Splinter Cell is like heroin. The first time you play you are a bit overwhelmed, as the complexity of the game is a bit much. The hook is there though. Once you get past the first level, infiltrating a police department in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and move on to penetrating the Georgian defense ministry, you begin to feel that urge to play. All day long, nagging in the back of your head. While supposedly working, you are instead contemplating how to sneak past that security camera in CIA headquarters, or how to KO that guard without the one down the hall noticing. Then you're running the Xbox around the house, hooking it up to different TVs so you can play regardless of what your roommates are doing. Please get me help if I start selling my possessions to support my habit.

I'll miss Boston. I really will. Biking along the Charles on a summer Sunday morning is something I haven't done nearly enough of.

Congrats to the Oakland Raiders on their convincing win over the incredibly overhyped New York Jets and "the next Joe Montana", Chad Pennington. Sorry everyone, Mr. Pennington came right back down to earth last Sunday, looking terribly mediocre in the second half. I'm not saying he's no good, just that the sports media needs to take a second to think before proclaiming anyone a superstar, especially in football. Don't even get me started on Lebron James.

through the streets and on your own
almost lost and almost home
we'll be looking, all we can
we'll be searching for the sulphur man
Anybody have any idea what that song is talking about? If I do a web search, all I find is lyrics for the song and news articles about men from Sulphur, Louisiana. Great tune by Doves anyhow.

What in god's name has happened to the Simpsons over the last two seasons? The series has gone from offering the freshest and most offbeat humor on television to consisting solely of cheap gags about recent news. I date the decay back to around the time they killed off Maude Flanders, which was probably a sign that the writers were desperate for ideas. It appears they're completely out of them at this point, and are attempting to manufacture humor by mocking what worked for the show five years ago. Parody of comedy does not comedy make. I notice this trend most in the dialog of Chief Wiggum, which used to be subtle but funny comments demonstrating his complete ineptness as a policeman. Now he's solely a vehicle for lame one liners.

I really like Lemon Jelly. Not what you'd expect for someone with a professed distaste for dance music. I dunno, they've got some really nice hooks, particularly "Elements" and "Space Walk", and not in an annoying, Fatboy Slim way.

Just finished Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War. A book I picked up in the Detroit airport while waiting for our flight to Des Moines for the holidays. It felt a little strange to be on the plane (or subsequently, the T) reading a bright yellow book screaming "GERMS" on the cover. A very disturbing read. Not something you want to think about late at night. It gave me a lot of information on the post-Gulf War weapons inspections of Iraq that I didn't know, putting into perspective the current weapons inspections. The science was a little sparse, and they over- and mis-used the word "germ", but it managed. It's hard to contemplate the task in front of government and public health officials to defend against this threat, but the book conveys the message that such preparations are critical given the relative ease with which a terrorist group could unleash a devastating biological attack.

Don't mean this to come off arrogant, more insecure: am I really as smart as everyone thinks I am?