Friday I was talking with a friend and said I wasn't doing anything this weekend.  I lied.  Between the "how did I get here" concert on Friday night and riding the Ojai Valley Century yesterday, I had a pretty full weekend.  But today, I did nothing. 

Well, not really nothing, because I spent the day playing with my new TivoHD.  I installed it last weekend, and we've been using it all week, but Friday afternoon the Time Warner guy came and plugged in their multicast cable card, and Poof!  Yay, Tivo with HD, baby.  What could be better than that?  I gleefully downloaded all the guide data for 400+ digital channels, and spent most of the day watching all sorts of random stuff.  Track and field.  Baseball.  Old movies.  Even a biography of Hedy Lamarr, who improbably combined being a beautiful actress with inventing spread spectrum encoding.  Anyway it was a great way to do nothing all day.

In a weird way, having the TivoHD is a bit like my new Centro phone.  Each replaced an older less capable version of itself, and each was bought for one specific reason (the Tivo, to get HD, the Centro, for its size).  But with each I've discovered all sorts of little improvements which together make them way better.  An interesting lesson in user experience...

But meanwhile, it was all happening!  A busy weekend...

I can't believe it, but the Democrats actually seem to be self-destructing in realtime.  Unbelievable.  Who could have believed six months ago that any Republican could have a chance against any Democrat?  But somehow it has happened; John McCain cleanly emerged from the pack, and has moved steadily toward the middle (plus, he could be the Republican least associated with George Bush).  Meanwhile Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have spent the year tearing each other down and committing unforced errors.  Obama has now thrown his whole church under the bus, and is confronted with an Iraq dilemma, while Clinton wins big in Puerto Rico after losing the weird debate over whether to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan.  At this point I can't possibly vote for either Obama or Clinton.  There had to be some great Democrat candidates out there, but where are they? 

Congratulations to Alberto Contador, who today won the Giro d'Italia!  Wow.  He didn't even know he was invited, until a week before it started, and he managed to survive one of the toughest and most competitive grand tours in memory.  Unbelievable.  He is definitely the best rider in the Peloton right now.  (Even though it must be said, I still believe Michael Rasmussen won last year's Tour de France.) 

Wow, I missed this; Mike Piazza has announced his retirement.  To me he'll always be a Dodger, and when, inevitably, he is elected to the hall of fame, I hope he'll be inducted as a Dodger.  There will be those who support Roy Campenella, and those for Johnny Bench, but for my money he was the best catcher of all time.  Certainly the best hitting catcher, and while his arm was suspect, his handling of pitchers was masterful.  He will be missed. 

TTAC likes the 2008 Lexus LS600hL.  Me, too.  It could be the best luxury sedan ever built.  If it makes a statement at all, it's: "I liked this car, so I bought it". 

I know I said this before, but what is it with start buttons in cars?  Would anyone really buy a car because it starts with a button instead of a key?  It's like cupholders, only less practical.

Jason Kottke links photos from vanishing America.  Hauntingly beautiful...  

And so here we have...  square watermelons.  Wow, just when you think you've seen it all, you realize "it all" is so much more than you thought...