can i just declare a do-over night?

lets see, so far...

• i've spilled a beer
• i've dropped 3 things
• i've knocked over a 4-cd case and every piece that could have come off (or in the case of the cd, out) did
• i've almost dropped another 5

and, after leaving early to try to take advantage of the last and only decent evening of the week to grill...

...the grill ran out of gas.  *after* i was "pot-committed" by having already started the rice.

the only good i can think of is that *tomorrow* is going to be perfect.

though i have no idea what we're doing.

Lord of the Rings, as written by William Goldman?

mollyringwraith: Is This a Kissing Book? (Done proper, by Øystein Bech Gadmar):

Isengard:
SARUMAN: Form a brute squad then! I want Fangorn Forest emptied before I send out the army.
ORC: It won’t be easy, Sire.
SARUMAN: Try ruling Middle-Earth sometime.

They get better (or worse) from there...

once upon a time...

nay?  anyone?  beuller?


A recent column (I can't remember where) did talk about fiscal responsibility and how the trend seems to be against the Republican party line.  Reagan and Bush Jr both asserted that reduction of tax revenues leads to increased fiscal responsibility in congressional budgets, yet the great tax-cut years of those two Presidents were both filled with the worst of pork-barrel excess.  By contrast, the higher taxes of Bush's later years and Clinton's era were filled with severe criticism in pork-barrelling that generally worked, with congresses being very active in trimming their excesses.  The columnist did try to assert a causal relationship that wasn't there, but rather I think its more that a congress that cares about fiscal responsibility and working properly with their income rather than trying to reduce it for the sake of some well-placed constituents, is going to be better across the board.

Of course, there were so many other factors involved in the war between Clinton and Uncle Newt's Congress that just looking at the tax rate vs "pork barrel rate" (which is hard enough to determine) isn't a genuine indicator of a trend that could apply to future administrations.

(taped off tv) sci-fi video giveaway

the great distributors, in their wisdom, have released the quite good (and sadly, unfinished) tv series Space: Above and Beyond and Earth 2 on 3-disc dvd sets.

as a result, i have now declared unnecessary my 8 vhs tapes of said programs taped off of the sci-fi channel back in the mid 90s.  i have no idea their current condition, as i haven't really put them in in quite a few years.  but hey, they're free to whomever wants 'em provided we can meet up.  i can't go through "freecycle" for this since its commercial property, just like i can't ebay this kinda stuff.

they're mix-n-matched, since they were shown back-to-back on sundays when they (re)ran originally.  taped direct off the tv.  if i recall, only the Space episode "Sugardirt" has hassles at the beginning due to static on the cable.

Update: we have a winner!