Duluth, you'll always be my kind of town

"Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one."
-- Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

This will be my last blog posting for a while. I'm packing up my computer tomorrow (or later today as it were), and I'll hit the road Saturday. Depending on when my stuff arrives, I hope to reconnect with the rest of the world in a couple of weeks.

I'm not sure what to say at this point. I would list my fond memories from my time in Duluth or why I'm thankful for each of the friendships I've made in the past three and a half years, but not even the Internet would have enough space for such a list.
Since I've been here, I've grown immensely as a copy editor and as a person. So many of the friends I've made feel like they've been friends for life, rather than of only a few years or less. And I hope those relationships continue for life.

I guess what I most want to say is thank you.
Thank you for the lessons you've taught me, for inviting me into your lives, for the wonderful memories and especially for the laughter.

I'm sure that we will continue to keep in touch, and I look forward to the time when our paths cross again. I wish only the best for all of you.

Movin' on up

On Friday, the movers come to take my stuff away. There was some confusion about whether they should be here this Friday or the next (Feb. 25), but it's all straightened out now. They'll be here this week and I'll drive out to Norfolk over the next several days and start work Thursday, Feb. 24.
The first time I talked to them, I asked when they would be able to deliver my items. The answer: March 1-8.
So I've had to arrange my packing a little so that I can take the necessities with me when I drive out there -- clothes, TV, video games.
And I'll be sleeping on a sleeping bag on my floor for about a week.
Should be interesting.

The end of an era

Well, my last day of work at the paper was Saturday. On Friday, we had a nice little farewell gathering with Capt. Dusty McAwesome giving a nice speech and presenting me with a kickball that had been signed by everyone (many of us played regular kickball games during the summer) and a Pacman-shaped cake.
Last night after work, many of us went out bowling and then to the bar. Because I had lost a bowling bet, I also had to drink -- something for which I have little tolerance or desire. The result was nausea, a little drunkenness, a quick end to the drinking and a reaffirmation of why I don't do it.
Today involved us playing video games, eating BBQ and playing poker -- three things every day should include.
The week will continue like this, with small celebrations and final get-togethers -- mixed with a lot of packing and other random moving errands. It's a funny thing, saying goodbye. While I'm not sad to leave my job, I'm sad to leave the place and the people. While I look forward to the times and challenges ahead, I also look back with fondness and a sense of longing.
As Dusty has said, we were living in a Golden Age, and we didn't even know it.

Return of the prodigal site

For the two or three of you who knew about it, Gig Matrix has returned. It's bigger, better and has shorter posts, which I'm sure will be appreciated by those of you put into a coma by my lengthy ramblings before. For those that have been deprived of Gig Matrix, it's a Web site run by a few friends and I that deals with video games, movies, TV, etc. It had an earlier incarnation, went into a cocoon for a while and emerged as an incredibly geeky butterfly.
Or something like that.
Anyhow, check it out. The guys have promised to keep it pretty updated, though I probably won't have a chance to start contributing for a few weeks.

On an unrelated note, check your change. Your Wisconsin quarter could be worth, like, $1,000.

Trippin'

Sorry for the delay in posts, but I had a last minute trip back out to Norfolk to find a place to live, which I did. A (more or less) quick recap:

