one hundred years of blog-itude

so, guys, i'm reading one hundred years of solitude, and i think i had somehow forgotten how magical the book truly is. here's a passage that nearly put me on the floor:

"Jose Arcadio Buendia spent the long months of the rainy season shut up in a small room that he had built in the rear of the house so that no one would disturb his experiments. Having completely abandoned his domestic obligations, he spent entire nights in the courtyard watching the course of the stars and he almost contracted sunstroke from trying to establish an exact method to ascertain noon. When he became an expert in the use and manipulation of his instruments, he conceived a notion of space that allowed him to navigate across unknown seas, to visit uninhabited territories, and to establish relations with splendid beings without having to leave his study. That was the period in which he acquired the habit of talking to himself, of walking through the house without paying attention to anyone, as Ursula and the children broke their backs in the garden, growing banana and caladium, cassava and yams, ahuyama roots and eggplants. Suddenly, without warning, his feverish activity was interrupted and was replaced by a kind of fascination. He spent several days as if he were bewitched, softly repeating to himself a string of fearful conjectures without giving credit to his own understanding. Finally, one Tuesday in December, at lunchtime, all at once he released the whole weight of his torment. The children would remember for the rest of their lives the august solemnity with which their father, devastated by his prolonged vigil and by the wrath of his imagination, revealed his discovery to them:

'The earth is round, like an orange.'"

Seriously. If any of you guys haven't read this book yet, I demand that you read it immediately.

Um, what else? My boss, displaying what I can only describe as some sort of evil bipolar disorder, has this week been wildly vascilating between telling me I can't do anything right to showering me with praise, at one point calling me "dynamite" and presenting me with a gift of a picture frame. What a bizarre woman.

So, yeah, the gym is still going well. I've gone every day since I started last week with the exception of Sunday. I think that 10 out of 11 days is pretty decent, don't you? Besides, there's nothing good on TV on Sunday afternoons, and as you guys know, gym time is TV time.

Oh, also, for those of you who have seen Sideways, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Thomas Haden Church's character Jack. I got into a big fight with my friend David about that character - my position was that Jack was a horrible, slimy, disgusting asshole. David's response: "What? All guys are like that. You just resent him because he's trying to get laid." Not true. There are lots of people who are trying to get laid that I don't resent. The problem with this guy is that he's manipulative and dishonest and awful. What do you guys think?