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As many of you know, most of my television diet consists of news, history and sports with an occasional sitcom mixed in. I just thought I'd mention a couple of shows that I've been watching with my wife. First, The 4400 on USA. If you like science fiction, as I do, and thus a structure where anything is possible, you'd like this show. We're in season 3. Essentially the show evolves around 4400 people who had been abducted by "aliens" (though it's turning out it was our future who abducted them) throughout the last 60 years. They all return together at the same time, not having aged a day or knowing they were gone until they came back. As time goes on, every one of them develops a super-human power...the ability to heal with hands, mind read, see the future, etc. It is well done, especially in regard to the fact that you don't know from episode to episode what twist will come next; and unlike a show like 24, thus far they haven't overdone the unexpected in my opinion.
The other show is Treasure Hunters on NBC. It's fashioned after some of the reality shows but it isn't a reality show in that it doesn't get bogged down and revolve around the personal lives of the contestants. It's a show about teams of people traveling the world looking for clues to solve the ultimate puzzle and win the game. I like it for the competition and the fact that it's based around the Revolutionary history of the United States.
Stupid homeowner tricks: My family knows that this stupid house was built halfway down a slope and was never really landscaped. So the water tends to run by the house on it's way down the hill, and not very well most of the time. A sump pump and generator are often all that keeps this place from flooding. Saturday night we had a heavy downpour for a few hours. Luckily we're sitting downstairs in the family room watching a taped episode of the 4400 when we hear this water splashing sound. This is a split-level ranch and it was built so that water was funneled along the house and then passed it. Unfortunately sometimes it doesn't run fast enough and backs up into the drainage pipes of the house plumbing. The water was so heavy it came squirting out of 2 small holes in the drain pipes and onto the basement/laundry room floor at a rate of probably a gallon every 10 minutes. It was a chore to keep up with it, especially now around a very wet and slippery floor.
I soon determined that part of the problem was that water was pooling along the back of the house much faster than it was draining by, which was overflowing the underground drainage that's linked to the sump. So I run up to the garage and get a spade, and in the dark and torential rain I start trenching the pooling water while Shel holds a flashlight. We get absolutely soaked but the pooled water immediately starts to recede. Then I look up at the gutters that I'd recently cleaned and they're clogged again, which is causing rain water to not drain to the low end of the house but to overpour into this pooling water. Here comes the stupid human trick part of the story. Even though I do this all the time, I've never done it in the dark and pouring rain. I grab the 6-foot stepladder, put it on the back deck. Shel holds it secure as she can while I stand on top of it (with flashlight in hand because I can't really see onto the roof without it) and pull myself up onto this slippery roof to clean out the gutters. It's a good thing I'm fearless doing stuff like that or I'd end up breaking my neck, I'm sure.

Nothing particularly positive on the job front either. I'm really close to having to go get two.

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