So, the plan for this year is to spend at least 15 minutes a day doing some sort of creative pursuit outside of work. Whether it be developing Pythagoras, working on the new Hence the Name album or anything else, I just need to dedicate 15 minutes. I'm sure that includes writing blog entries as well, so why not talk about Wheel of Fortune.

I get free cable at the hotel. And maybe it's just me at this point, but I cannot tolerate having my entertainment interrupted by commercials. It's pretty good for background noise when I'm doing something else.

Anyhow, the most striking thing about WoF, and indeed many of the classic game shows, is that the competitors are happy for each other. Well, probably not really, but they at least act like it, clapping when other competitors get the answer right, gasping in surprise when they get special prizes, and just generally being pleasant. Modern game shows seem more oriented on screwing other competitors over, rather than excelling at tasks.

I wonder what sort of information is given to them behind their lectern. Do they have only the same information that the home audience is provided, or do they have an alphabet showing the already-guessed letters? I wish we at home had it.

One of my proudest achievements is correctly guessing one of the WoF puzzles before any of the letters had been revealed. The clue was "Famous Quotation" and just from the blanks shown, I guessed "I am not a crook". I probably should work on that list of "proudest achievements".

And now it's been interrupted by an election update? Do people really still put up with this? I didn't ask about the election. Oh great, and now I don't get to see what the puzzle was. Maybe I've just been playing video games and using the web for too long, but media channels that I can't control are no fun.

And now I've missed the answer to the puzzle. Ugh, well, I think that's been about 15 minutes. Great, I'm on my way to improved creative output already.