I believe that Mother Nature has a vendetta against me. It hasn't rained here in at least a month, but today it is raining. This is notable because today I was planning to walking to the Loop on my lunch break to return a DVD to Blockbuster and purchase the new Mustard Plug album. Over the summer, every single day that I walked to the loop to visit the library, drink a smoothie, or purchase a CD it would rain. Because I have a policy of always forgetting my umbrella, the rain soaked me every time. But this time I win, Mother Nature. Now that I have a car, I can just wait until I go home and then drive to the Loop to run my errands. I spit in the face of cruel fate!

This week I was an unfortunate 8-8 in my weekly NFL picks, bringing my total to 17-15. Not good. Lucas, conversely, was 12-4 this week and is 23-9 overall. As long as he continues to pick his beloved Packers to win, however, I should have enough time to make up the deficit...

Despite round-the-clock coverage on the Festival, Lance Bass couldn't raise enough money to pay for his trip to space and has officially been replaced on the Soyuz mission with, I kid you not, a cargo container with the same weight as the pop singer.

There are doin's afoot between Erv and the proprietors of -273. It seems that James has been running his mouth on other sites about how he deserves to get linked by -273, so the community overlords have offered him a chance to put his keyboard where his mouth is and earn the spot. I've applied to be a judge in the event the challenge goes through, ensuring impartiality as well as amusement. Stay tuned, as this little tiff looks to be replacing the now-infamous Ouranophobe/Lightistoobright catfight. And always remember, in a fight resulting in more posting, everyone's a winner.