Weekend Preview

-  Thursday was my last day of work.  It’s kind of nice to have those obligations out of the way so I can move on to the next chapter.  However, it was certainly more than a bit bittersweet leaving the lab on the last day.  It’s basically 3+ years of my life in the books and one thing’s for sure…I’m pretty much lost without my routines and familiar patterns.  Hence, while moving to a new country might not seem like much to some of you (on second thought…would it not be a big deal to anyone?), for me it’s a particularly monumental endeavor.  Anyway, I’m trying not to think too much about it until Tuesday.

-  For those of you with a few free hours this weekend…TVLand is putting on a marathon of The Andy Griffith Show (aka the greatest television sitcom of all time) to celebrate the show’s 50^th anniversary.  Hard to believe it’s been that long…seems like only yesterday that I was watching Andy trying to mediate a spat between Thelma Lou and Barney.  Oh wait, that was yesterday.  But still…this is a great opportunity for some of you neophytes to get caught up on the greatness that is Andy Griffith all in one weekend.  Apparently TVLand viewers voted on the top 50 episodes that will be shown in the marathon.  Will be interesting to see which one comes in at #1.  It’s a very difficult choice, obviously.  My personal #1 remains the Man in a Hurry episode.  A little known factoid…Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan was derived directly from this episode…apparently Phil Knight must have watched the show as a young man.  After that one…I would place the following in the top 10 in no particular order…

High Noon in Mayberry (aka the Mayberry Knot Tying Club)

The Mayberry Band (“now…get under them with them spiders…”)

Barney and the Choir (aka the Solo Microphone)

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs (“boy...giraffes are selfish”)

Barney’s First Car (“of course it smells like gas…what do you think this thing runs on, coal?”)

The Pickle Story (“shoo, fly, shoo…it’s dead”)

Andy Discovers America (“will you help us?!?...I mean… help them?”)

The Christmas Story (aka Ben Weaver singing along at the jailhouse window)

Opie’s Charity (“it’s hard to forget half a boy…poor Horatio”)

This was really difficult…I had to leave out some really strong episodes, obviously.  I don’t know about you…but I feel like this was a very important blog update!  So, did I miss any of your favorites?