I managed to stay pretty much injury-free at basketball the past two weeks, but this week I wasn’t so lucky. I sprained my thumb, strained my back a bit and hurt my foot getting tangled up with another guy on the run. I didn’t think it was that bad until I got the ball in the post the next time down the floor, turned to shoot over him and got blocked. I got zero lift on my jump; my foot just kinda refused.

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It’s too bad to see Mario Lemieux retire (again), but it was bound to happen sooner rather than later given all his health problems. I think I fall into the “would have been one of the greatest ever if he’s been able to stay healthy” camp; he had all the talent in the world, but like Bobby Orr he just couldn’t match the longevity of players like Gretzky or Howe. Still…it would’ve been fun to watch him play a full year alongside Sidney Crosby.

This list of the 50 most loathsome people of 2005 kills me, especially the entry on Paris Hilton:

Won’t go away. A head so empty, the rails of coke that sustain her must dissipate in clouds around her ears; this residual high the only explanation anyone would come within five feet of her. Brainless, her spinal cord defies physics, like an Indian rope trick. Her Carl’s Jr. commercial, while an uninspired approximation of eroticism, was still hotter than her actual “sex” tape, in which she only made noise when she wasn’t screwing—that’s not hot. Squints inexplicably for photo ops, suggesting even minimal focus is beyond her. Her continued success as a celebrity famous for nothing, despite the eerie resemblance she bears to the inbred banjoist from Deliverance and a lack of talent so profound that others become duller as they approach her, indicates that something is fundamentally wrong with humanity.

[via]

Guilty pleasure of the day: nth Degree by Morningwood.

I was going to say “Guilty pleasure of the day: Morningwood.” but that would’ve sounded pretty bad.

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The Documentary Channel is far and away the best of the digital channels that we signed up for. So far I’ve recorded The Wild Parrots Of Telegraph Hill and Darwin’s Nightmare; Be Here To Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt and Touch The Sound are coming up soon.

I really need to learn how to measure pasta better. My default now is to measure for two; I tried scaling it back to one portion, but I was hungry. I think that was my problem. The consequence is that I’ll need a nap any minute now.

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Thoughts on the election:

• The result, in my opinion, was about as good an outcome as I could’ve hoped for. I knew the results wouldn’t reflect the extreme results of the polls, but I didn’t expect the Liberals to hold 100+ seats.
• Paul Martin did the right thing, stepping down but staying in the party. He’ll be a better asset to the party that way than as a figurehead.
• I’ve gotten less nervous over the last few days as I’m convinced that the Conservatives won’t be able to do the things that really scare me (e.g., reverse same-sex marriage, get rid of the gun registry, re-open the abortion debate, etc.) because his only political ally — the Bloc — are further to the left than the Liberals. Health care reform is the only thing they might go along on, but that would get every Liberal and NDP back up, and probably enough PC/Bloc that it would be hard to pass. Even if the Bloc whores themselves to Harper to give him what he wants, he’d have to make so many concessions to Quebec that there’d be a political firestorm. At least, this is what I’ve convinced myself of. We’ll see what happens.
• This government lasts 18 months. 24 tops.
• It seems most people have already pencilled in Frank McKenna as the next Liberal leader. Manley’s keeping himself in the public eye, which means he could take another crack at it. Belinda Stronach and Michael Ignatieff are too new to the party, but should be ready next time around.
• I’ve been thinking lately that the reason Chretien held on so long with Martin waiting in the wings, despite pleas to move aside, was that he secretly knew Martin couldn’t hack it. He couldn’t say that aloud, of course, but I think he held on hoping that someone — Manley, Rock, McLellan — would come to the fore and challenge Martin for the leadership. But they didn’t, and Chretien stepped aside, and the Liberals (and the country) were left with Mr. Dithers for two years.

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Season 1 of Veronica Mars is [sniff] all done. Nellie was all but foaming at the mouth yesterday when the final disc arrived.

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Need…caffeine…

My wife just said, “Ugh…they should only let people in cities vote.”

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More insightful commentary tomorrow. Hopefully. I may be on a plane to Norway.

If you haven’t voted yet, go do it. Punk(s).

It seems I’ve finished my economics assignment early. Whatever shall I do for the rest of the week? Let’s see…Monday is the election. Tuesday is basketball. By Wednesday the last disc from season 1 of Veronica Mars should be here. Thursday I should do a final check of the assignment, on Friday I’ll want nothing to do with either work or school and on Saturday we have our first Winterlicious do. So…there’s that week.

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Speaking of DVDs, the final season of Six Feet Under comes out March 28th…while I’m away on course. After I get back we’ll have a week of power-viewing before we leave for Montreal.

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Speaking of the election, I’m curious to see what happens. I’ve resigned myself to the idea of a Conservative win, but I also expect it to not be the blowout the polls suggested in recent weeks. I think there’ll be some pullback when some people get squeamish about having Stephen Harper run the country, it’s just a matter of how much. I’m interested to see how the NDP will do; if they steal too many ridings from the Liberals there could be cries of “Nader” throughout the land.

My wife’s making a lasagna. She calls it Sonya. Say “Sonya the lasagna” out loud. It’s a good time.

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I’m struggling with where to stay in New York. We’d like to stay in Soho, and I can get a pretty good rate, but it’s not very convenient considering most of the stuff we want to do (Daily Show, MOMA, etc.) is up around midtown. If there’s a transit strike, that could be a serious problem.

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I love watching the Senators destroy the Leafs.

[UPDATE] I do not, however, like watching the Canadiens get whipped. The Canucks are up three goals less than five minutes into the game.

[UPDATE 2] It ended up 6-2 Vancouver, so as bad as it was, at least it wasn’t as bad as the Leafs got it. But put together with Duke’s loss yesterday, it wasn’t a stellar day for my teams.

It was 12 degrees yesterday, a record high for this time of year. Today it’s snowing. Surely this cannot be good for the planet.

Today was a good day. I took some vacation time because my mother would be in town with a friend (they had a few hours to kill before their flight in the evening). They arrived around 11:00, so I introduced my mother to her grand-cats and then took them on a little shopping trip around Bloor/Yorkville. We visited Swarovski, HMV, Indigo, Whole Foods, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Tiffany’s, and several shoe stores. Finally, after a quick stop for some Green & Black’s (I inherited my love of chocolate from my mother) and some more shoes shops, we came home and relaxed. The cats entertained our guests for a few minutes until Nellie arrived home to say hi. We just put them in a cab to the airport; it was nice to see my mother and show her around my neighbourhood a bit, and to meet her friend. Now, to get Dad up here…

Not long after she arrived home, Nellie received an email that we got pretty excited about: we’d gotten tickets to The Daily Show! They’re in March, and the taping is on a Monday afternoon…which is perfect, since we can have 3 or 4 days in New York for just one vacation day.

Right now Nellie’s getting ready to go for dinner with CBGB, some of their extended family and a bunch of Buddhist monks. Seriously. I’m gonna stay home and have some introvert-recharging time. Sweet.

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Oh, and I forgot: it was 12 degrees here today. Felt like spring.