Terminally cheerful, in spite of myself, I made some changes in the way it looks around here, just little things, a lighter background and new header, trying to find some inspiration. I might as well have something to look at even if I don't have something to say, and I chose a special picture, one I took from a bluff overlooking the Pacific just north of La Jolla, California, last August at a sister's son's wedding, a wedding done right, one filled with love so deep and strong and complex that it felt like magic, exactly twenty-eight years, to the hour, after ours.

Isn't that what weddings are supposed to be, the physical manifestation of the community, the webs of affection that surround the couple through time, providing cushion from the universe and at least some of life's difficulties, sustained by its joys? We gather to honor our parts in their pasts and mark our places in their futures, so the love we celebrate when we gather for weddings isn't just the bride's and the groom's, but that of all who love them, each embracing the other, celebrating their increase, celebrating the couple, greater than the sum of its parts.

It's hard to describe how much it moved me, these two beautiful young people, how comfortable it felt for us, his family, to be among her family, how welcoming they were. It was perfect, simple, elegant and genuine, family as sustenance, represented, micro and macro, and the poignant juxtaposition of our attempt so long ago, to the hour, redeemed, at least for me, by the presence of three beautiful adult sons. We gathered finally, on that Saturday, the first of August, after days and nights of celebration, as the sun began to slip behind the ocean, and the bride and groom were married. Then, still outside by the sea, we had drinks and dinner, and there were toasts, and with the light of day just gone, the couple took their first dance.

Then it stopped. The lights went up. The DJ started packing, and the guests began their good-byes, but the last-last song, played without the benefit of the sound system, explained the bags of lemon drops that served as our dinner table seat markers and was one of my all-time favorites, one my readers already know, one that sent The Yongest rushing to my side, and we stood and swayed and savored together, Izzy's Classic medley of "Over The Rainbow" and "Wonderful World". I cried.

The guests, including our large, exhausted, extended family, headed out the next day, by air and by road, tired and happy, filled and fueled by genuine, loving interaction, lifted forward by, well, each other. That's what we do, isn't it? We lift each other forward, nourish each other, take each others' sides, because that's what it means to love. Not everyone can do it, some don't even want to, never try, they're so badly broken, and nobody gets it right all the time, but for that one weekend last summer we celebrated the possibilities of choosing love, and it was very, very good.

Peace, y'all.

The Youngest graciously accepted my invitation to come along, and we met up with some friends of his before the concert, first at their beautiful Ansley Park home and then at Livingston in the Georgian Terrace. It was great to see this iconic hotel's jawdroppingly beautiful transformation, even if I was sorry to miss Carolina Liar and the first part of One Republic. We don't get things just right every time, and the opportunity to get to know the friends I'd heard so much about was worth it.

Thomas opened with "Fire on the Mountain" and to a standing, singing audience's obvious adoration and quickly thanked everyone for choosing to be there, recognizing the value of time and resources spent, pledging to give everything he had to make the experience worth it. It sounded real and he lived up to it. Alternating between the keyboards and guitar reminds us he's the musician behind the sound, but we are there to hear him sing his words, words about beauty in our broken places, about our imperfect struggle to connect with others and ourselves, words about joy and pain.

There was a wonderful feature article by Erik Hedegaard in the August 6th issue of Rolling Stone, "Confessions of an Unapologetic Pop Star" subtitled, "How did Rob Thomas survive a violent redneck childhood to become one of the top songwriters of his generation?" It goes a long way towards explaining the angst and points out how unfairly he's been stereotyped. Unfortunately, they've removed the content from the online edition, so if you want to read it, I guess you'll have to go to the library. How weird is that?

He played a hearty seventeen song setlist of tunes from Something To Be and Cradlesong (plus Little Wonders), before his Matchbox Twenty bandmates, Paul Doucette, Kyle Cook and Brian Yale joined him on stage for two songs for the highly aroused crowd. Just as his words speak to the complexities and nuances of human being and interaction, his expansive relationships with his former bandmates teach by example. Rob Thomas and Matchbox Twenty are not mutually exclusive, and if one eclipses the other, neither is less for that. We should all embrace growth so magnanimously. It made me want to go listen to Paul Doucette's current work for The Break and Repair Method.

Thomas closed with a beautiful, haunting version of "Smooth", like I've never heard and that I couldn't find anywhere online, followed by "This is How a Heart Breaks", ending too abruptly. It felt like no encore, felt weird. I know now that the whole thing was an encore from the time MB20 came on stage, and that their arrival sort of interrupted what would have been the concert's end, so it just felt like no encore. Sometimes I'm easily confused. This did lead to an interesting conversation about encores in general, and what they mean, and whether or not this is something an audience earns or something to which an artist is obligated, but I digress (sort of).

Here's some homemade video from the Matchbox Twenty portion of the concert. The Youngest mentioned during the show that Thomas takes the red plaid shirt to a whole new level. I expect we'll see more vids of the show as time passes. From our seats towards the back there was a sea of cellphones held high all the way to the stage.

So, maybe Thomas isn't edgy or cool, but I don't really care. There are folks in this world for whom being cool is easy, who saunter through their days certain and secure, free of anxiety and self-doubt. Rob Thomas is for the rest of us.

*******************************************

I thank @brenyb from Twitter for convincing me not to sell the tickets, for linking the above video, for pointing out the Rolling Stone piece and providing a copy of it, sending me the set list, and helping me embrace my inner groupie geek. Maybe I'll do it again. Maybe next time I'll have better seats, take pictures, take notes and write a proper review. Maybe next time will be December 5th in Biloxi. You just never know.

*********************************

Update 10/22/09, since I'm rocking search I should put up the Setlist for Rob Thomas' show at The Fox 9/30/09:

• Fire on the Mountain
• Meltdown
• Real World 09
• Lonely No More
• Mockingbird
• Sunday Morning, New York Blue
• Street Corner Symphony
• Natural
• Getting Late
• Ever The Same
• Cradlesong
• Someday
• Little Wonders
• Falling To Pieces
• Gasoline
• Her Diamonds
• I am an Illusion
• Brightlights (with Matchbox Twenty)
• Disease (with Matchbox Twenty)
• Smooth
• This Is How A Heart Breaks

Well, that was the small and embarrassingly late Ah Ha! moment: Rob Thomas is touring, with a new album out, so he could be coming to Atlanta. Blessed with the internet, which got me into this impulse buy opportunity in the first place, I discovered that was, in fact, the case, and that he was scheduled to play The Fabulous Fox, an extraordinary venue, so I did it.

