The Noahs are back in New York, after a fun-filled week of sun, swimming, and Disney magic. Since we first told Eli that we were planning on visiting Disneyland, it’s never been far from his mind. He talked about the characters we’d meet and the rides we’d go on. And while I was a little afraid that the actual park wouldn’t live up to his expectations, I think it’s safe to say that the trip was a great success.

Our first day at the resort, we didn’t go to the park – instead we hung out by the pool. Eli immediately decided he wanted to go on the big water slide with me, and when he found out that he’d have to ride solo, he wasn’t deterred. Not in the slightest. In fact all he wanted to do was go down that slide. Repeatedly. Relentlessly. And why not – everyone loves a good water slide.

The next day, when we were going to Disneyland proper, we began with a character breakfast with Mickey. We got pictures with a bunch of the characters, but Eli really just wanted to keep on hugging Mickey Mouse. It was really sweet – and a great way to start the day.

Inside the park we went on as many rides as we could – the Toy Story ride, Autopia, classics like Dumbo and the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, and newer rides like Finding Nemo and Winnie the Pooh. (They nay not actually be that new, but I don’t remember them from our last visit ten years ago, so they’re at least newer.) And what was Eli’s favorite ride? That honor goes to the Gadget’s Go-Coaster, a kid-friendly roller coaster located in the Mickey’s Toontown section of the park. I love the fact that he’s such a little daredevil, and hopefully as he gets bigger, we can go on more (and bigger) coasters. We ended the day eating dinner as we watched the parade, then by takinga monorail ride out of the park.

The next day we had another character breakfast – Chip & Dale and friends this time – and set off to California Adventures, Disneyland’s second park. There are definitely less rides over there, but I was very impressed with the park’s design and execution. First off all, it has a very nostalgia-heavy vibe, with a nod to early 20^th Century California, and a section designed to look like an old-fashioned pier. But everything was deceptively modern. The retro-looking Ferris wheel (pictured above) actually is 2 rides in one – a standard boring ride around the wheel, and other cars that swing wildly as they go. There’s Toy Story’s Midway Mania, which is a throwback to olde tyme Boardwalk games, but done as a 3D video game that tracks your score as you compete with large groups of other players. Very cool.

I also liked how there were entire “lands” of the park dedicated to a single movie, as opposed to the old format with a big movie only inspiring a single ride or two. The drawback of doing that is that if you’re not that into, say, Cars or A Bug’s Life, then those large chunks of the park will hold little interest for you. But it’s still nice to have a large, immersive area that recreates and draws you into a movie’s world, and it does make you more likely to want to see the film that inspired it if you haven’t before.

Other than Disney, we also had a good time visiting with family and friends out west – we spent a lot of time in G-pa’s pool, and we visited the Kidspace Children’s Museum, which was effectively a large interactive playground. It wasn’t a relaxing trip by any stretch of the imagination, but it was definitely a fun one, and hopefully it will be something that Eli remembers!

The Freedom Tower stands proud at 1,776 tall.   What’s been taken away can never be replaced, but the new One World Trade is physical proof of how strong and resilience of this city and country.

They’re bringing 24 back!  That’s awesome!  But giving the show 13 episodes sort of doesn’t really fit with the entire conceit of the series.

Tacos made with lion meat?  That’s ridiculous!  Clearly they would go better in burritos, or maybe even enchiladas.

This article was linked to from cnn.com with the headline that Nintendo “used to be cool.”  Really, CNN?  According to Jon Stewart, you guys aren’t really doing your best work.

So everything I wrote about yesterday?  If you don’t heed my warning, you can turn into this guy on a Kiss Cam.  And no one wants to be THAT guy.

It seems weird to think about, but not that long ago, not everyone had an infinite source of distraction on their person at a time. If you wanted to call someone while you were out, you’d have to wait until you got home, or, if it was a real emergency, you’d have to find a pay phone. If you were bored on a long train ride, you’d have to read something. And if you happened to carry around a portable device for listening to music, you were often looked at as one of “those people.”

