Eddie Rabbitt once sang about how he loved a rainy night, but what I love are rainy days.

Sure, it's a little inconvenient when you're out and about in the middle of a half-dozen errands that must get done today. But, once you're back in the comfort of a warm home, it's nice.

Today, I was finished with the errands by 1 p.m., and I've spent the afternoon finishing up the laundry, cleaning up the mess -- a little bit at a time -- writing out some holiday cards and wrapping presents. By the time 8 p.m. rolls around, I will have accomplished so much -- and will have completely earned two hours in front of the television, watching Animation Domination, even though I'm not all that into it. (At that point, I am too tired to read, but not ready for bed.)

I'm a little sad that my five-day weekend is coming to a close. But, I'm also refreshed and ready for a five-day workweek. And it just doesn't get any better than that.

It's been a great week for me, in terms of free theater tickets. I just scored a seat for a matinee of "Avenue Q" in January.

Sure, it'll be my Chanukah present from my parents, but I was going to buy a ticket anyway, so I might as well save myself the $64 while making the gift-getting process a snap for mom. Plus, the whole family will be going together, so that will be nice.

"The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" last night was a hoot. The merry band of players (Austin, Matt and Reed) worked nonstop for 97 minutes -- well, minus a 15-minute intermission -- to zip through all 37 plays, plus the 154 sonnets. And they were gracious enough to chat and sign Playbills when it was all over. Bravo, Reduced Shakespeare Co.!

I am pleased to report that it has been so-called Black Friday for 17 hours now, and I have not yet spent a cent. Since I am heading out soon for the evening, I think that'll hold me for the next seven hours, too. Unless paying for theater parking counts. But, it doesn't, right? Right. I just decided that. Especially when the tickets are free and parking is a necessity.

Happy Thanksgiving!

While most people are reveling in the three F's of this fabulous holiday -- family, food and football -- I turned my attention, as I do every year, to my favorite: the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, broadcast live from Manhattan from 9 a.m. to noon. (After that, it's time to rest up for dinner.)

This was the 82nd parade, which starts at 77th Street and Central Park West, makes its way down Broadway and finishes up at Herald Square, right in front of Macy's on 34th Street. My favorite parts are usually during the first hour, when there are musical numbers performed in front of Macy's before the parade finally reaches that spot. This year saw performances from "In the Heights," "The Little Mermaid, "South Pacific" and "White Christmas." Of course, the synchronized Radio City Rockettes kicked thing off for the parade portion of the telecast.

I didn't actually watch the whole thing, but I did see the M&Ms float, with Idina Menzel aboard. There were M&Ms dressed to represent the musicals "A Chorus Line," "Phantom of the Opera," "Spamalot" and "Wicked." The green one was made up to look like Elphaba. I loved this nod to Menzel, who won a Tony Award in 2004 for originating the role.

After I finished with the parade, I did laundry, took a nap and tossed a bunch of cut-up fruit into a bowl to bring to dinner. The dinner was delicious, and I am so thankfully full that I didn't even get up for dessert. Of course, there's always leftover fruit.

Today, I spent most of my day at two malls on opposite ends of the shopping spectrum: high-end Aventura Mall and outlet mall Sawgrass Mills.

It appears that no one has received the memo that holiday shopping traditionally begins after Thanksgiving. But, I guess that's because retailers are suffering so much that they've begun the post-Thanksgiving sales in the pre-Thanksgiving weeks.

Better for me, I suppose.

Two other (totally unrelated) things of note: I spent some wonderful time with out-of-town friends (at the high-end mall) and this is my 300th blog post! Since I won't be getting to 400 this year, this will probably be my last big blog milestone.

It's been more than a decade since I last won anything from a radio station, but I can proudly say that today, the drought is over.

At about 5:45 this afternoon, "MJ" called me -- at home and work -- to inform me that I'd been randomly selected to receive two tickets to this Friday's performance of the Reduced Shakespeare Co.'s "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)."

It was one of those things that I signed up for online, thinking there was no way I'd win -- especially since I haven't actually listened to the radio in nearly three and a half years.

No matter -- I am quite pleasantly surprised!

It's a good thing I've begun my end-of-the-month "staycation" because I have to go pick up the tickets between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. tomorrow. (I'd never have been able to do that if I was working because the radio station is in the exact opposite direction as my office.)

So, I guess I was meant to go. Maybe someone knew I wasn't about to pay $50 a ticket for a 97-minute show (even if it does include all 37 plays). How it happened doesn't matter. But, I'll be sure to thank my lucky stars, and I hope I laugh myself silly.

