excuse the ugly man with the beautiful dog

The calm before the puppy storm.

And here's a more recent pic on Courtney's parents' boat.

Derby's on his way today!

RawStory has its panties in a wad

over new evidence that Bush did skirt his tour of duty. Now, RawStory isn't THE most dependable source, but if this pans out, and is as significant as their bold headlines indicate, this might be worth looking at.

Drug Discount Card Blues

Surprise! The Medicare Discount Card is too confusing for most old folks, says this research report. One of the most interesting snippets: Mail-order drugs from Internet site Drugstore.com had prices comparable to mail-order prices available through the cards, many of which charge a $30 annual fee. Not that most medicare recipients are so net-savvy, but still.

Francis Crick dead at 88

The brains of the Watson-Crick duo, or at least the physicist, died yesterday. They published the double helix DNA structure in Nature in 1953, which sort of self-suggested the way that DNA must replicate (zipping and unzipping). He spent most of the rest of his career working in neuroscience in San Diego at the Salk Institute. Not bad for a physicist.

the Bush-Kerry jibjab video

Most of you have probably already seen this video, but if you haven't, my god it's funny. I don't know what sort of blog this would be if I DIDN'T put it on here.

Wolverines debut at no. 7

USC tops the first Coaches Poll, LSU at #3, and Ohio State at #9.

we have the facts and we're voting

a pro-vote Death Cab for Cutie tee. worth seeing, if nothing else.

what does a brain-damaged monkey do?

Acts like a human! This got pretty heavy coverage for obvious mass appeal, but it's lots of fun.

Opposing the minimum wage?

I think I found this from Bo a few weeks ago: a smart and fairly liberal reason to oppose raising the minimum wage, involving the use of the earned income tax credit to redistribute money to the lower classes rather than wages, which can/might(who knows actually) hurt small business.  Using the ETC might ensure that the neediest people actually receive benefit, rather than, say, an upper-middle class teenager working a summer job.  I still support raising the minimum wage, because it's simple, easy to sound-bite, and thus relatively easy to actually get passed.  But I think I would doublesupport this approach, if it could ever receive enough support to actually make legislation.

the idiots of abstinence

Apparently the health textbooks up for adoption in Texas hardly even mention condoms.  Some things blog themselves, and I don't feel like a ten paragraph rant on the idiocy and ineffectiveness of abstinence training.  But imagine that you just read one, and that you're good and fired up now.

For those of you with time on your hands

Courtney and I had this debate about the origins of Showbiz Pizza vs. Chuck E. Cheese.  Turns out, Showbiz bought Chuck E. Cheese, which was fledgling, and the two co-existed for a while, until the rat turned into a mouse and Chuck E. Cheese became the big cheese *snort snort*.  Anyway, this history is pretty comprehensive.

Military Perks *giggle giggle*

Now soldiers and their families can receive plastic surgery, including breast enlargements, on the taxpayers' dime.  Supposedly so army surgeons can "practice."  Practice breast enlargements?  I'd hate for someone serving their time for free med school as a surgical resident at Walter Reed to not get the necessary preparation to enter a lucrative fellowship after they've paid their dues.  I guess that's supporting small business.  Or maybe C-cup business.

The Fourth Reich

This link may be a little old for some of you (I found it via Bo via Chris Lin), but here's a fun article on why Walmart backs Bush, while Costco backs Kerry.  Bottomline:  Costco pays something that more resembles a living wage, and Bush policies support that.  For those of us that like to exercise consumer choice, it's sad that there are no Costco's to be found in the South, and even the closest one to Ann Arbor is something like 30-45 minutes away.

I'm back!

I'm married, we're pretty much unpacked, my puppy (a 5 month old chow/retriever mix) is on his way up from Murray, and evil Comcast finally got my internet account set up.  After Kerry's speech last night, I'm revved up to blog!

bluegrassroots

I'm still out of commission with all of this wedding stuff (happily, I might add), but if you stop by hear, you've gotta check out the bluegrassroots, a fabulous blog by some University of Kentucky law students.  Shout out to Erin, Dave, and Ben!

From the Lexington Hyatt, Rm. 801

Courtney and I survived our very pleasant wedding, and were absolutely amazed how well things went and how generous everybody has been. We're sitting here opening up gifts at 11 in the morning, and its just nuts how nice people have been to us. We have happily consummated (Courtney is yelling at me right now for writing that in!), and will be heading up to Ann Arbor this afternoon to work on our apartment before we go honeymooning next week. Blogging should hopefully pick up after that, since we won't have internet in our apartment for another two weeks. But we're very happy and smiley, and all is well, and it looks like Shaq is going to the Heat. Had to get at least one link in there.

Good luck, Keib

Matt's getting married today. And tomorrow, Courtney and I are heading up to Ann Arbor to start moving into our new place. Then back to Lexington probably Wednesday night, chaos chaos, rehearsal Friday, then we get hitched Saturday. Some crazy stuff.

So blogging might be sparse with last minute hitchin' responsibilities and not being anywhere around a computer.

the horror, the horror

Admiral Kurtz is dead. Marlon Brando, dead at 80, of withheld causes.

welcome to the machine

The former head of a Republican consulting group has pleaded guilty to jamming Democratic telephone lines in several New Hampshire cities on Election Day two years ago.

garrettsparks Highway Confusion Lane 3 Wealthville 14 Bankruptcity 33 Mt. Happiness 112 Lake Love 230 Please Drive Carefully

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Where are you on the highway of life?

From Go-Quiz.com

Poor Izzy

For those of you with a heart for dogs and maybe a few extra bucks (the first is more probable than the second), here's a pooch in distress. SPS is a great organization I have zero affiliation with other than liking Shar Pei, and I can almost assure you that any contribution you might make would be well used.