UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

The fact that I have to write a Part 3 tells you all you need to know about how happy I’ve been with Charter HSI.

Part 1.  Part 2.

On the 13th, I got an automated call from Charter.  It was a reminder that I had a technician scheduled to install my Charter HSI the next day, between the hours of 8am and noon.

Wha???  If you’ll recall, I did a self-installation of my Charter HSI; why the heck would I need a technician out here for a SELF-installation?

The best part was that I got the message stuck on my answering machine, and I didn’t find out about the call until past midnight of the 14th.  I quickly called the number left on the message, got to an operator, and asked to have the appointment canceled.  He put me on hold, and the system disconnected me not much later.

(Argh.)

I called back, quickly got to another rep, who immediately advised me that the account holder (my sister, who was still at work) had to call in to cancel the appointment herself.  I left her a note on her desk to try to call Charter as soon as she got home, and then I went to bed.

I was told that the technician never showed up between the scheduled time, so I figured that either my sister got around to canceling the appointment, or the techs weren’t going to show up at all.  Fast forward to 4:00, and guess who shows up?

I immediately told the tech that I had done a self-installation for my HSI service, and therefore, I had no need for a technician.  The tech muttered something to his partner, and then walked away.

Fast forward to this morning, where I woke up to flu-like symptoms (I LOVE that term).  I fired up my laptop, and immediately noticed that I could not connect to the internet.   I quickly checked my modem lights, and saw that I wasn’t getting four solid greens.  I called up Charter HSI tech support, and while navigating through the IVR, I was told that there was a service outage in my area.  No problem, I thought.

Several hours later, the outage was still going on.  I called HSI support again, and again got the recorded message of the outage in my area.  I then ‘borrowed’ a neighbor’s wireless connection, and started researching this supposed outage.

It wasn’t until I stumbled upon speedtest.net (just out of curiosity) that I noticed that the problem might not have been an outage.  Speedtest.net reported that the ISP that my neighbor was on was, lo and behold, Charter HSI.  Either I was one unlucky SOB and the outage just barely spread to my house and not my neighbor’s, or something else was going on here.

I fired up Charter’s Live Chat support—hey, I had great luck with them last time, if you’ll recall—and immediately got connected to a rep.  Again, I asked if there was an ongoing service outage in my area, and she confirmed this.  Then, after a bit of questioning, she asked me what ISP I was using.  Not sure what she was specifically asking, I told her that I was on a neighbor’s connection, but then added that I was 100% sure I was a Charter HSI customer.

That’s when the rep hit me with this:  according to my sister’s account, we did not have Charter HSI among our services listed.  Huh?  Immediately, the rep advised me to call in to rectify the problem.

I called in, got a real friendly rep, and quickly explained my situation.  I also asked the rep to check to see if there were any ongoing outages in my area.  She responded by telling me that there was no longer an outage in my area.  Wait a sec; the Live Chat rep told me, five minutes earlier, that there was still an outage going on.  What gives?

I then told the rep what the Live Chat rep told me (that Charter HSI was not on my list of services), and while she did not confirm this, she did notice the outstanding installation appointment on the account.  You know, the installation appointment for my SELF-installation.  Yes, on my account, it was noted that a tech was to be sent out for a SELF-installation.

The rep put me on hold for a good fifteen minutes, and then came back on the line to announced that she had ‘closed’ the issue.  She removed the installation appointment off the account, re-established HSI on the account, and assured me that I would still be getting HSI at the promotional rate of $29.99 a month for six months.

What probably happened was, upon telling the tech that his services were never needed, that triggered Charter to assume that I never signed up with HSI, and so they removed HSI from my list of services.  Next month’s bill is gonna be a ton of fun to go over; I better not see any HSI dis/connect fees.  And does anyone know if Charter charges a customer for a ‘missed’ installation appointment?

- Time for a mini-review of the latest episode of The Office.

“The Lover” might have been the craziest episode to date.  Who didn’t see Jim and Pam’s marriage get off to a rocky start?  Lots of yelling in the episode; I hope the cast had lots of Ricola on hand.

I love Dwight’s new offensive against Jim.  Come on, who didn’t see anything suspicious about the pen Dwight put on Jim’s desk?  (By the way, can you legally record someone without his knowledge in Pennsylvania?)  I can’t believe that some Office reviewers out there actually felt that the writers couldn’t keep the Jim-Dwight rivalry fresh.  It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see Dwight costing Jim his promotion by the end of the season, only to have Dwight passed over as Jim’s replacement.

I loved the whole opera scene with Jim, Dwight, and Andy.  Too funny.  I absolutely loved how Toby now thinks he and Michael are friends, and I wonder if Toby’s willingness to help out Michael has anything to do with his feelings for Pam.  I could imagine Toby’s friendship with Michael not lasting past one more episode.

(Oh, I REALLY loved the scene where Toby walks in and both Jim and Michael yell at him.  Toby’s “What did I do?” was priceless.)

Surprisingly, I didn’t particularly care for the whole Michael dating Pam’s mom storyline, though.  The scene in the conference room?  Didn’t do much for me. I hope this is not something the writers plan on pushing all the way to the season finale.  The last thing I need is a “Is Jim’s marriage already over?” end-of-season cliffhanger because of Michael dating Pam’s mom.

(And for the record, I would definitely be bothered if my mom dated my boss, especially if my boss were Michael Scott.  Was Pam overreacting?  Probably.  Was it justifiable?  Probably.)

All that being said, however, I wouldn’t mind seeing one Michael/Pam’s mom-Jim/Pam double date.  Oh, the possibilities!  In a dream world, this happens in the next episode.  Michael acts the way Michael does in front of everybody, and then realizes at the end of the episode what dating Pam’s mom is doing to Jim and Pam.  He then does the right thing and breaks it off with Pam’s mom.

I can dream, right?

Tags: charter cable, mini-review, the lover, The Office by Peter
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I have a splitting headache, so I’ll make this one quick.

I had few expectations going into this past Thursday’s episode of The Office—do you blame me?—and had even less so when Jim and Pam were nowhere to be seen at the beginning of the episode.  Their absences have to lower the overall episode score by at least two points out of ten, right?

The episode started out slowly, dragged on and on, and nearly got me to stop watching at one point. The whole scene in the restaurant bored me to tears, even Andy’s scene where he had to go jump-start some woman’s car.  Dwight and Andy’s plan to “convince” Michael that Grotti wasn’t part of the mob not only saved the episode, but it actually made the entire episode overall somewhat enjoyable.  My favorite exchange:

Dwight:  …I am talking about convincing Michael that the guy’s not mafia.

Andy:  That seems a little far-fetched.

Dwight:  Well, more far-fetched than a mobster walking into a paper company for a low level shakedown?  And that happened.”

