Come to Mama

Just heard from Zappos that my new Birkenstocks should arrive before the week ends. I love these shoes. As a matter of fact, these lovely black Sydneys are exactly like the ones I'm wearing now … only these are already once-resoled and once again well worn and it's not worth another trip to the repair shop when the new pair was only $73.95.

Certain forms of retail therapy always lighten my mood. Specifically shoes and purses. I think it's because size doesn't matter. I don't have to be sad because I can only fit into my "fat Birkenstocks" or only carry my "fat bag" today.

At any rate, these lovelies are on their way to their new home, where I'm sure they will be happy. In fact, they already have vacation planned -- a long weekend in Vegas later this month, and the holidays in the Keys.

Is it possible that I'm moving on?

After almost three years and literally thousands of games, I find myself no longer drawn to Turbo 21 at Pogo.com.

I don't know why, but it seems the thrill is going … going … gone.

Is it because Pogo is a completely useless activity? No, it always was. And the time suck aspect was one of the things I perversely loved best. (As in, "Let's see, what have I done today? Laundry? Nope. Letter writing? Nope. Grocery shopping? Nope. Dozens of games of Turbo 21? YES!")

Is it the burgeoning carpal tunnel I predict will afflict my right hand? No. Though giving it a rest might also help loosen that knot in my right shoulder.

I don't know the reason, but the truth is undeniable -- I'm finding it easier and easier to resist the siren song of Pogo.

Shame on you, Rep. Foley

I don't care if he says he's an alcoholic. Booze doesn't turn an otherwise morally upstanding citizen (gay or straight) into a pedophile. What he did was reprehensible. It was his job, his responsibility, to look out for the Congressional pages. And here he was preying upon them. Even worse, he had been the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, so he knew the impact his actions could have on these young people. He should now have to face the legal system. Our young people matter, and if individuals can't look out for them, then the system must.

I love thinking of him, ca 1977

When my best friend was 11 years old, he fell in love. With Farrah Fawcett from Charlie's Angels. Just as important as her TV show was her poster. He loved her red swimsuit. Specifically with the outline of her nipple. He remembers gazing at it, imagining it in detail, dreaming about it. She broke his heart when she left the show. The following year he moved on from Farrah to Olivia Newton-John in Grease. But Farrah was his first, and will always have a special place in his heart. I love these stories, and to celebrate all that Farrah once meant to him I got him this mug on eBay.

I don't know why the tales of him as a kid so touch me. But they do. In addition to his love for Farrah and "Livvie," I've heard a saga of each of his boyhood scars … the fall from the back of a truck, the accident at the track meet.

I know each of us had a first crush, each of us has scars from our childhood (some visible, some emotional). But these are his, and that makes them terribly important.