I'm halfway through my workweek, and I feel great! Tomorrow's going to be busy (and perhaps long, too) but I'm up for it!

Besides, I don't care if I have to stay at work until the wee hours tomorrow because I'm taking five days off, and I won't have to go back until Dec. 1. Woo-hoo!

I survived the bar mitzvah on a boat. It was rough seas, but I made it.

And boy, am I still tired!

I did nothing today but laundry and nap. And I ate, too. But that made me more tired.

I can't believe it's back to work tomorrow. I'm so not ready for it.

But, the good news is that after working for two days, I get five days off. Now that's definitely something to look forward to.

Today, I went to my first bar mitzvah in more than five years. It was a three-hour service that included both a torah portion and a haftorah portion -- which concluded with people throwing fistfuls of candy at the bar mitzvah boy. (Or is it man?)

Also of note: Both the rabbi and cantor were quite young, and there was a "barbershop quintet" of men who chimed in to sing along at times. They were all fabulous!

Tonight, I shall set sail on a nautically themed reception, complete with candle lighting and massive amounts of food. You know, this coming-of-age stuff isn't really all that bad.

How can this feel like it's been the longest week ever, when at the same time it feels as if this entire year has just flown by?

It's one of life's many mysteries, I suppose.

I know Thanksgiving's a week away, but my workplace will celebrate Turkey Day tomorrow.

The company is going to provide a turkey, ham, stuffing and gravy. The rest of us signed up for side dishes, drinks and desserts. I decided to be responsible for bringing the flatware.

That's right: I don't cook, but I'm great at picking up a variety pack of clear plastic utensils.

I think my computer monitor might be dying. I turned it on five minutes ago, and the picture on the screen looked like some sort of four-color printed material where the four colors don't quite line up with one another.

My monitor and I go way back to the early 1990s. I bought this Compaq Presario 1510 at Computer City. I don't think those are around anymore.

And, frankly, neither are many monitors like mine.

Even my parents long ago traded in their bulky monitors for newer, flat-screen models.

Maybe it's finally time for me to do the same.

Update: As soon as I hit "publish post," my monitor snapped back to life. I guess it's not yet ready to let go. Frankly, neither am I.

Thank goodness it's Tuesday!

I've always loved Tuesdays -- mainly because they are not Mondays. (I don't like Mondays.)

All was going well, until someone asked me if a particular show was on TV tonight. That prompted me to say, "it's not Thursday, it's only Tuesday." Well, you'd have thought that this was the worst thing I could have possibly said to this person. Sure, I love my Thursday TV as much as the next person, but I wouldn't want to skip over my Wednesday TV just to get there faster. Of course, there's absolutely nothing on TV for me on Tuesdays, so I usually amuse myself by reading or surfing the Internet.

The good news is that Thursday will be here before I know it.

All I have to do is get through Wednesday first.

This morning, I woke up to a first: I had an actual comment from someone reading this blog who wasn't my sister!

I noted yesterday that I saw Part 1 of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog," but I didn't laugh once. Gina was referred to my post through a Google alert -- I'm guessing for the search term "Joss Whedon," which means she'll get this one, too -- and left an excellent comment.

First, a few things:

• I was not a "Buffy" watcher, but I did see the musical episode. (My sister made me watch it with her.) But, since I really didn't know what was going on in terms of the storyline, it didn't have much of an impact. I'm sure that I'd have been able to appreciate it more if I'd been there from the beginning of the series (or at least the beginning of the season). I really wasn't paying attention to clever lyrics; I was just trying to figure out who was who.
• I love everything Neil Patrick Harris does, from "Doogie Howser, M.D." to "How I Met Your Mother" and all the musicals in between. (Oh yeah -- I love musicals, too.)
• I haven't seen anything Nathan Fillion has done, but I hear from my sister that he was excellent in "Firefly" and "Serenity," also from the great mind of Whedon. I can say with some authority that Fillion is quite nice to look at.
• I agree that "Dr. Horrible's" dialogue was clever. If I'd had more energy after such a long day, I probably would have laughed. But, at the point I watched it last night -- on the screen of a laptop, no less -- I was just trying to pay attention to the details.

I really do want to see how this whole thing pans out. Hopefully, I will enjoy it as much as Gina did, and I will be able to give more detailed thoughts on this clever little project, which was done during last year's writers strike.

My second day at the book fair went off without a hitch. And my sister -- despite the fact that she was extremely tired and a little sick -- came, too.