(One minor gripe about this episode:  Michael, Dwight, and Andy all thought that Grotti’s e-mail to Michael was a threat, and not a common sales tactic!  I can only come to one of three conclusions:

1. No salesperson in The Office has ever had another sales person with another company.
2. Andy magically forgot everything he learned about sales from his time in the Stamford branch.
3. It’s no wonder that Dunder Mifflin is a failing paper company.

Although, I suppose not all three conclusions are mutually exclusive.)

It pains me to say this because I love Kevin’s character, but I could not stand his act in this episode.  Committing identity fraud by taking a call designed to prevent identity fraud?  And why did Jim have a pay stub on his desk like that?  Actually, I have a better question:  how did Kevin get access to Jim’s office in the first place?  Or could Dunder Mifflin not afford a lock for his door?

Another thing…in this exchange:

Dwight:  Did he threaten you?

Michael:  No, Dwight, not everything is a threat.

Andy:  Mobsters are.

Michael:  There is no such thing as monsters.

was that an unedited goof, or am I seriously supposed to believe that Michael stumbled upon the word “mobster,” the way he stumbles upon one big dictionary word per episode?

Finally, couldn’t the episode have ended with something happening to Michael that necessitated insurance?  Was it too much to ask for somebody to plow into the garage of his condo?  Couldn’t Michael have burned his foot again on his George Foreman grill?  Couldn’t some idiot with the vanity license plate “DA MOB” rear-end him?

(Too cheesy?  OK.)

And please don’t point out that, even if it’s true, supplemental insurance doesn’t cover any of the things listed above.  Did I mention my head hurts?

Tags: mafia, review, The Office by Peter
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I heard on the radio this morning that tonight is going to be a one-hour episode of The Office, complete with Jim and Pam’s wedding.  I guess that means I better watch the last two episodes.  But first…

- Fantasy Football updates:

Remind me never to listen to Yahoo! and their stupid point projections ever again, or I may have to deal with another Julius Jones situation in the future.

You know Julius Jones, right, RB of the Seattle Seahawks?  He of the incredible 3.5 points last weekend?

Fortunately, I got smoked in both leagues.  My opponents scored 121 and 98 points against me, respectively, while I didn’t break 75 in either league.  Next week, I’m going waiver-wire WR heavy, with pickups such as Kenny Britt and Pierre Garcon twice.

I’m now 2-1 in both leagues.

- One non-Fantasy Football update:  so the Monday Night revenge-fest game was the highest-rated cable show of all time, eh?  I can certainly tell you of one household that did not tune in to that game for more than five seconds.

- So Ryan Howard (the other one) got sued by a little girl over a home run ball, eh?  Let me summarize my reactions to this story with one motion.

***facepalm***

To all you wannabe lawyers that insist that the girl has all the right in the world to sue because the Phillies engaged in a contractual agreement with a minor, please stop.  This isn’t about an illegal contract, or extortion (!?!), or the rich guy trying to exploit the not-so-rich family, or any of that crap.  This is about a baseball player who reached 200 HRs faster than anybody else in MLB history wanting back a sentimental object to commemorate an achievement.  This is about a family that, I have to believe, thinks they can sell the ball in the future for an enormous profit.

Stuff like this happens in baseball all the time.  A player loses his grip on his bat, launching it into the seats.  A team staffer asks the lucky (or sometimes unlucky) guy who caught the bat to trade it for a non-game used bat.  He usually obliges, and life goes on.  So excuse me if I believe that this is nothing but a money grab.

Now don’t get me wrong.  If the girl caught Ryan Howard’s 763rd home run, and traded it in for a plain old autographed ball, then I wouldn’t have a huge problem with a family trying to get the ball back.  I know I would if my 12yo gave the ball back to the team.  Also, the story leaves out some pretty critical information.  Where were the parents when the girl was approached by staffers asking for the ball back?  Even if she did agree to go to the Phillies’ clubhouse to exchange baseballs, didn’t the staffers have to bring the girl to her parents first before doing so?  And if they didn’t, wouldn’t the parents have screamed bloody murder at the apparent kidnapping of their child?

Finally, as many people have already posed, how would the family know that Howard actually surrendered the real HR ball?  Sure, it’s probably fraud if he doesn’t, but how would we know the real HR ball isn’t locked in a safe in Howard’s house right now?

- Time for my Office thoughts:

1) “The Meeting” might have been the most topsy-turvy episode of The Office I’ve ever seen.  Let me explain what I mean by topsy-turvy:  the one character that really pissed me off in this episode was…Jim!

What the heck did he mean when he said that Michael screwed him over?  If he didn’t earn all those negative remarks in his performance evaluations in the first place, Michael wouldn’t have been able to screw him over.

Well, maybe he would have found a way, but still.

Michael did what he had to do—explain to David Wallace that Jim wasn’t fit to be a manager—and I wasn’t happy at all when he caved in and helped Jim become a co-manager.  Yes, I understand that, if Michael didn’t do so, Jim might have taken his other job offer.  But if he was planning on doing so, then why was he so upset that Michael “screwed” him over?

I entertained the thought that the performance evaluation was so slanted against Jim because the author of it, one Toby Flenderson, may have written it around the time he was expressing feelings for Pam.  Even if that was the case, what part of that eval is NOT true?  Constant office distractions?  Check.  Spends way too much time at reception?  Duh.  Antagonizes other salesmen.  Yeah.  Not at all what he thinks he is?  Debatable.  3.5 out of 4?  Bad.  Jim’s act actually made me feel bad for Michael, especially when it was obvious that Michael felt bad about costing Jim a promotion within the company.  I didn’t feel as bad when Michael gave in, however.

I loved just about everything else about this episode:  Toby and Dwight’s adventures in attempting to prove that Darryl was scamming worker’s comp, Pam frustratingly trying to get a head count for the wedding (especially Kelly and Ryan’s responses!), and I loved Andy and Michael’s cheese-cart idea (fine grated Parmesan cheese, eh?).  But Jim…sigh.

2) “The Promotion” proved what I said about “The Meeting.”  Jim is NOT management material.  At least, he’s not fit at all to run THAT office!

I loved this episode.  I loved Dwight having to run from Michael’s office to Jim’s and back.  I loved watching Pam practically begging for money instead of gifts (LOL @ Kevin).  I loved how Michael antagonized Jim throughout the entire episode, and how Jim realized that, oh no, Michael might be his only friend.

(The episode should have ended with Michael giving Jim an awkward hug.  That would have been hilarious.  And Jim, I’m pretty sure Pam is still upset with you.)

Dwight, though, stole the episode with his attempts to rally the office against Jim, only to seemingly fail despite that awesome speech near the end.  I wonder if Dwight realizes that, by turning the office on Jim, he might also be turning the office against Michael.  And Pam falling prey to Ryan’s scam was icing on the cake.  Now THAT’s The Office I remember from years past.

