Rove Will Leave Because He' s Smart

Come on. Let's talk 2008. Is Rove, the most savvy political consultant currently alive, going to miss the chance to start working for someone else who can win the White House in 2008? He has to be in the middle of the action. He's got to get out of this White House and start building a new one. He just needs the right exit strategy -- a little political sleight of hand. And I still think there are more Republicans gunning for him than Democrats.

Just Say Yes To Sleeping Naked

Okay, Bacchus, I guess you have the last word on this subject.

"I Will Restore Honor and Dignity To The White House"

Whoops, I guess Bush kind of blew it.

Libby Resigned

Statement has come down that Scooter Libby's letter of resignation was given to Andrew Card earlier today.

Liars

Remember this book, Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken from that hot summer of 2003?

So the only guy who lied about anything was I. Lewis Libby?

Why do I get the feeling this guy is the not the only liar?

Libby Indicted

The documents have come down. Libby lied about learning of Valerie Plame's identity. Did he learn about it from reporters? No. Did he learn about it from Rove. Nope.

He learned about it from Cheney. Yes, that would be the Vice President of the United States.

Check this out:

The five-count indictment accuses Libby of lying about how and when he learned about CIA official Valerie Plane's identity in 2003 and then told reporters about it. The information was classified. -- AP Wire

Fitzgerald : Website Where Documents Should Appear

U.S. Department of Justice -- Office of the Special Counsel link right here.

Plamegate: We Have X-Ray Glasses

I need a tall ladder to climb all the way up today and look at this political landscape from a great distance. Something has changed radically. Bloggers know something has changed. Reporters know something has changed. Do politicians know something has changed?

When I was a kid, I'd read comic books and in the back pages, you could send away for those high-tech X-Ray Glasses to see through people. Remember the picture? They were cool. You could look through people's clothes!

If you had your X-Ray glasses, everything and everyone was transparent. You know where I'm going with this.

Woodward and Bernstein needed a dark garage and a guy named "Deep Throat" to find out what was going on and see the light. Now we have bloggers who demand transparency. And we have bloggers to keep mainstream media honest. And everything moves SO FAST as the ideas go tearing around the blogosphere and around the world.

There's no place to hide when we bloggers don our X-Ray glasses. There are no secrets. There's no TIME for secrets.

Office of Special Counsel

Patrick J. Fitzgerald
Washington Office: Bond Federal Building
1400 New York Avenue
Washington, DC 20530

Please address all correspondence to the Washington Office
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFRIDAY OCTOBER 28, 2005 www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc

PRESS CONTACTS: DOJ Public Affairs (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888

*******MEDIA ADVISORY*******

SPECIAL COUNSEL PATRICK J. FITZGERALD
TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald will hold a press conference at 2:00 P.M. EDT today, Friday October 28, 2005, regarding the status of the Special Counsel's criminal investigations.

WHO: Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald FBI Special Agent-in-Charge John C. Eckenrode

WHAT: Release of public information and press conference

WHERE: Department of Justice 7th Floor Conference Center 950 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530

NOTE: 7th floor access to reporters at 11 A.M. EDT Cameras allowed access at noon EDT Cameras must pre-set by 1:00 P.M. EDT
NO LIVE SHOTS INSIDE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT UNTIL
1:45 P.M. DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS

NOTE: ALL MEDIA MUST PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO ID (such as driver’s license) as well as VALID MEDIA CREDENTIALS. ONCE MEDIA ARE ESCORTED TO THE 7th FLOOR, THEY MUST REMAIN UNTIL THE CONCLUSION OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE.

Press inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to the Department of Justice at (202) 514-2007.
# # # #

Counterprogramming: Bette Chatting Up Martha

Hulaween is Bette Midler's idea of how to spend Halloween -- she's on Martha Stewart's show talking about that this morning as Wolf Blitzer's in The Situation Room on CNN releasing the Bush White House indictment news.

Martha and Bette are demonstrating her favorite new laundry appliance, her "mangler" and Martha's talking about how she mangles in the middle of the night when she can't sleep.

Bette rants how menopausal she is and can never sleep for that reason. Martha says she'd rather mangle. And tells Bette sleeping is highly overrated.

Bette disagrees seriously -- "I love sleep!"

Bush's government is getting mangled and the girls are dishing in Martha's kitchen.

Rove

I'm so glad Rove hasn't been indicted, he's such a lovely person.

2:00 Fitzgerald News Conference

More at 2:00, but Fitzgerald's recommending Lewis Libby be indicted per CNN.

Evelyn Rodriguez Is A Rock Star

So check this post out. I had done a post a while back about Kevin Sites being marketed like a rock star on Yahoo and how it was just a little too much, but Evelyn Rodriguez disagreed with me and makes a good case for why he is.

And the more I read of her stuff, the more I think SHE is a rock star. And I won't call her "that blogger who survived the tsunami" even though she is best known for that of late. She's doing a very interesting project related to that fateful day : December 26, 2004.

Halloween Hell

It's a dog's life.

How, Exactly, Is This A Mermaid Costume?

I think I'm missing something. They say this is an Ariel Mermaid Costume.

Oh, wait, maybe this is one of those Greenpeace campaigns where they want to keep sea creatures from getting tangled up in nets. Certainly would be a memorable initiative and get Greenpeace some good publicity.

Doc's Black Leather Pants

Now Doc, I won't even ASK how you came up with this fabulous link to a pair of black leater pants on eBay.

The copy is priceless -- the way the guy writes about these unfortunate pants -- and how he ended up with said pants.

But Doc, what the heck you been up to ... shopping for black leather pants. Very interesting ... :)

You are bidding on a mistake.

We all make mistakes. We date the wrong people for too long. We chew gum with our mouths open. We say inappropriate things in front of grandma.

And we buy leather pants.

I can explain these pants and why they are in my possession. I bought them many, many years ago under the spell of a woman whom I believed to have taste. She suggested I try them on. I did. She said they looked good. I wanted to have a relationship of sorts with her. I’m stupid and prone to impulsive decisions. I bought the pants.

The relationship, probably for better, never materialized. The girl, whose name I can’t even recall, is a distant memory. I think she was short.

Ultimately the pants were placed in the closet where they have remained, unworn, for nearly a decade. I would like to emphasize that: Aside from trying these pants on, they have never, ever been worn. In public or private.

I have not worn these leather pants for the following reasons:

I am not a member of Queen.
I do not like motorcycles.
I am not Rod Stewart.
I am not French.
I do not cruise for transvestites in an expensive sports car.

These were not cheap leather pants. They are Donna Karan leather pants. They’re for men. Brave men, I would think. Perhaps tattooed, pierced men. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say you either have to be very tough, very gay, or very famous to wear these pants and get away with it.

Again, they’re men’s pants, but they’d probably look great on the right lady. Ladies can get away with leather pants much more often than men can. It’s a sad fact that men who own leather pants will have to come to terms with.