Since then, I've wondered whether or not this whole thing is advisable. First of all, it's sold out so I can easily sell the tickets, which might even fund the replacement of the glass face of my beloved iPhone. It broke so surprisingly easily. The pain this shattered face brings me only serves to emphasize the inappropriate affection I've felt for this, well, device (it seems more like a person, really), from the moment I held it, also in July (big month for major purchases, it seems). Love in my pocket, a thing of beauty and function, enabling picture sharing on Facebook & Twitter with just a few touches and one click to take the picture, but I digress (remind me later, though, to tell you all about what my iPhone can do).

Now, I've seen some live music since the last time I saw Rob Thomas perform, on stage with Matchbox 20 at Chastain Amphitheater August 2, 1998 (Soul Asylum opened - I had to look it up), but, excluding small clubs and Jazzfest, that was the last real concert I attended, and it was fabulous, a legendary event (at least in our family), The Youngest & Middle Son's first concert. They were 10 & 13. I'm an old fan, from the beginning, and I love it all, but his first solo album, Something To Be is by far my favorite thing he's done, with or without Matchbox 20, one of those rare albums, a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts.

When I was tagged on Facebook for a meme called My Soundtrack, it directed, "Using song titles from only one artist, cleverly answer the following questions," I chose Rob/M20. Here's what I posted:

Are you male or female: "Problem Girl"

Describe yourself: "Unwell"

How do you feel about yourself: "Ever The Same "

Describe where you currently live: "Fallin' to Pieces "

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: "Back 2 Good"

Your best friend is: "All I Need "

Your favorite color is: "Black and White People"

You know that: "This is How a Heart Breaks"

What's the weather like: "Mad Season" (close 2nd: "Cold")

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: "Bent "

What is life to you: "Something To Be"

What is the best advice you have to give:"How Far We've Come"

If you could change your name, what would it be: "My, My, My "

Your favorite food is: "Crutch"

In addition, a friend from New Orleans left the following comment on my post:

You know I saw a lot of bands when I worked at the House of Blues...and this guy Thomas was the biggest surprise I ever had. I really didn't like the music that much until I saw him perform. He blew me away.

So I guess I'm going to go. Despite the fact that I'm a total wuss & have to work on Thursday and don't normally do such things on work nights, at least not recently, not since I've been sick, and I'm exhausted just thinking of it, but you only live once, right?

I know. I'm pathetic, and I've been a very bad blogger (and not just because of my affection for stream of consciousness run on sentences). Sleep. Work. Eat. Okay, sometimes Twitter. Okay, sometimes go to New Orleans, and maybe the mountains, and, once recently, La Jolla, CA. More on that later. I promise.

Peace, y'all.

Harry Shearer's Keynote was excellent, and much of its content ended up published as a blog post at HuffPo. He came early and caught most of the Culture Panel (my fav) and stayed for a long time shaking hands, posing for pictures, signing books, talking, listening. The lunch by Cafe Reconcile was amazing (thanks, David). If you don't know what Cafe Reconcile's about, then this is the one link in this post to click. In addition to their noble purpose and good works, Reconcile produces fabulous food. White Beans and Shrimp, Crawfish Pasta, Greens, Cornbread... oh, my! The afternoon was the Politics Panel & we closed with the Sports Panel, playing to the worn out but die hard crowd.

Coming home late Sunday and straight to work Monday was rough, but there's no rest for these bloggers, and it's taken just about all the focus I can muster while also working full time (and work's been an intense dead run this week) to follow their creative bursts burning up the internet tubes with inspired and energetic plans for next year's event. It will be bigger and better than ever before and I'll be sharing specifics soon. We came away from Rising Tide pumped.

Harry Shearer: Comments at Rising Tide IV in New Orleans (22 Aug 2009) from Crystal Kile on Vimeo.

I came away from it all resolved to be a better blogger and with renewed devotion to New Orleans, more specifically, New Orleanians. I'm also increasingly convinced that self-censorship rooted in fear of what folks I know or work with or may one day know or work with will think if I speak my heart makes for bad blogging, the kind that's gone on here for too long. As we approach the coming 4th anniversary of New Orleans' flood that followed the landfall of Hurricane Katrina, the NOLA Blogosphere is full of eloquent posts about Rising Tide as well as the anniversary, but I'll direct you to Scout Prime's Farewell Post at First Draft: 

I am just an American who felt strongly about the necessity of this country to right the wrong that had been done to the Gulf Coast and in particular New Orleans. I believed and still do believe that it is a moral imperative and that in not doing so we, as a country, as a community, risk losing our soul. I would submit that as a society we lost our moral compass when bodies were allowed to remain in the streets of N.O. for days and weeks, or in homes for months and even a year in some cases, as the powers that be argued over who would foot the bill to recover the remains of the victims of the flooding of New Orleans. There is something very wrong when such a thing can occur in a great nation.

Read her post. Watch her videos. Take a few moments to think, as this anniversary approaches, about how we can be a better country, how we can find our national soul. We've come a long way, but we still have far to go.

Peace, out, y'all.

Update: I should have pointed out the Rising Tide Flickr Group. Those unflattering pics must be some other Sophmom.

Rising Tide IV is coming Saturday, August 22, 2009. Harry Shearer is the Keynote Speaker and there are panels planned on New Orleans' Culture, Health Care & Sports. There will be a cocktail meet and greet on Friday (details later) as well as a catered lunch. This is always a great event, characterized by lively interaction with incredibly interesting folks (and great food and plenty drink).

Many thanks to Greg Peters for another amazing poster. This year's conference theme is "Sinking To Great Heights". Quoting Greg's poster description: "The figure represents Yemaja, a Yoruba Orisha and owner of all waters, patron of fishermen and wreck survivors, and manifestation of the feminine principle of creation."

Details will unfold on the Rising Tide Conference Blog.

Y'all come. Seriously. Registration is available here.

Note: Dambala has a great further explanation of the Orisha pictured here over at American Zombie. Of course he does.

Perhaps I've over-corrected, driven by a love for my children that requires me to at least try to put them first as the best way of insuring my own happiness; and maybe I'm lying to myself by insisting that the notion of "true love" as a goal or priority is self-indulgent drivel, or more importantly, at least at my age, icky.

