A day is 24 hours. Whether it's a good day or a bad day, it all eventually comes to an end and leads into the next day.

Last Monday was close to perfect. A very good friend came into town Sunday afternoon. Someone who I hadn't seen in a long time but we've remained close. She wanted to stop through and visit on her way back to D.C.

We had a good time. We ate great food, had great conversation, drank plenty of wine. We spent Monday enjoying the beautiful Florida coastline in the bright sunshine.

I have a great respect for her. Yes she's gorgeous, most men are attracted to her. She's also very real, which is a term that I hate to use but seems oddly appropriate in this case. She's a lot more than the Ivy League law degree she possesses, something I always knew but was eager to learn again. And this was a great opportunity for me to learn more about her and her to learn more about me.

And just like that she was gone. It felt like a cruel trick, like someone is messing with my head again. But it wasn't a trick, it was time. For a second I lost track of time. I enjoyed walking in the sand at Fort DeSoto Park, wine tasting and watching the dolphins from the boardwalk on John's Pass. I didn't expect it to end so soon. But time had other plans.

Maybe we'll get together for some baseball over the summer, maybe we won't. As I learned this week when my Ledger Edge regrettably told me she isn't sure when she'll be back in Florida, take nothing for granted and enjoy every moment together.

Labels: Friends, Personal

...I wanted to get these thoughts in right after the show. The fact that it's 2:35 on Monday afternoon tells me the show probably went too long.

-- This show went on for a solid 3:46 and while it was slow in bits, I have no problem with the fact that it goes over time. It's not a made-for-TV event to begin with.

-- I thought Eddie Murphy got jobbed, but I loved Little Miss Sunshine so it's ok. I don't think the people were ready for "Eddie Murphy Academy Award Winner" especially after dealing with "Eminem Academy Award Winner" and "Three 6 Mafia Academy Award Winner". At least Eddie got his recognition, now he can go back and make $25 million for Dr. Doolittle 3: Electric Bugaloolittle.

-- Speaking of which. Scoreboard: Scorcese 1, Three 6 Mafia 1

-- I actually enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine more than The Departed, which sounds funny given my love of Scorcese gangster flicks and Jack Nicholson, but LMS was so damn quirky and nutty and unique. I just liked it. The Academy disagreed, I'm not shocked. I also thought The Gladiator sucked.

-- This was also Al Gore's night oddly enough between his funny little monolouge with Leo and his documentary winning an Oscar. I'm still waiting for him to kick off his "I Told You So" campaign of 2008, but something tells me the "popular president" enjoys this life of being showered with graces by the Hollywood community that loves him so.

-- Kate Winslet just gets better every day. Sam Mendes should just wake up every morning and apologize. Seriously am I alone in thinking that Winslet is like 20x hotter than most of the freaks Hollywood tries to shove in my face. She's talented, she's got that British accent thing going (which is a good considering she's British), she's not really trying to look that hot and it still works. Maybe it's just me, I don't think so though.

-- Speaking of hot women and the men who don't always deserve them...what the hell was Ryan Phillippe thinking? Way to lose out on that 10-carat diamond.

-- Did anyone see Dreamgirls besides me? I still don't understand how the film didn't get at least a director's nod. Best Picture, I dunno. That being said I was thinking Babel might've taken that sucker. Especially because it was so pleasant. I mean how many people thought about suicide after watching that movie? 95% I'm betting.

-- The remembrance portion of the show was very touching this year. A lot of former winners of there. I still remember Jack Palance doing those one-armed push ups. I'm shocked they didn't add Anna Nicole...hell I'm shocked they didn't add Martin Landau...but of course he's still living.

Labels: Academy Awards