Don’t get me wrong – I’m as addicted to my phone as everyone else. There are so many things to look at , and the sheer concept of being bored – even for a minute – seems like an unfathomable catastrophe.

That said, it does get a LITTLE old when people walking down the street as they check their phones walk into you. Or when people can’t let a single moment of awkward silence go by without whipping out their device. Or when inconsiderate jerks with the world’s most annoying ringtone let their phones ring forever before deciding to answer.

And it is a bit crazy when you see people at what should be fun events/ locations in and of themselves – concerts, theme parks, or even nights out with friends – who spend so much time tapping away. What is so important that it can’t wait?  How are we so connected to people that are far away, yet so disconnected from what’s right in front of us?

I don’t know. It’s a cliche to gripe about people who use their phones too much – especially when the person complaining is an admitted hypocrite. But really. Aren’t there some times when it’s just better to put away the phone, and experience real life without any other distractions? To stop checking in and tweeting and updating and connecting with people who aren’t there at the expense of those who are?

All right, preachy rant over. This post will likely result in me getting called out the next time I pull out my phone in front of one of my loyal readers, but that’s ok. Because maybe that will serve as a reminder for me to take my own advice and put the phone back in my pocket.

A few years back, a friend of mine, Raf, turned me on to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (You may remember – I was mocked at the time for blogging about the show too often.) I was late to the party, but I quickly became a BTVS convert. While I was watching the show, Smallville was still on the air, and Raf suggested that once that show had ended its run, I should compare them to see which was better. Well, once again my timeliness is just a bit off, but hey, better late than never, right?

Why compare these two shows at all? Just because they were both serialized “genre” shows with a sci-fi/supernatural/fantasy element?  Sure, what more rationale do you need?

So let’s get started. (Warning that SPOILERS for both shows follow)

Smallville had a great benefit and burden in its initial conceit – namely the fact that the story of Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, and their friends had been told many times before. That gave the show some instant brand-recognition, but it also subjected itself to the familiar problem of any prequel – the audience knows what’s going to happen. Before we saw a single frame of the pilot, the audience knows that young Clark will grow up to be Superman, and that Lex Luthor will be his arch-nemesis.  It should be noted that Smallville took many liberties with the established Superman mythology, but most of the big picture elements remained.

Buffy on the other hand, started off with a clean slate. Sure, the character was in one horrible movie, but that story was very clearly not a factor in the TV series. That gave Joss Whedon and the other writers/producers much more freedom to do whatever they wanted with the characters. And with that freedom, they were able to regularly surprise the audience. Advantage: Buffy

Both shows featured a cast of impossibly attractive actors that looked like they were way too old to be in high school (because, of course, they were.) And while Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter, and Eliza Dushku are all beautiful, none of them come close to Kristin Kreuk. Advantage: Smallville

Over their seven and ten seasons, both Buffy and Smallville respectively endured some cast changes – that’s just what happens with these long-running shows, and that’s fine. But Buffy’s core trio at the start of the show: Buffy, Xander, and Willow – all remained in the series finale. Meanwhile, Smallville began as a show focused on Clark, Lex, Pete, Chloe, and Lana. Of those, only Tom Welling (Clark) remained as a series regular for all ten seasons. Pete only lasted a few years, and Lana and Lex both split after 7.  One could argue that those characters had run their course (especially Lana), but Lex’s arc left a lot of loose-threads unresolved. Advantage: Buffy

On both shows, the main and supporting characters went on long journeys, learned lessons, and grew as people/slayers/Kryptonians. At times, both shows bungled those transformations – but Smallville is just hands down guilty of doing it more often. Both Lex and Lionel Luthor waffled so many times between good and evil that it was hard to keep track. And Clark continually was his own worst enemy in terms of taking the next steps he knew to be necessary. But Spike’s journey from bad guy to good guy?  That felt organic and natural. Advantage: Buffy

