Both of my parents are heading off on vacations this week. My dad and his wife are going to Vegas tomorrow to hang out on the Strip and see my sis and BIL who live in the outskirts of town. And my mom is taking a cruise in the Greek islands with a few days in Venice first.

I'm jealous and want my vacation now! (Even though I really shouldn't complain--I'll be in Vegas in five weeks myself.) I took a half-day PTO yesterday so I could catch up on my sleep, and just want some more time off.

Not for nothing but all that AIG stuff would have been booked months and months ago, so while the timing is awful and the cost is ridiculous by most standards - that type of retreat was probably normal for them and it's not like they planned it while the bailout money came through.

Yeah, this. Plus, they wouldn't have gotten any money back

I dunno, they're pretty hooked-up guys. The St. Regis would probably be far more flexible with them than they would with any of us. "I'm sorry, Mr. Gates, a deposit is a deposit" or "You were 20 minutes late, Mr. Trump, so we gave away your table." Just aren't things that happen.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gates, a deposit is a deposit" or "You were 20 minutes late, Mr. Trump, so we gave away your table."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bush, you wrecked the economy, so we can't serve you until you clean our toilets."

Plus, "what they spent" and "what they pre-paid/guaranteed" aren't necessarily the same thing.

In any case, we're talking about 500k, which in the scheme of things isn't really that big a deal. As the original post said, it's the PR boneheadedness that's really worth remarking on.

Well, there were certainly things they could have done to get the cost down. I'm unsure why the company was paying for spa visits, for example.

faster no-knead bread from the Times: [link]

From the "Not actually an Onion headline" department: U.S. debt grows too big for National Debt Clock.»

Electiony stuff:

Here's a reason McCain and Palin might want to tone down the Ayers thing. Remember the AIP, the Alsaska secessionist party Todd belonged to and Sarah videotaped a welcoming statement for the 2007 convention:

Vogler's [the founder's] greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States "tyranny" before the entire world and to demand Alaska's freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue.

Also - I'm watching an ep of Supernatural and some woman asks Dean what really happens to ghosts after they put them to rest and Dean channels his inner Obama and says "lady, that answer is way beyond our pay grade." Hah!

Stocks end trading day with another big loss

The Dow is down 508.39 today. But look on the bright side - there can only be at most 19 more days of 500 point losses, because the Dow can't go below zero....

Wacky animation - Simon Cowell will soon be killed by owls: [link]