And now a few words from our 'dear leader'

On success in Iraq: "If the definition of success in Iraq or anywhere is no suicide bombers, we'll never be successful. We will have handed al-Qaida 'that's what it takes' in order to determine whether or not these young democracies, for example, can survive. Think about that: If our definition is no more suiciders, you've just basically said to the suiciders, 'Go ahead.'"

(honestly, my tolerance level for him as decreased to the point where I can barely read transcripts of him speaking)

Those Annoying People at Games

I have suffered through my fair share of annoying individuals at sporting events.  They range from obsessed stalkers to bored chatty women.  This season watching the Sonics, we've endured a number of incredibly loud and talkative people.  What made it worse was that they weren't even talking about the game.  And there have been unusual numbers of fans for the visiting team sitting around us.  Now, I can usually handle fans for the visiting team.  Most of them don't get too disruptive.  The low point had been the group of Detroit Pistons fans.  They have this lovely saying, "Deeeee-troit basket-baaaaaaaaaal" in a grating singsongy kind of way.  After a few hundred times of hearing that chanted right behind my ear I was ready to leave.  Honestly, I didn't think it could be any worse.  That is until I went to the Sonics v. Laker game last Friday night.  I swear that 1/3 of the arena was filled with Kobe Bryant fans.  (By the way, sports announcer who stated he's named after a steak, Kobe is not a steak, it's a type of Japanese beef not a cut of beef.  And it isn't pronounced "ko-bee," it's "ko-bay" but that's a gripe for another time).  It was bad enough that the house was full of Laker fans.  What was truly annoying was the chants of "MVP" every time he went to the line; and the standing and pointing and shouting.  I swear that they had all flown up from LA.  It was embarrassing.  If we get season tickets again, I'm requesting we move someplace closer to other season ticket holders....someplace where we can just complain about our coach/management in peace.  ;-)

Books

I just finished my current book club book (my selection), Julie & Julia (I can't remember the complete title).  It was an easy read.  Maybe too easy.  It was fairly entertaining.  It's the story of how one woman decides she's going to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year.  It's mostly about other things, her job, her marriage, her friends, her blog and then about the cooking.  I now know for certain that I do not want to eat an aspic.  The thought of cooking lobster makes me queasy and I'm never going to be cooking with marrow.  A friend asked if I wanted to embark on such a project.  I said no.  But what I should do is work my way through all of the lovely cook books I do have and try to cook one recipe a week.  That seems to be reasonable.  Mind you, this means I will be going through those cook books until the day I die, but that might not be such a bad thing.

Grrr. Argh.

There's something monumentally annoying about leaving one's iPod on one's desk at the end of the day. Especially when facing a 40 minute commute back to the park & ride. I know these trivial things should not bother me, but I have podcasts to catch up on!  Really. I'm finally caught up on Slate and Start the Week, but I am ONE year behind on From Our Own Correspondent. It's appalling. 

I'm at least 7 weeks behind on The Economist and the New Yorker....if only I could sit around all day reading and pretending to be an intellectual.  What fun!  ;-)