This morning was so nice, and since I was off work, Brooklynne and I took Halleigh and Kona Bean on a hike around Occannochee "Mountain." The Mountain is more of a big hill, and if you've ever driven south from Durham on I-85, you have probably noticed the large hill with radio towers to the left of the highway as you pass Hillsborough. If you've spent any time in Hillsborough itself, you have probably also noticed the large quary scar that makes a dramatic overlook of the Eno River. Well, that is Occanochee Mountain. The overlook is closed due to the danger of rock slides, but we still got a view good pictures. When we got back to the parking area, we had a nice lunch before heading home. There are a few more pictures after the break too.

An update on Jason Ray

An interesting feature on Danny Green

A breakdown of Hansbrough's strengths and weaknesses (thanks David).

This weekend I had the chance to tell some YGW stories to some folks that had not heard them 500 times like the rest of my friends. I enjoy telling the stories because they're almost too good to be true, but I sometimes wonder if I sound like one of those people who make up stories all the time. So yesterday, when I was looking for an old word file on my computer, I came across a picture of me sporting my Rocky Mountain Security Service uni and the dirty-harry-style revolver they gave me, and I knew I had to post it. Unfortunately, this morning I couldn't find it again, so this will have to do. Taken somewhere in North Dakota, this photo commemorates an instance when Cory and I resorted to praying for a gas station after driving for what seemed like hours on dead empty. God's answer was to lead us to this tiny town, which boasted exactly one gas pump on the side of a building that was not clearly marked as a station. We were able to fill up though, and grabbed this picture on the way out of town.

a couple other pictures follow....

Brooklynne's got another new Halleigh Show over at In Medias Res. We also set up a playlist for her blog, so you can view all 30+ Halleigh Shows. Halleigh was 18 months old a couple days ago, so I feel pretty good that we've got almost 2 shows per month (even though our pace has certainly slowed lately). I've got one more Halleigh Show captured on Brooklynne's computer, and I'll upload that one in the next few days. Enjoy!

 

1. I've got about 10 projects at home I should be doing and 20 I'd rather be doing...
2. There are more pictures of Halleigh hunting Easter eggs at In Medias Res. If you're not a regular IMR reader, you may have missed that we got a letter from Ben. Sounds like he's doing really well.
3. The game on Sunday was fun. It was maybe the most dominating game I've ever seen in person. Arkansas helped us out some too, by missing a few open shots near the beginning of the game, and they never capitalized on their pick-and-roll, which was ALWAYS open. Still, I don't think they would have had a shot.
4. Which brings me to the fact that every sportswriter in America is ignoring the Heels. As a number one that is basically playing at home and just destroyed their competition in the first two rounds, I would think that someone would be singing our praises, but it looks like Kansas and UCLA are the media darlings. I even saw someone pick Louisville recently, which could be a smart pick if it works out that way, but surely someone should have us as their pick. I have searched the major sports news outlets, and I cannot find one article that offers more than the obligatory support for UNC's case. It's odd to say this, but I really do feel that UNC is being disrespected.
5. I've been several days now without reading a book. I need to elevate my game again. Look for more book reports ahead.
6. I gave Kona Bean a bath this morning before work. She was REALLY dirty and she's started one of her biannual shedding seasons, so there will be giant dust bunnies of Kona hair all over the house if we don't groom her and vacuum. But she knows she is cute when she's washed and brushed and fluffy, and you can tell a change in her mood, so it is totally worth it.
7. I going to try to post a Halleigh show tonight. Stay tuned.

The machines still have some work to do.

Every SI article ever written for free? That's the headline that led me here.

From "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" via Scribal Terror-

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for Thy courts above.

Uncle Moustache performs Keith Green's Easter Song. Nice hair dude.

Happy Easter!!! Today I'm wearing one of my bowties to celebrate this special day. I used to have trouble tying my bowtie until I watched this video. Fabulous! So easy. I should write those guys a thank you note.

Today was the first of two Easter egg hunts that Halleigh has been invited to. The Easter Bunny made an appearance at this one and Halleigh was terrified. Click the continue reading link for more pictures. I've also included a picture of our friends, the Darrows, who invited us to the hunt.

Sometimes I dig down into the deepest recesses of my CD collectoin to find some music that I haven't listened to in years. Voila, It's Hard to Find a Friend. I think this CD must be Brooklynne's because I never owned it myself, but it also maybe one of Cory's from the Youth Gone Wild days. Usually Pedro would be too emo for me, but right now I'm enjoying "Promise."

