Seen and heard

... Kates has had a lot of homework all week. Which leaves me downstairs in my cave watching baseball (except for tonight. The Cubs played earlier today and no one else is on tonight. So I'm blowing through some good music) ...

The best nights, of course, are when there's multiple games on and I can flip to my hearts content. Last night, I caught a little of the replay of the afternoon's Brewers-Giants game, then flipped over to ESPN for the Red Sox-Braves game, and finally settled on the Cubs-Rangers game ...

The best part: Catching Sammy Sosa's 600th homerun. Watching him connect with the ball, the hop, the blown kisses ... Forgetting for a few moments how it all ended in Chicago and how much we loved cheering him on for a few of those summers, it was hard not to let a smile leak out while he rounded the bases and took repeated curtain calls ...

* * *

Just days ago, I was watching with a certain interest and marveling at an interview featuring Brian Williams with New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and the speculation that he could be a strong candidate for the presidency ...

Then word comes today that he's backing away from the Republican party. Now that makes that interview even more interesting ... A breath of fresh air indeed.

Though I'm skeptical that he could give the already so-established candidates a good run for 2008. Somebody, a few of them, would have to take a hard fall ... 2012 perhaps?

* * *

On the radio the other day I heard that NBC is courting Jon Stewart as a possible replacement to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show ...

My ears immediately perked up. As the story I heard was reported: NBC is having second thoughts about Leno handing over the reigns to Conan, and the network is trying to lure Stewart to NBC to either replace Leno, when he supposedly leaves the Tonight Show in 2009, or NBC could convince Leno to stay and Stewart would take the post-Leno slot currently held by Conan ... Either way, it sounds like NBC wants to say bye-bye Conan ...

Initally, I'm thinking this is a smart move for NBC ... Maybe it's just me getting older, but I've grown increasingly annoyed with Conan during the last couple years. Much of his material is unoriginal, juvenile and well, not funny (Really, how many more nights can he spend morphing celebrity mugs together to show us what their kids might look like ... I hate those segments.) His interviews don't flow, and too often he interrupts his guests and turns the focus on himself ... A few years ago, I was in the camp who thought Conan was the next best thing on late night TV. Now, I'm only tuning in if he's got a guest I really want to see, and then I'm fast-forwarding through the rest of the show ...

On the other hand, I'm thinking, and hoping John Stewart doesn't take the bait and remains true to The Daily Show I've come to loooooooove over the last couple years (thanks DVR!)

* * *

On the news the other night, I caught a report that the Vatican had come up with its own set of the Ten Commandments ...

For driving ...

I love it! ... especially No. 5: Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

* * *

A conversation at work this week, as Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" played through the small speakers of our corner's iPod ...

"I hate Fleetwood Mac."

Me: "You hate Fleetwood Mac?"

"Well, I don't hate Fleetwood Mac. I just don't like this album."

Me: "Really! Not a big fan of the Rumours album, huh? ... It's one of my favorite albums of all time!"

"No. I mean, I had it, and I listened to it like 4 billion times --"

Me: "Which I'm in the process of doing right now."

"Yeah, so I just can't stand to listen to it anymore."

I'm hoping I never get to that point.