UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

You might have noticed the way I am now labeling my Office reviews (S05E02 = Season 5, Episode 2, e.g.).

One of these days, I’ll go back and fix all my Office-related blog titles to reflect this change.

(No I won’t :P)

- Here’s all I have to say about Game Two of the Dodgers/Phillies series:

BRETT F**KING MYERS??? THREE FOR THREE, THREE RBI, AND TWO RUNS??? ARE YOU SERIOUS???

(Bye, Manny.)

- I love Costco. My wallet might not, but I love Costco. One of the most underrated aspects of Costco has to be their excellent customer service. Most of the cashiers I’ve encountered at Costco were very friendly to me. Sure, there was the occasional cashier that would half-heartedly say “Bye” to me at the end of my transaction, but this was the exception and not the rule.

However, yesterday I got to deal with the most inconsiderate Costco cashier of all time! Rather than repeat what happened, I’ll let the email I fired off to Costco speak for itself:

Hi,

Let me start by saying that several members of my family are frequent shoppers at Costco Wholesale warehouse locations throughout Southern California, and for the most part, we have had few (if any) customer-service related issues with your stores. Most of the cashiers we have encountered have been genuinely friendly to us, usually offering greetings of “How are you today?” followed by “Have a good day!” at the conclusion of our transactions.

On 10/10/2008, however, I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with cashier [cashier name, register #, store #, city, state, zip, and time]. It appeared that I had lined up right around the time that [name] and two other cashiers decided that it would be more important to converse with each other than to do their jobs. One of the other workers was manning a cash register of his own, and the other was responsible for putting scanned items back in to my cart.

When I lined up, I was not at all greeted by [name]—she didn’t even glance in my general direction! Furthermore, while scanning my purchases, there was at least one moment where she completely stopped what she was doing in order to speak to her coworkers! Each time she did this, I was tempted to say “If you don’t mind, please scan my items, and then you can chat when you’re done with me.”

After I paid for the items, [name] handed me my receipt, again without even making eye contact; apparently she still needed to converse with her coworkers! I felt like filling a complaint right then and there, but I thought better of it.

As I mentioned before, my family frequently shops at Costco, and I do not recall a customer-service related issue as atrocious as the situation discussed above. I sincerely hope I will not have to find another Costco to shop at in the future.

Thank you for your time,

I already got a reply from Costco, saying that my email was forwarded to the local manager.

(I know what some of you might be thinking: why would I waste my time filing a complaint? Cashier jobs are horribly thankless jobs, and most cashiers could care less about their customers! I will not dispute this point; however, like I said earlier, I would not have expected such rude cashiers at Costco. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if something like this happened at VONS, Ralphs, Rite Aid, WalMart, etc., but Costco? Not a chance.)

- Time for my Office review:

My opinion of “Business Ethics” might change if I watch it a few more times, but I just couldn’t really get into the episode. Sure, the whole bit with Jim, Dwight, and Andy was ridiculously funny, but the episode really felt like a chore to get through. As far as “storyline” episodes go, this was one of the least impressive ones.

Thank goodness Jim and Pam immediately announced their engagement! The last thing I needed was a drawn-out, winter break cliffhanger over when they would actually make that announcement. However, when is Pam coming back to Scranton? And what will happen to Ryan when that happens?

Have I mentioned how much I now love Holly’s character? She’s perfect for the show! She’s quirky enough to stand Michael, while, at the same time, you can tell that she wants to do her job well. I like how we got more insight as to why Michael is perfect for running the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin; the process (actually going through the Ethics binder) isn’t nearly as important as the results (getting signatures from the office). Will Michael continue to mold Holly into a female version of himself? Or will Holly continue to butt heads with Michael over office matters?

(Or both?)

So Meredith has sex for discount paper and steak, huh? And Holly wanted her fired??? Give her a promotion! You just knew that Meredith wasn’t going to get punished for her actions, but I thought it was Michael that was going to defend her, not someone at corporate! The writers should continue this storyline throughout the season; maybe we can discover that Dwight traded away some beets for discount paper?

Hopefully next week’s episode will be better.

Tags: brett myers, business ethics, costco, idiot cashier, los angeles dodgers, philadelphia phillies, The Office by Peter
2 Comments »

- I knew we were in a bit of trouble watching Derek Lowe struggle through that fifth inning.

As soon as I saw Chase Utley deposit a Lowe pitch into right field, I knew we were in big trouble.

(Damn you, Rafael Furcal!)

I muttered to myself, “Take him out NOW, Torre!” knowing full well that that would have been an extremely rash decision to do so.

However, what if Torre had come with the hook right then and there?

(For the record, I picked the Phillies to win this series in six games. I don’t see how the Dodgers’ staff is going to slow down the Phillies’ offense over a seven-game series).

I enjoyed doing the “running synopsis” of last week’s Office episode so much that I think I will do that for the rest of the season. Let’s go!

- 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?

(thinks about it some more…)

Dammit Jim! Well, at least the writers decided not to have Jim and Pam hold off their engagement announcement for too long.

- LOL! Nice reactions from the office!

• “I thought you were already engaged!”
• “That was Roy. She was engaged to Roy.”
• “I have a gift for Pam and Roy. Do I have to get another one?”
• “A little close to my engagement there, Tuna. What’s your game here?” Thank you, Andy!
• “She’s not a virgin you know.” Rainn Wilson owes me a new computer monitor.
• And how many times did Michael get to “rehearse” that tackle on Jim? Bob Sanders should be proud.

- Holly: “Pencils down!” Oh, flashbacks of standardized tests! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

- Oh dear…Olivia Newton John’s “Physical”??? “Let’s get ETHICAL, ETHICAL!!!!”

Too bad we couldn’t clearly hear the grunting that occurs during the “Let me hear your body talk!” line.

(If you have no idea what I’m talking about, just think about the song might be about…)

I must admit…I’m really enjoying Holly’s character.

- Michael: “Why are you helping her? You’re not even dating.” Thank you Michael, for waiting only two minutes to say something entirely inappropriate.

“She’s my friend, and ultimately my strategy is to…merge this into a relationship, without her even knowing.”

- Holly: “…there’s been some misconduct at corporate.” Well, I’m glad it only took Dunder-Mifflin a few months to begin resolving THAT.

- “…and that employee has been fired.”

Kevin: “Oh, come on! He’s right there! He was hired! Oooh…check it out! HIRE-D guy!” LOL.

(Please, please, please, do not let Kevin think up of a new nickname for Ryan every week!

(while Ryan is fixing a flat) “Hey, TIRE-D guy!”

(while Ryan downs his eighth cup of coffee) “Hey, WIRE-D” guy!”

Ok, I’ll stop.

- Phyllis: “I thought ‘Very Strongly Agree’ sounded stronger than ‘Totally Agree.’” On what planet???

- Holly: “In fact, spending a half hour at the water cooler during work hours is a form of stealing.” I agree with Kelly. What??? Time theft? Shouldn’t Michael have already been executed for time theft by now???

(Did Kelly just make a good, sensible point regarding smokers and their breaks??? What the heck is going on with this show?)