They are size 34x34. I am no longer size 34x34, so even were I to suddenly decide I was a famous gay biker I would not be able to wear these pants. These pants are destined for someone else. For reasons unknown - perhaps to keep my options open, in case I wanted to become a pirate - I have shuffled these unworn pants from house to house, closet to closet. Alas, it is now time to part ways so that I may use the extra room for any rhinestone-studded jeans I may purchase in the future.

These pants are in excellent condition. They were never taken on pirate expeditions. They weren’t worn onstage. They didn’t straddle a Harley, or a guy named Harley. They just hung there, sad and ignored, for a few presidencies.

Someone, somewhere, will look great in these pants. I’m hoping that someone is you, or that you can be suckered into buying them by a girl you’re trying to bed.

Please buy these leather pants.

Halloween Flirty Pirate Costume

And can you ever get enough Flirty Pirate Costumes?

Hello Halloween Costumes

I'm going to try to come up with my choices for sexiest Halloween Costume, dumbest Halloween Costume, funniest Halloween Costume and put some links in here throughout the day. Keep coming back to check my links.

I saw a Spiderman costume for a dog which may rate in "dumbest" but also might win in the "funniest" category. I'll go search it.

I gotta say, I love this red latex devil girl.

LATER:

Okay, you're dog was not meant to look like Princess Leia, believe me.

I actually find this to be very sexy. It's all about what you DON'T reveal.

Please, guys, resist the urge.

Day In The Life: American Women

This book looks great and my new buddy Melissa Summers of Suburban Bliss and Bloggingbaby fame, is featured in it! I can't wait to read it.

The Best Thing About Today

I'm feeling really good today -- not at all sure why -- but one contributing factor is having an empty calendar today. A bunch of people tried to book stuff with me today, but I needed a X-on-the-calendar-day to just regroup, work, rest, plan for next week.

I literally put an X on the day so I won't be tempted to book it. Lots going on now and it would be easy to give the day away, but I was steadfast and now I'm so glad of it, because I have a lot to do and need to feel free to work without interruption.

Strengths And Weaknesses: Needs Improvement? Not Me!

Ever have to write something stupid like this -- STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES -- for a job interview or a performance appraisal?

I can be a big smart ass when it comes to writing crap like this.

I had a really good job in a real company with real benefits like a predictable paycheck and stuff in late '80's, early 90's ... I mean I actually was there over five years.

The first year my modern feminist girl boss wanted me to "assess myself" which sounded fun at first.

There was a whole page of strengths to fill out and I was way into that, I jammed the page with tales of my many talents.

And then there was this page about weaknesses and "Needs Improvement" and I brought the whole package back to her with that last page blank.

She was puzzled. "You didn't fill this out -- the "Needs Improvement" section" she said.

"I don't need improvement," I told her.

She just stared at me.

I looked at her like she was nuts, "Why would I fill that out? I'm not telling you what's wrong with me. You gotta find that out on your own. I don't come here every day looking for improvement. Let's make a deal, I won't try to improve you and you don't have to bother improving me."

Ah, the slippery slope of corporate intercourse ... I was headed straight out the door to Free Agent Nation even back then.

And Then There Were The Leftovers From The Party

Had a little dinner party last night and there were some really delicious things left over from last night which I'm stuffing in my face for breakfast ... like camembert cheese and this French bread that's so good.

Oh, heck, life is good.

And I heard WEIRDLY -- it might actually snow tomorrow!! Pretty darned early for us. Pumpkins covered in snow!?!

I Slept Like A Log

That's definately one of the reasons I feel so good. Woke up with that perfect combo of the blankets all snuggled in around me in all the right places, the room cool, almost cold, the bed warm. Can't be beat.

I Feel So Good Today

I don't know why exactly, but I feel so good today.

Miers: Devil (We Knew) With The Blue Dress On

Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination for the Supreme Court. Interesting, when I recall all the times I heard David Brooks on the talk shows this weekend mentioning that Bush would NEVER let her do that.

I think liberal bloggers like me preferred Miers becoming the devil we knew and now wait for the next nomination which will be a devil we don't know and should not look forward to.

Jeff Jarvis had a good take on the unlikely events we've been seeing in the Blogosphere and Beltosphere -- Conservatives tearing down Miers and Liberals ripping up The New York Times! Go Figure!

Well, it was an interesting day on cable Sunday. On Reliable Sources, we saw the right going after the right over Harriet Miers and we saw the left going after the paper of the left on Judy Miller. Echo chamber? What echo chamber? Echo chamber? What echo chamber?

Sox Win The World Series

Wish they were RED not WHITE, but congratulations to Chicago, they rock!

Skating On Thick Ice

I got a chance to go ice skating this afternoon at our local rink. There was a half day of school and so the rink figured they would schedule an open general skating session from 1:00 to 3:00.

I guess most kids and most parents hadn't heard about it. It was nearly empty, which made it a treat.

The rink is a hockey regulation sized rink -- really large and is kept in excellent shape. The Zamboni probably uses far more gas and does more weekly mileage than my car.

My son was skating with me and at 10 years old, having been in this same town for more than five years now from Kindergarden to Fifth Grade, has a pile of friends and even with the rink fairly empty, found some good buddies to skate with.

The flow of skating, as your weight shifts lightly from foot to foot and you go whizzing by, feels a bit like flying. It's meditative and inspiring. It's a wonderful thing to know how to do. I'm thankful my mom made me learn it as a kid.

I really just felt so good today skating, like I was an angel flying along. So grateful my spine and coccyx are healed and I have the courage to be back at it. The summer rollerblading has yielded to icy ice skating but the flow and freedom are the same. I feel so lucky to watch my son growing up, growing strong, having fun.

The chshsh, chshsh, chshsh of my blades rhytmically hitting the ice and the combination of the physical work of the sport warming me up, with the fun of it made it a lovely afternoon.

The circles in the ice, the laps around the rink brought another moment of realization that we are only alive right now. As I skated I thought if I had to die tomorrow, I'm really so lucky and have so much in this life, I'd go knowing that fullness is enough, that I am blessed.

My Teapot, My Cup, My Mouse, My Desk
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Microsoft Campus On A Pretty Fall Day.
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Redmond Picture -- MSN Visit -- Nice Yellow Fall Leaves.
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Fati Zongo: Permission Marketing Guru

DEAR,

I crave your indulgence at this mail coming from somebody
you have not know before. I decided to do this after
praying over the situation. You should please consider the
transaction on its content and not the fact that you have
not known me before.I need not dwell on how I came by your
contact information because there are many such
possibilities these days.

I would like to introduce myself as Mrs. FATI ZONGO, of
Repulic of Benin,widow to Late CHIEF;JULIUS .O .ZONGO (for
Consular of the benin I have been recently been
daigonosed of Cancer of the Pelvics. I am writing from my
sick bed.There is this US10.5Million my husband has in an
account with the African Development Bank, Benin of which
I am the next of kin. With my health condition and because
my husband and I have no children, I am
looking for a credible person to whom I will pass the
right of next of kin.This person will apply to the bank
and request for the transfer of the fund to his/her bank
account.This is on the condition that you will take 25% of
the fund for yourself, 5% used for expenses, while you
will use the remaining 70% for the less previlege people
in the society.