Day 1, Part 1: Fuzzy math

My flight from the Twin Cities to Norfolk left at 1:30 p.m. Monday. I had chosen to drive down to the Cities and fly from there rather than from Duluth because I didn't want to deal with the hassles of connecting flights and the ordeal of running through the airport trying to catch a flight. This reasoning would almost end up being very ironic.
Late Sunday night, I was figuring out when I needed to wake up and leave by. I wanted to be at the airport an hour and a half early ... so noon ... it would take two and a half hours to drive down there, so I should leave by 10:30. Great.
It was about half an hour into the drive the next morning that I realized my mistake.
I should have left at 9:30.
Oops.
I figured my saving grace would be that it had never before taken me more than 10 minutes to get through the line for the tickets and the line for security. That would leave me with about 20 minutes to rush to the gate.
After finally getting to the airport a little before 1 p.m., I desperately sought a parking space near the terminal entrance. In desperation, I asked God for an open space. Lo and behold, three spaces in from the door, I found one.
As I entered the airport, I was dismayed to see that the security line was long. Very long. Go figure.
As I checked in, the self-service kiosk told me that my flight had been delayed. I looked at the list of scheduled departures. It was delayed by exactly one hour. Good thing, too, because I was starving and I ended up flying out of a gate in a far, far away concourse that took me, I kid you not, 20-25 minutes to get to by walking at a brisk pace. There's no way I would have made that flight if it hadn't been delayed.
I'm aware that I lead a pretty blessed life. Sometimes it's just more obvious than others.

Day 1, Part 2: I want my baby-back ribs, dammit!

After landing in Norfolk and getting my rental car, I was driving to the hotel in the downtown area when I began to notice the abundance of restaurants which I have gone without since I moved to Duluth -- Chik-fil-A, Sonic, Arby's, Papa John's. It was a thing of beauty. So after I checked into the hotel, I checked out the phone book for restaurants within walking distance. I saw a Chili's (also something we don't have in Duluth) that had an address on Monticello Avenue. As luck would have it, that was right by the hotel and next to the mall that was across the street. I figured the restaurant had to be somewhere nearby. So I set out on my evening walk. By the time I passed the mall and had gone several blocks I began to think to myself, "Perhaps I should have bothered to remember the street number." But no matter -- it couldn't be that far, and it felt good to stretch my legs after being cooped up in a car or airplane all day, it wasn't too cold out and the fresh air was nice. So I kept walking.
And walking.
And walking.
After about 20 minutes, I began to think I should turn around. I mean, I like Chili's, but it's not that great or anything. But by that point, I was on a quest and determined to see it through.
Eventually, I hit the end of Monticello Avenue.
No Chili's.
So I took what looked like a major road back in the direction of the hotel and figured I'd just stop wherever looked good on the way back.
But apparently I picked a road without any restaurants on it. I got close to the mall and found a McDonald's, but I had not walked for more than an hour and what I later figured out to be about four miles to eat at a McDonald's that I could frickin' go to at home.
I entered the mall instead and looked at the restaurants listed on the directory.
What was the first one listed?
Yep, Chili's.
It was IN the mall the whole time.
As I said, my blessed life is more obvious at some times than others.

Day 2, Part 1: The hunt

I had done a fair amount of looking at apartments over the Internet before I left home, so I spent the morning making phone calls and decided to visit two apartments. As I'm sure most of you know, I despise shopping. Something about the kryptonite in the lights just saps my strength. It ends up shopping for apartments is still a form of shopping, and probably a worse kind. Sort of like red kryptonite -- still bad, just in a different way. My impatience with this sort of activity is probably a double-edged sword -- I get things done quickly, but I don't comparison shop as much as I probably should.
I had an apartment picked and signed up for by 3 p.m. It seems like a nice place in a convenient location. It's a two bedroom, so I've got plenty of room and there's an outdoor pool, which is nice.

Day 2, Part 2: Where's the party at?

So having taken care of that, I had no idea what to do for the rest of the day. I had read in the paper about a Mardi Gras parade that would be going on at 5 p.m., so shortly before then, I decided to go check it out. I haven't lived in a state that celebrated Mardi Gras since I was a kid, so I thought it might be fun.
Well, to quote Daryl Zero: "A few words on looking for things. When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you're only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you're sure to find some of them."
Unfortunately, yet again, I was looking for something specific. And while I thought I was on the right street, if there was indeed a parade there, it was very small and very quick, because I never saw it.
So instead, I decided to drive around the better part of Norfolk, stop at the beach to stare out across Chesapeake Bay and generally wander around aimlessly to get to know the area a little better.
Then I called it an early night.
Maybe I'll find the party next year.

