Today my wife grabbed a string, some nails, and a bunch of clothespins and headed into our sun room that is three quarters windows. She proceeded to nail up a piece of string to the molding of one of the windows, thread some clothespins onto it, and then string it across to the next window and tack it up there as well. Then she clipped the kids' latest drawings and homework to it. Voila, instant showcase!

I hadn't watched Survivor in a while, but at the moment there's nothing else on at 8 on Thursdays so I thought I'd check it out. They had me at the Buddhist temple. Very cool! But honestly, if they're going to do the Buddhist thing in China, I'd like them to mention how China is royally screwing over Tibet and just pretty much violating the crap out of their human rights.

Anyway the first person to piss us off is, of course, the Christian radio host who decides that she's not going to "put her face on the floor for anybody but Jesus." Even though the host clearly said that a visit to the temple was about welcome, not worship, this lady walked out on them (what an insult) and said "I think I did the right thing." Personally I think you demonstrated why people think that Christians are intolerant. I'm sure all of the contestants have religion – heck, one of them is listed as a gay Mormon – but none of them had a problem with the Buddhists, only the Jesus freak.

It's going to be fun watching Ashley, from the WWE. There's a funny moment where the host tells all the contestants that they don't get to have their luggage, only the clothes on their backs, and we get a shot of the 20lb boots that Ashley is wearing. Then the girl next to her says, "But I'm not wearing a bra." "That's going to make you very popular," says the host. On the annoying side of the fence is Courtney, the waitress from New York who wanders around saying things like, "People from New York don't talk like dis, dese people are like people I wouldn't normally be seen wit, ya know what I'm sayin?" She won't last, I hope.

Ashley then proceeds to get violently ill on the first day and can't really pull her weight, which puts her on the chopping block. But luckily they keep her around (it's times like that I wonder if the producers have something to say about it, why get rid of the hot chick with the big rack on the first day?) and instead we lose the chicken farmer from Virginia. That's for the best, since nobody could understand a word he was saying.

I have no idea if we'll watch every week, like I said I haven't watched Survivor really since the very first season. But it started out well.

Why, oh why, do the new prime time game shows insist on doing this? I call it the Deal Or No Deal Curse, since I saw it with that show first and now I don't watch that show anymore.

What am I talking about? When the trailer for the episode tells you what's going to happen. Tonight, for instance, it told us, before the show ever started, that the contestant's boyfriend was going to propose, and that she was going to go on to win the most money of any contestant on the history of the show.

WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU TELL US THAT? So now every song lyric she sings, instead of being in suspense if she got it right, we're bored because we know she did, up until the end. Instead of giving us a reason to watch, you give us a reason to fast forward. This absolutely killed Deal or No Deal for me, which was reduced to just random number picking. At least with Lyrics you get to hear some music. Outrageous.

On top of that, the buildup did not even suit the ending. Every commercial break (which, by the way, seemed to come more frequently as we approached the end) was filled with the same sort of suspenseful "Wait until you see how this ends!" nonsense. How did it end? With a whimper, not a bang, as she walked away with $350k, not even seeing the million dollar question. Who cares? A contestant won $350k last week. I was hoping this one would at least get to see the million dollar question.

The show could be dead to me now. It seems like they're going to do that every episode. In the preview for next week it was "This waitress whose fiance is serving overseas is trying to save up enough money for a wedding….until Wayne Brady gets a special call from a distant land that motivates her to go all the way…" I mean, COME ON! WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?

3yr old, during her normal morning potty break, says to me, "Daddy? I love my sister whole big."

Awwwwwww.

It's actually become her catch phrase, she's saying it every day this week. "I whole big love you, Daddy!"

"I whole big love you too, sweetheart. Now go whole big love Mommy."

Then again, my 3yr old (both my girls, actually) can recite Shakespeare, too. I'm still trying to find a place to show off that trick, but none of the adults they come in contact with have any idea what they're talking about :).