Stringer Bell would be proud

Years ago, whenever you drove by a car wash, what was the first thing that came to mind? Drug money front, right? Well, I'm pretty sure those sly kingpins have moved on from such a transparent money laundering scheme (except maybe Walter White) and moved on to new ventures. That's right postal shops.

Laundering drug money is the only possible reason why there are so many of these places. I've shipped something through one of these places once. I needed to ship something I sold on eBay and I didn't have any packing supplies. I stopped in one of these places thinking "oh this will be quick and easy." Before I left I had spent more on packing and shipping than I had sold the item for. Really? A small box, couple of packing peanuts and some tape for $7. No Thanks. Not Again.

So, if I was left with such a miserable taste in my mouth from this one experience, how can there be enough return business to support all these places? There's a 2.5 mile stretch on Louetta out here in Cypress that has 6 postal service businesses. Yeah you read that right 6. That doesn't even count the 3 post offices that are easily accessible from those locations.

Maybe, I'm paranoid but I've seen The Wire. I've seen Stringer Bell working the counter at his copy shop. His copy shop which by the way had postal services. You can believe what you want. Keep turning a blind eye to what's going on in our community but as for me, I'm gonna see if I can get Lester Freamon to start chasing the money.

I need to hit a few things from this week such as that series finale from last night before I post my 2009-2010 television season in review.

- The Lost finale was good. Really good even. I had a few problems with it though.

• The network didn’t do the show any favors with the way they scheduled the commercials. The episode never seemed to build any real momentum because the breaks seemed to come every seven minutes. Look I know this was you’re night to cash in but I would have preferred fewer even if longer breaks.
• I felt like there was an argument between ABC and the writers. The writers kept arguing “we really need three hours to do this right” “look we gave you an extra 30 minutes you can’t have anymore, the affiliates won’t let us push the news back anymore” “fine, ok guys let’s go with the 15 minute white light wrap up”
• I’m glad I was able to get through the series and catch up in a few weeks to see the final four episodes live.
• I’m equally glad I didn’t watch it from the beginning. The long layoffs between fall and spring probably would have driven me away.

- If you’re a Friday Night Lights fan be sure to catch Friday’s episode. Zach Gilford who plays Matt Saracen is tremendous.

- Perfect episode on Breaking Bad, At some point, now that he's in remission, we had to see the toll Walt's choices are taking on his conscience.

- I’m not a casting director but Owen Wilson is terrible choice to voice Marmaduke.

- RIP Lima Time – Great Lima memorial show today on 1560 by John & Lance

- Finally saw Avatar. Meh. It looked good but I thought the story was better when it was called Dances with Wolves. I gave it 3 stars but that was mostly because I figure something has to be at least 3 stars for me to sit through it for 2.5+ hours. This is another instance when Netflix really needs half star ratings.

- The ratio of Stanley Cup playoff games to NBA playoff games I’ve watched this year is somewhere around 15 to 0

- Just 4 more days til school is out and I start earning my money as a stay at home dad.

- I found out the hard way if you want to blow up your email, post something in the free section of craigslist. The vultures are always circling.


Netflix this week
Avatar - ★★★
Another State of Mind - ★★★★
We Are Wizards - ★★★
The Messenger - ★★★

Books
Falconer by John Cheever