A group of journalists walk into a bar....

My cohorts and I decided to try something new tonight after work. We would ditch the usual bar for someplace different -- get a change of scenery. Those that know me know that I am not a bar person. I'll go to them every once in awhile to socialize and because I like playing pool and darts, but if I never had to go into another bar again, I'd be totally fine with that. Actually, I'd probably be quite happy.

So we got to the other bar, and it ends up it was pretty much exactly like the old one. It was smoky, loud, crowded and had creepy old guys that kept trying to hit on women the same age as their daughters.

What's that they say about the devil you know vs. the devil you don't?

At any rate, I wasn't in the mood for it, but we decided to go to Perkins afterward. We call it the Perkins Drunk Tank because after about midnight, all the drunk people go there for food. Tonight there must have been a high school dance or something, because we went from drunk, old, creepy guys to drunk, dressed up, high school kids. There were several loud, off-key, not-all-singing-together renditions of "Happy Birthday" that most of the restaurant would get into, which was almost as interesting as the one night we went to a karaoke bar and the night closed with everyone in the place going on to the stage and drunkenly singing "Amazing Grace."

One of the kids was totally greased up and trying to act very suave. We actually thought he might be a vampire (Buffy fans, you know the look I'm talking about), but I could see his reflection in my knife. The knife was pretty dirty, though, so I could have been wrong.

Too bad. Staking a vampire would have made the night a lot more interesting.

Hell, come to think of it, staking a high school kid would have, too....

Quick hits

A few totally random and mostly news-related things:

1) In answer to a question about where to read more about Social Security, I would suggest a few things -- the Common Sense on Social Security Web site (it hasn't been updated recently and I haven't looked at all of it, but the site contains some good information), a columnist for TheStreet.com has a good article as well, this is a quick look at Bush's plan, and of course, there's the Social Security Web site, too. If you have audio on your computer, you can also check out NPR's fact check on Bush's State of the Union address, which talks some about Social Security and other issues mentioned in the speech.

2) In a disturbing survey, it was found that one-third of high school students think the press has too much freedom. Even worse, 36 percent think the government should have to approve stories before they're published. PEOPLE!!!!!!! You're totally missing the point of a FREE press!!!!!
Kids these days....

3) Speaking of disturbing, it seems yet another columnist has been paid by the government (with your tax dollars) to promote various policies (without disclosing the pay). That makes at least three for those of you keeping score.

That's all for now. I promise to do something more light-hearted soon.

Social security blanket

If we're going to have a public debate about reforming Social Security, let's get a few things straight:

First of all, Bush and others have said that Social Security will be bankrupt by 2040 and that taxes will have to be raised or benefits reduced by 2018. Neither is true. In 2018, the money that Social Security pays out will exceed the money that it takes in. But Social Security's trust fund has been building a surplus of more than $3 trillion since the '80s. The fund will be able to pay all of its benefits until 2041 by most estimates and it can continue to pay most of its benefits long after that. So it's not exactly a crisis, as some would have you believe. (But calling something a crisis is a good way to induce fear and get support for your plan. See War in Iraq. Speaking of misdirection, if you want a REAL crisis, look at Medicare. Its trust fund will be gone by 2019.)

But that doesn't mean that Social Security doesn't need to be reformed -- and better to start thinking about it now than to keep putting it off as is likely to happen. But are the private accounts that Bush touts the answer? Well, if you're looking to shore up Social Security, no. Having people put money into private accounts doesn't do anything to help Social Security financially and actually hurts it. As people put money into private accounts, that's less money that will go into Social Security, exacerbating the problem. The costs of a transition into private accounts are estimated to be up to $2 trillion. (As if it weren't running enough deficits already.) Funny, no one's really talking about that, though.

