- This morning as I pulled out of my garage on the way to work, I caught the traffic report on the radio: "North-South Tollway is backed up with an accident around the North Ave. exit". I kind of feel guilty, but I seem to get a sense of pleasure from knowing that people are stuck in traffic on the very road I used to drive on every day, while I can now enjoy a smooth 9 minute commute. There's even a little voice in my head that sounds like Nelson from the Simpsons going "HA-HA".

- One of my lesser known passions in life these days is knowing the shortest routes from one place to another. You might say I'm a little obsessed with trying different paths and figuring out what way will get me there in the fastest time. When I first moved to the townhouse in Palatine, I kept a stopwatch in my car so that I could measure the times it took from various exits on 53 to get to the townhouse, then record them in Excel, average the numbers and analyze them (the best exit is Euclid West to Hicks north). *nerd alert* A couple weeks ago, I got into a heated argument on the phone with Chras, Anuj, and Andy about which Hooters to meet at before going to Dave's house for cards. I let them have their way, though not without a fight, but when I arrived at Hooters in Vernon Hills, I was armed with a 3x5 Post-it Note to show them I meant business. On the Post-it Note I had drawn a crude map diagramming why I was right and they were wrong, and apparently Andy, having known me since high school and roomed with me for a year, predicted that I would do something like that beforehand. But the important part is, I was right: it would have been significantly faster to have met at Schaumburg Hooters instead and then drove to Dave's, than to drive past his house to Vernon Hills and come back.

- As part of my important policy of talking about Britney Spears in my blog, I thought I'd pass on the latest information I have. Her next video is set to premiere on January 13th. The video is for the song "Toxic", and apparently features her as a homicidal girlfriend out for revenge on her cheating lover. Sounds spicy. The song itself is probably my favorite on the album, so I am especially excited. It sounds a lot different from any of her other music, features the Stockholm Strings as well as her sexy voice, and above all that, is quite catchy. I know I had it in my head for about a week straight after I first bought the album. So now that I've hyped it up, everyone watch MTV next Wednesday as I will most definitely be doing.