On the Death of America

I guess I should be thankful that my Mom isn't around to see this.

My heart is broken.

God, am I in a Mood

It started on Tuesday. I'll let Arlington County Government tell you all about it:

Around 2:00 pm yesterday afternoon in the East Falls Church area of Arlington, a contractor for Dominion Virginia Power was replacing a high voltage cross arm when it fell on another high voltage cross arm, creating a large power surge in that area. Customers experienced a power surge and an 8 minute power outage.

So I spent Tuesday night and most of yesterday in a low state of panic about the electrical system of our home. The house was built in 1941 and the electrical system is probably not much younger. We still use fuses in our home, not those fancy shmancey breaker boxes that most of y'all have. Long story short, our home is fine. We replaced a few fuses and tested the outlets and such and everything is ok. We did suffer a few casualties: 3 blown surge protectors and the wireless network booster module (which was protected by one of those blown surge protectors). But our PCs and TV and various other electronics are just fine. So let that be a small lesson to y'all: invest in surge protectors.

Several posts from my friends made me begin to question my faith in my fellow man.

Most importantly, the House said it's ok for the President to torture people. I can't tell you how sad and depressed this makes me. Does anyone else care about this besides me? I'd appreciate any evidence that can be offered.

A ray of consolation was offered by my Sweetie a few days ago. She gave me this as a small present celebrating my new job. It's now stuck to my flap of my bag. Hey, it's something to lift my spirits.

A Forceful Plea

It's not often that I use this platform to ask for anything from its readership. But I am going to ask each of you to do one thing: Contact your elected representatives in congress and ask them not to pass this ridiculous "compromise" on torture. You can do it by e-mail or phone or both.

If you live in the United States of America and you love this nation as much as I do, please do this. Thank you.

When Worlds Collide...

I love it when football and my career come head to head. Norman Chad from today's column in WaPo:

Q . Redskins offensive coordinator Al Saunders has a 700-page playbook. Wouldn't you think some of those plays are designed to produce touchdowns? (Ken Alexander; Seattle)

A . The problem with Saunders's 700-page playbook is that it's not indexed. So it takes a really, really long time to find the right play.

Let that be a lesson for y'all: don't forget to index. Maybe that's why our QB stank up the joint until yesterday...

Farewell, Ms. Richards

I'm gonna miss this woman for the following reason:

Asked once what she might have done differently had she known she was going to be a one-term governor, Ms. Richards grinned.

"Oh, I would probably have raised more hell."

We need more hell-raisers these days.