I got out of bed just twice in three hours last night while watching Ed and The West Wing. It's good to have TV back.

As it started -- with the wonderful accompanyment of the Foo Fighters' "Next Year" -- I tried to remember if I'd ever seen an episode of Ed live as it aired. I don't think I did, with the possible exception of one of the very first ones, perhaps even the pilot. I think I may have watched the pilot live, actually, because it first aired on Sundays and I may have been off when it started. I think that's how I came to like it, too, since I didn't put much stock into the promos of Tom Cavanaugh standing on a stage saying, "Hi, my name is Ed ..." and whatever else he went on to say. I think I saw the pilot, and became hooked.

The show waned in its second season, most people agree (even the creators). It had its moments, but overall it was disappointing. I think it got off on the right foot last night, mainly because Carol hates Ed.

The whole premise is that Ed returns to his hometown after divorcing his wife and losing his job in New York. There he relives his crush on Carol and buys the bowling alley, yada yada. But when he and Carol were oh-so-close to becoming lovers and jumping in the sack, the show didn't have the same feel to it. That feel is back now that Carol is set (we're led to believe) to marry Dennis and Ed's convinced she's making a mistake.

It was neat to see, too, the show littered with New Jersey references (that only New Jerseyans would really notice). Bloomfield and Passaic avenues are major North Jersey roads, and Montclair is a tony enclave (though I don't know if there is an actual Montclair Inn, but that was perhaps the funniest "10 bucks ..." ever!). And in one street scene, you can see in a shop window behind Ed's head the recognizable yellow banner of the New Jersey Lottery.

It was a Dan's Life night on NBC. Near the end of The West Wing I wondered if they'd go an entire two hours with some of the episode set in Indiana and not mention the president's alma mater, Notre Dame. It came up in the last half hour when it was mentioned by a man in a bar and, in the next scene, Martin Sheen wore an ND sweatshirt. The one problem, in my opinion, was that the man in the bar talking to Toby said he and his daugher were returning to St. Louis after making a college visit to Notre Dame. They were stuck at a hotel because of torrential rain in the Indianapolis area (it was mentioned earlier that they'd fly out of Indy). The man reveals he makes $55,000 a year, his wife makes $25,000, and yet they're still struggling a little with their finances.

My argument: If the family is struggling, why would they fly from St. Louis to South Bend when it's only a six-hour drive (I've done it). And if they did, it's possible (if not probable) that they'd fly direct to South Bend from St. Louis. Why fly from St. Louis to Indianapolis (a four-hour drive) and then drive two more hours to South Bend? One could contend that they flew to save time so that the father wouldn't have to miss work (but he likely gets paid vacations anyway), but it was already stated in the show that this was a Monday and, for the most part, college visits need to include a weekday in order to meet with administration types.

But these are just details I pick up. They don't really detract from the show at all.

In work news, I got out at 6:20 last night because Casey and I had an appointment to see an apartment. Most people were still here until 9 p.m. trying to get pages out. Glad I had that appointment! Hopefully we won't have these problems today or tomorrow. Today wouldn't be bad, but I am quite tired.

And Aly, who sits next to me, just returned from lunch and for the first time picked up the handset on her phone before dialing. She's been chronically hitting "speaker," dialing the number, and then picking up the handset. It's just a little annoying. It's not like she does it to see if she gets a person or voicemail because she immediately grabs the handset after dialing. I can't figure it out. But she's nice. And she's one of dozens of women at various magazines in this office who has a tattoo. Casey (and some of her colleagues) and I have noticed it's a popular thing around here. I don't know of too many guys here who have any, but it's certainly noticable on the female bodies. Even those where the tattoos are (sometimes) partially obscurred by such things as, say, pants.

Today I feel like some sort of J. Crew cowboy with my light-blue button down shirt, "boot cut" jeans and brown semi-pointy shoes that, when seen peripherally, seem like boots for some reason.