I've been meaning to post this for a couple days now, so it really isn't new news, but Lost is over. I was actually over Lost a long time ago. The series was great and I really loved it, but the plot seemed to lose its way after the 3rd season. to me the strength of the show was how the off-island relationships directed the on-island actions of the survivors/others/etc. peppered with a healthy dose of mind boggling weirdness. When the show became all about fighting each other and who's killing who and who hooking up with who, and the mysteries became more like mythology rather than fate, the whole thing started feeling like a chore to be completed rather than a delight to be anticipated.

There... I've said it. Now if you watched the finale and still don't know what's happening, here's a chart to help you along (courtesy of wildeggplant.com). According to that site, blue lines equal off-island relationships, green are on-island, red are blood or marriage relationships, and lines that are not labeled indicate a romantic or sexual relationship. Have fun untangling this mess, and then leave a comment about your thoughts on Lost's end.

I drove through a creek in my CRV and knocked something off the bottom of my car. Now I can't pass an emissions test, my registration is expired, and I can't renew it. The part I'm missing is either #8 ($45) or #11 ($70)--it's hard to tell from this diagram. But what really sucks is that the part got knocked off with the electrical connector still plugged in. No one sells just the connector without the rest of the harness and the harness is $400+. Now I'm scouring junkyards and ebay, and debating whether to experiment with soldering the wire ends directly to the new component.

No one pushed trucks or balls into his hands. In fact, you could argue that he has had more chances to play with dolls than anything else (because of Halleigh), but the boy just loves trucks. I guess there's something to be said for having a Y chromosome.

Blue Steel? Magnum? Or La Tigre?

Sometimes eating can wear a guy out, especially when you're already plumb tuckered.

I'm currently working on a history project that has led me to an interesting mystery in Durham lore: what ever happened to the Patterson Mill?

Historic maps, like the one here, show the mill near where Old Chapel Hill Road crosses New Hope Creek (near the current site of Githens Middle School), but according to the folks at the Patterson Country Store, there have been efforts to locate the ruins/wheel, which have all been unsuccessful.

Here's where the Inidana Jones in me comes out.... I think I'm going to take an expedition through the woods along the creek between Old Chapel Hill Road and 15-501. But I need some partners in the venture. Any volunteers to be the Starbuck to my Ahab?

Since 1994, when I started paying attention to US soccer, our team has been plagued with poor play up front. We just haven't had a good combination of strikers that can create their own offense. However, I saw some real promise in last year's confederations cup, and that promise came from the play of Charlie Davies. Granted, there were times when I was frustrated that he didn't give up the ball when he should have, but the guy definitely gave the team something up front that we had lacked in the past.

That promise was all but destroyed in a car wreck last October.

Now, I'm glad to see that Davies has risen to the challenge and done what it takes to put himself back in contention for a World Cup roster slot. You should read about it. Although it's doubtful he would show the same flare he did last summer, a part of me really hopes he gets a chance to try.