These pants were made for travelling

Ok, I admit it, I am a bit of a Man vs. Wild freak. Yes, Sam and I use our survival skills to stay dry in the tub, and even Jon gets into it playing camera man in the pool. By now, you should know how I feel about those amazing pants that Bear Grylls wears - the ones with the reinforced knees. Part of my planning for the home exchange requires some clever packing, since we are only taking one bag each, and I was looking for clothes for the kids that are designed especially for travel. Perhaps it's because I am not...well...sporty...but I had no idea that this stuff existed. There are shirts that wick moisture away from you to keep you dry in hot weather, we all know that, but these have long sleeves! Apparently the long sleeves keep you cooler (!!) than wearing short sleeves. There are pants with zip-off legs to convert into shorts (good for little kids and extreme campers but not so great for anyone else) and shirts with bug repellant built into the fabric. There are even all kinds of clothes made of a special fabric that doesn't stink after you've been travelling all day - I am getting some of that stuff! But the most fun discovery was...you guessed it...the pants with reinforced knees for kids. They even have reinforced butts! I am definitely going to get a pair for Sam.

image: freetradingsystems.net

Hula? No, Hulu!

Want to watch an episode of your favorite TV show that you missed, but you're too cheap for TiVo? Are you the only one in your town without a subscription to Netflix? Good news, cheap peeps, you are in luck. Check out Hulu, a free and safe way to watch telly on line. What's the catch, you ask? There isn't one. Sure, the shows do have some commercials, but they're minimal - and you're probably still watching commercials anyway because you don't have TiVo or a DVR! So go sign up for a free Hulu account and start catching up with the rest of your friends.

Red hot publicity stunt?

So by now I'm sure you've all heard about David "X-Files" Duchovny entering rehab for his alleged sex addiction. Rumor has it that he messed around on his wife, actress Tea Leoni, for the last time and she gave him the ole Hollywood ultimatum: check in our get out. Old interviews reveal that sex addict is not a new moniker for him. An April, 1997 article from Playgirl (no, not my particular copy, you pervs!) reveals Duchovny's sardonic wit when he responds to a question about what he is currently reading with "I'm just finishing up two books called Out of Carolina and The Selfish Gene, which is this book by Richard Dawkins dating back 25 years. It's about Darwinian biology. Of course, my sex addict's 'How To' handbook is also lying around, because I'm not a very good one." Hmmm. So do we think it's a coincidence that Duchovny's character Hank Moody on Showtime's new series Californication is a bit of a californicator, or is this a publicity stunt gearing up for the September 28 launch of season 2? See for yourself! Subscribers of Cox digital cable can see the the entire season 1 for free from September 14 - 24. Verizon FIOS digital subscribers can check it out on HD on demand.

Last call!

photo: Ken Thompson

So I had to get a procedure done today at the hospital called a CT Enterography . I won't go into all of the delightful details, but when I checked in to radiology I was given 3 bottles of barium liquid that I had to drink. One every 15 minutes. These were not tiny bottles by any means, more like the paper-bagged bottles of Old English beer that I used to see littering the train tracks of the Long Island Railroad. Okay, maybe not that big, more like soda can size. The guy asked me if I wanted a straw and I tried to figure out a way to drink out of the straw so I couldn't taste anything. I remembered something about holding my nose and standing on one foot, but I was too embarrassed to try that in the waiting room. After 45 minutes, I was still trying to calculate how much of this stuff I really drank (does anyone know how to convert cc's to ounces??) and I started thinking about the nasty things people will eat or drink for money. First there was Survivor, pioneer of the gratuitous bug-eating, followed by Fear Factor, and now there is Man vs. Wild. Remember Bear Grylls, of the amazing pants? Well not only does he eat freshly caught "meat", but he also drinks some of the most disgusting things I have ever seen in the name of hydration. The difference is that on Survivor and Fear Factor, critter dining is entirely for shock value whereas Bear Grylls is teaching survival skills. But, when you really think about it, none of these people are actually faced with life or death situations, they are making television shows. How far would you go? What would you drink or eat if it could lead to you a million dollars?

Lions and tigers and Bear Grylls!

So I recently became a fan of a show on the Discovery Channel called Man vs. Wild. You have probably already see in but in case you haven't, you really should check it out. It's basically a lesson in survival skills by a former SAS guy who, as it turns out, holds the world record for being the youngest man to climb Mount Everest. I watch it in HD on my huge bedroom TV and am amazed at the photography and become sort of mezmerized by the images and the British accent of the host, Bear Grylls. (OK, I actually thought it was a weird coincidence that the guy on the show about surviving in the wild is named Bear, but it turns out to be...you guessed it...a childhood nickname that stuck. Sort of makes for a cool show, though, doesn't it?)

One of my favorite parts about the show is Bear's pants. Not in the way that you think (pervert!), but he wears these cool adventure-guy type pants with reinforced knees. Those pants justs seem so...professional. I would never, ever, in my wildest dreams find myself in a situation where I would need pants like these. It seems that many women like the part in the show when Bear inevitably takes his pants off and dives for some dinner in the frigid waters , but I don't know, I think I prefer the cool pants.