It won't be available until early Saturday, but if you have any thoughts, please feel free to leave them here.

Personally, this will be the first Jay Leno show I've watched all the way through in about five years (I last watched all the way through when the Watersmeet Nimrod basketball team was on -- in 1994). I just never thought "Tonight Show" was appointment viewing (especially when I have primetime shows stacked up on my TiVo).

What do you think?

Television at its worst but cheese at its very best.

"So you think it's a gamble, do you? Well, gentlemen ... Since I can count my remaining years on the fingers of one hand, from my point of view, it's not much of a gamble at all."

According to the Mercury-Register article, the engine is steam locomotive No. 844 — the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific. The excursion was organized by the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola for the 100th anniversary of the Western Pacific Railroad (since acquired by Union Pacific).

To ride the train this week, it will cost $1,000 to go from Oroville to Portola or $500 to go from Portola to Winnemucca, Nev. The money goes to a good cause — it's a fundraiser for the Feather River Rail Society.

For people who don't have a hole burning in their wallets, the train will be arriving in Oroville Thursday, spend the day there Friday for viewing near Mitchell Avenue and depart on Saturday morning.

It would be fun to go on the excursion, but it will be exciting to see a piece of history this week. It's not just the train, the Feather River Canyon route was one of the scenic highlights for passenger rail travel for years.

I was interested to see the new list of top 10 party schools from Playboy magazine, especially how Chico State would measure up. Chico State was first and second on the first two lists, but disappeared from the third list in 2006.

As I reported in today's Enterprise-Record, Chico State didn't make the top 10, but managed to eke its way on to an expanded list of 25 campuses at number 20. The whole thing is fascinating, especially Playboy's description of Chico's "scene."

I was pleasantly surprised to see Chico on the extended list. While the list could either be a badge of honor or mark of shame, I was just glad to see CSUC on the list after it was absent three years ago.

I almost missed it just looking at the top 10. I was interested in learning more about the list so I dug a little deeper on Playboy's Web sites ... while at work.

I was worried there would be images of naked ladies on the screen jeopardizing my professionalism and potentially my career. I shrunk the size of my Web browser window so I could navigate past any ... obstacles. Thankfully, the specific pages the magazine referred to were devoid of nudity and I was able to quickly find the information.

So, until Playboy ranks the schools again next year, Chico State will be nestled between Michigan State University, a prominent Big 10 school, and Hampshire College, a school I had to Google to learn more about.

The magazine's description of Chico State seemed a little off, at least in my eye. Here's what they wrote:

Legendary party scene despite the fact that the student body is not made up of stereotypical meat-head party boys and Stepford sorority girls. Think green—and not the stoner green, the environmental awareness green.

While many Chico State students have helped promote increased awareness of environmental sustainability, I reckon it's a stretch to say the campus is devoid of "party boys" and "Stepford sorority girls." Just walking around Chico's downtown core on a Friday or Saturday will uncover a decent number from both groups of people — and environmentalists too.

I couldn't comment on the specific ratio of party boys to green sceners, but Playboy might. They developed a matrix of five categories (including a "bikini" composite category that looked at factors such as boy-girl ratio, the weather, etc.). It rated the schools in each of them and combined that information with input from students and others.

Having Playboy use algorithms to pick the top party school reminded me of the system the BCS uses to find the top football team in the country. I wonder if Playboy's system is more worthwhile than the heavily criticized BCS.

My third editorial cartoon was published in today's Enterprise-Record and Mercury-Register. I call them "cartoons," but they're really more like photo-montages and computer illustrations to illustrate my thoughts.

In this case, I used Photoshop to modify an image from NASA's Visible Earth site. That image was then imported into Freehand, where I added the ribbon of text.

These cartoons are unusual for me because I don't divulge my opinion in such a permanent way very often. I don't feel my opinions have any part of the reporting I do. I strive to make sure I cover people and issues as fairly and accurately as possible given deadlines and other constraints.

As further separation, I don't report or cover the subjects of my cartoons (disc golf and the Earth, I suppose).

I'm curious about what you think when you saw this cartoon. I think it can be viewed in several different ways given our perspectives on the environment and the economy.

I think this is a modern version of an exercise I took part in growing up. I recall teachers in English classes asking me and others about what the author was "thinking" when he or she wrote the story we just read. The exercises were interesting and probably helped with critical thinking. On the other hand, I always thought part of it was silly -- how do we _really_ know what the author thought especially when we're looking back over decades of time and space?

Anyway, I've got a gallery of my other cartoons. The Enterprise-Record also keeps a small gallery of recent cartoons it has run on its ChicoER.com opinion section.

