Being a nerd (I promise I'll stop opening with that one of these days) I patrol various websites that are related to my "field of study". There are more than one of these sites dedicated to various aspects of George Lucas' Star Wars Saga.

Not long ago on one site that has to do primarily with collecting memorabilia (www.rebelscum.com)- I came upon an article about a special action figure that was floating about out there. It was basically a pink version of R2-D2 that has quite a back story and carries the moniker of R2-KT.

I heard a commercial on the radio today that was for some air travel company and they just so happened to have a great idea for what a person should do with their economic stimulus refund.

Don't know if you've all heard but starting in May/June just about every American will be receiving somewhere around $600 from your friendly neighborhood federal government.

Whether or not you agree politically with the idea or the reason for it we will all have some extra moola in our coin purses in the coming months.

Back to brighter days (literally and figuratively). I've got some cool recommendations to make for a warm day! First, if you have not seen "Horton Hears a Who" at your local movie theater- go, do, now. It's an awesome flick even if you don't take the kids as a cover for your own curiosity.

My title isn't really a good indicator but I'm actually quite good at turning a phrase. There are times, though, that being blatant or straight-forward is best. Simplicity has its own elegance I guess.

I recently applied to St. Thomas University and was rejected. So now I'm somewhat dejected and probably another form of 'jected' if one exists. Who would think that they would turn someone down who had average grades and took forever to get a two-year degree?

Diablo Cody received an Oscar statue for Best Original Screenplay. Joel and Ethan Coen received three statues including Best Director(s) and their film was named Best Picture of the year (something I happen to disagree with- not because it's a bad movie but I thought 'Juno' was better).

So it was a pretty nice surprise for me to see Ms. Cody pick up the award and I'm glad 'Juno' did well at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Only in places like Minnesota can you say that 11 degrees fahrenheit is a warm up. It's right around this time every year that the snow and the cold and the ice begin to wear on me.

At the beginning of the season there is snow and it's fluffy and nice to look at. It never really seems to be all that cold when it snows either. But as the winter goes on the snow turns into what I can only describe as the nature version of styrofoam.

The snow and ice are as cold as they should be, the cold is bitter, and the wind is harsh. A person can barely sit in their car while it warms up.

Only in places like Minnesota can you say that 11 degrees fahrenheit is a warm up. It's right around this time every year that the snow and the cold and the ice begin to wear on me.

At the beginning of the season there is snow and it's fluffy and nice to look at. It never really seems to be all that cold when it snows either. But as the winter goes on the snow turns into what I can only describe as the nature version of styrofoam.

The snow and ice are as cold as they should be, the cold is bitter, and the wind is harsh. A person can barely sit in their car while it warms up.

Is it merely a plague of single people who consistently, nay, annually bemoan February 14th as a bigger non-holiday than Halloween? Or perhaps it is something more. In any case I have heard of quite a few folks out there who are putting on Anti-Valentine's Day parties for those of us who are without a significant other (yes, me included).

My roommate is throwing such a party and initially I wasn't going to attend. Now it seems as though it might be a fun exercise in quasi-misery of hopeless romantics whose relationship status seems to be just that- hopeless.

On a day when we get this year's Oscar nominations and I should be applying myself to getting out a companion blog, I get to write an obituary.

If by now you have not heard, actor Heath Ledger, 28, is dead. Cause is not yet certain but speculation points to some kind of drug use and the overuse may have been intentional.

I really haven't had a lot of celebrities die in my lifetime that have truly shocked me. I missed out on John Lennon by about a year or two and I hadn't had my musical awakening until after the death of Kurt Cobain.

I know everyone is eagerly anticipating my "End of the Year Part 2' entry (who wouldn't?), but being that it's almost the end of January I thought maybe it could wait until next week.

Instead I'm posing the question of whether or not you will be one of those movie-goers who falls into the JJ Abrams trap that is 'Cloverfield' this weekend.

I don't remember what movie I first saw the preview on but at first this supposed monster movie did not have a title, only a date, and left everyone in the theater saying "What the... what was the title of that movie??".