We went to see our cousin give a reading of her book to a packed tent of kids, then attended a session with Roy Blount Jr. and Carl Hiaasen. After that, it was up and down the street fair, in and out of booths. My sister spent a pretty penny (and blamed me, of course) but had to admit that she had a great time.

We topped off the day with dinner at Moon Thai and a screening of Part 1 of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog." I didn't laugh once, but maybe that's because my expectations were so high. (According to my sister, the combination of Joss Whedon + Neil Patrick Harris + Nathan Fillion + songs = comedy gold.) I probably will need to see the other two parts to make a final decision.

And, my parents arrived home from their cruise -- early, no less -- and I just got off the phone with my mom, who's one of those people who says goodbye and keeps talking. (In fact, before I could even publish this post, she called me again.)

Anyway, that's about it for today. I've got to catch up on some laundry before I go to bed and get psyched up for another workweek.

Today's trip to the book fair went even better than I'd expected!

After getting off to a bit of late start and finally finding a parking spot on the ninth level of an 11-story garage, we arrived at the fair in time for the one (and only) session I had confirmed myself for -- only to find out I didn't need to bring the confirmation after all. While listening to Art Spiegelman speak, one of my co-workers -- whose wife is basically in charge of the whole event -- came over with a media pass. "This will get you into anything, regardless of whether or not it's full," he told me.

It was music to my ears. I was so ecstatic that I completely forgot to have Spiegelman sign either of the books -- Maus and Open Me ... I'm a Dog -- I'd brought with me.

I am not the type to take advantage of my status as a member of the press. You see: I don't really write. And, if I did, I wouldn't be covering the book fair. But, I put the pass around my neck, nonetheless, and smiled, knowing there would be more events for me, after all.

I stayed in the room for the next session, Dave Barry and Frank McCourt. I couldn't imagine what the author of "Boogers Are My Beat" would have in common with the author of "Angela's Ashes," but it turned out that they were more similar than not. Both were very articulate and funny, and I might have to pick up any (or all) of McCourt's books, just to see if his wonderful Irish voice comes shining through.

After that session, I went over to Children's Alley, where my cousin had presented her book, and was now signing autographs. There were a few takers, but most people were looking for Jeff Kinney, who wrote "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." From the amount of kids who stopped at our table, I'd say he has a really big following. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near where we were, so I don't know if any of them actually got to see him.

Then, I headed back for another session -- stopping along the way to spend $7 on a hot dog and frozen lemonade and $20 on books -- where I got to see Francine Prose, Carl Hiaasen and others read the works of other artists who were under surveillance. This was not what I'd imagined, but it was somewhat interesting. When Esmeralda Santiago began reciting poetry in Spanish, many people got up and left. I took this as my cue to head to the restroom before we headed back to the garage and went home.

All in all -- a great success! Stay tuned for my Sunday adventures in tomorrow's post.

It's hard to believe that it's 8 p.m. and I still have a couple of errands to run before I can relax with a good book and ease into the weekend.

It's even harder to believe I'm not completely exhausted after the full day at work, followed by several other errands on the way home.

Next up: the 25th annual Miami Book Fair International. While I think it's totally fabulous that my cousin will be doing a reading of her picture book in Children's Alley, what I'm really looking forward to is the Art Spiegelman event. My dilemma: Which book of his do I bring in the hopes that he'll sign it? Tune in tomorrow for the answer to that and other interesting tidbits.

It's not even the midpoint of November, and I'm already concerned about not having enough time to get my holiday shopping done.

It's not as if I have all that many gifts to buy. In fact, I can take care of one by making a phone call. And, if it wasn't for my self-imposed ban on buying things via the Internet, I could probably have it all done within the hour.

But, no. I had to go and make things difficult. I'm the kind of person who likes to comparison-shop. I have to go to every possible place to survey the stock and decide where to get the best items for the best prices. Usually, I end up at Target. (And, as I've already discovered, Target is stocked and ready for me.)

I was hoping to get the shopping done last weekend, but I didn't really know what I needed at that point. This weekend is the Miami Book Fair, and I'll be there both days. Next weekend, I have plans all Saturday, which leaves me Sunday for laundry and errands. I could make some time then.

Or, I could go the day before Thanksgiving.

You see, I like to get all my shopping squared away before the traditional holiday shopping season even begins. That way, I can sleep in and relax on Black Friday while half my neighbors line up at midnight to get into the Sawgrass Mills outlet mall. Of course, there is a chance that I won't be able to sleep, and somewhere around 4 a.m., I'll give up trying and go shopping instead. That's how I ended up with a four-piece Pierre Cardin luggage set last year. (Hey, it was a really good deal! I had to buy it! It was purple and gold!)

