I have a couple unhappy posts in the works, so how about another nice one first

Two weeks ago while jogging along Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park, I rescued a dog. Like serious "Rescue 911" dramatic rescue. It was awesome.

I was running north on the trail between Porter/Klingle and Tilden/Park when I heard the dog yelping. There he was, stranded on a little rocky outcrop on the other side of Rock Creek trapped by a steep icy cliff on one side and rushing, freezing water on the other. The poor little guy was barking up a storm. He tried climbing up a couple times only to fall back down and just barely stop himself on the rock. In addition to the snow and ice of the past week, there had been a lot of rain in the previous 24 hours, so this dog was also unwilling and probably incapable of swimming to safety.

I had no idea how the dog wound up there. Perhaps he fell in further upstream and managed to save himself on the rock before he froze to death. Or more worrisome to me was the possibility that he had fallen down the cliff and injured a leg or worse in the process. And since the heavy rain had just ended less than half a day ago, I was also concerned about whether the creek level was still rising.

Another jogger also stopped and we crossed the bridge just upstream and walked back down to the small cliff. However, once she realized that it was impossible for either of us to climb down the steep, icy, thorn covered rocks, she decided we would just have to call for help. I did not like the sound of that since the dog seemed pretty desperate. I was worried that the dog would soon end up in the water one way or another and drown or freeze to death, especially if he was already injured.

So I went back upstream to an easier entry point, took my shoes off, and just walked right into the swollen creek. Once the water got above my waist, things suddenly seemed fairly serious. And freezing. Fortunately, it was not so deep that I actually had to swim. But the thought did cross my mind that I could be in some real trouble if I lost my footing on the slippery rocks and hit my head.

As it turned out, the dog was not injured. His name was Avi and he was a rambunctious 10 or 11 month old adolescent. His owner, a GW student named ?Jesse or Josh?, also came by the area less than 10 minutes after I carried him out of the creek. So the dog probably would have been okay even if I had done nothing. Yet I still felt pretty damn good about going in for him. Especially when I got the feeling back in my toes a half hour later.

My second nephew



Still Deciding Payne was born yesterday morning at 7:31am just outside of Baltimore. The cute little guy weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces. He seemed healthy and happy (slept all day). Mother Jennifer, father Calvin, and big brother Conrad were all in good spirits.




5:19pm UPDATE: his name is Riley Thomas Payne

Anyone in need of a new set of teeth?

Does anyone else find this odd?

FREE DENTURES
Reply to: sale-120898841@craigslist.org
Date: 2005-12-28, 12:23AM EST

I have some dentures that my grandma use to wear. Now, I would like to give them to someone who is need of teeth. Just send an email, I will gladly reply with an address. First come first serve.

-GOT TEETH

* this is in or around Reston

Virginia is for Lovers -- straight folks only, of course

I came across the Washington Post Sunday magazine from a couple weeks ago and just read the cover story called Paradise Lost. Its a sad story explaining an older, previously happy lesbian couple's decision to move from their long-time home in Fredericksburg, VA to Maryland. Essentially, its a refugee story. Two nice women chased out of the state by the Virginia Affirmation of Marriage Act.

The state's new law (which I touched on when enacted last year) went further than most anti-gay marriage laws. Some folks fear that the language of the Act could also be used to invalidate wills or medical directive agreements drawn up by gay and lesbian couples. This is what the couple featured in the Post story was afraid of. And the departure of such couples from Virginia was exactly what I expected after hearing about the nasty little piece of legislation. Anyhow, if you're interested in the issue and have some time to kill, I recommend reading the story.

The bottom line for me... Eff you, Virginia.

Two year-end wrapups that are much better than my weak little post from yesterday

Arianna Huffington's great 2005: Things I Want To Forget, part 1 and part 2

and

JibJab.com's 2-0-5 -- this is the first time since their original This Land hit that I would recommend something from JibJab

Remember the GOP's love affair with Kerry's "I actually did vote for the 87 billion dollars before I voted against it" back in 2004?

I think we've now got something way better with "He was against illegal wiretaps... while he ordered them."

I can't believe how horrible a year its been for Bush. Social security flop. Terri Schiavo. Katrina non-response. Failed Supreme Court nomination. Fuel price insanity. Never-ending war in Iraq. Plamegame scandal. And now, illegally spying on Americans. I'm so disappointed that all these things had to happen in 2005 rather than 2006 (or 2004). I have no faith in our country's ability to remember any of this next November. Or in November 2008.

Bad Day For Intelligent Design

Glad to see "intelligent design" got shot down today in Federal court. This whole ID thing reminded me of John Baez's Crackpot Index which I read about recently in Sky & Telescope magazine. Its a cute little tool for physicists, astronomers, etc.

I decided to see how ID fared on the Index and came up with a score of 142.

Spy Games

Every once in a while George Will cranks out a winner. His column ("Why Didn't He Ask Congress?") in today's Post is a good example. Give the guy credit for occasionally drawing a deep breath, stepping back, and taking notice of when his party is plainly on the wrong side of an issue. He did this today with regard to the administration's domestic spying revelation.