Two competing takes on Obama's speech (via the JOHO blog):

• http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/anderkoo/2008/03/20/obamas-theology-of-reconciliation-and-perfection/
• http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/03/19/its_still_a_question_of_wright_and_wrong/

As I read the second one, I asked myself how I would react, whether there was any truth burried beneath the inflamitory language, how much bitterness can be excused, and whether I can trust the news sound bites to be representative of these sermons.

While my experience has shown me that there is still a lot of unresolved (and perhaps well-founded) frustration in the black community, it was refreshing last night to be part of a community that is unified in Christ, as Mt. Level Missionary Baptist Church (predominantly African American) joined Blacknall (predominantly white) in our annual joint Maundy Thursday service. Mt. Level's pastor gave a very challenging message based on 1 John, where he argued that it is easy to love a God that we can't see and don't know very well, but it is much more difficult to love the people around us who we know and who often make us angry or uncomfortable. His challege was to know God better, and to express our love of Him through our love for each other. Those are very conficting arguements for me this season. I usually think of Easter as a time to get dressed up for God (as the pastor put it) by trying to work on my personal relationship with Christ, without really changing my relationship with others. This will be my prayer this Easter.

Now reading....

Synopsis: During the Cold War, as the United States and the Soviet Union competed for influence in Asia, Africa, South America, and the Middle East, it was widely acknowledged that poor race relations in the States were making the country vulnerable to the Soviets' anti-American propaganda. State-sponsored Jazz tours which visited these contested regions between 1954 and the early 1970s were meant to communicate an image of a color-blind American democracy that did not exist in reality. However, the artists often made connections between the emerging Civil Rights movement in the US, and the anticolonial revolts in the regions they were touring, and blurred the lines between promoting the interests of the United States and rejecting the white supremacy that was still a powerful force in America.

If you want to read the full transcript of Obama's speech on race, I've posted it for download here.

If you read it, please post your thoughts and comments here.

It's a slow day at work, so I just read a little about the D.C. vs. Heller case that was just argued before the Supreme Court. Here's a George Washington Law blog prediction of the opinions.

Now I don't claim to be a legal scholar so I don't know the case law, but I can speak from the history perspective and I have no doubt that self defense was probably on alot of American's minds when the second ammendment was included in the Bill of Rights. America was a frontier nation, and the ability to protect person and property in the wild was a key feature of white patriarchy at the time. In a confrontation, I'm afraid early citizens would certainly embrace a shoot-first-call-the-malitia-later attitude, whatever George Mason and James Madison had in mind.

Still, times change and the test for what is reasonable is a moving target. I hope the Supreme Court can come to some decision that will respect individual rights without turning the clock back on the progress the city has made toward reigning in crime and violence.

You can read about the case here and read the breifs and transcript of the arguements here (scroll down).

Now reading....

Thesis:

Americans continued a long tradition of English political celebrations by adapting these fetes to suit their new political situation after the Revolution. While past scholarship has been interested in a supposed American nationalism expressed in these parades, holidays, celebratory dinners and oratories, Waldstreicher demonstrates that these events were highly politicized and represent dissent and contentiousness in the early republic, rather than a consensous, or unitary nationalism. The political divisions that can be seen in the celebrations that followed independence, the ratification of the Constitution, and the rise of party politics are evidence of how various ideas of nationalism became manifest and were practiced the everyday lives of people throughout the states.

Why write this book:

1. To reveal the struggle over the direction and form of the new republic.
2. To show that political expression was practiced widely by the general public and by people from all social and economic classes.
3. To show that nationalism should be studied in its practical manifestations, and not just through the lens of ideology. 

First off, here are my picks. I went out on a limb with Temple (yikes!) and Baylor, but you have to go against the grain in a few games or it's no fun, and I don't like the Big Ten, so I said what the heck. I feel pretty good about my other choices. The only other team that I'm scared that I may have over-rated is Louisville. I'm not traditionally very lucky in this, so don't use my picks in your office pool. I already missed by trusting Coppin State's late season surge.

Speaking of office pools, I got an email yesterday about turning in a bracket at my office, so I took my picks down to the lady who is getting our thing together. This was our conversation (paraphrased):

Lady: "that was fast, you didn't put a lot of thought into that, did you." 

Me: "I've been keeping up with it this season."

Lady: "You know you have until Thursday."