When I see someone like Sanford doing this kind of damage to those they claim to love and citing "falling in love" as an excuse, it's repulsive. They put their own grandiose gratification above the well-being of their families. Gross and immature, this seems worse to me than Bill Clinton or even Larry Craig just wanting to get a little on the side. I'm not advocating detached sexual dalliances, but somehow that seems more honest. There are lots of valid reasons to leave a marriage. Even the Catholic Church provides a way of escaping impossible union, and I think it's totally okay for someone who's fought the good fight, tried everything they could to make it work and come to the realization that it can't be done because no one can do it alone, to go and seek happiness with dignity; but, please, lose the drama.

Mr. Clio's description of cultural glorification of "searching for true love" as "bait-and-switch" is exactly right. What works in a novel or a movie becomes destructive in real life. We've been taught wrong. What we should be seeking is a quieter, more day to day, way of living love. It's just not as much fun to watch.

What I find most telling about the whole Sanford mess is that the people closest to him hung his ass out to dry. His family and staff just let him have it. His Lieutenant Governor called attention to his absence. His communications people had no safety net in place, no damage control deployed in his behalf. His wife, his former campaign manager, knew exactly what she was doing when she told the world she didn't have a clue where he'd gone. They must really hate this guy.

I remember my first Rising Tide conference, the first Rising Tide conference. We gathered at a patched together New Orleans Yacht Club (not what it sounds like) and our view of the docks and Lake Pontchartrain beyond was a surreal depiction of why we had gathered. Where all the beautiful sailboats should have been, there were a few coming and going, but many more just masts, sticking up out of the water, sunk where Katrina's surge had left them. I remember driving straight from Atlanta, through a largely deserted Lakeview neighborhood and spending the first of many nights at Dangerblond's.

The keynote speakers at the first Rising Tide Conference were Robert Block and Chris Cooper, Wall Street Journal staff reporters who'd covered the hurricane and the flood that followed it in New Orleans and had just released their book Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security. One of the things I remember Cooper saying when he sat in on the journalism panel in the afternoon, respectful of there being a place for citizen journalism, was his emphatic advice that we write about what we know. Quoting loosely, "If you're not an expert on Iraq and Iran, you shouldn't be writing about Iraq and Iran." It stuck with me, and I've tried to follow his advice.

Now, I don't know much about Iran and have no business writing about it. Seeing Twitter profile pictures turn to green to show solidarity with the protesters is moving, and so is seeing everyone's Twitter location turn to Tehran, Iran in hopes that it might make those actually tweeting from Iran harder for their government's censors to find. I've thought a lot about the NOLA Bloggers as I've watched the remarkable events in Iran unfold, brought to us by citizen journalists, via Facebook and YouTube, blogs and Twitter. When social structures break down as they did in the case of the flood in New Orleans and have again during the civil unrest in Iran, conventional paths of information flow disintegrate. As we watch the continuing evolution of Crisis Citizen Journalism allow information to flow out of Iran, I look forward to Rising Tide IV and again meeting with and listening to the New Orleans Bloggers who pioneered the art.

I've been watching "24" since the first breathtaking fifteen minutes of the first "day". I've put up with all the even numbered seasons being pretty terrible, and this one started with such promise. Jack running into so much of the old gang, working independently of any authority, was great, and TONY was alive, working under deep cover for the bad guys, who as it turned out were bad guys we knew from earlier "days" with Jack. After all this time watching Jack Bauer and the folks from CTU become iconic (some might call it torture porn), when Tony went from dead to back and good under cover, to actually, never mind, bad, back to well somewhere between good and bad, they just lost me. All these seasons of devotion (I had the CTU phone ring on my cell for a while), but it was too much to take. The last three hours were near comical agony. I almost quit but didn't want to leave it so, well, unfinished. Bleh.

I haven't said much about being sick. It would have been easy to miss, since I've only mentioned it in a comment on Not Quite Dead Yet. I knew I shouldn't go countin' those chickens, and I know now I was feeling terrible for many, many months (years?) before I left the office and drove myself to the emergency room on May 5. They kept me for seven days. Not knowing when there's something wrong with me seems to be my broken place, but, hey, silver lining: all this "down" time to watch TV. I'm recovering at home, trying to get a chronic condition under control, working reduced hours and determined to take care of myself, despite my inclinations to the contrary. It's a thoroughly messy business, getting old, and I apologize to the forces of the universe for making such rash assumptions about being not quite dead yet. Seriously. I get it. Won't happen again. I swear.

Of course, watching television, even alone, is much more fun than it's ever been before. Live alone? Is your significant other way over somewhere else, scratching his manhood watching basketball or painting her toenails watching Desperate Housewives? No worries, because you can watch whatever you want with all the folks watching it "on Twitter". Only a few of the folks I follow on Twitter watch "24" or "Idol" and I'm pretty sure I'm alone in the crowd watching "Chuck" so I just search Twitter for the show and get a whole column of tweets of folks who I don't normally follow but have tagged their tweets with #showname (Example: "Jack needs an iPhone. I bet there's an app to counteract the bioweapon. #24"). Of course, all those Pacific Coasters whine to the crowd, "no spoilers!", but there's nothing I can do about that. As if. If you don't want to know how it ends, then don't read the East Coast tweets.

BUT I DIGRESS... what brought me here today to this post, though, is American Idol. I can't believe how much folks are still talking about it. Everybody's all up in arms about Kris Allen "upsetting" Adam Lambert on American Idol. Now AT&T is being accused by the New York Times of influencing the outcome of the final voting by "providing phones for free text-messaging services and lessons in casting blocks of votes." If this is true, it's quite serious. There are laws governing such things, and, well AT&T is big enough to know all about them. Tsk. Tsk. What were they thinking? All the indicators pointed to Adam winning, not just the judges' almost fawning praise, but the social media buzz, search activity, everything seemed to be pointing to the more colorful Adam as the winner.

