Thanks Mrs. Nick's Mom!

My buddy Nick just airmailed me a batch of cookies that his mother made. The tasty morsels--oatmeal, walnuts, raisins, buttery goodness--are one of my new favorite treats. My day is made.



yummmy!

Ralph's retreat

to Northern Arizona. Six days around Flagstaff and Sedona.

My trip dwarfs in comparison.


rocks harder

Weekend escape

...from the clutches of urban strangle.

My roadtrip ally, Zach, beat me to the blog.


rocks!

Culture

My new roommate and burgeoning pal, Michael, is starring in the off-Broadway musical, How to Save the World and Find True Love in 90 Minutes. It was part of the recent New York International Fringe Festival. I'm going to see it, tomorrow.


No, I know, but trust me, it's not Dr. Strangelove (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)

POD*

Photo Of the Day.
Will try to maintain it, at least as a warm up to photoblogging.


Pete, when he had more hair and more finger.

Another Rumsfeld gem

"At some point the Iraqis will get tired of getting killed and we'll have enough of the Iraqi security forces that they can take over responsibility for governing that country."

Osama been Forgotten

"Saddam Hussein, if he's alive, is spending a whale of a lot of time trying not to get caught. And we've not seen him on a video since 2001." Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, confusing former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein with Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a recent address at the National Press Club. (Newsweek, pg 19)

For me, that pretty much sums this administration since 9/11.

Going through old photos...

The Shark vs. The Cocker Spaniel...place your bets.

Letterman update

The show taped today that I attended is actually airing this Friday, so I actually got to see Julianne Moore (one of my favorite actors) instead of Dr. Phil. Hoo-ray!

Tonight's guest: Dr. Philistine

Clint got two free tickets for the Letterman Show tonight--through a friend of a friend who works there--and he's taking me! (the Ed Sullivan Theatre, conveniently, is two blocks from my apartment). Letterman is no Conan, and Dr. Phil is certainly no John Kerry (who was the guest last night), but I'm really psyched. The exceptional Gary Sinese--who, coincidentally, Clint and I saw star in the Broadway performance of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" three years ago--is also on.

Still, we have to sit through Dr. Phil drool about how to help Oprahfied soccer moms lose weight, despite the fact that the "good doctor" isn't even an M.D., but a Ph.D. in clinical psychology; he's as much of a medical doctor as my history professor. And he kinda lacks credibility as a weight-loss messiah when he himself is pushing 225 lb.
But who needs credibility when you have an army of Oprah lemmings willing to eat up anything you say.

Pepper y Becca

cooties

Couldn't say it any better

Bob Herbert's Op-Ed in the NYT today, "Waiting for the Candidate to Emerge."

For those who don't subscribe online (i.e. my stubborn grandfather), a core sampling:

Mr. Kerry has suffered recently in the polls primarily because of his reluctance to put his authentic self on display. He's run a cautious, soulless campaign so far, saying only the things he thinks he should, and shadow boxing instead of really mixing it up...If Mr. Kerry has a message, he's garbled it pretty badly. If he's passionate about anything, he's kept it to himself. George Adair, a 50-year-old Democrat from Alabama who responded to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll, was succinct on this point: "I don't feel I have a clear enough picture of Mr. Kerry's agenda."

By far

my favorite photo I ever took for my college newspaper:


I heart Sigma Chi

More crazy coincidences

-I discovered yesterday that my roommate Nick's sister, Kim, lived in the same town in Maryland I did: she went to high school with my brother (they were in "Hello Dolly" together) and played 4 years of field hockey with my best friend Jason's sister, Allison.

-Becca surprised me yesterday to say she was on her way up to NYC that night with her boyfriend, Pepper. Completely by chance, their hotel is FOUR blocks from my apartment.
Similarly, Clint's high school friend flew up here yesterday with his pregnant fiancee, also out-of-the-blue. They are staying with a friend TWO blocks from my apartment.


This shit happens to me all the time, but I never get used to it.

Mysterious ways

During my four visits to NYC over the years, I somehow didn't make it to either the WTO or Ground Zero. Yesterday, after a field trip with Zach and Liz to IKEA, we popped into Century 21 to purchase more furnishings. Lo and behold, the store was directly next to the site. Quite ironic that after all these years, I finally see it on September 11, totally by chance.

The experience was complete as we gazed up at the spotlight memorial that night on the top of Zach's roof. I shoulda had my camera...

Props to Pat

Between his endearing appearance on Da Ali G show and his unconventional break from the Right concerning the neocon experiment in Iraq, Pat Buchanan is alright with me.*

(Can't say the same for Andy Rooney.)


*Well, ok, not quite.

How low can you go?

Maureen Dowd's OP-ED fires a series of scathing jabs against Cheney's despicable comments Tuesday:

He finally simply spit out what the Bush team has been more subtly trying to convey for months: A vote for John Kerry is a vote for the terrorists.

The vice president and president did not even mention Osama at the convention because of the inconvenient fact that the fiend is still out there, plotting. Yet they denigrate Mr. Kerry as too weak to battle Osama, and treat him as a greater threat.

Mr. Cheney implies that John Kerry couldn't protect us from an attack like 9/11, blithely ignoring the fact that he and President Bush didn't protect us from the real 9/11.

Mr. Cheney warns against falling back "into the pre-9/11 mind-set,'' when, in fact, the Bush team's pre-9/11 mind-set was all about being stuck in the cold war and reviving "Star Wars" - which doesn't work and is useless against terrorist tactics.

Why should the same group that managed to paint a flextime guardsman as a heroic commander - and a war hero as a war criminal - bother rebutting or engaging with critics?

The next nine-eleven: Shitkicker Falls

Zach posts an excellent exerpt from a Slate criticism of Zell Miller's rhetorical paranoia regarding the safety of his children during the GWOT under Bush.

Found a place!

I still can't believe my luck: Midtown (Hell's Kitchen), 52nd/9th, 10 min walk to Times Sq, 5 min jog to Central Park, 3 blocks from 1/9 line...the perfect! location in so many ways.

Please send coupons and nonperishable food items to:

365 W. 52nd St.
Apt. LB
NY, NY 10019

Room hunting blows

Been in NYC since Tuesday night, and I've been pounding the pavement since then. Originally my intent was to find a small room share in the UWS near Columbia, but my options have slightly broadened my search to...Manhattan.

My lowest point came yesterday, when I was supposed to meet with a very prosperous lead in the UWS. Long story short: I wake up early (painfully hungover from a reunion with Zach and Pete at the Corner Bistro), travel almost 2 hours roundtrip, only to get a call from the guy 2 blocks away telling me the room was JUST! rented.

P.S. Thanks for the sympathy, Nate.