Bush and his supporters are right that, over the long run, you would get a better return out of private accounts than you would Social Security. The problem comes when you retire and start drawing on that money. At that point, you're no longer dealing with the long term, you're dealing with the short term. So if there happens to be a dip in the economy when you retire, you're going to get less money than you expected. And while the market will eventually even itself out, that doesn't help you at that point in time.

So what's a government to do? Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, has a proposal that both sides have criticized, which means he's probably doing something right. It involves phasing in voluntary private accounts (which Democrats don't like), the transition costs for which would be paid for by raising the cap on the Social Security payroll tax to $200,000 (which Republicans don't like because it's a tax increase and one that hits the wealthy). (Right now, only the first $90,000 of your income is taxed for Social Security.) The voluntary private accounts would involve government-approved funds to keep the investing fairly risk-free. And benefits would be changed to reflect price changes, rather than wage rates. (This would decrease benefits somewhat but would still keep them in line with what you would be spending the money on.)

This isn't in Graham's plan, but I think gradually and carefully raising the retirement age to 70 needs to be strongly considered. (It was last changed in 1983 to gradually rise to 67.) People are living longer and the retirement age needs to reflect that.

Finally, the government needs to figure out a way to encourage people to save independently of Social Security. Right now, 33 percent of retirees depend on Social Security for 90 percent to 100 percent of their income. Two-thirds of retirees use it as more than half of their income. It was never intended to be the sole source of income for retirees, simply a safety net and a supplement.

So that's my spiel on Social Security. If you made it all the way through, I congratulate you.

Bowling for pride

It's been a good, if not somewhat idle, day. It involved three hours of video-game playing and an evening of bowling. As often happens when I bowl with my friends, small wagers are made. They aren't monetary bets, they're more about embarrassment. I once lost a game of bowling and had to serenade a male friend with "Wind Beneath My Wings" outside a bar.
No, I was not drunk.
Unfortunately.

The usual routine is that the first game is a warm-up and then the betting begins. This benefits my friends pretty well because I usually win the first game and then choke under the pressure of a bet. That's how it went tonight -- strong first game, horrible second game. Because I lost the second game, I was going to have to say, during every budget meeting at work until I left: "Well, I would hate to disagree with Capt. Dusty McAwesome* because he's so very smart."
*His real name would have been used in such a scenario.

Luckily, we played a third game and bet again -- If I won, the slate would be wiped clean; if Capt. Dusty won, I would have to mention his superior intellect in the budget meetings and fetch (and pay for) any drinks he wanted from the vending machine during work for the rest of my time here.
Luckily, I fared better under the pressure and won.
Whew.
I'm not Christa -- there's only so much shame I can take...

The verdict

I got the call early this evening while I was at work.

I got the job.

There are still some details to work out, but I accepted and will be headed out to Norfolk, Virginia, sometime in mid-February. (Not quite sure when yet.) And of all the bizarre things, I think the company is going to pay for me to fly out -- again -- for a couple of days so that I can find a place to live.
Coming from a company that won't even pay moving costs for people anymore, I'm not sure I'll be able to adjust to a place that treats its employees and prospective employees so well.
But I'll try.

In the meantime, some interesting Virginia trivia:
The state slogan seems to be "Virginia is for lovers." I think this could bode well for my social life, but probably not.
The state motto is: "Sic semper tyrannis" -- Thus always to tyrants. I have no idea what that means, but I think I might be moving to a state the supports tyranny. Then again, it is a red state....

Waiting

I was supposed to hear about the Virginia job Wednesday. The woman I interviewed with said she would call, but I haven't heard anything yet.

It's the story of my life. Women say they'll call; they never do.

At first I figured maybe she was just busy with work or something. That's understandable. But then I started thinking: What if something happened to her? Or what if she lost my number somehow?
So I decided to send an e-mail. Just a quick note saying hi and wondering if she'd made a decision yet. Nothing big.

No response.

I started to worry. Maybe she was having computer difficulties and couldn't get her e-mail. Or maybe somehow it hadn't gotten through because of problems on my end.

I decided to call her.

