List Mania!

I saw this list on Mot’s blog and it got me thinking… so here goes:

8 TV Shows I Watch

Wow - this is a hard one, as I don’t follow any regular TV show. But here goes:

• The Rockford Files (on DVD -- thanks, Dad and Mimi)
• The News
• America’s Funniest Home Videos (I can't help it, I love that Tom Bergeron!)
• Boston Legal (only once this season, but it was the finale and Spader and Shatner were brilliant!)
• The American Kennel Club Dog Show Best in Show show, or whatever it's called, starring J. Peterman, every year after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade (including this year, and we had to return to our hotel room at the Marquis in Times Square after attending the parade in person to see it, perhaps to the chagrin of my wife)
• The occasional program I’ll stop at when clicking around (this could be anything, but usually it's something on History, Bio, or Discovery (William Shatner's Raw Nerve is a good one)
• Movies on MGMHD, UniversalHD, et al.
• The occasional 60’s or 70’s sitcom on TV Land when I find it (Andy Griffith a favorite)

I think that’s it for regular viewing - I‘ll add a new category:

More Shows I Wished I Watched

• Pushing Daisies (saw it twice when it premiered, thought it clever… is it still on?)
• 24 (saw it twice, both times at my sister’s house two or three years apart, including the two-hour TV movie last Thanksgiving week. And I loved it. What a great show -- tight writing, crisp direction…I could actually watch this if I want to give in to the TV demons)

8 Favorite Restaurants

• El Gaucho (best room in Seattle)
• Carmine’s (New York)
• The Metropolitan Grill (oh my, is the porterhouse to die for)
• Salty’s (named for a bald eagle that once nested outside the restaurant)
• Lizard’s Thicket (when visiting South Carolina this is a MUST STOP, as there are no options for a “meat and three” in the Northwest)
• Hyman’s (a regular stop when in Charleston, SC)
• Duke’s (best chowder in town, though I have yet to run into Marty Crane)
• Morton’s (Washington D.C., Chicago, Seattle: my first trip to Morton’s Seattle with my friend Ritter was last week, and we split a 24 oz. porter house, carved at our table -- the fillet side of the porterhouse was like cutting into a stick of butter. It was rich and succulent and spectacular!)

8 Things that Happened Today/Yesterday

• Snow has turned to rain, and I am thankful
• Christmas Day -- family, a great meal thanks to my wife, a happy child
• NOTHING happened at work today, which is a happening unto itself
• Saw some pictures of my new nephew, Boo
• Received some love from my grandmother over the phone
• My daughter hugged me and told me she loved me
• Received Swedish meatballs (I could not find lunch as everything within a block of the office was closed except McDonald's and I passed on that, and I did not want to walk more than a block in the rain. When I returned to the office to report my failure, Cathy gave me a frozen Lean Cuisine, bless her!)
• Received Christmas cards from Lori and Mike, Lorri and Dan, Uncle Ron and Aunt Cindy.

8 things I look forward to

• The new year with great and exciting changes!
• A flick with my friend Mike, who has been away for some weeks now caring for an ailing father
• The Obama effect -- change for the better in unemployment, taxes, property values, Iraq, and a substantial rise in my positions in my brokerage account
• A new bathroom upstairs
• My daughter’s birthday
• Snowmobiling next weekend -- Matt’s tuned up my sled and it’s time to break out the gear!
• A family trip to British Columbia (my daughter now has her passport!)
• Reading my wife’s novel

8 Things I Wish/Pray For

• A full recovery for Mike’s dad
• That my daughter is safe and happy
• My grandmother, who has moved to a new assisted living home
• The health and happiness of my new nephew, Boo
• Comfort for the family of a coworker whose Dad passed away on Christmas Day
• My families in South Carolina and Denver
• Comfort for the poor and struggling
• I hope my homeless friend, Pardion, is able to publish his book