green got their second ball in first, with Brown hot on their heels. As Tyler of Orange said, the hardest part was working together. Michelle and Tyler don't work well together. Keetin feels safer, but thinks that it stinks to get another enemy. Mike asks who would really hate him if they were sent to the Temple and came back. Everyone said they would. Jeff is pretty sure that Orange will be going to the Temple, but isn't sure who else might go. Annie said that Mike told her that Keetin wants to send Purple. The reason was because Annie didn't talk to Keetin. Jeff told Annie to be nice to Keetin because they don't want the girls to get rid of Purple because of Annie. It seems that Annie is a guy's girl and is hanging out with all the guys. Calley is really big on sending Purple because she doesn't like Annie. There is some controversy over Annie liking Mike. Calley tells Keetin that Annie said she doesn't like Mike. Calley tells Mike that everone is saying that they should send Purple, but Mike doesn't want to feel the wrath of Annie. Orange was definite, but it's not sure yet who the second team will be. Calley admits that she would like Purple to leave because Annie doesn't like Calley. Who does Green pick? Orange and Red. Keetin took a long time before she got out the Red. Jacquelynn was totally shocked and started crying in her confessional. Phil thought he had a bond with Green, and couldn't believe that he was sent. Annie tells Jacquelynn that's part of the game--you just come back and get revenge. Keetin says that people are scared of the strength of red. Meanwhile Annie admits that she was scared out of her mind, and she was relieved. Annie kept on saying that Keetin kept on staring at her all during the ceremony. At the beach, Phil promised Jacquelynn that they will be coming back. Jacquelynn just can't get over the fact that she was sent because she was such friends with the Green team. In confessional, Jacquelynn says they better hope Red doesn't come back for sweet revenge. Tyler doesn't want to come back. He wants to go home, and he doesn't care what Michelle wants. Phil says that he was friends with Green two hours ago, and now they are complete enemies. In the first game at the Temple, Orange picks water and Red picks fire. Orange wins. In the second game, Jacquelynn is looking to Phil for an answer that he can't provide on whether Orange thinks they will pick fire again. Orange picks fire and Red picks wood. Orange team wins and goes back to the beach. Jacquelynn starts crying alot because she doesn't want to go home. Orange is still in the game and heads back to the beach. I noticed at the campfire scene that Scooter was sitting there hugging his stuffed teddy bear. Very touching because you have to realize these are kids. The sixth episode was Tide Pull. The show starts with the kids grouping around JD Roth to get Red team's piece and read their note. Mike reads the note. The note starts; Dear Everyone except Mike and Keetin. They said that Annie was the nicest and Shep was very helpful. Red leaves their piece to the Blue team. They now have the Discipline piece. Red comments that they think Blue will win. They end their note a PS. It says that "now everyone knows Green's true colors and we hope Keetin gets bitten by a chicken". Keetin cackles at that one. In today's mission, you can take out any team you want. You can join together with anyone else to eliminate another team. Keetin isn't the brightest and didn't get the comment about "true colors" and Calley and Jenna had to explain that Red felt betrayed by Green. Meanwhile everyone is getting nervous with Blue. Brown, Green and Purple feel that Blue is taking up Red's revenge and is going to target them. Shep tells Max to keep his head together and not make a stupid mistake. Blue says that he is going to take them all out. Fateful words because no single team should think they can take out several teams. Let's see if it works for Scooter. The game is at the beach. A canoe for each team is connected to a pole on the beach. JD asks Michelle how the game is going to change, and Michelle says she's going to win. Scooter was feeling confident in his ability to perform. The piece that they will be competing for is the Strength team. One teammember goes into the boat. That person gets to row out for 30 seconds, then anyone can pull in any boat. Everyone can pick on one or separate boats. The boat that crosses the line is out. Last boat out wins. They started paddling, and Calley was getting in everyone's way. Everyone ran to Blue and pulled them in. Blue and Orange went to pull Yellow in. Yellow was first out because Calley sucked at this game. Then Blue was out. Everyone then went after Orange. Brown and Purple pulled in Green. It was down to Purple and Brown. Max pulled in Purple so Brown won the mission. They got the Strength piece and got the power of the Samati. Brown went for Yellow first and then Brown. Scooter says everyone going for Blue says to him that Blue is superior. Jenna is thankful that they made it this far. Jenna says that it's going to be hard to make a decision because they have alliances with everyone on the beach. Annie says that if she goes out, she won't give her pieces to Yellow because she hates Calley and doesn't want her to win even though she likes Shep. Calley wants Purple and Blue gone. She tries to get Shep to agree with her, but he won't commit because he doesn't know anything. Considering that they don't have the power, there is nothing to decide. Max goes to Scooter and says that if he doesn't give the samati to Scooter will Scooter not send Brown to Temple. Everyone is angry at the fact that Brown is making deals with everyone and not giving it to Blue. Max goes back to Scooter to change the deal and say that if they make a deal, that would include Yellow and Green. Max, Scooter and Christa shake on the deal. Scooter has been holding his teddy bear the entire time while the deal is made. The whole group meets up at the rock for the day's analysis. JD commented on how everyone went for the Blue team. Scooter says that he thinks Max will go for him too, but it's okay. JD asks if Purple and Brown were working together and if Purple feels safe. Shep from Yellow admits to Yellow, Green and Brown working together. JD comments that Calley looked really sad on the walk up. At that point, Calley tries to answer but begins crying. She says the reason is people. JD asked if she wanted to talk about it. Calley said that some people on the beach have low self esteem and need to pick on other people. She said that person knows who they are. JD tells them that they need to be supportive and needs to work with each other. JD said that person should approach Calley and talk to her--and he said that Shep seemed like a good partner and very supportive. Now it's on to the Samati. Who will Brown give it to? Max said that they like everyone on the beach, and they feel sorry for Orange so they are changing it up and giving it to Blue. Meanwhile Scooter was holding out his hand the entire time waiting for it. JD said that he can promise that they have something that will make it difficult for them to win the game. Scooter opens the Samati. Blue team has a 10 second delay before they can start tomorrow's game. Christa said that the Samati will impact their chances greatly, especially considering that they haven't won anything yet. Scooter just thinks 10 seconds will delay them from winning. Scooter added that someone is going to have to go home, and he wants to send them home. And so the show ends. Wednesday, July 27, 2005 -- Afternoon I've been watching the Big Brother live feeds this morning, and Eric is trying to get folks to vote for him so he can stay on the show. He went to Jennifer and was saying how great it would be to still be in the house and put a crimp in Kaysar's plans. So Jennifer said to Eric, "don't you think it's cruel that you have been saying for a few days now that you want to go home and your kids are getting excited at seeing you and you want to stay here. Aren't they going to be disappointed?" Eric blew that off by saying that if he didn't go home this week, it would be next week so it was all good. What an ass wipe! You know that he doesn't just want to stay one more week--he wants to go further. I think that Jennifer hit the nail on the head. Eric probably really doesn't care about his kids or his wife--just himself. With the anger that he shows, by almost getting into a physical fight with a two degree black belt who could have used Eric's butt to mop the floor and by visciously grabbing the hat from James head in yesterday's show, I wonder how he acts towards his loved ones when they get him angry. Eric really needs to get some anger management. It's probably all pent up because he's so short. You know the type--little, angry Napoleons. So now Eric is trying to get Rachel and Howie to vote for him to stay in the house. I don't know how dumb Eric is, but he sure does come across as an arrogant idiot! I was watching House Calls today. If you haven't seen the show, make sure to check out the archives. On the show today, Marcellas and Gretchen showed some video of Howie and Beau kissing out in the back yard. They also brought up the plot that April, Ivette and Beau came up with to have Beau give Howie a handjob and then blackmail Howie to vote the way that Beau and company want. Marcellas