- I can’t remember the last time Angela glanced at the camera!

- Seriously? Nobody in the office wants to speak up about any ethical questions they might have had to deal with? NOBODY?

- Michael: “When I discovered YouTube, I didn’t work for five days. I did NOTHING.”

(Raise your hand if you did NOT do that. If you’re hand isn’t raised, you’re a damn liar :P)

Seriously, nobody is going to take the bait (that anyone can say anything with complete immunity), right?

(Oscar, NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!)

- Michael (to Dwight): “You are a thief of joy!” Agreed.

- Meredith: “Have you guys ever met Bruce Meyers, the Scranton rep for Hammermill? Well, for the past six years I’ve been sleeping with him in exchange for discounts on our supplies…and Outback Steakhouse gift certificates.” Yes, Jim, “Jackpot!”

- Yeah, Holly, I’d look like that too if I had to work with Michael Scott.

- Meredith: “Nah, I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for the discount paper. There’s not a lot of fruit in those looms.” Gag.

- I’d feel good about myself too, if I got free steak coupons. Then again, I might not, if I had to earn them like that.

(Um, never mind.)

- Jim (stopwatch in hand): “Yawn: four seconds.” “Personal conversation: seventeen seconds.” I want Jim’s job!

- Michael: “Would you care to bang it out over lunch?”

I predict that, in six weeks, Holly will respond to such a statement with a quick and decisive “That’s what HE said!”

- Idiot! Don’t throw the food away!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

- “Business romantic?” Stupid Michael…you should have taken her to a “High class casual” restaurant or something.

- Is it just me, or is Michael making up way more words in this season than in seasons past?

- It took me a while to realize how incredibly funny the scene with Jim, Andy, and Dwight really was. I didn’t catch on even when Jim mentioned Klingons and Wookies!

That one scene might have saved the entire episode. So far, watching this episode has been quite a chore…so much so that I completely missed the mention of Klingons and Wookies the first time around.

Dumbledorf Calrizzien? A ring back to Mordor??? LOL!!!!! No, Andy, that doesn’t sound right indeed.

- Michael: I just don’t want my employees thinking that their jobs depend on performance. I mean, what sort of place is that to call home? And Meredith needs this job. This is her main source of money.”

…………

- Meredith + Chastity Belt = #*$@()$@!*$!!!!!!!

STOP, PLEASE!

(And I did not need to see Dwight peeing into a soda bottle. Did he even clean it before…never mind.)

- Yeah, it must be exhausting to do nothing but watch Dwight work all day.

- That’s TWICE now that Michael has thrown away food for NO GOOD REASON! YOU BASTARD!!!

- Jim: “Nineteen minutes and forty-eight seconds. What were we doing for nineteen minutes and forty-eight seconds?” You mean, not counting the time it took to walk up and down the stairs?

Dwight: “None of your business.”

Jim: “So I guess I can assume that was…PERSONAL?” OH SNAP!!!

Yes, I caught that one immediately.

- Ok, now I absolutely love Holly’s character. The tension in the break room was awesome. I just hope, somewhere down the line, there isn’t a scene where Michael and Holly start ripping off each other’s clothes.

(LET’S GET PHYSICAL!!!

Ugh.)

- GRAY AREA????? WHAT IN THE HELL???

WHAT IN THE HELL??????

Wow, I guess Michael Scott really knows how to run this company.

- Phyllis: “I don’t care what she’s doing, I hope she just keeps doing it.” Oh my.

Full review to come later, but as a preview, let’s just say that I’ll be as optimistic about this episode as I possibly can.

Tags: business ethics, chase utley, derek lowe, los angeles dodgers, philadelphia phillies, rafael furcal, The Office by Peter
1 Comment »

Quick-hitters:

- I’ve got a picture of Dwight Schrute in ASCII taped up to the wall above my computer monitor, and as you might expect, my sister got totally creeped out by it.

LOL.

- It is 11:30PM right now, and my new neighbors’ stupid little mutt is barking like mad, which, in turn, is causing other neighbor dogs to bark along.

Grrrrrr…

- Shot-Online update: Level 47, and the Semi-Pro test is tomorrow.

Hopefully, I do not choke.

*gag*

- As promised, a full review of last’s night premiere of The Office.

Damn funny episode last night, and I love how many potential story lines the writers have set up for the rest of the season. We have, in no particular order: a Michael-Holly-Jan triumvirate, Jim’s odd proposal to Pam, Andy being completely oblivious to the shenanigans of Dwight and Angela, and Ryan’s quest for revenge on Jim.

(Speaking of Ryan…wasn’t he in trouble for fraud? Damn high-priced corporate attorneys!)

You gotta hand it to the writers of the show for using an entire episode to recap the events of the summer. I loved how readily they resolved the fates of both Ryan The Temp, Part Deux, and Toby. Is Toby still an integral character, or perhaps have we seen the last of him? And will Ryan attempt to climb back up the corporate ladder? And what company re-hires an ex-con, even if he is re-hired through a temp agency??? Damn…Michael Scott sure has a lot of pull in that organization!

If there’s one thing unsettling about the premiere, though, it is the fact that Pam’s still in New York. Do I smell a December cliff-hanger where Jim, once again, has to choose between Scranton and New York? (EDIT:  Duh…once again, I forgot that Pam started her three-month stint in NY at the beginning of summer!) I sincerely hope not! And no, leaving Pam with that decision is no better! And oh by the way, who got Ryan’s old job? I can think of a suitable candidate at the Scranton branch…

(Great…is this how Jim is going to end up with the choice between Scranton and New York?)

And has anyone figured out what the importance of that rest stop is?

What should we make of the Michael-Holly-Jan situation? Michael and Holly are TOO similar; they seem to be more like long-lost siblings than a couple! I was also hoping that we would get more than a quick cameo from Jan; we all know that she’s still going to have an integral role in the show. Also, yes, Holly is starting to grow on me, even if she is the female Michael Scott.

(Completely off-topic, but every time I glance up at the ASCII pic of Dwight, I think to myself, “Is his eyes following me around?”)

Oh please, please, please, let Andy do something ridiculous like having the wedding at the office itself! The jokes will literally write themselves! Michael in charge of the whole thing, and Dwight as Andy’s Best Man! Is there anyone that knows anyone on The Office to whom I can pitch this idea?

And Andy is gonna figure out, sooner or later, where Angela and Dwight go every now and then, right?

(Another random thought: someone found my site with a search of “pokerstars on jim’s computer in the office.” LOL.)

Finally, in typical Office fashion, even the bit characters had more-than-brief appearances throughout the premiere: Stanley and Kelly’s attempts to lose weight, Phyllis being forced to walk five miles by Dwight, Oscar hooking up Holly with a date, and (thank goodness!) the end of the “mentally challenged” Kevin storyline.

Until next time!

Tags: annoying dogs, full review, neighbors, season premiere, shot-online, The Office, weight loss by Peter
2 Comments »

What could possibly cause me to offer nothing more than a passing thought about the Dodgers’ clinching of the NL West crown?

The return of The Office, naturally!

(WOOHOO!!!!!!)

