Television viewing at an all-time high

According to this article from the Los Angeles Times, the average American now watches over 151 hours of TV a month, about 5 hours a day. Wow! Where do they get the time? Between streaming video online, watching shows on iPods, iPhones and other portable devices, and utilizing DVRs, we really can fit that much television into our lives. I guess the plot devised by Alec Baldwin and the other aliens to turn our brains into mush is working.
I was curious and calculated my own TV watching hours. I figure I average 9 hours a week. I definitely make the most of the DVR as I am in class during my favorite shows, but that also means I get to fast forward through commercials. Neither my iPod nor my phone have video abilities, and with the exception of a funny YouTube video here and there, I don't watch anything at work either. Someone out there must be watching a lot of television to make up for me if we are going to hit that average 35 hours/week.

What I watch every week: How I Met Your Mother, Heroes, Lost, 30 Rock, The Office, Bones, Saturday Night Live.

If you're keeping score: NBC 4, ABC 1, Fox 1, CBS 1, the CW 0

Hiccups cure

I know there are countless "remedies" out there for getting rid of hiccups, but the one that works for me every time is this:

I get someone to cover my ears tightly and I guzzle about 4-8oz. of water.

After that, my hiccups are gone. Unfortunately, it's a remedy that is nearly impossible to do alone. Also, I've tried covering my ears myself and having someone else help me drink the water, but that almost always ends up a mess. It's much better to handle the water yourself. It probably won't work for everyone, but you can add it to the list of things to try.

Stimulus Bill

If you spent a million dollars a day from the day Jesus was born until today (or approximately the last 2008 years), you still would not have spent as much money as Congress with the recent stimulus bill for $787 billion. For better or worse, that's a lot of money!

Brandon Heath- Give Me Your Eyes

I realize it's not original to love a song that's #4 on the Billboard, but I do. I just recently started listening to K-LOVE again (streaming it online), so this song is new to me. Living in New York, I have learned to block out the crowds and ignore people; there are just so many of them, everywhere, all the time. We all ignore each other. People think New Yorkers are mean and rude, but really we just exist in our own bubbles moving from Point A to Point B hoping to stay out of other people's way and expecting them to stay out of ours. It reminds me of Chapter 10 of The Phantom Tollbooth where Alec tells Milo and Tock that people in the city of Reality decided that things would be much more efficient if they went everywhere as fast as possible and didn't bother to stop and appreciate things along the way. As a result, the city withered away and became invisible. I want to learn to open my eyes, to see things and people the way God does. That's why I like this song so much.

Give Me Your Eyes

Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere,
Why have I never cared?

Chorus:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Yeah
Yeah

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work
He's buying time
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?

Chorus

I've been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all along

Almost Famous AKA my 2 Seconds of Fame

On Wednesday, we had uncharacteristically beautiful weather for February. Sunny, 60 degrees. My co-workers and I sat outside for lunch, and it seems we were not the only ones. Last year, the intersection of Broadway, 5th Ave. and 23rd Street underwent major renovations to make it a better public space. This worked out great for me since my office in the Flatiron Building is smack in the middle of this intersection. When the weather is nice, tables and chairs are put out for everyone to use, and Wednesday was the first time this winter that they came out. A guy from Streetfilms also came out to film and interview people making use of the space. This is where my 2 seconds of fame comes in. Check it out here. If you don't feel like watching the whole video, skip to 3 minutes in for a brief glimpse of yours truly :-)