Ravings from a Man in an Old White House

In addition to possibly bringing news of a snap election, Parliament’s returning to session after the long summer recess (they’ve been off since 26 July) has great significance: BBC’s Today in Parliament podcast recommences. I can already hear Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons, saying, “Order, Order,” followed by an announcer saying, “Good evening, this is David Wilby at Westminster…” Of course, since the presenters rotate, it may not be David Wilby. It may Tessa Duggleby, Keith MacDougall, Rachael Hooper, Robert Orchard, or Susan Hume. In any event, I am excited. The only problem is that I have nearly four hours of podcasts to listen to already: five long podcasts and six long ones. By my reckoning, long podcasts are approximately 20 minutes or longer, while short podcasts are approximately 15 minutes or shorter. Today in Parliament is itself a long podcast, so I really need to get through the old ones. A few long walks with my iPod should get most of the work done.

I have posted before about Foyle’s War. Season 4 (broadcast as Series 4 and 5 in the UK) finally made its way to PBS this past June. With these four new episodes, the Americans have finally landed on English shores and have enmeshed themselves in the odd South Downs mystery or two. No need to worry, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle is there to sort it all out.

At any rate, unbeknownst to me, the fourth season was released on DVD in mid July. I don’t really have the $50 to drop on it right now, but I bally well want to.

I made Chicken Parmesan last night. I thought it was good, but didn’t have enough sauce ready for the pasta. I also made brownies. I used a regular brownie mix from the store, but I added Nestle Semi-Sweet Morsels to the batter. It’s definitely worth it.

My iPod has been acting funny lately. It is a fourth generation iPod (photo) whose the battery may be going. The thing will suddenly restart (in the middle of a good song, I might add), but instead of getting itself back to the main menu, the Apple logo is followed by either a little frowning-faced iPod icon telling me to go to apple.com/support (or some such) or a battery logo with a lightening bolt to the left side. The last time the LCD was stuck on, and the iPod would not respond to any attempt to reset or plug it into the wall or the computer. After letting the battery run down I was able to get it to respond to the computer, so I did a complete restore. So far, so good, but I am worried nonetheless. O, curse technology!

I finally saw The Queen, Little Miss Sunshine, and most of Babel, bringing me to three-fifths of last year’s Best Picture nominees. I can’t remember the last movie I saw in the theater, so it does not look good for seeing any of the nominees for the next Oscars before the ceremony. Oh well.

I went to a few Cubs games this year. They even won one of them. Almost as entertaining was Lou Pinella’s famous rant. He went crazy near third base, and I was sitting almost directly back from third base: it was cool.

The Cubs won their division. I am keeping my hopes low, and the Cubs rewarded that decision with a loss last night. I guess you can tell you’re a Chicago sports fan when you can hear “maybe next year” in your mind’s ear after losing just one game.

I need to update the books in my Currently Reading applet on the sidebar of this blog. I also need to fix the page that comes up when you click “View full Library.” I can say that I have been reading Ecclesiastical History of the English People by the Venerable Bede for quite some time now. It is readable enough, but it is wearying to read the discussions of how the British (read Romano-Celtic people of Ireland, and the north and west of Great Britain as opposed to the Anglo-Saxon (English) peoples of the east of Great Britain) are heretics because they observe Easter on the wrong day. I will get back to it at some point.

I finished the fifth season of Gilmore Girls and all four series (seasons) of Black Adder. I am thinking about working through Angel, I probably won’t.

I went to the fourth day of the BMW Championship (formerly the Western Open) at Cog Hill. It was fantastic. It was cool enough seeing Vijay Singh, but it was even cooler that Tiger stepped-up against tough competition to win.

Incidentally, the BMW was the first of two weeks in a row I got too much sun.

During the long summer recess, speculation that Gordon Brown may call for early elections (called a snap election) has reached a fevered pitch. In the UK, a general election (election of Members of Parliament) must be held within five years of the last general election. The last elections having taken place in May 2005, the election would be approximately half-way through the term. In recent history, elections have come at about four or five years. An election now would give Mr. Brown a mandate as prime minister, but it would risk handing power to the Tories. The current poop is that Mr. Brown will announce elections on Tuesday, October 9, 2007, but recent polls showing a lead between 1-4 points for Labour may flush that away. I say the PM should roll the dice. The Conservative leader, David Cameron, will not come across as the sort of person who should the lead the UK; he has no substance.