I was a big fan of both Kris and Adam from very early in the competition. Forgetting for a moment the possibility that AT&T found the way to digitally stuff the ballot box, I think it comes down to trending. Kris was just good enough each week to stay in the competition, but he maintained a steady improving trend, peaking at the right time with his better than the original version of "Heartless". Adam, thought by some to be the most talented contestant to ever grace the Idol stage, peaked much earlier, with his brilliant "Mad World" (some might argue even before that with "Tracks of My Tears", after which Smokey Robinson himself led the standing ovation, visibly moved), but there was a backlash against Adam, even among his ardent supporters (and I was one) over what can only be characterized as gratuitous screaming as the season drew to a close. I voted for both Adam and Kris many times during the season. I believed that the "Judge's Save" rule was initiated because they were afraid Adam would be voted off before America noticed what they already knew they'd found. As long ago as April 4th, I tweeted: "The Big Question is, will the judges use their save for Kris even though it was put in the rules for Adam! #idol". I honestly went into the final totally unsure of which of these, my two favorite contestants all season, would get my votes. I waited over an hour after the show to decide, and it was a weak edge for Kris (weak, meaning I only voted five or six times), based on his greater need to win since Adam was destined for stardom anyway and the fact that Adam's rendition of Kara's regrettable composition was like fingernails on a chalkboard but Kris' only missed the mark, showing at least some possibilities (we'll see how that goes); but it's really much simpler than that. When Danny Gokey was voted off to leave just Adam & Kris, his voters swung to Kris, the other clean cut, middle America, Christian instead of the eyelined, ultra vamp showman, Adam. Seems kind of duh.

So, I wish them all well, and hold onto the remote between taking mountains of medicine, not at all sure what to do with it since there's nothing worth watching. We're in the dead zone between network season finales and the new cable seasons of Weeds, Dexter & Entourage. Read, write, rest and get better.

Peace, out, y'all

This phase of life is winding down. The youngest of my three sons is, by every definition, an adult. While they still need me on occasion and I love them more, not less, than I did the moments they came into the world; they needn't be the center of my universe any longer, or at least I need to work a little harder bringing some new focus into view so it's not so obvious. But, what? I've thoroughly enjoyed my time at the KnockingShitDownCo but can't help but look at remaining there indefinitely as something somehow self-indulgent. It's not that I would ever think of quitting without replacing the income or benefits, or would ever leave them in the lurch. That's not me, but it's time to develop a hobby that could be a job, and not just a labor of love, but one that has at least some small chance of buying a beach house one day. I'm not holding my breath, and this new venture probably isn't that, but I'm 100% sure that the KSDCo, no matter how cozy it's been, no matter how at home and loyal I've felt there, isn't ever going to do that, at least not for me.

A friend said to me recently (a blogger who will remain unlinked unless she tells me something different, because she doesn't discuss personal matters on her blog), suggested that when her only child, a daughter, goes off to college this coming fall, she will have to reinvent herself. I know that feeling. A major life purpose is completed. The jury is still out on success or failure, which can't be easily or quickly measured, but my boys are reared, and I can only hope I gave them what they'll need to be whole, fulfilled, loving adults. So far, it looks mostly good, but what to do with myself?

One of my favorite sayings (considering that I just now made it up) is when the going gets rough, register a domain and build a blog and a message board, so I registered NotQuiteDeadYet.net and notquitedeadyet.net/forum was born. Okay, so I can't build a message board to save my soul, but she who calls herself Hurricane Mom sure as heck can. Anyway, now that I've already gone long, I'll repeat what I said over there (even worse, I'll treat it like a quote when what it really is, is me, repeating myself):

Midlife and Beyond. We are made to live in the moment, and somehow few of us see this moment coming. We spend our lives looking at those much older than us as somehow obsolete, irrelevant, finished. Then we arrive here ourselves, our children raised and off to college, or even graduated, and we don’t feel obsolete, irrelevant, finished. In fact, we feel much younger than we really are, hopeful, excited, curious even.

If you wander over, please excuse our dust. This is the creation of three internet friends, planned almost entirely via Facebook mail. We're not web developers, so the navigation is awkward and the functionality has a long way to go, but we're persistent, and we'll get there. What we are is experts on empty nests and relearning how to cook for one or two, in navigating financial aid and feeding ourselves on what's left, on handling graduation weekends and middle of the night calls. Register and speak up if you're so inclined. I don't know what's going to happen next or how long next might be. None of us ever does. I just know I'm not ready to stop dreaming, not ready to quit trying something new, Not Quite Dead Yet.

But without really disturbing my unscheduled blogging hiatus, I find that there's news needing telling, enough to get me to slip in here and whisper it. Please don't tell anyone.

Maitri and Loki are leaving New Orleans. Both have good reasons, but they'll leave big holes in the NOLA blogging community when they go. I hope to provide them some small inspiration. If I can be a NOLA blogger without ever having lived there, then they shouldn't have any problem carrying on as such, from afar. Still, the blogger gatherings won't be the same without them, so they'll need to visit often. I can't say it any better than Slate said it here. Farewell, dear friends. I'll look for you online.

Amidst the good-byes, there was a wedding. At long last Jeffrey, of Little Yellow Blog Fame and his long-time beloved Menkles made it official. As is the case with any NOLA blogger gathering, there are lots of pics online here and here (gotta click through some Mardi Gras Indians). I so wish I could have been there to walk the Second Line through the Quarter last Saturday night and see the newlyweds off. By now, they're happily honeymooning in France. Pictures to come, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, our fellow Blog-Citizen, John Sherk and his bride are finishing up their vacation in New Orleans. John's been a loyal reader and supporter during all this time of post-flood blogging about the unique circumstances of this special treasure, and now he's been blogging from New Orleans here and here.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the digital world, Time online is holding "elections" for its Top 100 of 2009. Nate Silver's in the running. Y'all likely know that I started following Nate when he was an anonymous Kos diarist, Poblano. Already a fan of his work at Baseball Prospectus (and an internet friend of his Dad's), it was nothing short of amazing watching Nate turn political polling upside down with his methods, forever changing the way polls are used, their results predicted. Here's where you can vote for Nate.

Finally, if you want a close up and personal view of Mount Redoubt's eruption, head on over to The Fool's Spit in the Ocean. Despite his unfitting screen name, he's a regular commenter here, who just happens to live across the little water from the erupting volcano. A man of few, but usually beautiful, words, he's armed with a camera and prone to picture taking walk abouts, hopefully not during ash falls. Fool, dear, take care of you and yours.

That's all for now. I wasn't here and we didn't have this little talk. Peace, out, y'all. Shhhh.

