Holland Michigan...

They like their George Bush here. They are particularly fond of auto flags.

But then we went to dinner with six professionals from Hope College. Two bottles of wine later, we were all relieved to realize that everyone at the table was for Kerry. Yet again, college professors seem to have the ability to wade through the crap.

My thanks to Neil over at Apt Folly for the shout out, but I'm missing such an awesome party tonight. Hoping he'll Buzznet some great photos.



At least I get to sleep in tomorrow with a free hour from the time change.

Blogging on the Road...

In Chicago today for work... Evanston and Northwestern University to be precise.

Pretty campus. Nice people. Three interviews and four and a half hours of videotape.

We're off to Holland Michigan tomorrow at 7am.

I want it to rain... just trust me, the day will go much better if it does. :-(

Holy Drunken Cleanup Batman!

photo by: codos

We hosted a party last night... I've got a sticky floor, recycling, and dips with skin on the top to prove it.

Oh, and lots and lots of pictures!

Music: Good for What Ails ya

It's a good time for music and iTunes has kept me rockin lately.

I've been nuts for Sasha's Involver, but mostly Phoenix, which I encourage everyone to sample. Both came with my KCRW gift pack. Mac introduced me to Keene, which is a bargain at $10 and reminds me of Travis a bit. I've already turned two other people on to them.

Then I heard a single by Ringside on KCRW and had to buy it right away!

Meanwhile, it may be the dismal LA weather, but I've definitely had a case of the blahs. To cure it, I'm staying busy. Tomorrow, dinner with my friend from Tassajara, Saturday we're hosting a party, and Wednesday I'm off to Chicago, Holland Michigan, and Champaign-Urbana for work.

JOHN KERRY WINS!!

Maybe I'm crazy...

And maybe a prediction is as good as a coin toss...

But I'm calling it!

John Kerry's win in several states will give some people a case of whiplash!

Puff & Stuff

I’m at Marshall’s today trying on clothes when I suddenly realize the size 34 Polo brand pants don’t fit me anymore. So I try this Savane brand and they don’t fit me either. Did Marshall’s pull a carton of botched “irregular” pants out of the dumpster? Is that where they get their bargain products? Or could it be that I just can’t wear size 34 pants anymore?

Say it ain’t so!!

Used to be, my Levis label read 33/32. And over the past ten years I have sculpted and cardio’d three times a week – scarfed bacon omelets on the Atkins diet and eaten tuna and yam slaw while I did The Zone. I’ve preened and fixated on my body with the compulsiveness of a soap actor while friends roll their eyes and call me a girl, only to later get a copy of my diet or confess to their girlfriends that they wish they had my calves.

Now, as I approach 40, my body is changing in ways that really and truly suck. For example, my head is becoming larger in proportion to my shoulder width. Come on, look at me! I’m becoming the set-up to the “Why the long face?” punchline.

And though I don’t worry about gaining weight so much, I really don’t want to look puffy.



Take David Boreneaz for example. He hit a wall a couple years ago and went all “Puffy the Vampire Slayer.”








And look at Matt LeBlanc. He used to be Captain Tiger Beat -- now the photographer has to take a step back to get Matt's whole face in the picture.



As my self-obsession continues, there is hope out there. Guys like Bon Jovi and Johnny Depp are in their 40’s yet manage to hold back the years and avoid the puffs.

Aww crap, they’re both smokers, aren’t they?!

I guess all this time I could have been trading one kind of puff for another. Smoking is cool, but I don't think I can stand the stench. Maybe it's time to start making cheese omelets again.

Meanwhile, you'll find me buying this years Halloween mask in the Big & Tall shop.

No Pizza...

I came home from work starving for DiGiorno's pizza and quickly preheated the oven...

Ten minutes later, I smell gas... and there's no heat in the oven. Yep, the pilot light is out and I spent the next hour cursing, struggling to find the damn thing to light it.

No luck. And no pizza.

But hey, the intoxicating, delirious aroma of natural gas pervades my home!

... strangely sleepy... must... sleep... now...

Salk Talk

For work we went to the Salk Institute yesterday for a couple of interviews for the Psychology series (photos in Buzznet). What a nice bunch of peeps!

I chatted politics with a woman there briefly. She suggested that the stem cell research has been way overcomplicated by both political candidates. We mourned the loss of Christopher Reeve for a moment, then, due to his outright opposition to science, she suggested that "George W. Bush killed Superman."

Quite a headline!

Thoughtlets IV: I Am Nailed to the Hull

Every now and then, there's not enough to fill a whole blog entry -- just half-thoughts and observations.

* If Bravo network's Inside the Actor's Studio is spending an hour with J Lo... well, don't you think it's time to shut down production?

* Lately all I've wanted to do is crawl into a hole, be alone, and get my life together. Then, moments ago I checked in with the AstrologyZone which talks about that very feeling for us Scorpios this month. I don't confess to believe in astrology, but she really hit it on the head with that one.