Note:  I missed the live airing of this episode, due to the exciting finish in the USC @ Oregon State game.  Does that make me no longer a true fan?

Also, since I missed the live airing, I think I’ll do a running synopsis of the episode.  Here goes!

- Ahhhhh…how I miss the theme song!  Hearing it preceding a rerun just isn’t the same.  And B.J. Novak is still being credited, eh?

- That cheese fountain looks damn tasty…

_ …not anymore, after Andy mentioned wanting “washboard abs” for when Angela sees him naked for the first time.  *gag*

- Dwight:  “Hold it in your mouth if you can’t swallow.”  Our first “That’s what she said” moment of the 08-09 season…except Michael didn’t say it???

(Tangent.)

- 2,336 lbs. with Pam on the scale…2,210 lbs. with Pam off it.  The look on Pam’s face was priceless.  And Kevin’s “You weigh 226 lbs.?” was damn funny.  Yes, Kevin, math IS hard.

- Yoga, huh?

- Michael:  “Did you see Holly’s butt?”  It took three minutes to get to the first inappropriate comment of this episode???  The Office is losing it!

- OMG…Holly (is that her name?) is morphing into the female Michael Scott as we speak!!!

(Tangent:  I’m always leery of new characters being added to an already awesome show.

(Sub-tangent:  Remember the episode of The Simpsons where they teased a new character being on the show?)

So far, it worked with Karen, and who can argue that it’s not working with Andy?  However, I’m not sold on Holly yet…)

- Pam will be gone for three months, huh?

(checks calendar…September…October…November…December…I smell a midseason cliffhanger!)

(EDIT:  Duh…stupid me.  This episode is chronicling everything that happened from June to September.

(checks calendar…June…July…August…September.)

Clever, writers!)

- Dwight:  “We done good in there, half-pint.”  Oh boy…and Angela’s “I have a fiancé I very much like” was VERY convincing.  Uh-huh.

- Is it evil to have wished for Pam to accidentally run over Michael in the parking lot?

(I thought so.)

- Jim:  “…and Pam’s always said she doesn’t want a long engagement.  Something in her past, I guess…something about a guy that used to work here.”  What could he be talking about?

- WTF happened to Meredith’s face???

- Jim:  “…Michael is actually killing it with Holly, and I think I know why!  It’s because Holly is kind of a major dork.”  Understatement of the season, so far.  And no, that rap did nothing to influence my opinion of her.

- Jim:  “I don’t really know Ronnie (sp?), but I have a feeling I will get to know her very well over the next few years, and eventually declare my love for her.”  Who didn’t see that coming?

- LOL @ Kelly Kapour.  “I look a-MA-zing!”

- Jim:  “When Michael told us that Jan was pregnant, he led us to believe that he was the father…by telling us that he was the father.”  I’m ten minutes into this episode, and I don’t recall Jim ever having this many talking heads in one episode!

- Holly:  “He is not an idiot!  He is mentally challenged!”  Literally one second before Holly opened her mouth, I found myself asking, “How much longer are the writers going to play the ‘Holly thinks Kevin is challenged’ storyline?”  And Holly even runs with her tail between her legs like Michael!  They’re perfect for each other!

- Andy just reached the point of desperation…about the same time I admitted that I have an addiction to beef jerky:  years ago.  FOUR non-refundable deposits???

- Dwight:  “Can you turn the girl off?”  I’m not sure if that wasn’t the most unintentionally funny line in Office history, or if it was delivered at face value.

Watching Michael parade around with “Pam,” followed by the talking head, almost made me spit Propel all over my monitor.  “Can you give me back to Jim now, please?”  LMFAO!!!

- So Phyllis is now the head of the Party Planning Committee?  What a way to blackmail Angela!

- Michael:  “What is wrong with these people?  They have no willpower.  I went…I once went 28 years without having sex, and then again for seven years.”  The writers should have had Michael say he went 40 years without having sex…

And what’s with the mustache?

- Jim grabbing Dwight’s shoulders twice…now THAT was AWK-WARD!

- Pam Beesly, Resident Advisor?

- Wow, Michael is taking the news that Holly is dating well.  And I wonder how many takes it took to get the scene where Dwight ruined Michael’s suit right.

- Gee, it looks like Creed has had practice using a scale and a credit card before.

- Holly:  “If we stay fat long enough, we might get a whole month off.”  LOL.

- Creed, after a long-winded talking head about Kelly swallowing a tapeworm:  “That wasn’t a tapeworm.”

- Oh look, the temp is back…as the receptionist???  And Michael hired him through the temp agency again???  AND he grew the mustache because of Ryan’s???

Horribly cheesy, and ridiculously funny!!!  Oh how I’ve missed you, Office.

(FIRE…D guy?  WTF!!!  :P)

- Ryan:  “I’m keeping a list of everyone who wrongs me, so when I’m back on top, they’ll be sorry.” Hmmmm…I wonder who Ryan put on the top of that list.

- Michael:  “You know my seduction method…I like to get in there and get my hands dirty!”

- Ewwwwwwww @ the food rotting in the vending machine.

(And an even bigger “Ewwwwwwwww” at Kelly and Darryl making out near Ryan.)

- Of course…Pam is getting smitten by another guy.  Who didn’t see that coming?

(One of the real concerns I have with this season of The Office is how the writers are going to handle the Jim-Pam relationship.  As integral to the entire series as their relationship is, how much longer can the writers drag out this storyline?)

- Poor Phyllis.  Michael:  “Dwight, I would like you to apologize to this beautiful, beautiful woman for forcing her to walk five miles, which, for her, is basically a death march.”

- Phyllis:  “I wonder what people like about me.  Probably my jugs.”  It’s a damn good thing I didn’t watch this episode live!

- Dwight:  “I’m gonna write you both up for not working.”  Jim:  “I’m gonna write YOU up for not working.”  I wonder who the #2 in the office is…

(Receptionitis15?  And why is there a shortcut to PokerStars on Jim’s computer?  I wonder if he plays there in real life.)

- ASCII art of Dwight?  Oh my.

- Andy:  “Andy Bernard does not lose contests.  He wins them, or he quits them, because they’re unfair.”

- So every locale he booked didn’t phase him.  Every objection Angela had didn’t affect him.  But rejecting Andy’s old a capella group is a “deal breaker?”

- Totally random weight-”loss” thoughts:  1) I wonder if weighing sans clothes is legal.  2) What, no laxatives or ipecac?  3) I wonder how much weight Dwight and Angela have lost just from sexing each other up.

- HE PICKED A MINI-MART TO PROPOSE TO HER???  WHAT THE HELL???

- Michael Scott is an idiot.  Oh wait…we already knew that.  However, he totally redeemed himself with that cheap “You guys are all gigantic losers!”

(I wonder how much rain Jim collected on his clothes, and how much that affected the total weight loss of the group.)

- Hey, Toby.

Best premiere of the five seasons?  Nah.  Damn funny?  Of course.

Full review next time.