What were Jim and Michael supposed to do?  Equal raises?  The entire office would have vetoed that.  Merit-based?  We saw how THAT worked out.  I just hope the writers touch upon how the raises were distributed in a later episode.

Until next time.

Tags: baseball, fantasy football, home run, jim, lawsuit, michael scott, pam, ryan howard, the meeting, The Office, wedding by Peter
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Yay!  The Office is back!

Quick review (sorry, I don’t feel like doing those thorough reviews anymore) to come.

- Here’s a bit of background about my Bank of America checking account.  I use it only for eBay transactions.  Money from eBay sales go to my eBay-specific PayPal account, which gets transferred to my BofA checking account, which then goes to ING Direct, which then goes to my WaMu/Chase checking account.

(I’m gonna have to adapt to calling my checking account a Chase checking account.

(Tangent:  I know it’s only September, but that stupid Chase Sapphire commercial might already have won the Worst Commercial of the Year award.  It only took two viewings to already assign this commercial “This is Myyyyyyyyyy Country” status:  as soon as the commericial airs, I’m reaching for the remote to hit the Mute button.))

Well, I hadn’t sold anything on eBay lately, and therefore, I hadn’t had any activity on that account for about three months.  I then sold a few things, transferred the money from PayPal to my BofA account, and then immediately transferred the money to my ING account.

(Oh by the way, they charged me an inactivity fee of $8.95, and it turns out they should have been charging me this for the last three months.  Then again, when I signed up for the account, I was told that the account was completely fee-free.  Apparently fee-free means free of fees until they deem it necessary to charge fees.

EDIT:  I do recall BofA charging me a $5.xx inactivity fee months prior too.  Fortunately, I got that waived by a phone CSR, and that’s when I found out what BofA’s definition of “fee-free” really is.)

Anyway, you could imagine my surprise when, about a week later, I got a letter in the mail saying that my account could be deemed “abandoned” because of inactivity.  Three months of inactivity = possibly abandoned?, I thought to myself.  I then concluded that BofA probably sent the letter before my most recent transaction, so I decided to ignore the letter.  That’s when the listed account balance caught my attention; it was the balance on the account AFTER the PayPal transfer!

Apparently, one week of inactivity is enough for BofA to think that the account could be abandoned, not three months as I initially thought.

- For some reason, I bought some basketball cards on eBay about a month ago.

One of my items was sent a week late, because the seller was out of town.  I wasn’t notified of this, until after the seller shipped out the item.

One of my items was sent to another buyer.  I wasn’t notified of this until a week later, when I asked the seller about the whereabouts of my item.

These two transactions paled in comparison to the third transaction I had.  Let’s just say that if either of the first two transactions was like getting a root canal, the third was like getting each and every one of your teeth pulled out.

Yup, that bad.

- For the first time in years, I did not draft a Fantasy Football team prior to the start of the season.

The last part of that sentence is important; I drafted a couple teams early last Thursday, hoping to finish before the start of the Thursday night Steelers-Titans game.  Unfortunately, even though both drafts ended well before the 5:30PM start time of the game, both leagues were set to start scoring with the Week 2 games.

Oh well.  Here’s team 1, in a “competitive” league.  I actually hated my second and third picks—I really wanted to go WR-RB with those two picks, but was ‘forced’ to take Barber and Manning in that spot—but absolutely hate my WR picks.  And please don’t ask me why I like to pick DSTs so early.

Here’s team 2.  I really hated the RB options between picks 26 and 35, so I decided to go WR heavy.  Knowing that I might have to rely on McFadden, Jones, or waiver wire pickups as my RB2 is gonna keep me up at night, for sure, and Matt Schaub isn’t exactly impressing me at the moment.

Ahhhhhhhhh…it’s good to have (Fantasy) Football back!

- Speaking of things that are good to have back, I was in tears sixty seconds into tonight’s premiere of The Office.

(No joke.  And who didn’t realize that that refrigerator box was probably empty?)

As premieres go, I thought it was decent.  I loved how most (all?) of Michael’s fake rumors turned out true, especially Kelly’s eating disorder and Pam’s pregnancy.  I’m so glad the show decided not to devote several episodes to Jim and Pam trying to hide their little secret.

(Free at last!  Free at last!)

After watching the premiere, and thinking over past episodes, one has to wonder…is Andy Bernard really gay?  Think about it; how many times did we see Andy show affection towards Angela?  I’m tempted to re-watch “Business Trip” just to see if the writers planted seeds towards ‘outing’ Andy.  Then again, maybe I’m just reading too far between the lines.

The summer interns didn’t detract from the episode—that bit at the end was pretty amusing, and the scene with them and Dwight was epic—but overall, I was pretty disappointed.  Add to that the fact that this was the season premiere, and I can’t say I’m too pleased.

(Come on, NBC!  You couldn’t give The Office another one-hour premiere?)

Until next time.

Tags: abandoned, bank of america, checking account, fees, The Office by Peter
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Go!

- My friends in Morocco, Japan, and Italy, I assure you that Michael Scott is only kidding. You too, Ca-NA-da.

I hope.

- Michael: “My boss is sending me abroad to do a presentation to an international client, and I have always been intrigued by all things international: the women, the pancakes, the “man of mystery.” Michael Scott, star of “Match Game 2008!”

- Jim sure is grinning a lot. I’m certain it is because he’s in charge while Michael is away!

(Uh-huh.)

- Kevin’s butt slap of Jim was the most unfunny thing I’ve ever seen that still caused me to spit water all over my monitor.

And yes, it took me more than a few seconds to figure out what was going to happen in one week. I must be sleepy.

- $50 for per diem? Winnipeg in November??? You’re a brave man, Michael. A brave man, or an idiot. Probably an idiot.

- LOL. Andy and Oscar get to go with Michael…but they don’t get business class seats? Sucks to be them.

- Did Michael get hit by a drink cart, or was he shot?

(This episode is putting me to sleep. It better get better in a hurry!)

- Wait a second…why is Ryan headed back to where Kelly is? Don’t tell me Michael is re-hiring him as a salesman!

Nice one-armed pushups, by the way.

- Raise your hand if you didn’t see Ryan and Kelly doing something right after Kelly’s talking head.

- Michael: “The concierge is the Winnipeg equivalent of a geisha. This is a woman who has been trained in the fine art of fanciness and pleasure, and when you meet one, it is intoxicating. Just what the doctor ordered.” OK.

- Pam: “I have to stay and retake it.” Please, please, please, don’t tell me that this means Pam is going to stay in NY until the end of the season!

(PLEASE!!!)

“That means another twelve weeks.” Well, at least it won’t be a Winter break cliffhanger!

Poor Jim and Pam. Is it just me, or does Jim kinda doesn’t want Pam in NY, and does Pam kinda wants to be back in Scranton?

(Yeah, kinda. And I kinda like ice cream.)

