I would have loved a high school reunion after 20 years. I went to a magnet arts school in New York City in the early 1970s. It seems that the arts attracts gay men more than a lot of other professions. I'd dearly love to have seen many of my fellow teenaged artists again, but alas, they were right in the bulls-eye of the AIDS epidemic.

Be glad of your incipient beer guts, retreating hair lines, saddlebag thighs and saggy boobies. At least you all still have each other.

Even though Bush has been a disaster, his appointments of Powell and Rice have really opened a lot of doors for Black people in the US.

why it might do well, at least among horny guys who like politics.

I keep eyeballing Texas on the map and sighing...

It sounds like you are a bright guy who can pick things up and turn on a dime. I suspect you can use that talent to retool yourself. The elections will give you a good clue as to what to turn to next.

Don't kick yourself. It doesn't sound like you did anything particularly careless and I did not like some of Cary's tone about long versus short view. If that were just the case, I would have been mustered out of the software business in 2000.

There are services we will always need. There will always be banks. There will always be financial institutions. There will always be people who could use a quick study like yourself to work with them.

Set out those antennae and figure out what's next. I'll bet you'll be back in business in no time. (Or at least after election day.)

Why is it less of a problem to abort a fetus from a rape than from a zesty backseat session between two consenting people? I am, btw, very pro choice. But why do we have to use the strawman that some circumstances behind a choice for an abortion are more acceptable than others? If the conservatives are all about the fetuses, why do circumstances matter?

I saw the video on the HuffPost and wondered who the guy was. He asked all the questions I would, only more loudly and persistently. That congressperson had a really limited arsenal to work with and should have known better and done some homework before going on the air with those assertions and broad statements.

I'm seeing liberals refer to Palin as a cunt. I am seeing conservatives referring to Obama as a terrorist.

I think everyone needs a glass of milk, some cookies, and a nap.

I don't know if LW is male or female, but Little Brother sure is. Men don't do the birthday or holiday cards. Women do. The wife usually winds up doing all of those cards. If she has chronic fatigue, she's not going to do it. It'd be a nice world where men send cards, but they don't. As for his attire, I can say that the world is not staring at him as if he were Napoleon Dynamite ("Gaaa. I can do whatever I WANT!"). You are staring at him. I used to freak out over my parents being overweight when I was a teen, but as an adult, when I see a teen with two overweight parents, I see three people, not a teen carrying her parents like a set of post-its.

I commend the water bottle thing. We need more people to carry them.

As for being Aspy - if he has a wife and a good job and can afford to travel around, it can't be that bad. I know lots of autistic and aspy people all up and down the scale, because I'm in high tech. I'm used to them. You should get used to it, too. I don't think he needs professional help. I think you need to get over yourself.

San Francisco Chronicle for Obama today. (Not a big surprise)

Just sayin'

I recall watching a black comedian, perhaps D.L. Hughley, talking about what it was like to start to become famous. All of his friends assumed he was able to splash his money around. One of his lines was to the effect of "I need a tank of gas. Can I have 400 dollars?" So, put yourself in their shoes. People are standing around your cousin, palms up everywhere he goes.

The only people who should even think of getting away with asking someone for stuff are nonprofits and small children.

I think even doing what Cary suggests - writing a letter asking for advice - is going too far. If you actually like the guy, then be in touch with them because you enjoy his company. If you don't, send him holiday cards and show up at his house if you are invited to something. But, leave it at that. Begging will pretty much guarantee that you'll be persona non grata. He didn't get where he is by being a chump.

Given the national scrutiny and now the results of "troopergate", Alaskans have an idea of who they voted into office. She's not a VPILF or a GILF, she's a blindly ambitious self-marketer with no substance and a lot of greed. Hopefully, after the country runs her out on a rail, Alaskans will as well.