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I listen to a lot of podcasts during the day while I’m working. On one of the weekly podcasts, Slice of SciFi, there has been an ongoing debate among the listeners over which ship would win in a fight: Battlestar Galactica or the Enterprise. I always cringe when this debate gets picked up again. These kinds of debates have been going on among sci-fi fans for a long time and they fit too nicely into the stereotype of the sci-fi geek.

One listener named Jason left a voicemail that said: “I know this point has probably been beaten to death, but after listening to all arguments over whether the Galactica can defeat the Enterprise in a space battle, I just had to weigh in with my opinion… which is: SHUT THE HELL UP! If I wanted to listen to arguments over which imaginary friend was tougher, I’d go to church”.

I couldn’t help but laugh at this. Anyway, I think the Enterprise would win hands down.

The only things that really happened this weekend were that I bought a strategy guide for Twilight Princess and a 1.0 GB memory card. I asked at some of the stores in the Jackson area when they were planning on getting more Wiis. The answers I got ranged from “Tuesday or Wednesday” to “We might get some more by the end of the year”. I wish I had decided that I wanted a Wii sooner than I did.

I left for Jackson Thursday morning. I’m usually not traveling on holidays, so it was weird to see an empty Dogwood Festival as I was driving by. It was great to spend time with family but I was feeling tired most of the day.

On Friday afternoon Dogwood Festival was packed. Yes I went out there on Black Friday even though I didn’t think I would. I bought of couple of Christmas gifts and a strategy guide for myself. I went to see Casino Royale late in the afternoon. It’s a very good movie for the first two hours or so, but after that I was wishing it would hurry up and end.

Today I went to the Northpark area and didn’t buy anything. I have gotten some ideas for Christmas presents over the past couple of days. Tonight I finally got to the end of The Dark Tower book, which is the seventh and final book of The Dark Tower series. I really liked the book, but there were times when I was wishing that he would hurry and get to the end. Am I getting more impatient in my old age? I guess I can understand why a lot of readers were disappointed and felt like they needed more answers. I’m just glad that I finally made it to the end.

It’s seems like it’s been a month since I left Starkville. I’ll be glad to be back home tomorrow.

MSU’s new president has been really good about shutting the university down and giving students and faculty extra days off. I was planning on asking for tomorrow off, but I found out that the president had already given us the day off.

I hope everyone has a great holiday. I’ll be heading to Jackson. It’ll be nice to see the family again. I hope to avoid all that Black Friday stuff. I’ll probably continue my holiday traditions of eating, shopping at Dogwood Festival, watching DVDs, and taking in a movie at the theater in Clinton.

I knew that GameStop gets their shipments around noon, so I figured I might go by and check during my lunch break. I didn’t occur to me, however, that there might be people already at GameStop waiting for that shipment to come. I discovered this when I called GameStop about half an hour before I went to lunch. GameStop wasn’t even sure that they were going to get any today, so those people were waiting on the possibility of getting a chance to buy a Wii. I called Wal-Mart and the lady succinctly told me they didn’t have any.

I went by GameStop anyway on my lunch break and the UPS truck was a couple of stores down from GameStop. There was a line inside and I heard the manager say that the 4 Wiis that came today had been sold. I actually saw two people walking out of the store with them. I decided to wait a little until the craziness dies down before I continue looking for a Wii. The guy at GameStop seems to think that things will die down next week. He even suggested that I try Wal-Mart. The manager seemed really surprised that people were already waiting outside the store when he got there this morning. I jokingly said that I was going to pay somebody to stand in line for me while I’m at work and he thought that was funny. I ended up buying Alias – The Complete First Season and then I went to get some food.

I knew there would be no chance of getting a Wii today since I didn’t reserve one, so I didn’t even try. Unfortunately, no one that I know of is taking reserves, so it’s a free-for-all. I went today to find out estimates on when they would have more and to see if I could find component cables and a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and its strategy guide even if I don’t have a console to play it on. I figured that I’m going to buy them sooner or later so it couldn’t hurt to get them while they’re available. I had done some searching online, but I figured that I would check around here in Starkville before I ordered anything. My last stop was Wal-Mart and there I bought the last copy of Twilight Princess that they had. I think it was the last unreserved copy in the entire city. I had no luck finding the component cables or the strategy guide, but they are at the bottom of the priority list. I’m hoping that GameStop will get some more Wiis in this week and that I can get one before they sell out. Maybe I can get one while I’m in Jackson for Thanksgiving.

