twodoebs

"Conviction"--Emmy Award winner Dick Wolf's (Law & Order-brand series) newest series begins on Friday, March 3 (10-11 p.m. ET) [on NBC]. This new legal drama series is a fast-paced, character-oriented story focusing on young assistant district attorneys in New York who are confronted with tough, high-profile cases that challenge their limited experience--and force them to mature quickly or be overwhelmed. (Taken from "NBC Sets Post-Olympics Programming" on www.comingsoon.net)

Humm . . . "mature quickly or be overwhelmed," eh?--I guess "the jury's still out" on THAT one!

If you're having trouble reading the text of the announcement, just click on it for a larger version. Best wishes to Chris and Peggy for a long and happy life together.

It started with the Litermaid 2000 (many thanks to T-Diggity on THAT one!), a liter box that automatically removes the cat waste 10 minutes after Belle finishes going to the bathroom. NOW, we've got Casper (the vacuum ghost!) to come and clean up the little itsy-bitsy pieces of litter that Belle scatters all around the box when she's takin' care of business. Casper is a Roomba Discovery Vacuuming Robot manufactured by a Massachusetts company called iRobot and our initial impressions of this thing are great!

T-Diggity might have done right by us on the Litermaid 2000, but the reports on the Roomba she passed along from her friends had us spooked (ha!--get it? . . . his name is CASPER and we were spooked) at first. And not just her . . . EVERYONE was skeptical. But this thing does EXACTLY what it claims to do--as everyone's favorite Sewickley electronics salesman would say, "Bob, thith thing ith really a PERFORMER!"

Prior to Casper's first run, we hadn't really vacuumed in a while, so there was quite a bit of dust all over the place, not to mention both Belle and Kati hair pretty much everywhere. And since we've only been in our apartment for just under six months, we had never had a spring cleaning, where we moved furniture and cleaned under beds and behind dressers and whatnot (psh . . . I make it sound as IF we WOULD clean under beds and behind dressers if we HAD been in the apartment for over a year!).

None of this fazed Casper AT all. He tore that apartment apart! He goes THIS way, he goes THAT way, he gets all the cat hair off the rug, he cleans up around the litterbox . . . and when he's all finished, he finds his way straight back to his charger, plugs HIMSELF in, and gets all juiced up so he's ready to roll the next time we call him to action. He's INCREDIBLE! He even found his way under the beds and took care of all the nasties that have started festering under there where we couldn't possible reach with our upright vacuum (even if we TRIED). Wood floors, carpets . . . he does a great job on both. PLUS, he's really great fun to watch--seeing how he meticulously cleans around corners and furniture is surprisingly entertaining!

I do have two problems. First, for as intelligent as he is, he gets caught up on the fringes of throw rugs. And that's a tough one 'cause part of what we WANT him to clean are the throw rugs. So we gotta sort out a work-around for that. And second, he DOES require a pretty significant amount of maintenance to keep him working at his optimal level. Because he's so small, he doesn't really have a very large dust receptacle, which basically needs to be emptied every time he runs. And all the hair gets wound around his agitator brush pretty easily, which SIGNIFICANTLY lowers his performance. But iRobot did include a pretty great tool that makes untangling the hair very easy and the hope is that as running him becomes a more regular activity, there'll be less hair on the floor on a daily basis, so he won't have as much work to do every time he runs.

By and large, though, I'm VERY pleased. I look forward to significantly less time dusting and vacuuming thanks to Casper.

And what's next in the super-automated world that is our apartment? That would be SCOOMBA--the Floor WASHING Robot! That's right, Sweet Kati (and Belle!)--iRobot now ALSO makes a companion to the Roomba that claims to "make mopping a distant memory!" I like the sound of THAT!

What a team! What a team!

Go Steelers!

As for Roethlisberger, it's GOTTA be the beard!

*Some* people called him Baby Ben . . . *some* people said we were gonna have a long season 'cause the NFL had figured him out--ha!