was incensed at the plan and called Beau a either a cheap hoe or a well paid hooker depending on how Beau does in the end. As Marcellas said, Beau has set back gay men at least 500 years. Meanwhile Jennifer is now in the HOH room telling Kaysar that she didn't vote the way that she said that she would. So that must mean that she did vote for Maggie to leave. She tells Kaysar that she understands that he might not trust her now, but she did what she thought was in her best interests. As Jennifer says, you have to defend your friend to the end because that's your partner, and she can't abandon April even though she knows that April is against her. Jennifer says that she's just not that sort of person. I finished reading Mistletoe and Murder by Carola Dunn. This is the eleventh book in the Daisy Dalrymple series. The books are set in the 1920s, and Daisy is a modern woman for the times and supports herself by writing articles about stately homes. Since her father was an Earl, Daisy has access to and knows how to behave in the higher levels of society. From the first book in the series, Death at Wentwater Court, Daisy finds herself involved in murder and meeting her future husband, Scotland Yard's own Alec Fletcher. In Mistletoe and Murder, we find Daisy travelling to Lord Westmoor's home in Cornwall that is based on a real-life house, Cotehele. Daisy asked Lord Westmoor if she could write an article about the house based on the fact that she is a distant relation to Westmoor. Since Daisy's visit is around Christmas time, it is only natural that her mother would wrangle an invite for Christmas under the mistaken impression that the Lord of the Manor would be present. Unfortunately, the Lord of the Manor isn't there, but his poor relations are. As the holiday nears, murder appears when a clergyman brought from Indian by one of the relations winds up dead. Motive for the murder is that the clergyman can prove that the matriarch of the poor relations was actually married to the son of the former Lord Westmoor which will mean that the family will inherit the title and wealth. Since Alec is a Scotland Yard man on the scene, he is told to carry on an investigation. With the help of Daisy, his young daughter Belinda, and Daisy's nephew, Derrick, Alec solves the murder. The story is a very fun, light real, and as with the other books in the series, it's not very hard to figure out whodunit. The one problem that I have with the books is that the first book starts in 1923, and by the time you get to the 12th book, it is still 1923. Obviously, Carola doesn't keep track of the passing time. Other than that, the story is light and entertaining. A quick read when you want to forget about the troubles of the world. The NHL has released the schedule for the coming season. For the Pens schedule, the first game will be an away game on Oct. 5 against the New Jersy Devils, and the home opener will be on Oct. 8 against the Boston Bruins. Wednesday, July 27, 2005 -- Morning Discovery is being checked out for damagae that may have occurred during the flight. It appears that a chunk of insulation came off of the fuel rocket again, but this time did not appear to hit the shuttle. Also, there is a tile that is missing near one of the wheel wells. In the past, tiles have gone missing during the launch. It was only a problem with the last flight, and I believe that may have been because the lose of the tiles was in a sensitive area. Supposedly, this time around, the astronauts will be able to carry out some repairs on tiles while orbitting. In fact, it was on the schedule to do some fixes just to make certain that it can be accomplished. I don't know if I would want to go up in the shuttle. As I was saying yesterday, the 1 in 100 odds (which in real life is actually 1 in 57) just don't strike me as very promising. After looking up the odds of dying it appears that you are as likely to die in the space shuttle as in a motor vehicle accident. At least with the 1 in 100 odds. The Pitt basketball team is trying to improve its chances of getting a good NCAA seeding with the release of their non-conference schedule. The complaint about Pitt has been that they have a soft non-conference schedule. Usually the Athletic department seems to come up with teams that would be comparable to a high school team for Pitt to play. That generates some problems because the team doesn't get a good preconference schedule workout, if you lose to a high school team it really looks bad, and it doesn't help for seeding purposes later in the year. So you beat five high school teams? We'll have to wait to see how the team does this year. Not alot is expected from them because some of the "big" names have graduated or moved on. Tuesday, July 26, 2005 -- Evening I have been looking forward to tonight's episode of Big Brother for some days now. The episode started with the usual recap. We hear how Kaysar's plan was to expose the pairs and make Eric show how he would support Maggie over the others. Maggie said that she couldn't talk to Eric and that's what she wanted to do. Eric commented on how you would have thought someone had died from the depression everyone had. Kaysar knew that his nomination would expose pairs and break up alliances. Meanwhile Eric is walking around telling James to keep his cool. We all know though that Eric doesn't support James and that comes out. Kaysar says that being ruthless is the only way to survive, and he seems James as his friend or that he used to be. Meanwhile Eric goes to Kaysar and asks for Kaysar to use Eric in the power of veto, and that Eric won't use the power of veto. Meaning that Eric would let James go down. Sarah goes to talk to Kaysar, and Kaysar says that he really doesn't want James to go. James then knocks on the door. Kaysar hugs James and tells James that Eric came to Kaysar to offer himself up as a person to compete. Kaysar does let James know that Eric has started campaigning against him. James can see that Kaysar is upset, and says that he is going to make his enemies his friends. James approaches Janelle and says that he is going to compete for the veto. James also thinks that it is really hard to find integrity in Eric when Eric was making deals with everyone just to keep himself safe. James says that if he wins veto and takes himself off, he would like to see Eric nominated in his place. Janelle doesn't think that's possible because of the deal with Kaysar, and that's when James comments on the fact that Eric made deals with everyone. After the commercial break, we see Eric finding that the coasters were removed. They used to toss the coasters into the hole in the coffee table. But the new coasters are clues. Sarah realizes that the coasters are like the wall tiles. She finds the tile where a black light is hidden. Supposedly, there is something written somewhere. Jennifer sees that there is something written on the fish tank. The clue says that there is something about the number of seas that will are on the map will open the first safe on the right. Unfortunately, they can't seem to count the seas and don't know that there are 17 seas on the map. Sarah then goes to Janelle and they start talking about pairs and who all are pairs. Sarah denies to Janelle that she is a pair with James. Sarah then goes to James and says they should tell Kaysar and Janelle that they are a pair. So Sarah tells Janelle that James is her boyfriend, and James tells Kaysar. Kaysar said that he knew that was the case. James said that he felt he had to be straigth to Kaysar if they were going to pull it off. Janelle was shocked that they were dating, she didn't think that was the connection with James and Sarah. Kaysar says that the group is now Kaysar, Janelle, Rachel, Howie, Sarah and James. Kaysar now feels he can trust James. Kaysar wants James to win, and says that if James wins, he will put Eric up. Kaysar then talks to Rachel and tells her that he knows all the partners. He tells Rachel that he knews she and Howie are together. Kaysar lets Rachel know that James and Sarah are dating, and that he wants them to be the final six and then the best couple wins. Kaysar says that they are going to try to get the veto to get James off, and then Eric goes up. Kaysar tells Rachel that if they don't get James off, they won't have the votes to save James. Then Kaysar brings in Howie. Kaysar says they know of Howie and Rachel. Then Kaysar tells of James as a pair with Sarah. Howie thought they were brother and sister. Howie is down with the plan. Kaysar says that the goal is to get them to the final six and let the best man win. I have to admit that I admire Kaysar for telling everyone that the goal is to get them to the final six and then let the best one win. None of this, we will be the final two bull crap that Eric spread around. The commercial break is over. Maggie approached Kaysar and says that she was really hurt. Kaysar insists that he wants James out. Maggie asked why she couldn't have heard this before, and says that she doesn't like being a pawn. Maggie thinks Kaysar is shady, and Kaysar says that it is not personal. Kaysar wishes her luck, but she does not wish him the same. The veto competition beings. Kaysar picks Howie. Maggie choose Ivette. James picked Janelle. James picked her because the house hates Janelle. Ivette said that she almost crapped her pants. Eric said that opened his eyes. When they went