Welcome to Thursday.
Please remain seated.
Please make sure that your safety restraints are securely fastened.
Thank you and enjoy your ride.

There was a new twist to the sleeping arrangement last night: Lightning wasn’t sleeping on my side of the bed. He was curled up on Jess’ pillow. Just above her head. It would have been picture-worthy, if I didn’t think that it would have been extremely hazardous to my health.

I stopped in to say “Hullo” to for a bit this afternoon. Among other things, we told each other stories of our days in retail. It was amusing. And, it was a nice midday diversion.

I also saw, and said goodbye, to . She asked that I pass along a “Goodbye” and an apology for not posting one herself – she wrote one… and her computer and/or LJ ate it. Either way, she should be back online in a few days.

NPR and Other News

  • Talk of the Nation: Revisiting Pre-emption Policy
  • All Things Considered: Mark Bittman’s Tips for Easy, Delicious Barbecue
  • All Things Considered: Film Composer Goldsmith Dies at 75
    (See also: Cinescape: Jerry Goldsmith 1929-2004)

  • All Things Considered: Small Town Flips for ‘Jailbreak’ Song

    Stray Toasters

    • “…news of Doom III going gold…
    • Worst Case Scenarios
    • Three things that made me smile:
      1. Review: ‘Catwoman’ sexy, but that’s about it
        “Here’s ‘Catwoman’ in a hairball, er, nutshell: Halle Berry looking luscious in leather; Sharon Stone looking sizzling in Spandex; Benjamin Bratt looking good, period. You’d have to scratch long and hard to get anything more significant out of this whisker-thin flick.”

      2. Review: ‘Catwoman’
        “Halle Berry needs to take out her Oscar every morning – the 2002 Best Actress Oscar she lauded as a breakthrough for women of color – and swear to it that she will not accept any more demeaning, stupid roles.”

      3. Review: ‘Catwoman’
        “As an adaptation, it is literally just terrible. No respect for the original material… and no real wonderful work of creativity replaces it.”
    • : Click here.
    • Slashdot Poll: Favorite Mouse?
    • Even if this hadn’t happened in Utah, I’d still find it amusing.
    • saw this and said that it made her think of me. I just hope that it was the Borg part and not the “Hello, Kitty” part.
    • …and then she sent this.
    • Will Smith will be on Inside the Actor’s Studio on Sunday.
    • Myths & Facts: About Wearing Seat Belts
    • I like The West Wing. Enough to have watched this episode, “Privateers,” twice in the past week.

    Back to poker (on TV and the game that I’m playing online).

    Namaste.