Just a Bump in the Beltway

The Road Ahead

2007-09-15T03:12:51Z

Weather Underground's Dr. Jeff Masters is tracking Tropical Storm Ingrid. I checked the forecast models and the entire East Coast needs to keep an eye on this one. Some of the models show it weakening to nothing more than a tropical low by the time of any prospective landfall in the Gulf or the East Coast. I don't know about you, but I've had commutes in the past around here that required re-routing during heavy rains, and I'd prefer to know about it in advance rather than getting to the bottom of a hill and finding the storm drains are flooded and I can't turn around because I'm on a divided road with a central median with curbs (this actually happened a couple of years ago. Not fun.) Jeff will update his blog forecast tomorrow and expect him to keep tracking the storm over the weekend. If you are a weatherhead, that's a URL to bookmark. Unless, of course, you prefer to be surprised by hurricanes, tropical storms and severe weather....

Things I Will Never Understand

2007-09-15T02:35:43Z

How on earth is it possible that Matt Yglesias gets hired by the Atlantic and Susie and I are scrabbling to make a living? The boy is a complete idiot.

Enough, Already!

2007-09-14T20:05:46Z

Can we please have a moratorium on all stories having to do with O.J. Simpson?

Belted Blogger

2007-09-14T19:42:19Z

At somepoint yesterday afternoon, I just crashed. I didn't see the Bushwack last night because I fell asleep during Olbermann. I woke up to send off some business emails at 7 this morning but then went back to bed. I had the TV on so I was in twilight sleep and realized that I just needed a day for everything to just stop. Stop. I've got to do some banking and buy groceries today, but that's it. I'm going to drowse in front of the TV, watch my favorite crime show and do nothing of any redeeming social value today. There has been too much on my plate for a while.

Thank God Hurricane Ingrid is going to be a no show. That means I can take a day off work, too.

Friends

2007-09-14T02:11:25Z

http://www.beltwaybump.com/2007/09/lucy_and_the_football.html

Lucy and the Football

2007-09-14T01:59:27Z

Let me sleep on this. I need some comatose time before I offer an analysis of the Bushspeak, and MSNBC has gotten there are ahead of me, even Tweety.

Susie had a truly shitty day and I have to go to the bank in the morning to bail her out. That is what friends do. That's what it means to be friends. And that is the most important thing.

Relationship is the point of life and I cherish mine as closely as I can.

Bookish

2007-09-14T01:39:33Z

Please read Fiasco one you've heard Bush's fable this evening.

Jesus, those of us who read Juan Cole every day know what has been going on for years. This is a fucking disaster. Bush's war of choice has left us looking like war criminals.

Thanks, W, you whore to the defense industry.

'Tis a Gift

2007-09-13T23:22:56Z

Thanks to pragmatic_realist in comments below for reminding me of the lyrics of my favorite hymn.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'Tis the gift to be free, 'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, And when we find ourselves in the place just right, It will be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
to bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
'Til by turning, turning, we come round right.

You can download the iTunes version here.

It's been a complicated day and I've learned so much that I my head hurts. I've scrabbled my way to about a 10% understanding of Windows Vista (I don't think I'll ever get the hang of the RSS reader) after spending most of the day pushing buttons and trying things. Damn, and I thought I'd finally got the hang of XP Pro.

Calling a Spade a Spade

2007-09-13T23:07:57Z

Froomkin Watch:

Jon Stewart had Bush biographer Robert Draper on his show last night, and marveled at Draper's access to the president: "He was either disarmed by you -- or didn't think you were writing this stuff down."
Stewart's conclusion: "After reading this book I get the sense of a man who is very proud of the person he believes himself to be -- but he is, in fact, the opposite of that person."

All New

2007-09-13T20:38:20Z

I spent the day in business meetings and having my CTO take me through all of the bells and whistles in Windows Vista, stuff I never even suspected was here. I'm still learning to use all the new tools (they really are called gadgets) and something as simple as posting a news story seems beyond me right now. Boy, has my head ever been turned around.