- Michael: “Everybody’s going to end up dying someday, and I think it’s better to die with some people that you like, like Oscar, and Andy, and concierge Marie, than to know that there’s somebody out there that you love that you’re not with.” It’s pretty obvious that this is referring to Holly…but could he be talking about Jan here?

- Oscar: “How can ANYONE stand that woman [Angela]?” Ask Dwight.

- Sign that this episode is boring me to tears: I didn’t even crack a smile at the entire drunk-dialing scene with Andy and Oscar (am I using the term “drunk-dialing” correctly?)

- OK, Dwight explaining why he knew that Pam was going to fail in art school actually made me laugh a bit. Seriously, this episode is awful.

- Andy’s realization that he called Angela while drunk might have saved what might end up being the worst episode of The Office to date.

- I take that back. The text message/breakup between Kelly and Darryl, Darryl’s “It’s cool” response, and a kicking-up-his-heels Darryl walking towards his truck might have saved this episode.

- Andy: “Oh man, she is so pissed. She’s taking us back to first base.” Oscar: “What’s first base with Angela?” Andy: “I get to kiss her forehead.”

- Please allow me to change my opinion again. Michael finally realizing that the business trip was anything but great saved tonight’s episode. Sure, the rant about the shuttle, the flight, and the hotel was classic idiot Michael, but for him to call out David Wallace for sending away Holly was shocking. Yes, it was highly inappropriate, but incredible at the same time! Like I always say, sympathetic Michael is the most entertaining Michael on this show.

- Michael: “…Why have I stayed at Dunder-Mifflin for so long? Certainly not because of the paycheck, because I could be making more money as a doctor, or a professional athlete. I think it’s because they respect me. A boss that will not fire you even though you just tell him off right to his face, over the phone. That’s respect.” Idiot Michael is fun, too.

- Who didn’t expect Jim to see Pam in the parking lot there?

- Pam: “It’s not because of you.” Sure it isn’t.

- Dwight: “You’re back.” LOL, freaking Dwight.

- Ryan: “I…I realized that, for whatever reason, I just couldn’t do better than Kelly.” Stupid, stupid Ryan!

Great way to end an otherwise forgettable episode.

- Time for my review:

“Forgettable” describes this episode nicely. It was way too predictable (Pam’s back? Kelly and Ryan are back together?), and the first fifteen minutes of the episode bordered on completely unwatchable. The last five minutes absolutely saved tonight’s episode. Ryan and Kelly’s second go-around doesn’t interest me in the least (though I’m still laughing a bit at Darryl’s reaction to the break-up), Dwight was woefully underused (Why didn’t the writers send him along on Michael’s trip???), and Pam’s abrupt return to Scranton was, in a word, dumb.

I know I was clamoring for a quick end to the long-distance part of the Jim/Pam relationship, but I was prepared to wait until after the Winter break for resolution. For the writers to bring Pam back to Scranton like that is just plain awful. It’s as if the writers wanted to stretch out their storyline to the winter break, and then immediately realized that they were going to run out of material a few weeks before the Winter break. I could imagine the writers finishing the script the day of the taping, ultimately deciding to bring Pam back to Scranton ASAP. What’s next for them? Are we going to see tensions develop between them? Will Jim try to push Pam back towards the art program again?

So the Andy-Angela relationship is back to “first base,” huh? What happens next with their relationship? I’m surprised that, given how quickly the writers sent Pam back to Scranton, the writers didn’t immediately have Angela dump Andy and profess her love for Dwight! Would anyone have been surprised if Andy’s drunk call caused that to happen? That being said, I hope that the tensions between Angela and Andy, as a result of the drunk call, is a theme that carries throughout the rest of the Andy/Angela/Dwight storyline.

The truly redeeming scene of tonight’s episode, though, had to be Michael’s chewing out of David Wallace. It was great to see Michael pour his heart out, explaining how “sucky” the entire situation was. There’s no way Wallace gets that go without disciplining Michael, right? If not, then what was the point of tonight’s episode? Of course, the show won’t work if he leaves the office, but would a storyline where Michael might really considering leaving Dunder-Mifflin be that outrageous?

Consider this a first-draft of my review of tonight’s episode. I’ll probably watch the episode again later, and hopefully, I’ll have better things to say about it.  Tonight’s episode could not really be that bad, could it?

Right?

As it stands right now, I didn’t see the worst episode of The Office of all time, but I’m thinking “bottom five” for sure.  Extremely disappointing, coming off such a strong episode last week!

Until next time.

Tags: business trip, review, running blog, The Office by Peter
2 Comments »

On with the running blog!

- Engaged??? WTF???

(LOL!)

- Darryl: “I was there, and that dude is not engaged. I’m not a big believer in therapy, but…I’ll go into my own pocket to cover his copay.” LOL

- Andy: “Big idea! Double wedding! Me, Angela, you, Holly.” Remember this?

Bad, Bad Jim, for not telling the rest of the office about your engagement!

(thinks about it for a second…)

(thinks about it for thirty seconds…)

Smart move, Jim! Seriously, why the heck would he want to tell anyone about their engagement? Why, so Michael can throw them a stupid party? So Dwight could say something wholly inappropriate? So Andy could ask Jim if they could do a double-wedding?

Damn I’m good!

- OMG. Michael is actually calling his mother to tell her that he’s supposedly getting married?

- Michael: “Whenever I’m getting married, you…don’t believe me.” Gee, I wonder why she wouldn’t believe you! Well, at least Michael won’t be spending the rest of the episode trying to perpetuate his lie.

- Jim: “Those reports [the customer evaluations] affect our bonuses, which is kinda great for me…because you wouldn’t know from looking at her, but…Pam’s a gold digger.” 2:44, and we have our first spit-take of the evening.

- Pam: “Hey! (inaudible) New York ain’t free!  Get back to work!” 2:47, and we have our second spit-take of the evening, except that one was much more forceful than the first :P.

(Thanks to my sister for figuring out what Pam said.)

- Pam: “We wanna stay on the phone all day, but the company has a policy against eight-hour personal calls, so we’re not telling anyone.”

- Pam and Jim, at the exact same time: “A sprinkle of cinnamon.” AWWWWWWWWWWW.

- Abrasive and distasteful. That sounds about accurate.

- OK, I can already tell that the “World’s Smallest Bluetooth [Headset]” is going to make this episode awesome.

- Ah, a Jim-Dwight “special” moment. Gee, why is Jim’s head tilted in one direction?

- “Good luck.” “Thanks.” “I didn’t say anything!” “I love you.” “I love you too.” “What do you think I’m saying to you?” “I’m not talking to you.” I’m crying here.

- Dwight: “I’ve caught Jim talking to himself several times today. What a loser! Get a friend, loser!”

- Michael: ” ‘Jim Halpert…is smudge and arrogant.’ ” “And there’s our smudgeness.”

