I'm way behind.

Thanks so much for all the great emails and comments. I’m way behind in responding to them, but I appreciate them all and I’ll get to them soon. Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading. As always, there’s a lot more to come.

Scrantonicity is Dunder Movin’ …

… to my ever-growing “Well, that was a good idea but I can’t keep up with it and do it the justice it deserves” drawer.

Scrantonicity is, or was, as you know, my column dedicated to news about — and reviews of — NBC’s The Office, which is far and away the best thing on television right now and one of the best of all time.

Effective immediately, I’m handing my copy of the keys to Michael Scott’s drawer full of Dunder-Mifflin snow globes over to the good folks at Office Tally, who’ve been doing this a lot longer than I have and do it way better than I’d ever be able to do anyway.

But I still might sneak in a review from time to time.

That’s what she said.

That doesn’t even make any sense.

Lawn & Garden Review: Husqvarna 37446

My dad has long had his sights set on the Husqvarna model 37446 walk-behind lawn mower, available right here from the good folks at Sears.

We looked at one Wednesday night, and they had two in stock. Hedging his bets that they’d still have at least one by the weekend, and given that he wasn’t in his truck that night and couldn’t have taken it home anyway, he decided to wait. Unfortunately, the last one sold on Saturday.

However.

Dad called Sears to see if a) a new shipment would be arriving soon or b) the Sears over at the Oxmoor Mall had any in stock. It’s a good thing he called, because the salesman told him that the older gentleman who’d bought the last one brought it back after mowing only half his yard with it. He loved it, but he couldn’t keep up with it.

And so Dad and I bought that sucker on Sunday morning for the nice price of $303.98, a whopping $76 discount off the original price tag of $379.98. (If the old man had mowed his entire yard, I bet we’d have gotten out of there with that mower for $14.95. Oh, well.)

It was too good a bargain to pass up, and well worth every penny. The 37446 has a Briggs & Stratton engine with 190 cc of 8.75-rated torque purring out of its Overheard Valves, or OHVs. What does that mean? It means that when I mowed the patch of grass down by the road, the 37446 had no problem pulling itself (and me) back up the driveway at a clip that was slightly faster than I’d have walked it on my own steam.

Another feature we like is the Key Start. Pump the primer button three times, turn the key and the mower ramps right up to full speed. Pull back on the lever, the mower pulls itself, and all you have to do is walk behind and guide it. The blade cuts a mighty swath of 21 inches and the mower has a removable mulching bag on the back, making it easy to convert to standard side discharge.

Dad’s massive yard will give this moderately-sized monster quite the workout.

The deck is an attractive orange. The engine and the handles are black, with an orange power bar and a blue power lever.

I’m probably not using those terms correctly.

So.

If you need to mow your yard this summer, try out the Husqvarna 37446. Preferably after an old man has mowed half his yard with it and the salesman at Sears is feeling generous.

Happy Birthday, Lauren Graham!

I’d like to wish a warm and happy 40th birthday to Lauren Graham, the First Lady of Television (and of my heart).

Lauren, if you read this, I’m ready for the rest of our lives. I’ll make you laugh. I’ll cook you tasty dinners and we can talk really fast about obscure pop-culture references. And I’m sorry for what I said about Because I Said So, but it proves I’m not afraid to be open and honest in our relationship. I think we should give it a shot. Please?

Just think about it.

I’ll be.

More Tetris

I found a new one. It’s fraught with peril. The background messes with your eyes, and when you go to the next level or get a congratulatory note, the words cover the playing board so that you can’t see anything for a second.

I scored 4,240 with 186 lines. Level 13.

Let’s see how you do.


March 8

6,525 points, 269 lines, level 18.


March 20

7,635 points, 237 lines, level 17. Fewer lines, but more points due to smarter combinations.