I'm curious about what you think about the cartoon. If you wish, please leave me a comment.

Sometimes when I'm walking on the streets of Chico, the little things will catch my attention. They can be grotesque -- like physical evidence of over-partying, but once in a while, the little things can be magical.

I was walking on East Third Street in March when I noticed an unusual clanging sound coming from the ground. I traced it to a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. grate between Main and Wall streets.

The sound was definitely mechanical, but the repetitive clanging and wheezing of the subterranean machine had an oddly musical quality to it. The sound was loud, but it diminished quickly as one moved away from the grate.

I don't know what caused the sound. It was gone the next time I walked past it a week later. It was a nice addition to the normal sights and sounds that one might see on the street.

I recorded a snippet of the sound on my cell phone. Give it a listen and tell me what you think.

Using Well Fargo's new credit card lab, I created a new design. I hope that whenever I pull out my card to buy something, the empty wallet will make me think twice about whether this purchase is something that I really need.

I was a little worried that Wells Fargo wouldn't approve the design, but it was OK'd with no problems.

This card has been in use for a couple of weeks. While it's an amusing novelty, it hasn't stopped any of my purchases.

Marueen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune sums up the situation quite well.

Personally, "Chuck" is one of the best things about television on Monday night or any other night of the week. I was recording it along with "Heroes," but it's gotten to the point where I've dropped the superhero show from my lineup and focused on "Chuck."

It's a great combination of spy drama and geek comedy with just a touch of ’80s nostalgia thrown in for kicks. Some of the plot falls apart when you probe for specifics, but it holds up for most casual viewers.

Considering all the creative energy the show has in its tanks and the lack of many strong one-hour programs on NBC (can you name two?), I hope the network considers picking up the series for at least one more year.

That show of yesterday was the incomparable "Homicide: Life on the Streets." What was the scene? It was the one where Baltimore detectives are interrogating a suspect and they hook up to a "lie detector." The gag is, and has always been, that the lie detector is really a photocopying machine but the detectives have done a convincing enough job to dupe the subject into thinking that it was a real polygraph.

The gag involves the subject placing his hand on the scanner while the detectives ask a series of three questions. The first two are gimmies -- Is your name John Doe? Do you live on Clancy Street?

The suspect would tell the truth, the detective would push the "Start" button and, lo and behold, the copier would spit out a piece of paper with the subject's handprint and the word "TRUE." Of course, the detectives had arranged the paper tray in advance to obtain that very result.

The third question is crucial -- did you kill the victim? The subject would lie and somehow the polygraph would know this -- the paper that emerges says "FALSE." Faced with such overwhelming evidence, the suspect then confesses.

Something similar did happen on the "Unusuals," although it was after one of the detectives showed the suspect body parts in a cooler and imitated the victim's voice.

I can't say the creators of this new show were lifting from "Homicide" -- It's apparently a very old tale (according to Snopes.com). In modern storytelling, the Xerox polygraph was in David Simon's 1991 book, "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" and it cropped up twice in TV shows based on Simon's work or created by Simon himself — "Homicide" and "The Wire."

That's where I first encountered the story, although even the source material alludes to the incident happening in Detroit.

Regardless of where the polygraph by photocopier originated, I wonder why we're seeing it again. It's a good gag, but shouldn't a new show strive for new ground at least for the first few episodes?

To be honest, it took me a while to realize that the switch was made. The LA broadcast looked very similar to every other edition (all other editions of "SportsCenter" continue to originate from Bristol, Conn.).

I was catching snippets of Tuesday's "SportsCenter" while at The Maltese. Every so often, there would be background footage of Los Angeles -- Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, stuff like that. I didn't think there was any major sporting event originating from LA, so the whole thing threw me off until I remembered about the changes.

At first, there don't seem to be any major changes -- the sports highlights looked the same (although the graphic presentation looks to have been updated in the past few weeks). The studio looks pretty similar to its Bristol counterpart.

I think many of the changes are beneath the surface. Some commentators have said ESPN is throwing the West Coast a bone after decades of being headquartered in New England. I think the changes could be more profound than that.

Having a production center and "SportsCenter" in Los Angeles is an excellent move on ESPN's part. Sports is increasingly becoming "sports entertainment" (to steal a phrase from pro wrestling). I think the network could have a better access to superstar athletes with their studio across the street from Staples Center instead of relatively rural Connecticut.

Being close to Hollywood could help with other things, such as their series of original movies. ESPN is also ready to kick things up to the next level of TV production -- the new studio is the first capable of producing 1080p high-definition TV.

