Thursday, September 27, 2007

How My Day Was Almost Ruined

I am a creature of habit. Actually, more of a creature of routine.

Every day, I leave the house at 6:11. I drive to the Metro station to get on the 6:43 train, and park in pretty much the same spot. I get a copy of the two freebie newspapers (the Examiner and the Express), and I sit in the third car, in the same seat every day. I sit in this car and in this seat because when the train reaches my destination, the escalator off of the platform will be next to the door nearest the seat. If I were to sit further forward on the train, my exit would be past the escalator, requiring a u-turn once I passed the escalator, and merging with the line of people going up.

I have to complete the Examiner crossword before I reach the Stadium station. That way, I can be reasonably sure of completing the Express crossword by the time I get to L’Enfant Plaza. That will give me enough time to read the entertainment sections of both papers, as well as the op-ed section of the Examiner.

I always fold the newspapers with the opinion section of the Examiner facing out (so people will think I’m smart), and leave the station through the last turnstile on the right. The newspaper goes in the second-to-last recycling bin just before the escalator to the street. There is a reason for the turnstile and bin, basically an efficiency of movement thing. It took a few weeks of mental calculation and experimentation with different routes, motions, and even strides, but I think I’ve got it down now. I’ve even counted the number of steps, just to be sure.

Yesterday, everything seemed to go wrong. I was 5 minutes late leaving the house. There were no Examiner papers to be had at the station. The third train car was “down” as in not working. I had to make a snap judgment. Should I:

a) Sit in car 2, thus requiring the dreaded “station u-turn?”
b) Sit in car 4, meaning a 50 foot longer walk to the platform escalator?
c) Wait for the next train and be another 4 minutes late for work?

I went with “b” figuring the extra walk wouldn’t hurt. Unfortunately, car 4 was rather full, meaning I didn’t get my usual seat. I got stuck with an aisle seat on the end, which meant that I couldn’t have a proper work surface on which to complete my only crossword. See below:

That isn't me, by the way...

Upon arriving at the station, I discovered to my almost horror that my turnstile was broken, and the recycling bin I use was being emptied!!!

I arrived at the office pretty much convinced that the day was going to be ruined. Luckily, the rest of the day was uneventful, and today, everything was back as it should be.
In case you are wondering (and I know you are), I do have a routine for my trip home, but it isn't nearly as complex as the one on the way in.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Marcia Brady and the Intertubes

I wasn't going to blog about this, but my readership is pleading, nay - demanding - that I address certain topic of interest. Namely, the rumor that Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) and Eve Plumb (Jan Brady) had a bit of a physical relationship while filming the iconic TV series The Brady Bunch.
It has actually turned into an interesting tale about the Internet, publishing, and the media in general.

At 0236 on September 21, contactmusic.com posted a short piece stating that in McCormick's upcoming tell-all autobiography, she reveals that she had a lesbian fling with Plumb. The article quotes an unnamed source who told the National Inquirer about the details of the book. Unnamed sources, especially third-party ones (the source told the Inquirer. Who told contactmusic.com?) are notoriously unreliable, and have gotten plenty of mainstream media outlets into trouble. Just ask Stephen Glass and Scott Beauchamp of the New Republic or Jayson Blair of the NY Times. For the most comprehensive list I've found of journalistic fraud, check out this list at the American Thinker.

Sorry. Back to the lesbians.

It didn't take long before fark.com had posted the article with the obligatory "cool" tag, and the article started making the rounds. Even at this early stage, there were some readers who smelled a rat. At least one commenter remarked that this is probably the result of someone that the publisher "leaking" information to the press in order to get a mention somewhere. According to ABC News, doubts about the story's authenticity didn't deter at least "one major newspaper" picked up the story on Saturday.

By Sunday, the fun was over, and the publisher was "rushing" to deny the rumor that McCormick and Plumb had a fling.

Of course, all this hoopla served everyone's interest in the end. Contactmusic.com got traffic, and now we all know that McCormick's book, entitled "Here's the Story", published by William Morrow (a division of HarperCollins) hits bookstores next year. Even Barry Williams (Greg) gets a bonus. His book, "Growing up Brady" got a mention in almost every article I've found.

Happy now? I'm going back to Lex's place to see if he's posted more pictures of the luminous Keira Knightly.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I didn't want to do it

Really I didn't. But something made me. Urged me, you might say. Durnit, the kid needs clothes, right? She can't run around in the buff. No, that wouldn't do. So I got her this:

Get it?

ThinkGeek.com is the bomb.

Monday, September 24, 2007