Jon and I watched another 4 episodes of 24. We're both hooked; lots of intrigue, danger, and betrayal. Very little sex, but that's okay. Gotta feel bad for the lead character. I mean, what would you do if your family was kidnapped? I was thinking, "there's no way the kidnappers are going to let your family go, so you might as well tell them to go to hell", but on further review, how could he *not* do what he was told? Every moment he complies is another moment where his family gets to live, and another moment something might happen to free them.

I'm working hard not to go look at spoiler sites like Television Without Pity to find out what happens for the rest of the season. I've only seen 8 episodes, so there's 16 to go. Not to say something I'm sure a lot of people have already said, but it's going to be a long day.

I kegged the beer yesterday. As I was siphoning it from the fermenter to the keg, I grabbed a small glass to taste. Nothing tastes off (hooray!) so it looks like I'll have drinkable beer by party time. It's Friday the 14th of May, by the way. If anyone within reading distance just happens to be in the vicinity of Hartselle, Alabama, email me and I'll send you directions. Jon's apparently been out twisting arms and it looks like a bunch of people are attending.

My birthday present is going to be a big honking charcoal grill (Sam's Club is fresh out of ginger-headed british men. Nuts). Jon wants me to cook ribs on the grill for the big bash; I'm thinking yes, but I should grill other things as well. The best thing about birthdays is I get to make exactly the type of cake *I* want to eat. It will be chocolate, of course! Some asshat's going to stick 40 candles on it and set the house on fire. I can just see it.

Speaking of ginger-boy, scuttlebut has it he's going to be in another British mini-series: Colditz, which was a POW camp in Germany during WWII. This time he'll play a British officer. Looks like I'm going to have to harangue BBC America if I ever want to get to watch it. Maybe PBS will carry it. Why couldn't I have a thing for Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise? NooOOOoo, I have to go for the obscure ones.

Stupid animal update: another frog got into the pool. Stupid frog. You know, I *like* frogs. I have eaten a lot of different types of animals, with no remorse. I have even had a stew made out of a cute and fluffy bunny and I didn't even blink an eye. But I had frog legs once, and I felt terrible. Poor frog. Yes, they tasted like chicken. So I'll stick to chicken.

We also have a small tree next to the pool. Jon cut it back some and discovered a bird's nest with eggs. Mama bird was chirping up a storm while Jon was doing this; we were afraid she would abandon the nest. She hasn't; the eggs have hatched. I hope they're old enough to fly away by the time we have that party. And if I find any dead baby birds in my pool I am going to go postal.