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Season 21 was previewed on CBS all week with an interesting tease of a $2 million cash prize. Ah, but it's a bit of a bait and switch. The $2 million will be awarded only if the team that wins tonight's first leg goes on to win the entire race. So, basically, only 1 team is eligible to win, and the moment they're eliminated, it's just another season of the Amazing Race. And, hey, it's another season of the Amazing Race! Er, it will be another season of Amazing Race after football ends ... and 60 Minutes ... and, hey, does this show EVER start on time? So the teams are: the Twins, the Texans, a guy from MegaDeath and his lawyer brother; Goat Farmers; the Non-Committal Dating Couple, of which she's a double-amputee; Super Cute Blonde Athletes; Older Engaged Couple and he's a lumberjack (and that's OK), Substitute Teachers (who are Amazing Race superfans and applied 7 times); Dating Divorced Couple, Chippendale Dancers (Jaymes & James ... no, really), a...

When it comes to technology, I'm largely of the "whatever works best for me" school of thought, and anyone who follows my random tech thoughts around here knows that I'm loyal to apps and computer programs (no matter how popular or obscure they are) only until something better comes along. (Heck, I used OS/2 Warp at one point in my life,) Although I have an iPhone, I use the GMail iOS app as my primary email app on my device ... not necessarily because GMail is better than the built-in Apple Mail app, but because it works best for me, given how I manage my email across all my devices and computers. Similarly, I was a long-time Firefox user before moving to Google Chrome because Chrome just ended up being better for what I wanted out of a browser.  So, naturally, when Chrome came out with an iOS app, I gave it a try. One of the features that I absolutely love in Chrome iOS is its built-in sharing menu: Hit the menu, hit "Sharing..." and yo...

I forgot to do this last weekend and this week I am a day early. But the trend downward continues as I try to get below 170 lbs again.

The show opens with Russell deciding - for the second week in a row - that he's absolutely, definitely no-way-in-hell NOT going to be the leader of his tribe. Because that worked out so well the first time. Malcolm and Angie cuddled all night long "to stay warm." Roxy was unimpressed. It rained a lot. At Mike's tribe, RC found the immunity idol clue and shared it with Abi, because she found it with Abi looking over her shoulder, so there wasn't a huge choice. But Abi became suspicious that RC spends a lot of time with Mike and they had a spat on the beach. It rained a lot. Jonathan complained that, because of the rain, he couldn't go looking for the idol, which he figured what near or under the shelter. The rest of the tribe too off for a cave to stay dry in the rain and Jonathan tore his camp apart looking for it. Except they came back, and Jonathan had to make up a lie about looking for his glasses. Eventually he figured out that the idol was the bull plaque...

In case anyone hasn't figured it out by now, spoilers ahoy! If you don't want to know who is getting voted off tonight, stop reading now. So it's the new season of Survivor. The hook this time: 3 tribes and 3 returning Survivors, only two of whom I actually remember. There's "Not The Famous and Crazy" Russell, Jonathan, who I sorta remember but not really, and Michael, the guy who fell into the fire and whom I do remember. Plus there's some famous people, including a baseball player I've not heard of, and Blair from Facts of Life (Lisa) who is going to try to keep her celebrity secret. Good luck with that. Also new this season is the tribes have their own color coded bags. And Michael recognized Lisa immediately as a celebrity. So, yeah, that didn't last long. As the teams were loading their rafts for shore, Jeff, the baseball player, thought he popped his knee or tore his ACL and is already concerned he's a lame duck in the game. ...

I'll admit that I'm not very familiar with Remedy Drive, but I got an advance copy of their new album, Resuscitate from the record company and gave it a listen for review purposes. So, track by track: 1) Better Than Life - a mid-tempo rocker of sorts (I love music, but am terrible at categorizing it. They're "songs"). Pleasant enough, and this grew on me with repeated listens. 1 for 1. 2) Lost Cause - A middle-of-the-road piano driven pop song. Didn't rock my world, but your mileage may vary. 1 for 2. 3) Resuscitate Me - A guitar rocker that has Switchfoot/U2 overtones (that's a compliment). Pretty good. 2 for 3 4) God I Hope So - The album's first full blown ballad. Quite nice. 3 for 4 5) What Are We Waiting For - A song that sounds very similar to Audio Adrenaline's "Ocean Floor" in terms of the chorus. It's actually kinda freaky. Another good song. So let's call this 4 for 5. 6) Don't Forget - A nice, uptempo...

Forgot to do this last week. Down to 177.2 lbs, so the downward trend continues. Yay!

As I noted in my last entry for July, my August RunKeeper stats sucked in comparison to, well, pretty much any other month since I've been measuring. A mere 100 km (and change) for the month of walking and cycling. I have a good excuse, however: On Aug. 9, while riding to work, I lost control of my bike on a path in the river valley after hitting some mud doing a right turn and faceplanted into the ground, breaking 2 teeth (one of which couldn't be saved and was extracted that day, the other of which got a root canal this morning), splitting open my chin for five stitches, spraining my left arm and lots of road rash on my right leg. Yeah. Not fun. I don't recommend it. So that has slowed me down a bit. I did get some outdoor cycling in during August, but the strain on my left arm made it difficult to go very far, so my bike is retired for this year and I'm cycling on a bike at the gym until next spring.

That's better. Today's weigh-in was 178 lbs, down 2 from last week. Although I know from experience that this is the toughest weight for me to break through on the way down - 178 is one of my plateau levels. Still, shooting for 170 lbs.