Two major accomplishments to report from the last four days:

- On Friday night, I bowled a 207. A 207. That's a career high. It should be noted that my previous career high was nowhere close to 207. However, I don't know what it was. I'm sure I had cracked 150 before, but nowhere near 200. It should also be noted that this was the third of three games, and probably took place at about 10:30, and that I had been drinking since dinner at 7:30. I had been drinking quickly, as is my habit. I opened with five straight strikes, and closed with a strike to start the tenth frame.

My first game? 106. My second? 127. Pretty cool, I thought.

Yes, a bowling score counts as news.

- On Thursday night, I ran. More than a mile. (Initial estimates were at 1.1 miles, but further gmap-pedometer-ing indicates that it was closer to 1.25 miles. I was using the wrong cross street.) Outside. For the first time since, at least, sophomore year of high school. That is, more than a decade.

And then I did it again on Friday. And then twice on Saturday. And then three times Sunday. Turns out, it's not that tough.

That's gotta be worth something.

Two neighbors waved very nicely. Several others gave me an odd look. Probably because I'm pretty odd-looking.

A note on "Good music to run to." Turns out, it doesn't need to be upbeat or anything. It just needs to be good.

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I really, really enjoy watching this Chicago Bulls team. They're not a contender yet, but, if they upgrade the Sweetney-Allen starting frontcourt in the draft, I think they become one of the top teams in the East. That is, if their drafted center can give them 13 points and nine boards and, therefore, a real inside presence, they become really, really good.

It's been so interesting to watch Nocioni start believing that he's good. He is so aggressive, and so exciting, and he's clearly their best player.

Paxson's philosophy building this team is simple - Find guys who won in college, and who aren't afraid to work hard - and it's worked pretty well. As frustrating as it is to see Tim Thomas perform pretty well for Phoenix, he didn't fit.

These Bulls are absolutely like a college team. Witness their three-guard (all 6-4 and under) lineup, their three point-oriented attack, and the fact that the most dominant personality on the club is actually their head coach.

I really don't have any actual analysis; I just wanted to state that it's really fun to support a team that tries hard all the time, that doesn't give up, and that seems to get the best out of their skills. And, more importantly, that has a lot of room to improve.

I'm also wondering if any contender in the last 30 years has ever had two white guys as their two best players. The recent Jazz teams are close, but whiteys were two of their top three. Oh, wait, probably McHale and Bird. Last 15 years?

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For what it's worth, I can say that I genuinely like at least two of my coworkers, and I'm pretty sure I genuinely like two others. That's a pretty good start, I think.

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Pretty good week for phone calls. Tina earlier this evening, and Chuck. Cookie tried to sell me an eliptical before leaving for The Netherlands on Thursday, and I got Didi sometime before that. Sumo last weekend, and Bullshot earlier this week also. Probably about 25 total between The Boy and Gurs and Nemo, and that's certainly worth something. Eight minutes of rock talk with HotPocket on Friday, too. Yeah, pretty good.

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The new album by The Streets, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, isn't very good. But "Never Went to Church," which is about his late dad, is pretty darn good, as is "All Goes Out the Window." Both are Mike Skinner "ballads," similar to A Grand Don't Come for Free's "Could Well Be In" and "Dry Your Eyes." I like Hardest Way enough that I'll get his next one.

The new album by The Secret Machines, Ten Silver Drops, might be really, really good. I'm far from getting a handle on it. "Alone, Jealous, and Stoned," the opening track, is an anthem. Fantastic.

I'm pretty sure I really like the new album by The Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea. The penultimate track, a remix called "Nevers Again," is so well-sung by Eleanor Friedberger. Matt Friedberger is credited as playing "Other" on the album, probably because he plays 90 percent of the instruments. I'm really looking forward to anything he/they does/do.

If I were asked to rank my favorite albums from 2006, not including the recently-purchased ones listed above, they'd be ordered thusly:
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
Robert Pollard - From a Compound Eye
The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

My guess is that The Fiery Furnaces would rank third or fourth on the list, and the other two somewhere in the Lips-Strokes-Pollard area. There's a dropoff after Neko's album, I think.

I hate when I ruin interesting life-related posts with drivel about rock music. But, alas, that's what I do. Sigh.

[Ed: It's probably a stretch to call this post "interesting."]