Me: "I don't think I need to wrestle with it that long."

Lady: "Well, when I fill out brackets, I really think about it because I want to win. But whatever.... If you don't care...."

Me: "I think I'll be alright."

Brooklynne and I had a good laugh about that last night.

Another note on my brackets--I always pick UNC to win no matter how good or bad we are, and I will normally automatically advance Montana State and GMU at least one round. However, the bobcats did not make it, and GMU is on probation after its rude behavior of two years ago.

Also, if you've been wanting to see UNC's first round matchup, you can watch highlights of the play-in game here:  http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/256.0/popup/index.php?cl=7038119. Looks like we may have to dust off our perimeter defense again.

I won't poach this time, so I'll just link over to Brooklynne's blog where she has some recent pictures of Halleigh, Anna, and Grandmother, as well as a link to a new edition of the Will Show.

It's been a while since my last post. I've had to work my time usage since Brooklynne and Halleigh have returned. And i don't feel like I've got alot to post about... so I'm going to try a mental exercise: stream-of-consciousness blogging for five minutes. I'll start with yesterday's big event and move on from there. So....

Yesterday I scored big by buying tickets to the firsta dn second rounds of the NCAAs this weekend. Sold the first round (I'll be ing VA friday) so I'm hoping Coppin State (my pick for the play-in tonight) doesn't make UNC the first ever chumpitized 1 seed. I'm behind on my plans for VA. I need to get intouch with professors, but I'm dreading it. maybe that's why I'm blogging? I had an interensting conversation with someone the other day (Mary?) about why I blog. I know reasons that I wish were the reasons for blogging--self-discovery, inner reflection, etc. but actually blogging is really a complicate penpal system for keeping up with friends. I don't keep up with friends very well. I emailed Scott Bilton for the first time in about 4 years yesterday asking if he wanted my first round tickets. I didn't hear back. I should have kept the tickets just in case he got back to me later, but I chickened out when I thought I might miss a chance to sell them. I think the reason I can't do inner reflection on a blog is that it is public space for anyone to read. What I need is an annonymous did I spekll that right? blog. but what's the point in blogging if you don't get the comments. would I want comments on and innerreflection blog? Is that inner reflection. maybe, if I reflected on the comments. I just watched a thing on Doc Searl's blog that showed the earth's porportions next to the other planets and the sun and the sun to the other stars all the way up to the largest known star. it made me feel really tiny. i think there was somehting wierd about seeing the sun as a tiny pixel next to this giant sea of fire that was just a small part of the surface of the largest star. Halleigh can be really consuming. last night was a tough night with Halleigh. I shouldn't get so tired dealing with her but we did have fun playing. she is becoming a cllimber. last night she climbed onto the endtable and jumped onto the couch. I almost stopped her because my parents always told me I shouldn't do stuff like that but then I just watched. I'm never sure if i'm encouraging her to be free spirited or just bad behaved. I should be getting somehting done right now. oops I'm over my time limit. 

Global Voices has an interesting collection of reactions to Azerbaijan's proposed hotel project, which is apparently part of their bid for the 2016 Olympics. While I have to admit I know nothing about Azerbaijan, my western stereotypes and biases tend to make me a little fearful for the success of a project like this, because of the pervasive instability in the region. I can also admit that the comparisons to the Death Star are valid, but perhaps not fair. This would certainly be an architectural marvel, and the more appropriate allusion, despite its name (the Full Moon Hotel), seems to be the cresent moon and star, which are representative of both the population and the nation (see the Azerbaijan flag). While I'm sure an Olympics in Chicago would be great, an Olympics in Central Asia could be much more meaningful and significant in making the Olympics relevant as a symbol of peace and world community again, rather than commercialism and bragging rights. I think that's why the popularity of the Olympics is waning--because people see through it now. It's not all about hope and brotherhood any more, no matter how many times you play Chariots of Fire. Perhaps if the IOC acted as boldly as the hotel's architechs, we could have some of that old community back. We'll see.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080312/faa_southwest_airlines.html

I'm glad Brooklynne got back but I'm not sure I would have felt good about her flying home yesterday if I had seen this coming. Thank you Lord for keeping her safe.

Halleigh too. Their plane was about a half hour late because they got a flat tire in Las Vegas and had to change it before taking off on their second leg. Crazy. But I'm glad everything went well and the two of them are back safely.