Tags: season premiere, The Office, weight loss by Peter
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Raise your hand if you saw all those plot twists coming! Tonight’s episode was awesome, though I’m not sure where I’d rank it compared to the mid-season premiere.  Did anyone notice how almost R-rated the finale was?  Pregnancies, a marriage proposal, a foiled one, a hazing involving the idea that one worker is “special,” fraud, and a mentally scarring make-out scene at the very end?  Was this The Office or Scranton, PA, [zip code of Scranton]?

Jan’s pregnant? And it’s NOT Michael’s? Not that that was much of a surprise; Michael did have THREE vasectomies, no? And how could he have gotten her pregnant while he was sleeping by the foot of her bed?

(Talking about the three vasectomies still hurts, BTW.)

The donor came from a sperm bank? I thought it was Hunter’s baby for sure! And now Michael thinks he’s back with Jan, throwing away a possible relationship with the new HR girl?  Sure, his “relationship” with Holly was completely rushed, but it looked like he was going to wise up, before Kevin’s fateful call.  And what happened to Jan not wanting kids???

Also, raise your hand if you noticed that Holly kinda resembled Jan. Nice job by casting to get a bunch of actresses to look like Jan after their breakup!

Damn Dwight for telling Holly that Kevin is “special,” causing her to treat Kevin the way she did.  I think Kevin enjoyed Holly’s affection a bit too much.  And I loved the way the other office workers acted around Kevin in the presence of Holly, especially Phyllis’ “Kevin, take your shoes off first!” as he runs towards the moon bouncer.  Holly’s treatment of Kevin got exponentially more weird as the episode progressed.

I guess “the temp” will be spending the next few years in prison for fraud. Yeah, like people weren’t going to figure out that he demanded the sales staff to enter their sales twice. Wunderkind, or what-a-dumbass? And who didn’t enjoy the way Jim taunted Ryan? “…you obviously have your hands tied!”  Talk about dropping a bomb!  Ryan had it coming, though. “Congratulations!  Don’t interrupt!  Congratulations on doing your job.”  What an ass!  As the episode progressed, I was thinking that Ryan was going to try to implicate Jim in the fraud, citing the two “threatening” phone calls as some sort of proof of the allegations.

(Actually, that could be a great future storyline. Ryan could eventually come back on the show and accuse Jim of ratting him out. Of course, that depends on how much time Ryan spends in jail.)

Poor Toby! All he got out of his last day was a party, a watch, a few pics with an unhappy Pam, a horrible tribute song (that’s stuck in my head as we speak), and an escort off the office premises by security?

(Tangent: Did anyone notice that the certificate on the wall behind Michael’s desk is a Certificate of Authenticity for a Seyko [sic] watch? So Toby got a FAKE??? LOL!)

Farewell, Toby Flenderson. Be sure to tell Dwight to update his office hierarchy!

(EDIT: I just noticed that Toby’s “new” watch went off right as he left the office for the last time, just as how Michael set it. Nice attention to detail!)

As for you “Jam” lovers (that’s Jim-Pam, for you non-”shippers” out there, not that I am one), you must have hated the finale. I’m pretty sure you guys were screaming “F**K YOU ANDY!” when Andy stole Jim’s thunder with his own marriage proposal. My sister nearly threw something at my TV when that happened.   What is next to happen in Jim’s relationship with Pam?

(What really stinks about the whole ordeal is that Pam has no idea that it was Jim that put up the money for the entire party!  Yeah, I know…typical guy response…worried about the money :P)

Throughout the episode, I was almost sure that Jim was going to quit his job. From the first phone call to Ryan, to the huge amount of money he spent for the party (I didn’t know you could get a same-day Ferris wheel rental :P), I thought he was gone for sure, whether or not Pam accepted the marriage proposal. Then again, what would the show be without him? And did you see the look on Pam’s face during her last talking head? Then again, could you blame Jim for not proposing after what Andy did? What’s going to happen when (if?) Pam enrolls at the art academy?

During that talking head, did Pam mention starting a family with Jim? How far their relationship advanced in a year’s time!

And Dwight and Angela making out in the darkness of the office? ZE GOGGLES DO NOTHING! And Phyllis was the one to discover this?

Overall, I loved tonight’s episode, especially because of all the potential story lines that this episode set up for next season. By next season, Jan should either be close to giving birth, or would already have had the baby. Pam might already have started her art career, unless she decides against it for some reason. Andy could be in the midst of wedding planning. Maybe Toby will have second thoughts of leaving his position. Maybe Ryan will plea bargain his way out of prison. And what’s going to happen with Jim and Pam?

Most importantly, what the hell am I going to do between now and next season?

Favorite moments:

• Who didn’t enjoy watching Jim screw around with Dwight’s phone? As if the writers weren’t going to give us one interaction between these two in the finale. “Hang that up right now”? Dwight had the phone in his hand. Why didn’t HE hang up? If you’re keeping score at home, that’s now two phones that Dwight has destroyed. (EDIT: I didn’t notice it the first time, but apparently the phone rang again while he was trying to destroy it! HAHA!)

(Tangent: I’ve dealt with five or six different Bluetooth headsets in the past, and I don’t recall EVER getting good sound quality from any more than three feet away from the phone itself. Yet Jim was able to speak to two different people just fine? Amazing!)

• Michael’s shoe money. I don’t even want to imagine how long that money’s been sitting there.
• Pam: “…So the timing’s perfect. And THAT is the first time I’ve ever used the word ‘perfect’ in here!”
• Holly: “What do you do here?” followed by Creed’s talking head. “Qua-something…[qua-sounding junk]…”
• Toby:  (screaming at the top of his lungs) “DOES ANYONE HAVE A CAMERA HERE?”  Something tells me he ran off to the nearest Staples to buy a digital camera.
• Jim explaining that all his firsts with Pam occurred at the office.  How pathetic!  Then again, that makes his attempted proposal to Pam at the party even more fitting.
• Kevin:  “I am totally going to bang Holly!”  Did that come out of right field or what?
• Jim finally growing a pair and chewing out Ryan.  Too bad that Ryan probably never got the message.
• That entire exit interview was awesome, in a truly awkward sense.  I would have loved to see Toby throw the rock through the window.
• Yes, Hank, I thought Kelly’s talking head about visiting Ryan in jail was damn funny.  I’m coming around!
• How did Michael resist the temptation to say “That’s what she said!”???
• Michael getting flustered after Holly touched him, followed by the talking head.  Jan didn’t show affection?  Well, I suppose sex != affection.
• Pam:  “Don’t tell him [Toby] I said this, but I always thought he was kinda cute.”  Wait until that gets back to Toby.
• Michael:  “Are you nauseous?  Do you have cravings?  You never touched by Propecia…?”
• Michael:  “You cheated on me?  When I specifically asked you not to?”
• Holly:  “Andy proposed to one of your accountants…”  Michael:  “Well, I can see Andy proposing to Angela.  I can also see him proposing to Oscar.”  How did I know that was coming?

One final thought: now that Toby has (seemingly) been written off the show, and it seems that Ryan won’t be around (for at least a good while), does this mean that B.J. Novak and Paul Liberstein are no longer going to write/produce on the show? And if they do, wouldn’t it be kinda weird to see their names in the credits, even though their characters are gone?

