Can a grammar wizard help me?

When I write or speak, I keep finding myself saying "If I were..." or "If he were..." Intellectually, I keep thinking those should be "was", since the verb is singular. (Interestingly enough, I am less likely to use "were" if there is a noun rather than a pronoun in the sentence.)

I'm trying to figure out why I do this. Is there some sort of, I don't know, speculative verb tense?

(no subject)

I posted a madameverdi question a little while ago. For various reasons, I like this one. It just sounds like, well, me.

It's Tuesday night...

I am definitely going to keep watching The Amazing Race: I want to see how long it is before somebody decks Rob Mariano, so I can cheer wildly.

One of the things I've always liked about Race is that it wasn't Survivor: people engaged in minor pettiness and slight sneakiness, but nothing really underhanded. But in two weeks, Boston Rob has already demonstrated that he is willing to inject Survivor-type nastiness into what was otherwise a relatively above-board contest. Bribing security guards to withhold information from other teams, and then lying about what you've done? And then having the chutzpah to get indignant when people call you a liar? Not to mention going in with three other teams to bribe a bus driver to only open one door of a bus (those teams are racking up negative karma points, too -- the nastiness is infectious), and then pocketing your portion of the bribe.

Even Victoria and Jonathan last season weren't this annoying.