Just to be safe, I called her at work AND at home. I didn't get her either place, so I left a message both places:
"Hey, this is Brian. I hadn't heard from you yet, so I was just checking to make sure that everything's OK. I really enjoyed meeting you last week. Anyhow, just in case you lost my contact information, let me give you my home phone number and my work number again...."

An hour later, still nothing.

"Hey, it's Brian again. Is this answering machine working OK? I hope so. I don't mean to keep bugging you, but like I said before, I had a really good time before and I really think things could work out well with this new job. So let me know if you need anything else ... or if you have any more questions for me or anything. Maybe I'll give you my e-mail address again, just in case you need it ..."

An hour after that:
"Hey, it's you know who. Geez, I sure hope you're not dead in a ditch somewhere or something. Anyway, I'm sorry about all the other phone calls earlier. I don't mean to sound too desperate or anything, because I'm not. I just had some down time at work and thought I'd call and all. Anyway, I didn't mean to seem overbearing or anything. Because I'm totally not like that. I'm a really laid-back, easy-going guy, and I really think I'd fit in there and everything. And did I mention ... "

"Uh, hey, it's Brian again. I think your machine cut me off on the earlier message. So, be honest -- is it me? It's me, isn't it? I came on too strong. I tried to play it cool, tried to be all suave and act like I was interested in the job, but not TOO interested. Maybe that was the problem -- I played too hard to get. I didn't mean to be aloof. I really was interested. I swear. And I thought there was a connection there. Didn't you feel it, too? You felt it, right? ... Right?"

An hour later:
(sobbing) "Whatever I did to offend you, I'm sorry. Please, just talk to me. We can work this out, I swear we can. Just tell me what I did wrong and how I can fix it, and I'll do it. I promise. What can I do? Please, just talk to me. Just give me a call. Hey, here's my number again...."

Another hour passes:
(Drunkenly) "Dooo yooouuu think you're better than me?!?! Is that it?!!? You think you'rrrreee bettteerrrrr than meeeee????" (click)

Well, at least that's the way it happened in my head.
We'll see how tomorrow goes.

I'm back

Sorry it's been so long. A few highlights from my trip to Virginia:

I've decided I really don't like flying. It's just terribly inconvenient, and the airlines have made it worse by stripping out all the amenities. Arm rest radio? Gone. In-flight movies? Gone on most of the flights. Meals? Gone. I'm stuck with cramped seats, a small bag of pretzels and a drink. And delayed flights. Out of the four flights I had to take last week, three of them were late. We sat on the runway for a long time in Duluth, which in Detroit left me with about 10 minutes to dash from one gate to my connecting gate in a totally different terminal. (Original layover time, about 45 minutes.) I got there about two minutes before they closed the doors.
My luggage, however, did not make the trip.
Luckily, I got it late that night.
The trip back was no better. A delayed flight out of Norfolk left me with 10 minutes again to catch a flight in a different terminal. My saving grace this time, it ended up, was that my connecting flight wasn't even ready to board by the time I got there. I got into Duluth an hour late. It's no wonder so many airlines are going bankrupt.

The interviews went well and I had a good time in Norfolk. The weather was the most talked about thing while I was there. I apparently brought the cold weather with me. They were having a cold snap -- a high of about 30. The people there seemed to think this was freakish. I politely tried not to laugh in their faces. It was in the upper 20s today in Duluth and I went out with just a sweatshirt. (Well, pants, too.)

I got a haircut while I was out there. It was the morning before my interview, and I decided just to do something totally different -- I didn't really care what. I normally keep my hair short, but I had been growing it out for awhile, more out of laziness than anything else. So I just told the stylist to do whatever she thought would look good as long as it wasn't too crazy and I would have some hope of re-creating it the next morning.
When she was done, she had, unbeknownst to her, given me the exact same haircut I had when I kept it shorter. She asked what I thought; I just said, "Works for me."
Like they say: If you love a haircut, let it go. If it comes back to you, it's yours forever.