Because of what Alexander Hamilton praised as "energy in the executive," which often drives the growth of government, for years many conservatives were advocates of congressional supremacy. There were, they said, reasons why the Founders, having waged a revolutionary war against overbearing executive power, gave the legislative branch pride of place in Article I of the Constitution.

One reason was that Congress's cumbersomeness, which is a function of its fractiousness, is a virtue because it makes the government slow and difficult to move. But conservatives' wholesome wariness of presidential power has been a casualty of conservative presidents winning seven of the past 10 elections.

Nice. So now that the right wing has won 7 of 10 Presidential elections, they're okay with excessive, monarch-like executive power.

Huge Waste of Money

New dollar coins in 2007.

Until someone steps up with the balls to completely shut down production of paper $1 bills, people will never accept $1 coins as true currency. I can't believe the Treasury Department keeps pulling this crap -- each time thinking "It will work this time."

New York Avenue report -- awesome sign

While driving out to Annapolis this afternoon, I passed the McDonald's on New York Avenue near the North Capitol Street intersection. I wish I had a camera with me.

On the big McDonald's sign, the R and the V were knocked out of the word "drive." Thus, it said "DIE-THROUGH." Maybe its just me, but I thought this was pretty damn funny considering the quality of the food served at McDonald's.

so I'm actually legit now

Just got sworn into the Maryland Bar out in Annapolis. The whole thing was pretty uneventful. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Bell turned out to be a pretty funny guy, but the other judge who spoke and the guest speaker were both snoozers. I hope I don't have to do something like this again whenever I get sworn into the DC Bar.

As for jobs, I've had a few interviews in the past week or so. Not sure how they really went except that I at least managed not to put my foot in my mouth at any point. And I've got an interview that I'm REALLY excited about on Tuesday for a two year fellowship at Human Rights Campaign. The position would include judicial nominations work, educational curriculum designing (with regard to the court system and GLBT issues), grassroots work, and other legal writing. This is a place I definitely want to work at, so I'll try to bring my "A+" game to the interview next week.

The Last Waltz for Jerome Bettis?

So Kelvin and I trucked it up to Pittsburgh this past weekend to go to the Steelers/Bears game at Heinz Field. Kelvin's Bears lost 21-9, but I still think Kelvin was treated to quite a sight. Sunday may turn out to be the final signature Jerome Bettis performance before he retires and heads off to the Hall of Fame.


Bettis blasts through pro-bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher in the third quarter for a five yard touchdown

The forecast was for freezing temperatures and a coating of snow during the day, but that turned out to be an understatement. After getting a bit of snow overnight and seeing some flurries through much of the first half, the skies opened up just as the second quarter was ending. Kelvin smartly put on the ski pants he'd been merely sitting on until that point and I got out the rest of my gear. So there we were, watching an old-time Steelers/Bears matchup in a snowstorm.


Second half action at Heinz Field

For a good bit of the second half, we could barely make out what was going on on the field or even on the jumbotron. At one point Kelvin and I were pretty sure we saw a diffuse flash in the snow-filled sky from a lightning bolt. It was definitely a classic NFL game. And unfortunately for the Bears, it was perfect weather for The Bus. After getting only one carry in the first half (a one yard touchdown plunge), the Steelers brought out Bettis for some heavy lifting. In the second half, he carried the ball 16 times for 100 yards and a second touchdown.

The two plays that defined the game were the second Bettis touchdown shown in the picture above and the 39 yard Bettis rumble on their next possession shown in the picture below. The touchdown was a thing of football beauty; breaking tackles in a driving snowstorm for a five yard score. On the other hand, the 39 yard run was just plain funny given the conditions. The Steelers were backed up in their own territory which was pretty far from our endzone seats. Suddenly, the sideline portions of the crowd starting going nuts, but we could not see why. Finally, a couple seconds later, we saw Bettis materialize out of the blizzard tearing down the field towards our end.


The Bears' defense wasn't too excited about trying to tackle this guy

This was definitely one of my favorite Steelers memories. The Steelers were facing a must win game and responded by dominating in a snowstorm with Jerome Bettis coming off the bench to rack up 101 yards against the league's top defense. What could very well turn out to be his last 100 yard game in the league was also his 50th as a Steeler and 61st overall. It sure was nice to see him on top of his game one more time.

So I Didn't See Nicole Kidman...

But I did get to share a Ben's Chili Dog with Mr. Rusted Root himself. Take that Ms. Kidman. After the Rusted Root show at the 9:30 club on Saturday, Jen Floran, Dermot and I headed over to Ben's for their killer chili dogs. As we were eating, Mr. Root entered Ben's. Jen Floran snapped a quick, very non-discrete picture of him waiting in line. As we left, Jen tapped him on the shoulder and we talked to him for a couple of minutes (mostly about the Steelers, being that he's from Pittsburgh). Dermot snapped this one of us.



p.s. The show had a lot of energy - brought me back to my college days.

p.p.s. My mom and I had another celebrity sighting. We were in Orlando two weeks ago, and they were filming the Christmas day parade at the Magic Kingdom. We saw John O'Hurley, aka Mr. Peterman from Seinfeld, aka, Dancing with the Stars runner up, do a performance. Watch for us on ABC, 10am eastern on Christmas!