- Jim: “…and if history tells us anything, it’s that you can’t go wrong buying a house you can’t afford.” Ouch! Financial meltdown smack! “Pam doesn’t know about the house, so it’s a…fun surprise.” Oh oh.

And for the record, I am thoroughly enjoying Jim turning on and off his Bluetooth earpiece from time to time.

- Pam: “Maybe it’s because you spent the whole year flirting with the receptionist.” Jim: “Little bit. Worth it.” Gag. And that might explain this past year, but what about the four years prior to this year?

- Micro-gemant? OK.

- OK, I’m seriously crying here over the entire role-play between Dwight and Jim. Last week, I was given Dwight v Andy, and now Dwight v Jim? More, more, more!

Is it too early for me to declare tonight’s episode the best one of the season so far?

- Jim: “The three words I would describe you as [are] aggressive, hostile, and definitely difficult!” LOL!!!!!!!

- Jim: “There is one condition, Michael. You have to fire the salesman that treated me so terribly.” Dwight: “Don’t do it, Michael.” Michael (whispering to Dwight): “It’s a million dollar sale.” Michael’s bosses ought to be so proud.

- There is paranoia, and then there is what Dwight is going through. And I can’t believe Jim actually got into Dwight’s car.

- Gee, who didn’t see what place Andy was going to rent out for the wedding, given Angela’s demands? Did he use TripAdvisor to find the place? And why is Andy acting like renting out Dwight’s B&B is going to be a good thing?

- Kelly: “And maybe if you were a little bit more nice and polite, people wouldn’t give you such bad customer reviews.” OMG. Kelly…made sense???

- Kelly: “Get out of my nook.” Pam: “That’s what she said! That’s what she said!” Awkwardly funny, most definitely.

- OMG. Dwight’s conspiracy theory…was…RIGHT ON??? Even Jim can’t believe it!

(My jaw is still on the floor, five minutes later.)

- Oh oh. Here comes the “wrench.” I wonder if Pam will actually turn off her earpiece.

- Aw crap, he’s being a wrench, of course, but not at all (so it might appear) in the way I expected him to be.

- No, there was nothing at all strange about that final scene with Dwight, Angela, and Andy.

What a fantastic episode, for the second week in a row! We had another wonderful clash—this time between Dwight and Jim—and this time, we got another bit character heavily involved in a storyline.

(Yes, I’m still crying over the Dwight-Jim mock phone call.)

I have to applaud Kelly for being able to nearly pull off such an elaborate scheme (and kudos to Jr. Gumshoe Pam Beesly for finding the clue that incriminated Kelly!). I’m still in utter shock that it Dwight was RIGHT about Kelly being involved in the whole scheme, but does this mean that Dwight really isn’t aggressive, hostile, and difficult?

The final scene, with Dwight presenting Andy and Angela a Schrute Farms wedding arrangement, was a fantastic touch to end the episode (even though the Jim-Pam “shippers” still had a bad taste in their mouths from the previous scene), especially with Angela and Dwight exchanging pleasant smiles at the end. With one major relationship (Michael-Holly) seemingly over, the writers need to place more emphasis, in the immediate future, on the Dwight-Andy-Angela struggle. Also, kudos to the writers for giving Michael just one scene involving his currently-off relationship with Holly.

The episode was great…right up until the nineteen minute mark, where a gigantic-sized monkey wrench finally got thrown into the Jim-Pam relationship. However, as remarked above, it wasn’t close to the type of wrench I expected. Pam’s NY friend…actually made a hell of a lot of sense. Could he be keeping her in NY for a future relationship? That’s possible. For now, though, just think about what what he said, and how right on the mark he is. What good would spending three months in an art program in NY be, if Pam’s going to return to Scranton right after it’s over? Off the top of my head, I can’t think of too many art-related career fields that could be pursued there.

Think back to the restaurant scene of “Employee Transfer.” Remember how Jim vehemently defended Pam’s choice of pursuing an art degree? Now what is Jim to do? If he really believed that Pam is going to be successful, doesn’t he have to echo those sentiments to her? Doesn’t he have to tell her to stay in New York? You could kinda tell, by looking at Jim’s reaction at the very end of the episode, that he knows what’s right for Pam, and that, unfortunately, isn’t what’s right for him. And what does that do to Jim’s plans of buying his parents’ house? Assuming he was buying the house for himself and Pam, and assuming that his parents live somewhere in PA (the latter being not a safe assumption, of course), what’s the point of buying the house now? I wonder if the writers will continue this thread in a future episode.

In any event, this decision that Pam is going to have to make will clearly lead up right to the winter break, if not longer.

Again, this could easily have been, at the very least, a winter-break episode, where Jim would have the next few weeks to decide what he should advise Pam on doing. Couple that with the antics of Jim v Dwight, and I’m almost glad that I watched the past two episodes back-to-back. In fact, both of these episodes could have been run together as a single hour-long episode.

I’ll end my review of this episode with a question, and I hope that anybody that comes across this review and gets to the end takes the time to answer this question: Are you surprised that neither Jim nor Pam, at any moment in that second-to-last scene, did not even think about reaching for his or her earpiece?

Until next time!

Tags: customer survey, review, The Office by Peter
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Ugh…I’m two Office episodes behind??? Let’s get to it!

(There’s no sense in me posting a “live” blog for an episode that aired a week ago, so I’m going to format this episode review like the ones from Season 4, where I give you my thoughts, and then end it with a list of favorite moments.)

This episode could easily have been a season finale. It was really that great! Sure, it started off a bit slowly, and I was kinda disappointed that the writers only spent a couple minutes on the Halloween theme—is Jim Halpert allergic to Halloween costumes?—but the rest of the episode MUCH MORE than made up for the beginning.  I might argue that this episode is (so far) the best episode of the season!

Now what is Michael to do, with Holly in New Hampshire? I hope that is not the end of Holly’s character; she grew on me very quickly, and her interactions with Michael were, in my opinion, better than those during the Michael-Jan relationship. Watching Michael acting exponentially more and more pathetic as the episode wore on was awesome, especially with Darryl sitting right beside them. I’m glad that Michael decided NOT to stick around Holly’s new place afterwards. Speaking of Jan, now does Michael try to get back with her? Or has that ship sailed?

(Remember how I commented about how the sad, pathetic, almost-humanized Michael Scott makes this show great? We got a classic example of this in this episode.)

By the way, when I first saw the title of this episode, it actually took me a while to realize who was being transferred…

The whole Andy-Dwight standoff throughout the episode had me laughing my ass off.

(Please, writers, more of this!)

What made their standoff even better was the fact that neither one of them made a play at Angela throughout the episode. Didn’t I say that some of the past episodes have been too relationship-heavy? The entire Dwight-Andy subplot was a welcome change to all that. I actually found myself rooting for Andy at the end, and I was rewarded when Andy pointed out that he would be conducting Dwight’s college interview! Extra points to Andy for impersonating Dwight at the end of the episode, beets and all!