Dear Netflix

Dear Netflix,
There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just come right out with it:

I think we need to go our separate ways.

I'm sorry to be so blunt. But it's not you, it's me. I know people say that all the time, but it really is true. I just couldn't put the time into the relationship that it needed. I mean, we've been together for what -- three months? And I've only watched five movies. It's not fair to either of us for me to put so little effort into this.

I appreciate how hard you've worked to keep us together though. You gave me the discount price when we first hooked up. (I don't mean that to sound so dirty.) And then you lowered your price, when you knew you had competition that could lure me away. And when I told you that it was over, you even offered me a deal -- something that would require less commitment -- fewer movies per month for an even lower price. But I think it's better if we just walk away.

Plus, and I'm reluctant to tell you this but I will in the interest of being totally honest: There's someone else. It's Gamefly. Sure, I've been ignoring its video games lately, too, but I'm going to try to stick with it and make it work.

I'm sorry that we can't do that same.

So thanks for the memories Netflix -- the good ones, like "Run, Lola, Run" and "Seven," and even the bad ones ("The Fearless Vampire Killers" was pretty horrible, wasn't it?). I'm sorry we couldn't make it work, but I wish you the best. And maybe, somewhere down the road of life, when I've moved and have less of a social life and more free time than I've got now, our paths will cross again. I know -- it makes it sound like I'm using you. But I know you're just in it for the money, so I don't think you'll mind.

Brian

Spam-tastic

The other day I got the following e-mail with the subject line "Protect your community!" It's so good, I have to share it:

Hello,

We're emailing you to let you know that with terrorism on the rise, a bunch of new jobs in law enforcement just opened up. We need smart and good people, like yourself, to join the team to protect America. If you're interested, we recommend that you sign up to get some information on how to get started in a Criminal Justice education program:

(link removed because it's probably not a good idea to go there)

If you're already set in your current career, maybe you could pass this message on to someone else who is down on their luck, but is interested in keeping our land free from fear. This should be somebody you trust!

- Eric "Bull" Sanders
Counter-Terrorism Recruiter

Sometimes you just need a little push

"God's given me a gift. I shovel well. I shovel very well."
-- The Shoveler ("Mystery Men")

It snowed a lot today. By early afternoon when I went to work there was a least 6 inches of snow with plenty more on the way. (By the evening, I think we had gotten about a foot.) My apartment building's parking lot had not been plowed at all. There were trucks getting stuck in the parking lot, so I didn't figure that my Saturn stood much of a chance. But the little car that could managed to make it out of the parking lot only to find that the streets had also not been plowed. (The city decided one of the ways it could save money was to scale back the snowplowing budget. Stupidest decision ever.) So driving was a mess. The normally 10 minute drive into work took me an hour. Traffic was backed up, cars couldn't get up the hills (of which there are many in Duluth) and there was just general chaos on the roads. I finally found a place to park and got into work where we soon found out that our newest copy editor couldn't get to work for her first day -- her car was stuck in the snow. So Capt. Dusty McAwesome and I decided to ride to the rescue. Upon seeing that we were leaving, two co-workers asked us to help push their cars out of the snow so they could leave. So the four of us ventured out into the snow. After half an hour or so, we had pushed and shoveled both guys' cars out of the snow. I'm getting so much practice at this, I'm thinking of going into the private sector. Half an hour after that, we had picked up our co-worker and, with only a bit of pushing, gotten back to work.

Speaking of work and the weather, I'm headed out to Norfolk, Va., early next week for an interview at The Virginian-Pilot. A friend of mine, either as encouragement or to cruelly taunt me, sent me the weather report for Norfolk. The comparison for the next several days goes like this:

Duluth
Thursday: -2/-28 (Wind chill Thursday and Friday night expected to be about 50 below)
Friday: -12/-23
Saturday: -9/-19
Sunday: -3/-14

Norfolk
Thursday: 72/62
Friday: 65/32
Saturday: 48/32
Sunday: 49/33

I can't decide if Mother Nature is doing this just to screw with me before I leave or if it's simply an encouragement because, really, humans shouldn't live in places where you can die in 10 minutes outside. This is weather for polar bears, not people.