This is in fulfilment of the last request of my husband:
that a substantial part of the fund be used to carter for
the less previleged. If this condition is acceptable to
you, you should contact me immediately with your full
names and contact information so that I will ask our
family lawyer to prepare the authorization that will give
you the right of next of kin to the account in the bank.
I will also give you a text of the application you are to
send to the bank.I cannot predict what will be my fate by
the time the fund willbe transfered into your account,
but you should please ensure that the fund is used as i
have described above.

I look forward to your response.

Yours,

Mrs.FATI

NOTE: THE DEED OF LODGEMENT WILL BE SENT TO YOU UPON
RECEIPT OF YOUR RESPONSE OF THIS EMAIL MESSAGE .

FATI
=======================================================
Ikuti Kuis Ramadhan bersama TelkomNet Instan dari
12 Oktober s.d 2
Nopember 2005 di

Search Me

I just did a Google search and the next "sort" I really wanted to do on the data was "BY MEDIA" and it would have been very useful to have the results sorted by MSM Newspapers, Blogs, Wire stories, since I was looking for a review of a program and not just a mention of it.

Unless I'm really missing something, I don't believe you can do this. Free free to tell me I'm wrong.

Summer Picture: Happy Halley
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About The Wilma Weather

Hey, it's really cold, rainy and windy here. Won't be wearing my pink summer dress again for months and months.

Hurricane Wilma is giving us a little visit. Nothing like what they got in Mexico or Florida, but you can't miss her arrival here. I have trees down in the backyard woods, looks like horizontal chopsticks out there.

Summer Picture: Hello!
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Summer Picture: Halley Saying "Get Outta Here!"
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Summer Picture: Halley Talking On The Phone
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Joe Conason on The Miller Affair

At the New York Observer, Conason gets it right and articulates it boldly:

The saddest aspect of the Miller saga is how the misplaced loyalty of her bosses led to their humiliation twice over. They entrusted her with journalistic latitude far beyond what her competence and integrity merited. They defended her—indeed, lionized her—long after her flaws and falsehoods had been laid bare.

And now her own words prove that from the beginning of this strange episode, she ignored their rules, betrayed their confidence and disgraced their stewardship of a great American institution.

Arianna All Over It Per Usual

I totally love Arianna. She's all over the Judy Miller saga ... or the Pinch and Judy Show as we're all calling it.

"What does someone have to do to get fired at the New York Times?

More and more, it's looking like the biggest problem at the Times is not a Judy Miller problem -- it's an Arthur Sulzberger problem.

He's the constant. Judy was allowed to be Miss Run Amok under Howell Raines and Joe Lelyweld and Bill Keller because Sulzberger had, as Judy put it, "metaphorically and literally" put his arms around her -- including, as Gabriel Sherman reports, meeting with her Monday in New York.

Which is why ridding the Times of Judy Miller will not, by itself, bring closure to this latest scandal. And neither will ridding the Times of Bill Keller, because those at the paper know full well that he was acting as a loyal lieutenant.

It will only happen with the ouster of Sulzberger.

How likely is this? Extremely unlikely." --

Huffington Herself,
Huffington Post

More Serious Newsworthy News Of A Serious Nature

I know you've gotten used to seeing a pink box here and knowing it's a direct quote from some other news source on a serious subject. Count on me to keep you informed on all hard news.

I don’t recall the date. It was a couple of years ago, a little after one in the morning. I do remember the glow of the digital clock that faced me. I don’t remember what spark had sent me down the self-pleasuring route, but I was lying on my right side, slowly stroking myself with my left, thinking about… I don’t recall. I fantasise about so many different things, so many different faces, past, present and future.

I stroked myself, my body almost completely still, only my left arm moving. It was a warm night, and I’d pushed the bed covers away. The sensations were building, and perhaps that combined with the lateness of the hour, had dulled my awareness of the world about me. When MW reached over my hip with her left hand, I was caught completely off-guard.

Her lips were right next to my ear when she whispered, “Do you need a hand with that?”

Before I had the chance to even stutter guiltily, she had overlaid my hand with her own, matching my movements as I stroked myself. Any shame I might have experienced at being caught was quickly obliterated by my excitement at MW’s intervention. This was virgin territory for us. Not wanting her to feel superfluous, I quickly relinquished control to her and drew my hand away. -- The Link

Sexy Blogs

Okay, folks feel free to recommend some sexy blogs -- not your own. There are a lot, but what I'm really after are ones that are not too blatant or raunchy.

Tish: Sorry It Took So Long

Hey, Tish, love your blog girl and sorry it took so long to put the proper link in the blogroll over there. It should be fixed now.

Cheney

Read this:
New York: APWire: Cheney Cited As Source in CIA Leak

"Disclosing the identify of a covert CIA agent can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent is classified as working undercover.

The Times quoted lawyers involved in the case as saying they had no indication Fitzgerald was considering charging Cheney with a crime.

But the paper said any efforts by Libby to steer investigators away from his conversation with Cheney might be viewed by a prosecutor as attempt to impede the inquiry, which could be a crime."

Detainee Abuse Ban: Get Out Of Jail Free Card

A piece from The New York Times about how the White House would like to gut the McCain Proposal. Surely they deserve a pile of Get Out Of Jail Free Cards that would let them yank anyone in or out of jail and torture them at their discretion. "Come on, John, can't we get the right to do what the hell we please!?! We're nice guys, trust us!"

Don't you just love all the compassion this holier-than-thou off-white houseful of Compassionate Conservatives has shown towards others? I'm a Christian and there's nothing about what they do that reminds me in any way of Christ.

Can you imagine someone having the balls to propose this to John McCain's face after what he went through as a POW in Vietnam? It's incredible.

"White House Is Seeking Exception in Detainee Abuse Ban

By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 - Stepping up a confrontation with the Senate over the handling of detainees, the White House is insisting that the Central Intelligence Agency be exempted from a proposed ban on abusive treatment of suspected Qaeda militants and other terrorists.

The Senate defied a presidential veto threat nearly three weeks ago and approved, 90 to 9, an amendment to a $440 billion military spending bill that would ban the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of any detainee held by the United States government. This could bar some techniques that the C.I.A. has used in some interrogations overseas.

But in a 45-minute meeting last Thursday, Vice President Dick Cheney and the C.I.A. director, Porter J. Goss, urged Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who wrote the amendment, to support an exemption for the agency, arguing that the president needed maximum flexibility in dealing with the global war on terrorism, said two government officials who were briefed on the meeting. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the discussions.

Mr. McCain rejected the proposed exemption, which stated that the measure "shall not apply with respect to clandestine counterterrorism operations conducted abroad, with respect to terrorists who are not citizens of the United States, that are carried out by an element of the United States government other than the Department of Defense and are consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States and treaties to which the United States is a party, if the president determines that such operations are vital to the protection of the United States or its citizens from terrorist attack."