I was a little nervous that Halleigh would not act like she cared to see me again, but those fears were unfounded because the girl ran to me and almost cried when she saw me. The rest of the night, she only wanted to be held by me, and several times she pushed Brooklynne away when she tried to take her for a minute. I didn't really like  that, but I was glad to know that the girl missed me.

Now life can resume.

Just stay out of our bracket!

Now reading....

Clayton Kershaw has been getting some press for his curveball lately. This makes me happy.

I don't usually point out the links in my sidebar. Links come and go, but I have to point out that Agapetos (Cory) and The World According to Kristy (Kristy) have won the distinction of most enjoyable reads of the week. If I could get Kristy to write a book, she would be a millionaire, and my hat's off to poor Cory, who had to sacrifice her body to earn this honor.

Key Points:

1. "The sexual revolution theat Puritan architects had in mind was acheived only in part as the invocation of religious ideals clashed with the limitations of popular support and the practical challenges of sexual regulation." This was complicated by a trend to eroticize spiritual practices.
2. Attempts to make white women the repository of racial purity distracted attention from interracial unions involving white male planters.
3. The revolutionary rhetoric of independence offered both a language to justify sexual independence, as well as an ideology that placed moral virtue at the center of republican institutions.

I promise the repititions of book synopsis after book synopsis will end on April 11. I promise. 

Also, I ran out of reading worksheets and had to search for my old file to print some more, so I'm posting it here for easy access at any time from any computer. (I also harbor dreams that there's some poor history grad student out there who reads this stuff and uses it--in which case, the worksheet might actually be helpful)

readingworksheet.pdf

Today, I came across the work of Swiss photographer Eric Jaquier via 2StrokeBuzz. I love these pictures, especially the ones of children. I also drooled over this piece of master craftsmanship. As I have mentioned in earlier posts, scooters were a symbol of youthful freedom in post-war Europe because you did not need a license to drive one. When authorities hatched a plan to clear the streets of these perceived trouble makers by barring motor vehicles without rearview mirrors, the "mods" responded by making mirrors the new symbol of defiance. This may be weird, but there is something very romantic (not in the "love" sense of the word) to me about a scooter tricked out like this--like a smarter version of the American muscle car. Anyway, enjoy the photos and tell me what you think.

The banner is a series of images from the American Revolution. I put it there to get me in a history mood this weekend (I'm desperate!). I'll put the Halleigh banner or a new one back up sometime next week.

I got a text from the Newports the other night. Man, its good to hear from these guys. Jamie and Steph hold a special place in my heart because they turned Bozeman from a place to endure to a place to long for. Our trip to Barrow is still legendary. I think we have some relationships in Durham that will prove to be just as special, and if that's true, Brooklynne and I will count ourselves very fortunate indeed. 

Citation: Jane Turner Censer, The Reconstruction of White Southern Womanhood, 1865-1895 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003).

Thesis: The upheaval of the Civil War affected three generations of women in the south in discrete ways. Women born before 1820 embraced few changes in status, while women born between 1820 and 1849, and women born 1850 and after, increasingly took advantage of the disruption in scoial order to stake out more independent positions in the public sphere.  

Theoretical Framework: Age and pre-Civil War experience mediated how aggressively women pursued changes in status in the postwar south.

Methodology: The study is based on a handfull of VA and NC counties which Censer uses to generalize about the experience of women throughout the middle south. She also focuses entirely on elite, well-educated (white) women, because, as Censer argues, these women had the opportunity to reconstruct southern ideals of womanhood in the aftermath of the war.

Sources: Personal papers, published and unpublished literature, newspapers, county record, census records, diaries, etc. 

What Engine Drives the Book: Discrepencies in historical evidence call for a new theory that can reconcile conflicting conclusions regarding how the status of women changed (or did not change) in the post-Civil War south.

Place in Historiography: Censer suggests that the period immediately following the Civil War is the least studied era in the history of southern women. She also notes a debate among historians regarding the nature and magnitude of change in the position of women following the Civil War. She notes Anne Scott's classic thesis that the war helped liberate southern women, and a series of works disputing this theory. Censer agrees mostly with Scott, but tries to reconcile the dissenting evidence by showing differences in how each generation of women reacted to, and were affected by the war.

Key Points:

Strengths: Censer's age analysis offers a very convincing arguement about why historians have found vastly different evidence about the magnitude of change in the status of southern women.

Weaknesses: The exclusive focus on elite women allows Censer to draw specific conclusions about this group, but ignoring the wider range of women's experiences makes it hard to prove any generalizations (or even contrasts) about womanhood in the south.

