• My all time favorite comedy series of all time has to be Mr. Show, with Bob and David. It just has to, Dad, it just does. Mr. Show ran on HBO for four seasons and it was some of the craziest comedy I've ever seen. Crazy-good. Monty Python meets Kids in the Hall meets, um, stuff. Four years of their show was enough to make me love their show, but left me wanting and needing more of their crazy comedy stylings, served up the way that only Bob and David could serve it up.
  
  So, with that in mind, I was way more than very pleased (I was crazy-pleased!) when HBO released the first 2 seasons of Mr. Show on DVD. Each episode had a separate commentary track with Bob, David and other assorted cast members. It was basically a whole new episode inside each whole episode! Fabulous!
  
  David, all by his lonesome, went on a comedy tour that stopped in Minneapolis. He was funny all by himself. It hit the spot -- but nothing could hit the spot quite like a reunion. No sir, nothing could. Not even not ever having to listen to John Tesh's NBA on NBC theme ever again could hit the spot like Bob and David together again for the first time, doing a Mr. Show comedy show.
  
  When I caught wind of a live show to be put on by the Mr. Show Krew (I really hope no one calls them that) I was super excited. No, I was crazy-super excited. I snatched up tickets as quickly as my little hands could pound in the information on my keyboard. Not that I have little hands, mind you. Rather, I have big hands. That's not the point. I shot Ross a telepathic note (and an email, for safe measure) to let him know that if he wanted good tickets, he should get his red head to a computer and pound in all his information and get him some tickets, too.
  
  So, not this past weekend, but the weekend before, Lindsay, Ross, Ty, (not Sarah) and I all went to the culmination of this long winded setup: Mr. Show's live production "Hooray for America!!!"
  
  Hooray, indeed, boys. Hooray. Indeed.
  
  Oh boy. Good good good times. Before the show, we all (with Sarah) grabbed a little bite to eat and drank a little tasty ale at Joe's Garage. Funniness ensued, of course. Everyone was riffing on everyone and everyone was laughing and in really good spirits. Crazy-good time.
  
  Then the show itself. The show itself kicked some serious ass. It kicked some serious ass, then threw it out a 10 story window, went down 10 flights of stairs, picked it up and threw it out into traffic. Funny stuff. Very funny stuff. Crazy-very funny stuff. I just wish I had it on DVD, now, so that I could watch it over and over and marvel at how damn funny these people are. My memory won't hold everything they said or did and I want it to, damn it!
  
  I had a plan to get more people to like me. My plan revolved around the live show. I'd have Lins sneak in my digital camera and I'd sit in my seat and snap snap snappy away during the show and come away with the best pictures of a Mr. Show performance ever!!! Unfortunately, 10 minutes into the show, an usher promptly grabbed my camera and confiscated the damn thing.
  
  I ended up with only one lonely photo -- and it wasn't a good one, either. Now no one will like me. I'm sad.


• Bailey is tearing up our backyard all over again. How? Well, she's insane, one. Two, she races from corner to corner with the zeal of a crazed monkey in her futile attempt to keep order in all places at all times.
  
  In order to slow down, or hopefully halt, the tearing up of the back yard, I'm actually contemplating taking her outside on a leash and forcing her to go slower. But we all know that I'm a lazy ass, and that would involve putting shoes on, putting Bailey's leash on and actually going outside with her and trying to keep her from tearing all over, which we know she would try to do anyway. So, really, the whole taking her out on a leash thing is not an option.
  
  Last year, during fall/winter/spring (and the year before), Bailey tore the shit out of our yard. We're talking tracks of no grass -- just dirt. So, this summer, Lins and I put a lot of work into this whole landscaping thing. We covered all the dirt tracks with mulch and plants and -- hey! now it looks nice! Only she was still using her regular take off from the deck pattern, and was kicking mulch all over the yard. So we put up a small fence around the mulch. No more kicked up mulch -- yay. Yeah, well, she still tears around, only now her track is just outside the fenced-in-mulch area. Our yard, for a summer, was grass and landscaping. Now? Now there's a grass, dirt track and landscaping. There used to be grass there, friend. It's all slowly changing to dirt. I'm sure you're all crying with me at this point.


