Right. So the Dow's back to 1997 levels. When you consider the fake dot com boom/bust and resulting mortgage echo boom/bust, this number seems closer to the truth to me. I'm not an economist, but what made all that wealth created, then lost, on a macro scale, any different from what went down with Bernie Madoff?

Gotta love those repubs and their "principled opposition" to the stimulus package.

Since my last post, we found a house we liked, put in an offer, got a counter offer, we countered again and they accepted. I'm not going to jinx it just yet, but it looks like we'll be homeowners in the Bay Area by April. Inspections are next, as well as finalizing the loan process we've been preapproved for. There are some hurdles to go before we can say for sure, but I do believe I hear the fat lady warming up in the dressing room!

Back to politics. Frank Rich has it just about right. The only folks who still believe the GOP is relevant at this point in time (besides the increasingly racist right wing wackadoos who thought it would be a good idea for Palin to be a breath away from the White House)...is the still-wired-for-the-dubya-era beltway press. I think I'm going to begin purging my bookmark list of the likes of Politico, WaPo, etc. Name another President who's passed such a large piece of legislation so soon after inauguration day. It is going to take time for the Neo-Hooverites to go home.

I've had a frustrating morning trying to edit a couple of small .mpg videos, and have given up for now. I'm also coming to the realization that Macs confuse me. I mean, it makes sense, my day to day existence is on PCs, and haven't owned a Mac for very long. I'm typying this on K's new PC laptop, for instance. But that's because of the way our apt. is laid out and where Livie's crib now is.

We're going up to Oakland to look at another house we probably:

A. Won't like
B. Will realize is too expensive
C. Will come to the conclusion that the neighborhood is shit

Things seem just "this" much out of reach as far as buying in the Bay Area. We have a pre-approval, but for an amount that lands us in marginal areas in Oakland. And we don't want to live in the exurbs. So...we'll keep plugging.

Limbo is never fun. I think I'll be all right on the job end of things, and if we had to, we could stay down here in Santa Clara for a bit longer, but we are ready...have been for a bit now...to have our own space. But we must weigh the reality of the world right now into our own sphere. Long story short = the big Peet's cup will wear off soon and then I'll calm down.

New correction. It has come to my (own) attention that I was wrong in citing the Viking choke against Arizona as a game in 2004. It was actually this game, in 2003.

Hats off to the Steelers (that was SO last weekend). It makes sense, they were the first to get to four, so it only makes sense that they leapfrog Dallas and SF to 6. I don't think SF's gonna be back for a while, and I'm going to venture the same guess for Dallas. Too much hubris down there.

This afternoon at work has been slow, the calm before next week's storm. I'm running two large webinar training sessions, one for a client on Wed. and another for the general public Thurs. Training is draining, but it ends up being strangely rewarding. It's kind of like teaching, but without the discipline or having to keep grades and correct tests. I don't mind having stumbled upon that aspect of the job at all.

Been a while. I'm spending more time on facebook than in here these days, so it goes. Too much media. So what's new? Livie's 16 months, walking, talking, climbing, causing a ruckus. She's very strong willed. That part she gets from her mama. And she's a little bit of an imp. That part she gets from me. I'm starting to put some mini videos up on YouTube.

On to other subjects. How about that Cinderella Bloodbath (patent pending) over the weekend in the NFL? The Cardinals?! Really. And the Ravens? Hmmm. Who'd have thunk it. Well, I hate the Baltimore Ravens, but could the coming Super Bowl matchup play out like this T-Shirt?













On one of the Beulah tours, forget which one, we played a show in D.C. and some kid wearing this T-Shirt managed to make it backstage and have a beer, so my foggy recollection of the story goes. "That's a cool T-Shirt," someone in the band (forget who, but it wasn't me) said. Apparently when the Cards were set on moving from St. Louis to...anywhere but there...someone in Baltimore pumped out a few "Baltimore Cardinals" tees. Somehow the kid ended up asking me if I wanted the shirt, that we could trade. So we did. He ended up with a Jeremy Enigk (Sunny Day Real Estate) "Return of the Frog Queen" shirt so I think I got the better of the bargain.

This picture of me wearing it was taken (at my insistence) during the holidays of 2004 when, thanks to the last minute heroics of the Arizona Cardinals in beating the hated Vikings, the Pack squeaked into the playoffs. It (the picture, that is) was sent to Steve St. Cin, a long suffering Cards fan who had only witnessed his team make it to the playoffs once in his life (1974, age nine).