Bastet

Good game! I thought quite a few DJ clues were better suited to first round values, but I really enjoyed the close competition and all three contestants. The Everglades, China, and "a good man" TS surprised me. JPMorgan Chase surprised me a bit, too - more that no one even took a guess. I incorrectly figured someone would get Bodhi tree and carbon, but Sarah Polley was one of those clues I just knew was going to be a TS. I had a sense about maladroit, too. And I was right about FJ, predicting only one would get it. (I know, good for me.)

LOL. I don't have a robe or slippers, either. The prevalence of slippers on TV is partially for the same reason most TV characters wear shoes in the house: set floors are pretty dirty.

I was on the other side of that scenario; a group of us were gathered at a friend's house to watch movies (while drinking), someone got a call from his mom telling him Osama bin Laden had been killed (why she felt he needed to know right then, I'm not sure), and we briefly switched to the news to get the facts. When the host's girlfriend came home and we told her Osama bin Laden was dead, she initially thought it was something we'd been joking about in our inebriation.

By the time I woke up on 9/11, both towers had already collapsed. It was really hard to absorb all that had happened. The crash in Pennsylvania hadn't yet been reported; the plane was still one the airline was "deeply concerned" about the status of. The rumor about a car bomb at the State Department hadn't yet been debunked, either, so there was all this fear as to what was coming next. I live in Los Angeles, but I was on a hiking trip in Utah for the week. It felt weird not being home, in case something happened in L.A., but it was terrific to spend the day on the trails. Of course, we (a friend was with me) watched hours of news coverage each night when we got back to the hotel, but we were able to cleanse our minds each day by being out in nature. When I called my parents, I found out a coworker had called their house (knowing I'd be checking in with them) to say that one of the employees at our company had lost his wife and mother-in-law (they were on Flight 11). My dad knew some of the crew on Flight 77 because he used to travel to D.C. on business a lot and that was always the flight he took home; as a frequent flyer, and in first class, he and the crew knew each other by name and always chatted.

While in a mild way, I tend to notice that, too, since I don't even own a robe but apparently almost everyone on TV wears one regularly.

Maybe they're so used to it they don't think about it? It seems odd, but yesterday I walked around naked for a couple of hours because I tossed the house clothes I'd been wearing into the wash load, intending to go shower, but then thought of something I wanted to do before showering (and didn't want to put on clean clothes until after I showered), and then proceeded to do several more things around the house. After just that small bit of time, I opened the door to take the recycling out to the bin before realizing, "Oh, I'm naked." (The neighbors on one side could see me if they were in just the right/wrong place.) So for people who sleep naked every night, I guess I can see them not being immediately cognizant of the fact they're at someone else's home. Maybe.

Apparently it wasn't completely off; Bryant's rep has now said the 13-year-old daughter was among the victims.

Grace and Frankie (I sometimes flip it, too - I think because of Frankie and Johnny), and that's all I know her from, too. I did learn somewhere along the way that she's married to Andy Roddick, but I only kept in my mind that it was a tennis star. So if the clue had asked for Brooklyn Decker's husband, I could have guessed Andy Roddick. Alas, it asked for Andy Roddick's wife, and I didn't get it.

Yep. The first thing I heard was a completely unconfirmed and, as far as I've seen, not repeated (did I emphasize that enough) report that something about the initial information from the sheriff's office indicates his daughters may be among the others killed in the crash, so my initial reaction was horror at that possibility. My second reaction is sympathy for how that woman must feel seeing the national network news break into programming to go on about his greatness.

I do too -- "even an asshole can save a life". And I don't even find it hard to believe a congenital jerkwad would choose to be an organ donor, especially if all he has to do is check a box on his driver's license application - even an asshole can save a life, because even an asshole can get to that question and put no more thought into it than, "Yeah, sure. I'll be dead; what the hell do I care?" He doesn't have to actually delve into caring thoughts about the lives he could potentially save/dramatically improve if some of his organs are viable and a match upon his death.

He guest starred in an episode of the Murphy Brown revival and had terrific chemistry with Candice Bergen (I didn't watch Boston Legal, so it wasn't a reunion for me, I just really enjoyed them together). I hadn't seen him since way back when he was Lionel Tribbey on The West Wing, so that was fun.

There's protein in the milk. But more sugar. Depending on the cereal, it might have protein (Fruit Loops, though?). But more sugar. Fruit? Some have protein, yes. But, obviously, lots of sugar. And they used to also include a bagel/muffin/piece of toast?! Maybe by "complete" they mean "complete your daily carb allotment in one meal".

That's why I exercise at home (okay, that and profound laziness, because if I had to actually go somewhere to work out, it wouldn't happen) -- too many people are totally inconsiderate at the gym, and too few gym employees do anything about it. There used to be a Curves half a mile away from me, and in such a small environment with almost all the women being middle age or older, that was an easy and pleasant way to exercise - walk (uphill) to the gym, do the half-hour circuit, enjoy a nice cool-down walk back home. But my peeve was how their hours catered to morning people; it opened at some unholy hour, but was only open until 7:00 at night. So I had to go in the middle of the day, which meant I could only go when I was working out of my home office, and back then that wasn't anywhere near as frequent as it is now. And then once I negotiated working from home as the default, the Curves closed!

