As most of you know, I hate to even give this rediculous theory the time of day, but I can’t say it doesn’t give me satisfaction for even the Vatican to come down against teaching it in science class. Check the story out here.

I just finished reading Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston. Great great read! Just ordered his sequel (part II of the trilogy), Six Bad Things. . .and his unrelated 3rd book, Already Dead.

Everyone seems to hate the Academy Awards lately. They’re long ..they’re boring. . .there are countless awards in obscure categories full of people nobody’s heard of–not to mention a single movie every year wins almost all the interesting awards. This year, there may be a new reason to watch (at least part of the over 4 hour marathon extravaganza).

Jon Stewart will be hosting. Maybe he can bring a little something to the awards this year. The Oscars will air Sunday, March 5 on ABC. Nominations will be announced on January 31.

Want your own Southpark character like the one here on the right? Create your own here.

How could I not have mentioned this before? I am the champion of my fantasy football league. My goal was not to come in dead last on my first try. . .instead, I won the whole thing. I got a wild card spot for the playoffs, won my first playoff game, and just slaughtered my opponent who put up a respectable 90 points in the championship game (incidentally, the opponenet was another woman). . .The fantasy football season ended with reagular season of the NFL.

Don’t forget to watch wildcard weekend. My picks are Redskins over the Bucs on the early game Saturday, New England over Jacksonville (late game Saturday), N.Y. Giants over the Panthers on the early game Sunday, and Pittsburgh to upset the Bengals in Cincinnati late Sunday. Enjoy! Bears!

I need this thing so I can keep up with all you film snobs.

A Film Snob’s Dictionary by David Kamp and Lawrence Levi. To be released on February 7th, 2006.

I just saw a good movie off of my Blockbuster Online subscription. It’s a 2004 product of Denmark and the UK called “Convicted.” I had never heard of it until I was browsing for movies to put on my queue.

Starring: Connie Nielsen, Aidan Quinn, and Kelly Preson. It’s a suspense/thriller about a woman sentenced to death row . . very similar to “The Life of David Gale.”

This is the sort of movie that you love if you don’t figure out the end and like even if you do. But there are so many twists and turns (but not in the obnoxious way that is deliberately misleading) that even if you have some idea of what’s really going on, you may not end up with the exact conclusion.

If someone else sees it, tell me what you think.

Of course I got a lot of great gifts this year (thanks everyone)! . . but one stood out.
The Shining Star: Black Razr V3
I have wanted one of these since they came out. After AT&T and Cingular merged, I signed up for AT&T service and was told when the Razr came out that if I wanted to upgrade to that phone, I would have to switch to Cingular service (which happens to be $10/month more than I’m paying now). So I stuck with my old phone . . .admitting that eventually I would probably be forced over to Cingular (I don’t even think you can sign up for AT&T service anymore). But when I got this phone, we were all determined to get this to work somehow. I switched out my SIM card and of course prompted me for a PIN to unlock the phone. My sister’s Cingular SIM worked great right away. So I got on the phone with Cingular to see how we could unlock the phone. They took down my phone number, email address, and the IMEI number from the back of the new Razr and said they’d get back to me. I wasn’t going to hold my breath. My dad called Motorola. . they insisted that they had nothing to do with it and only Cingular could unlock the phone.

After 15 more calls to both Motorola and Cingular over the next week, I became convinced that if you bought a phone at full retail price, it should be unlocked and if you bought one at the discounted rate that Cingular offers, you have to also sign up for service. My dad paid full price and I was sure that something had gone wrong at Motorola with someone giving him a locked phone by mistake. Then after a final conversation with Motorola it started to make sense . . .everything on the Motorola end was fine.

It turns out that Motorola sells locked phones to all the service providers along with a bunch of unlock codes. Contractually, they cannot unlock the phones they have locked for Cingular. And it is not in Cingular’s best interest to allow you to use their phones without paying what they want you to pay for their service. It also came together when the impossible happened and one of the 3 people we gave our number and the IMEI# to finally emailed us back with the unlock code. Problem solved? not quite.

I had tried to put in some guesses already and the phone wasn’t prompting me for the unlock code anymore. Even the email we received stated that if you get the code wrong 5 times, the phone will not be able to be unlocked. What does that mean? Ever? You have got to be kidding!