The trend pendulum never stops, and even those things rendered timeless and almost permanent by superiority (caramel), rise and fall in popularity, evolve, like living organisms, adapting to changing circumstances, growing, remaining alive. I grow, you grow, we grow collectively, or else we're degenerating, and we wouldn't want that. The internet itself isn't such a baby anymore. Web 2.0 is maturing and parents and their adult children are finally in community online. This is not a trend on the wane (pomegranate). There are not going to be fewer companies building websites with blogs, making friends on Facebook and tweeting. More importantly, listening to their customers' tweets and updates to get to know what people want will become not a get ahead tool, but a survival tool.

The notion of killer app slipped away in the accelerated growth pace of digital interactivity, after so many came and went with astonishing speed, looking not so killer after all. Maybe it was all one app, growing and changing, with many facets. Online community, interaction in which the primary criteria for relationship is, given access to the web and a desire to learn new technology stuff, shared ideas. Age, race, and geography matter less, if almost not at all, in the world of online community. It'll be interesting to watch how our young adults will react, now that their parents have joined them on Facebook. The younger ones, the tweens and teens, are developing their ways of interacting outside the view of their parents, just like teenagers have done forever, and I have no doubt that the young ones' places to play online will evolve in a new direction where we're not, just like they ran screaming to higher-waisted skinny-legged jeans as soon as their moms figured out that low slung and wide-legged was not just slimming but also more comfortable.

I've been to Delta Computers twice recently. It's an old-school geek-centric computer store, off Peachtree Industrial just outside of I-285. They have an online store, but their website shows that there's a huge difference between the geeks who love the hardware and create code and the internet geeks exploring and expanding the web. There's no store address on the website, no phone number, although the Google search that takes you there, includes all that information. Their website has no description of the company, its goals, policies, history or store hours, no real copy beyond navigation and very dry product description. The store's as old-school as the website, built by and for hardware geeks. Both times I've been there, I've gotten excellent, immediate and satisfactory service, although the second trip was necessitated by a bad part purchased on the first visit. They replaced it instantly. I asked on my second visit, which was their primary revenue flow, the website or walk-in traffic, and he replied the latter, without hesitation. I also asked if they were really feeling the current downturn, and he said not so much. I started to ask if they were on Twitter or Facebook, thinking there's a whole market of internet geeks who are hardware challenged, needing tech support, but I didn't need to. Of course they aren't. They should be. Everyone should be.

There is no more disconnection. When I go too long without posting on this blog and y'all start to wonder what I'm doing (as if), my Twitter Updates in the right gutter keep the connection lit. My whereabouts and activities are only as cold as my last Tweet. When I have to work on an historic Presidential Inauguration Day, even though I'd rather be home watching it all on television, not only can I watch it online, but I can do so with my friends on Facebook (even if my work computer wouldn't let me into the First Draft Crack Van), where I'm now a member of a group called Fans of Aretha's Hat. When CNN's feed crashed under the weight of inauguration viewers, I raced to MSNBC to find their feed sputtering too. Fortunately, I was also "talking" via an email listserv, where someone broadcast that the NY Times feed was good, and it was, just in time to see the Queen of Soul sing, and talk about it on Facebook and Twitter, with so many others, friends.

There's a frenzy of tweeting on Twitter about the fowa, or Future of Web Apps, with many Twitter devotees proclaiming theirs is the app to end all apps, just like so many said of AIM all those years ago, but they're all really just that same pretty girl in a brand new dress, and she's got oh so many more new dresses to show us before she's old and tired, like the army of parents who've recently arrived on Facebook. We have met the future, and it is us.

I am happy to stay in, making soup for the first time since I can't remember when, in a gigantic motha' pot I found still boxed in Bel's closet. She must have bought it before she got too sick to go out. I'd like to think it might have been my Christmas present. Whether or not, thank you, Bel. The soup is wonderful and plenty.

I also enjoyed watching the lead up to Obama's inauguration, having missed most of the emotional impact of the election itself, otherwise engaged (see above). I can't help but smile watching the Inauguration Celebration, knowing that one of the last things Mama and Bel did was cast their absentee ballots for Barack Obama. I left Bel in the hospital to run home and get hers. I mailed it from the Grady Hospital post office. Before I did, she made me take a picture of it. I didn't ask why. She died a week later. They would have loved seeing this.

I love how things get stuck in our personal vernacular. I can't link you to her post because her blog is no longer published, but I will forever think of the Psycho Therapist when I think of New Year because I read it when she wrote this:

The Bulgarian Master Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov said the first twelve days of January represent the whole year. January 1st stands for January. January 2nd stands for February. January 3rd stands for March and so on. By practicing loving kindness, openness and generosity while giving thoughtful attention to the significance of each day, you will thereby be consecrating the New Year.

This notion has gotten stuck in my personal vernacular, the complex connections between language, thoughts and feelings that can't be stopped from coming into my head when I hear certain words in combination. Of course, it's not meant to be taken literally, and might be easily carried too far by the obsessive among us, leading to unnecessary and uncomfortable foreboding in the event that something really rotten happens in the first twelve days of the new year. That's not the point though. An exercise that makes us stop to practice loving kindness, openness and generosity can't possibly be a bad thing, under any circumstances; and giving thoughtful attention to the significance of each day is perhaps life's single most important practice; because without thoughtful (and I would add, honest) attention to the significance of each day, we, well, miss our lives in our rush to the next thing, in our struggle to let go of the in-built need to be the one who gets to decide what that next thing is going to be.

I'm glad I could come here, to New Orleans, where celebrating life in the moment has been raised to high art. I rang in 2009 in the company of bloggers Dangerblond and Cousin Pat within a throng of New Orleanians surrounding a bonfire of Christmas trees on the neutral ground in the neighborhood they call Mid-City. On New Year's Day night, we added Alli to our little cadre and went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the Prytania, the first single-screen theater I've been to in years. I'm glad I saw it because it was wonderful. I'm especially glad I saw it here, in New Orleans, to which it is a visual love letter. It also makes the same point that is made by the notion of consecrating each new year: life is fleeting, loss random and pervasive, and connection with each other, love, amidst a journey that is by definition solitary, is what lasts.