Spokesmen for Mr. McCain, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Goss all declined to comment on the matter Monday, citing the confidentiality of the talks.

Human rights organizations said Monday that it was unclear whether the language in the changes proposed by the White House meant that the president would decide exemptions case by case or whether there would be more of a blanket authority. But they said the administration's proposal would seriously undermine Mr. McCain's measure.

Elisa Massimino, Washington director of Human Rights First, formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, said the administration had interpreted an international treaty banning torture to mean that a prohibition against cruel and inhumane treatment did not apply to C.I.A. actions overseas.

"That's why the McCain amendment is important, and that's why this language they're floating now would gut it," said Ms. Massimino, who provided a copy of the administration's proposed changes to The New York Times.

Human rights advocates said that creating parallel sets of interrogation rules for military personnel and clandestine intelligence operatives was impractical in the war on terrorism, where soldiers and spies routinely cross paths on a global battlefield and often share techniques

"They are explicitly saying, for the first time, that the intelligence community should have the ability to treat prisoners inhumanely," Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said. "You can't tell soldiers that inhumane treatment is always morally wrong if they see with their own eyes that C.I.A. personnel are allowed to engage in it."

Mr. McCain's provision faces stiff opposition in the House, which did not include similar language in its version of the spending bill.

The White House has threatened to veto any bill that includes the McCain provision, contending that it would bind the president's hands in wartime.

But Mr. McCain has kept the pressure on as the issue moves to a House-Senate conference committee, perhaps later this week or next. Shortly after the Senate vote on Oct. 5, Mr. McCain's staff sent members of the conference committee letters endorsing the provision signed by more than two dozen retired senior military officers, including former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and John M. Shalikashvili, both former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The matter will probably be settled in a private meeting in the next week or two among four senior lawmakers: Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and Representative C. W. Bill Young of Florida, both Republicans; and Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii and Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, both Democrats. All are on the conference committee.

Mr. McCain originally offered his measure earlier this year, when the Senate was working on a bill setting Pentagon policy. But Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, scuttled that bill, partly because of White House opposition to the amendment.

Now it appears that senators have struck a deal to revive the budget bill for Senate floor debate and action. One of the principal amendments that Democrats are expected to offer, sponsored by Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, would create an independent commission to review accusations of prisoner abuse by American forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere. The White House has also threatened a presidential veto if any bill comes to Mr. Bush's desk that contains the provision."

Can't Keep A Good Kept Man Down

Seth's blog is really good. It's insane. He's wild. He was Jerry Hall's choice for a "Kept Man" on her reality TV show, but now that the shows over and he's really writing, he's doing some cool shit.

I also lived in LA and now in Boston, so I really dig that angle.

Read this:

It's amazing how fast your life goes by. You think back to all the good times, and the bad. The ones I had to deal with by myself were the toughest. When it comes down to it, you’re really the only one who can make things right with yourself. I drove down to Long Beach yesterday to have a look at my childhood neighborhood. I lived there until my mom died right around the age of 11. I parked my car right in front of my old house and couldn't believe how small it looked. For not being there in so long I remember the whole layout. I walked around to the back and recalled a time when I didn't have my house key. (which was later tied around my neck for obvious reasons) I used to climb through this tiny window. I must have been so small back then.

Cool Blog: Lire Est Une Plaisir

I like this French blog roughly translated, "Reading Is A Pleasure" -- except in French it rhymes. Brice Depasse is the blogger.

Check it out.

Easier Said Than Done

I've been asked to pick out ten of my favorite blogs. At first, that didn't sound too tough, but you try it.

Ten is both ... very few and sortof too many to recommend.

Did you ever plan a wedding? It's easy to do a very small one or a very big one, but a wedding of middle size is tricky. And like a wedding guest list, you are guaranteed to hurt a lot of people's feelings who are NOT on the list.

Despite this, I'm coming up with ten. The good news is my list gets to change and add some people every month (with the bad news being the need to subtract some too) but will remain at 10.

I've wanted to make a list of "blogs in general" I love to read AND a list of "sexy blogs" I like to read.

The Sexy Blog list is really hard to assemble, as I want blogs which I guess are more "erotic" and "sexy" than porno. I want them to go up to the line, but not over the line. In fact, that's often what I do here when I write sexy or romantic stuff. I try to avoid raunchy, but don't feel shy about writing in a suggestive manner. Try it some time! Again, it's easier said than done.

Meet The Press: Frank Rich

Interesting point by NYT's Frank Rich, that the Fitzgerald inquiry wasn't run by tough-hitting Fitzgerald at first. Back in 2003, the investigation was run by the Justice Department, nominally by Ashcroft until he recused himself and he speculates that perhaps the witnesses were more fast and loose with their admissions when it looked like their statements would be safe and stay within the control of the Republican administration.

WorldBlu Conference in DC Next Week

This will be a great conference. How could it not be with David Weinberger keynoting? I'm trying to be there if schedule allows.

And what a week to be in Washington!

And what a great subject: Designing Democratic Organizations.

Arianna Right On As Usual

Arianna has a lot of good stuff to say over at her inky little blog.

"The crisis at the New York Times is about much more than Judy Miller, and the crisis at the White House is about much more than Scooter Libby."

--Arianna Huffington

Shit Field: The New York Times

In Tim O'Brien's amazing book, The Things They Carried, you might recall in the dark of night a bunch of soldiers are hiding in what they think is a rice paddy. A local peasant is urging them to get out of the place they're hiding, but they refuse to listen, are intractable about staying put. They start to notice the smell, but they can't move. By dawn, it's clear it's "the night soil" -- raw sewage -- and they are up to their ears in shit.

Last week The New York Times was still hiding in a rice paddy. Now they realize with the Judy Miller fiasco they need to get out of the shit field.

CNN: Reliable Sources Program

David Gergen sure has made a mastery of straddling the political fence and therefore being able to comment on just about anything ... speaking this am about the Judy Miller Bill Keller feud, loses his audio, oh heck!!!

In a week with so much real news, this post-modern metanews story about how the paper dealt with this, is almost too deliciously crazy as a soap opera "B-story line" but I hope doesn't obfuscate the real story.

"The Times is waking up to the fact that it's own credibility has been damaged again." -- Gergen once he's got audio.

Chilling Quote: Thanks Andrew Sullivan

Hope you read the "Quote of the Day" over at Andrew Sullivan's blog, and I figure you saw the shocking Frontline special on Torture:

"And I'll finish just by bringing it down screechingly to the ground and tell you that the detainee abuse issue is just such a concrete example of what I've just described to you, that 10 years from now or so when it's really, really put to the acid test, ironed out and people have looked at it from every angle, we are going to be ashamed of what we allowed to happen. I don't know how many people saw the "Frontline" documentary last night - very well done, I thought, but didn't get anywhere near the specifics that need to be shown, that need to come out, that need to say to the American people, this is not us, this is not the way we do business in the world. Of course we have criminals, of course we have people who violate the law of war, of course we had My Lai, of course we had problems in the Korean War and in World War II. My father-in-law was involved in the Malme?dy massacre and the retaliation of U.S. troops in Belgium. He told me some stories before he died that made my blood curdle about American troops killing Germans.