out into the backyard, it was a chess board. Maggie claimed to be a chess champion. Each person picks a square and have to make the moves that a knight piece would. Whenever they land on a square, that square is removed from the game. When you can't move to a square, you are eliminated. James set himself up to eliminated one of Ivette's moves. Kaysar took another one of Ivette's squares. Janelle also took another square that eliminated a move for Ivette. Maggie took a corner square. Ivette was eliminated first. It was obvious that they were trying to eliminate Maggie's moves. James, Kaysar, Janelle, and Howie eliminated all her moves. Maggie was out. As Howie said, the pressure was off, and they could just celebrate. Janelle was out next. Kaysar was fourth. Howie was fifth out. James won the golden power of veto. Eric said now that he realized that Howie was part of the "Evil Empire". Ivette said that things were going to ugly and all things were going to break loose. Maggie and Eric look like they are the Evil Empire! Back from commercial break, Maggie comes over all angry and asks to speak to Kaysar in a far corner. Maggie said that things just got ugly, and Kaysar says that he knows. He said that folks tried to back him into a corner, and now he is just playing the game. Kaysar says that Maggie is not the target. Kaysar says I caught your partner, I caught the bigger fish. Boy oh boy, did I love it. Kaysar was just so calm and direct. He said that he didn't hate anyone. Kaysar says that he thought Eric was a dirty player. As Kaysar said, he didn't swear on the Koran. Meanwhile Eric comes in and grabs the hat off of James head. James said that Eric was trying to get James out. James helped Eric to get Michael out of the house, and now Eric was trying to get James out of the house. Eric tries to say he is not upset, but he is just carrying on like a big, petty baby. Then Eric started to really freak out and let out that others had partners. Ivette said, why fight, and James said that Kaysar and company were the only ones who wanted to save James. Ivette starts crying big crocodile tears. Eric tries to tell her not to take the game personal. Ivette said that she is taking this so personally and that it really changes the game for her. Ivette also feels that she will be next out because she was the one most strongly connected to Eric. The last segment. James is contemplating the veto. As James said, he has to use the veto or he's going home. April says that it is sad that James is selling himself out to give up Eric. So James was supposed to meekly just let himself be voted out. The veto meeting starts. James gives his speech saying that he is choosing to use the veto nomination to save his butt. Kaysar has to make another nomination. Kaysar says that it has been crazy and Kaysar's decision were not justified, but that they are. Kaysar nominates Eric. James said that it felt beautiful to see Eric sitting in that seat. Kaysar said that Maggie and Eric look defeated, and that's what he wanted to do--remove the power from Eric. Who will be evicted next? All I know is that Marcellas on House Calls said that he does not want to sit by Eric this Friday if Eric is there. Tuesday, July 26, 2005 -- Afternoon It seems that Jaromir Jagr might be considering remaining in Europe and playing for a Russian hockey team. His reason might mostly be because of the money. Under the new collective bargining agreement, Jagr would not be able to make the salary that he's supposed to make. This coming season, he should make $11 million, but the CBA says that no player can make more that 20% of the $39 million team salary cap. That means that Jagr could only make a maximum of $7.8 million. Also in Europe the season is shorter, less physical, and it favors the offensive player. Playing for the Russian team, Avangard Omsk, this past year also saw a return to Jagr's formal scoring skill. So for Jagr, it might make sense to remain in Europe. We'll have to see what decision he makes. Tuesday, July 26, 2005 -- Late morning Discovery had liftoff at 10:39 am today. It was quite a dramatic moment. I think that folks have lost sight at times about how impressive and dangerous it is to send man into space. After all, there's not only the lift off, but the reentry. There was clean separation of the rockets. I don't know that I would want to go up to space in the space shuttle. NASA estimates the risk of a catastrope happening with one of the shuttles is 1 in 100. Those odds aren't very good in my opinion. The actual rate of catastrophic failure has been 2 in 113 flights which is 1 in 57. So far, Discovery is doing well. The mission is scheduled to be 13 days long with a return early in the morning on Sunday, August 7. Tuesday, July 26, 2005 -- Morning Discovery is on target for launching in an hour's time. The hatch was closed on the astronauts a few minutes ago. So far, everything is going fine, and there hasn't been a repeat of the fuel gage glitch that caused the last flight to be delayed. Instead of watching the event on television, I am watching it via NASA TV. Sidney Crosby has already had a positive effect on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since it was announced that the Pens had won the lottery draft, the season ticket sales have increased dramatically. Although the Pens have not officially released any figures, rumors are that the number of tickets sold is estimated to be 150,000. The only thing that the Pens have released is that they are getting phone calls from ten states for tickets. That is good news for the Pens because in the last season that we had hockey, ticket sales were down. I went to a few games because I got some free tickets, but I have to admit that I wasn't too excited about paying $50 for obstructed viewing seats while the Pens were playing so poorly. Since ticket prices have dropped, I am looking at some partial season ticket plans myself. So far, Hines Ward still has not signed a contract deal with the Steelers. It's not clear what the hold up is, or if Hines Ward will report to training camp this coming Sunday. From what I have heard from the local sports reporters, the Steelers are going to sign Hines, so I'm imagining that the hold up must be how much money Hines will get. Monday, July 25, 2005 -- Afternoon Sarunas Jasikevicius, my favorite EuroLeague player, has signed a three year deal with the Indiana Pacers. It seems that he chose the Pacers even though he will make less money and possibly get fewer minutes because he might stand a better shot at the NBA title. His only other offers were from the Jazz and the Cavaliers. I was just watching the live feeds from Big Brother before I developed problems with my Internet connection. The fish were up for a while and then the feed came back. It looks like Eric has been nominated for eviction. It's difficult to confirm though because Eric has been talking as if he was up on the block since James won the veto. I am really getting tired of hearing Eric talk about how honorable he is, and how he has ethics. He would have voted James off without a second thought. Because James does something to save himself from elimination, James is evil. I think that Eric is a jerk, and it will be nice to see him facing Marcellas on Friday after Eric's eviction. Monday, July 25, 2005 -- Morning So many things get sold on E-Bay. Today there are two items that are in the news. The first item Moshe Dayan's eyepatch. It seems that the eye patch was given to his bodyguard just minutes after Dayan died in 1981. The eye patch is now in the hands of an Israeli art dealer company, Pasarel, who is also selling a Smith & Wesson revolver that was presented to Dayan while he was Israeli Minister of Defense. The revolver is engraved with Dayan's signature. Since guns can't be sold on E-Bay, it is available only through the dealer. The asking price for the eye patch is $75,000, and so far, there are no bids on the item. The second item for sale is David Ben-Gurion's Hanukkiyah which is a mennorah that is specifically used for Hanukkah. The unique thing about the Hanukkiyah is that it is made from bullet cartridges. The hanukkiyah was made in 1948 and was in honor of Ben-Gurion visiting the Ayalon Institute, a bullet institute. is that it The item is also being sold by Pasarel. The asking price for the Hanukkiyah is $12,500. The British government has come up with a plan to promote a love of reading among children. the plan is to give books, crayons, and writing paper to children up to the age of 4. Bags of the material will be given to the children based on age, and will be distributed at libraries, health clinics and nurseries. On the Big Brother front, Eric was sitting this morning bemoaning his fate to Rachel. Even though the veto ceremony hasn't been held yet, Eric is sure that he will be nominated and voted out of the house. I haven't seen such a pity party in a long time. Meanwhile Jennifer is being cheered on by her fellow dancers with the Dallas Desparados. It seems that the team doesn't usually encourage the team dancers to participate in such things, but they made an exception for Jennifer. The thing that I find interesting is that Jennifer has a BA in Eduation, and is working on a Masters in Counseling and Psychology. I suppose that I'm abit surprised that she has such intellectual endeavors because she just comes across as a ditz. Sunday, July 24, 