• Lins, Kate (of the K&K Connection) and I went to the Chatterbox again last Friday night. It's our new routine, remember? Right. Knew you did. This time we got a vaunted booth. *Angels sing*
  
  The bar is separated, more or less, into 2 sides: the side with the bar and the side with more tables and with the lounge area that has the TVs and Ataris. This time we were on the bar side. It turned out to be the boring and not-nearly-as-cool side. We played Scrabble -- Lins and Kate both kicked my ass. Then that was about it. All the Ataris and the fun kids sit in the other room. So we didn't stay there too late. Not because we didn't care or like it, but because we had to go to the store and buy more liquor. But now we know: sit in the cool room from now on.


• This past Saturday was a full day for me -- an even fuller day for Lins.
  
  From 8-noon, Lins went to a giant antique show with Kristi, of the K&K Connection.
  
  Around noon, I dragged my lazy ass out of bed and we all went to a Jack Russell Terrier Fun Day thing. It was basically like a trial except not as competetive and you can have your dogs try different events that normally you'd not have them do.
  
  Bailey, you see, is dog aggressive, so we've never raced her before. We've always been afraid that she would start a fight and get DQ'd, so we had decided against having her race -- only Oscar would be able to race. Well, he'd "race". Basically he'd hop around like a bunny and jump after the other dogs. Then, at the end, instead of going into the bales of hay (the finish line), he'd turn around and run back the other way and weave around and be a huge gigantic dork, because he likes to make people laugh. That's his thing. It's what he does. Anyway, Bailey is from a respected breeding line in England that has produced some top quality JRTs that have excelled at racing. Or something. I don't remember where or when I read or heard that, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was. I don't know, ask Lindsay. So there was that in her favor.
  
  Since it was a fun day, we decided, hey, why not, let's race her. You only live once, right?
  
  We had her do a practice run with a few other first timers. Did Bailey get in a fight? Nope. Bailey kicked their asses. She was calm and had this kind of crazy lazer-beam-focus thing going on while in the starting blocks. She just sat there and stared at the lure. As soon as they opened the gates and sent the lure down the track, she was all up on it. Boom. Fuzzy little girl in first. Hee.
  
  So then they get to the actual races. She was up against 5 other JRTs (in the female over 12 inches tall class). Again, calm. Crazy Lazer Focus. All the other dogs flip out in the boxes. They scratch like crazy, keep turning around and around and bark up a storm. Bailey just stands there and stares at the lure. She is so incredibly intense. They open up the gates and send the lure down the track -- and Bailey jumped out to a quick lead and ended up winning by about 3 feet -- pretty big in the dog racing world. Her first times ever racing and she kicked everyone else's ass!
  
  Oscar's race? Yeah, buddy boy got last. Hee. But he made people laugh. So it's a win-win situation for him.


• Saturday, after the dog stuff, my sis, her husband and their son (from Iowa) came over to our house for the evening. Good times. We ordered Bill's Garden Chinese. Yums all around there. Their son is so much fun to have around. He's sweet, he's goofy, he's funny, he's fun to play with. I wish I could the scurvey brat more often. The picture I posted of him and I melts my heart everytime I look at it. He has the cutest smile. You know what else is cool? There's a kid that likes me more than they like Lins. Ha! Take that, usual favorite!


• On Sunday, I had planned on driving to Boone, IA to visit my fam and hang out at the Ron Neely Memorial Golf Tournament. However, I decided on Saturday that I was too wiped from the crappy work week to be able to go all by my lonesome. 7 hours of driving during the day didn't sound like a fun plan. I needed Sunday to refresh and all that. So, even though I really wanted to see my folks and eat my mom's delectable chili, I called it off. Lins and I ended up having a really nice day. We put the first coat of paint on the ceiling in the Den of the Future™. It's looking might swank in there right about now, I'm telling you.


• Speaking of my mom, she has got her own photolog going. I've been enjoying how she sees things compared to how I see them. Please go ch-ch-check it out: artofmine.blogspot.com.

There. Now you should know just about all there is to know. Consider yourself lucky, you ungrateful bastards! J/K! Just kidding, y'all!
Eric