Continuing with part 2 of the unedited Apprentice brainstorming session. Having dealt with the question of whether Corbin should have been fired (the answer being yes for those with very short attention spans) I can turn to the more pressing issue of whether Stacy R. finally speaking has caused irreparable harm to our love and scuttled the plans to change her name to Stacy D. Interestingly, the answer is no. There’s still not enough evidence to really form a solid opinion of her, but she’s starting to seem like a person who contributes when she feels she has something to contribute and sits back and listens carefully when she doesn’t, she doesn’t keep tossing out random bullshit that serves no purpose just to get attention or dominate the discussion. And when there is a clear goal before her, she digs in and attacks that goal, as demonstrated when they were trying to push a cart through Times Square congestion and she was all “Okay, coming through, watch your back” in her big floppy straw hat. Also, though I was taken aback initially by that hat, it was a practical choice for standing out in the sun all day. Maybe if all of them had taken similar precautions someone would have realized that Broadway and 42nd is half a block from 7th and 42nd, which I was glad to see mentioned in the boardroom because reader Jay O. & I were all over that as soon as the word came through on the walkie-talkie that the missing cart was, in fact, on Broadway rather than 7th and the whole team started freaking out like they had said they were in Omaha (Omaha? Well they outta know what to do with them hogs out there for sure). In defense of my sweetheart, she is far too miniscule to have been able to see anything even 10 feet away in that congestion, but everybody else certainly should have at some point during the three hour period when cart two was AWOL. These people need all the focus and clear-headed lucidity they can muster, which is why John (? the majority of the men are such indistinguishable clones that it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart: Chris, John, Kelly, Wes, who knows... Andy looks a little different and seems to think he’s a hipper, funnier cut above the pack, but it turns out that is not at all true; equally mass produced are the blonde women of Apex, Jenn M., Liz, Sandy) going apeshit over Raj wanting to eat a bagel in the morning was another strong contender for stupidest moment of the show. Especially since he was saying he’d have to get by on PowerBars, which I think may be more expensive than a bagel to begin with. This exchange had the surprising effect of flipping my opinion of Raj and he is now the only man I like. He’s insufferable, somewhat retarded, and given to sticking his bottom lip out far too frequently, but he is at least something different and interesting to a degree, which completely outclasses the rest of the pack. Granted, becoming the bastard spawn of Leon Botstein and a dandy highwayman we’re too scared to mention might not be the optimal expression of that individuality – I think I’d go for 7 monochrome jumpsuits color-coded by day myself, but that’s why they call it individuality, readers. And one last observation, raggedy old Pamela who last week seemed as though she was perhaps the most level-headed and competent of them all, revealed all that to be largely superficial, first with her pointless questions on every single aspect of gelato manufacturing, and more egregiously with her sales technique. Who is going to buy a frozen treat from a business executive standing in Times Square quietly saying “Ice cream? It’s very good. Are you sure you wouldn’t like some ice cream?” while delicately holding the product as though it were a steaming pile of soft-serve dog waste? Major lesson learned on this episode, no one is too good for anything (and no one is not good enough for anything as well, though I’m not sure that half was demonstrated in the show… well actually, when most of the guys were acting like unsophisticated asses at the caviar tasting might be along the lines of what I’m getting at). That wraps up episode 2, next week I hope to see that crazy Crest lady rolling around on the ground, or I’m marching the two blocks over to Trump Tower and demanding some answers.