For some reason, of late, I’ve suffered fitfully sleepless nights plagued by colorfully bizarre dreams. Last night, I dreamt that the salmon stock (?) I had invested in through Stargate Producer John N. Smith had gone belly up due to improper freezing procedures. There I sat in a lawyer’s office as an independent arbitrator hired to look into the matter presented me with the partially-thawed investment and informed me it was all but worthless. I had lost $50 000 in unwise fish futures. $50 000? In fish? What was my dream trying to tell me? Fondy insists it reveals my anxiety about an uncertain future but, really, that just seems too obvious and, besides, I haven’t been feeling unusually anxious of late. Well, no more than normal. Rather than rely on my wife’s instincts, I instead turned to a no doubt far more dependable online dream interpreter. Unfortunately, “unwise frozen fish investments” turned up no results. And it brought up no results on the next site I tried either. Fortunately, third time’s the charm and, after inputting the following detailed account on a third site “I dreamt that I made an unwise investment in frozen fish futures”, I received the following interpretation: “Preservation. Restraint. Feelings need to be resolved.” I had no idea what this meant or how it applied to me, so I had the brilliant idea of running this interpretation through the online interpreter. It yielded no results. But when I ran it through another online dream translator, it yielded the following: “Your dream symbolizes your dislike for circus people.” Uncanny! It’s like a they’ve cast a mirror to the very depths of my soul. Even talking about this makes me very uncomfortable so, if you could, please forget this opening paragraph and assume that today’s update begins with the proceeding sentence:

The great thing about having a wife in a different line of work is the marked-down merchandise she can bring home from her place of business. Whereas I, as an executive producer on a show, can bring back things like a working alien blaster to deal with a pesky neighbor or a favorite actor to sing happy birthday on those special occasions, Fondy’s varied work experience has allowed her to bring back items like: a bag of day-old gourmet cookies, my very own diamond-studded gangsta grille, and, most recently, some terrific doggy beds and t-shirts. Unfortunately, both of the aforementioned are too small for me to make use of but it seems that Jelly, Maximus, Bubba, and Lulu are enjoying the new swag. Now if only Fondy’s next business venture could be a comic book shop specializing in super villain merchandise…

Just got an email from my buddy Rafael Jordan who dropped me a line from Bulgaria to let me know about his new movie. Wraiths of Roanoke, which Rafael wrote and produced, will be premiering on SciFi this Saturday night at 9:00 p.m. (and again on Thursday the 18th). Rafael is very talented, a helluva nice guy, AND a Stargate fan – and I wish him well on his latest endeavor. Do check it out.

And, finally, speaking of checking it out, many of you have asked me what I’m watching and what I thought of the new fall shows. Well, after tuning into everything (and I do mean everything) and eliminating the mind-numbingly boring, infuriatingly shitty, and plain just-not-for-me, I am left with Journey Man (love the premise but kind of wish the individual episode stakes would be higher) and Pushing Daisies (love the quirkiness but wonder if it may eventually prove a little too quirky for a general audience). Still on our regular DVR rotation: House, Boston Legal, The Office, My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, Grey’s Anatomy (for Fondy), Friday Night Lights (for me).

Today’s pics: the pooches enjoy the spoils of wardrobe (and bedding).

Today’s video: Click on the date for a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the Phoenix bridge.

Today’s mailbag:

MenNuniform writes: “Have you ever had a real southern-cooked meal?”

Answer: Sadly, there’s real dearth of good southern restaurants here in Vancouver. The last time I had a really great southern-cooked meal was on my last trip to New Orleans decades ago.

Graham writes: “So, Rachel Luttrell will sing in season 4 like she did in critical mass, right?”

Answer: Uh, wrong.

Flying Fig writes: “Have you given thought to going back and reviewing the noodles at that noodle place??”

Answer: Which one?

Tanya Anderson writes: “I know you watch Heroes and Lost…”

Answer: We do?

Gracey writes: “Curious did you grow up speaking French or English or were you bilingual. Do you also speak Italian?”

Answer: I speak English and am conversational in both French and Italian. I also know a little Cantonese and Japanese.

Anonymous #1 writes: “ Do you try to select healthy foods or whatever looks good?”

Answer: Healthy? Decidedly not!

Anonymous #2 writes: “Any idea what the cast is doing on their off time?”

Answer: Nope.

MsStargate writes: “Regarding, Connor Trinneer, was any thought given to making him a regular member of the Atlantis cast?”

Answer: That would be kind of tough given that he is a bad guy.

Susan W. writes: “A recipe for “London Pie” from Mayerne’s Archimagirus Anglo-Gallus:
“Take eight marrow bones, eighteen sparrows, one pound of potatoes, a quarter of a pound of eringoes…”

Answer: I’m having trouble tracking down eringoes this time of year.