Both shows featured the death of a parent of the protagonist, and they both made those moments feel incredibly real, in a world that was inherently unreal. The sudden and unexpected death of Joyce Summers was a brutal shock, and that episode dealt with the passing of a loved one in a brutal and emotional way. On the flip side, Jonathan Kent’s death was basically the result of Clark screwing up and using a Kryptonian crystal to reverse time. So yeah, less relatable. Still, John Schneider’s Jonathan Kent was such an amazing character, and an integral part of the show, that his death was more of a shock to the system. Advantage: Smallville

Buffy perfected the art of each season having a ‘Big Bad,’ one villain that serves as the main antagonist/driving force of each season, that is (usually) dealt with in the finale. Smallville eventually came around to this model, but it never quite mastered it as well as Buffy did. And while Buffy consistently delivered on season finales that wrapped things up in a satisfactory conclusion, Smallville’s finales often featured anti-climactic showdowns and gratuitous cliffhangers, where every character appeared to be in a life-or-death situation that they would quickly bounce back from in the next season premiere. Advantage: Buffy

This is more of a big picture comment, but Whedon and company always seemed to have a solid “big picture” plan. Major events were foreshadowed, sometimes even a couple of seasons ahead of time. On the other hand, Smallville never seemed to be sure of where its characters were ultimately headed from year to year, and major changes to the show were undone without much rhyme or reason. Kara couldn’t find a comfortable place in the show’s universe, so they just unceremoniously wrote her out. Both shows were able to end where they wanted to, which is no small thing, but ultimately this is another Advantage: Buffy

So yeah, Buffy wins. I still love Smallville, despite the fact that I was kind of picking on it in this post. I greatly enjoyed watching Clark Kent slowly transform from a humble farm boy with a crush on the girl next door to Earth’s greatest hero. And saying that a show isn’t as good as Buffy is not much of a criticism. Because when you get right down to it, for your average geek, it really doesn’t get much better than the Scoobies and their fearless slayer of vampires.

Super WHY!, the popular PBS children’s show, has made the leap to a semi-live action theatrical production. So how does this new production fare? Quite well… if you’re three years old.

Yes, my young son very much enjoyed the show, and I will admit that I was intrigued by the initial premise, but before long the hackneyed concept and massive plot holes became too much to bear.

Fans of the televised program know how a standard Super WHY! plot unfolds – a character faces a dilemma, and then the whole gang magically transports into a book, solve a problem inside that book, and then learn how that same problem-solving can be used in their “real” lives. In the stage show, however, none of the characters have a problem or question that needs solving. Instead, their Super Duper Computer, which is now sentient, seeks an answer to the question, “Who has the greatest super power of all.” It’s a unique twist on the tried-and true formula, and this reviewer found his curiosity instantly piqued.

Unfortunately, it lasted only about three seconds.

Because the audience is then told that the answer to this riddle has three letters. Care to venture a guess as to what the final solution will be? I guarantee *you* will get it without much problem.

What’s worse – the show’s narrative only went south from there.

Rather predictably, each of the four main protagonists explain why they think their respective super-power is the best. Surprisingly, it never occurs to the two characters with three-letter names, Pig and Red, that they are the only ones with a real shot at being the ultimate answer. Not surprisingly, no one realizes that, even after the first “super letter” is revealed, none of their names will fit.

The most egregious error comes late in the second act, when on a trip to the moon, Superwhy himself passes both Mars and the Milky Way. Allow me to repeat that – he passes the planet Mars – which would in no possible trajectory be on the way to the moon. The logistics of bringing all that rocket fuel make absolutely no sense. And the Milky Way is the solar system that we are in – that’s like saying on the way from Long Island to Manhattan, we go past the United States. For a show that’s supposed to be educational, this is an unforgivable mistake.

All that said, the show is not without it’s merits. The production was clearly entertaining to the young children in the audience, who were enthralled by the animation, catchy songs, and high-wire stunts. It only would have been nice if there was more substance behind it all.

