Yeah, Kat, it's a chicken/egg thing. Do I have the ability to ignore cacophony (and yet pull out a kid for not practicing the right thing from across the room) because of my job or do I have my job because I have the skill? After seven years, it's hard to tell.

I love "Smooth," I can't help it.

Maybe it's cause you like "Rockford," ita. Which I like better than those other shows, myself, but I would watch them if there was some sort of procedural emergency or something.

It is not a "rebranding". It's getting the government completely out of the religion business. If you take the word "marriage" completely out of it, and put "marriage" into the powers of the church, then the problems are solved, as there are churches for everyone who wants one, but the governmnent is supposed to offer equality for all.

Yes. This. I think a church, mosque, synagogue, temple, what-have-you has every right to say to whom they will or will not administer what they see as a sacred rite. Of course, the congregants in those religions also have every right to push for change if they see that the bureaucracy of their faith needs a good kick in the rump.

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I think I'm officially old since I keep falling asleep around 10 and waking up at 5 AM. Plus I just spent 10 minutes thinking, "Wow, the space heater isn't helping at all" before I realized it was on "fan."

Maybe coffee would be helpful.

Happy belated, Strega.

I think I give in. One last ER trip before the hols.

Sorry, ita.

I think a church, mosque, synagogue, temple, what-have-you has every right to say to whom they will or will not administer what they see as a sacred rite.

Absolutely. I'm still annoyed the Catholic church won't let me take Communion, but that's totally their call.

Sorry too, ita. Hope the ER goes well and is effective.

Once again, I'm glad to live in a state where equal marriage is a reality, and can point to the fact that it's obviously not hurt us by any quantitative measure.

(FTR, there were a whole lot of legislative battling over whether there would be a ballot iniative, which was eventually decisively headed off, so we never went through Prop 8 territory.)

Hey, Theo, is it still snowy/icy on the ground there? I'm trying to decide if I should bother packing sneakers, which are No Good on ice.

Jesse, yes --lots of snow, lots of ice where the snow partially melted, et cetera. It's mostly been steadily below zero, so not much has melted other than roofs and so on, but even so. And, of course, there are huge 5' snow berms in the streets where people dug out their cars, so it's harder than normal to find parking....

I swear, if I ever figure out a lifestyle where I could live in Tucson from December to March, and then back here for the rest, I sure would.

OK, no sneakers. I probably didn't need to ask, since even though our sidewalks here are mostly clear, it is still treacherous crossing the street because the curbs are all icy and bleh.