Thank God for TIVO

I am loving this cool weather. Fall is my FAVORITE season, and my favorite holidays are Halloween and Thanksgiving, so I am starting to hit my peak. It's like my annual peak season. I've got the fall wreath up, and a pumpkin, and soon it will be time to decorate OUTSIDE the house. Think cornshock, hay bale, Scarecrow, and Pumpkins and Mums, like 2004. Or perhaps wayyy back in the archives to 2003 when Pooches LOVED pumpkins.

Fall! Fall! Fall!

I have been eyeballing, for a long long long time, dark orange colored plates. Just the dinner plates. To use at Thanksgiving and put in the dining room hutch I will someday have. But everytime I see some, it's like $160 for 12 plates. So last night I was in Wal-Mart and they had them for $2.46 a piece, so I put 13 of them on layaway, and it will cost me THIRTY ONE DOLLARS. Awesome.

I also bought myself a cute lightweight reversible jacket for $22.00, since I haven't bought a new coat in about.... 5 years.... and it only cost $22.00 It's pink and black, sorta windbreaker fabric, with a pink fleece lining and a hood. AND it's reversible so it's a fleece jacket too! Sweet!

So last night I watched TV in bed with two People magazines and a bag of Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Now THAT is what I call a night.

I was seeing all the previews for the new fall line-up shows, and Desperate Housewives is claiming to have "regained" the fire and drama that they had in season 1 and lost in season 2. Grey's Anatomy is now going up against CSI... but I haven't really watched the regular CSI in a while, unless it was a rerun on cable. I love CSI Miami though. I LOVED Conviction last year (eric Balfour, yummy!) but it's been axed for this season. Not that you care, but Shows I TIVO?

Desperate Housewives
Grey's Anatomy
Family Guy
American Dad
The Simpsons
Girls Next Door
CSI Miami
The War at Home
Law and Order
Law and Order SVU
Crossing Jordan
Mind of Mencia
Men in Trees
The New Adventures of Old Christine

I am a crime drama/law and order/CSI freak. I love that shit. I have watched Law and Order reruns like there is NO tomorrow. I watched two last night alone. There's that one new show on, that is supposed to be the "best new show on television..." and I can't remember what it is. Argh! I thought that I would set it to TIVO and see what happens.

Really I shouldn't even say TIVO, since that is a brand name, and we have DVR (digital video recording), but I am afraid if I just say DVR you won't know what I am talking about.

If I could keep up with more shows, I would go back to TIVO-ing Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Moral Oral, and Pee-Wee's Playhouse. But I just don't have time to watch ALL of that. LOL.

And did you KNOW that I could be a writer for the New York Times? I came across this article today where they said the show Men in Trees is like "Sex and the City meets Northern Exposure" (It's by the writers of Sex and the City) and I was like HELL-O? Did I NOT just say Northern Exposure? I thought so. Do you suppose the Times has a need for an Illinois freelance writer? LOL.

Another show I sort of wondered about, if only for it's delightfully politically incorrect title, is ABC's Ugly Betty. But I get this "She's all that" vibe (pretty girl made "ugly and smart" for a movie/television role gets made pretty again when she falls in love with the football star/prom king/etc.) and while I enjoy feel good romantics, I am SO not in high school anymore and I have enough GOOD shows to watch as it is that I am really not interested.

And (shoot me now) I have never seen the Movie Friday Night Lights. Maybe I feel like it hits a little too close to home, now that all the annoying Bureau Valley parents take over the bar in prep for football season, and annoyingly make us all watch homemade montage DVD's with clips of last year's football games set to music like "Riding the Storm Out" and "We Will Rock You." We all sit there at the end of the bar where the sane people are, and look at them incredulously. It's like CAN YOU see YOURSELVES? Is football THE Most important thing in your family's life? Can't you watch this in your living room? It's one thing to be proud of your kid. It's a good thing. But if you weren't shoving it down our throats before the new season even began, we might even be proud of him too. But jeez. I loved football season. My husband played. My friends played. But it was more fun being Manlius/Tampico Red Warriors than it ever was being "Bureau Valley Storm." Mostly because it got to be more about "how much do our uniforms cost" and "how many different t-shirts can we sell with our logo on it" than WOW you guys did AWESOME out there. It became more about the cheerleaders and the parents than the players themselves. I don't know anymore.

I am planning on going to the Bureau Valley homecoming game this year. It's my 10 year class reunion that weekend, and we are hoping that they will call out our class so that we can go onto the field at halftime. If it means anything, I hope that they can look at us, the first EVER graduating class of Bureau Valley (1996), and realize that the school was formed with much different ideas than it has now. It was formed to offer more classes and opportunities to all students. It wasn't about having new uniforms. It was about art classes and agriculture and foreign language. A newspaper and community involvement. It was about a BETTER EDUCATION!

We all came together and made new friends. And most importantly, I hope that it says to these stupid parents living vicariously through their children, that THERE IS LIFE AFTER HIGH SCHOOL and don't you god damn ever forget it. High School Football will not be the most entire thing your kid ever does. So make sure that your kids are doing their homework and passing their classes! Teach them how to be involved in their family and their community.

So that aside, I am intrigued by the fall TV version of Friday Night Lights. Honestly, I wouldn't have given it a second look if it hadn't been for Kyle Chandler playing their coach. That guy, he's awesome. I remember way back when he was Jeff Metcalf on the show Homefront. I used to love that show. When he showed up as the bomb guy on Grey's Anatomy, I almost swooned to the floor. All I wanted was for him to get together with Meredith. Fuck McDreamy. Kyle Chandler is HOT. So that said, I might TIVO an episode and just see what I think. But I don't think I can stomach it without comparing someone in the show to some egotistical Bureau Valley fan.

When I was in High School, I would have compared "Friday Night Lights" to Annawan. We hated Annawan. They were the ONLY team we wanted to beat. They were cocky. They thought they were perfect. All their cheerleaders and girlfriends looked like they would have a career in playboy. We ALWAYS, for generations, said there was something in the water over there. And I made lots of friends from Annawan in FFA, but I tell you, they were COCKY football players. I remember every single game we played against them, VIVIDLY. I remember how they used to ring that damn bell after every game they won and then one year we (not me directly, but someone from our school) drove over there and stole the bell. It was great.

Typical High School Football Rivalry. But the way Bureau Valley is now, it's sickening. Even Annawan didn't come close to the behaviour of Bureau Valley. Actually people around here are likening the Bureau Valley fans and players to those of Hall High School, where 90% of the athletes shoot steroids and 99% of the parents, teachers, and school administration look the other way. It's tough. Because how do you show someone who is that caught up that they are overreacting and "THIS IS ONLY HIGH SCHOOL. IT'S NOT LIFE!!!"

So, enough of that rant. If this doesn't give you something to comment about, nothing will.

And I suppose there is a chance I could attract some 'roid rage from some hall fans, or perhaps sone drunk Bureau Valley parents, But I will take that chance.

And P.S. - I have ALWAYS hated cheerleaders. If you think the only reason they spread their legs is for the splits, you're kidding yourself.