But these are not -- I won't say isolated incidents; these are incidents that are understandable and that ultimately, at one time or another, we came to deal with. I don't think, in our history, we've ever had a presidential involvement, a secretarial involvement, a vice-presidential involvement, an attorney general involvement in telling our troops essentially carte blanche is the way you should feel. You should not have any qualms because this is a different kind of conflict. Well, I'll admit that. I'll admit that. I don't want to see any of these people ever released from prison if they're truly terrorists. I don't want to see them released because I know what they'll do. I'm a former military man, 31 years in the Army. They will go out and they will try to kill me and my buddies, again and again, and some of you people, too.

So I understand the radical change in the nature of our enemy, but that doesn't mean we make a radical change in the nature of America. But that's what we did, and we did it in private. We did it in such privacy that the secretary of State had to open the door into my office one day - we had adjoining offices and he liked to do that, and I never objected - he came through the door and he said, Larry, Larry, get everything, get all the paperwork, get the ICRC reports, get everything; I think this is going to be a real mess. And Will Taft, his lawyer, got the same instruction from a legal point of view. And Will and I worked together for almost a year as the ICRC reports began to build and come in, and Kellenberger even came in and visited with the secretary of State. And we knew that things weren't the way they should be, and as former soldiers, we knew that you don't have this kind of pervasive attitude out there unless you've condoned it - unless you've condoned it. And whether you did it explicitly or not is irrelevant. If you did it at all, indirectly, implicitly, tacitly - you pick the word - you're in trouble because that slippery slope is truly slippery, and it will take years to reverse the situation, and we'll probably have to grow a new military."

- Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, recounting the profound, irreparable damage president Bush has done to the honor and integrity of the U.S. military - and to the meaning of America itself.

It is such a dark, dark time to be an American. It's shameful.

Dean on This Week With George

Dean was really clear and strong on what Democrats need and how the issues are about honesty and ethics in government, healthcare, social services safety net, and ... general fairness for all people and that group that's nearly gone ... oh yeah, the middle class. Pretty soon we'll have to put some of them in a wax museum so we can remember what they looked like -- people who owned houses and had jobs and health insurance.

[Link to Chris Matthews' Hardball interview with Howard Dean on Oct 6, 2005. I'll add the "This Week" link later.]

Book Off-Center

Dionne mentions a good book -- gotta check it out. I think he said "Off-Center" will go get link later.

Brazille Looking At Brooks

Worth a thousand words. Donna Brazille's expression of total DISBELIEF as she listened to David Brooks say the Patrick Fitzgerald Rove Libby Plamegate issue isn't a big deal.

(The show is This Week With George Stephanopolis. The Round Table was: David Brooks of The New York Times; Donna Brazile, Democratic political strategist; E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post, and ABC News' George Will.)

Sunday Morning Politics Shows Should Rock

Sunday politicos should have fun this morning. Let's see what they are up to ... back soon with links.

You could do a whole hour on the weird twisted smiling face in DeLay's mug shot. Spooky shit.

ABC: This Week / Stephanopolis: Howard Dean is the guest. Roundtable discussion: David Brooks of The New York Times; Donna Brazile, Democratic political strategist; E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post, and ABC News' George Will.

CBS: Face The Nation: Is It The Beginning of The End (with two head shots -- one of Nixon and one of Bush next to one another).

NBC: Meet The Press. Guests will be Charles Schulmer, and others (see link).

Consistency: 5-day Abs

I have a workout tape I use called 5-day Abs. It's a series of 5 workouts to strengthen the abdominals and back muscles. Each workout is only about 12 minutes long and you're supposed to do them 5 days in a row. I add it to whatever other workout I might do.

At the end of this morning's work out, the guy narrator instructor person says, "See you tomorrow. Remember consistency is the key to results!" and I was thinking about how he's right and how hard it is to be consistent.

In fact, this damned tape kind of haunts me, because despite my best intentions (and I DO have good intentions when it comes to exercising), I can't seem to do the silly tape five actual days in a row. Something always comes up and I forget to do it.

It's not that I don't do SOME type of exercise (I usually get a chance to walk at a minimum), but it's hard to do something consistently five days in a row. I might be traveling, I might have a late night that eats up my next early morning workout time, I might have an early conference call, something always seems to get in the way.

So now I've logged one day of abs, I'm really going to try to do 5 days in a row. Wish me luck. I'm not sanguine about this.

Rageboy, Lovely To Talk

Great to talk tonight, Rageboy, and happy to know no one, not one of us, none of us, is any good at love at all for the most part and that it's okay. Glad to clear that up.

Big Red Bow: Give Yourself A Gift

Give yourself a gift today. Stop worrying about something. Stop worrying about something if there's nothing you can do about it today.

I decided to do just that this morning. I have something worrisome I need to take care of, but I can't do anything about it this weekend, so I decided not to let my mind wander over into that worry-area at all this weekend.

Everytime I drift I go, "Nah! Go Back!" and remind myself there's "No Worrying Allowed" ribbon all wrapped around it until next week when I can do something.

Don't go there ... Nah! Back to my weekend.

Rockstar Founder And I Couldn't Agree More About Videogames

I found the Times piece behind a costwall where they talk about the new Rockstar videogame, The Warriors and the big controversy about parents saying all videogames are a dangerous influence on their kids' minds.

I rarely find parents who take THE TIME TO SIT DOWN AND PLAY the games with their kids. That's what I've been doing for three years now. I stink at playing, but I know about a lot of games. Parents who don't play think Tetris, Splinter Cell, Jak and Daxter and Halo are the same -- and they are not.

Dan Houser, a co-founder and Creative VP of Rockstar Games, which developed Grand Theft Auto and was taken to task last year by Hillary Rodham Clinton (gotta wonder if she's a gamermom ...) for a sexy scene they never intended to be public, had this to say:

ROCKSTAR and Mr. Houser perhaps best embody the bifurcated cultural space that video games occupy. To millions of people who actually play games, they seem like normal entertainment. Yet millions of others are wary or even frightened by the entire medium.

"Certainly it's frustrating when people don't wish to understand what you do and don't wish to learn," Mr. Houser said. "Anyone who plays any of our games and wishes to criticize it, having played it, experienced it and thought about it, they are of course welcome to do that. But when large numbers of people criticize something and haven't even done it, it's very frustrating. There's a large amount of the population that lives in relative ignorance and only hears scary stories about what we do."
-- The New York Times, article by Seth Schiesel, 16 Oct 2005

As I mentioned below, even if you are a parent who has ZERO interest in actually playing videogames, please read the book "Everything Bad is Good For You" by Steven Johnson, to get a perspective on what a complex, artistic, challenging, educational excursion our kids are taking when they play.

And yes, Rockstar's games are rated for Adult or Teen, so you have a much better chance of knowing what's appropriate when it comes to gaming than with most films, music or tv they might be consuming.

