I know, I know. I still need to throw in a bunch of backend code to get the comments working. And allow more people access. But work is busy, believe it or not.

One quick thing: I added the "images" section to the main pages.

Second quick thing; I hate people who start "blogs" and then proceed to update them erratically for a year or so, posting every few weeks. That's not a blog. That's a joke. I'm going to be away at the beach sometime next week, so posting will probably cut off a bit, but I hope the people I gave access to will contribute in my absence. That would be nice of them.

A Very Bad Idea. Bad Goss. We don't need MI5 here.

Zogby just made it official. Virginia is now a swing state. Go Kerry/Edwards!

Chris smacks back at the RNC spin-meisters. Good to see someone call them on it.

An interesting article about mind-reading. I already knew that people never behave "rationally" in the traditional economic sense, but some of the theories seemed very cool, like the ability to tell whether a man or a woman was on the other end of the line without actually seeing them. And then there's the funniest line:

Good stuff.

Simply hilarious. I love advertising reviews:

I cleaned. Deborah cleaned more. The house is now almost-super-shiny again. Then Jill and I hit mini-golf in Alexandria. Despite my impressive back-nine performance, I was still a stroke down heading into the final hole. Where Jill used her "second mulligan" to ice her victory. We will have to agree on the mulligan rule in advance next time.

Next we hit Krispy Kreme. Despite Jill's blasphemous doughnut denial, it WAS very tasty to eat a fresh-off-the-line doughnut. As always.

Finally we polished off the evening by hitting target and acquiring a brand new fire pit so that Ronald's inelegant "forged-with-love" pit could be replaced by a larger model. The sale price helped. The fact that I ran into a shopping cart, nearly killing a pet bird in the process, didn't.

First off, for those who haven't installed Firesomething for Firefox, go do it. I'm using Mozilla Powerpig right now. Good stuff.

Second, the weekend went well. Friday evening I was supposed to hit a quick b-day celebration for Gwyn at Madam's Organ. I arrived at my house well in advance and walked up to the Link station to wait a little after 6:00 pm. I've been burned by the Link in the past, but this evening's wait was longer than any I'd ever experienced. Over half an hour later, with no Link in sight, a passing regular bus was hailed. If WMATA hadn't converted all the buses in the system to smartrip-capabale, I probably would've just snagged a cab. As it was, I arrived over an hour late for the establishment in question. Now normally, I'm not a huge fan of Madam's Organ, but a 2 for 1 drink deal certainly helped my attitude significantly. By the time I had to jet to yet another event, I actually had to:

1. purchase another beverage to hit the credit-card minimum
2. give away the second (free!) beverage to escape in a timely fashion

Fortunately, my hatred for waste was ameliorated as someone stepped up quickly to get their free beverage, and I rolled outside. I was supposed to move to another birthday bash next, in this instance, for Nicole's sister. Before then, though, I needed to meet up with a co-worker and Jill. Killing time outside the Organ, I called up a few friends and was therefore surprised to see Nicole's sister and a friend emerge from said Morg haunt minutes later. (I was already well on my way to a perfectly fashionably late appearance, helped by my Link Adventure earlier..) Since the b-day party couldn't really begin until Nicole's sister was there, I didn't understand. Turns out a free drink was involved, echoing my situation as well.

Soon our merry threesome was boosted to four, and then five, as we journeyed east on Euclid. After we hit 13th street, we entered a super-cool house with a brilliantly designed interior topped only by the immaculate backyard. Food and frivolity followed and a good time was had by all.

Saturday dawned dimly, with the threat of rain dampening my spirit soddened...er...spirits. Things began to brighten significantly once I did a mental calculation of the additional items that needed to be purchased for the party that night. The financial damage, although significant, was not nearly as bad as it could've been. I cleaned up several areas of the house, then jumped in my temporary vehicle to head for the super-cool-RIA Giant to bulk up on food. The rain was still coming down, so when I arrived at the supermarket the lack of shopping carts didn't surprise me. I walked out into the parking lot and grabbed the final one left, bringing it back into the dry covered area just as a Giant employee arrived to go bring some of the wayward carts back inside for an elderly woman. Ever the gentleman, I offered my cart to the very old woman. She demurred, and the Giant employee said "I'm getting her a cart, just go inside." As soon as the employee left to go back into the rain, I handed the old woman my cart, insisted she take it, and waited for the employee to get another cart. As she retreives only the second cart in the lot, I walk towards her (in the rain) and take it, just as another woman begins yelling at the employee for not helping her first. The employee barely wastes a second to say "he was next in line" before going back into the rain. I felt like a jerk but I certainly wasn't going to wait another ten minutes to get a cart after I'd already blown 15 because of my generosity. I'm not an idiot. I just play one on tv.

Food acquisition took much longer than anticipated, as the rain had conspired with a run on party supplies to leave everything with low inventory. When I finally emerged I realized that I was hungry, that I need to buzz by an ABC store, and that I didn't want to go out again. Not wishing to have my wallet emptied at the Barrel House, I drove towards Truzton Circle to pick up an early dinner. En route, I passed by "Minnesota Ave. Liquor Store" and decided to drop in.

Upon entering, the store looked like a robbery in progress. A case of beer lay broken on the floor, with two guys yelling at the cash register woman and a third insisting that things were okay, that everything was okay to the shop owner. I walked in, nudged the broken bottles and proceeded to stare behind the plexiglass at the more valuable merchandise. Gradually things calmed down, with the guys paying the store for the broken beer, followed by one of the two men hitting on a sixty year-old woman. (Pretty revolting, if you've never seen in done before.) I got my stuff, walked outside, saw the grandma still getting hit on with both barrels, and drove off. Surreal. A triple-classic and truxton later, I was back home, with the rain still pouring down, reading to clean more werkz grime off the floor.

