Welcome to the first installment of My One Favorite Thing. This will be a regular (maybe weekly) post on the one thing I'm really digging at the moment. It could be a game or activity, an album or song, a movie or TV show, a person, a food, or just about anything at all.

Back in the primary, pundits and critics wondered how Obama could deliver change while keeping his promise of bipartisanship, for the Republicans would surely block progressive initiatives. As Obama selects experienced insiders for his administration, pundits and critics now wonder how he can deliver change with a staff whose ideas have shaped past administrative policies. Some assume that Obama will not try or will not be able to fulfill his promises of change. Others assume that to Obama, "change" is an empty word, useful for getting elected but irrelevant to his governing plans.

I would not, could not, in a pinch
I could not, would not, without a flinch
I will not bet on them with a mouse
I will not bet on them with my house
I will not bet on them here or there
I will not bet on them anywhere
I do not believe in Gang Green Madame
I do not like them, cause Gang Green I am

That being said: The Jets are the team to beat in the AFC

City of God (2002) tells the story of a good kid from the teeming slums of Rio who struggles to escape the gravitational pull of poverty, crime, and prejudice in quest of love and a better life. Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a good kid from the teeming slums of Bombay/Mumbai who struggles to escape the gravitational pull of poverty, crime, and prejudice in quest of love and a better life. Thus, a genre is born.

Vampires. They fascinate us. Whether it's Bram Stoker, Ann Rice, Josh Whedon or Elisabeth Kostova, writers keep finding ways to make the same old stories compelling, and we flock to bookstores and movie theaters or set our Tivos so we don't miss one gruesome detail.

Genghis wins: Full questions in comment section ...

1) I am thankful for pleasant memories?

2) I am thankful my mom knew she couldn't cook and we mostly went out to eat?

3) I am thankful for innocent childhood diversions?

4) I am thankful for innocent adult diversions?

5) I am thankful for working at home (and for the fairer, less hirsute sex)?

6) I am thankful for moral consistency?

7) I am thankful that I won't be seeing any more new banks in my neighborhood?

8) I am thankful for free but fair trade?

Dagster Donal recently posted the news that a South Korea company is pursuing a deal with Madagascar to lease arable land equivalent to almost half of its currently farmed land for 99 years in order to grow crops for feed and biofuel. Chinese companies have been doing similar deals with a number of African countries but at much smaller scales.

Sometimes, there can be no words. It's ... just ... too ... surreal ...

It's been proven!

Other recent noteworthy proofs:

Let me set the stage for you: It's a frigid fall day. You and your pals are locked in a 13-13 tie after gutting out a game of pigskin for the last 3 and a 1/2 hours. Sadly, several of your best buds haven't made it this far - cracked endoskeleton, torn ligaments, and dehydration. Most of you can barely breathe. Your jersey tips an 8 extra lbs from when you started, loaded up with epidermis juice and a dab of crimson (some of which has your blood type). You've told everyone the game will be done by 4:30, but no one is throwing in the towel just yet.

The Secret Machines just haven't been the same since Ben Curtis, one half of the fraternal duo, left to focus on his own band, School of Seven Bells. The unsettling but electrifying harmony between Ben and Brandon Curtis could send a current through the back of your head. Imagine Geddy Lee and Robert Plant on stage together like Simon and Garfunkel gone bad.

There are still pirates? I mean, I figured there must still be a few if them around because every so often there would be a really stupid movie about modern-day psychos terrorizing some perfectly nice couple on their private yacht. But the news this month has brought attention to the fact that there’s a whole culture of piracy alive and well, centered in Somalia.

So Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader (or maybe its no. 1, if rumors of Osama's demise have any credence) released a taped message today, redeclaring war on America and calling its new President-elect a 'house negro.'

Japan's economy is now officially in recession, according to those in charge of labeling such things, which means that they beat us again. While most believe that the U.S. has already entered a recession, it's not official until we have two consecutive quarters of negative growth, so we're just going to have to wait until January.

I didn't grow up in a family that talked about politics. I knew that my step-dad's parents were yellow-dog democrats and that my dad and his mom were die-hard republicans. My mom voted for Reagan in 1980, so I figured she and my step-dad were republicans, too (turns out they SO aren't, thank goodness). Beyond that, I didn't think about it much. Dinner table conversation revolved around my parents' work lives and what happened in school that day. After dinner, we played board games or watched television.

Because on this question column, we try out Genghis's proposed suggestion to write the full questions in the comments section to make it even easier for you to answer them ... Also, I was eating bitter herbs while I wrote this ... Man-eesh Ta-Na ...

1) NHL Hockey?

2) Bobbleheads?

3) New Music?

4) Tivo additions?

5) Laundromats?

6) Shopping?

7) Avant-garde parenting?

8) Corporal punishment?

9) Sterilization?

10) Liberal arts education?

Bonus Qs) Column? New Format?

If you're single, and you want to meet someone, where do you go? People always meet one another at bars, right? Get a little drunk, engage in a little chit-chat with comely strangers, perhaps take one home, at least get some digits. Right? Wrong. I, for one, have never had the courage to converse with strangers. Well, that’s not entirely correct. Once engaged in conversation, I can talk with just about anybody, though I may bore them to distraction. What I cannot do is approach a complete stranger and initiate conversation.

Who'dathunk we'd end up in this mess when folks like Peter here were being celebrated two years ago?

Warning: Don't watch on the computer you'd hate to see a fist put through

Hello, daggers. Thank you so much for all your for dedication, hard work, and sacrifice this past year. A special shout out to Orlando for delivering the once-red state of Indiana.