rock over London. rock on, Chicago.

all quiet on the canine front

train tickets are expensive. son of a biscuit!

the more I read about them, the more it becomes obvious the Bears are really gonna try and win now.
don’t get me wrong. it’s not like I’ve sleuthed this out. that’s the accepted knowledge going in sports journalism right now, and I’ve only really started to think about it.
who’s to say the Bears don’t go after a receiver? they’ve got a good defense that’s fast approaching its expiration date, a similarly aging offensive line, and a couple of offensive weapons. I say: sign Tory Holt, and say: the hell with it. win this season, or start selling off the aging parts (Lance Briggs). they just picked up Orlando Pace. have you seen the size of that motherfucker? he’s huge! he’s gotta have another year or two left.

there is trouble at work, and the upper management is pissed at my supervisor. that means he is pissed at the desk. I feel like I am learning important lessons about the working world right now. I don’t want to get fired. but I must have a sense of humor about the possibility, or it will drive you mad.
so we quake, in our boots, and fear, our demise, but at night, when we’re proud, we tell dick jokes, to convince ourselves, that we are not afraid.

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, he addressed the Newspaper Association of America’s annual conference.
I hate Google, in a more rational way than you realize. even if I have a gmail account and use gchat. because yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s a great point you make, I’m a hypocrite. and yeah, no shit, the game is changing, and papers are going to have to get the fuck over it. but I don’t care, and it doesn’t matter. stop cheerleading. most of the newspaper industry isn’t the New York Times or Rupert fuckin’ Murdoch, and the wonderful pandora’s box of humanity that is the internet is killing my line of work.
I love the freedom of the internet. it’s fucking great, man, it’s a great tool. it’s an encyclopedia with a pulse. it’s a portal. this is a portal. and the porn, oh god, the porn! … but the computer I’m using cost about $600 in 2006 dollars, and I pay probably $50 for monthly internet access. and someone is getting rich off of this stuff. hell, I just used Google’s news aggregator to find that article above. hrmm, I think it might be them.
so look straight ahead, because this is it. the vicious free market is playing out, about a foot and a half in front of your face, and underneath your fingertips. send me a dollar in the mail.

Preacher Joel Osteen is on the tube. I don’t know who this motherfucker is, but I don’t like him. 
Larry King just asked him, something to the effect of: ‘because more and more state judicial systems are legalizing gay marriage, shouldn’t the definition of marriage be taken from state sanctified unions? meaning, if you wanna get married, go to the church. if you wanna combine benefits and get tax breaks, go to the state.’
and Osteen looked at him, hard for about five seconds, and he said, ‘I don’t know what ya mean …’ and then, ‘well, I’m not too sure about that stuff, but I think the Bible says marriage is defined …’
his wife, who manages to be a tent preacher and a well-dressed woman I’d bang at the sametime, she grins.
good for Iowa. it’s good that it’s Iowa that legalized gay marriage, because it befuddles social conservatives. causes worry. go get em, Des Moines.

let’s get heavy
here is a commercial that’s getting play during Christianity’s holy week.
did you see Easter’s coming up? oh yes. I am surprised too. this used to be a serious part of the holiday season. now, I haven’t been to church in the longest time.  I don’t feel bad about that, not really. I had a couple of friends stake a pretty serious claim on the faith issue, but I’ve always felt: neutral, leaning a little toward faith. mom forced us to church, and not a lot of the actual liturgy stuck. but I got the community. the sense of identity. there’s something worthwhile in that, in having a lot of that in the world. maybe that’s god. heavy!
anyway, I once drank a beer on Easter. felt kind of bad about that.

just a couple of things.

buy the paper, Smith
someone walked into a immigration center in New York state and started blasting today.
unemployment is skyrocketing to record levels.
a defense contractor with local offices is moving from one county to another nearby.
a Sunni paramilitary group allied with the Iraqi government may be about to go live.
the market has had four straight weeks of gains.
and the Obama administration is trying to secure a more active role in Afghanistan from NATO members during this weekend’s summit, but is expecting much less than that.
these, are the things I got out of designing the newspaper today.

drink stiff drinks
tonight, a friend of a friend, whom I would call a friend, had a birthday, and she tagged it a tacky sweater party. so as was asked, I showed up in something colored cream and turquoise that smelled like thrift store body odor, to Charlottesville’s version of a nightclub on UVa’s black alumni association weekend.  hell yes, use your imagination here.
anyway. it, fucking, ruled. I don’t have a picture, but I wish I could illustrate it better. tonight was a good night. had a good night.

