After my friend kind of crapped out on me and didn't want to hang out today, and after I had gotten done working out at the gym, and after I heard the news that the Big 12 schools decided to stick with the Big 12, I had a choice: Go straight home, or go to this late night place, grab a bite to eat and watch SportsCenter news about the end of college football realignment.

Going home clearly had its advantages: I get home early, and Mother has harped on me constantly for staying out after working out; I can give my car ample time to burn off any impurities in the oil; and I can watch Letterman's monologue. Staying out clearly had its disadvantages, chief among them not being able to watch SportsCenter because someone else would be there and they would have the remote.

In the end, however, I decided I would go and drive through the Italian place to see if there are people there; if there were, home I go. But when I drove onto its parking lot, I see one car. Hmmm. I've seen single cars in the parking lot and nobody inside. I've guessed for some time that neighbors park their cars here and the guys at the restaurant don't mind. In the end, I wanted to hear what ESPN thought about Texas saying no to the Pac-10, and I gave in to my self-destructive nature, and I decided to go in and take the consequences.

And the consequences were ... there was a couple sitting at a table. Fuck. I couldn't just reverse course and leave, so I sat down -- maybe they'll just give me the remote because they're talking or something. But no, they keep it the whole time. Instead of SportsCenter, I ate my burger and fries to Burn Notice.

I have to take away something positive from this situation, so I note that I somewhat have wanted to see this show for some time (only to see the radiant Gabrielle Anwar, a girl who's the crush of one of my friends) and think it's alright. I also have learned that this show, and presumably others on the USA Network, follow the over-the-air networks and prohibit swearing in their shows. Good to know, and I don't disagree. Also, the couple gave me the remote when they left around 11. I thought I could catch the rerun of SportsCenter, but I then remembered that there's Baseball Tonight at 11, and SC comes on at midnight. I wasn't going to be staying that long to watch college football realignment analysis, so I left a quarter after 11. The customer giving me the remote was really nice, though.

Still, this was a waste, for so many reasons:

• I didn't get to watch SportsCenter.
• I ate food when I wasn't hungry.
• I spent money I really shouldn't have spent.
• I stayed out later than I should; coming home at 10:30 would've helped in parental relations.
• I had to drive my car an extra five miles to burn out all the impurities in the oil in my car.
• I missed Letterman.
• And I undid all the calories I burned off at the gym by packing it on eating my burger and fries and then some.

A grave miscalculation tonight.