Body Art

2007-09-13T04:57:46Z

No, I don't have a tat. I won't be getting a tat. Unlike my former colleagues in The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, I have no interest in competetive body art. I'm a former make-up artist and I play with the way I look by taking out my paintbox. I don't want to be 75 living with whatever statement I thought was relevant at 53. I'm a writer and I'll live with what I write, but it ain't inscribed on my bod.

I can buy a couple of pairs of decent shoes for what one of those costs.

WTF?

2007-09-13T03:52:28Z

Who is Gwen Steffani and wwhy should I give fuck about what she thinks? I swear, I don't understand cable TV at all.

I'll have more channels to not understand in the morning. Something to look forward to.

Gourmet Tools

2007-09-13T03:34:39Z

I use this. You haven't really dined until you've eaten your own fresh pasta. I did this for the first time with a rolling pin and board in 1980-something. It was a revelation, but the machine kicks it up a notch and saves a lot of time. We were snowed in and I couldn't get to the store. The scratch method was revelation. It's easier with the machine but do-able with fists and a pasta roller. Or a rolling pin, firm elbows and a rolling board.

Dust the rollers with bench flour to keep the sticking down, same as you would do with the rolling pin and board. You will be so surprised with the result. There is nothing like fresh pasta. Nothing. This will knock your socks off.

Help a Blogger

2007-09-13T03:05:20Z

I'm giving Suze a major hunk of my Heloc because bloggers need to support fellow bloggers. The right wing pays for the like of John Hinderaker and Doughy Pantload, the left doesn't do the same. Liberals don't do the same. Don't expect a vast left wing response when you aren't supporting us.

If Matt Yglesias is the best we can do, we had better fold our tents and go quietly. DNC, George Soros, where the fuck are you? We are on our own out here without a buck of support from you. Or do you think that Duncan and Kos are the only people carrying the flag. How small are your blinders? Some of us have been at this for as long as Kos, and at a higher level of quality, but the money people are idiots who don't read the blogs or pay attention to you, the people who hang around here. If I were you, I'd raise hell with them on their websites.

Duncan Black is only one perspective. Others of us have more to add. Somebody should put a couple of nickles in the pot. DNC, you are demonstrating how inept you are at the internet thing. You are ugly stupid.

A Rare Good News Story

2007-09-13T01:10:13Z

I've been back and forth with the cable company (I have both my TV and broadband through them) a half dozen times in the last week. I lost my email password, the TV signal disappeared a half hour ago, I needed to change to digital service and order a new digital converter and track the shipping. That sort of thing. In every case but one, Cox Communication fixed my problem/request immediately over the phone. Getting the digital cable converter ordered took two phone calls.

This is the best customer service experience I've ever had (outside of Nordstroms, back in the day when I was married and could afford to shop there.) After the phone tech restored my cable (took 10 minutes) I asked to speak to his supervisor. To thank him for the great service I've gotten in the last week. Cox has received a J.D. Power award for outstanding customer service and they deserve it. I can't recall the last time I had a "customer service" experience that didn't result in time wasted, frustration, having to move up the chain of command, not getting the problem fixed at all or fixed timely. This has been an extraordinary experience and I will continue to be a Cox customer as long as I live here because of it. Other services or modalities may be less expensive, but the premium for excellent service is worth it.

Usually, I speak to a supervisor because something has gone wrong. It's nice to be able to congratulate one for running such a great team.

I'll have the digital converter tomorrow. The phone tech says it is no more difficult to hook up than my old one was (I think it took 5 minutes) and I'll have 50 more channels with nothing on them. Some of the movies might be nice, but I'm not a movie watcher, I'm a news and public affairs junkie. I'm getting the digital service because C-Span 3 moved there last month. A political/policy junkie/blogger without her Congressional committee hearings is a pathetic thing. O' course, Congress isn't in session tomorrow, in recess for the High Holidays, but that will give me time to explore all the new channels.

I'm a happy camper. That's not something I can say everyday.