Karyn sent me this email yesterday:

Hey Miles!

I have a basketball brackets question.  So my alma mater is (apparently) boasting to be having a "1st ever NCAA Run."  What does this mean?  They are St. Mary's College of Maryland and they are in the CAC (capitol area conference) and apparently just won that.  This weekend they are playing Guilford and there is huge chance they will get stomped out of any hope of whatever they are hoping for (these guys are like premed political science kids with academic scholarships and gradschool commitments).

Maybe I've just never thought about them playing real basketball (let's face it it's not) but is there any chance that they would be on the brackets or something?  Could you enlighten me with how divisions work and who actually is eligible for the brackets we see in a few days? 

It seems like there's two questions here. First St. Mary's (MD) is Division III, which is completely different from the more harolded Div I (which the ACC is a part of, for example). Div III has a tournament and a national championship of their own and they have already started their version of the Big Dance. Here's the current bracket: Div3mens.pdf. St. Mary's beat Guilford already (click here for the story), to make it to the second round, and tonight at 7pm they will play Widener for a birth into the Div III Sweet 16. Way to go St. Mary's!!! The only way I know of to follow the game tonight is by following the NCAA scoreboard here.

If they make this far, here is the info on the Final Four: 

Div III Final Four March 21-22, 2008
Host: Salem Civic Center and ODAC
Salem, VA
Salem Civic Center
Tickets: (540) 375-3004

I'm also posting blank brackets here for the Div I tournaments, because I've already started to get some traffic on last year's brackets, and maybe some of you will want to fill them out yourselves:

NCAAmen.pdf

NCAAwomen.pdf

NITmen.pdf

ACCmen.jpg

It's late and I'm running out of steam, but I thought maybe if I blogged a book tonight, it would keep me going. So unless you are a big history buff, or a glutton for punishment, don't feel obligated to read further.

A couple points to start with--unless you have studied with me in the past, you may not know this, but I have these wooksheets that I made up for myself that I always use to take notes on the books as I study, and I'm going to follow the same format here that I've laid out in my standard worksheet. If you are a budding historian like myself, I recommend developing a set of questions to ask about all your books to keep yourself focused on what's important.

I'll update this gradually as I work, so if there's a gap, it will be filled in eventually. Also, Obviously this is not one of the books I listed for tonight. I didn't end up studying in the library, so I had to work from books I already had on hand.

So without further ado....

Citation: Pauline Maier, From Resistence to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776 (NY: Norton, 1972).

Thesis: The movement against Britain was decentralized (xviii), but the American radicals had a deep concern for order--they organized resistence partly to contain disorder. Thus, this type of resistence produced not only a break from Britain, but also a foundation for republican government based on popular self-rule mediated by social compacts (xxi).  

Theoretical Framework: American resistence was shaped by "Real Whig" ideology, which was widely known and recognized at all levels of the social and economic spectrum.

Methodology:

Sources: Personal papers, public statements, newspapers and pamphlets,

What Engine Drives the Book: Maier is driven to reframe the Revolution as a product of a "rational and compelling" interpretation of English social and political tradition, and debunk the theory that the Revolution was somehow an opportunistic rejection of contemporary ideology.

Place in Historiography: Maier was a Student of Bernard Bailyn at a time when Bailyn was developing a rebuttal to the "Progressive" interpretation of the Revolution: that the rhetoric of the era was nothing more than a tool for waging a class-based power-struggle between wealthy conservatives and poor radicals (see Charles Beard and others). Maier wants to show more consensus amoung the Americans, which she attributes to shared cultural and political values based on an English tradition of Whig ideology.

Key Points:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Chapter Summaries:

It's started out a sad day today. The Eve Carson thing has been on my mind. I know this is silly but for some strange reason it reminds me of the Jason Ray thing, the Phi Gamma Delta thing, and even the Henderson Street thing. Too many sad things happen.

I'm also kind of leary of this weekend. Its rainy. I have alot of school work to do. The house has degraded into a real mess that I will have to clean before Brooklynne gets back.

Top it all off with a edginess that I can't really explain well. Last night in small group, Erin was talking about psychological shalom. I would describe my feeling as partial pyschological non-shalomness. It hit me late last night and carried over to today. Have you ever felt like you needed to do something to be at peace, but you were not sure what? It probably has something to do with Brooklynne not being here coupled with guilt for not being particularly productive while she's been gone.

