Maybe the dog is a free spirit.

Maybe so!

I am now booking a flight for one meeting, and trying to think if there's anything else I could do in DC that day, or if I should just turn around and come back. Hmm.

IO9 has some astounding pictures of a naked woman swimming with beluga whales in arctic waters.

Eh. I'm pretty sure not getting the exercise is going to ensure I stay tired all day, but maybe that will teach me a Valuable Lesson.

For Jesse:

***********

6. Repetition compulsion
Ah, Freud. You gave us so many new feelings and psychological states to explore! The repetition compulsion is a bit more complicated than Freud's famous definition — "the desire to return to an earlier state of things." On the surface, a repetition compulsion is something you experience fairly often. It's the urge to do something again and again. Maybe you feel compelled to always order the same thing at your favorite restaurant, or always take the same route home, even though there are other yummy foods and other easy ways to get home. Maybe your repetition compulsion is a bit more sinister, and you always feel the urge to date people who treat you like crap, over and over, even though you know in advance it will turn out badly (just like the last ten times). Freud was fascinated by this sinister side of the repetition compulsion, which is why he ultimately decided that the cause of our urge to repeat was directly linked to what he called "the death drive," or the urge to cease existing. After all, he reasoned, the ultimate "earlier state of things" is a state of non-existence before we were born. With each repetition, we act out our desire to go back to a pre-living state. Maybe that's why so many people have the urge to repeat actions that are destructive, or unproductive.

My drive in was an adventure--the storm that blew through here last night had winds up to 80 mph. I had some lights flickering during the peak of the storm, but no full power outage. On my commute, the first few miles all looked normal, but as soon as I crossed the railroad tracks, all you could see were tree branches down, leaves all over the place, and traffic lights out. Then, after I turned onto my usual road through the forest preserve to get to my office, it was dodge-'em time; I had to weave around all of the trees that had been completely uprooted and were lying in my lane. At the office, it was apparent that the power had gone out at some point overnight, because my computer had to be completely restarted.

Yikes. Wasn't as bad in the city though there were some branches down at the park. My tomatoes took a pounding but seem to have survived without any damage.

I also lost a couple of squash blossoms, but I strongly suspect that was less related to the storm and more to the ongoing Plants vs. Darbys game I've got running.

salacious rumor time:

Hugh Hefner's x-fiancee who he was supposed to marry this Saturday? She has been dating Dr. Phil's son for months. He is reportedly why the wedding was called off.

Great rumor.

A local TV station made the fried Kool-aid [link] There's a recipe and a picture. It looks unnervingly like a glob of meat.

le nubian, that's a fantastic salacious rumor.

ION, I just read this really moving NYT piece by a Pulitzer-winning journalist who's an undocumented immigrant: [link]

Man, I feel bad for him: good on him for taking a stand, but he's going to get hammered. And probably deported.

Shockingly enough, the (few) comments on the article so far are pretty generous.

Al Gore slams Obama for Failing to Take on “the Merchants of Poison,” Compares Media to Pro Wrestling Referees

I've posted this mostly because of its excellent critique of mainstream media's coverage of global warming.

It's still only Wednesday, right?

Why?

(other than the fact that if it weren't still Wednesday I would be really screwed in terms of my big project due on Thursday, rather than only a little bit screwed the way I am now)