I really enjoyed the first two seasons of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. Thanks to those summer shows, I found out about comics like Rich Vos, Todd Glass, Rob Cantrell, Kathleen Madigan, John Heffron and Alonzo Bodden.

Then NBC went and turned Season 3 into a fiasco as they tried to take advantage of the success of Season 2 and went right into a battle between the best comics from the first two seasons. The result was disaster so bad that they never showed the final episode on NBC. It ended up airing on Comedy Central at some point.

That whole experience kind of soured me on the show. I watched some of the tryouts for Season 4, but couldn’t stick with it. I barely even noticed when Season 5 took place last year and looked headed for the same result this summer until I just happened to turn on the final tryout episode a few weeks ago.

I was hooked again. They have finished the tryouts and the semifinals. The first two comics were eliminated last night, thankfully both comics I really didn’t like too much. Esther Ku just didn’t have much to offer and God’s Pottery finally ran the same schtick into the ground.

I haven’t developed a true favorite yet, but that will eventually happen. I’m actually just happy I might be able to hear some fresh voices on XM’s comedy channels thanks to this.

One time a few years ago, our neighbor came over to our house in a little bit of a panic. My car had rolled from in front of their house and onto the curb in front of theirs, resting against a tree.

Apparently, the emergency brake didn’t take complete hold after I parked and the car slowly drifted down the street, which slopes away from our house. The car only went about 10 feet and wasn’t damaged. If their truck had been parked in its usual spot, I might have hit that. If the car hadn’t angled some, it could have gone into the intersection and Lord knows what would have happened then.

I look back on moments like this and wonder what made the difference between a minor inconvenience and a huge problem. I bet this lady is wishing she had my luck.

“Sure enough, there was a car in our pool,” Melissa Campasino said.

Police and the tow truck driver estimated the car was going 40 mph before it hit the water.

Melissa Campasino later learned that Kim Taylor was screaming and chasing the Miata all the way down the hill until it splashed down. Taylor could not be reached for comment.

Every generation has unique challenges. Some fight important wars. Some lead needed social change. Others discover ways to save the planet.

I have a different idea for how I can help my generation stand out in history. We have a very important task at hand, and this summer can begin our quest.

We need to make sure men realize that you just can’t wear socks with sandals.

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We had a pretty quiet Independence Day. The weather didn’t cooperate so our pool time was limited, and I honored our forefathers by taking a nap and grilling.

Before I undertook that last activity, I plopped down on the couch to see what the magic of TV would provide me. The Sundance Channel delivered with a documentary on Tom Petty.

I didn’t watch a whole lot of the show, but I really enjoyed the interviews, the live music, and the looks into how this dude from gainesville, Fla., became a huge rock sensation. The only problem was that the movie was four hours long! I like TomPetty, but not four hours straight worth.

I do want to watch as much of this as I can though, because I think Petty is one of the most underrated rock stars ever. As someone interviewed in the special said, you could listen to two or three hours of his hits before you realize just how many amazing songs he has written.

Just think about it - American Girl, Refugee, Here Comes My Girl, Don’t Do Me Like That, I Need to Know, Listen to Her Heart, Free Fallin’, Running Down a Dream, The Waiting. And that just covers some of the hits until 1989.

If you think you don’t like Petty, give him another chance. If you do like him, take this chance to throw him back in the CD player or on your digital music player of choice and remember why he’s still kicking ass in his late 50s.

It maybe raining, but at least I know that the Mustard Belt resides in the greatest country in the world once again.

God Bless You, Joey Chestnut.

I’m just a normal guy eating hot dogs on the Fourth.

The Fourth of July plays an important role in baseball. According to lore, the standings on our nation’s birthday play a big factor in who ends up with bragging rights once fall comes.

I don’t know how accurate this tale is, but it means a lot to me because of my fantasy baseball team. Right now, I’m in fourth place with a shot to move up to third on any given day.

This is huge. I have been in this league for 15 years now and only finished in the top half of the standings (we have 12 teams) a handful of times. The past few years, I have finished  ninth, 11th, 10th, 11th, 12th (setting a league record for worst season ever), eighth and fourth.

That fourth place finish came in 2001 so maybe I should blame the terrorists instead of my own knowledge of the sport. Does that mean if I finish in the top half of the league, we have officially defeated the terrorists?

If so, thank Justin Duchscherer and Ian Kinsler.

Sometimes, I just don’t know what gets inside of people’s heads. I see things that go on around me and just can’t help but saying, “What were they thinking?”

I have had a few instances of that lately. The first came when I went to see R.E.M. in concert. I’m not a huge collector of ticket stubs, but I do like to hang on to them so I can reminisce once in a while.

So after I got inside the venue, I started looking at my stub. A lot of times, the back gets you a chance to get something free or discounted, and I wanted to see what I could get for free this time. The result shocked me.

My ticket stub gave me the opportunity to get $200 on a new Volvo. Wow, just what I needed.

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Like most people, I have to pay pretty close attention to gas prices these days. Things are a little out of hand, but I still have to drive to work and take care of other things.

I have just accepted that the oil companies will gouge us.  That’s just life. But I can’t stand how the gas stations try to take a little extra off the top.

What I’m talking about is charging different prices for cash or credit. That’s just some bullshit.

Listen, I know that they have to pay a fee on credit card transactions, but nickel and diming people when gas is at four bucks a gallon is pretty absurd. You don’t just sell gas. Mark up the hot dogs or the coffee or something, but don’t pull this crap on people desperately searching for a good price on their daily commute.

Credit card fees are part of your business. Suck it up, like we’re sucking up $50 per fill up.

With summer TV season here, we have to really search sometimes to find something good to watch. Some nights, we don’t even watch anything. We read.

Prety quaint, right?

The other night we hit the jackpot though. Maria was in the other room as I scrolled through the channels. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got to the listing for the National Geographic channel.

Girl with Eight Limbs.

You only get lucky like this once in a while. I remember when we had a run of shows about 700-pound people that kept us entertained, but we hadn;t come across a show like this in a while.

Well, I hadn’t. Maria saw a show on the two-headed twins while I was at the R.E.M. concert so she was really on a hot streak.

I don’t really know what draws me to these kinds of shows. I generally don’t watch medical shows, but these oddities (and I’m not trying to be mean, but they are oddities) just draw me in.

I’m just worried I won’t be able to top the eight-limbed baby.

We saw a very cool special on National Geographic last night on a girl born with a parasitic twin attached. She had eight limbs and they thought she was the reincarnartion of some goddess. Luckily, common sense prevailed and they detached the “twin.”

We love medical freak shows like that.

Just about every time a new piece of technology hits the streets, I get a little excited. I know I can’t afford every little gadget, but I like knowing that they exist.

Well, not always. Sometimes I hear about some new little electronic device, and I wonder who thought real people might need the item.

Lately, I have started to think that about these GPS devices that are popping up in all kinds of cars.

I don’t find this kind of technology useless. I’m sure sales people who have to visit a lot of new locations and food delivery services find GPS units pretty handy.

But putting these things in the hands of your average person is contributing to making us dumber as a people.

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