2005 -- Evening It's interesting to watch the change in alliances on Big Brother now. Kaysar, Janelle, Howie, Rachel, James and Sarah seem to be a group now. The others in the house really seem to be angry with James. From what I can tell, all of this anger towards him seems to stem from the fact that James won the power of veto, and will be able to take himself off the chopping block. From what I can tell from hearing James talking about the competition with Sarah, Kaysar, Howie and Rachel, it seems that the competition had a chess feel to it. It appears that there was some sort of setup where the person had to pick a position and then had to maneuver around and eliminate others. From what I can tell somehow James must have eliminated Maggie. There also seems to be a bad case of sour grapes amongst the others. Eric and Ivette want to appear holier than thou when they would have eagerly sent James home. Because he did something that foils their plan, James is the bad guy. Meanwhile, Eric, Ivette, April, Beau, Maggie and Jennifer are sitting outside putting down Sarah because she can't spell. Eric also seems to think that James is a stupid person and Eric claims he can't have an intelligent conversation with James because James has only one opinion. Hmm, the same could be said of Eric, but I suppose that Eric feels that his one opinion is the right one, and James has the wrong one. It is really amazing to hear people bad mouthing others when they were such great friends only a few days ago. I didn't think that Kaysar's move was such a bright one on Friday, but he really does appear to have achieved his goal of really turning the house on its ear. I think that the funniest comment that I heard was Eric telling April that the reason James does not like April is because James is jealous of April. Supposedly, James is hoping that his life is as together and that he looks as good at 30 as April does. I think that the reason James is irritate with April is because she is annoying and a liar. Eric and Maggie don't realize that Ivette, Beau, April and Jennifer are lying over the partner bit. From the live feeds, I have been seeing April working so hard to deny that she knows Jennifer. I think James made the right move to remove himself from the petty group. Personally, I find Ivette, Eric and April the three most annoying people in the house. Of course, there is nothing like drama, and the changes in alliance have really caused alot of drama. I can't wait to see the power of veto competition on Tuesday. Lance Armstrongwon the Tour de France today for the seventh year in a row. He will be retiring after this year. I'll bet there are alot of folks who are happy to hear it because it will give someone else a chance to win the race. It's amazing what Lance has done after being diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread. At 7:38 pm EDT, Kaysar called all the houseguests together in the living room. It was because of Sarah's birthday, and the PB&J restriction was removed for a meal and everyone had pizza and cake. Also Sarah got a birthday card from home, and started to cry. Meanwhile Ivette was the first person to grab up the food to take outside. Sarah remained in the storage room reading her card and crying while James stayed with her. Everyone is happy now, and Big Brother says the celebration can continue to midnight! Saturday, July 23, 2005 -- Evening The Big Brother show was on this evening. The show started with the recap of Thursday's show. We heard that Kaysar was saddened that he lost his partner especially since he suspects that everyone else in the house has a partner. Janelle says that she will avenge Michael's loss. Kaysar admitted that he felt the game got ten times more difficult. Meanwhile Ivette was strutting around with alot of happiness. Janelle was sad because she only had Ashlea and Michael to hang out with. April claims that she always like Janelle, which April admits in the diary room is a lie. As Janelle says, April is not a very good liar. Then Kaysar won the HOH--delivering a crushing blow to everyone. Even Eric admitted that everyone had a deer in the headlights look. Janelle was extremely happy because she knows that Kaysar is on her side. Rachel says that she is excited over Kaysar being HOH becaues it will remove a strong player. Ivette commented that Allah was looking over Kaysar and gave him the win he needed. Howie, Janelle and Kaysar went off to celebrate in the Gold Room. Howie commented on how they were all sweating bullets. Kaysar said that he is not going to focus on vengence because there is a game to play. Ivette is very nervous and Janelle admits that she hates Ivette, but she would rather have James or Eric gone. The power is now in Kaysar's hands, and everyone else wonders what will happen. Ivette calls Janelle the dumb girl, and says that the "dumb girls" always stay. James enters the Gold Room to get peanuts and they invite James to stay. Eric is upset because Howie has crossed over to the dark side by being friends with Janelle and Kaysar. Howie is a person who makes decisions based on the game, and recommends James and Maggie as people to go up. Kaysar admits that only Howie and Janelle are safe this week. Then we get to see Kaysar's HOH room. He got his hookah pipe. As he said, it is for light tobacco. Kaysar also go meats that he can eat. Kaysar figures out that Sarah is James girlfriend. Kaysar wants James on his side, and wants to create the biggest chain reaction. Also Kaysar wants to have the pairs compete against each other. After the commercial break, Kaysar has James enter the HOH room. Kaysar thought James looked nervous, and he admits that he knows all about the tandem thing. James claims his partner had to back out due to medical reasons. Kaysar mentions all the pairing, and says that only James and Sarah are left. Kaysar mentions that if James lies to him, he will catch him out. Kaysar wants James to work with him. James says in the diary room that he is the biggest bullshiter. Kaysar says that he won't put James up. Ivette is talking to April about how she can't talk about her relationship. She admits to April that she doesn't have a boyfriend, but a girlfriend. April says that God sent Ivette to her because April would not judge her or out her. Ivette is testing April's honesty and loyalty. Meanwhile in HOH, Kaysar is trying to figure out how to use James. Janelle does not trust James at all. Janelle wants to put James and Maggie up to have Eric go to save Maggie so James could see that Eric is not on James' side. Kaysar really wants to flip the game upside down, and thinks this might be the way to do it. Another commercial break, we see Howie being Howie. Rachel said that Howie has an odd sense of humor, but Rachel loves him so, even though she has put up with it for 8-10 years. Howie makes fun of her over the age boobies (Rachel is the oldest at 33). Meanwhile Howie keeps on going on about Rachel's underwear and her great body. As Howie says, he was always trying to get a piece of her, but Rachel only saw her as a friend. Rachel doesn't think anyone would suspect they were friends, or that Howie would ever be the time she would consider a friend. Meanwhile Rachel seems to be the only one who can control Howie. Now it is on to the food competition and spelling bee. "Will Spell 4 Food". One at a time, each person picks up a silver platter, picks up the cover, and then spells the food there. If it is correct, that person gets to remove a PB&J wedge from the wheel. Then someone spins the wheel. First is Ivette with avocado. She is correct. Second is Janelle with spaghetti. She misspells it. I think she did it on purpose to look stupid. James is third with Ham. Of course, he gets it correct. Then comes Rachel with broccoli, she misspells it. Then it's Jennifer with mayonnaise. She gets it correct. Then comes April with pepperoni. She has a dog named Pepperoni and spells it right. Then Beau with asparagus. He gets it right. Then comes Eric with marshmallow. He gets it right. Then comes Maggie. She gets papaya and spells it right. Then comes Howie with rhubarb. He misspells it. Last is Sarah. She gets cauliflower. And misspells it. There were only four PB&Js on the wheel, and Kaysar got to spin it. As Janelle said it was 75% or 2-1 (which is 67%). They all start celebrating too soon, and then the wheel ends up on PB&J. Sarah claims that she could spell cauliflower, but gave in to the pressure. Everyone is upset over eating PB&J. Another break, Kaysar is asking Howie if he would admit what his religion is. Howie says that he is a Jedi. As Howie says, he is training to be a Jedi 24 hours. As Howie says, no one is teaching Jedi lessons. We really get a good view of how crazy and weird Howie is. Then Kaysar tells Howie that Jedis don't have sex. Howie then admits that he would have to go to the dark side to have sex. We then see Howie and Ivette talking in the HOH room. Kaysar says that if Ivette apologized after getting Kaysar so upset he would think differently of her. Kaysar asks if he hadn't won HOH if he would be up this week. Ivette turns it around to saying that Janelle would have put him up. She also says that they would have put Janelle up first. Ivette tries to talk Kaysar into putting up her and Janelle so they could get rid of Janelle and then they would all keep Kaysar safe. Then we see Sarah talking to Kaysar. Sarah