Rockstar Games: The Warriors

Do you read the piece in the esteemed New York Times about this cool new game?

And check out this review out from GameSpy:

At any point during the game, a second player can join the action just by pressing the start button on the other controller. The screen immediately splits into two sections, with each player on one side. As I watched two Warriors do battle with the bat-wielding Baseball Furies, I realized how awesome this addition would really be. Imagine walking into a room and seeing a buddy playing, then hopping in for a few moments (or hours, or days) of fun. Since you can join or leave at any time, you don't have to worry about screwing up someone's game.

My kid is always looking for a way to jump in and out of a videogame, or let a friend join and leave when he/she needs to.

Everything Bad is Good For You

This book by Steven Johnson, is just so good. I think most of you read it a few months ago, but I just got around to it and it's terrific.

Rated: Teen

How can you go wrong? This sure is a fine list of things teens love in videogames:

Blood
Crude Humor
Language
Suggestive Themes
Violence

This game which will be on the XBOX 360, looks pretty amazing. It's all so Californication.

Blackberry Thumb Disease

Yes, you can actually put your thumb out of business.

Wake Me Up When October Ends

Why is everything cool coming out in November?!? Like XBOX 360 on Nov 22 and Madonna's new album on Nov 14th?

Madonna: Confessions On A Dance Floor

Sounds like a big CD full of great stuff.

Hello Monday ... I Mean Friday

Today's the beginning of the week for me in many ways, despite being Friday. I'm done with all the general running-around that keeps people from actually getting anything done during the M-F.

Now as Friday rolls around I get productive. My son goes to his dad's today for a week, so I'm back to work (back to my desktop that is). And I get back that delightful FLEXIBILITY, not being stuck in his school schedule (roughly 8:00 - 4:00) and free to be working and writing when I feel like it, working out and exercising when I feel like it and weather cooperates, seeing friends at any time. I know I'm spoiled.

Yesterday for instance, I actually found myself in RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC and having to be somewhere at 6:00PM. How totally disgusting! People actually do it every day! I don't know how they keep from just murdering one another. It's shocking.

I'm so used to a flexible work schedule that I don't even know what rush hour traffic is anymore. When I see all these people jamming the roads I think, "Who the hell are all these people and what are they doing here?" If you commute morning and evening, please stop, draw a big gold star to pin on your chest and give yourself a round of applause. I don't know how the hell you manage.

About Marriage: A Redesign

Was talking with a savvy friend yesterday about marriage. If it were a technology, it really is out-of-date, or at least designed for a user community that no longer exists.

It was designed for people who got married in the heat of hormonal overload -- 18 year olds -- who couldn't possibly make a rational decision. Then they quickly have lots of babies, become grandparents at 40, are probably dead by 45 - 55.

Also necessary for the old institution of marriage was gross economic inequality between male and female, with the female having little or no other economic livelihood other than providing housekeeping, childrearing and sex services to the man willing to have her -- the original cottage industry. It's not a bad institution based on those presumptions.

But what about educated people who marry in their 30's on average, have few or no kids, have a life expectancy twice that of their grandparents ... and the female partner has many more options than being a slave ... certainly shakes things up a bit.

And don't ask me about love ... (What's love got to do with it?") ... well, that's the place where things get a little crazy.

Perfect PopTech Weather

Have a great time at PopTech you PopTech-res. Perfect fall weather for it and that's nothing short of a miracle after all the rain we New Englanders have been putting up with.

Sorry I can't be there this year. Busy girl.

Hey Big Guy

Another silly thing about women is how they are SO self-conscious about their bodies being the tiniest bit fat, but are often turned on by big guys.

This blog is hot.

I’ve been trying to understand the seemingly incongruous nature between lust and desire. I’m more than able to lust after nearly any man I see, since sexuality for me isn’t a formula, but rather something almost impalpable. You have it or you don’t. When it comes to desire and attraction for the longterm, though, I find myself zeroing in on men who carry a little extra weight on their large frames, provided they dress well and groom well. What is it that makes me want them? I'll never know, but I know they're what's in my mind when I touch myself in the dark.

Ten Reasons Women Aren't Sleeping In The Nude

I'm only guessing here, but with this disturbing ratio (Men 31% and Women 14% sleep in the nude) per the ABC News Sex Survey I have to figure this mystery out.

I mean, someone is selling a LOT OF PYJAMAS!

And I have heard so many men groan and moan about their wives clad in flannel PJ's, even these sexy ones.

But this is probably a very American statistic. Really, folks, we are NOT comfortable with our bodies.

Okay so here are my guesses girls, based on no scientific data whatsoever:

1. A lot of us are overweight and think we look like hell naked. (Girls, I hate to admit this, but a lot of us think this way, don't we?!?) Even if we look good, we don't think we look good.

2. Maybe we don't sleep in the nude because we're wearing something like this -- how bad can it be? Pretty good reason not to be nude.

3. Maybe they only polled houses in Ohio. (Oh, hell, am I gonna get a lot of hate email from nudists in Cleveland).

3. If we're moms, we know with a loud noise in the night, a little thunder, a wet bed or whatever, there's every reason to believe one or more kids will come climbing into our beds in the middle of the night and it's probably better to have pj's on.

4. We don't want to be that naked idiot on the news, sporting a blanket, if there's an earthquake, fire or other natural disaster in the middle of the night.

5. We sleep with other folks around who would freak to see us naked -- parents, fellow college students, drop-in out-of-work brothers on the couch in the livingroom, you name it.

6. The statistics are off because ... we might spend a lot of time naked in bed, but when it comes to actual "sleeping", we throw our old UCLA tee shirt on, grab our teddy bear and can only get cozy that way.

7. If we sleep naked with our beau, boyfriend, lover or husband, they would never stop trying to get one last touch, squeeze, stroke or rub of various available parts of our curvy bodies -- and you'd never get a bit of sleep. Can't you just hear them blaming it on us, "You can't lie around looking like that and not expect me to touch you!"

8. You feel so ... NAKED ... when you're a naked woman. It's hard to keep your own hands off yourself sometimes.

9. Our arms get cold. (This happens to be my real excuse, often as not.)

10. Sleeping in the nude ... it's just too ... Swedish. We're Puritans, don't forget!

We Now Interrupt This Program To Rave About The LES BLOGS Conference

Les Blogs was one of the best conferences I attended this year -- actually I was a speaker there -- and it's coming up again in December (Monday, Tuesday Dec 5 and 6th) and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

April was incredible. It's going to be even better this time.

Mr. and Mrs. Scoble and I are very excited about it and pretty much jumping up and down discussing it in Seattle when I was there last week. (Okay, Maryam was remotely jumping up and down as she was in SF.)

What I loved about it last time (April 2005) was getting hip to how much is happening outside the US. When it comes to blogging, podcasting, social media, you must leave our American-centric shores to get a perspective on where we're all going. Europe is driving real innovation.

It's easy to sign up for it -- use this link: Les Blogs.

