Objects in Life Closer Than They Appear

Been quiet for a while. No, I haven't run off to Uzbekistan to follow my dream of becoming a camel smuggler. Or won the lottery, dammit. Just had a whole bunch of life land on me, much like suddenly unplugging a hose. Good stuff, mind you. Got a new job with better pay and more interesting work. My second career, writing, also experienced a great unblockage. People are going to PAY MONEY for something I wrote! Expect more details later. Many, many more details than you probably want or need, but you don't understand! This is my baby, and I've only been gestating the thing for three years. I also set up the home network and wireless router. Karma compels me to state that I had to call tech support to get all the bits to play nicely together, and I think I got re-routed to an alternate dimension. The helpdesk tech was NICE, and he kept trying until we got it to work -- and when we did, he didn't hang up at the speed of light, but had me check everything to make absolutely sure the gizmo was happy. So NetGear, I am officially a Happy Customer. And look! I'm telling the blogosphere about it!

I see the political circus has been busy while my attention has wandered. At least, they've been through the town and nobody is cleaning up after the animals. What is in the water in DC? Are they all drinking stupid juice or something?

• Reason number 2,345 for Harriet Miers to give up and become a beachcomber: Anybody who is greeted like warm tuna-flavored jello by fellow conservatives (never mind the raving Democrats) and DOESN'T gracefully decline the honor of being nominated to the Supreme Court doesn't have the sense to come in out of the rain. I don't care how much of a pioneer she is. So was Daniel Boone, and the guy had BO that would stun a goat. The one positive from this whole mess is maybe we'll think about what the requirements for the highest court in the land should be. Besides a pulse.
• If I understand the DIA correctly, Lt. Col. Schaffer misappropriated some government pens when he was 15 years old, and somehow that is more important than knowing about Mohammad Atta before he altered the New York City skyline. Well, that settles it. I can *never* consider public office. I can explain about the frogs, really. The rest is a bit dicy, and the incident with the beets .... nope, not going to go there.
• Mugabe tells the UN that America is the cause of all evil and is applauded. Ya know, last time I looked Mugabe and his thugs were the only ones in his country who weren't skinny as rails. And it didn't use to be like that. Guess there is more to farming than sitting around waiting for crops to magically grow, who would have thought WORK was involved?
• My evil Senator Patty Murray (I should say, *one* of my evil Senators) threatened to examine closely all state appropriations bills that came her way if the first Porkbusters cut (submitted by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma) was passed. Honey, that's what we WANT. Jeebus. Where do these people come from and how can we get them to go back there?