I won't be home tonight, so I just read the archive. The Denmark TS really surprised me, in that no one even took a guess -- pick one of the other Nordic countries and hope you chose the right one! Neil Sedaka surprised me a bit, too, for the same reason - even if you don't know the song (and I didn't), guess one of the songwriting Neils. I was expecting someone to guess Neil Young. The Ocho Rios TS really surprised me; with Heather doing the translation but adding an S to ocho, I can't believe no one else rang in with the correct response. FJ stumped me, too; the cities didn't mean anything to me, and I didn't even think to go down the romance novel road in scrolling through my mental list of prolific female authors. If there had been anything in the clue to indicate the romance genre, I'd have guessed correctly, though; I've never been interested in reading that genre, so she's pretty much the only name I know. (Maybe best-selling in the category title should have sent me in that direction? I was just happy it wasn't Bestselling Women Authors.)

Since I don't use social media, I didn't know that was a thing until that commercial came out with the obnoxious "sunset heart hands" woman. So, since she's who I associate with such photos, and she's unbearably annoying, I hate them, too, even though I don't think I've ever actually seen one.

I had to rely on the archive tonight, and after happy hour, so I hope the two new facts I learned will stick with me: how "gal pal" came to be, and that baklava has 33 layers of phyllo dough. The FJ clue had no business as a FJ clue outside of the Toddler Tournament. The Los Alamos and Bronze Age TS surprised me, and Seychelles a bit, too (because it seems like those islands are asked about enough that one of three preparing for the game would have known it). Scrub and sutures I'd have thought someone would at least guess, but didn't rise to the level of surprise. I thought the cake was angel food, not angel's food, and a brief perusal of Google search results (so, quite scientific) indeed reveals only angel, not angel's. So I take issue with that answer being accepted.

Yeah, that's been around for a very long time, and how could it not be? The per capita homicide rate in her quaint little town is exponentially higher than that of the most notorious cities in America, and then everywhere she travels to visit a friend or one of her numerous family members, someone also turns up killed. Clearly she was using I'm a sweet old widow* writing mysteries as a cover for researching the means, motives, and methods of homicide and how to frame innocent dupes so thoroughly they confess to crimes they did not commit in the hopes of obtaining leniency from the DA. *One must wonder what really happened to Mr. Fletcher!

Are you tired of fathers who don't cook, too?

I just rewatched the scene on the ABC website to refresh my memory, since it was hazy, and I was right - when she shoves him out the door before they can spot him all decked out, she says, "You didn't tell me you were a Packers fan." And, while it's not as explicit, it does seem he knew or at least assumed they were Bears fans, because he says he thought the hat would be funny. She tells him to put it in the car, and that's when he says he's not going to offend anyone, he wears it all the time when he hangs out with Bears fans, and she does the "Those aren't Bears fans, these are Bears fans" reveal. But he does apologize then, and say he didn't realize how seriously they took their football, and removes the cheese head from his ensemble. Dan soon apologizes for his reaction to him, saying they should give him the benefit of the doubt. Of course, it's quickly all downhill from there.

As I said last night in the C&L thread, Harvey absolutely infuriated me at times, but the way Karlen played him perfectly delivered on the writing, so that I not only understood why Mary Beth loved him, I regarded their marriage as a good one. I watched him deliver the news for my entire life until his retirement -- his concept of the show as "newspaper for television" shone through. Even though it has been nearly ten years since then, or since he moderated a presidential debate, it still feels odd to know I'll never see him again.

She didn't know, did she? I remember her being surprised when she opened the door to find him decked out as a Cheesehead. In fact, now that I think on it, I believe she even shoved him out the door before her family could see him and said something along the lines of "I didn't know you were a Packers fan". And he didn't know they were such die-hard fans, saying he hangs out like that with Bears fans. But she told him, no, those aren't Bears fans - these are Bears fans, and then opened the door to reveal the house and everyone in it decked out. So by the time he actually walked in as a Cheesehead, he had (or should have) had a good sense of it. At the time she invited him, I think she assumed he, like a large percentage of people in and around Chicago, was a Bears fan, or would at least be interested in the Bears beating the Packers, and thought watching the game together would be a good, low-key way to introduce him to her family. Yep. It turned out he couldn't just keep it to a football rivalry, he had to spout off at every turn about what was wrong with them as people, culminating in him diagnosing the family he met for a couple of hours as toxic and an impediment to her ongoing sobriety, even saying she and her baby deserve better than them. I'll take hyperbolic intensity about football while watching your favorite team's rivalry game over calmly and deliberately insulting someone's family in such vile terms during a car ride any day of the week (especially Sunday, of course).

When I met Gloria Steinem - almost bumping into her on the street coming around a corner from opposite sides after a protest rally and march we both attended (back in the mid 90s) - I was so blown away I started babbling about sandwiches (she was holding a takeaway bag from the hole-in-the-wall deli I was heading to) before I got my shit together to talk about the protest. I, too, have met quite a few celebrities and politicians over the years, but with a few you just can't maintain your cool. If I'm ever lucky enough to meet Jane Fonda, more befuddled babbling will inevitably ensue. I hope I get the chance to embarrass myself that way someday!

Aw, Harv! That character made me so angry sometimes, but the way Karlen played him I always not only understood why Mary Beth loved him but found it a good marriage. Tyne Daly said many times she absolutely adored working with him. I never realized he was so much older than her. I wonder if that kind of age difference was supposed to exist between the characters, too.

We saw Dan letting the kids stay up to watch the end of a game in the original series. Other than that, we mostly just saw Dan and Darlene watching sports, and more often the Bulls than the Bears since she was a basketball player.

Wow, I stunk up the joint on the spin-offs category. I had gotten everything right in the first round, was off to a good start with the Earth History clues in DJ, and then they switched to spin-offs and that was the end of my perfect score. I wasn't very good in the royalty category at first, either, but then I got back in the swing of things and got most of the rest of DJ, and knew FJ, so it was a very good game for me other than that category. Henchman was the only TS that surprised me tonight.