(Seriously, I’m still wiping tears off my face over the interview.)

I will admit that I enjoyed watching Jim’s brothers prank Jim, even when it became obvious that Pam was not amused by the prank. Did they cross the line? Sure, especially with the drawing a picture to pay the check line, but who wasn’t rooting for Jim to leap across the table and pound some sense into one of his brothers? However, we finally got to see Jim and Pam drift closer together (rather than splitting further apart, as was the trend of the past few episodes), and we should thank Jim’s brothers for that. Jim’s approval of Pam’s prank idea, followed by the text message from his brother, should have been extra satisfying to all you Jim-Pam fans. I still smell a severe relationship turn by the winter break, though, one that will seriously put a strain on both of them..

Favorite moments:

• Creed’s Joker costume.
• Kelly: “Stanley! I thought you hated Halloween!” Phyllis: “Shhhh…he wears it so that he can sleep at his desk.” Brilliant!
• Did Andy dress as a kitten (WTF?) to impress Angela, or was that Angela’s idea? And “Dave???”
• Pam: “…and I can’t even take off my hat, because then I’m Hitler.”
• Dwight wearing that Cornell sweater. Real smooth, Dwight.
• “Life is a highway! I wanna ride it ALL NIGHT LONG!” LOL at Darryl singing along as well.
• Watching Jim’s brothers come up with the idea to jokingly (or not) trash Pam was awesome…in a really sad, “Poor Pam!” kind of way. It was also really damn funny.

(What can I say? I’m evil!)

• Can we start a “Stop Michael From Butching Songs” petition?
• Michael: “Did Darryl touch you?” LOL!
• Michael: “…and I’ve dated almost four women…no, in like the last ten years.” Extra points for that sneaky “That’s what she said” at the very end of their conversation.
• Michael: “…I’m going to make this way harder than it needs to be.” Of course you are.
• Michael (again): “Here’s my wish. I want you to meet a great guy, and I want you to be happy.” Awwww. “My wish has come true, incidentally, because you’ve met me, and you are happy.” Clever, Mike.
• One of Jim’s brothers: “Maybe Pam should pay the check by drawing a picture on this napkin.” Ok, that was mean, but damn funny at the same time.
• Michael: “…I’ll go back to Jan, and I hate Jan!” Whoa! Where did that come from???
• Andy: “…looks like I will be conducting your University interview!” OH SNAP!!!
• That entire “interview” with Andy and Dwight might have been the funniest scene of the entire season!
• Text message: “Pam cool. Welcome to the family.” And you just knew Jim would have liked Pam’s prank over his brothers’ prank.
• LOL at Michael “singing” the blues. So pathetic…yet kinda sad at the same time.
• LMFAO at Andy dressed as a farmer!!!
• Dwight: “Cornell.”

Tags: employee transfer, review, The Office by Peter
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I’m sleepy—errands will do that to you!—but I’ll try to be as coherent as possible.

Random thoughts while sitting at the laundromat:

(Tangent: We go to the laundromat about once a year, and only because we had to wash our comforters. Also, we were out of quarters, so we couldn’t use the laundry rooms here in my condominium complex.)

- I had some McDonalds food today (yeah, I know), and as I was peeling out the Monopoly game pieces from my drink, a thought occured to me: what if I found a rare piece now?

(In case you didn’t know, one property of each Monopoly is much rarer than the others.)

How would I complete the Monopoly? Would I have to eat a bunch more times at McDonalds to get the remaining pieces?

It didn’t dawn upon me until much, much later that I could probably find someone on a message board and ask for the remaining pieces. Then again, what if everyone there is totally heartless, and they demand half of my winnings in exchange for the non-rare pieces?

No, I did not get a rare piece.

- Hey, moron that stole the wheeled-basket-thingy I was using to empty the dryer I was using: when I push the basket-thingy towards a dryer filled with clothes, it’s probably a safe bet that I’m GOING TO USE IT!!!

You know what else might indicate that I’m going to use said basket? The fact that I grabbed some clothes from the dryer, and got ready to toss them in the general direction of where the basket should have been!

A$$hole.

- Speaking of a dryer, I’ve a question for all you loyal readers of my blog (all none of you):

You have two dryers full of clothes (A and B). The clothes in A are completely dry, and there’s about six minutes left in the cycle (one quarter = 12 minutes). The clothes in B aren’t completely dry yet, and B just ran out of time.

EDIT:  Here’s some additional information to consider:

• Both dryers have the same amount of clothes in them, roughly.
• A and B are adjacent to one another; you wouldn’t have to walk halfway across the laundromat to move the clothes from one to the other.

Would you transfer the clothes from B to A, or would you shove another quarter into B?

- And finally, courtesy of my sister:

My sister ordered a Fruit n’ Yogurt Parfait from McDonalds, and when she got around to eating it, we noticed that she wasn’t given a spoon! Immediately, I noticed a restaurant right outside the laundromat, and I told her to go there and ask for a plastic spoon. Certainly the restaurant wouldn’t refuse that tiny request, right?

Hey, Miriam’s Cuisine on Sherman Way, just east of Reseda: look, we get it that the economy is slumping. We understand that small Mom & Pops are struggling to stay in business. That being said, you couldn’t spare us one plastic spoon? How much could a plastic spoon cost? A penny

(I could understand their reaction if she asked for a plastic cup, but not a spoon!)

And please don’t stare at my sister as if she was trying to rob the place, just because she was asking for a plastic spoon.

And to the guy who chimed in with “We only have silverware!”: if that were true, then why did the woman at the front say that we’d have to buy something in order to get one?

ONE FREAKING PLASTIC SPOON! Are you people kidding me??? I wonder what would have happened if I walked in with a cut on my hand, and asked for a napkin.

OK, one tacos plate, and a napkin to stop the bleeding, please! What? I have to pay first?

One plastic spoon…

- On to my late-as-usual review of Thursday’s episode of The Office:

“Crime Aid” wasn’t as bad as the second episode of the season (”Business Ethics“), but it wasn’t nearly as good as last week’s episode (”Baby Shower“). Could it be that a Michael-Holly relationship just isn’t as entertaining as a Michael-Jan relationship? Or maybe the episode needed more Jim-Pam interactions? I found it a bit hard to get into “Crime Aid” until late into the episode.

(Wouldn’t it have been funny if the writers paid homage to The Office’s Thursday night competition on CBS, CSI, by offering a scene or two where a character (ahem…Dwight) pulls out some fingerprint dust, latex gloves, and/or a blacklight? This should have happened!)

Well, the Michael-Holly relationship just hit a MAJOR snag, in the form of David Wallace. What’s next for the happy couple? Will Holly be fired over this? Will Michael actually get reprimanded? Maybe Michael can convince David that his relationship with Holly is as beneficial as Meredith’s relationship with the rep from Hammermill :P. If I had to put money on it, I’d say that Holly’s job is in trouble. Hmmm…is there anybody in the office that is qualified for a promotion to a corporate position?