Correction

Monday's post incorrectly stated the Bush administration's stance on events in the Darfur region of Sudan. The administration has referred to it as a genocide.

BriGuy regrets the error.

Slippery slopes

I'm a little sore today. I suppose repeatedly throwing yourself down a hill on top of an inner tube will do that, but I don't think tubing should really take much of a physical toll. I suppose my aches attest to either the surprising physical demands of tubing or just how out of shape I've become. I've got a hunch as to which it is, though...
I was surprised to learn when a group of us went tubing (sledding down a hill on an inner tube, for those unfamiliar with it), that two of my friends had never been sledding. It makes sense I guess -- one grew up in a place without much snow, the other grew up in a very flat state -- but it's always surprising to discover that someone has never experienced something that seems so intrinsic to my own childhood. I'm happy to report that, despite their initial trepidation, they both enjoyed it.

On a completely separate topic, the relationship between some in the media and the government is getting entirely too cozy for comfort. Much of the media was already criticized (and rightly so) for not questioning the government very hard about post-Sept. 11 actions and the lead-up into the war in Iraq. Now it seems that coverage of domestic issues is being driven by the government sometimes as well. A well-known conservative pundit, Armstrong Williams, was recently discovered to have been paid by the government (that would be with your money, taxpayers) to promote the No Child Left Behind law, which he did. (For the story, click here.) The government has also, on at least two occasions, distributed government-created news stories for TV that are intended to look like normal TV news stories and don't include any indication that the source is the government that was promoting what the story was about. Some TV stations even ran this propaganda for reasons I cannot begin to fathom. While these actions are unethical at best and possibly illegal on the government's part, just as much blame falls to Armstrong and any TV stations that decided to broadcast the government's news stories. The media as a whole has enough credibility problems as it is without having our opinions for sale or mindlessly running government propaganda.

Follow-up

On the radio I just heard an ad for UNICEF's relief efforts for the tsunami victims. At the end it said, "Let's create a tsunami of hope." I couldn't decide if that was poor taste or simply an incredibly bizarre decision on the part of the ad writers, but either way, it didn't exactly make me want to run out and create my own natural disaster of goodness.

I should also add, in reference to my last post, that I do believe the tsunami victims need every bit of help they're getting. The death toll (now at more than 150,000) could easily double if disease begins to spread from lack of clean water and medical supplies. So obviously much help is needed quickly. But if the world can pull together for this, why do we have such a hard time with other things? True, we can't pour money into the scores of problems that need fixing, but we could try focusing on one or a few at a time. It also seems like the region plays a lot into how much attention problems get. Africa, especially, tends to be largely ignored. The Rwandan genocide, the mass deaths in Sudan (we're still not calling that genocide), the AIDS crisis -- all went or continue to go without much notice. There was a recent article about the deaths in Congo and their outlook on the world's generosity to the tsunami victims while they watch 1,000 people, mostly children, die every day from war-related disease and starvation.

Disaster relief

A friend has touched on this on her blog, and I, too, have found it interesting how so much generosity and motivation can be gathered to help those affected by natural disasters but so little for so many other worthy causes, even some that would cost much less to make a significant impact. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to see how much money has poured in to relief efforts worldwide, but I thought Nicholas Kristof made some good points in his syndicated column, so I highly recommend reading it.

ABC, I love thee

Despite that Wednesday is the start of my work week, Wednesday is now officially the best day of the week. "Lost" is back into new episodes and "Alias" has begun its season. Bring on the tropical polar bears, butt-kicking spies and more intrigue than a mysterious dinosaur-type thing could chew -- I'm ready for my J.J. Abrams high and hope I never come down....