Random thoughts as the continent swelters

* I have a new guilty pleasure. Since I've already admitted, embarassingly, that I watch The Apprentice, which is on hiatus these days, I watched another reality show, Hell's Kitchen, for the first time tonight - and sort of liked it.

It's the same basic premise; a group of contestants trying to win a position, in this case, of chef of a new restaurant that's being constructed in the Red Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. They compete in a restaurant set up right now in, I think, Los Angeles (I just saw one episode so I'm still trying to figure out who's who, and what's going on) under the eyes of a British chef, Gordon Ramsay, who is one of the most foul-mouthed, obnoxious guys you have ever seen on TV. I love it! He's definitely more of an interesting character than Donald Trump.

* I just read that the reason former supermodel Christie Brinkley has separated from her (third) husband is that he was apparently cheating on her with a 19-year-old who was working in his office.

That's shocking that a guy would get involved with a 19-year-old girl. Terrible. Just outrageous.

* What can keep me in from a free meal/drink session in midtown? Temperatures up the wazoo, thank you. I got invited to a little media soiree tonight at Joe Allen's, but I've got the a-c cranked and drinking chilled white wine and could not even contemplate the thought of braving the Times Square area. And Tuesday is supposed to be even hotter than today. I may not leave my apartment until approximately, oh, Thursday.