i loved nemo's posted-tuesday, likely-written-tuesday, but dated-to-look-like-it-was-posted-saturday story regarding fighting the urge to watch e! true hollywood story: full house during the illini's incredible comeback on saturday night.

i had similar "watch great hoops, or bad tv?" problems during what was probably the most exciting weekend of college basketball of my life. my temptation: the ashlee simpson show. because, i'll be honest, she is this world's greatest living train wreck. she's obviouslee talentless, she's obviouslee a fraud (a true punk grrl, i'm sure), and she's obviouslee done none of the work that should theoreticallee be required to earn some sort of stardom. and, of course, when she appears in front of her largest audiences (notablee, saturday night live and the orange bowl), she tends to flop horriblee.

so, anyway, the digital cable told me that this particular featured "ashlee performs at the orange bowl." i had previouslee seen snippets that indicated they had dived full steam ahead into the lip-syncing (she said, at one point in an episode i saw bits of today, "lip singing," it should be noted) by taking her to the doctor to deal with acid reflux, so i was interested to see how they would address "pop star gets booed by the entire audience after her performance." interestinglee, the show breezed over this, not even playing any crowd noise or showing a sad ashlee

sadlee, i was watching this - at least parts - as deron williams was hitting another three and happy jack was draining a long deuce and things like that. i saw the decisive points, but i did not see all of the comeback points. and commercials build tension; i was watching ashlee, and missed out on this tension.

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i'm not a bad person, and i believe in equal rights and equal opportunity and things like that. however, after being on the phone for 90 minutes, largely not understanding my service technician ('ello. my name is ahn-drew. 'ow may i help?), i would like to say that customer service phone positions should not be outsourced to south asia. i love indians, at least two of them anyway, but i do not love indian phone service people.

every time he gave me an instruction or asked a question, i had to ask for him to repeat it. and then again. and then i said "i'm sorry...what was that?" and then, the fourth time was generally a charm. again, i'm a good person, but these people and companies have got to be stopped.

a note: my computer, which has a not-really-functional ac adaptor/back panel combination, needs a new back panel. i received a case number yesterday, but was then accidentally disconnected. frustrated by being on hold when i called back, i hung up. i did like yesterday's phone person, "trixie." today, i called back, held, and was told that i was being "transferred to dispatch management" (the people in charge of home maintenance people). five minutes later: "bla bla bla" "huh??" "it'll be only five more minutes. i understand you've been waiting a long time." and then that happened about 12 more times, and then he gave up and sent an email that said "reply to our message and tell us when the best time for us to contact you is."

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penelope cruz is on letterman. she is beyond smoking hot. chris rock introduced her and salma hayek as "my favorite four presenters" during the oscars, which was fairly offensive and yet fairly funny. dave said, "you must have been beautiful as a ballerina." she said, "i was four." it was pretty funny.

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i've gotten lots of work done lately. only the cover (certainly a not-insignificant portion) of the program remains. i was there until 9 tonight, but i'll be able to come straight home tomorrow (although i'll likely be on the phone with dell customer service.)