Plane Loading
Why are they loading planes from front to rear now? At least United did. On my flights. It makes no sense. You get in there and have to squeeze through all the people that are already on there, making your way to the back. Why is this? What's going on here?

Back in town
I'm back and it's good to be back. Always nice to go home, but I don't like the rush of such a limited stay.

The Dogg is married
Neto, once known affectionately as "Nate Dogg," passed away this past week. All that remains is Ernesto Rossbach.

The Dogg is dead.

Congratulations to him and the wife.

Bad Moves
I hear the Pirates have taken Jose Mesa off of closer duties. How dumb is this team? Why didn’t they trade him? Not just this year, but last year too? They could’ve gotten something for him. But no, they held onto him for no good reason and now he’ll move on and they’ll have nothing. It’s the same thing I’ve been saying about the Reds and their outfield situation, it’s just plain dumb.

TV
I watched CSI and then Without a Trace the other day with Mindy. I had seen CSI before and I enjoyed it, sometimes it stretches things a little bit but it’s a good show. It’s reminiscent of the old Sherlock stories. But then we saw Without a Trace, and man this show’s writing is terrible. It’s clich? as hell and it made me want to just chuckle and walk away. Check it out some time, listen to how they talk, it’s horrible.

Married
Well, I’m in Guatemala and my best friend is now officially married. It’s done.

Guatemala
I'm here now. For the wedding. I've said this to people so many times I'm sick of it.

I've been awake for 27 hours straight.

I'm very tired.

Drunk? Yes, maybe.

OK, totally.

But not that much, if I'm still awake after all this time.

After all.

George Saunders
I think I'm going to buy his new book today, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, and I found this in an interview with Slushpile.com:

Slushpile: What is your single-best, most-important, can’t-live-without writing tip you would offer to aspiring authors?

Saunders: Keep going. Your subconscious mind is a lot smarter than you are. Just keep giving it a chance and in time it may reward you. Get out of the way a little bit, have fewer ideas about what kind of writer you are and what it is you are going to accomplish. Find out what kind of writer you are and be prepared to accept that writer, no matter how different he/she is from what you’d hoped….

Slushpile: What is your single-best, most-important, can’t-live-without publishing tip you would offer to aspiring authors struggling to break into print?

Saunders: I know this advice feels facile but honestly — stop worrying about getting published. Think about writing something that comes from the heart and that you would feel unashamed to show to your greatest historical writing hero. Maybe we can’t get there — but I think what every reader wants to read is someone in the act of swinging for the fences, unselfconsciously, with joy and abandon and the highest possible hopes. Who could resist that, right?

I like that, keep going

Guatemala ties US 0-0
THe US played with 11 non-starters, so that tells you something right there. But from all accounts, we had every opportunity to get three points out of this game, but, as usual, we simply failed to do so. But the tie at least lines us up ahead of Trinidad, so that's something. People that still home for a straight ticket to the World Cup are devastated, but I think they should have to play another team to earn their way.

The team would be either Bahrain or Uzbekistan (I think) and as long as they can stay ahead of Trinidad, that's what's going to happen. After all, if you can't beat those teams (Trinidad, Bahrain, etc.), you don't deserve to go to the World Cup. Why? To embarass yourself? It would be historic though... (not the embarassment)

The Bachelorette
She is officially on my bus. She's much cuter than she looks on TV, that's for sure. Too bad everyone stares at her (not for her cuteness but for her fame, although I'm sure a few just think "she's cute.")