I did like how Jim quickly U-turned on his way to New York. Is that a sign of Jim being secure with his relationship with Pam, or a sign of a further drift between the two of them? I’m just praying that the writers don’t use Roy as the wedge between Jim and Pam. I understand that there really isn’t another reason for bringing Roy’s character back on the show, but that’s the problem I have with Roy being the foil to the Jim-Pam relationship; it’s just too convenient and obvious. Ryan? Now that might be more fun.

By the way, I said it before, and I’ll say it again: Roy’s “Wow…I mean, you were a friend” was incredible. Roy could stop showing up on the show for the rest of the show’s run, and nothing could drive a stake further through Jim and Pam’s long-distance relationship than that single line.

I really loved the whole Phyllis-Dwight interaction throughout the episode. For a minute, I thought that Phyllis was actually going to get through to Dwight. How silly of me. I wonder how many people in the office, minus Andy, of course, doesn’t know of the Dwight-Angela shenanigans. I’m guessing that number is small enough to be counted on one hand, and if that’s the case, don’t you think someone should tell Andy?

Then again, why prematurely kill off a storyline that you know will be a winter break (if not a summer break) cliffhanger, in a season where several potential cliffhangers are possible?

(So I made this point in my running blog of “Crime Aid:”

Bob Vance just bid $1,000 for a hug from his own wife. David Wallace and Dwight both tried to outbid him for that hug.

It’s the scenes like this one that really make the show great. You all can have the scenes where Jim destroys Dwight, or the scenes where Michael does something stupid, but what really makes the show great is how personable most of the characters can be.

Let me elaborate on this point. We know that the show revolves around Michael’s idiocy, Dwight’s antics, Jim and Pam, and to a lesser extent (now), Angela and Andy. What I love equally as much about the show, though, is how the show respects the lesser characters enough to feature them in main plots during a particular episode. The second episode of the season and last season’s “Did I Stutter?” immediately come to mind. More importantly, it can be argued that the lesser characters are just as important to the success of the show as the main characters.

“Crime Aid” revolves around Michael trying to raise funds to replace stuff that was stolen from the office via an auction that, on the surface, sounds like something nobody would ever want to take part in. However, look at the scene where Bob Vance gets in a bidding war with David Wallace and Dwight over a hug from his own wife. Jim excepted (LOL), it sure looks like several people wanted to be at the auction by the end of the episode.

When I described most of the characters as “personable,” I mean that they are entertaining, and more importantly, they are engaging; you want to see what happens to them, because you know of their importance to the atmosphere of the office.

I’ve written the last three paragraphs over about 50 times, and I am still not sure if I got my point across :P.)

Until next time!

Tags: crime aid, laundromat, mcdonalds, miriam's cuisine, monopoly game, plastic spoon, rare pieces, review, stolen basket, The Office by Peter
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It’s that time again.

- Boy, neither Pam nor Ryan are ever going to escape Dunder-Mifflin, are they?

And why is corporate so lax on personal calls?  Man, I want to work for Dunder-Mifflin!

Actually, let me think about that…

- Yeah, Michael and Holly are perfect for each other.

And where can you buy a whole set of putt-putt golf clubs?

- Michael:  “In my opinion, the third date is the one…where you have sex.”  Really?

“If she starts having sex with me, I’ll know for sure.”  I just spit Dr. Pepper all over my monitor.

- Andy’s handing out Save the Dates already?

- Phyllis:  “You know I know.  You know THEY know.”  I love that the writers are giving Phyllis more lines.

- Michael:  “Some of what we order depends on if we’re having sex after.”  Wow.

“Are we gonna have sex tonight?”  “Hell yeah.”  WTF?

- Dwight:  “Why is she marrying Andy?”  For those of you that have read my prior Office episode reviews, I am a big fan of Michael any time he needs sympathy.  The same can be said for Dwight, like in his second conversation with Phyllis.  You almost feel sorry for him!

Almost…”That’s really fattening!”

- LMFAO at the entire scene with Michael and Holly making out.

- I was wondering why this episode was entitled “Crime Aid.”  Poor Kevin!  He got his surge protector stolen :P.

(BTW, did Oscar say his “labtop” was stolen???)

Oh oh…did Holly and Michael’s, um, session, have something to do with the robbery?

- Michael:  “So much for sex without consequences.”

- Is going to Phyllis for relationship advice really a good idea?  Well, at least Dwight didn’t go to Michael.

And, of course, leave it to Dwight to get what he wanted, and then dump Phyllis on a different floor.

- Creed:  “Nobody steals from Creed Bratton and gets away with it.  The last person to do this disappeared.  His name?  Creed Bratton.”  I need not say a thing.

- A charity auction?  “Crime Aid!”  Got it!

- Phyllis was in a sorority?  And why did the camera pan over Stanley when Michael mentioned auctioning off people “like in the olden days?”  LOL.

- Oscar:  “So, in order to recoup the value of items we liked, we have to spend more money on things we don’t want.”  Spoken like a true accountant.

(Actually that was spoken like anyone with half a brain.)

- Holly:  “He knows how to get things.  He got me.”  Whoa!

- Wow, Dwight really gave Angela the ultimatum!

- )@(*$)($()*#)@()!!!! MICHAEL!  BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN DID NOT SING “The Heart of Rock & Roll,” you buffoon.

- C.R.I.M.E. - A.I.D. = Crime Reduces Innocence, Makes Everyone Angry, I Declare.

I typed that out just to see how many hits my blog gets from a search of that phrase :P.

- Darryl:  “Mike gave me a list of his top ten Springsteen songs.  Three of them were Huey Lewis and the News.  One was Tracy Chapman…’Fast Car.’  And my personal favorite:  ‘Short People.’”  Tracy Chapman???

- A yoga lesson?  Offered by Holly?  $300???

- Michael:  “It squeaks when you bang it.  That’s what she said.”  YES!!!!!!

- Damn that Darryl…what a smart guy!  Conflict of interest?  LOL.

Jim:  “Five dollars.”  Darryl:  “Sold!  To Jim!”

- Oh oh…I was wondering if we were ever going to see Roy again.  Sure, he’s not gonna beat up Jim now, but what’s gonna happen when he finds out that Jim’s engaged to Pam?

- Kevin’s willing to do someone’s taxes?  Now that has real value!  So, naturally, no one is bidding.

- Poor Dwight.

(I wonder if there’s anything significant about 6:14 PM being Angela’s deadline to make a decision.)

- What the hell?  David Wallace not only dropped by and didn’t fire Michael on the spot, but he’s actually offering to auction off something???

- Yes, Dwight, that’s it.  Move on.