And the speakers will be great (I may speak, I'm not sure. Loic is trying to give people who didn't speak last time a chance.)

Also don't get me started on Paris in December. I love it then. Yes, it may be cold and rainy, but it can be gorgeous too, cool, crisp and sunny. And whether you add London for Xmas shopping to your itinerary or a little side trip to the Riviera or skiing in the Alps, it's a terrific time to be in Europe and so much CHEAPER than summer or spring or fall.

I took British Airways to London, then changed planes to Paris, so I got a chance to stock up on tea, Cadbury, orange marmelade, tee-shirts that said "Mind The Gap" -- all the Brit stuff I love and then took a commuter flight to Paris and got to see what life for a EU businessperson is like, as they jump the Channel for meetings (the atmosphere was very much like a shuttle between NYC and Boston or SF and LA on that flight.)

Wanna see some pictures from last time? Check out Flickr.

Why Women Sleep In Their Nighties

I've been giving some serious consideration to this "women sleeping in the nude" meme, believe it or not. It's pretty obvious. I'll be back with the reasons.

For one thing, we look pretty cute in sexy nighties.

More soon.

Ladies, Why Aren't You Sleeping In The Nude?!?

These statistics are a little upsetting. Now, ladies, only 14% of you are sleeping in your birthday suits! And about 31% of your men friends are naked at bedtime.

In other personal predilections, men are twice as likely as women to sleep in the nude (31 percent of men, 14 percent of women), and women are much more likely to prefer to have sex with the lights off (51 percent of women, 27 percent of men).

So Pirillo's announcing his new service GADA.BE and I'm here in Robert's office and all I want is lunch ... but NO! We've got Pirillo on the speaker phone and we're blogging this thing and ...

Seattle

I'll be Seattle tomorrow Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Love that city.

Church

When I was 16 I was a camp counselor in an all-girl's French summer camp in Maine called Les Chalets Francais. It was on an island in a very beautiful coastal area of Maine, not far from Blue Hill I think.

On Sunday's we were all required to dress in white -- even if it was only white t-shirts and white shorts -- although some of us wore white summer dresses. We did a church service in the woods outside. It was beautiful to see all these girls from 7 to 17 in white praying in French in the woods in Maine.

I learned this on that long hot sunny summer on an island in Maine:

Notre Père qui es aux cieux,
Que ton nom soit sanctifié;
Que ton règne vienne;
Que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel;
Donne-nous aujourd'hui notre pain quotidien;
Pardonne-nous nos offenses
comme nous pardonnons à ceux qui nous ont offensés;
Ne nous abandonne pas à la tentation;
mais délivre-nous du mal;
Car c'est à toi qu'appartiennent,
dans tous les siècles,
le règne, la puissance et la gloire.
Amen !

This link has a pile of translations of the "Our Father" prayer in French and you can see the subtle changes from Latin into French:

Pater noster qui in caelis es
sanctificetur nomen tuum
veniat regnum tuum
fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra

then an Anglo Norman version:

Li nostre Pere, qui ies es ciels,
saintefiez seit li tuens nums;
avienget li tuns regnes.
Seit faite la tue voluntet, sicum en ciel e en la terre.

To the 16th century Protestant Bible French:

Nostre pere qui es es cieulx.
Ton nom soit sanctifie.
Ton royaulme adviengne.
Ta voulente soit faicte ainsi en la terre comme au ciel.

My Mornings

Honestly, you wouldn't believe how crazy some of my mornings are. Even I don't believe it. I'm already exhausted and it's 9:20 am.

My kid forgot to mention he needed pictures of himself in bed looking worried to illustrate a poem he had written for school and they needed to make a collage with it and he needed it by 8:15 of course ... on and on and on.

So this morning between making waffles, scrambled eggs, a pot of hot English Breakfast tea, running a load of laundry, drying a load of laundry, we were busy having a photo shoot here (and of course, I was blogging!).

So the digital camera steals a cute pic of him clutching his teddy bear in bed, his expression says "ut oh! worried! scared! bad things happening!" -- surely he'll win an Academy Award. I USB the camera to the computer, pull up the pix, photoshop them a bit, print them, then use WORD to print out his poem in a few different fonts for the collage project.

Then there's two minutes left to sign the permission slip, make sure he has a snack and a water bottle, lunch money, money for the trip to downtown Boston, sign his homework, whoops, supposed to check his homework first, okay, load up the backpack, off to school.

Next time you non-parents look over at a parent in a 9:00am meeting and they have something weird stuck to their shirt, like food or part of their kids social studies project, you'll get the idea of what they've been doing since 5:30am. It's all a little scary.

Sex In An Elevator

Great piece by Mark Morford recommended by a new friend of mine, about what really matters in life.

This much we know: There are only a finite number of breaths left in your life. There are only a finite number of times you will have sex in an elevator and a finite number of times you will drink $200 bottles of wine and a finite number of times you will scream your orgasmic joys and endure horrible Texas presidents and eat raw oysters and buy $250 designer jeans and suck down too much Halloween candy and howl at the moon. And so on.

Don't miss the whole thing. BTW, is it okay to do it in one of those glass elevators?

Warning: Mark's piece is more about family and less about sex than I may be leading you to believe here.

Dave Winer, Congrats!

And more good news in the big deals department! Looks like Dave Winer's sold Weblogs.com to Verisign. Lots going on around the blogosphere these past few days.

Winer is a pioneer around these parts, an amazing entrepreneur and the creator of RSS. No slouch. He can piss off anyone in the world, it's true, but you have to respect his creativity, persistence and vision. He is the quintessential Alpha Male Geek.

But I am still most in awe of his committment to just plain solid blogging, day in and day out. No one works harder EVERY DAY at blogging and keeping us all up-to-date on what matters in high tech and the world, than Winer at Scripting.com, so bravo, man! I mean how many bloggers can have their entire audience freak out when they don't post for a day or two, as happened some time around June 2002 if I recall.

Jason Calacanis: Congrats!

AOL buying Weblogs, Inc. Nice to see someone who really worked his ass off to build a company grab the gold ring. Jeff Jarvis is all over the story out at Web 2.0 and writes about it from all angles.

Canadiennes Beat The Bruins

Come on Boston! Don't let those French girls beat ya!

Ehrenreich: Bait and Switch

I just finished Barbara Ehrenriech's new book, Bait and Switch, The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, which is about being unemployed or underemployed in white-collar America.

It's not for the faint-of-heart. It's disturbing.

But, also, she's a really funny writer. If such a sore subject can be made into something fairly amusing and entertaining, she's the man for the job. And she pulls it off brilliantly as she poses as an unemployed PR professional and spends a year trying to find work.

Of course, it was fun for me as a writer and free-lancer (like her) to imagine such a charade, and as she comments at the end of the book, she could snap her fingers and like magic, escape this fantasy of being hopelessly unemployed, since it was simply researching a book for her. Her real-life counterparts, brave comrades in relentless job searching, who were seriously in need of work, were not so lucky.

Read it -- it will give you a whole new attitude -- or maybe not -- about the state of white-collar employment and the precarious nature of corporate America.