admits that she is looking for someone to trust. So Kaysar says, "so you are not with James?" Sarah lies. Kaysar says that something weird is going on, and there is something going on between Sarah and James and he wants to know what it is. Kaysar says that Eric and company said to put James and Sarah up. Sarah goes back to James and told him what Kaysar said. Sarah then says that they should go to Kaysar and tell him the truth. James then goes to Kaysar, and says that if Kaysar puts up Janelle everyone would love him and keep him safe. Kaysar says he has already made a promise with Howie and Janelle. He would like to have James on his side, but not at the cost of Janelle and Howie. The final commercial break is over, and we go back to see Kaysar contemplating the nominations. James admitted to not sleeping a wink the previous night. Eric feels that he is safe. Maggie says that she doesn't believe she will be nominated and would be very surprised if she is nominated. Nomination ceremony. Kaysar says it is difficult to pick two people. Jennifer is the first one safe. Then comes Beau, April, Rachel, Eric, Howie (he thanks Kaysar), Sarah, Ivette, and Janelle. That leaves Maggie and James. Kaysar says James is a great player, and he says the same applies to Maggie. Kaysar says that the house is very stunned, and that Kaysar would go after the obvious targets. Sarah says that she can't trust alot of people that she thought she could. Eric says that he feels responsible for Maggie and he will do whatever he can to keep Maggie in the house. As Kaysar says, he has really scrambled people up, and it is chaos and he loves it. Saturday, July 23, 2005 -- Late afternoon Boy, the drama on the live feeds! It seems that people know that Howie and Rachel, Maggie and Eric, and James and Sarah are partners. Ivette, Beau, April and Jennifer are denying that they know each other still. Ivette is really having hysterics over the fact that she couldn't control the game to allow her and Beau to be the final two. She is crying and screaming because she is going to voted out. As Maggie says though, Maggie is on the block, and she isn't carrying on like Ivette, and Ivette is still in the game. Kaysar right now is admitting that he knew Michael, and that he is being honest. Ivette doesn't seem to get the fact that it is a game and that everyone is playing it. Meanwhile Ivette is braying on and on about how she has been betrayed by James. She just needs to get the heck over it. Saturday, July 23, 2005 -- Afternoon I wasn't watching the live feed so I missed the competition, but I started watching just now at 4:40 pm EDT, and James is talking about how he won the veto competition. He is now saying how relieved he is and this is obviously going to change things. James would be a complete idiot if he doesn't take himself off the block. If he does, I wonder who Kaysar will put up instead of James. James is discussing the issue with Eric who is obviously wondering how this will affect Maggie. Meanwhile Kaysar is in the HOH room with Janelle and Howie, and the group does not seem too upset. I'm sure that Kaysar must have a backup plan. I may be wrong, but I think that the trio may be talking about putting up Eric against Maggie since they are partners. Saturday, July 23, 2005 -- Morning Kaysar made what I consider to be a stupid move last night. He nominated James and Sarah for eviction. I would have put up Eric even if I did make a deal with him. In fact, I would not have made a deal with Eric because it was obvious that he was scheming to keep himself in the house as long as possible. Anyway, the rationale in putting up James and Maggie is to show Eric's true colors. Supposedly Eric has been telling James that he would always have his back, but with Maggie on the block, he won't be able to do that. Sarah is crying because it seems that the agenda will be to keep Maggie over James. It will be interesting to see who plays for and wins the power of veto. I wonder who Kaysar will nominate if someone is removed. On the sports scene, Carl Krauser says that he will be returning to Pitt this coming season. Alot of the sports commentators here in Pittsburgh think that is a bad decision on Krauser's part. They think that he should have taken an offer to play in the European league because it would have been better development for him. Supposedly Krauser had a few offers in that area. Well, Krauser claims he made his decision because of the fans, but I think that he made it because he thought that it would be the safe and comfortable decision. Also, I think that he has dreams about the NBA that will not be realized. Hmmm. Maybe he is only putting off the inevitable for a year. The sports fans in Pittsburgh are really excited over the Penguins winning the lottery yesterday. This is just the boost that the team needs. Now if Ed Rendell gets off his butt and makes sure that the some assistance goes towards an arena for the Pens, either with some funding or a slots license, we would be able to keep the team here in Pittsburgh. Rendell is supposedly trying to buy votes in the area because he is not as well liked in this region because for most of his term of office he has pored money into the eastern half of the state. Friday, July 22, 2005 -- Late afternoon The NHL draft lottery was just televised live on ESPN's news channel. Believe it or not, the Pittsburgh Penguins won the number one pick in the lottery. I am still trying to calm down from my emotional exhiliaration. As they were counting down from the number 30 pick to the number 1, it came down to the final two--the Penguins and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Next week is the actual draft. Wow! It's just hard to get over the fact that we will be getting Sidney Crosby! Friday, July 22, 2005 -- Afternoon After waiting for a long time, the food competition began around 12:30 pm. All the houseguests has to sit on a stage with a number around their necks. The game was interrupted by the fish. It is irritating how you pay to watch the live feeds, but then get these interruptions. The game was a spelling bee. One at a time, the houseguests had to go to a silver platter and lift it so Kaysar could see the food item. Kaysar will put the item in a sentence. If they can spell the item, they get remove a pie piece on the wheel. If they don't think they can spell the food correctly, they can pass and go to another platter. There is only one pass for the group. If they spell it correctly, they can remove a pb&j piece from the wheel. At the end of the spelling bee, they pick one person who spins the wheel, and get food for the house. It's hard to figure out what the rules were because of the fish interruptions and the fact that Kaysar seemed to have issues with reading the rules. After that, we had a rather lengthy interval of fish. Ivette was first. Her food was avocado. She got it right. She removed a pb&j wedge and food was underneath. I guess that either get food or pb&j. Janelle was second. Her dish was spaghetti. She spelled it wrong. I think that she did it on purpose. She left out the "h". James was next. He had ham. James spelled it right. So he took off a wedge. Rachel was next. Her food was broccoli. She spelled it incorrectly, but they thought it was right and she removed a wedge. Jennifer was next. I didn't catch what she had because of the damn fish which wound up staying on for quite some time. I think they caught that they let Rachel remove a wedge and made her return it. Jennifer had mayonnaise, and spelled it correctly. April had pepperoni and spelled it correctly. Beau was next. He has asparagus and I think that he got it right. I was having connection problems, and it seems they were frequently going to fish to check on the spelling that they got from people. I don't know what Eric or Maggie had, but Maggie spelled her work correctly. Howie came up, and it looked like he had rhubarb. Howie didn't spell it correctly. Sarah was up last, and she had jalapeno. She was stupid and couldn't spell it, and took a pass. There was one tray left which was cauliflower. She seems to be really stupid, and not know how to spell anything. What a ding-dong! She spelled it coliflower. What a dingaling! So now they have to pick one houseguest to spin the wheel, and they picked Kaysar. It landed on PB&J. So that means they have a week of peanut butter and jelly. The houseguests were really upset because they started celebrating before the wheel stopped moving. The fault lies with those who could not spell. Meanwhile Michael was on House Calls at the same time. Since the food competition was over at 1:12, I was able to catch the last half of the interview. I'm sure that the best part was earlier with comments about midget Eric and Kaysar. I'll have to check out the archives later. One of the comments that Michael made is that he loved Howie, and was sure that Howie meant well--he was just a spaz. Gretchen asked about the fight. Michael said that it started with the pact. Michael did not appreciate being put up by Eric because they had a pact. Michael knew that it was supposed to be Janelle and Jennifer, so Jennifer made up a story about being sexually harrassed by Michael. As Michael said Jennifer was always following him around, and then it changed all of a sudden. As Michael said, the fight or argument started because Michael looked at Eric. It seems that Michael is 6 ft. 5 