In conjunction with my upcoming birthday, I went to Medieval Times in Schaumburg, IL with the lady I’ve been seeing now for over a year. It was a decent time, and I’d say anybody should go once. I don’t think any of the upgrade packages are worth their price though. You get to go free in the month of your birthday, so that makes it more worthwhile.

View Full Album

Tonight, the new seasons of Psych and Monk aired. I have watched every episode of Psych so far and every episode of Monk for about three years. I find that the actual skills of both Shawn in Psych and Monk in Monk are very similar. It comes down to powers of observation. In the case of Monk, he describes it as both a "gift and a curse." His character has obsessive-compulsive tendencies since his wife Trudy was murdered. Shawn, on the other hand was trained with such abilities by his father, a police officer. In his case, he plays off his discoveries through observation as psychic vision. It is interesting to me how both characters really seem to work through the same means, but their presentation of their discoveries is quite a bit different.

I attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. It is a technical college in Terre Haute, IN. Until 1995, it was an all male school. By both reputation and subject matter, the school is still predominately male. The school has student organization that has many comedians and musicians perform at the school throughout the year. In my four years, I have noticed that nearly every comedian makes the same jokes. They make jokes about the male/female ratio. Those are funny the first time, but they get old when every comedian tells them. They make gender-related jokes that generally get progressively sexual due to the large male audience. Those get pretty old too. The comedians joke about the smell of Terre Haute. Though I have never really noticed it, Terre Haute apparently has a notable odor.

It seems like the jokes are either overused as in the case of those already mentioned or they rely on their distastefulness. I have noticed these comedians even make fun of their audience. I really have not been impressed by the comedians at Rose. I have found some of the musicians, mentalists, and other performers to be funnier without being distasteful. Here is my message to comedians that will perform at Rose-Hulman. Make yourselves stand out. Don’t use the jokes other comedians will use. Don’t resort to being distasteful. You can be funny without making fun of races, genders, etc. Especially don’t single out people in the audience.

I am usually not interested in reality television shows, but I am interested in musicals. For that reason, I gave Grease: You’re the One that I Want a try. This premiere episode was not particularly interesting, but I think things will get more interesting later in the season. Assuming I remember, I think the show merits watching the next episode. This show seems modeled after American Idol. There are three judges, but the decision is up to the US public. The primary difference I see is the prize. The prize in this show is a lead role in the new Grease production.

One of the shows I enjoy watching is Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. The host, Mike Rowe, travels around the country finding dirty jobs and does them. Watching the show, I have seen him inspect a sewer, stick body parts into body orifices determining animal gender, literally squeeze the crap out of chicks and dogs, and a whole lot more. What amazes me is that people do those jobs. There is no question that many of the jobs come with great health risk. I don’t know if it is intended as a joke, but many of the guests say it is okay because it is organic. I’m sure that is not correct. Bacteria are all natural and organic, and it definitely is not a good thing for a person.

In spirit with one of the show’s slogans, here are my thanks to the men and women of the world that make civilized life possible. I definitely would not want to do most of those jobs.