Soul Patrol

So it's finally said and done with. American Idol announced it's season 5 winner last night and it is none other than the Silver Fox of the Soul Patrol himself, Taylor Hicks. He beat out Catherine McPhee for the title, and rightfully so. Catherine does have the sex appeal, and she can sing, but there is just something about her that seems so fake and contrived...maybe she tries too hard? Taylor, on the other hand, is just himself. He has a good time on stage, let's it rip, and doesn't seem to care if he embarrasses himself. I actually tried to vote for Taylor on Tuesday night, but after dialing for 2 hours and not getting through on 3 different phone lines, I gave up and went to bed.
The finale show was two hours long and included lots of guest performers. One of the most embarrassing acts of the evening was by far Meatloaf. I don't know if he was high, drunk, or diseased, but he was embarrassingly awful. Another terrible performance was given by Toni Braxton. It seemed she was singing waaaaaayy too low for the song, or maybe her mike just wasn't on? Chris Daughtry, who was favored to win this season, but was instead voted off in a surprise twist, was obviously bitter about the whole thing. He gave nothing but pure cynical attitude throughout the whole variety hour. Chris, please, you're not too big to do the show, so get over yourself.
I watched the David Spade Show the other night, and he was commenting on a few of the Idols. One of his bits was about Elliot Yamin and how he has no sex appeal, and, in fact resembles a Billy Goat...baaaaaa (give the kid a tin can!). David went on to say that if Elliot were to win American Idol, here are a few of the Albums we can expect from him:
1) "Can I Kiss you? No? That's ok, I hope we can still be friends."
2) "Hey, you're pretty cool...are you on MySpace? Oh, you don't have a computer? No phone either? Huh."
3) "Seriously, are you done with that tin can?"
I laughed my ass off through this whole bit. Poor Elliot Yamin. Although he does have a Satyristic quality about him. Hey, didn't I see you in Narnia, Mr. Tumnus!?

On to the other season finale show that we DVR'd last night. LOST made some big promises, but really didn't deliver. I am disappointed and more confused than ever now. What's with the magnetic disturbance? Are Desmond, Locke, and Mr. Eko dead? Why didn't anyone go back to check on them? Would 'The Others' really just let Walt and Michael be rescued? Why are 'The Others' pretending to be savages? How did Panelope know to look for a magnetic disturbance to find Desmond? And what's with the statue with only 4 toes!?
Seriously, this show has never pissed me off more than it did last night. It left me completely unsatisfied. Ok, not pissed me off to the point of boycotting it, but enough to warrant a summer away from all this nonsense. Maybe by next fall I will have forgotten how angry this show makes me and watch it full force again. Ya, that will probably happen.

Last night I tried to see if I could run a mile at 6.0 mph. And I could, in 9:55 secs (I stepped up the last minute to 6.5 mph). It was hard, but not hard enough that I couldn't have gone further. I think next time I run a 5K on the treadmill, I will run the first mile at 6.0, then drop it down to 5.6mph...and we will see how I feel by the third mile as to whether or not I can take it back up again. On a side note, I found a song that really pumps me up when I run, and no matter how out of breath I am, I can still sing to it and smile: Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

So, surprisingly, the Delta IV GOES-N actually launched yesterday! That damn satellite has been postponed since last summer, so it was natural to assume it wouldn't launch again...especially under less than favorable weather conditions. But it went off without a hitch, Jenn was home in time to watch LOST (she seriously made it with 20 seconds to spare), and I don't have to find a replacement for Mamma Mia! tomorrow night :)