in. and Eric is midget-like. Also, Michael has a second degree blackbelt in something that is a mix of aikido and kickboxing. We then got to see the interview with Marcellas and Michael prior to entering Big Brother. It seems Michael was born in France, lived in Italy and other European nations. Then he also spent some time in the Middle East. Michael thought that he was picked because of his background and because he could bring something different to the house. Michael's job deals with special effects so his goal was not to be famous by being on Big Brother. Michael's parents still live in Italy. Marcellas asked for Michael's strategy to win, and Michael really wouldn't say other than the fact that he did have a strategy. Michael said that keeping his integrity will keep him to the end. The interview ended, and Marcellas said that all the interviews are on the website. Marcellas notes that Michael was the originator of the idea of going to Big Brother, and picked Kaysar to join him, and then Kaysar just let Michael down. Marcellas doesn't think that Kaysar will put up Eric. Marcellas even thinks that Kaysar will give in to popular public opinion and will put up Janelle. Marcellas would like Eric and Ivette put up, and I have to admit that I agree with it. A caller brought up that on the HOH Blog, Eric said that he ate his sardines in the food competition and Michael's. That was not what happened! Michael ate all of his, and some of Eric's. Talk about revisionist history! Also, Marcellas brought up the fact that when Julie Chen asked Eric about the comments that Michael made Eric lied and made up what Michael said. From what I saw on the live feeds, Michael didn't really say anything about Eric's parents abandoning him. All I saw was Michael say something about his grandparents dying as a joke to Janelle and then apologizing for even saying it. Some caller called in to say that House Calls is one sided because they are so against Eric. Marcellas hung up on her because she started to say that Marcellas wanted Kaysar to hit Ivette. Marcellas became outraged at that because he would never want something like that to happen, and he hung up on her. I like the fact that they are one sided because it just make it so funny, and I don't think that Marcellas ever wanted Kaysar to hit Ivette. Another caller commented on how the houseguests couldn't even say good-bye to Michael. That was a low point for the house. Friday, July 22, 2005 -- Morning It seems that Janelle of Big Brother has had some problems with the law. It seems that right before she entered the Big Brother house, she made an appearance in court for an outstanding 3 and 1/2 year old warrant for shoplifting from Macy's. The charge was initially brought in December 2001, and three bench warrants were issued before Janelle showed up this past June 24. She pleaded guilty and will have to pay a $982 fine and have to stay 100 yards away from Macy's. That wasn't Janelle's first brush with the law. She was also arrested for drunk driving in August 2000. Again, Janelle had some problems showing up for her arraignment. That charge resulted in a $1000 fine, 1 year probation and enrollment in an alcohol education program. For all her claims of being an "intelligent" woman, she really hasn't been very smart about how she handles her personal life. Scientists have completed a chemical study of Mars, and they believe that Mars has been cold. These scientists believe that any periods of warmth on the planet may have been short lived, and that the notion that the planet was ever warm for an extended period of time are not true. Now there is some contradictory evidence from some meteorites that scientists believe came from Mars. It seems that these meteorites shows that there is evidence of microbial activity on Mars. Which is it? Well, perhaps the microbes were ones that developed and thrived in cold temperatures. Our prejudice is that we believe there is only one way for life to be initiated and prosper. As we do more investigation, we may find that there are alternatives. Thursday, July 21, 2005 -- Late evening Well, the scheming has started on the live feeds of Big Brother. Eric is plotting over who will not vote him out of the house, and he and Ivette are really thinking of what will happen with the nominations. I am pretty sure that if Kaysar is smart, he will nominate Eric and Ivette. The thing is if someone wins the veto, and takes one of them off, you know that Kaysar will just put someone else up in that person's place that would be part of Eric's sheep alliance. It is just wonderful to see them all scurrying around like little scared mice. Michael must indeed be getting the last laugh. Now if Janelle wins the HOH competition next week, they can put a really big dent in the Eric Sheep alliance! Controvery and drama is so much more exciting and appealing than watching the Sheep mow down the competition. I am glad the Sheep are getting their comeupance because it's fine for them to malign others and throw them out of the house, but when it comes around to them, they can't take it. What a bunch of hypocritical babies! I am really hoping Kaysar nominates Eric and Ivette. That would just be so just! Thursday, July 21, 2005 -- Evening Tonight is live eviction night on Big Brother. The show starts a recap of the last week. We see how power has gone to Eric's head, and I have to agree with Marcellas who has opened my eyes to what a jerk Eric has become. He definitely has the short man's Napoleon complex going on. Julie Chen announces that it is Day 19, and that housemates are starting to figure out that there are pairs in the house. We see the veto ceremony again. Everyone in this house is too wussy to use the veto. I think that they should force them too. Michael says that he hopes that he and Eric have reached some level of civility. Eric said that he wanted Michael to know that the situation was over and done with. Rachel says that she thinks Michael has gotten a raw deal. She doesn't consider Michael a threat and thinks that people have been taken things too personally. Eric is now wondering if they have made the right decision in trying to get Michael out. April says that she wants Michael out, but thinks that Janelle is strong. Eric thinks that Janelle is more of a danger because she is a strong competitor. James says that Janelle is using Michael and Kaysar as her little pawns. It will be interesting to know if the housemates will vote her out after all. Howie tells Janelle that she will be safe because she has the surfboard people on her side. Julie checks in with the houseguests. She asks Jennifer about eating the chocolate snake. What did it taste like? Jennifer has blocked the memory and said it wasn't good. Jennifer said she liked pb&j. Julie then asked James about the competition. James didn't know if he could do it again--especially since Michael and Janelle were so close. The problem with the competition is that there were six stupid competitors who kept on using one water bottle, instead of filling one, leaving it to drain into the tank while they got a second. Marcellas mentioned it this afternoon on House Calls that there were several water containers there, and all the stupids kept on using the same one over and over again. Then Julie turns to Kaysar about the tense week. Kaysar says that the house has grown up abit and matured and learned their lesson. Then she asks Ivette who said that she is trying to control her mouth. Then we saw Howie, James and Sarah vote. All three agree that Janelle is a better player. After the commercial break, we talk to Eric in the HOH bedroom. Julie asks about the problems with Michael. Eric says that he got some second hand stories about things that Michael said about his parents abandoning him. Julie reminds him that it is second hand. Eric agrees, but he doesn't get that he blew up over lies from others. Eric thinks that Michael tried to intimidate Eric in the house. Julie brings up that the guys had an alliance and Eric nominated Michael. Eric claims that Michael broke his trust by getting close to Janelle. Eric saw this as a break of trust because Janelle would have put him up on the block. I really am thinking that Eric is a petty guy. After that, we got to see the romance that is building between Michael and Janelle. Janelle admits that she is really starting to like him. Michael said that he didn't come to the house for a relationship, but that he has a strong chemistry with Janelle. Janelle says that now she doesn't think she can go back to the guy in New York, and broke up with him on camera. We see Michael and Janelle sucking face, numerous times. Maggie commented on how Michael and Janelle go behind closed doors in the Gold Room and spend the majority of their time together. Janelle really likes him for him even though she wished he was an investment banker. Janelle admits that Michael is the type that she would marry. Michael tells Janelle to listen to Kaysar and work with him. Then we hear Beau, Ivette, Jennifer, and April. Ivette seems really outspoken in not liking either Michael or Janelle. Beau thinks that Michael is misunderstood. April and Ivette really seem to hate Michael though. So far, we haven't hear how anyone has voted. Back from commercials, and we are taking a look back at last year's pairs. What are they up to? First we see Holly. She was hanging out alot with Jase. After