* I am struck by these seemingly independent campaigns meant to register voters. Places like Rock the Vote and Freedom's Answer claim to be non-partisan efforts to register voters. But isn't the whole premise of getting new voters out there meant to change the political landscape rather than keep it the same?

* I have no idea if this story is true, but it brings up confusing and disturbing images...

* Here's a neat little goody called Pass it On.

* To celebrate my purchase of "Achievement" for my Pasadena office, I've decided to bring back Despair.com as my Link of the Week.

News: Cheney Oops!

From the I'm-the-last-to-know department, I just found out about this blunder from the Tuesday night VP Debate...

Cheney: Well, the reason they keep mentioning Halliburton is because they're trying to throw up a smokescreen. They know the charges are false.They know that if you go, for example, to FactCheck.com... you can get the specific details with respect to Halliburton.

Hundreds of thousands of viewers immediately did as they were told and hit the web to find Factcheck.com. They were welcomed to George Soros' homepage with the headline that reads: "Why We Must Not Re-Elect President Bush!"

Cheney meant to direct everyone to Factcheck.org, the independent website. Ironically, those that did find the proper site were greeted with headline stating "Bush Mischaracterizes Kerry's Health Plan."

Factcheck.org claims that John Edwards' statement about Halliburton was actually "mostly right."

Link of the Week Shakedown

It was Fan Appreciation Day at Dodger Stadium today with tons of fans, including myself, showing up to support the team after yesterday's victory.

Yeah, the fans showed up but where was the team?

The Dodgers got kicked around the block by the San Francisco Giants. Still, it was a beautiful day and an excellent time with good friends.

But the real challenging part of every Sunday is my quest to find a worthy Link of the Week. It's quite an ordeal, as you could imagine, as I must pour over the hundreds (err okay, like five) of randomly funny or weird links that I come across in my internet travels. In a complete departure from the norm, I've decided to show some of the submissions for this week's link, as well as explain here why they didn't make the cut.

First up is this Donald Trump's Dog. It's a nice chuckle, definitely something you'd send in an email to a friend. Problem is, it's just one photo -- a one-shot deal with no depth. Sorry -- doesn't make the cut!

Next up was the possibility of Cats Hate Bush. Pictures of cute kitties with captions expressing their anti-Bush sentiment. It's GOLD I tell you! Alas, though my politics are clear, I try to keep the Weekly Link non-partisan. So Cats Hate Bush is right out!

Link #3 is a keeper. It's the Apathetic Online Journal Entry Generator. I actually thought of joining Provance one more time just to bring as many 12 year-old teen bloggers as I could to this link. 'Course you'd have to take a hammer to their heads for them to get the joke. And that is the problem with this link -- it's too inside. Only bloggers, or people who frequent them, would think it's funny. So, no dice.

Finally, I found a link that I should probably use next week, but I'm going to go ahead and post it here. It's The Message Board for Tacklers Who are in the Process of Missing Dante Hall. This hysterical link supposes that the punter for the Kansas City Chiefs hosts a message board and invites his fellow NFL competitors to come in and post. Internet power corrupts!

But the narrow winner for this week is Toasted Pixel's Villains/Heroes Voter's Guide to the 2004 Election. With two debates in the next five days, what better way to cast your vote than by polling folks like Megatron, Gargamel and Spiderman!

It's geeky... it's timely... and it's funny: three great qualities for the LoTW!

From the Headlines...

Bush Announces Plan for Iraq Summit



“We’re gonna host a summit!” President Bush announced to a cheering crowd.

Fresh off his debate victory, Bush campaigned in Ohio this weekend, announcing further details of his plan to bring order to Iraq.

“By hosting a summit for Iraq, we bring our allies in the international community to the table and create a broad coalition for Iraqi sovereignty.”

When asked by reporters where he got the idea for the summit, Bush shrugged. “It’s my idea. I came up with it. It’s been my plan all along.” The packed crowd cheered Bush, who immediately went up 3 points in a Gallup poll.

“You can’t win the war without winning the peace,” said Bush, whose supporters said they had never heard the President so eloquent.

“It was Senator Kerry’s vote that sent us to Iraq.” Bush continued. “What my opponent fails to realize is this is the wrong war, at the wrong time and the wrong place!”

The crowd cheered its approval. Various political analysts praised the Bush strategy, while still claiming they have yet to hear a coherent plan from Democratic rival John Kerry.

“My opponent says we should have entered this war with an exit strategy,” Bush snickered. “You can’t enter a war talking about your exit – what kind of mixed message does that send?”

Bush’s comments elicited laughter and cheers from the ‘Buckeye’ crowd. Indeed, polls show this comment alone lifted him one more point above John Kerry.

Polls now show Bush leading Kerry 74% to 48%.