Milestone

My 1997.5 Nissan Altima's odometer flipped over to 50,000 while I was on my way home from work today. Since I've actually been keeping track of where and when I hit the 10,000-mile marks, I can report that it took me about 7 months to get to 10,000; 8 more months to get to 20,000; 10 more months to get to 30,000; 26 more months to get to 40,000; and now 30 more months to get to 50,000. Clearly, I need to do more driving. (Wow, have I really had this car for 81 months? Yes.)

Oh, no!

I was thinking the phone lines would be open for the last time on the evening of the 24th, but it turns out they're only open until 3:00 A.M. Eastern on the 24th. So now I guess I have to wait until May (since the ratings were fairly spectacular on Sunday, I can already assume there's going to be another week of "Super Millionaire" in May).

But between now and then, I get to take the "Jeopardy!" contestant test for a third time in April...and I'll win a $75 Amazon.com gift certificate if I win the office Oscar pool this Sunday. Last year I got 17 out of 24 by basically picking what Entertainment Weekly said to pick, so I hope they know what they're talking about this year, too.

Attempting to get on "Super Millionaire," Day 8

Well, I guess I hate myself today since I must have either misunderstood the question (thinking it was "start with the earliest" instead of "start with the most recent") or accidentally hit the buttons in the wrong order. The fourth question this time was to put four movies in order: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Groundhog Day," "Snow Day," and "Die Another Day," and I thought I entered them exactly that way, which is correct, starting from the earliest.

"Super Millionaire" addendum (after seeing the first episode)

Wow, after $100,000, those questions get really hard. Maybe I don't really want to be on the show at all. At least that's what I'll claim later if I fail to qualify on Monday or Tuesday.

Oh, and it's a good thing I didn't get on this first episode, because my recording of it would have been marred by a weather crawl at the bottom of the screen, covering up some of the questions. (A weather crawl in southern California? Yes, it happens sometimes.) On the other hand, I'm reasonably sure I would have gotten the two Fastest Finger answers quickly...and the buttons look easier to press on these new contestant podiums.

Attempting to get on "Super Millionaire," Day 7

Now I hate Bella Abzug. I thought she had been elected to Congress before Althea Gibson won the French Open, but it was the other way around (1970 and 1956). So for the second time in a row I went out on the second question, which either means my skills are declining or they're intentionally making the questions harder. Unfortunately, I think because of the show actually premiering tonight, there are going to be many more people calling in later tonight and on Monday and Tuesday than there have been for the past six days, which decreases my odds of getting on the show even further. Time to start looking ahead to May, perhaps?

Attempting to qualify for "Super Millionaire," Day 6

Now I hate Mexico, and in particular the fact that I didn't quite know where Guadalajara was in reference to Juarez, Mexico City, and Acapulco. (Going from north to south, it's between Juarez and Mexico City, but I put it between Mexico City and Acapulco.) This is getting kind of embarrassing. Three chances left.

Attempting to qualify for "Super Millionaire," Day 5

I don't know how one manages to hate a comet, but I went out on this, my fourth question today:

"Put the following four events associated with comets in order from first to most recent...

1. Comet Hale-Bopp is at its brightest.
2. The most recent appearance of Halley's Comet.
3. Pieces of the Shoemaker-Levy comet crash into Jupiter.
4. Comet Hyukatake comes within 9 million miles of Earth."

Problem is that 1, 3, and 4 were all in the mid-to-late 1990s, and I wasn't exactly sure of the order. I put 2-3-1-4, and it was actually 2-3-4-1 (1985-86, 1994, 1996, 1997).

Attempting to qualify for "Super Millionaire," Day 4

This was my third question today:

"Put the following items in order from left to right to create a standard place setting...

1. Dinner plate
2. Soup spoon
3. Dinner fork
4. Dinner knife"

I somehow managed to remember, within the 10-second time limit, which order the spoon and the knife come in, and so I got that one correct. Then the fourth question came along, which is something I should have been able to get in my sleep:

"Put the following movies in order of their first theatrical release, most recent first...

1. Romancing the Stone
2. Jerry Maguire
3. City Slickers
4. The Truman Show"

To make a long story short, I guess I was so excited about getting the place setting question right that now I hate "Jerry Maguire."

Attempting to qualify for "Super Millionaire," Day 3

Out on the third question. Now I hate the Treaty of Paris. I'm so full of hate.

Attempting to qualify for "Super Millionaire," Day 2

First of all, on my way home from work, I stopped at 7-Eleven to buy a half-gallon of milk. I decided I'd give that Pepsi/iTunes contest a try by buying a Big Gulp (and showed blatant disregard for the sponsor by filling it with Dr Pepper), and darned if I didn't win a free song.

Unfortunately, my luck didn't continue: this time I was stymied on the fourth of five qualifying questions by trying to determine how far four European cities were from Berlin. Looking at a map afterwards, it's clear that I thought St. Petersburg was a lot closer to Berlin than it actually is (i.e., it seems like St. Petersburg, Florida isn't that much farther away from Berlin than St. Petersburg, Russia).

Clearly, I don't deserve to be on "Super Millionaire"

No, wait, it's the Brontes I hate. There's only one Austen.

Attempting to qualify for "Super Millionaire," Day 1

Damn it, I should have known "Emma" was older than "Great Expectations." I hate the Austens.

Warning for those heavy with coin

If you try to get rid of a surplus of dimes by attempting to put 30 of them into a subway ticket vending machine in Los Angeles to buy a $3.00 day pass, at some point the machine will angrily shut down (with a message reading "THIS TRANSACTION IS CANCELED") and spit out the dimes that have been inserted so far.

See you at the movies

Will the sequel to "50 First Dates" be called "50 Second Dates"?

On another note, you must see "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" if it ever shows up in your town, preferably if it shows up at a drive-in. (Even though the IMDB claims it premiered in 2002, it was just released as an actual film this month.)

This is as political as I get

Current Associated Press top story headline: "Bin Laden May Have Recruiting Problems."

I guess a lot of his potential recruits are thinking about following Maurice Clarett and entering the NFL early.

Presidentsdaytown?

I'm sure Cinemax had a good reason for airing "The Nightmare Before Christmas" on February 7th. I just can't figure out what it was. Does this mean we can look forward to "Groundhog Day" this October?