As much as I like to make fun of it, I also can’t help it: I’m pretty pop culture-aware. I’m a big fan of The AV Club, and listen to a couple of podcasts about pop culture at large, namely AV Club’s Reasonable Discussions and Slate’s Culture Gabfest. I watched the living hell out of all those I Love the [Decade]s on VH1, and my DVR can fairly often approach terrifying levels of full. What would I do if my DVR decided to delete a show from a week ago with no warning?! It would clearly be the worst thing to happen EVER.

The reason I bring up AV Club’s and Slate’s pop culture podcasts is because I’m going to steal an idea from them, vague as it may be. As the final segment on both of these, AV Club and Slate each lay out a couple of things the contributors may have just been enjoying, in Extracurricular Activities and Endorsements, respectively. Each contributor takes a turn in recommending something, anything that they’ve enjoyed, whether it be a book or a TV show that they didn’t find a way to discuss otherwise.

I’m going to go ahead and cop that idea with What 3 (Or So) Anythings I’m Loving This Week.

1. How I Met Your Mother’s Back, Y’all!

I can’t help it. This typical American sitcom is a show I can’t get enough of. It doesn’t veer too far off the beaten path of the feel-good, “TV as comfort food” formula, but damn it when is Ted going to meet the love of his life?! I need to know! Aside from that, the show is plain funny, and 7 years on, it’s still strong. The first two episodes of the new season aired on Monday, and they didn’t disappoint.

2. Conan O’Brien’s Announced Grand (Temporary) Return to New York City!

For one glorious week in the beginning of November, which coincidentally is totally when Sweeps is, Conan O’Brien will be doing shows out of The Beacon Theater in New York. Who knows if it’ll color the material of his TBS show at all, but it’s been a long time since he’s done a TV show on the east coast. I’m excited, and obviously already signed up for a chance to get tickets like the sad fanboy I am.

3. You Can Probably Just Inject Pumpkin-Flavored Whatever Directly Into My Veins and Get It Over With

Oh yes. The fall is probably the greatest of the seasons, since it features cooler, non-disgusting weather, Thanksgiving, and most of all, pumpkin-flavored coffee, muffins, and beer.  I’ll be revisiting this topic again pretty soon in reference to coffee because there’s one flavor that utterly dominates (this is serious business, people) the Pumpkin-Spice Latte. For now though, let’s all have a sip of Starbucks’ overly sweet, probably-deadly concoction because man oh man is it good times.