Alisha’s comment below reminded me that Jeopardy is holding on-line preliminary tests to get on the show. There’s one tonight at 8 p.m. for those on Pacific Standard Time. I’m going to try and remember to take it, if not just to see what the test is like. Also, if I get on Jeopardy! and win a million dollars, I won’t complain.

On a somewhat related note in a very round-about way: My trumpet teacher is not going to be teaching at Seattle Drums School anymore, so I have Tuesday nights back until we can find a new place for him to teach me to play the trumpet loudly. How is that related? That means I’m free for Trivia Night Mon-Weds nights, at any of the locations participating. I’m voting for trying a new night out on Tuesday over at the Old Pequiliar in Ballard. I’m all for new things. Leave a comment if you want to come with.

I lost on Jeopardy!, BABY!

Kenji Johjima is fast becoming my new favorite Mariner. This is subject to change, however, depending upon how he performs during the season. A good article on him is found at the PI.

Baseball season is upon us, and I’m highly considering taking the day off (or at least a half-day) to attend the season opener.

I did a ton of work for Fanalyze.com this year, including the Middle Reliever Rankings, Starting Pitcher Rankings (30-60), and Relief Pitcher Depth Charts, and I will continue writing my weekly column, The Middle Child, which is about possibly the most neglected players in the league, middle relievers. That’s on hump day, Wednesdays.

I guess this is what it feels like to be right, though, when you’re writing about sports. I called Dan Wheeler out to be one of the best relievers last year, and that held true in drafts this year, and Ambiorix Burgos, one of the only guys with real value in the Royals bullpen last year just got named closer for the Royals with Mike McDougal out for at least a month. I like being right.

There’s a beautiful article on King Felix over in Baseball Prospectus the other day, that makes me really feel good about writing about baseball. You’re probably not a subscriber, though, so you can’t really read it. If you’re at all into baseball stats, which I gather you’re not, you sould really subscribe.

I just completed my third live draft for Fantasy Baseball last night, and will finish off with another on Sunday morning. If anyone is at all interested in doing a low-maintenance keeper league (Yahoo!) or joining a for-fun (read: not as competetive) 5×5 league (CBS Sportsline), let me know, and I’ll get you an invite.

I don’t know really how else to break this news, so I’ll just right out and say it: I didn’t get into the iSchool at UW. I really want to say that isn’t that surprising, but if I say that, I guess I don’t really have all that bright of an outlook on all the other schools I applied or am applying to. But, if anyone has a tip on how to write about baseball and make a decent living off of it, I think, right now, I’d take that over anything else.

I don’t know if you’ve notice, but I’m keeping two different logs of events on the side over yonder, one about bike rides and one about pub quizzes. Pub trivia has been frequent as of late, and I intend to continue going until one day we can win one of these things. I imagine a lot of it is figuring out what quizzes are your style and where you can succeed in them. Good times, regardless, plus: beer.

I think I may have gotten some sort of phlegmy cold-type thing from our ride to the bar last night, because the back of my throat feels like the inside of one of the eggs that the aliens (from Alien) come out of. I want Sigourney Weaver to take a flame-thrower to it and torch the hell out of the vile slimeyness. I don’t know what the deal is, but I feel like I’ve been using lots of words that don’t exist.

brl has been in town the past couple of days and that has been nice. We got some tasty and expensive burgers from The Barking Dog on Tuesday - nothing makes a burger like a beef patty covered on top with bacon and a sprinkling of bleu cheese. The buns there, brioche from Macrina Bakery, is a little too large and fluffy for my liking, but when they grill it in a little butter, it makes up for the airyness. The waffle fries are usually on the skimpy side, but not on Tuesday.

Lots of things going on, really, but not enough time to write about them all. I think the problem with categories and titles is something a lot of people deal with, lots to write about, but since categorization and one-word summaries don’t come easily to me, it’s problematic. Anyhow, who cares, right?

Here’s a taste of trivia: Name all the elements that start with an “I”. No cheating.

I might as well drop some film knowledge:

The World’s Fastest Indian is playing at the Crest up past 145th in Seattle right now. It’s Anthony Hopkins playing an endearing old kiwi who drives a damn fast motorcycle and makes friends with everyone he runs into. It’s a quality road film and provides pretty much nothing but good times, which is probably why it’s considered by many as too benign to be good. I don’t subscribe to that train of thought - I thought the movie was well done, well acted, paced superbly and well worth a full price, had I had to shell out that cash. Seeing as I did not, it is my value pick of the week.

I saw Ultraviolet this weekend as well, right after my short stint at GSTS. It was pretty much the anti-value in terms of enjoyability, and this is including the laughability, which was all I expected, and as it turned out, was very little. As I sat watching it, it made me more and more angry, with the uber-nerd ideas and video game graphics; plot devices and conversations that made no sense. One second it was very tongue-in-cheek, the next it was serious as a heart attack - all completely and utterly ineffective. Hemophage, my ass.

This is it, I’m putting 2005 to rest. It’s about time. Here’s the last few albums I wanted to mention. Enjoy.

My Morning Jacket - Z
This album is worth it for the opening song alone. The drumming has a bouncy and crisp triplet in every other bar, that sounds funky, loud and grooving. Everyone kept saying that the reason this album was better was because they turned the reverb down. I don’t think that’s true, the reason it’s better is because the songs have more shape, are more lively, and catchier.

