Category: Uncategorized

Looks like the Chinese army’s never seen a Longwang like this one before.

Thanks for sticking around, dear reader! I just wrapped up the October ish, just in time for the Jewy New Year! Shana tova!

Sorry I haven’t written much lately. There were plenty of things I could’ve written about, like these two items:

Al Qaeda or Al Capone?

What is up with all these car-bombings in Lebanon? Did the Federation leave a copy of “Chicago Mobs of the Twenties” behind after their last trip?

In Drugs We Trust, or, The Crank-Driven Life

After Brian Nichols went bananas and killed a bunch of people in an Atlanta courthouse, he took Ashley Smith hostage. The “nice” narrative was that she pulled out a copy of “The Purpose-Driven Life” and helped talk Nichols into surrendering after they read a chapter called “Using What God Gave Me.”

As it turns out, she was using a little more than that. When Nichols asked her for some weed, Smith said she didn’t have any. Fortunately, she had some crystal meth stashed away, so Nichols was able to party down some, and Smith was able to rededicate her life to God, since Nichols bogarted her stash.

Conference is wrapped up! We received much praise! And I got to go back to Cafe Matisse for a celebratory dinner last night! Details (and menu) to follow!

I still have to write and lay out a ton of pages this weekend, but at least the stress of the conference is over. Now I can get out there and find the real killer!

Your Virtual Memoirist, dear reader, is nuts.

I still have 3 articles to write in the next 3 days, before spending 2 days helping to run our annual conference. I may or may not have to put together a panel discussion the morning it begins. I have to write my brilliantly witty and engaging From the Editor column. Most mornings, I’m up before 5am, racked with anxiety. Laundry is piling up in my bedroom. My fridge is almost completely empty. I haven’t gotten on the treadmill in almost 2 weeks.

But I have been keeping up with my schedule of reading at least 30 pages of Don Quixote every day.

And now I’m done, so I guess I can get back to biomarkers, PAT, pharma facility design & construction, administrative chores, household care, and planning a wedding in a deserted city.

Work’s still pretty stressful, but it’ll all be over at noon next Friday. We’re heading down to the eastern shore in Maryland for a friend’s wedding soon.

I leave you with the Worthless Baseball Card Collection.

Just clicked over from the Yankees to the news and am watching JetBlue 292 try to emergency-land in LAX with faulty landing equipment. If you’re the praying kind, then pray for the passengers and crew.

Update: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Klinger really IS from Toledo.

I thought about going to the Giants-Saints game tonight, since there were tons of tickets available and it would’ve been a way to support the Red Cross efforts down in the gulf.

But then I thought about how, within 5 minutes, I would’ve been rooting for the Giants to crush the Saints, and THAT didn’t feel right. So I’m watching at home, and the Saints fumbled the kickoff, leading to a near-instant TD for the Jints. Sorry, guys.

Well, the MacArthur Grant guys just e-mailed out the list of this year’s “genius grant” recipients: 25 people each get $500,000 over 5 years, plus health coverage. The foundation called me last month to see if I’d be willing to comment in case they were checking on anyone in my professional field (pharma/biopharma stuff), but they never called for any followups.

The list is embargoed till midnight, and I’m going to respect that, geniusly enough. Unfortunately, no one I know personally got tabbed, but a friend-of-a-friend did, so I’m hoping we can cadge some free drinks & dinner off the guy.

Evidently, an ice-cream cone at Burger King offended a Muslim in the UK.

Myself, I’m offended by The King’s showboating after his INT against Bledsoe.