Ponderings on Cheetos and the End of a Decade

First of all, huge shout-out to my mom - happy birthday! Without you there would be no me - thanks for being you. :)

I had a dream last night that involved a large amount of Cheetos. Not really sure why, but I bought some at the convenience store downstairs to have with my lunch today. They're quite tasty, but extremely salty. It's probably for the best that I don't eat them very often. As happens every time I eat Cheetos, I think back to college. Senior year I lived with two of my best friends. Any time we had consumed a reasonable amount of alcohol (it may have been St. Olaf, but we were also 20 and 21 - of course we drank), we always wanted snacks. Nine times out of ten, that snack ended up being Cheetos. It didn't take long for me to always associate the snack food with the feeling of being drunk. I have a feeling it has become a Pavlovian response for me to think of that year any time I eat Cheetos. And that's not a bad thing - senior year of college was one of the best years of my life. I can't deny that.

The other day I realized that Christmas is next week. Do you realize what that means? 2009 is almost over. That means the decade is almost over.

Before we know it, the Ohs will be a thing of the past. (That's what I'm calling this decade - since we always referred to the years as "oh-nine" and "oh-eight," et cetera, it only seemed fitting to refer to the decade as a whole as the "Ohs." Like the nineties or the eighties - it makes sense when you think about it).

On a message board I read regularly, someone posted a list of their favorite TV episodes of the decade. We all know how much I love TV. So that got me thinking... what are MY favorite TV episodes of the Ohs?

Man, that's a tough question. I don't even know my favorite shows of the Ohs. Maybe I should concentrate on that. Here is a short(ish) list of shows from the past decade that I felt were particularly awesome (in no particular order):

• Veronica Mars
• Bones
• The West Wing (started in 1999)
• Firefly
• How I Met Your Mother
• Freaks & Geeks (this one is pushing it, since it only aired in 1999 and 2000)
• Lost
• Gilmore Girls

... actually, that could go on for a while. I like way too much TV. Instead, given the nature of the holiday, I'm going to list my five favorite holiday episodes.

1. "The Chrismukkah That Almost Wasn't" from The OC Season 2
2. "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" from Bones Season 1
3. "How Lily Stole Christmas" from How I Met Your Mother Season 2
4. "The Strike" from Seinfeld Season 9 (the "Festivus" episode)
5. "The One With the Holiday Armadillo" from Friends Season 7

What are some of your favorite TV holiday memories?