Nothing planned this weekend. Maybe a movie, maybe sailing. Sounds like I might be going to a play. I also have to do some last minute provisioning for Colorado. Hooray for Colorado!

Right now, the Cutri's are beginning there mass pilgrimage for Cutri "birthday season" (otherwise known as the last week in July, where it appears a number of people in my grandfather's generation were born). Highlights of "birthday seasons"s past includes trips to exotic places like Italy and Wisconsin. This year, there is a family reunion in Erie, the riviera of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, I will miss the reunion because hopefully right about then I will be climbing to the top of a 14,000 foot mountain. Hopefully I will be forgiven.

Now, to finish up this entry with some link-mania.

A collection of memo's from the chief of Fox News. It makes me crazy when people think Fox is actually "Fair and Balanced." Though its kind of embarrassing, it took a Doonsbury cartoon to point these memos out to me.

The events in Iraq Tuesday are going to be the top story, unless and until something else (or worse) happens. Err on the side of doing too much Iraq rather than not enough. Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of US lives and asking out loud why are we there?

But you have to agree, the guy has a sense of humor:

"With trepidation, we'll go into the Michael Jackson indictment today ready to blow breaks and stick with it if it's a circus like last time, or to mix it with other news if, as promised by authorities, it retains some sense of legal decorum. It's a big step in the case. It does NOT mean he is guilty... The President and the PM of Canada meet today and will make remarks at midday. Take the remarks, even if Jacko is singing on top of a truck with no pants on at the time."

Worship My iPod

Because now you -- yes, you -- can say you were there for the advent of the Apple iPod. The very first one. The red-hot must-have gizmo of Now. The smooth white plastic love lump of Yes. The Gadget That Changed Everything even though everything was pretty much already completely changed and everyone was pretty much already like, damn, can things even change much anymore? And then the iPod hit and the answer was a clear, delicious, hell yes.

The iPod is the It Girl of this generation. It is the gizmo equivalent of the printing press. The lightbulb. The steam train. The space shuttle. The Pocket Rocket vibrator. Et cetera...

The little white slab has it all. Cultural cache, hipness, style, sex appeal, superlative design, annoying ubiquity, shameless pretentiousness and a tangy and undeniably appealing hint of where we're headed and what's to come and, if we do it right, how seamlessly it can all slide into our social arsenal.

And, best of all, compared to most obnoxious, bug-addled, instantly disposable gadgets in the world today, the iPod actually works. Beautifully. Elegantly. Clearly. Like nothing that came before it and like a thousand things that will attempt to come after it because it's one of those trendsetting life-altering devices that everyone must emulate immediately or die trying. And for that we are all grateful, and annoyed, and impressed, our habits irrevocably changed, our cultural memory indelibly stamped...

It can be the answer to just about anything. What was it like at the end of the millennium? iPod. How did you manage to endure the ongoing wargasmic ravages of BushCo and his corporate lizard spawn? Oh my God, iPod. What kept you from committing suicide with a USB cable and some printer toner after losing everything on that Qwest stock after the bubble burst? Oh man, iPod. Hey you kids get the hell outta my yard! Dude, chill out -- iPod...