I guess we'll see if the left coast has an influence on the worldwide leader in sports.

It was my first year of college and I was working at the student newspaper. We published the paper twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays, IIRC), but we were there other days of the week too.

Thursdays were always kind of a fun day -- the paper had just come out and we had some breathing room before next Monday. Often times, we would hang out and watch some TV in the sports office.

"ER" was one of the shows we would watch. It was 1996 and the show was in full stride. The characters were interesting and the frantic pace of the drama was exciting (even if they did seem to intubate every patient that set foot in the hospital). It also didn't hurt that our opinion editor looked like Dr. Greene.

Just as I lost track with most of my college newspaper colleagues, I haven't kept tabs with "ER" as the years have rolled past. Nonetheless, the show will have a place in my heart for entertaining us all those years ago.

We rely on computers for a lot in public -- scoreboards, timetables, ATMs, etc. For the most part, it's seamless. When it fails in a harmless way, it's funny.

During a vacation last summer, I saw two displays "crash" with Windows error messages in the space of a few hours in Salt Lake City.

One was a huge storefront display on Main Street across from the Gallivan Center TRAX station. It seemed like an elegant way to reuse a vacant storefront. However, that morning, there was a giant error window instead of pithy notes about upcoming events.

It appeared that the program driving the whole storefront display had crashed and needed attention. It probably got a decent amount of attention during that morning's commute.

A little while later, I headed to the Clark Planetarium in the Gateway Center. While I'm learning about "our" sun, I notice _another_ error message -- the screen saver apparently wouldn't engage.

This error was probably less noticeable -- it was a smaller monitor placed way above people's heads. Nonetheless, I let the museum staff know in case they can fix the problem.

As someone who is a little oriented towards technology, I have the desire to try and fix the problem even if it's none of my business -- like at the Dave & Buster's in San Jose.

The lengthy list details publications that cut days since last year. It doesn't include newspapers that have closed entirely (such as the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer).

That list includes the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News (an Enterprise-Record sister paper), which dropped four publishing weekdays starting today. I'm interested to see how that unfolds. There was higher than anticipated demand for their e-Editions this morning.

It's a reminder of the industry that is in great flux.

In other news, cartoon journalist Brenda Starr has been furloughed.

If you need a refresher about what the movie is about, it's a tale of "forbidden love between a vampire and a mortal."

Most DVDs come out on Tuesday, but there's nothing as far as I know to prevent a Saturday release. It's like movies at the theater -- most come out on Friday, but they can come out on other days as needed.

In the case of "Twilight," it's a great idea. The target audience for the film seems to be teenage girls. I can imagine the DVD fitting in well with many weekend activities, including get-togethers. A quick search shows several DVD parties are being set up (including in York, Pa..)

I like these group experiences although they can be easily mocked by outsiders. They are some of the things that make the cult movie experience worthwhile for the participants.

When someone says St. Patrick's Day, one might typically think about the traditional foods -- corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, etc. Like most holiday foods, people try to mix things up with variations often with mixed results. I can report that the corned beef and cabbage pizza from Woodstock's Pizza is a superlative success.

After my radio show, I headed out into downtown Chico to catch a little of the St. Patrick's Day festivities. Most of the parties appeared to have wound down -- I definitely saw a lot of people (and police activity) at about 8:30 p.m. Things were different post-midnight, and the crowds had largely dissipated.

The crowd at Woodstock's was modest and there was no line. I quickly queued up for a slice of their evening special -- the previously mentioned corned beef and cabbage pizza. The photo used on promotions was not totally appealing, it looked like a straightforward slice.

A regular-sized slice was $2.50, a steal for the treat I was about to eat.

The slice looked like a pretty normal piece of pizza. The melted mozzarella cheese concealed the thinly sliced cabbage and pesto sauce. The exception was the dark ruby-red chunks of corned beef scattered about.

Taking a bite, there was a great melange of flavor. The cabbage added texture and the tinniest bit of cabbage-y taste to the cheese and pesto sauce.

I was skeptical about the corned beef. The meat looked more like dry jerky instead of the roast served at the dinner table or the hash served at breakfast.

The corned beef succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. The texture wasn't overly dry. The savory, salty flavor of the meat helped to bring the entire slice together. It reminded me of the Canadian bacon served on Hawaiian pizzas, but more nuanced and potent.

Without the corned beef and cabbage, the pesto may have been overwhelming and the slice wouldn't have worked.

This cabbage and corned beef pizza definitely stands apart in the world of reinventing traditional foods.