It’s been over 2 years since I last did this, but I’m sharing more Bushisms. I got these from The Complete Bushisms.

“This morning my administration released the budget numbers for fiscal 2006. These budget numbers are not just estimates; these are the actual results for the fiscal year that ended February the 30th.” — Referring to the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2006.

“One has a stronger hand when there’s more people playing your same cards.” — Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2006

“You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.” — Interview with CBS News, Washington D.C., Sept. 6, 2006

“And I suspect that what you’ll see, Toby, is there will be a momentum, momentum will be gathered. Houses will begat jobs, jobs will begat houses.” — Speaking with reporters along the Gulf Coast, Gulfport, Miss., Aug. 28, 2006

“I’ve reminded the prime minister — the American people, Mr. Prime Minister, over the past months that it was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship.” — Washington, D.C., June 29, 2006

“I tell people, let’s don’t fear the future, let’s shape it.” — Omaha, Neb., June 7, 2006

“I think — tide turning — see, as I remember — I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of — it’s easy to see a tide turn — did I say those words?” — Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

“The point now is how do we work together to achieve important goals. And one such goal is a democracy in Germany.” — Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006

“That’s George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing about him is that I read three — three or four books about him last year. Isn’t that interesting?” — Showing German newspaper reporter Kai Diekmann the Oval Office, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006

“As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself — not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch.” — After visiting with wounded veterans from the Amputee Care Center of Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 1, 2006

Today I voted. One again it was quick and painless. The new touch screen machines were interesting. I decided to see what would happen if I tried to select another candidate’s name after I had made my choice. It gave me a weird noise that was an obvious indication that I was trying to do something that I couldn’t do. I think the checkboxes next to the other names had even been removed at that point. I thought about pushing the back button down at the bottom, but I decided against it. Anyway, the person that I had intended to vote for in the first place was the one who was selected in the end, so I don’t think there was any harm done. The machine gave me the option of printing out a paper ballot to verify my selections and I did.

I don’t think there’s anything exciting happening in the Mississippi elections this year, but I haven’t really been paying as close attention as I have in some previous years.

Last night I finished reading Song of Susannah, book 6 of The Dark Tower. It was short compared to the last few in the series, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I didn’t mind the story so much as I did the last one. I can’t wait to get started on the last one. Hopefully, it’ll be here by the weekend.

Those Intel Core 2 Duo commercials bother me for some reason.

I saw Saw III over the weekend. It was ok up until the ending.

I think I want to get a Wii instead of an Xbox 360 or a PS3.

George R.R. Martin is upset because PayPal locked his account after his name showed up on a Treasury Department list. It’s an interesting story.

Update (Nov. 9):
Looks like George R.R. Martin’s PayPal dispute was settled after he wrote his blog entry. I doubt that he asked for any special treatment, but I’m sure that fact that he’s a celebrity didn’t hurt.

I have been watching several of the new shows that started this year. The last I heard most of them are either canceled or struggling in the ratings the last I heard.

• Heroes (POPULAR)
• Studio 60 (struggling)
• 30 Rock (not sure, but I don’t really like it much)
• The Nine (not so great)
• Vanished (might as well be canceled)
• Kidnapped (canceled)

Part of me is glad that my schedule might be clearing up some, but another part of me hates that interesting shows might not be on much longer. I think the problem is that too many new shows follow the long continuous story (serial) format that made shows like 24 and LOST so popular. It’s hard to find the time or energy to keep up with them all. I’m still watching them out of habit, but knowing what happens doesn’t seem that important anymore so I probably won’t be watching them much longer. The only one I think I’ll still be watching at the end of the season is Heroes, even if some of the others are still on TV.