Bottom line – if you’re looking for a fun distraction for the little ones, you could do worse. But if you’re hoping to find a cohesive story arc with a legitimate mystery, you will invariably leave the theatre disappointed.

As you almost certainly have heard by now, yesterday Jason Collins came out as the first openly gay athlete in one of America’s major sports. Of course, it seems highly unlikely that he isn’t the first gay athlete to ever play in the NBA, MLB, NHL, or NFL, but Collins displayed a tremendous amount of bravery in making his public declaration. One can easily imagine Collins being an inspirational figure for young gay athletes who now feel they have a role model.

There is simply no diminishing what Collins has done.

Still, it’s a little disturbing that in 2013, in a society that should be enlightened and open-minded and tolerant, that this is still a big deal.

And if you think that’s bad, have you heard about the town in Georgia that just this year – for the first time EVER – had a non-segregated prom?

Yes, really. Despite all the progress that’s been made over the years, these kids still had separate “white proms” and “black proms.” Not officially sanctioned by the school mind you, but still. There were events in this community that, even earlier this year, were divided based solely on the attendees’ skin color.

Sickening.

And while it’s fantastic to read that this year’s change was brought on by a group of students, it’s also disgusting to see that they received so much push back from members of their community who didn’t want things to change.

How can people be so set in their ways? So reluctant to evolve? So ignorant?

Well, some people just don’t learn. Take this guy, who lost the entirety of his life savings at a carnival game. Seriously, watch this clip – it’s amazing.

It’s obviously not funny to poke fun at people who are backwards because they’re intolerant, homophobic, or racist, but this guy? Yeah, I think it’s OK to laugh at him and his giant dread-locked banana.

But in the end, are they really that different? The guy who thinks that he’ll win the rigged game if he plays just a few more thousand dollars at the carnival is on exactly the same level as the people who make coming out so scary, and the people who think proms should be separate for black kids and white kids.

Hopefully, as time goes on, there will be more people like Jason Collins and the brave kids of Wilcox County, Georgia, and less idiots who have nothing but anger and a giant stuffed banana.

What follows is an actual Google chat conversation between myself and James that mostly revolves around Superman. It contains a lot of nerd-talk, a little nonsense, and a couple of inside jokes.  I hope you enjoy it.

