In non-news: Terence on The Amazing Race is still a GIANT AMAZING TOOL

And WTF was up with Starr criticizing the Desperate Ex-Housewives for their clothes when she was wearing A SPORTS BRA AS A SHIRT?

Right now I'm rooting for Tony & Dallas.

I like it SO much more than the taking away all the possessions and then we have to watch people begging for money.

And also a YES to letting teams decide on their own form of transportation. Making those decisions is supposed to be a part of the race!

Yes to all these things. Too bad about Margaretta. I was just thinking about the first season last night and how many of those teams I was actually rooting for.

I didn't start watching TAR until Season 4, but I've caught up on TAR1-3 through the GSN reruns a few years ago. Sad to hear about Margaretta.

My favorite TAR season is still TAR5, because that had the best casting (Colin/Christie, Myrna/Charla, Chip/Kim, Bowling Moms), some of the best locations (loved the zorbing in NZ, the Phillipine coast), and, of course, the plotline of "When will Colin crack up?" ending with the meltdown of "My ox is broken!!!" and the race to the finish line between Chip/Kim and Colin/Christie (and their manic town car driver).

In the midst of all that, my favorite team ever ended up being the Bowling Moms, who started out whiny and annoying, and ended up being kick-ass, tough-it-out ladies who literally changed the rules by splitting the Road Blocks equally and who were only done in by the killer cliff face.

Also, a question that came up watching 30 Days.

How many times have you been to the emergency room? That is, for yourself, not kids or partners. In the original pilot, on living on minimum wage, both Spurlock and his fiancé ended up there. I thought that was unusual, but then my housemate said he had been to the ER at least 20 times in his life. Basically, he's gone about once a year as an adult. I could only come up with 5 visits total (3 as a small child, and twice the same year in Brooklyn). Is that just really unusual?

The last time I was in the ER was in college when I had my appendix out. Before that I hadn't been since I was about 8 (and wound up having abdominal surgery for my kidneys).

if you have good health insurance, it is unusual to go to the er a lot.

are you counting urgent care AND er? If it is both, I've been five times in my adult life.

er: I've only been twice, for the same ailment. Now that organ is removed, so I won't be going back! So my first trip to the er as an adult was about 2 years ago...

Once as a toddler and twice as an adult (knock wood) and was admitted to the hospital as a result of one of those adult trips. But I've been lucky in that I don't have any chronic illnesses and have only broken one bone ever.

are you counting urgent care AND er? If it is both, I've been five times in my adult life.

I meant urgent care. 3 of mine were stitches, that may have been in urgent care, I don't remember the ones when I was a kid. I only went to the ER for the "bagel incident" because I didn't have a regular doctor and the ER was only a couple of blocks away, so it made more sense.

I've been, as an adult, twice for asthma, once for falling down a flight of stairs, and once for a dental abscess. I think that's it, though.

As a kid, my brother went a bunch of times, but I don't remember ever going as a kid. He was always falling out of trees and taking headers over his handlebars, though.

every time I went to urgent care, I shouldn't have gone. There were issues that I thought were emergencies that would have resolved on their own if I knew how to treat them properly OTC. the ER trips were non-negotiable.

Yes, the Speed Bump is by far the best NEL twist they've come up with.

Yeah, I like it a lot.

(Why you would ask a driver who got you hideously lost and clearly is totally unfamiliar with the part of the city you're in is a different question, of course.)

SERIOUSLY. That guy was the worst driver ever!

How many times have you been to the emergency room?

Once, as far as I know, and it was mostly a mistake (I didn't realize there was a walk-in clinic next door, or I would have gone there).