vacation

Now two full days into my vacation, I must say, Minneapolis rocks. It has culture, sweet parks, and, of course, Quang, the best, cheapest Vietnamese restaurant in the world. Or at least the best to which I've ever been.

I love not working. I hope Kassie won the Powerball tonight.

packing list

• 5 t-shirts
  
• 3 button down shirts
  
• fleece
  
• 3 pair pants
  
• 5 pair socks
  
• 6 pair boxers
  
• iPod
  
• adidas
  
• phone charger
  
• The Dark Tower
  
• sunglasses
  
• digital camera
  
• toothbrush
  
• razor

ass kicking

Sen. Norm Coleman is a stooge for pushing this oil-for-food investigation so hard, and today, he got bit back by British MP George Galloway. For months Coleman has been accusing Galloway of profiting from the corruption of oil-for-food. Today, Galloway accepted Coleman's invitation, flew across the pond, and testified before Coleman's subcommittee:

Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies.

Ouch. See all of his responses here.

class mobility

The NY Times has begun a fascinating series on the role of social class in America. The first article has some observations about what appears to be a decline in class mobility.

Definitely worth looking at is the graphic package on where you fit in. The interaction of education and income is beautifully articulated.

the streak is over!

For the first time in my life, I was punched in the face today. Frankly, I'm really surprised it took so long. I learned that a good punch in the face beats the hell out of (no pun intended) coffee.

So I was walking to work, when I flipped off a car that had run a light and almost hit me in the crosswalk. The driver stopped, thought better of getting out of his car in the middle of the street. I continued across the street, while he pulled into a driveway in front of me. He got out, ran up to me, and hit me in the face. Then he got back in his car and drove off, all with his child in the backseat. There were also lots of obscenities. Nice.

da plane! da plane!

I've gotten two emails today asking about the evacuation. Here’s the deal:

I was sitting at my desk, watching the Senate floor, suddenly everyone abandoned the chamber. I changed the channel to the House, which evacuated a minute later. It was very bizarre to watch, and I'm still looking for a video of the Senate floor evacuation.

I figured we'd be next, so I grabbed my iPod, when the alarm to evacuate sounded. Then it was pretty much, "walk for your lives!" An hour later, we were let back in, and I went back to work, as though I never feared for my life at all.

Good times.

vacation day

My first vacation day of 2005 rocked all around:
-Jaleo rocked (in a tasty sort of way)
-The Decemberists rocked (in a rockin' sort of way)
-And of course, Kassie rocks (in all sorts of cool ways)

My next vacation day? In Minneapolis at the end of the month. Rock.

they do it better

I've been enthralled by the BBC's election coverage, which is being simulcast on CSPAN-2 (the deuce). The election is far more interesting than ours, both because of the parliamentary system and the fact that the UK has three viable political parties (what a concept!). And the BBC is doing a fantastic job covering this, complete with all these supercool (for political nerds) visuals. Check it out if you can.