BB, they dated for ten months. Jase said that he is a country boy at heart. He lived in LA for awhile, but went back to Decatur. Then we have Cowboy and Nakomis. It seems that they really didn't keep in touch very much. Scott and Drew made it to Cowboy's wedding. Then we see Drew. He moved to LA and has been working with an acting coach. Then we see Drew and Diane in the house. It seems they were nothing alike in reality, but outside the house, they didn't get along. They live five minutes from each other in LA and are friends. Finally we see Natalie and Adria. Of course, they are still friends--they are twins. They have a web site fitnesstwins.com. They like the twist that BB has this year and all think they can benefit from the pair. Then we hear from Rachel, Maggie, and Kaysar. It seems that Kaysar will vote against his friend from what he says because he has to be strategic. As Marcellas says over and over on House Calls, with a friend like Kaysar, you don't need a backstabbing enemy. Kaysar is screwing himself out of a million dollars by his actions. But then I don't think these are the brightest folks. Also, I don't think they are the most honorable people. We are now back from the commercial break. It is time for the live eviction. Julie talks to Janelle and Michael. It is time for final words. Janelle says that it is a pleasure to know everyone and that it has been fun and very exciting. Michael said that he wants to thank everyone and that he has had a great time, and thanks them all. It is now time for the voting results. By a vote of 9 to 1, Michael was evicted. I guess that Kaysar did vote for Michael because he would be the only person to be the 1 vote. Michael goes to say good byes. Howie gave his butt a grope on the way out. And so we have Michael talking with Julie Chen. We overhear Eric thinking that he has made his amends. Julie asks about the animosity between Eric and Michael. Michael thinks that it was because Eric broke his agreement with Michael. Julie then asks about the relationship with Janelle. Julie asks if it will continue after the game, and Michael said yes, and talked about it with Janelle. We see a message from Kaysar. Kaysar says that people hurt Michael's feelings and made Michael out to be something he is not. What does Michael think of Kaysar? He said Kaysar is his best friend, and that it was a game. Michael thinks Kaysar is the brightest guy in the house. Julie then lets Michael know that everyone has a partner. Michael said he figured that out in the first week. Julie lets him know the money amount, and Michael doesn't seem that upset by it. As Julie says you never know what the summer of secrets will bring. Michael will be live tomorrow on House Calls at 1 pm. The HOH competition is next. The competition starts. Eric can not compete. In tonight's competition, the majority rules. Julie is asking questions about housemates and life in the house. They have to answer with the majority to advance. The last player remaining will be HOH. First question: Who is more likely to send flowers after the first date, Howie or Kaysar. Blue for Kaysar Red for Howie, and everyone votes for Kaysar except Beau. Who is more intelligent? James or Eric. Majority think James. Howie and Ivette are out. In this week's food competition, which was the grossest dish, turkey pot poi or iced clam sundae? Answer iced clam sundae. Who is more likely to dress pets in clothes, Beau or Janelle? Everyone said Beau. Who secretly reads a boyfriends email, Jennifer or Sarah? Everyone but April picks Jennifer. What is more annoying, houseguests who don't wash clothes or dishes? Majority said clothes. Who would the majority rather be stuck in an elevator with? April or Ivette. Majority April. Rachel and Sarah are out. Who to babysit kids, Howie or Janelle? Majority Janelle and Jennifer is out. Final question who comes closest to the number will be HOH. How many total coconuts were on both trees combined in opening competition, Wipeout? Answer is 184. Kaysar guessed 100 and he is the closest and HOH. Everyone, especially Eric and Ivette, must be shitting their pants! The final minute of the show lets us know that Julie will be announcing to the housemates next Thursday that everyone has a pair, and lets them know how much they will win. Now everyone will start to kiss up to Kaysar. Eric and Ivette look like they are shitting, and so does Maggie. Thursday, July 21, 2005 -- Afternoon The NHLPA has ratified the agreement with the NHL. The only part that is left is for the owners to agree to it. The owners will be signing the agreement tomorrow at 3 pm, and that will be streamed on the NHL website. The draft lottery will also be streamed on the same website at 4 pm. That will be on interest to Pittsburgh Penguin fans because the team has a shot at the number one draft pick. Thursday, July 21, 2005 -- Morning NASA has said Discovery is scheduled for launch this coming Tuesday, July 26. The engineers believe that the problem is due to an electrical grounding issue somewhere inside of Discovery. The problem isn't fixed, but what they will do is to fuel Discovery, begin the countdown, and see where they get. So the shuttle may launch without the problem really being fixed or identified. I think that at this point, NASA really just wants to get the launch done just to get back into space. The only thing that would concern me if I were them is the safety of the flight. If something goes wrong with this flight, you know that the likely hood of the shuttle flights continuing will be nill. It was 36 years ago yesterday that the first man landed on the moon. In honor of the occasion, Google has put together a site that allows anyone to explore the site of the lunar landings. There really isn't alot of information available, but it is what NASA has made public. The funny part of it is that when you zoom in all the way, the image changes to one of yellow swiss cheese! After all, isn't the Moon made out of cheese? You can check out the Earth in much more detail. James Doohan who played Scotty on the original Star Trek television series, died yesterday at the age of 85. The cause of death is pneumonia and Alzheimer's Disease. It seems that the plan is to send Doohan's ashes into space. My favorite comment that Scotty made in the Star Trek movies, I believe, was that if you thought you could fix a problem in 1 hour, say that you could fix it in 2 hours. That way if something goes wrong, and it takes longer, you don't look bad, and if you do finish in one hour, you look like a genius. Wednesday, July 20, 2005 -- Afternoon If you haven't had a chance, you should check out the House Calls show, which is a Big Brother talk show that airs on the main Big Brother web page at 1 pm EDT Monday through Friday. The hosts of the show is our host with the most, Marcellas from Big Brother 3, and Gretchen Massey. I have to admit that Marcellas was one of my favorite characters from BB3, and he is something to see on the House Calls show. Marcellas has an opinion, and he makes sure that everyone knows it. I just caught the ending of today's show, and Marcellas is very much against Eric (nicknamed Cappy by the housemates) in the whole issue with Michael. As Marcellas said, he has been watching the live feed alot, and says that the sexual harrassment claims against Michael were lies by Ivette, April and Jennifer to get rid of Michael. Also, Marcellas said that Big Brother should have addressed the sexual harrassment claims and lies. If Michael is guilty of sexual harrassment then Howie and Beau are too. Marcellas commented that Beau has been all over Kaysar and Howie is all over everyone. It's an interesting perspective. You can see the archives of the shows. I just love hearing Marcellas that he hates everyone in the show, and that Eric is a psycho. In Marcellas hate club is Eric, Ivette, Howie, Beau, Maggie... It seems that Marcellas only likes Sarah, Janelle and James (only a little). Marcellas is just hilarious. What insight! Marcellas also is saying that he is going to grow an afro because they only have bald black guys on, and Beau and Marvin were crazy! Marcellas said that Big Brother might fire him because Marcellas is so opinioned about the show and the guys running it. I hope not because I love Marcellas! Tuesday, July 19, 2005 -- Evening We had another episode of Big Brother this evening. The show was delayed because of the announcement of George Bush's selection for Supreme Court. He selected John Roberts, who although a conservative might not be a contentious nominee. Now on to Big Brother. It started nine minutes into the show. I don't know why they couldn't start from the beginning. First we see Howie doing muscle poses. Then we see April advising Janelle to use the power of veto on herself instead Michael. As April says, Michael freaks everyone out in the house, and she asks why Janelle doesn't see it, and why she hangs out with Michael. April advises Janelle to distance herself from Michael. Obviously she won't because in the live feeds, Janelle is practically in Michael's pants everytime we see them. After the commercial break, we see Eric and Maggie talking while Michael just stood there staring at Eric. Michael says that he's not trying to intimidate Eric. Eric said that he isn't intimidated. Michael thinks that Eric is intimidated by Michael. Michael is wondering if he should pick Kaysar as his partner. Michael