I love the god damn Bears

holy shit, does he look uncomfortable. oh my god, he thinks. they traded me to Chicago. my career’s over. yes, it is, asshole. now, you drown with us.
and look at Angelo’s smug ass. oh man, is this a make-or-break kind of deal. if Cutler’s a bust in Chicago, this is the end of everyone in management. and I’m okay with that. hey, this gets the blood flowing. it shows the Bears are at least trying, which is more than you can say for your team, sally.
they still want to win. sometimes professional sports clubs gotta remind you of that.

Spencer left this morning. god speed, sir! he left a wave of music in his wake. Daniel Johnston. the Mountain Goats. the Silver Jews.
my apartment smells like cookies. and I have writer’s block. the cookie smell, eh. it’s not such a bad thing.

I can’t stop thinking about my job.
it’s all I thought about at work, which would make sense, I’m supposed to think about my job at work, but you know what I mean. my assignment tonight wasn’t on deadline. so, I had plenty of time to myself. at my desk, at work, among coworkers.
my mom is thinking about my job. and my brother is thinking about my job. I get the feeling they are talking about it. he says: if it comes, dude, you need to position yourself so that you are only halfway screwed. not completely screwed.
and, tonight, three nights later, I’m not doing myself any favors or acknowledging the gravity of the situation by sitting around and complaining about it. but lord help me, today was heavy, and I am confused.

oh and guess what else
the Bears signed  drama queen/pro-bowl quarterback Jay Cutler, of the Jay Cutler situation.
fuck yes. I am on board. because, yes, this could turn out like your boy Herschel Walker with the Vikings. but maybe Chicago won’t be a mediocre 7-9, and will rather be an entertaining 6-10.

I didn’t get laid off at work yesterday. that was the big scare.
four people in the editorial department got laid off. just, poof, no more jobs, irrationally.
no. it was done very rationally, and that’s the scariest part. becauase look: what they did is they gave the department head two numbers of total salary, and told him to go from one down to the other. that’s rational. from A to B.
all four of these people are hardworking people, who’ve got bills to pay, same as you and me. and they became, as one of them told me tonight, a percentage of a percentage of a percentage. I thought that was kind of heavy, when he said that, which is why I’m recalling it here.
right now, you’re watching the newspaper business cannibalize itself to stay alive. it’s like the industry is seeing a wtichdoctor for its ailments; its treatments, its solutions to its problems are ludicrous. and if you hadn’t noticed any of this, this drawn-out death rattle of the fourth estate, buy a newspaper to learn more about it. because that’s where everyone still gets their news, anyway. and newspapers cover their own too.

Spencer is here in town and I am glad he is here. he is on a longterm road trip, with the end of the line in Wyoming. he is going to law school in the fall and has a girlfriend that he digs. Spencer is, as the kids say, legit. 
he is good company. company takes up your time, and it’s been nice to not think about work for most of today. we hiked up Old Rag, a small mountain in Shenandoah National Park. a hike the Canadian recommended. he called it a ‘full body workout’. that stuck with me for some reason, so we quoted it liberally during the walk to the top. the view was wonderful at the summit.
so. now that my entire body has been worked, I’m beat; I walked up a goddamned mountain today! I need to sleep, so I can get some stuff done tomorrow. pay the rent. file my taxes. maybe go and see a movie. and read the newspaper.

bonus: here is a music video of a band that Spencer digs. this song’s not bad.