James: omg
did u see new Man of Steel trailer?
Alan: watched it twice this morning
James: amazing
Alan: like as soon as it was done, I hit replay
unbelievable
James: Me too!
the music was great too
Alan: yeah!
I’ll miss Williams’ score, but whatevs
James: Looks even better than Scary Movie 5!
Alan: well lets not go THAT far
James: true
I mean, Lindsay Lohan making a joke about getting arrested AND charlie sheen making a joke about being a drug-fueled sex adict in the SAME SCENE? Not even Kal-El can match that
Alan: he wishes
James: Let’s just hope it’s better than Superman 4
as long as Superman doesn’t repair the Great Wall of China with a blue laser from his eyes, it already wins
Alan: I no longer think S4 was the worst of the franchise
I give that title to III
listening to the commentaries on the DVD’s made me change my mind
James: III will always have what is actually one of my fav scenes of the entire Reeves set – Supes vs. Kent in the junkyard
Alan: true
James: the opening credits “comedy schtick” of S3 is cringe-worthy
along with Richard Pryor’s skiing down the building and walking off fine
Alan: but the smug french jerk on the commentaries was just such a prick
James: s3 is popular to hate because of the Donner-Lester thing
Alan: that movie killed the franchise
James: well, S4 literally killed the franchise for 2 decades
Alan: 4 shouldn’t have happened at all
the fact that the movie got made was because Christopher Reeve wanted to restore some honor and dignity to the franchise
James: apparently, there’s a cut of S4 somewhere with like an hour more of footage that makes the movie actually make (some) sense
Alan: true, he failed miserably, but the intentions were good
James: it was, of course, A Quest for Peace
it’s a pretty decent premise actually
Alan: they had no budget – the odds were completely stacked against them because of the disaster that was III, and the jerk french guys let the rights lapse, so 4 never stood a chance
James: Superman never does anything to actively help humans. Usually he waits for us to fall into Niagara Falls
Alan: yeah! exactly! it was a great concept and Reeve felt very passionately about that
James: And it’s as decent a premise for creating a Superman-like villain as any
just, you know, the um… rest of the movie
Alan: its like your joke of a bad commentary track, where they just apologize the whole time – on S4 the guy explains WHY the movie is bad. On 3, the d-bags try to justify why it’s great
James: Ah
Alan: it is seriously infuriating
James: yeah S3 sucked hard except for 1 awesome scene that still stands up
Alan: the nice apologetic guy made me apprentice 4 much more. I think he worked on the script or something
James: (why does his suit turn darker navy when he drinks?)
Alan: why is he no longer remotely interested in Lois Lane?
James: And what happened to Lana Lang @ the Planet? She moved there at the end of 3
I never liked Margot Kidder
That’s one other thing I liked about III. Annette O’Toole was much more likable than any other female in the series (even though her character sucked)
Alan: and she was SO good as Martha on Smallville
that show had it’s problems, but the casting of her and Jonathan Kent was spot-on
oh, and lets have our villain in 3 be a rich evil megalomaniac who’s basically exactly like lex luthor – but, get this – he isn’t lex luthor
James: because a computer from 1983 can beat superman
Oh, sorry, the BEST computer in the WORLD from 1983
Dude, it had like… 256k of Ram
maybe 512 or even 1 whole megabyte
Alan: and it could turn a woman into a robot – somehow
because, as all computers in movies – it wants to be alive.,… and to kill!
James: but don’t forget. she’s fine once the computer explodes with her inside
As a nerd, I found the whole “I can program even though I don’t know what I’m doing” to make absolutely no sense
at least have him get hit on the head beforehand or something
Oh man this is fun
I love a good Superman 3 debate
you would have been a good anatomy lab partner
(if u remember that story)
Alan: I LOVE that story!
that’s my favorite James story!
and I wasn’t even there
James: It’s not the best, but it’s one of the “Most James” like stories
nerd + medicine + ADHD = random thoughts in my mind at any time
Alan: to the movie’s credit, they did also make good use of the big fire scene in the beginning at the end, when he goes back to get the acid to ‘kill’ the computer
James: Oh yes
I actually like that scene too
Alan: cuz that was pretty cool, when he froze the top of the lake
James: I liked how Superman was smart there rather than just strong
