Veni, vidi, vino

The threat of a snowstorm hovers over us to a greater extent than the so-far nonexistent storm. If it hits today, I might miss the rehearsal to brush up on our lines. It won't affect me directly -- I can recite all my lines rapid fire within five minutes -- but it might rattle the older actors. As I drove home, Your Sis called to ask if I could stop by the Mart of Wal to pick up notebook paper. Sure, I said, blithely ignorant that as this is the day new semesters start, that section of the store would be a jungle of kiddos. I swam through them to get the paper and fled the scene like a burgler. We reheated leftover spaghetti and ate pizza leftovers while chugging back a nice Yellow Tail Grenache mix. Then we watched "Six Feet Under," a show that improves with inebriation.

Oh, I also whipped her in "Jeopardy" once again. I shall soon tire of this tedium, one fears.

Picture of the Day
This was my first portable game system. Blip worked like Pong, except you pressed buttons to send the red pixel back to the opponent. This then-dazzling LED technology was still shackled to an analog timer that one wound like an old alarm clock. My parents enjoyed buy me games like this, apparently oblivious to the fact that I had no siblings. There were some board games I may have played twice because I couldn't find anyone to join me. Anyway, not to sound like a therapy patient or a troglodyte, but I'm still knocked out by current technology because I so clearly remember the state-of-the-art equipment we neighborhood kids used to marvel at.




In The News
The trial of Scooter Libby stays off the front pages, but it's starting to become interesting. This is the culmination of the investigation into the white House leak of a classified CIA agent identity in response her husband's criticism of the administration's allegations of WMD fabrication. Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, is charged with perjury and obstruction -- hardly sexy headline material -- but of note is that former press secretary Ari Fleischer invoked the Fifth and later cut an immunity deal. The questions linger as to who in the White House knew Libby leaked the name and under whose authorization. Leaking a classified name is a felony, but Cheney cites a presidential signing statement affirming the right Bush or Cheney to instantly declassify any document simply by handing it to someone not cleared to read it. This sounds like a tacit admission of authorization and suggests who provided the name to Libby. Fleischer and his replacement Scot McClellan face scrutiny as to what they told reporters in briefings and whether they covered up for whoever was involved with the leak.