The cleaning went smoothly and soon Ronald and Deborah and I were chilling out with Kristen, the house super shiny, the food prepared and drinks chilled. The rain stopped shortly before zero-hour, enabling both roof access and garden chatting fun. (Those who smoked could do so at their leisure...no snarky comments, Loaf!)

I was fairly busy this party with host duties, although I am pleased to say that no cars were wrecked, people killed, or items lit on fire. Damages overall were light (someone saw fit to destroy my porcelain toilet bowl cleaner stand!) and though there was some verbal sparring, no fights broke out. Despite the absence of a few regulars (Brad's familial obligations in Alabama demanded his attention...all attendees expressed their sympathy/annoyance of absence), the number of new attendees signalled a smashing success, with many new connections (of both the e-mail and phone-number variety) setup. We even had some local press royalty in attendance. The next bash will simply have to be bigger and bolder than before, despite the already high bar set...

So I just watched last night's Daily Show on my TiVo this morning. It was good as it always is, especially when they contrasted Kerry saying "more sensitive" with Bush saying "more sensitive" at the exact same event the day before. Of course, then I realized the problem: The Daily Show is an excellent show. The Daily Show is on Comedy Central. Hence, like all other good Comedy Central shows, The Daily Show will probably be snapped up by a network and mauled until it dies. (See Politically Incorrect, Whose Line Is It Anyway, etc.)

Well, enjoy it while it lasts...

One thing I noticed about NYC the last time I was there. Damn, it was dirty. DC, by comparison, is not only clean above ground but also below. Just walking to the bank I passed at least five different city employees with large trashcans picking up the odd gum wrapper on the ground. They seemed like overkill...but if the result is super-clean-district, I'm all for it.

Mcgreevey is gone. Frankly, I didn't think things could get weirder than the hiring-a-hooker-personally-to-avoid-the-middleman-to... ensnare-my-brother-in-law-to... force-my-sister-to-not-testify-against-me moment. But now the israeli-man-hired-as-security-consultant is firing back! Life: you'd reject this screenplay over and over again for some dumb flick involving asteroids and animal crackers.

Oh, please, no climbing the Golan heights jokes...

Go read this WaPo story by Howard Kurtz about the lack of coverage for alternate viewpoints leading up to the Iraq war. I think the Post did a poor job of elevating critical stories, but some of the most illogical statements come from upper level editors who seemed to think that voices of dissent within the administration, by not going on background, didn't lead credence to their stories. This of course, was going on while numerous officials went "on background" to sell the war. This echoes the bizarre Condi Rice/Wolf Blitzer moment when Dr Rice attempted to explain away the "outing" of a Pakistani double-agent by claiming "background" briefings were responsible for the mistake. Why doesn't someone call them on this? At least Dan Froomkin is beating the drum for more coverage.

Speaking of Froomkin, the WaPo has really started to embrace the internet. Tons of their stories now contain rss feeds, and on the sidebar, it even lists the "most popular articles" in each section. It just goes to show you what people are reading. (Hint: it has to do with WMD today!)

Kerry is looking good in Gore country. And reporters are starting to comment (scroll to the end) on Bush's scripted Q and A sessions. The combination should allow Kerry to focus on Bush's turf, which bodes well not only for his electoral prospects, but for down-ticket races as well. Everyone knew we'd be focusing on Ohio. But Virginia? That's the real gem.

Read this post by Atrios regarding Kerry's Vietnam service. These crazy conservatives somehow have the ability to inject incorrect memes into the public discourse which fairly soon are picked up by rational people as "truth" despite their dishonest.

Some people I know through Deborah volunteered to becomes members of the National Guard band in order to continue their skiing lifestyle. When they were called up to Iraq, they were obviously surprised. But still, regardless of what they actually end up doing over there, they will have "served in Iraq". Likewise, the fact that Kerry actually trained before deployment, or that he spend some time on a boat in the Navy indicates nothing unusual. The fact that he actually entered a combat zone does. Most people in the armed services don't run around taking enemy fire. Surprised? You shouldn't be. The jet engines, motors, propellors and cranks that enable us to fight around the world require a huge amount of logistics....not to mention feeding, clothing and housing an entire army of men and women. Kerry volunteered for combat duty. Bush got drunk and forgot to show up for his desk job. (Remember, the aircraft Bush was supposed to be training on weren't around in Alabama!) Enough said.

Grr. I wrote a lengthy post on the rest of the week and then closed my browser before posting. Very annoying.

Reader's Digest summary:

• Sunday: ate at Spiderman diner. Awful Service. Somewhat Tasty Food. Drove to New Jersey. Passed hamlet of Cheesequake. Witnessed extreme lack of public beaches. Swore. Drove south. Went to National Park for "free" beach. Forced to pay fee. Swore. Drove east through NJ. Found White Castle. Ordered meal. WC totally screws up order. Swore. Drove back to DC.
• Monday: went to work. Left and headed down to the Mall to see "The Thin Man". Laughed a great deal at alcoholic couples. (On-screen.)
• Tuesday: I learned my longest greatest streak, of having no blood relations expire, may come to an end. A hectic afternoon of planning ensued. I hate the idiotic booking system for airlines.
• Wednesday: drove relatives to the airport absurdly early. Consumed a tasty chic-fil-a breakfast bagel. Said bagel used chicken on it. Extremely worth the drive to BWI just of chicken bagel breakfast sandwich. Spent rest of the day working hard.