Sexy Girl

Getting Ready For The Party.
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You Look Wonderful Tonight

I heard this Eric Clapton song today and forgot how much I like it. It's really sexy.

It’s late in the evening
She’s wondering what clothes to wear
She puts on her make up
And brushes her long blonde hair
And then she asks me
Do I look alright
And I say yes, you look wonderful tonight

We go a party
And everyone turns to see
This beautiful lady
That’s walking around with me
And then she asks me
Do you feel alright
And I say yes, I feel wonderful tonight

I feel wonderful
Because I see the love light in your eyes
And the wonder of it all
Is that you just don’t realize
How much I love you

It’s time to go home now
And I’ve got an aching head
So I give her the car keys
She helps me to bed
And then I tell her
As I turn out the light
I say my darling, you were wonderful tonight
Oh my darling, you were wonderful tonight.

I Don't Know What Guys Like

Right. I have no idea.

Rejection Letter

I pitched a story idea (in a letter) to a magazine that's all about men, sex, fitness and love. It was about "dating don'ts" for guys over 40. (The magazine has a tag line about being for men over 40.)

It was a funny, generous piece, not critical in the least, but just "helpful" in tone, as I've seen many older guys blow it on dates and wanted to clue them in.

The editor sent it back, rejecting it because he said I didn't really understand their audience ... yeah, right!

John Irving Interview

Good interview here at Powells.com. Check it out.

This book I've just completed... it's three-hundred twenty thousand words. To give you some perspective, A Son of the Circus, my longest book until now, was two hundred fifty-eight thousand words. This is a long book. This is eight hundred twenty-six book-pages.

Why do you keep reading it? Because you are emotionally engaged. Because you care about what happens to the people. That idea is not an intellectual one. That idea goes back to the nineteenth century novel and says, The reason we are entertained, the reason we want to keep going, is that we have an investment in these people.

Spam Brazilia

I sure get a lot of spam in Portugeuse from Brazil for someone who doesn't understand Portugeuse and has never been to Brazil.

It all sounds very sexy and must be hot, or maybe it's about something very unsexy and I just don't have a clue. They might be selling wrenches for all I know.

Puer Aeturnus
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Bill Gates On Channel 9: Scoble Interview

And I'm sure you saw this, but watch it again and listen very, very carefully.

Redmond Redux

I'll be in Redmond at Microsoft again next week for MSN Search Champs Camp which I'm looking forward to very much.

So much news about how everyone's kicking Microsoft's ass ... right, sure, yeah. I think there are endless reasons not to jump to any hasty conclusions about Microsoft's demise or the notion that Gates doesn't know what he's doing.

He does know what he's doing.

And so do a pile of excellent people who work there. They are just the wrong team to underestimate. You can love 'em, you can hate 'em, but you're an idiot if you underestimate them.

Republicans Just Plain Embarrassing

I haven't been writing about politics lately ... amazing isn't it, in this season of endless bad news on the political front for them? There's a reason. Nothing I write could be as damning for their reputations as what they are busy doing to themselves. I actually feel enormous pathos for the whole lot of them. They are pathetic.

Between DeLay and Bush and all the rest of them, it's all so embarrassing, I don't even want to write about it.

Delay is now being indicted daily -- not monthly, not weekly, but daily. It's like a farce.

Last night I had a dream that George Bush wanted to pay me as a blogger, in fact, to stop writing mean things about him and write nice things about him. And in this completely weird dream, he asked me to work with Laura on promoting a new policy on paying parking tickets because this, he considered, was very patriotic and good for the economy.

Lovely Lunch, Delightful Dinner

I ate such a wide variety of foods today ... a bit unusual.

Lunch:
Thai Coconut Chicken Soup
Seaweed Salad

Dinner:
Scallops in Bacon
Mango Salsa
Steamed Spinach

Sometimes I think we just eat too much of the same old same old.

Feeling Blue About Her Subaru

My friend was having a hard time getting her Blue Subaru away from the valet. Tricky business.

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scobleized

You gotta read this blog. Maryam, I love you girl! Yes, Scoble's wife is blogging.

TimesSelect: Right, Yeah, Sure

I know everyone has already written about this, The (boneheaded) New York Times putting their "select" content behind a pay wall.

But heck, what are they thinking?!?

It's so embarrassingly 1993!

Ugh!

Late Sun

So much sunny stuff happening for me, with these late September, early October crisp mornings, hot days, cool nights, the inky newspaper news seems pushed to the edges of my mind, can't seem to focus on it all. I have better things to think about.

I pedal silently into the umbrage of green leaves on the bike path, wrapped and enraptured by a luxurious drapery of foliage, every green imaginable, from emeralds to sea grass to malachite to verdigris to viridian, a swirl of green tea in which I bathe my mind. Sun shards slice the canopy at perfect intervals.

The leaves are only starting to change and maybe this is why the trees show off their last ditch efforts at summer greenery.

And at home, in my sink, I look down to see a white porcelain bowl quietly full of hard-boiled eggs and splashy cold water cooling off -- white eggs, white bowl, white chinese china spoons -- with sun interrupting again. Brilliant bright light invading from my kitchen window. The scene is luminous in late afternoon sun.

And then evening comes and the sun is supine, flat on its back, but still slicing through my quiet rooms, finding me lighting candles on the dinner table. I'm grasping that last bit of daylight, taking a pinch of it like salt and adding it to my meal, lighting the charcoal wick, keeping the light burning through my meal, way past dark settling around my house like a blanket.

And later under my covers, you come to mind and I hold inside me one last remaining handful of that autumnal daylight, so I can't be sad or lonely or cold here late at night. My dreams are suffused with that shimmering brightness, strangely in my pitch black room. I'm left wondering, how did you do that? I want to know, how did this happen?

Scouts, Sand, Stars

Last night it was a lovely cool fall evening after a sunny, bright wonderful first day of October. We had a bonfire on the beach after a Boy Scout cook-out. It was cool, the boys did skits and songs around the campfire, which had everyone laughing.

The sky was dark and filled with stars. I'd gone back home to get a warmer coat and gloves, and joined the group later when it was after dark. A scout came to my rescue out of nowhere, with a flashlight, and walked me from the parking area to the gathering over a woodsy dark path which would have been next to impossible to follow without his help. Scouting has a good philosophical underpinning -- teaching boys to channel all their magnificent energy and curiousity into helpful and constructive efforts.

At the end of the evening, after my kid took his bath, the tub was dusted with beach sand, like a private little constellation of stars we'd brought home in our pockets. We all slept well.

We're Killing German Soldiers

My kid is asking me a million questions about WWII and D-Day here as he's playing the videogame Medal of Honor. At 10 years old, he knows more than I do about certain battles of WWII.

Back to the fight about whether videogames are rotting our children's minds ... hard to agree with that today, as we discuss strategies for taking Paris back from the Germans while destroying the bunkers at Omaha Beach. Wish history class had been this fun for me.

Monday, October 31, 2005