Regardless, I'm glad I had the chance to think this through. I'll have no worries about my holiday shopping because I know that two weeks from now, it'll all be done.

A 13-hour day + the end of Daylight Savings Time = a very tired me.

It wasn't enough that everything that could possibly go wrong today went wrong. No, it had to be pitch-black when I headed back home, too.

At least there wasn't any traffic because everyone else was already home.

Mondays are one of the few nights that I watch prime time television. My favorite show that night is "How I Met Your Mother," and I usually stick around for "Two and a Half Men." (I very strongly believe that half-hour sitcoms were meant to be watched in pairs, which is why it is so odd for me on Thursdays, but that's another story for another blog entry.)

One of the things I like best about "HIMYM" is that when a character mentions a ridiculously named Web site, it actually exists. If you go there, you will see that it is exactly as the character on the show described it. And it's (as Barney might say) awesome!

There was the episode that gave us http://www.tedmosbyisajerk.com/. According to the site's visitor counter, more than 510,000 people have visited since Oct. 9, 2006. It's even got blog entries!

In another episode, "Everything Must Go," there was
http://www.guyforceshiswifetodressinagarbagebagforthenextthreeyears.com/ and http://www.lilyandmarshallselltheirstuff.com/. The former has a slide show of a guy with a girl wearing a garbage bag, while the latter is a link to a charity auction of items from the show.

Last night's episode gave us http://www.notafathersday.com/. You see, as Lily and Marshall decide whether or not they're ready to have a child, Barney gets a call from a one-night stand, telling him he's going to be a father. That turns out to be a false alarm, but at that moment, Barney declares the day Not A Father's Day, in honor of all the men who have chosen to remain childless. There's even a mission statement and an oath. The site is, naturally, sponsored by Goliath National Bank. There are even mugs and T-shirts available for purchase. (The link takes you to a page where you can buy them, plus "HIMYM" gear, including "The Bro Code," a book referenced last season in the episode of the same name.)

I love how the creators and writers of "HIMYM" reward their faithful watchers with fun stuff like that.

What I don't love is CBS' deal with Bertolli and Lara Spencer, who hosts "The Insider." During the commercial breaks, we see Lara preparing or eating some Bertolli meal and talking about the episode, and how well it goes with her meal. This is followed by an actual commercial for the food. I hate that. It doesn't make me want to buy Bertolli (even if it is easy to prepare) or watch "The Insider." CBS, I'm ashamed of you. If you want to integrate products into your show, look at how "30 Rock" or "The Office" accomplishes that. (But don't look at "My Name Is Earl." The part of a recent episode where Jane Seymour entices Joy with a necklace from Kay Jewelers through a vanity mirror was horrible. I actually felt kind of sorry for Jane.)

So, there you have it: the good and the bad of Monday night television. Next up (TV-wise) for me is NBC's "Comedy Night Done Right" on Thursday. Three out of four sitcoms ain't bad.

I'm getting an apprentice!

I've been in my current position for almost six years, but when I'm out of the office, my department scrambles to make up for my absence.

Well, that's about to change.

We've identified someone who's willing and able to be trained in the intricacies of my job. In other words: She's a perfectionist, just like me.

The training will begin in a few weeks, and I couldn't be happier. My bosses have always said I have to have a backup, but there was never anyone who, in my opinion, would be up for the task. As of today, there is. And I couldn't be more thrilled.

Today I caught a movie on TV that I hadn't seen in several years 1997's "As Good As It Gets." The film garnered Academy Awards in 1998 for its leading actor and actress, Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

I never did see the film in the theater, but I did catch it on TV. I distinctly remember thinking that it wasn't that great a movie. After watching it again -- albeit not uninterrupted and not from the beginning -- I have to say that it was much better than I had remembered.

Yes, the lead actors were good. I didn't like Hunt's Brooklyn accent, but I did like Nicholson's obsessive-compulsiveness. I still though Greg Kinnear's performance was the best, but I also took notice of Shirley Knight, who played Hunt's mother.

Of course, I loved the ending, and having Art Garfunkel sing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" over the end credits was a special treat. One thing I must mention, though: During the road trip to Baltimore, they stopped at a gas station, where regular unleaded was $1.13 a gallon. Boy, how times have changed. It's been 12 years since the movie was filmed, and gas prices are up more than 100 percent. (Of course, if you go by the high of about $4 earlier this year, that's up 254 percent.)