And that slap that Phyllis gave to Dwight needed to be about ten thousand times harder than it actually was.

“What did Phyllis do wrong?  I’ll tell you what Phyllis did wrong.  She stuck her nose into my business and tried to help me.”  WTF?

- Wow, Jim actually told Roy that he’s engaged to Pam…and Jim’s still conscious?

- Roy:  “Wow….I mean, you were a friend.”  Incredible line, for the possible double meaning behind it.

- Of course…the Springsteen tickets were stolen.

That is, if they existed in the first place.

(EDIT:  Mystery solved!)

- Bob Vance just bid $1,000 for a hug from his own wife.  David Wallace and Dwight both tried to outbid him for that hug.

It’s the scenes like this one that really make the show great.  You all can have the scenes where Jim destroys Dwight, or the scenes where Michael does something stupid, but what really makes the show great is how personable most of the characters can be.

I know; that sounds pretty weird, but I really mean that, and I’ll try to elaborate on this point during my review.

- Was that an illegal U-turn?  And who didn’t see that coming?

- Busted!  You knew David Wallace wasn’t going to be there without something bad happening to someone.

Full review to come!

Tags: crime aid, review, running blog, The Office by Peter
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I’ve got rants about WalMart, rants about Fantasy Football, and (hopefully) a resolution to my complaint with Costco, but I can deal with all of those another time.

On to my Office running blog!

- Dwight in an apron? Oh wait…he’s pretending to carry a baby??? This episode already blows last week’s episode out of the water!

- Jim: “Now, this baby will be related to Michael through (draws a ? on a whiteboard) delusion.” I couldn’t have put it any better myself.

- Tell me that he had some container of water under that apron.

Oh my…

- Dwight: “Babies are one of my many areas of expertise. Growing up, I performed my own circumcision.” Growing up? Oh my.

- Was this episode rated R? ZE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!!!!!

- EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW….AND HE’S EATING THE WATERMELON????????

(passes out)

That might have been the worst (not bad, just absolutely ridiculous) first two minutes in Office history.

- “AS-TIRD?” Nice…I think.

(EDIT:  I actually had to go back to this point in the episode—you’ll see why later—to check the spelling of “AS-TIRD” on the M&M bowl.)

- Michael (to Phyllis): “…we gave you your wedding shower here…we all came into this room and gave you a golden shower. Well you know what? Where’s my golden shower?” Seriously?

- That phone call between Jim and Pam was pretty telling, no? Great…an entire season filled with Jim-Pam moments of them starting to drift away…?

- Gee, I wonder who the little black kid is?

(But seriously, that’s pretty awesome that the entire cast donated their baby pics to this episode, assuming that those pics are real, and why wouldn’t they be?)

- Angela (to Andy, after he stuck his baby pic next to what he thought was Angela’s baby pic): “That’s Phyllis.” Oh crap!

- LOL! Is that really Angela?

- No, that whole conversation with Michael and Holly was not weird at all. “And I’m treating Ryan the same way.” WTF?

- Thank you Stanley, but I do not care to hear about your sore nipples. *gag*

- Dwight: “Jan had the baby, and Michael wasn’t there to mark it. So the baby could be anybody’s. Except Michael’s.” That about sums up the first part of this episode.

- Ah, it’s “AS-TRID” You kids out there named Astrid might want to change your names, anyway.

- Thank goodness Jan did not let Michael pick up the baby.

- Michael: “If a baby were president, there would be no taxes. There would be no war. There would be no…government.”

- Wow, he wasn’t kidding about being cold to Holly.

- I agree with Dwight…$1200 for a stroller? That thing better have an ABS system and air bags on it!

- Dwight: “$1200 is what I spent on my whole bomb shelter.” Is that a good thing? “For that kind of money, the stroller should be indestructible.” I can’t believe this. I’m totally agreeing with Dwight!

(AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)

- And the Jim-Pam drift continues…

So Jan is singing a wholly inappropriate song to the baby, huh? She should have sung Hunter’s love song :P.

- Of course…Creed is the only one eating cake while Jan talked about her tub birth.

- Michael: “I usually love babies, but when I held Astrid, I felt…shortchanged.” Oh oh.

- It appears Darryl is busy as usual.

- Thank goodness…if Darryl had sat on Michael’s lap or something, I would have banned The Office from my house.

- Ok, that scene with Holly and Jan was AWESOME.

- WTF Angela??? And turn off the flash, at least!

- Wow, that stroller really is worth $1200!

- Jan (to Michael): “Don’t date Holly.” Hmmmmmm…does somebody still have feelings for somebody?

- Michael: “Wanna go out?” Holly: “Yes.” That was quick.

- Michael: “I didn’t feel much when I held Astrid. But I got a good feeling from Holly.” Great line to close the episode with!

- Oh, that last scene…*sniff*

(Where’s my box of kleenex?)

- Here’s my review:

The episode was definitely a bit too relationship-heavy for my liking, and it sure looks like that will be the norm for the remainder of the season.

One relationship at a time:

1) Angela/Andy/Dwight: The tension between these two is amazingly underrated. We know that Angela has nothing in common with Andy, and she’s only with him because Dwight chased her away. I just love how she is getting more and more uncomfortable with Andy as the season progresses (did you she how uncomfortable she got with all the baby talk? It’s a shame that she was pregnant in real life last season.). Too bad Dwight was too busy, um, testing the stroller, to perform any extra-curricular activities with Angela this time around.

2) Michael/Jan/Holly: So what do we make of Jan telling Michael not to date Holly? Is Holly really not right for Michael, or does Jan still have feelings for Michael.

(Survey says…the latter, most definitely.)

In a move that should have surprised no one, those words actually pushed Michael (literally!) into Holly’s arms, and now it seems Holly and Michael are officially an item. I’m guessing we are not close to seeing the end of Jan visiting the office, probably with AS-TRID in tow. Or maybe Jan just cares about Michael too much, and really thinks that Holly is not right for her.

(Not a chance.)

3) Jim/Pam: Just when we thought they were seemingly drifting apart, that dual voice mail “call” showed just how close they really are. At the same time, though, the phone call seems to tease that they are now so far “off” that, maybe, just maybe, they need to question whether or not their relationship is going to work.

I hope the writers do not introduce a third person into their relationship, as the barrier between them—the drive to NY from Scranton, namely—is obstacle enough. In just one episode—I’d aruge just one moment—the writers have now brought serious doubts to the minds of us viewers as to whether or not the Jim/Pam relationship will survive.

And you know what? Don’t put it past the writers to decide that the Jim/Pam relationship is headed for failure, as unpopular as that will be!

Tonight’s “storyline” episode was FANTASTIC, despite being so relationship-heavy, and a plethora of one-liners kept me laughing my butt off throughout. How dare I doubt your ability to entertain me, The Office! Shame on me!

Until next time!

Tags: baby shower, review, running blog, The Office by Peter
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