As Scott was on the hold with Cingular to figure out this new problem. .it just kicked in.. .while it was just sitting there, the prompt came back (after a week of just spitting out the error message “contact service provider”). And the code they provided us with worked! So now, after a huge amount of hassle, I have a working Razr phone on the AT&T network.

What a pain, but it was all worth it. I LOVE IT!!! I know plenty of other people with this phone but I just had no idea how cool it really was. I have it with me in my pocket always and completely forget it’s there until it rings (which makes a huge difference since my old one was to big to even fit in my pocket). It rings and receives calls in the elevator in the building I work in– the old one didn’t even get voicemails through reliably anywhere in the building. What a great phone–and plenty of coolness factor. I highly recommend it.

Since I was out of town for the holidays, I have neglected my blog (it didn’t help that I was sicker than I have been in the last 3-4 years with some upper respiratory nastiness). But here I am again and with lots to say about some great vacation meals. Keep an eye out for upcoming posts on chrstmas gifts and some things I came across from the Premiere Magazine I purchased just before my flight back to SLC.

Vacation Meals of Note:
1) Mom’s home cooking– My facorite? Rajma: a dish of red kidney beans in a creamy curry (fat free half and half instead of the real stuff please!–tasty and not terrible for you).
2) La Hacienda: This is a great mexican restaurant 5 minutes from my parent’s place. My favorite? The Beef Enchaladas Rojas: spicy and delicious. Unfortunately, I was just starting to get sick at that point and passed on the “MEDIUM” sized margaritas that were somehing like 28oz! These seemed to be a hit with the rest of the family.
3) Brass: This may have been the absolute best meal I had while at home. This place is a restaurant and brewery. We were low on avaliable cars so Scott and I got dropped off at the restaurant which was within walking distance of a huge movie theater. We weren’t quite hungry yet so we sat in the bar area and ordered a couple of drinks (I had the house zinfandel, scott had the brewery’s amber) followed by some Chicken Bruschetta a little later. I love bruschetta with balsamic vinegar. I always say I’d eat my shoe if it had balsamic vinegar on it. Afterwards, we put our names down on the list to be seated in the main dining area. After another half an hour, we sat down to eat and ordered the Penne Arrabiata and the Chicken Panini to split. Like many people I know, I hate chicken. It is the absolute worst meat. ..tasteless, tough, just gross in general . .BUT, these dishes were spectacular. We were enjoying our selves so much at dinner that we missed both the 7pm and 7:30 shows of Munich (Steven Speilberg’s movie about the Israli retaliation for the murders at the Munich olympics). So the next movie playing was Memoirs of a Geisha (I read this book and loved it–I heard that the cinematography was amazing so I wanted to see it on the big screen eventually anyway). It turns out it was the worst movie I’ve seen all year, but that’s a rant for a different day. Even this terrible movie wasn’t enough to take away the lingering high of the fantastic meal at Brass.

Honorable Mention: Morton’s Steakhouse: This was a very good meal. It was hyped by many people as the best steak they’ve ever had. When Scott’s mom called to make reservations, they asked if it was for a special ocassion. She said no but her son and his wife were in from out of town and really love steak. The host said “oh, they’re in for a very special treat.” So of course the meal was good. I had the filet mignon of course and the sides we ordered were the Lyonaisse Potatoes, Creamed Spinach, and Grilled Asparagus. All were very good. The Lyonaisse potatoes reminded me of a crispy potato/vegetable indian dish my mom makes. And of course we got the molten chocolate cake that had to be ordered with the entrees so there was enough time to prepare it. It was SPECTACULAR! While this meal was of note, I have to say it still doesn’t hold a candle to Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar. The steak, the sides, the wine selection, even the cake are all better at Fleming’s. Not to mention that Scott’s mom had to get 5 different cups of coffee because the cream curdled up in the coffee each time the brought out another cup. You’d expect a restaurant of this caliber to be able to have fresh cream. It was very good though so it definitely deserves an honorable mention on my list.

I bailed out on the dinner my sister was having with a bunch of friends at Due’s Pizzeria but if I had gone that would certainly have made the list.