In other movie news...

don't make any plans for July 4, 2007

King Kong

The early buzz from many critics is that the film is another unrivaled masterpiece from Peter Jackson.

The movie opens Tuesday night at midnight -- Uptown tickets are already on sale via Fandango. I think Mary and I will probably wait until after Christmas for this one, though. December's not the best time for waiting in line on Connecticut Avenue.

Here's one good explanation for how 51% voted for Bush last year

I recently received the following mass forwarded email. The fact that these things really get around -- and that people believe them -- frightens me:

Interesting Thought for the day: - Gotta love the logic.

If you consider that there have been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theater of operations during the last 22 months, and a total of 2112 deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000.

The rate in Washington D.C. is 80.6 per 100,000.That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and killed in our Nation's Capitol, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, than you are in Iraq.

Conclusion: We should immediately pull out of Washington D.C

In God We Trust

Upon a cursory, uncritical glance, that sounds pretty interesting. Or dare I say, thought provoking?

Unfortunately, there's no truth whatsoever to those numbers. Whoever originated that email is blatantly wrong and/or lying... which is typical of the entire pro-war crowd.

DC: 34.6 homicides per 100,000 residents last year. This is based on 198 homicides in 2004 and the 2000 census total of 572,059 residents. And 34.6 actually exaggerates the danger because the census numbers do not take into account the huge number of tourists and MD/VA domiciliaries who safely work in and visit the city.

IRAQ: 489.4 deaths per 100,000 U.S. troops per year based on an average of 783 deaths per year since the invasion (assuming the emailer's 160,000 average troop number is correct). The number would still be around 375 deaths per 100,000 even if you discounted non-combat incidents. And either figure radically understates the danger because it doesn't even contemplate the thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths and the thousands of Iraqi police/military deaths.

So even under the most Iraq-friendly approach, a U.S. soldier would be over 10 times more likely to die if stationed in Iraq. In other words, I officially call "bullshit" on this email.

Maryland stinks up the joint at MCI last night...

...and somewhere out there, Terps superfan Bob Novak is probably punching someone in the jaw right now.

The Terps offensive game plan last night was surprisingly similar to the Steelers game plan on Sunday: Cough up the ball at every possible opportunity.

Dark days for Pittsburgh sports fans

Despite outgaining Cincinnati 474 to 324, the Steelers choked away the division title to Cincinnati yesterday. With three straight losses, the supposedly Super Bowl worthy Steelers are suddenly facing an uphill battle to even make the playoffs. They'll most likely have to win each of their last four games, starting with a tough one against 9-3 Chicago this Sunday, just to earn a wild-card.

Meanwhile, the supposedly playoff worthy Penguins recently lost their fifth straight to fall to 7-20 (I don't buy into this 7-14-6 crap -- the bottom line is that they walked off the ice as losers 20 out of 27 games). Crosby and Fleury, their recent #1 draft picks, are going to waste. And only one of their five big off-season veteran acquisitions is truly contributing. Mark Recchi has a league worst +/- of -19. John LeClair has managed only three power play goals despite being brought in to bolster the power play. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar hasn't played much defense, at least in the four or five games I've watched this season. And Jocelyn Thibault is 1-7 in net with a terrible .880 save percentage and a league worst 4.38 goals against average. Among the five, only Ziggy Palffy has lived up to expectations.

So now I just have to hold out hope for the third team I follow, Maryland basketball. Mary and I will be at the game tonight at MCI. Its a biggie against GW.

Absolutely Disgusting

I've been away from home for a day and a half. My last four meals:

- General Tso's chicken
- General Tso's chicken leftovers
- Macaroni & Cheese ("Three Cheese" variety)
- Pepperoni pizza

Man, I feel so gross right now.

Even the trees got screwed over by 9/11

While walking past the Capitol building this afternoon, I noticed something strange inside one of the grand old trees just outside the Senate side of the building.

Cement.   A lot of cement.

Where there had once been a big empty hollow space, there was now only cement. Presumably, the space was determined to be big enough for people or large quantities of explosives to be stashed in. Or perhaps the squirrels were determined to have an "intent" to build weapons of mass destruction.

Anyway, the point is that its strange to see a living tree full of cement. Obviously, nobody wanted to chop down a tree that's probably been standing beside the Senate since the late 19th or early 20th century. So they came up with a solution one step above wrapping the trunk of the tree with duct tape or a yellow police line. They filled it with cement.

Thanks a lot Osama. Not only did you kill thousands and fuck up two American cities, but here we are four years later with cement-filled trees.