I got assigned to a new engagement on Friday, so my nose is back to the grindstone...

So much for me planning to catch up on some of my half-drafted posts and increase the frequency of my posting in general.

Yesterday was spent taking my mother to the hospital for back surgery.  She tolerated the surgery well, and tomorrow Jeanie and I will move her to a rehabilitation facility.  The timing was lousy, as I really needed to be in Dallas this week to get a good start on this new engagement - oh well.

In between the cracks today, I upgraded my Blackberry's OS software to version 4.5 and the Blackberry Desktop Manager software to version 4.7.  The OS update went fine, as did the BBDM software on my work laptop.  The upgrade on the home PC was an absolute nightmare that ended up me losing the ability to synchronize my address book and memos from Outlook to the Blackberry.  With LOTS of Googling, I was to finally able resolve the error and get the sync working again.  As a bit of "giveback," I posted the results of my discoveries on the Blackberry Support Community Forums here and on the BlackBerry Forums here.

Anyway, I guess I'd better call it a night, as tomorrow will be a long day.

As they say in the old joke, "...break time is over, back on your heads!"

Here we are well into the new winter season...

My comments from this post in September 2007 are still pretty much on the mark.

While the grids I mentioned in this post from the previous September are still around, I found a new grid that's also quite good: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/guide.aspx

In general, the Futon Critic is really an excellent site.  In addition to the really good grid, they have a plethora of other views that are really useful.

There are a couple of canceled shows that made us sad: Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies.  I especially liked Eli Stone.

Shows we're currently watching or are glad are returning:

24, American Idol (J), Army Wives,  Battlestar Galactica (D),  The Big Bang Theory, Bones, Brothers and Sisters, Burn Notice, Chuck, Flashpoint, Grey's Anatomy,  Heroes (D), How I Met Your Mother, Kyle X-Y, Life, Life On Mars, Lost, Medium, The Mentalist, Monk (J), NCIS, Numb3rs, Prison Break, Private Practice, Psych, Rescue Me, Sanctuary, Saving Grace, So You Think You Can Dance, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (D), Ugly Betty (J), The Unit

(J) means only Jeanie watches the show, (D) means only I watch it.

This season, Life On Mars is definitely at the top of our must watch list.  Shows that are somewhat on the bubble (at least for me) include 11th Hour (it just never grabbed me), House (he's just too annoying for me) and Monk (it's stale).  I'm glad at some level that Battlestar Galactica and Lost are ending this year, as it gives both series an opportunity to answer questions and wrap things up; I'll miss both, but I'm getting to the point where I think about five years is enough for an episodic series - at least one with big mysteries / unanswered questions.

I am looking forward to the new spring shows including Castle (I like Nathan Fillion), Better Off Ted and The Unusuals (we like Amber Tamblin from Joan of Arcadia).

We've already given up on Fringe (to far out, even for me) and Dollhouse (I was so hoping Joss would come up with another Firefly, but alas, no).

As I've lamented before, in many ways, I really wish there were fewer interesting shows on TV, as I know that were there fewer shows, I'd spend what little free time I have much more productively.  Oh well, everyone has to have at least one vice, right?

My US geography has always been weak...

Forget knowing all of the state capitals, I can't even name all of the states when looking at a map with the states outlined!

I am reminded of this every time I see a weather report on TV, and was even made more aware of it watching the super Tuesday election coverage.

So, I decided to try to rectify the situation.

With trusty Google at my side, I searched for interactive us states map game and discovered a number of interesting and educational sites.

Among my favorites were:

The US Map Game - Drag and drop the state with outlines on the US map

Sheppard Software's US States Tutorial - point and click on a US map with state outlines to have the state name read aloud

Sheppard Software's US Map Game - Drag and drop the state with no outlines on the US map.  If you miss, the game tells you how far off you were, and shows you where the state should be

Your Child Learns US Map Puzzle - drag and drop the states with or without (your choice) outlines on the US map.  Without lines, if you miss, you aren't told where it should have gone.

Ben's Interactive Games - Drag and drop with or without outlines - shows name of state capital as you drag the state