Sometime soon, this blog's Hit Counter will pass 1,000,000 (the first 100,000 were the hardest). My geekiness stops short of understanding the criteria through which Blog-City's fine management reaches that number, but I'll take it. Some things it's better not to know. My point is that I wouldn't trade it for the world, what I've gained in human relationship, that which lasts, from blogging. Without taking away from my beloved friends and family who've escorted and supported me to here, those still with us and those who have passed on or wandered away, this new dimension this late in life has been the most wonderful sort of surprise, as they would call it here, lagniappe. My only resolution for 2009 is to savor it all.

Happy New Year, y'all. Thank you so much for being here. To borrow a phrase that's also been forever changed in my previously mentioned personal vernacular by the previously mentioned movie, it was nice to have met you.

I've been a bad blogger since Mama and Bel passed, trying to take care of myself and my family. I'm satisfied. It hasn't been perfect, but, despite numerous difficulties, we have arrived at this day prepared to celebrate. We're not a family that has a sweet holiday, metaphorically speaking (it's pretty sweet literally - yum), but there will be practical gifts for everyone to open (gift cards involved, sorry to say). There will be spectacular food, and plenty of laughter. I've had a quiet morning cooking and finishing the wrapping to beautiful Christmas music on the television thanks to PBS. I stayed up wrapping and watched the Vatican Mass and the Pope's incredibly safe homily.

But now there is cooking to do. I've texted the boys to let them know it's time to get moving. There are great joys to having grown children who live close by in their own apartment. Now I want to wish each and every one of my wonderful friends, whether virtual or face to face, the Happiest Holidays ever! My plan is to spend New Year's weekend in New Orleans.

Peace be with each and every one of y'all.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post The Rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

[Mercy, y'all. Is it just me or is this meme a lot of work!? Number 5, in particular, seems mucho time consuming, but I digress...]

Six Random Things About Me:

1. I sleep with a pillow between my knees and one foot outside of the covers.
2. If I could do anything in the world I wanted, it would be to explore mom and pop motels while they still exist and write about them.
3. I can't make up my mind between the mountains and the beach. When I'm in the mountains, I love the mountains the most. When I'm at the beach, I wonder what I was thinking when I thought it was the mountains. Whichever it is, it is not the city, where I am most of the time.
4. My undergraduate degree is in English. Simultaneously, I accidentally got a BA in History with Honors. I don't remember much of that.
5. I was born the third of four girls. When I was eleven years old, my mother married a man with three sons. I have three sons. This might be three random things, but, who's counting?
6. I like long trips in the car so much that every time I get on an interstate highway, I feel a very strong urge to just keep on driving.

I'm tagging Zen Wizard, Paula, John Sherck, D Cup, Virgotex and Schroeder. Some of you may have already 1) done this meme or 2) been tagged and are trying to ignore it. Realizing you don't need my permission to do so, I am granting it. Please feel free to ignore the tag.

Peace, y'all. Life goes on.

Update Bonus Random Thing About Me: Every now and again, like this year, my birthday falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Update: With attribution to Mike Luckovich in the AJC, I can't say it any better than this:

Guided by his political guru, Karl Rove, it was Bush II's ambition to make the Republican Party the majority party for decades to come. He and Karl wanted to create a political realignment that would marginalize Democrats for at least a generation and maybe more.

Not satisfied to change only American politics, Bush and his neo-con advisers, led by Dick Cheney, wanted to use American military might to spread democracy to places that had been led only by tribal councils and ruthless dictators.

If Bush had accomplished these goals, he truly would have been a historic president much like his newfound hero Harry Truman. But his failures were unimaginable. W will go down in history, all right.

He will leave office with the lowest approval ratings of any president in modern times and will be judged as a catastrophic failure who destroyed his party, left his successor with two unpopular, unfinished wars and left the country in the worst economic condition in nearly eight decades. That's not even counting the Bush administration's inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath....

...For Republicans, if the polls are any indication, Karl Rove and George Bush's plans for a major party realignment may come true. It just won't be the party they wanted.

Now, I'm not one for counting chickens, remembering how it felt this far before the election in 2004, and goodness gracious knows, we remember what happened in 2000, but I thought Rollins' words bore repeating. He just did such a great job of putting it in a nutshell. Seven days.

I'm going to try to live (or not) blog this last presidential debate. *Sis Bel blows the whistle and I go to her room, clean out and fill her humidifier.* Okay, that's done and I'm settling in on Twitter, flipping back and forth between CNN and MSNBC. CNN just ran a banner telling us to watch the debate with our laptops. Is there any other way? I guess old fashioned taking notes would do, if you can stand the wait. Everyone's talking at once on CNN. I think they're going with volume, presenting, if not the best political team on television, certainly the largest. Goodness Gracious! There're so many of them!!!!

The Twitter crowd gathers (and I'll fill in the links later): @Liprap, @charlotteAsh, @kareng, @MarilynM, @roadkillrefugee, @GambitWeekly, @geekaren, @Pontchartrain, @parenthetical, @andersoncooper, @macfitte, @midcitygirl, @yatpundit, @TheFix (watching the NLCS instead), @pistolette, @BarackObama (hey! where'ya been?), @sharney (10 minutes behind?), @nprpolitics, @maddow,

And so it begins...

Bob Shieffer (hereinafter "BS" - unfortunate, but it just has to be) opens with the economy.

TheFix McCain passes on asking Obama a question. But then hammers in on "Joe the Plumber". This could be a key. Watch closely. less than 20 seconds ago from web

nprpolitics McCain Joe-the-plumber attack a bit choppy. /mo less than a minute ago from web

ricksanchezcnn mccain plan, do you rescue everybody, even guy who paid for house he couldn't afford. even flippers? half a minute ago from web

YatPundit "my friend and supporter Warren Buffett" ZING half a minute ago from TweetDeck

FakeSarahPalin joe the plumber by the way has a six pack. Srsly. Same dude. Hi Joe! less than a minute ago from mobile web

kareng What does Joe the plumber think of the bailout? less than a minute ago from web

kareng Does Joe the plumber know Joe Six Pack 1 minute ago from web

ricksanchezcnn if they twittered they'd know how to make the words fit right? 1 minute ago from web

macfitte @ricksanchezcnn McCain prob doesn't know twitter exists 1 minute ago from web in reply to ricksanchezcnn

editor_b why isn't McCain wearing a flag pin? Did Obama steal McCain's flag pin as part of his class warfare? 2 minutes ago from web

