24 and a few other snippets

Wow. I mean, good Lord. What an hour of "24" tonight.

This was easily the best show of the season. Those 10 minutes when Jack was handcuffed in the mall security office? And then when he saved the day by killing one terrorist, stopping the flow of nerve gas, shutting down the air circulation system, and then saving that little girl's life? Unreal. If it wasn't for our great president George W. Bush, Jack Bauer would be the number one hero in my life.

The people behind the scenes of "24" never cease to amaze me. The writers, producers, editors, and on-screen talents do such a great job. I can't even put into words how good these writers are. Here's to one heckofa job.

Do you want to hear a funny story? The bar was absolutely dead Sunday night so we were all pretty bored. Without the Olympics and a few basketball games on the TV's, I don't know what we would have done.

One of our co-workers was spending a few hours there since it was his night off, and after a while he began to demonstrate some karate moves for us. Apparently he is a black belt and since he had a few brews in him, he felt the need to show off some of his skills. It was really cool and he was pretty amazing. Definitely someone who I would never mess with!

At one point, I had to use the facilities so I walked over to the men's room. When I exited a minute later, the karate dude was standing near some tables, facing the dance area. "Jason, stay right there," he said to me. I thought Ok, he's gonna show us another move.

He proceeded to run, do a cartwheel, and another, and then attempted to complete a backflip. The bar was dark and the floor made of tile, so the conditions were clearly not in his favor. Not to mention he had a few beers in him. As he flipped backwards, he did not get enough height and his body was not able to clear. Karate man landed at an awkward angle, smacking the top of his forehead on the floor as he went down.

The first thought that entered my mind was a spinal injury. We've all seen sports highlights of hockey players crashing into the boards headfirst or football players landing on their head, and the results are never good. Thankfully, our black-belt friend moved after he landed so I knew that his neck was still intact. But if he had landed at slightly less of an angle, I would be talking about my friend the paraplegic (no joke).

Anyway, the dude was dazed but OK. Blood was gushing down his face like a pot of boiling water overflowing, so the bartender cleaned up the area to inspect the wound. What we saw was an "H" shaped cut, measuring about 1.5-2 inches across and maybe an inch high. Definitely grounds for a few stitches.

We had to talk to him for a few minutes to convince him of the severity of his injury, but he finally agreed to go to the hospital. Someone took him to the ER and that was the end.

The whole thing was entertaining nonetheless and if anything, it made the slow night go by a bit faster. And I have a feeling that if it was Jack Bauer attempting to backflip for us, he would have stopped in mid-air, walked upside-down on the ceiling, flipped 180 degrees, and landed on his feet. That would be while handcuffed and blindfolded.

Yeah, he's that cool.

-Jason