I just watched the 1999 movie "My Favorite Martian," starring Christopher Lloyd and Jeff Daniels. I never saw 1963-66 the television series with Ray Walston, but I can only imagine that it was as silly as the movie. The movie also stars Daryl Hannah, Christine Ebersole, Wallace Shawn and Wayne Knight's voice (as a talking suit). There's also a really clever cameo with a nod to the TV series, and I couldn't help but compare some bits to Back to the Future, which, of course, starred Lloyd as Doc Brown. Sure, I was reading "Entertainment Weekly" during most of the movie. But, it was an enjoyable way to pass the time while my laundry was getting done.

It has always been my goal to get all of my holiday shopping finished before Thanksgiving. (Any deal I find after that will be for me.)

Apparently, I am not the only person who has this idea. One of my co-workers told me that Wal-Mart is getting a jump on Black Friday by starting its sale tomorrow. That's a full 20 days before Black Friday. I know the economy's bad and the retail sector is suffering. At this rate, stores will be giving away merchandise by the time Black Friday rolls around.

One of the malls near me is actually opening at midnight on Black Friday. I'm debated whether or not I need to go straight from Thanksgiving dinner to the mall, so I can claim a parking spot.

Nah. By then, all my holiday shopping will be done.

Long day.
Very tired.
Must sleep.
More tomorrow.

For the most part, today was a day of great joy in my workplace. All my co-workers that I deal with on a daily basis were for Obama, and we shared our stories of how we spent yesterday evening watching returns, talking about how ridiculous the networks' special effects were. We felt that someone should remind them that this is a federal election, not a "Star Wars" movie.

Unfortunately, our joy on the outcome of the big race was tempered by the outcomes of some smaller ones. Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, and specifies that no other union is to be recognized in the state. This not only affects gay people, but straight individuals, too, including senior citizens who live together, but don't marry because of the potential loss of benefits (for example, those from a deceased spouse).

We also didn't pass an amendment that would give community colleges the opportunity to appeal to their local communities to vote for a special sales tax that would go directly to the colleges. In these tough times, local community colleges have had to cut programs, but enrollment keeps rising. That this didn't pass doesn't make sense to me at all. I guess people see the word "tax" and automatically freak out. There was nothing that said we'd be taxed. It just said that the community colleges would be able to ask us to vote on if we would agree to a tax at some point in the future. Should the tax pass, it would be for five years, with reauthorization necessary for continuation of the tax. Oh, well. I guess all those community college students are going to have to start teaching themselves.

Aside from the election, it was just a really long Wednesday. Since the time change, I haven't been able to deal with the fact that I leave work in total darkness. Sure, it's easier to get up in the morning. But, I don't like the evenings anymore. It makes me tired. Goodnight.

Election Day fever is sweeping the nation -- and some other nations, too.

The polls closed here 10 minutes ago, although I'm sure there are still people on line to vote. No matter -- the news programs will start analyzing and whatnot, coloring each state red or blue as they see fit. Well, I'm not going to watch any of it. It's "Jeopardy!" for me, and then I'm snuggling up with my book for the night. Hopefully, I will wake up tomorrow to the news that "my guy" is now the president-elect.

It's time for a change, don't you think?

8 p.m. update: "Jeopardy!" was pre-empted for extended election coverage. I'm totally bummed, but also completely sucked in. I hope they call this thing early, because I don't want to be up all night, glued to my TV, listening to everyone say it's "too close to call."

11 p.m. update: All the news anchors are announcing that Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States. And I'm happy that my guy won because I am getting a little tired.

12:30 a.m. update: I'm finally closing up shop for the night because I've seen McCain's concession speech (so classy) and Obama's victory speech (so moving). There were tears in my eyes, and I'm not even ashamed to admit it. (Hey, if Oprah can cry, then so can I.)

Another day, another Silver Alert. This one was for a white van with an Alabama tag. It frightens me to think that some elderly driver could be lost so far from home.

Daylight Savings Time ended yesterday, and I'm sure it's going to take me all week to get used to it. I find it's unusually bright when I head to work in the morning and extremely dark when I head home at night. Of course, it didn't help that I was away from home for exactly 12 hours.

I was out of town for five days, four of which had mail service. I received three campaign fliers: two for a candidate I had voted for, and one urging me to vote for the opposing party. With Election Day tomorrow, I'd say that's it for this season. (Although you never do know. There could be some latecomers at the end of the week. But, I hope not.)

Atlanta was great: The weather was cool, the play was enjoyable and spending time with friends was fun. (But, no, I won't be going back up there for Thanksgiving.)