My first fitness mini-goal last week was to hit 60mi on the elliptical in 7 days. Check. This week’s goal is to hit the gym M,T,Th with 10mi elliptical runs on W,F,Sa for a total of 42mi on the week. Wish me luck!

Someone should create a holiday in the middle of March or April. Waiting over 4 months after MLK day is just too long. The parents are flying in tonight for a weekend visit. They will be put to work in the yard. If they behave, they may earn Lou Malnati’s Pizza.

TV is wrapping up for the (short) year. Only two eps left of The Tudors until Anne Boleyn gets the axe. Gossip Girl went out with a predictable Josh Schwartz ending but that’s not stopping me from eagerly awaiting the next season. That show’s right up my alley - thanks Joe!

I added some links to various Web sites to the Links section of this page. Check em out.

Joe suggested that I watch Gossip Girl so I downloaded the entire season. I’m three episodes in and WOW what an awesome show! I love cheesy soap operas and this is kind of like a cross between Dynasty, Cruel Intentions and The O.C.

Oh, and I’m blogging this from TextMate. As much as I love Vim, well, it just doesn’t work with Wordpress.

Screenshot after the fold

More on Gossip Girl

Aside from the near-freezing temperatures last night, yardwork season has officially begun! This year I’m armed with a brand new lawnmower. Faerie Glen will be in full effect in about a month assuming the roses cooperate!

My buddy Joe was kind enough to link to moonkhan.org from the “Server is temporarily unavailable” page on Digg this afternoon! How fun is that!? Which reminds me … I really should make it a point to visit him out in SF this year. Any excuse for some In-N-Out burgers - animal fries FTW.

Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 is awesome. It’s like a huge collection of bug fixes for the first game with a bunch of new maps and weapons!

Well we’re done with house guests for a while. It’s been a busy couple of weekends! First, the Woodwards were over. Then came St. Patrick’s Day and with it Noel, Stevie Stardust and my cousin Jack. Last weekend was Grandpa, Aunt Lynne and Jennifer.

This weekend I’m going to Michigan for Noel’s bday party on Saturday at the Old Shillelagh in Greektown. Be there or be square.

Dallas s8 was released on DVD this week so naturally I’m already on disk two. It’s too bad the show already peaked and is on its way down but that’s not going to stop me from enjoying it!

In other news, I’m free of the burden of the Lincoln LS. I’m glad, too, because I don’t think it would have made it another 1.5 years. We leased me a 2008 Lexus IS 250 AWD. Yes, I’m officially bad-ass. Of course I had to cut a deal with Rachel - she gets to drive it in bad weather (I will just stay home) and on Wednesdays and occasionally on the weekends. And I’m getting better with Rachel’s BMW - I only stalled twice on the way to the grocery store this morning!

While Rachel was in Hong Kong I binged on 90210 re-runs. I’m almost finished with season 4! I also watch The Game Plan starring The Rock and it was cute. I’ve narrowed down my list of old movies to watch to only a few left. I watched Casablanca and I enjoyed it a lot. I recognized lots of the quotes in the movie and now I understand why people consider it one of the best. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest was disturbing but I thought it aged well. Jack Nicholson is very believable as a lunatic. Nurse Ratched made my skin crawl. Blade Runner has to be one of the most overrated movies I’ve seen. Absolutely terrible. The first three eps of Jericho season 2 leaked and I’m really happy they brought it back, if only for a short season. One last thing - no Idol for me anymore. I’m not going to watch this year.

Girls like this really exist. I call them fembots and I’m glad I’m not married to one.

Having never made soup before I was a little unsure of what to expect from my latest cooking attempt. This soup was supposed to be thick so when the recipe called for a quart of chicken broth and only a cup of cream to thicken I was nervous. Luckily it proved to be almost brainless to make!

Read the recipe for Creamy potato leek soup.

Too bad Allrecipes.com hasn’t caught on to the Web 2.0 social network thing or I’d syndicate my recipe box here. Lame.