The Decemberists - Picaresque
Something about the voice eventually wore me down on this album, but I have listened to it enough to recognize the melodies well enough to enjoy them when I hear it at the coffee shop. Of course, there’s always the bounce to “The Sporting Life” that is endearing, and I can’t ignore how natural and soft Chris Walla makes the drums sound on it. “The Engine Driver” also is one of my favorites on the album; every once in a while Meloy lets go of the annoying references and just lets loose a nice sounding pop song. The acoustic guitar on “On the Bus Mall” is so subtle and reminds me a lot of the sound on Death Cab’s single on the Future Dictionary of America Soundtrack.

Spoon - Gimme Fiction
The sparseness in this album is a little bit deceiving. There’s always something extra going on in a lot of the songs, but the there’s a coolness in it all that gives this album a textured feel - The guitar noise between the verses has a spastic energy that not a lot of people can get away with. In fact, I think Yo La Tengo tries that a lot, but does not necessarily succeed as well as Britt and company. Great, catchy vocals and very, very rock and roll. The album is good through and through, with outstanding songs, beginning (”Beast and Dragon Adored”), middle (”Sister Jack”) and end (”Merchants of Soul”). I really love the slurring vocals, too.

Iron and Wine/Calexico - In the Reins
Just like every other album Sam Beam puts out: impeccable harmonies and outstanding guitar work. Lots of extra sounds here with Calexico, the Southwestern, Latin flavor isn’t overpowering, just gives a slightly different feel. Still quality, but too short.

Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die
It’s always a party on this album. I freaking hate the Fiery Furnaces right now, but AiH are super-spectacular and every time I hear this album I think of hanging out on the floor of my apartment before it had furniture with a bunch of friends playing Trivial Pursuit. “It’s 5″ flicks hair to melodrama and seriousness at the same time, and “Maybe You Can Owe Me” is one of my favorite dance tracks of last year. You know what I think of when everyone says that AiH’s eclectic and diverse sound is something that the FF’s do better? I think, fuck the Furnaces, this shit is like The Clash in their heyday.

M. Ward - Transistor Radio
All right, I admit it: I didn’t know “You Still Believe in Me” was a cover of a Beach Boys song until Alison told me. This entire album is remarkable though, perfect for any occassion I’d ever want myself in. I thought at one point someone had used M. Ward in a Fat Tire commercial, the great one where the guy fixes up the 3-speed with moustache bars and cruises around, but that’s actually Devendra Barnhart, which is fine. I still like this album a lot. You can read more about what I say about it over at kevchino.com.

South San Gabriel - The Carlton Chronicles
This is another one of the records that I reviewed for kevchino, and in retrospect, I probably should have given both of these albums higher marks since they lasted so well throughout the year. I talked a lot about the concept of the album and the production in my review, but I still think the execution is the best part of this album. Ask anyone (Al), I don’t usually pay much attention to lyrics, but the concept pretty much made me pay attention to these, and that made it more interesting during the listening.

Benji Cossa - Vault Vol. 1
I don’t even have this album yet, and I haven’t heard but two or three of the songs on it in my lifetime. I really am only putting it up here based on the fact that Benji Cossa is the best whistler I have ever heard and that he has a very, very sweet sounding and effortless vocal delivery. I remember this, primariliy from the time I saw him at the Tullycraft house way back in the day, and he sang the part Jen Softie sings on “Much too Much” from the first Kissing Book album. It’s on its way from Magic Marker, so perhaps I’ll update when I get the chance.

So hard for the money! Here is the actual route I rode on Saturday, it was only about a mile or two longer than what I had planned, and that was because I got lost a couple times; initially crossing the Locks and ending up in Discovery Park and in Madrona.

The first wrong turn made the ride much, much harder than I thought it was going to be. After leaving the Locks, I rode West to what turned out to be about a 300 ft. climb in a little more than a quarter-mile. I’m not ashamed to say I had to step off the bike to make it all the way up, though I did make it about 225-250 ft.

I rode through Magnolia neighborhoods to try and recover from the hill and stopped at the southern bluff to catch a glimpse of Interbay and eat a candy bar.

I watched a few other cyclists ride down along the edge of the bluff, just cruising through in their most aerodynamic pose possible. No such luck for me, and I pedaled through the curve and up the other side. I cruised down to the Interbay trail eventually, and saw a couple of fuselages on cargo trains.

After getting downtown, my hands were numb so I stopped into Elliot Bay Bicycles and finally bought some gloves; I’d been putting off buying some all Winter long, but finally settled on a cheap pair of $15 gloves that have tiny rubberized footprints all over the palms.

I eventually rolled down to Yesler and started the next ascent up towards the CD and Madrona. I had to stop when it got steep, so I took a picture right over I-5.

One of the last pictures I took before I became too tired to even pull out the camera anymore was on the other side of town in Madrona, of Cafe Verite.

I’d intended on taking another picture of the one in Ballard when I got home, but that plan never came to fruition. So much for bright ideas.

I eventually found Lake Washington Boulevard and pedaled hard through the Arboretum as it was getting pretty dark. I moved pretty quickly through there and across the Montlake Bridge and finally hit the BG Trail, which felt pretty nice. I got home and was tired, but felt all right the next day. I’ll have to do it again!

You can see the rest of the pictures here.