Tags: goodbye, review, season finale, The Office, toby by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Thank you, Time Warner. My internet connection was out as soon as I finished blogging last night, and was still out when I first signed on earlier today.

The connection was eventually fixed (not sure when), but now my ESPN-HD feed is out! Oh well, I’d rather watch the season finale of The Office.

- I got a “final notice” renewal letter on my Car n Driver magazine subscription today. Now I could’ve sworn that the sub was good for at least another few months.

After a few minutes of researching, I saw this notation next to the address of the renewal notice:

Oct. 08

I didn’t realize that last notices come five months before the fact. Who do these people think they are? BofA?

- Before I get to my review of The Office season finale, let me quickly give my thoughts on last week’s episode (Job Fair):

(Note: I’m doing this on-the-fly, so pardon any grammatical/structural/spelling errors!)

Michael in a shirt and jeans? Haha.

Michael: “Pam will be eye candy.”

Jim’s on probation? Shocker. And he has to play golf with a potential client? AND Andy has to go golfing with him? I’d submit my two weeks’ notice now.

(Of course, if he had tried, he wouldn’t be in this position, now would he?)

Did Dwight really admit that Jim is in charge once Michael is gone??? And did he just admit that both he and Andy are third in charge?

Dwight: “I will tell on you.” (shudder…)

I’m amazed that Creed is still in the office! (EDIT: This was before the rest of the Office decided to “ditch this b!tch.”

Michael has a normal ring tone?

Michael: “Who cares? I’m not there. Jim’s not there. Why should anybody else be there?”

Pam: “Are you serious?” Michael: “Yes. And don’t call me Shirley.” Sigh. Yet another epic reference ruined by Michael Scott.

Why the hell is Pam only taking ONE sheet of paper? TWENTY MILES???

Tell me they did not just destroy a golf cart for THAT!

Michael: (paraphrasing) “I would rather be jobless, on a beach, with a huge inheritance, than to take one of these crap jobs.”

Michael: “I wouldn’t say this to her face, but she is a wonderful person and a great artist.” Oscar: “Why wouldn’t you say that to her face?” I spit out my bite of spaghetti on that scene alone. And it took me a bit of time to realize that the Justin kid was the first kid that visited the Dunder-Mifflin booth.

So was Jim’s block-the-car-to-get-a-sale “trying” enough to get him off probation? Hey, at least he shot 102!

Michael: “Jim could do anything he wants, but he chooses to sell paper…like me.” And Pam is thinking about moving on to a graphics design job in NY or Philly? What a great storyline episode; think about how many possible story arcs there are for the finale. Dwight and Angela seem to be at peace with each other. Jim had to fight tooth-and-nail to score the client and (probably) keep his job. And now Pam might be finished as the receptionist?

Why do I have the feeling that we’ll be left with a brutal cliffhanger at the end of the finale?

I plan on replacing this quick-hitter review with a thorough one, once I get around to watching this episode again.

Tags: car n driver, job fair, renewal, The Office, time warner by Peter
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No quick-hitters, as I still have a headache. Let’s get to it:

- Tonight’s Office started out pretty slowly, but when it got going, it really got going! Tonight, we got the prototypical “storyline” episode; tonight’s episode wasn’t over-the-top funny, but it served its purpose to further a number of existing storylines, and may possibly lay the framework for future episodes. Look what we discovered from tonight’s episode alone!

(BTW, I loved the whole opening scene. Would it have been too rated-R for someone to suggest that Michael put an impression of something else into the cement? Why did Oscar waste his time trying to convince Michael that an impression of his face didn’t seem safe?) And why didn’t Michael’s head get kinda stuck in the cement? That would have been hilarious, in a morbid way…

We know Ryan has issues with Jim for Jim’s interaction with David Wallace, and now we know that Toby hates Jim for his relationship with Pam. Is Jim’s job possibly at risk? Perhaps Jim will be demoted, and Dwight will be promoted to the real #2 and not the #2 in his mind only. Or perhaps Jim will get fed up with the negativity towards him, and he has to choose between keeping his position with the company and staying close to his girlfriend. We’ve got Dwight already against Jim, and now Ryan and Toby…Andy, logically, has to be next to attack Jim, right, perhaps with a little prodding from Angela?

By the way, Toby, what happened to going to Costa Rica? Couldn’t afford the plane ticket? And Pam’s blind as a bat sans corrective lenses, eh? You just knew there were going to be some inappropriate comments made to Pam by the men of the Office (namely, Kevin and Creed). As far as the main storyline of the episode is concerned…

Also, did anyone notice that, on the company hierarchy chart that Dwight has—why he has one is a completely different story—Dwight’s name is just slightly above Jim’s?

EDIT: If you look carefully at the office hierarchy, you’ll see the following (I nearly spit water all over my laptop when I first noticed this):

• Above Dwight’s name are the words “Original Assistant Regional Manager.” Over Jim’s name are the words “Assistant Regional Manager.”
• Creed’s name (Creed Bratton) is in quotes.
• All the females in the office have the female symbol next to their names. Next to Oscar’s name is two male symbols. Next to each female is a moon symbol (quarter moon, half moon, etc.), presumably to indicate their “time” of the month. Phyllis’ and Meredith’s symbols are crossed out, for obvious reasons.
• The members of the Party Planning Committee are indicated in purple.
• Toby’s name has the Star of David next to it. Kevin’s name has a shamrock next to it.
• Next to Andy’s name is a Chess pawn is the image of a college graduate (did nobody else in the office graduate college?). Next to Darryl and Stanley’s names are a symbol that I can’t quite make out, but I presume they are an indication that these two are black. EDIT: Krunk said the image appears to be a fist. A sign of “Black Power,” perhaps?
• Devon (the guy who got fired in Halloween) has his name crossed out.

Speaking of Andy, who didn’t see Dwight doing something with Andy’s car to upset him? I gotta take down a transcript of what Dwight did to persuade Andy to sell his car for cheap, and try that out at a used car dealership

Finally! Someone grew a pair and called Michael out! Too bad it was Stanley; I would have loved to see a partially-drunk Meredith do it instead. Then again, it was awesome to see Stanley finally get more than a couple lines in an episode, and the tension between the two of them was great. It came as a pleasant surprise to me that Michael finally figured out that he was the authority figure of the office, and expected Stanley to treat him with some respect. And I loved the end of the episode, where Phyllis called Michael’s “summer Christmas” plan the worst thing she’s ever heard of, only to have Michael clear the room of everyone but himself and her.

If only I didn’t have to endure Michael butchering the series of jokes in the final talking head segment.