But one of my favorite lines from an old Caedmon's song is "get up sad bones." I can't remember if this is where they got the line, but it reminds me of God telling Job to get up and get dressed. I think I'm going to recenter myself and push forward tonight. Maybe if I knock out a couple of books tonight, I'll feel better. Here are the two I'm going to focus on:

Check this out. I like the part on page 2 where it says he already co-signed a lease for next year. I know that doesn't necessarily mean much to a potential multi-millionaire, but it's encouraging none the less.

Also... ever wonder what you will find if you google "last day at 29?" I found this blog to hit strangly close to home.

And finally, a haiku for Netscape, which slipped quietly into the ether last month.

Just a reminder, King of Kong is playing at my house tonight at 7:30. Let me know if you're coming and if you need anything (like a place to put a child down while we watch, etc.). In case you're still on the fence about taking the time out of your schedule for this movie, here's a small taste of what's in store for you.... (I could have used one of these gloves to play Golden Tee at the Cat's Paw!)

Yesterday, when I got home from work, I got an awesome surprise--my friend Mary offered to take me to the FSU game! She had an extra ticket and she wanted to give me an early birthday celebration.

The game was great. Our seats were in section 111, in part of the old student section behind the Carolina bench. We were about 10 rows up, and one section over from where John Edwards and his kids were sitting, and it was fun to see him walk up and down the aisle next to our seats occassionally. I wonder if he was taking calls during the game?

After the Heels gradually picked FSU apart, Mary and I stayed for the Senoir Day speeches. Both Quinton and Surry mentioned that their work was not done until San Antonio, which I guess is pretty predictable, but to me, it sounded like they were serious. I hope that's true.

Once all the festivities were over, we left the smith center and found ourselves splashing up the hill in a steady downpour. It must have really rained hard during the game because there were already massive puddles and rivers of ankle-deep run-off pouring acoss all the sidewalks. The wind was blowing too, and BOTH of our umbrellas turned insideout. By the time we got to Manning Drive, we had given up on our umbrellas and any hope of staying dry, and we were just slogging through the rain, completely soaked. The situation gave me really strong nostalgia for my sophomore year at UNC when it rained every single day between Thanksgiving and mid-March.

Anyway, despite the rain (and maybe even a little because of it) it was a really fun evening. Thanks Mary!!!

I went running again yesterday. That's two days in a row. I did the Pump Station trail again (1.5 miles), which is pretty weak, but you have to start somewhere. Also, the entire run can be done in a half-hour--from the time I walk out of my house, to the time I walk back in. That makes it untra convenient. Last night I went a little too late and in some of the more dense areas of the forest it go hard to see roots and other ankle-injuries-in-waiting. I think I need to plan to be finished by 6pm at the latest for now.

I took Kona with me too. She is a surprisingly good jogging dog. I left her off-leash and she stayed with me the entire time, except once, when she started to chase some small animal. But she immediately stopped and returned as soon as I called (which is not normal behavior for her). I didn't let her swim in the river because I don't plan on bathing her again before the weekend, and it would just be too gross for guests on Wednesday if she was soaked with river water between now and then. Perhaps Friday we'll go swimming/fishing if the weather is still nice....

Do I have any readers who are especially fond of fishing or would like to go sometime?

1. Ty Lawson looked decent, but not up to speed on Saturday. I hope he shows some of the old wheels on Tuesday.
2. I honestly think that McCain is justified in opting out of public financing, but I also hope the flap will lead to a court ruling that will keep canidates from thumbing their noses at the ability of regulators to enforce finance rules.
3. I ran the 1.5-mile pump station loop at the Eno yesterday and it kicked my butt. I've only run once in the past year, and I've gained 30 pounds since I used to run 5 or 6 miles 5 days a week. The crop walk is in 2 weeks. Perhaps i can run enough between now and then to enjoy that one?
4. Do I have any friends who would like to take part in an art show?
5. I had lunch with David Kernodle yesterday. He seems to be doing well. He's looking for internships in Charlotte. Better than Bolivia, I guess, but I wish the guy would be around for a summer.
6. Wednesday night, I will be marking my passage into fogey-hood. Anyone who wants to help celebrate my 30th birthday should come over at 7:30pm for a movie and ice cream. The movie will be King of Kong: a Fist Full of Quarters. I'll provide the ice cream, you provide the toppings.

Kid Koala Performing Drunk Trumpet in Mexico City