TheFix McCain campaign provides the answer to the question on everyone's mind: http://tinyurl.com/4umo7u 2 minutes ago from web

nprpolitics Obama: If I occasionally mistake your policies for Bush policies, on the four biggest policy areas, you've been a Bush supporter. 2 minutes ago from web

FakeSarahPalin Soooooo bored.... 3 minutes ago from mobile web

MarilynM rt @baratunde dear moderator, no one has ever called for mccain's DEATH AT AN OFFICIAL OBAMA EVENT. this is not even handed. 4 minutes ago from web

TheFix McCain laughing -- cynically(?) -- off camera at Obama's post-partisan message. Effective? Or the Gore sigh? 3 minutes ago from web

nprpolitics Obama: let's disagree without being disagreeable. We can't characterize each other as bad people. / @acarvin 4 minutes ago from web

editor_b McCain accuses ACORN of "maybe destroying the fabric of democracy" -- are you kidding me? wow 4 minutes ago from web

macfitte Oh brother:::::::::::sigh::::::::::::I might drink without the key words 4 minutes ago from web

jonnodotcom Wait, is everyone on here eschewing the Project Runway finale in favor of that debate thing? What is WRONG with you people? 4 minutes ago from web

MarilynM McCain: Sarah Palin is ROLE MODEL TO WOMEN?! Uh. NO. 4 minutes ago from web

Pontchartrain AYERS! ACORN! HANOI HILTON! WHERE'S MY PANTS? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz drool. GET OFF MY LAWN! 5 minutes ago from web

Sophmom Bresh of freth air. ---- Autism, Downs Syndrome - what's the dif? 5 minutes ago from web

macfitte @thefix Obama starts singing Margueritaville and McCain jumps on desk singing Danger Zone for a great finale 6 minutes ago from web in reply to TheFix

swampwoman cockamamie deserves a drink! 5 minutes ago from web

roadkillrefugee McCain's transition chief was a lobbyist for Saddam Hussein -- sure you want to go there, Johnny? 6 minutes ago from web

Pistolette cockamamie. ha! been hangin' with palin too much apparently. 6 minutes ago from web

Noladishu Have the tweeter tubes exploded from the debate yet? 5 minutes ago from web

FakeSarahPalin John only sticks his toung out like that cuz that's how he breathes. Don't be so prejudice 5 minutes ago from mobile web

brianoberkirch Twittering about the debate while watching the debate at twitter. Fun as a spectator sport. 5 minutes ago from txt

Sophmom shouldn't have decided to drink on "senator" 4 minutes ago from web

giobigez i think mccain is getting zonked on sharpie fumes. 5 minutes ago from Election 2008

ricksanchezcnn what's with the loud breathing? seriously, it may be getting on people's nerves. he really should be looking at his opponent. 5 minutes ago from web

MarilynM rt @TheFix if you were wondering whether "I'm not President Bush" line was planned...McCain campaign sends this: http://tinyurl.com/3rmq8v 5 minutes ago from web

remarkablogger I'm thinking Joe doesn't really want all this attention. 6 minutes ago from TweetDeck

TheFix @damonbeau "Joe the Plumber is officially SNL material now. Threshold reached" WELL SAID. 6 minutes ago from web in reply to damonbeau

roadkillrefugee "goldplated Cadillac"?? WTF!! was that some kinda bling caricature? 7 minutes ago from web

TheFix Joes of the world have to be thrilled with this debate. Why couldn't it have been "Chris the Plumber"? 7 minutes ago from web

David_Ogilvy The bathroom sink is clogged. I need to call Joe the plumber. 7 minutes ago from web

MarilynM rt @chumworth - i'll bet joe the plumber is watching the baseball game. 8 minutes ago from web

TheFix Yes, McCain did call Obama "Senator Government". Accidentally (we think). 8 minutes ago from web

Sophmom Leaned on the remote and ended up in On Demand. Was tempted to stay there. 4 minutes ago from web

jonathanfields Joe the plumber to host SNL this week 8 minutes ago from web

cspan @digitalsista Thank you for embedding our video! Anyone else in need of embeddable & editable content? http://debatehub.c-span.org #debate08 7 minutes ago from web in reply to digitalsista

YatPundit Keep talking abortion, you fool. by the time this is over, you'll be down to a 2% win percentage on 538 8 minutes ago from TweetDeck

DavidStephenson between abortion and equal pay, Women for McCain may now be able to all meet in a broom closet... 7 minutes ago from web

Sophmom Again confuses autism and down syndrome. This one will come home to roost. Wow. less than 5 seconds ago from web

swampwoman Still no mention of coastal recovery and property insurance reform - 2/3 of America lives on the coast, they all cannot be relocated 8 minutes ago from web

roadkillrefugee McCain wants to federally preempt state teaching certification requirements? Wow. Did the GOP just catch that? Libertarians? 8 minutes ago from web

Sophmom "I don't think America's youths are interest groups. I think they're our future." 8 minutes ago from web

midcitygirl It's DOWN SYNDROME stupid!!!!! 7 minutes ago from web

parenthetical #debate08 Vouchers as a treatment for long-term public school health is the educational equivalent of leeching the patient. 7 minutes ago from web

TheFix SCHIEFFER FOR PRESIDENT! 7 minutes ago from web

Sophmom Bush comment made me think "I know George Bush, and I'm no George Bush, " like.... 2 minutes ago from web

liprap @Sophmom McCain putting himself in his place? ;-) half a minute ago from web in reply to Sophmom

Sophmom @liprap Yeah. Something like that. Bent. less than 5 seconds ago from web in reply to liprap

DavidStephenson Boy, Hilary is really a stateswoman. half a minute ago from Election 2008

roadkillrefugee Obama won FOX focus group 2 minutes ago from web

**********************************

I haven't a clue how it all reads, out of context, but there are more links than anyone could click and they all lead to interesting content. More links and tags tomorrow. That's all I've got. I'm going to bed. 'Night, y'all. Peace.

But I digress. During my years of laboring on MississippiRiverLand Airlines' (not its real name) jets as a flight attendant, I saw Paul Newman two times. The first was in the gate area at LAX (Los Angeles) when a gate agent pointed him out to me in the next gate area. I would never have recognized him. He was short, and, at least at that ungodly hour of the morning, not nearly as good looking, in person.