Favorite moments (coming soon…):

• Oscar: “Michael…that doesn’t seem…safe (rolls eyes, as if to remind himself who he’s talking to)”
• Pam: “Yeah…I slept over at a friend’s house, and…I forgot my contact lens solution, so I had to wear my backup glasses. Shut up!” (No comment.)
• Michael: “Pam, those make you look so ugly. In order to get hotter, you take the glasses off. You’re moving in the wrong direction.”
• Jim’s second fake proposal. Much funnier than the first one.
• Jim’s one-up on Andy’s idea for a new outgoing voicemail message. That had a bit of Dwight in it.
• Andy: “You meet a lot of ladies driving an Xterra, because…you pull up to a stop light, and look over, and there’s an Xterra next to you, they’re always driven by chicks. So there’s your ice breaker.” OK…
• Michael: “What’s the pink?” Dwight: “Menstrual cycles.” (see above)
• Kevin: “All the girlfriends that I’ve ever had have worn glasses. It’s kinda a turn on for me…like librarians…could you just say ‘These are due back Thursday’?” Creeeeeeeeeeepy…
• Creed: “I’d like to put the piano in front of Pam, without her glasses, and see what happens. I’d also like to see her topless.” LOL!
• Michael: “I would have never thought that gangs would be tickling each other.”
• Michael: “It’s the only possible solution I have left.” Toby: “Well, you can actually fire him.” Michael: “Ok…I’ve had enough of you.” Poor Toby
• Stanley: “Are you serious?” Michael: “I am serious…we are all serious. You are fired like a heart attack.” I swear I knew Michael was going to screw up this line!
• Michael: “Why don’t they just make the plane out of the airline food?” See above.

- Raise your hand if you were surprised that the B(S)CS rejected a plan to have a four-team playoff to crown an NCAA football champion every year. Apparently, not determining a champion on the field, according to these clowns, is the best way to determine a champion. Using arbitrary computer numbers and “try to be as unbiased as possible” football writers, these clowns would like us to believe, is the best way to determine a champion. According to Big 12 commish Dan Beebe,

“Even though we could construct barriers at this time, we felt like … there could be easily an errosion of that; more pressure to add more teams with an ability to get to the national championship game as we went over time. The system is under a lot of scrutiny that can result in pressure to add games. Our league is not favorable to a playoff system as a whole, and viewed this as the first step in that direction.”

Let me summarize: a four-team, plus-one playoff system would shaft team #5. If the playoffs were expanded to eight, team #9 would get shafted. Also, the B(S)CS would also like us fans to understand that adding additional games adds additional stress onto the students, both physically and academically. However, nobody seems to complain when NCAA basketball players have to spend up to three weeks outside of the classroom. The B(S)CS believes that players already play too many games; I didn’t hear anyone complaining when teams started adding a 12th game to their schedules.

I love this quote:

“We have decided that because we feel at this time the BCS is in an unprecedented state of health, we feel it’s never been healthier during its first decade, we have made a decision to move forward in the next cycle with the current format,” ACC commissioner and BCS coordinator John Swofford said.

By “unprecedented state of health,” these people are referring to their bank accounts, if that wasn’t painfully clear. I say, if we’re going to use an arbitrary system of picking the two teams to play in the National Championship game, we should be allowed to vote American Idol style.

Vote 1-800-BCS-0001 for USC, or text message BCS01 for USC! Standard text messaging rates apply!

American Idol-style voting can’t be any worse than what we currently have, right?

Tags: bcs, bs, did i stutter, hierarchy, office, playoff, review, screenshot by Peter
1 Comment »

Quick-hitters:

- In an effort to do more family-related things, my aunt wanted all of us to hang out and do something “fun” sometime this upcoming weekend.

When my sister and I got back home on Sunday night, I asked her if we were going to take up our aunt’s offer. She said that we were not going back next weekend under any circumstances.

Today, she found out that our four-year-old nephew will be in town this weekend. I guess we’ll be back in MPK sooner than I thought :P.

- I’ve been told that my blog is awfully negative in nature, so here’s something positive to report. On the way from the parking lot to Dodger Stadium, I grabbed my wallet to pull out my ID and credit card—I ordered tickets for Will Call—and I guess I left a $20 in my pocket, because the bill hung out of the pocket, flapping in the wind.

If it weren’t for the woman and girl who yelled “Sir, you have money coming out of your pocket!” I would probably have lost the bill seconds later, possibly into the hands of the guy who yelled “Why did you tell him? I would have caught it!”

- Quick Lakers thought: raise your hand if you thought Kobe wasn’t going to go off in Game 2.

That’s what I thought.

BTW, reports had it that J.R. Smith was unhappy with the way Kobe was taunting Denver, posing his fingers in the shape of a gun and flashing that to TNT analyst Reggie Miller. Apparently J.R. Smith chewed Kobe out for it, and Kobe responded with ” ‘Better learn not to talk to me. You shake the tree, a leopard’s gonna fall out,’ ” before responding on the court with a drive right at Smith for a layup-and-one.

First of all, why was J.R. Smith the one chewing Kobe out for his taunting? Where were Carmelo or A.I.? Second, if he was going to chew out Kobe, he had to have expected Kobe to destroy him the next time down the court, right? Third, Kobe had been able to drive through the lane all day! Where was another Nugget to help out on Smith, knowing that Kobe was going right down his throat on the next play?

Why do I see this series going only four games?

- So it was my mom’s birthday this past Tuesday, and I thought we were planning a dinner for the weekend of the 26th. That’s when my older sister told me that my mom demanded that we have her birthday dinner on the weekend before her birthday. This demand came on the 17th, giving us three days max to plan something.

Having none of that, my older sister exclaimed “Lunch. Saturday. Golden Gate (?) buffet.” My other sister and I each made a single phone call, expecting the invitations to osmose down to other family members.

(That’s how we roll.)

The guest list gradually increased, even though several people got their unofficial invites an hour before lunch. The food was pretty average, especially for a Chinese buffet. I started out with the sushi, and that was a huge mistake. The wasabi was about as runny as ketchup.

One item that piqued everyone’s interest was a seafood dish called “Assorted Delicacies on Crab Shell.” Calling something a “delicacy” without naming it is bad enough. “Assorted delicacies,” and you’ve gotta be thinking “cat food.” Now, I’ve never tried cat food before, but that stuff tasted like what cat food would taste like.

They also had cream cheese wontons, which tasted super sweet. Absolutely disgusting. The most popular food that we gorged upon was the Korean BBQ spare ribs, and the meat looked like it was boiled, not grilled.

(Actually, I take that back. The ice cream was the best part of the meal, by far.)

(Tangent: If there’s one thing I love about doing stuff with family, it’s the pop culture discussions we have.

BTW, when I say pop culture, I mean The Office.)

- Tonight’s Office episode was, by a mile, a lot better than last week’s episode. While the main storyline, understandably so, involved Michael’s continued search for a girl, we got to see practically every member of the cast contribute to the episode. From Kelly continuing to harbor hard feelings for Ryan, to drunken (drugged, right? Massive nuclear holocaust? Jungle warfare? Sure, Troy has a drug problem. Right…) Ryan partying at the club, to Toby literally running off to Costa Rica after grabbing Pam’s knee (AWK-WARD…), I laughed nearly every minute. I especially loved how Michael became super-protective of Ryan, especially in the scene at the bar.

I loved how another one of Jim’s bright ideas—staying late so that the crew wouldn’t have to come in on Saturday to fix Ryan’s mess—blew up in his face. Between this, the one birthday party for all, and other events that aren’t coming to me at the moment, clearly the Scranton office needs Michael to run things. By the way, I wonder if the writers are going to develop a story based on the tension between Jim and Ryan; are we supposed to believe that Ryan didn’t mean anything when he said “Watch your back, Jim?” Ryan better watch his back; perhaps the stress of the failing Dunder Mifflin Infinity (two-point-0!) project is weighing on him. Is his job at risk? Is corporate already regretting their decision to hire him?