Alan: although – he drops a giant hunk of ice on a lot of people, just counting on the fact that it would all melt
James: and not crush everyone, including the lab w/the acid
Alan: I mean, a couple of even relatively small ice chunks could have killed some people
what wins, acid or ice?
James: Superman
Alan: but only if he’s not evil
you can tell because his suit is darker when he’s evil
also, how much does he need to drink to get drunk?
James: If the leaning of Pisa ever falls and kills someone, you and I are going to have to re-examine if Evil Superman was actually Evil
maybe he was concerned for them. And maybe he was just a militant environmentalist w/the whole oil barge thing
Alan: yeah, straightening the Tower of Pisa is really only evil to that poor guy who sells the statues
not really “evil” per se, just a jerk move
James: who decided to order 100 new statues the next day
I assume that there were vendors in China who sold broken Great Wall figurines who were similarly screwed over
Alan: ripple effect, it’s all connected, circle of life…
James: I did like Dark Knight Rises, but it was no DK. Has there ever been a good threequel?
I guess ROTJ
Hoping for Iron Man 3
Indy 3
Oh
Toy Story 3
Alan: Also, why did he just take the big hunk of kryptonite from Pryor? As soon as he saw the thing, wouldn’t he have bolted? It turns out to have different chemical properties, but it’s a giant freaking hunk of meteor rock? Wouldn’t that arouse SOME suspicion?
And I can buy that Superman can turn coal into a diamond
but a perfectly formed diamond?
James: It’s a lesser known ability of Superman
Alan: like the “Great Wall of China blue laser fixing” power?
James: yes. Along with his ability to die from infections due to the fingernail scratches of Nuclear Men
btw, did they ever call him Nuclear Man, or did we all just see that on imdb?
Alan: I think so – otherwise how would we know what the N stands for?
pretty cool that he was “born” with that suit
James: we need to watch these 2 movies together someday
Alan: MST3K style?
James: yes. I simply hate Batman & Robin, but I watch S3 and S4 whenever they’re on tv
actually, you rarely see S4
Alan: I did a double take the last time B&R was on
I turned it on halfway through, and I was like – that Bane looks different!
James: B&R had a 100mil budget.
the least it could do was offer a Transformers type of entertainment
Shumacher had no excuse
Alan: is that ride still at Great Adventure?
just heard that the Scream Machine is no more
James: really?
it was there last year
Batman The Ride was too
and they call Batman & Robin Batman: The Chiller
Alan: interesting… haven’t been there in years
James: have u watched Sherlock? The BBC series?
I I think that a Batman movie with The Riddler has the potential to be brilliant. Actually make Batman a detective, figure out a grand mystery. If well-written it could be a masterpiece
Alan: I watch the BBC Sherlock all the time!
(Black Beagle Canine)
James: Oh u should
it’s on amazon prime (maybe netflix too)
Joker is the opposite of Batman, so that worked. I just don’t think that Scarecrow, Bane or Penguin have the ability to beat Bats
Two-Face is a good villain as well
because he was Bruce’s friend
But in Batman Forever, he got acid thrown in his face by a criminal and decided to hate everyone, blaming Batman for not stopping the guy soon enough
(if i remember. i haven’t watched Batman 3 or 4 in well over 10 years)
Alan: that sounds about right
James: all I remember is a scene in a courtroom where Val Kilmer jumps over the gate and JUST MISSES stopping the bad guy
other than Jack Nicholson’s awesomeness, I never cared much for his Joker either
Alan: what exactly does “this town needs an enema” even mean?
James: is that actually a line?
in Batman?
Alan: I think so
James: I assume it means that the town needs to be flooded with water or mineral oil so that it can flush out fecal matter that’s stuck within the walls of its colon
(Or, its metaphorical colon)
Alan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYaki2ZvhSE
at the time, I thought he was saying an “enemy”
which actually makes more sense
James: Maybe he’s from Missouri
and pronounces ene-MIE as ene-MUH
Alan: I’ll be long dead in the cold, cold ground before I recognize a super villain from Missouri
James: little known fact: Osama Bin Laden was born outside St. Louis
Alan: well, technically he wasn’t born IN St. Louis, so I suppose you’re right
James: He pronounced his first name OsamEE
Alan: I question the validity of that statement
James: hold on, let me check something
yes
it’s on the internet
validated
Alan: source?
James: I’ll email it to you