The other was later, and remains my favorite story from my flying days. It was probably 1978, because I'd just come off reserve and was flying an all-night-turnaround with a very junior cabin crew. I was the Flight Attendant in Charge. Back then, we were called "A line" because our name was on the "A" line of the trip paperwork, the name of which I can't recall for the life of me (did I mention the memory is going?). It was a pretty grueling trip. We signed in at about 6:00 in the evening and went Atlanta-Chattanooga-Cincinnati-Detroit-Tampa-three hour nap in a black Naugahyde recliner in a blacked out basement room in the airport-Atlanta, getting home, with any luck, just before sunrise. I really loved driving home through downtown as the amazing colors of dawn crept into the sky, but I digress again.

This day, upon checking in with the gate agent as the A Line, I was told that Joanne Woodward and a young man who was not identified would be traveling with us to Lexington and that they'd be boarding last (or was it first, I can't... oh, hell). Pleased with our light load and having something special to mark the time, I headed down the jetway to the Boeing 727 to prepare for the short hop beverage services. I bet they don't serve anything on those today. I'm pretty sure the seat belt sign never went off on those first two legs, but the No Smoking light did, and we served. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I stood just inside the door of the plane as the passengers boarded, tearing the little tab off of their boarding passes, welcoming them onto the flight and directing them to their seats. I did this for every passenger (without noticing him), before heading to the back of the plane where I was going to serve from a tray from back to front until I met the cart working from front to back, while the fight attendant working first class settled in Ms. Woodward and her traveling companion with beverages on the ground.

We took off. Everything was normal. I served the smokers sitting in the very back on the co-pilot's side next to the galley and headed to ask the single man sitting alone by the window in the three seat row on the Captain's side just in front of the galley. It was sometime around sunset, and, as we were headed from south to north, the sun was shining straight in these west facing windows. When I leaned down and said, "Can I get you something to drink?" he turned from looking out the window toward me and the sun shot through his eyes and nearly knocked the wind out of me. I grabbed the seat backs of his row and the row in front to avoid stumbling backwards. He immediately knew he'd been recognized. I immediately realized he didn't want to be. There was a moment of frozen inability to even breathe, much less manage to stammer, as he handed me a twenty and asked for two Jack and cokes and I just stood there, bent over, trying to gather myself. I went to the galley and held on to the counter ledge trying to figure out what to do. I caught my breath, sort of, and fixed his drinks, and his alone. Normally I'd have taken two or three (four?) rows of orders until my brain was full and I couldn't remember any more. I served him with comic deference, still stammering, but regaining enough composure to make a little fun of my agitated state. That's how the rest of it went. I never said anything beyond what was required to provide him with four Jack & cokes over two legs of flight and give him his change, which was all somehow comical for both of us. I didn't tell any other crew members until he was gone, thinking that was obviously what he wanted. I did go up front and speak to Ms. Woodward and her companion briefly, and I did stand at the front of the plane and wish everyone a good day as they deplaned. When he came off, last of all the passengers deplaning in Lexington, I said, with a tad too much emphasis, "Thank you, for flying MississippiRiverLand!" He laughed and did a little fake (I think) pratfall stumble as he stepped into the jetway, turned around afterward, winked and kind of half waved. I took a very deep breath.

With years to think about it, I've assumed he bought the row to guarantee some privacy, that the agent knew about it and didn't tell us because our famous passenger didn't want to be recognized. It was my best MississippiRiverLand Airlines moment ever, and there were some great ones. I hung out in the back of an airplane talking to the group America one day, carrying a very light load ATL-LAX (they were so nice). I took care of a completely obnoxious (and high as a kite) Big Rock Star (still very famous - you know you want to click that link) in first class from New York to ATL (he spent an inordinate amount of time in the lav). There were politicians, jocks and broadcasters too many to list (one very drunk sportscaster exiting New Orleans in the wee hours after the Sugar Bowl spending the whole flight to ATL necking in the last row of first class stands out), but nothing was as wondrous as that moment I realized that Paul Newman was hiding, back in the cheap seats. Wow.

This world is a little less bright without him in it. Peace. Out. Y'all.

Shows how much I know. According to the polls as they begin to come in, this was a big win for Obama. Apparently, voters were offended by McCain's dismissiveness, his refusal (inability?) to even look at Obama. Quoting Pollmeister Nate Silver's post today entitled Why Voters thought Obama Won:

TPM has the internals of the CNN poll of debate-watchers, which had Obama winning overall by a margin of 51-38. The poll suggests that Obama is opening up a gap on connectedness, while closing a gap on readiness.

Specifically, by a 62-32 margin, voters thought that Obama was “more in touch with the needs and problems of people like you”. This is a gap that has no doubt grown because of the financial crisis of recent days. But it also grew because Obama was actually speaking to middle class voters. Per the transcript, McCain never once mentioned the phrase “middle class” (Obama did so three times). And Obama’s eye contact was directly with the camera, i.e. the voters at home. McCain seemed to be speaking literally to the people in the room in Mississippi, but figuratively to the punditry. It is no surprise that a small majority of pundits seemed to have thought that McCain won, even when the polls indicated otherwise; the pundits were his target audience.

Now, the economic crisis. This is my problem with the current situation. They wailed about Weapons of Mass Destruction and told us we had to approve of their war to be safe. They demanded that we accept their Patriot Act (talk about a misnomer) in order stay safe. Now, these same people are telling us that we must pass this blank check legislation, burdening the taxpayers and the next administration with their unfathomable debt in order to bail out the financial institutions so drunk from their spending spree that they're about to pass out. Rachel Maddow had this wonderful analogy, explaining that they're like children sick from too much Halloween candy, wanting to treat their nausea with, yep, you guessed it, more candy. They want us to enable the frenzy and the guy who's currently playing the President is going on television tonight to tell us that we have to, that it's imperative, that it must be done quickly (before we have too much time to consider what we're really doing). Hmmmm... haven't we heard that somewhere before. It makes me think of something Mr. Bush once said, or tried to say:

I don't want the financial markets to freeze up any more than the next guy. Developers having access to financing directly affects my job. No dollars to lend, no dollars with which to build, no need to knock shit down. But I am not inclined to support anything this administration tells us we must do quickly, no questions asked. Not a blank check. The sky is falling. The little boy's cried wolf too many times. Can't get fooled again.

I'll watch the Presnit tonight & update this post if I have something else to say. My plan is to blog the debate Friday night, if McCain musters the courage to show up.

Peace, y'all. This is getting interesting.