It was hilarious to watch the rest of the office pile on Jim for not notifying the security guard—(paraphrasing) Eddie, Evan, Hank, Edgar, Elliott…is it Elliott? The guy who sits behind the desk…the African-American guy…!—but what did Pam do to get the scorn of the office as well…well, other than doinking a football off Meredith’s face? Speaking of Meredith, what’s next for her? Is she going to get shot next?

Speaking of Pam, poor Toby! Clearly the guy still has feelings for her. I hope this isn’t the end of the Toby character; if it is, giving him more lines than normal is a nice way to go out. “‘Everyone, let’s get your boss laid Saturday’”? . And how sad is it that Andy and Angela are the favorite couple in the office?

By the way, why the hell does Dwight have the keys to the office, and not Michael’s #2 (Jim)? And did anyone notice that the girl Michael was chatting with kinda looked like Jan as well?

So, Michael’s gotta end up with Jan in the future, right? Why else would he constantly be running into people that look like Jan? Maybe the next time they meet up, she’ll have a face lift as well, not that I’m saying Melora Hardin needs a face lift. And when did Dwight become such a playa?

Favorite moments:

• Did anyone think that Dwight used a bit too much peanut butter to get the gum out of Michael’s hair?
• Michael: “Look, men are visual creatures. We crave beauty, like a piece of fine art by any number of renowned artists, or an art-y photograph of Cindy Crawford nude…[the persons Michael have dated] just lack a certain Crawford-ness.” (Does it surprise anyone that he couldn’t name a single artist?)
• Ryan: “Yes. I’m having the Scranton branch come in on one Saturday to re-enter sales that they made on the phone as sales made by the website, which they should have done in the first place…if the website had been working.” (I love Ryan’s character.)
• Ryan: “Yes. The social networking feature of the Dunder-Mifflin Infinity website was infiltrated by sexual predators.” LOL! WTF does a paper company need with a social networking site?
• Michael: “It’s not the horniess, ok? It’s the loneliness.” I might have just found a new subtitle for my blog
• Andy: “I am in SERIOUS need of some bro time! Ol’ ball-and-chain has been a lot more chain than ball lately, if you know what I’m saying.” Right in front of Dwight and Angela, no less!
• Michael: “I am going to get laid. Goodbye!” followed by Dwight: “With sex!” HAHAHAHA!
• Andy: “Show of hands. Who thinks we’re a better couple than Jim and Pam?” The cameras should have panned on a grinning Angela.
• Dwight referring to the basketball team as “Amazons” followed by Dwight’s idea of pairing up two girls to a guy to get in to the club (how did Dwight learn all this stuff while running a beet farm?)
• The collective groan of the office when they receive Michael’s cell phone video of Dwight making out.
• Michael: “I’ve asked a lot of girls to dance, Mom…” WTF?
• Jim: “Cleaning people…Oscar! OK…so all you need to do is explain to them what happened because I think they can help us.” Oscar: “Why are you assuming they only speak Spanish?” followed by the exchange between Oscar and the cleaning ladies, ending with Oscar saying “they happen to speak Spanish.” Way to straddle the line of racism, writers :P.
• Michael’s advice for Ryan’s “friend” with the drug problem. I really need to start watching The Wire…I hear it’s great.

Tags: dinner, Dodger Stadium, gasol, good samaritan, jr smith, kobe, lakers, lost money, mom's birthday, night out, office, review by Peter
1 Comment »

No quick-hitters tonight.

- I got myself a new toy today: a Logitech VX Revolution notebook mouse. My old Microsoft Blue Optical Mouse was getting completely worn out; the sides of the mouse, the three feet that were still stuck on the bottom, and the textured scroll wheel had all seen better days.

I may post a full review of this item later down the line, but for now, here are my quick thoughts on the mouse:

1) The mouse has two scroll wheel (dubbed “MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel”) options: precision (click-to-click scrolling, which we’re all familiar with), and a free-spin mode, where the wheel will spin continuously for a few seconds with one quick flick of the wheel. The latter is great for scrolling through several pages of a document, but so far, I see no personal use for it.

2) I love the rubberized feel of Logitech mice, and this is no exception. The stow-away receiver is nice, too, though the button used to eject the receiver out of the bottom of the mouse has, at least one, launched the receiver like a cannonball being shot out of a cannon.

3) This is the first notebook mouse I’ve ever used that uses AA batteries (1xAA). It’s also the first notebook mouse I’ve used that has the back/forward buttons.

4) As with every other notebook mouse I’ve ever used…the mouse is just too small for my hands! After about an hour of use today, my right hand started cramping up. I should probably just start using a desktop mouse with my laptop.

- Naturally, one would except the episode immediately following a season premiere to be a let down from the prior week. Since I treated last week’s Office episode as a premiere, I didn’t expect much out of tonight’s episode.

The episode was fairly funny in bits and pieces, but overall, I was right not to expect much from tonight.

(I expect to read a bunch of dissenting opinions on other blogs tonight.)

Personally, I thought the writers should have given more time to the “date” between Michael and Pam’s landlady, as well as the parking lot situation with Kevin and Andy. Michael’s jerk-dom was also pretty over-the-top in the episode, especially with the way he acted in front of the landlady (though I did chuckle at his reaction to seeing her for the first time).

Breaking news! Michael’s single! Where’s Jan staying? Ooooh…I hope she hooks up with Hunter! That would make for an awesome storyline! Also, did anyone notice that the chair model looked a hell of lot like Jan, and Michael’s description of what the model might be like describes Jan to a T? Anyone wanna bet on the over/under on the number of weeks it will take for Michael to get back with Jan? I say three weeks, and I’ll take the under.

Poor Kevin! Oh well…in the immortal words of Michael Scott, “You don’t deserve her.” LOL. Also, I didn’t realize that there were so many ways to ask whether or not someone is fat. I’m surprised Michael didn’t ask if Phyllis’ friend looked more like Pam or Phyllis :P.

Great investigate work by Dwight, by the way. Why the two of them have to go and butcher “American Pie,” though, is anyone’s guess.

The whole scene with Jim joking about a marriage proposal, followed by the talking head where he shows the ring, I thought, was puzzling. Did Jim really want Pam to move in with him ASAP? I thought Jim was joking when he initially said that a proposal was “happening,” and, of course, we found out that this was not the case. He bought the ring a week after they started dating??? I guess that this was the writers’ way to play off Jim’s dorkiness, but I thought the whole scene was awkward. Joking about marriage after what Pam went through with Roy? The fake-proposal scene was fairly unfunny as well, though I love how my sister fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.

(Upon further review, I think the first Jim/Pam scene would have been a heck of a lot better if we were able to see Jim and Pam’s faces during the entire conversation.)