James then emailed me his source – this Google chat.  Which I have now posted for your reading pleasure.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

So it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows lately for my favorite video-game company. Sales of the Wii U haven’t lived up to expectations, and despite the fact that the company posted a profit this financial year, they aren’t rolling in the dough like back in the Wii heyday.

Ts it a sign of the times? There are some people out there who say that video-game consoles are on their way out; that in five, ten, or twenty years, the concept of buying a device and hooking it up to your TV to play games on will seem archaic. And who knows, maybe they’re right. Nintendo has been around for over a century (really – they started out in the business of card games), so I’m optimistic that they’ll be able to keep us gaming with Mario and Link one way or another.

Besides, back when the GameCube was struggling, there were cries that Nintendo would/could/should shut down their hardware manufacturing arm and just make games for other systems, like Sega did. Of course, the Big N bounced back with the Wii, and put all of those fears soundly to rest.

And yeah, it’s not good that Wii U sales have been pretty flat since the holiday rush ended. But the console’s future looks great, now that a 3D Mario, an HD Zelda, and a bunch of other AAA games have been confirmed to be in the works. And the 3DS slate looks pretty damn promising as well, especially with the news that a new Yoshi’s Island and a sequel to A Link to the Past are coming to the handheld. I mean, have you seen the footage of the new Zelda game? It seriously looks awesome… see?

A Link to the Past is, IMHO, one of the most perfect video-games ever created, so the fact that they’re giving the game a direct sequel, that looks to take place in the same world, is just fantastic news.

Nintendo is dead? Long live Nintendo!

This past weekend was an interesting time to be in Boston.

Before the bombings at the marathon, we had been planning to spend this past weekend visiting family in Boston, scheduled around a conference Courtney had to go to for work. As the week unfolded, those plans were in flux. And after the shootout in Watertown on Thursday night, going to Boston seemed off the table altogether.

We ultimately decided to visit family in Massachusetts – far away from Boston – and see what happened while we were there. Courtney’s brother and his girlfriend live in Somerville, which is very close to Watertown. We wanted to get them out of there, but we weren’t thrilled with the thought of driving in to get them. Courtney had the great idea of hiring a car service to bring them pretty far out of town, where we picked them up and continued north.

At dinner on Friday night, a TV at the restaurant was airing a live press conference that announced Suspect #2 was still at large. Only after we put Eli to sleep in the only room with a television did we hear that they were closing in on the guy. While it was frustrating that we missed the live coverage, it was a relief to hear that he had been cornered and captured, and we were able to go back to our original plan of spending Saturday night in Boston.

The mood in town definitely seemed to be one of relief. I can only imagine how shocked and horrified people in the city must have been just a few days before, but Saturday night, everyone was smiling, and good spirits abounded. We had a great meal in Chinatown, went for dessert in the North End, and went for a nice stroll through Faneuil Hall. The city was buzzing knowing that the guys responsible for the atrocity earlier in the week had been caught.

Of course, that joy was tempered by the fact that three families still face a lifetime of unspeakable grief, and that dozens of other people have to deal with their horrific injuries.

Still, Bostonians have every right to be proud that their city helped catch the Tsarnaev brothers in just four days. Compare that to the nearly ten years it took the U.S. to catch Bin Laden. Sure, it’s a very different situation, but still – four freakin’ days – that’s still impressive.

Today, another terror plot was foiled, and while it is of course great news that the attack wasn’t carried out, it’s still disturbing that these maniacs are out there, who want nothing more than to hurt innocent people – and that sometimes they are successful. It’s a scary world, so it’s important to celebrate the wins when we get them. And while I was initially hesitant about heading up to Massachusetts this weekend, I’m glad we were there when we were.

Just some stuff that’s gotten under my skin lately.

Hey Senate, great job at putting special interests ahead of what the American people want and need.

Why is the LIRR always horrifically delayed… except for the one day that I get to the station two minutes late?

And what’s with those guys outside Penn Station that scream bloody murder about their free newspapers? If I want one I’ll take it, but all your shouting isn’t making matters any better for anyone.

So aren’t I lucky? I “won” the “opportunity” to purchase All-Star game ticket “strips” for this year’s festivities at Citi Field. That means I had the privilege of paying SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS per seat, or just $330 for standing room only. Over three hundred bucks, and you don’t even get a place to sit down?! Some prize!

And I can handle the Mets not playing amazing ball, but seeing the Braves win so much is just salt in the wound.

Disney makes some great movies, but some terrible DVD/Blu-ray’s. Are all 548 commercials/previews REALLY necessary?

Note to strangers: if I don’t know who the hell you are, and we don’t work in remotely related industries, why on Earth would I want to connect with you on LinkedIn?

On that pleasant note – have a great weekend everyone!