how can i resist the state of the union address from a lame duck president? well, since we don't have cable, it would have been fairly difficult to do without just turning off the tv, or turning to (god bless them for their mindless pap) the cw. however, we did watch the speech, and surprisingly never wanted to throw anything at the screen. in fact, this was the first state of the union that we have made it all the way through since the election was stolen in 2000. the reason we didn't get so mad was that he didn't really say anything. he made a lot of statements that anyone could agree with, but didn't tie them to the usual qualifiers that end up sounding like "and if you don't think we need to search for domestic oil inside the skulls of endangered species, then you're with the terrorists."

last night, bush sounded like what he is: a man with no real convictions other than self preservation. last night, it also seemed like the factiousness that has gripped the demokkkrats for years my be contaigious, as the republikkkans were hardly the unified front they have been for six years now.

jim webb. hell yeah. give him two senate terms, then run him for president. i'll campaign.

yet another reason to discount ethanol as a viable alternative to fossil fuels: tortilla price gouging. i listened to this story on npr this morning, and the worst part is that wal-mart, mexico's largest private employer, is using this crisis to drive smaller operations out of business by continuing to sell cheap tortillas.

i have decided to write a cookbook. any gthedamned readers who have eaten my cooking who would like to remind me of something i made at one point, please do so, via the comments section. this is going to be one good fucking cookbook. i'm also looking for a title, so suggestions are welcomed (siouxs! assures me that i shouldn't swear in the title, though in the book text is ok).

days like this are a brain killer. there's no one here but me and the warehouse manager, and nothing in particular to do. i have a few bits of busywork that might keep me interested for a few minutes, but i need to save those things for a time that isn't friday afternoon.

i suppose i could continue searching house listings in tn, but after a while, they all start to look the same.

if the boss were actually here, he might cut me loose early, but since he's out and about, that isn't likely.

it's times like this that made drugs a lot more appealing.

let me paint you a picture of what it's like to be a new parent on new year's eve.

i started drinking beer with dinner (coffee stout to go with coffee stout beef stew, which is absurdly good). we had friends over for dinner (howler monkey and whorcus) who left at seven or so. put baby to bed. continue beer drinking , though we switched to highlife for the sake of economy, and because it is the champagne of beers. roughly ten-thirty, siouxs! goes to bed. i tuck her in and stumble back downstairs to continue drinking and watching kung fu hustle. add several glasses of water to drinking queue. at eleven fifty-eight, i switched to network tv, but couldn't find any celebrity spokespeople, so went upstairs to give siouxs! a kiss for the new year. stumbled back downstairs, grabbed another beer and another water, stumble upstairs to read in bed.

happy new year, everyone, and by everyone, i mean both of you.