Favorite moments:

• Kevin: “I will quit. As God is my witness, I will quit if this is not fixed.”
• Pam: “I definitely remember your dinner party.”
• Michael: “Hello, Oscar Meyer Wiener…lover,” followed by Michael’s request to look for “liberal girl-type friends who trust [him]” Real subtle there, Michael.
• Michael: “I want to play ball with my kids before I get too old, and before that happens, I need to get laid.” That entire diatribe might have been the highlight of the episode, up until the ultimatum at the end.
• Michael again: “Wish I could, but I can’t. Well, can, but won’t. Should, maybe, but shorn’t (sp?)” At least he’s being honest!
• Jim: “Michael, you didn’t even know her,” followed by Pam shaking her head at him.
• Michael, once again, looking at the date cards: “Wendy…a juicy red-head.” I totally missed that joke the first time around!
• Michael: “You wanna see what I walked out on? This is going to blow your mind…and you can’t see her whole body (pointing)…she had a boob job…” followed by Jan saying “Michael?” Haha!
• Michael: “What do you do?” Dwight: “Wait ’till next year’s chair catalog comes out and find someone that’s still alive.”

Until next time!

Tags: chairmodel, logitech, mouse, office, toy, vx revolution by Peter
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I’ve got so much to blog about, but every day, other material comes to me (take, for example, The Office returning tonight!)

Oh well…on with it!

Quick-hitters:

- Seriously, Brett Favre, please go away. You might consider coming back if the Packers need you? You just got the entire town of Green Bay, WI, praying for a serious injury to Aaron Rodgers.

What did Rodgers ever do to you, by the way? You’ve hated this guy since day one, it appeared (anyone remember when Favre said something to the effect of “I’m not here to groom a new QB?”).

Go away. Seriously.

- Taxes are due in five days, and yours truly still has not filed them yet. Geez…what is so difficult about clicking the “submit” button?

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1800, and that’s after receiving $80 worth of rebates.

I’ve got about another $300 coming soon, though.

- One bit of television talk before I get to my Office review…

(For the record, I will neither confirm nor deny that I watch American Idol.)

but did Michael Johns really get eliminated this week? And WTF was with Ryan Seacrest reminding the viewers that, at this time last year, nobody was eliminated…but that wasn’t going to be happening this year? That was seriously messed up.

Did I just rant about reality television? Let’s just pretend that that never happened…

- So I’ve got one thing to say about tonight’s episode of The Office:

L O [expletive!] L.

Tonight’s episode was just like another season premiere, and boy, was it worth the wait! Michael had three vasectomies? Just the thought of that hurt me down there.

(Totally OT, but I live just a few blocks south of that hot dog stand that Jim and Pam were at, at the end of the episode. I’ve lived near it for almost three years now, and I have never eaten there!)

Watching the Michael-Jan relationship slowly obliterate around the rest of the party was incredible. I kinda expected something bad to happen between them, especially after how nauseating they were at the beginning of the episode. WTF happened to Michael’s condo? Jan has an office AND a candle-making room? And WTF was with that painting??? Was it just me, or were those images of Jan? Well, at least Michael has a little (literally!) area to sleep in. He might as well sleep on the couch every night. Oh yeah, and don’t forget his awesome TV! Seeing that thing made me spit water all over my TV, which, I should point out, is slightly larger than Michael’s.

Speaking of the party…who didn’t figure out immediately that Michael intentionally kept the staff at the office for some reason?

When Michael had Jim and Andy in the garage, and he started with the line, “Did you know that candles are the #1 fastest-growing product…,” I was immediately thinking “Oh no…Jan’s candle business is an MLM??? LOL!!!” The writers should have gone with that…not that Michael’s straight-up asking for $10,000 investments wasn’t hilarious enough. And did it surprise anybody to find out that Jan put Michael up to asking for investors? All I know is, I’d like to know what a bonfire-scented candle smells like :P.

Also, was there anything more priceless than the look on Pam’s face when it was brought to her attention that she had a relationship with Michael? And I loved how Angela chimed in with the “I’ve noticed how you look at him” remark. The tension between Jan and Pam—I forget the details, but there was an earlier episode where Jan reminded Pam that Michael was hers, or something like that—were evident, starting with the embrace between Michael and Pam, and I loved Pam’s facial expressions each time Jan threw a jab at her.

I also loved what Jim was willing to go through to get out of the party, even if it meant abandoning Pam. My sister wasn’t happy with what he did, but I thought it was hilarious. She loved how Pam got Jim back, though, by pointing out that Jim could not “buy a new party.”

(Tangent: John Krasinski, I found out earlier today, was interviewed on the Jim Rome Show last Thursday. That was a damn funny interview.

At the end of the episode—when the cops were called over—I was expecting Jan to run out crying, pleading with Michael not to leave, and I figured the episode would end with Jan and Michael embracing, thus immediately smoothing things over between the two of them. Once Michael insisted that there was nothing wrong, I was certain that the writers were going down this route. You could imagine my surprise when I found out that this was not the case; we were left with Jan literally picking up the pieces (of a Dundee), while Michael morphed back into the laugh-at-him idiot that we know and love. Could Michael finally be coming to his senses?

(Nah.)

Favorite moments:

• It wasn’t funny at all, but who wasn’t happy to see the opening scene with most of the cast there?
• Dwight: “Does it bother me that I wasn’t invited to Michael’s dinner party?” followed by his running off-camera. Poor Dwight.
• Jan (referring to the bottle of wine Pam gave them): “…this will be great to cook with!” (At this point, I knew that the party was going to be a disaster, with Michael and Jan right in the middle of it all.)
• Pam: “What a cute bench.” Michael: “Thanks. That’s my bed. Jan has, uh, some space issues, so I curl up on that puppy.” (Great choice of words, BTW.”
• Michael (after Pam announced that Jim couldn’t set up her TiVo): If you ever need any help, I’m just a phone call away.” Did you see the look on Jan’s face???
• Andy (to Pam): “I bet you’re sick of tuna, right? You probably have tuna every night.”
• Pam: “I just want to eat…which I realize is a lot to ask for…at a dinner party.”
• Jan’s stare of death at Pam after Michael gave Pam his jacket. Now THAT was priceless. The back and forth banter between Michael and Jan afterwards was great, especially Michael remarking that Jan loves to sue! Something tells me that Jan hasn’t forgotten that Michael cost her…er…them a great deal of money!
• Angela remarking that Jan and Michael shouldn’t joke about the devil.
• Michael: “Snip, snap, snip, snap, snip, snap…you have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies have on a person.

(I just keeled over again for a minute.)

• Pam: “And now you guys are dating?” Dwight: “Purely carnal. That’s all you need to know.”
• Michael: “That was a $200 plasma screen TV you just killed! Good luck paying me back on your zero dollars a year salary + benefits!”
• Cop: “Not now, Dwight.” A nice way to remind us that Dwight was once (still is?) a volunteer cop.
• Jim: “My apartment’s on fire” which was immediately followed by Pam saying “Flooded.”

And for my sister’s one un-favorite moment:

• Angela slamming the Cold Stone ice cream cone on Andy’s car door. What a waste of ice cream!

It’s good to have The Office back.

Tags: favre, office, rebate by Peter
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