A kind of rough family dinner tonight -- started off learning that my second cousin's husband died suddenly at 49 -- they have 5 or 6 kids, three in college. Holy crap. And then my grandmother couldn't get the food down. Or out, apparently. Eventually she seemed OK, but my mother really wanted to take her to the hospital.

Oy.

Glad your family is more or less OK, Sue.

Oy indeed, Jesse.

Wow, that sounds hard Jesse!

msbelle, that does not sound good. Is there a date on it?

I had not heard about this pine nut thing--if it lasts WEEKS that sounds AWFUL!

Happy Birthday Tom!!

I bought the package a week or so ago and when I took it out of the fridge tonight the thing was tight with air, is this a sign it's gone bad?

I wouldn't eat it.

msbelle, I'd avoid the airtight package and I'm sort of notoriously lax on food safety.

Happy Birthday, Tom!

Sue, sorry about the sister-act stuff and glad things are holding steady with your dad.

My dad has been admitted through the ER into the local hospital for gall stones. Poor guy.

Happy Birthday, Tom!

Hi Nilly! Bye Nilly!

Brian Regan, I think?

"Baconbaconbacon! Gimme what's in the bag, I can't reeeeeead!" Regan did the voice for the original commercials. Or maybe it was his brother, Whosit Regan, I don't remember. One of them.

Oy. Discussing remodeling the front entry with the husband is fraught and exhausting. Especially when he's speaking Norm Abrams and I can remember the difference between pressure treated and composite molded, but not the terms. Oy again. I think we have reached an agreement on both terminology and application. And soon, front steps!

Happy Birthday, Tom Scola!

Good thoughts for everyone's family members who need them.

I am stressing the hell out over this stupid business trip, just as I do every year. I don't have the right clothes, I don't want to fly, yada yada whine. The actual "business" part of it doesn't bother me at all. It's the thought of getting everything else done just right. I also have a deep fear that my expanded ass won't fit in the tiny JetBlue seat and they'll throw me off the plane. This probably won't happen. Probably. Damn it, is there any chance I can get the flu in the next two days?

OMG, I can't believe that negotiations for new seaons of Mad Men went down to the final hour with Lionsgate and AMC trying to squeeze every fucking nickel out of the show while trying to compromise it on multiple fronts (trimming the cast, adding commercials, etc.)

So fucking stupid. They've got a game changing all-time great, revenue for decades show in place and they were willing to move ahead without Weiner? Fucking suits. Die you shit fucking bean counters!

Anyway, it's back for two more years guaranteed and probably one more after that after they polish their diamond shoes and realize it's a goddam goldmine.

Also, Archer renewed for a 16 ep season so I'm good.

Venture Bros. back for two more. Okay, rage subsiding.

Tim Goodman has his say:

How much is that worth? Mad Men is AMC's seminal hit, its tallest flag on a crowded map of cable channels. What's more, the quality of the series never lagged. It got better. It got more and more hype. It created stars. It became a pop culture phenomenon. It won Emmys. How much is that worth, AMC? Maybe someone should go count the headlines. Measure the magazine stories and compare that to the price for an ad. Count all the times the stars were on talk shows or in photographs. Do a search for how many times AMC has been mentioned since summer of 2007 and then compare that to how many times it was mentioned prior -- go back a decade if you need to. Mad Men may not be the most watched series on television or even on AMC, but it's the greatest loss-leader in the history of television. While that was happening, Weiner was under his old contract. Underpaid? Relative to the industry and his impact on it -- hell yes.

...And yet the niche channel is clearly forgetting that none of this would be possible without Mad Men. I don't begrudge Weiner anything he's asking for because in all likelihood, this is his biggest ticket. The former Sopranos writer is extremely talented and will no doubt go on to other successes. But like David Simon, the creator of The Wire who moved on to Treme, it's not about how brilliant one person is. It's about catching lightning in a bottle and cracking that bottle over the head of the culture in a way that essentially lives on in history books forever. Now that is hard to repeat. So don't begrudge Weiner whatever it is he's getting for four brilliant seasons of Mad Men.

In baseball news: The Royals are in first place!

Gud, take a picture of the standings and laminate it quickly before things change!