Kick ass. I'm going to Appleton this weekend with Aden to compete in my alma mater's trivia contest. It's been three years since I've even been up to Lawrence, and the irony is that I never competed in Trivia Weekend while I was in school there, figuring trivia is for dorks. Well, it is for dorks, but then, I'm a dork. And I miss Lawrence.

It's been a while since I had a day job, and I had forgetten some of the pluses and minuses of the routine: the crashing afternoon fatigue�one hopes�will turn into a pleasant drained feeling on the ride home. The freezing wait at the bus stop that I haven't experienced since I rode the bus to school in junior high. The little ways of wasting time you discover around the office, the interminable series of caffeine-delivery mechanisms. I'm remembering the architecture of the week, the way that the scales tip the other way sometime around Wednesday afternoon and suddenly all that matters is the weekend. (I still hate the term "hump day"). Tonight on the ride home I noticed how incredibly tired everyone on the train looked.

Here's a random tip from an avid music listener: If you are sampling an album and trying to decide if you should buy it or, in my case, importing an album you aren't terribly familiar with onto your iPod and have limited space, try listening to / importing the following tracks: 1, 2, 7, and the last one. Think of your favorite album and see if it adheres to this rule. The first track is obvious: It should be among the best on the album, making a good impression right out of the gates. 2 is usually also golden, but less immediately so: it's the great song that you don't notice at first but then grows on you and becomes inescapable. Next, 7: The album is on the downslope, maybe losing steam, and this kicks it back into high gear. It's a palate-cleanser three-quarters of the way through the process. This track is often anthemic. Plus, seven is a lucky number. Finally, the last track (assuming the album is more than seven songs long). This is obvious; it's the grand finale. Bands who put throwaway tracks at the end of an album are lazy and are depending on listeners to be lazy as well.

Is there anything better than "American Idol" three nights in a row? I don't care how stupid it makes me, this shit is priceless. And Paula Abdul is still really, really cute.

"Would you like a hazelnut-based chocolate confection?" �Jason

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