is stupid and thinks that he and Kaysar are the only team. Kaysar doesn't want to help Michael though because Kaysar doesn't want to become a target. Kaysar says that it is obvious to him that Michael is going to be gone really soon, and there's nothing he can do. Meanwhile we see a gym in the house, and the door is locked and no one can figure out the combo to the locked door. A sign appears on the fridge saying it is time to get in shape. Sarah figures out that the clock time must be the clue to the combo. She puts in the time on the clock, and the door unlocks. So now they can get in shape. Meanwhile Michael is stalking the house like a caged panther. As he says, he doesn't want to seems like a bitter little child, but he is. Michael blames it all on Eric and says that he is the source of the sexual harrassment. As Kaysar tries to explain to Michael, it doesn't matter because however it came about, people are out to get him like a lynch mob. Michael claims that no one every said anything to him. We then see Eric talking with April about how Michael would have been found guilty of sexual harrassment in the real world because you just can't kiss girls on the neck or stomach if they don't agree with it. Then we see the start of the fight. Michael goes outside talking loudly about the midget and his sheep, and how all the girls in the house think he's a pervert. Kaysar tells him to relax and keep his cool. Again, Michael calls Eric a midget and Ivette a ghetto girl. Kaysar again tells him to calm down. Afterwards we see Eric, Maggie and Ivette talking about what happened outside. It was not the fight that was on the live feed--and I wonder if we will see it. commercial break comes up. The commercial break is done, and we come back to Michael and Janelle laughing in the gold room. He makes a joke about Eric's grandparents dying. Rachel said that she was listening with her ear to the door, and she told Eric that Michael was saying nasty things about Eric's family. Michael has been trying to irritate folks, and he burped in Ivette's ear and she said that she is going to get Cuban on his ass. Meanwhile Kaysar finds out that Ivette is really upset with Michael, and tries to go to Michael and tell him to be mature and rise about the situation. Kaysar seems like such a mature, reasonable person, while Michael is such an ass. With a friend like Michael, Kaysar doesn't need enemies. Meanwhile outside, Ivette and Eric are building up anger at Michael. Kaysar is trying to calm everyone down. Eric is really upset about the comments about his family. Ivette says that she is going to try to be calm. Then Michael comes out of the house. Then Michael starts calling Eric a midget and saying he has a small penis. Howie got Eric, while James and Kaysar try to get Michael. Big Brother immediately puts Eric in the diary room and Michael in the storage room. Eric's parting words are for Michael to talk behind his back his family--and called Michael a bitch. While the lockdown was in place, Kaysar and Ivette got into words with Ivette saying Kaysar doesn't respect women. Big Brother then split up everyone putting Kaysar on the hammock and Ivette in the gym. Big Brother gathered everyone together and said that he would not get physical with anyone. Michael really does seem to be a disruptive force in the house. Kaysar went to Ivette and apologized about getting upset and they hugged. Michael went up to Michael in teh bathroom and apologized and shook hands. Michael just sees it as an empty gesture on Eric's part to show what a upstanding guy Eric is. The veto competition comes after the break. Eric, Michael and Janelle get to pick their partners. Eric picks James. Janelle picks Rachel, and Michael picks Howie. Kaysar did not want to help Michale. Eric picks Beau as the hostest with the mostest. The competition had two zip lines running through the yard. The competiion is called High and Dry. Each person has their own track. The goal is to fill a container with water and to get your ball out of the container, and put it in another across the yard. There was alot of backing and forthing. The first team was Eric and James. Eric was losing alot of water. James got his ball out first and got in the other container across the yard. Then was the team of Howie and Michael. Michael realized that it was a game of precision. As Howie said, his water was getting spilled. Michael got his ball in first and then Howie abit later. Last was the team of Janelle and Rachel. Everyone was cheering for Rachel. Janelle noticed that Rachel was getting frustrated because she wasn't moving well. Janelle got the ball in first, and Rachel was abit later. The scoreboard came out. They started with the slowest times first. Eric was first with 9 min, 3 sec. Howie has 7 min. 45 seconds, Rachel had 8 min. 30 seconds. Then we had the fastest, Janelle 6 min. 48 seconds, Michael had 6 min. 44 seconds, James had 6 min. 31 seconds. So James won. Michael felt he could have gone faster and changed the game. James is happy that he won and did so well. After the commercial break, we see James debating on his veto. He sees Michael as a threat to the harmony of the house, but James thinks Janelle is the stronger competitor. James asks Janelle to give a reason why she should be saved. Janelle tells him that using the veto will upset folks in the house so to do what he wants. Michael just says "same". James says that it is in his best interests as well as in others best interest not to use it. Janelle is not going to let it get to her. We know that Michael will be eliminated, and Kaysar says that he will fit as hard as he can to revenge Michael. Now we just have to wait for the live eviction on Thursday and the HOH competition. Tuesday, July 19, 2005 -- Afternoon I finally finished my review of the new Harry Potter book. I really did enjoy the story, and can't wait for the final book. Unfortunately, that will be some time from now. What will happen to Harry and how will Voldemort be defeated? We will just have to wait to for book number seven. In the meantime, this book does the series proud by providing us with all the elements that make a story exciting: love, danger, and action. Tears will be shed by the end, but that is life for you. We can't always have a storybook ending, even in a storybook. Tuesday, July 19, 2005 -- Morning It seems that Rico Fata had testicular cancer. He has received treatment for it, and is currently undergoing routine blood tests and CT-Scans to make certain that he remains cancer free. Best wishes to Rico! It now seems that Discovery won't be lifting off before July 26. Engineers still can't figure out what caused the sensor failure. It doesn't look good for liftoff this month, but I suppose that NASA doesn't want to hold off until the next flight window in September. I'm watching the Big Brother live feed, and everyone except Eric is sleeping, which is not unusual considering that it is 6:51 am. in california. Nothing exciting has been going on. Howie has been making outrageous statements and the girls have been sunbathing in skimpy bikinis. You can tell that guys control the cameras because at times the cameras will just travel up and down someone's body, especially Janelle's. Today the housemates will be voting for the person who is to be evicted. Monday, July 18, 2005 -- Evening I have to admit that I love our DVR. I'm always finding shows to record and watch. Well, Lifetime channel did a survey and they found that 48% of married women made the decision to buy a DVR and 55% say they understand how it works better than the husbands. I would have to say that it was a joint decision on both of our parts, but most of the shows that get recorded are the ones that I want to watch. 99% of those surveyed fast forward through the commercials with 94% saying they recognize brands, and 76% say they stop fast forwarding to watch brands that catch their eye. I have to admit that I do the same. I fast forward, but you can obviously see something. What I do if I see something that I want to get more information about, I might even rewind and watch the whole commercial. So at least with women, fast forwarding does not mean that the advertizers are missing out on getting their message across. Monday, July 18, 2005 -- Afternoon I finished reading the Harry Potter book last night, and am working on my review. There are many comments that I want to make and spoilers so I taking my time over it and hope to have a complete review ready by tomorrow. I will say this now: the book was a very good one. It does an excellent job of setting up expectations for the next book, and I have to admit that I have some ideas where things will be going that I will put in the review. The story did have me crying at the end because an important character dies, and it was unexpected in how it happened. The book sales broke all the sales records, selling 6.9 million in the first 24 hours. In the UK over 2 million copies were sold in the first 24 hours. That's pretty impressive. Meanwhile Ms. Rowling says that she needs a break to care for her 6 month old daughter. she is doing some writing, but really can't give all the time to it that she would like to. The end is going to be difficult for Rowling because she has been living with the idea for the book for so long. She also says that she is going to consider doing something other than fantasy, and will prob