*Some* people said I would have to eat my words--ha!

At Thanksgiving, *some* people said we wouldn't even make it to the PLAYOFFS--ha!

Download the 2005 "Here We Go" song . . . 'cause Here We Go, Steelers, Here We Go--Pittsburgh's Goin' To The Superbowl!

Two things I LOVE!--dogs and the Steelers (I ain't got nuthin' against that ol' Ir'n City Beer, neither!). Thanks to Susan, Scott, and Stella for checking in.

Cartman: No dude, independent films are those black and white hippie movies. They’re always about gay cowboys eating pudding.

Wendy: No they’re not. Independent films are produced outside the Hollywood system. They’re movies without all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.

Cartman: Well, you show me one independent film that isn’t about gay cowboys eating pudding.

* * *

Trouble with "Brokeback Mountain" was that it was EXACTLY what Cartman was talking about. There wasn't any pudding eating in this one (it would have been the movie's one redeeming virtue . . . ) and I KNOW *everyone* else in the online world is SO sick of the "gay cowboys eating pudding" jokes, but that--I'm sure--is 'cause they enjoyed this movie.

Hollywood can't figure out why box office sales are so sluggish. They blame their problems on DVDs, MP3s, and PSPs. Then year after year, they center the cinema culture on these esoteric, BORING movies by giving them all the Academy Awards and Golden Globes (Exhibit A: "Million Dollar Baby" beating "Ray," "Sideways," AND "The Aviator" for best picture last year . . . Exhibit B: "Born Into Brothels" beating "Super Size Me" for best Documentary last year). PUH-lease, Judge!--gimme a movie I can get *excited* about AND make it monumental enough that it's worthy of an Academy Award (I'm thinkin' along the lines of "Forrest Gump" here, NOT "King Kong")--THEN the box office'll respond.

So I'm not sure if this is being widely publicized or not, but it seems some OTHER people thought referee Pete Morelli became the world's biggest bone head after his ruling on Sunday overturning Polamalu's interception. Seems his house has become the target of some "145.00--Blaustein!" action.

Now don't get me wrong (Stefanie, I'm looking in your direction, here . . . ), I don't *condone* vandalizing anyone's house 'cause of ANYTHING having to do with a football GAME, for heavens sake. But the court of public opinion DOES demand swift justice!

Vandals strike NFL referee

I haven't posted anything regarding the Steeler's big win on Sunday 'cause . . . well--to be honest--'cause I haven't really had time. But I didn't have anything to add that anyone who had seen the game, heard the game, or even picked-up highlights of the game wouldn't say.

I also didn't say anything about the ensuing debacle regarding Polamalu's interception. Again, I don't have anything insightful to add that anyone following the situation wouldn't think.

But THEN, I say this article. Ha!--I'm glad to hear a Colts fan say it all so well.

Words From The Heart Of A Colts Fan

I don't want to steal any of the thunder from twodoebs.com 'cause it's where I've posted most of the pictures from this weekend. I did, however, have a couple of left-over pictures that I thought I would toss up here.

Jan, Kati, and Paula (and Jenny!)

Damn!--those two big, bright smiles!

The annoying question we've been hearing so much of this season is, "Who dey? Who dey? Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?"--the ever so satisfying answer, I believe, is . . . the STEELERS. Ha!

No, seriously, I don't enjoy seeing Palmer's knee be hurt, but the Bengals WERE talking a lot of trash for a team that hasn't been in the playoffs since before e-mail was invented.

Yeah, Stefanie . . . I KNOW it's not what you were talking about when you clamored for more non-photographic content in the New Year, but I DID want to publicly memorialize my predictions for this weekend's games so I can gloat about how good I am when I'm 100% correct on Monday morning.

WASHINGTON AT TAMPA BAY
* Washington by 3

JACKSONVILLE AT NEW ENGLAND
* New England by 10

CAROLINA AT NEW YORK GIANTS
* New York by 7

PITTSBURGH AT CINCINNATI
* Pittsburgh by 83