Wait, this thing doesn't update itself?

Although that's probably a good thing, because I certainly can't think of that many ways of saying "yeah, so, I worked, and then walked around some by myself."

Thankful am I, therefore, for the smattering of recent highlights. First, Sarah came to town to see me (and yes, also, presumably, her family and her long-term boyfriend). She introduced me to the fabulous Kerrytown market, we enjoyed the warm weather, and we boldly investigated the very top of the "Bert and Ernie" clocktower. It's always so good for me to spend time with Sarah.

And then, this weekend. Athena came to visit! It was my mom's birthday! There was a new play at Matrix! Really, you'd do well by yourself to just read about the weekend here. To further assist in characterizing this weekend, I adduce the following cutest photographic evidence ever. Behold!

So that was pretty awesome. In other news, well... all the other news from the world seems to be bad and getting worse, no? I spend a LOT of time watching and reading the news, like I'm looking for the part where it all turns out to be a joke. After watching the Bush Q&A sessions both yesterday in Cleveland and today in Washington (the latter was said to arise directly from a WaPo article challenging Bush's example of "progress" in Iraq while speaking in Cleveland), it's clear we're into a whole new level of doublespeak here. It's no longer a matter of Bush ignoring the voices of dissent - he now claims to "understand the concerns" being raised by Americans, but his rhetoric is now marked with a visible irritation at our being displeased - as though our concerns are silly and we need to stop bothering him so he can do his job. Could we please stop complaining about financial and national security, the quagmire in Iraq, and the crumbling education system and just go to war and/or jail already? Thanks, that'd be great.