Buddy, Bill Clinton's dog, has died after being struck by a car. My money is on Socks, I think the cat put out a hit on Buddy after being ejected from the White House but waited until Clinton's presidency was over in order to attract less attention and avoid the wrath of the Secret Service.

Buddy, Bill Clinton's dog, has died after being struck by a car. My money is on Socks, I think the cat put out a hit on Buddy after being ejected from the White House but waited until Clinton's presidency was over in order to attract less attention and avoid the wrath of the Secret Service.

I got a call from a friend this morning, seems his New Year's was worse than mine. While he was in Vancouver for New Year's, his laptop case was stolen -- the thief took his computer, his keys and his passport. I'd be really pissed if that happened to me (despite the fact that I don't have a laptop) so I'll just keep my mouth shut about my comparatively-less-lousy New Year's in a crowded club while we go down to a local dealership to get a new key cut for his car.

I got a call from a friend this morning, seems his New Year's was worse than mine. While he was in Vancouver for New Year's, his laptop case was stolen -- the thief took his computer, his keys and his passport. I'd be really pissed if that happened to me (despite the fact that I don't have a laptop) so I'll just keep my mouth shut about my comparatively-less-lousy New Year's in a crowded club while we go down to a local dealership to get a new key cut for his car.

I really shouldn't feel so bad about occasionally indulging in pizza or fast food or something like that. I don't have them all that often, I do exercise a fair amount, and I try not to use food as a crutch as much as Kim from the latest "Survivor." According to today's Boston Globe, Kim got home from being voted off the show and began downing Ben & Jerry's.

In her recent interviews, Kim admitted that she ate 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream every day for the first 10 days after she arrived home. She eventually cut back to 1 pint daily, but also said that she would "walk to the bathroom, throw up, and come right back."

Her B&J addiction extended to her appearance on the show. Kim said that she "dreamt about ice cream all the time. On night watch, I kept occupied by going down the aisles of the grocery store, filling up the cart in my mind. I spent a long time in the freezer section."

It's hard for me to comment on this kind of thing, since my waistline certainly isn't the slimmest around and I've done my share of comfort eating. But I try not to let it consume me even though I do hear the food calling to me. And I definitely try not to obsess so heavily about it. I may have strange ways of distracting myself -- singing to myself, replaying movie scenes in my head, doing radio stopsets in my head, talking to myself -- but I try not to do things that would harm me.

But there are times when the call is very loud and very hard to resist. Human minds are strange things, and we each have our behaviors we fall into.

I really shouldn't feel so bad about occasionally indulging in pizza or fast food or something like that. I don't have them all that often, I do exercise a fair amount, and I try not to use food as a crutch as much as Kim from the latest "Survivor." According to today's Boston Globe, Kim got home from being voted off the show and began downing Ben & Jerry's.

In her recent interviews, Kim admitted that she ate 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream every day for the first 10 days after she arrived home. She eventually cut back to 1 pint daily, but also said that she would "walk to the bathroom, throw up, and come right back."

Her B&J addiction extended to her appearance on the show. Kim said that she "dreamt about ice cream all the time. On night watch, I kept occupied by going down the aisles of the grocery store, filling up the cart in my mind. I spent a long time in the freezer section."

It's hard for me to comment on this kind of thing, since my waistline certainly isn't the slimmest around and I've done my share of comfort eating. But I try not to let it consume me even though I do hear the food calling to me. And I definitely try not to obsess so heavily about it. I may have strange ways of distracting myself -- singing to myself, replaying movie scenes in my head, doing radio stopsets in my head, talking to myself -- but I try not to do things that would harm me.

But there are times when the call is very loud and very hard to resist. Human minds are strange things, and we each have our behaviors we fall into.

Whoever the marketing genius behind this is, they need to be taken out into the street and beaten. I just saw a box downstairs sitting on the floor of my building's basement -- it was for "Baby's First Musical Potty." Is there a Baby's Second Musical Potty? Do you graduate from "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to Chuck Berry and then, if you're advanced enough, Pearl Jam?

Whoever the marketing genius behind this is, they need to be taken out into the street and beaten. I just saw a box downstairs sitting on the floor of my building's basement -- it was for "Baby's First Musical Potty." Is there a Baby's Second Musical Potty? Do you graduate from "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to Chuck Berry and then, if you're advanced enough, Pearl Jam?

It's been confirmed: NSync will appear in Episode 2: Attack of the Clones. All I can say is that this is another reason for me to not welcome the prequels into the fold as true heirs to the Star Wars series (much like many Star Trek fans will not acknowledge the existence of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) but at least we get the satisfaction of watching them get blown up.

It's been confirmed: NSync will appear in Episode 2: Attack of the Clones. All I can say is that this is another reason for me to not welcome the prequels into the fold as true heirs to the Star Wars series (much like many Star Trek fans will not acknowledge the existence of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) but at least we get the satisfaction of watching them get blown up.

I honestly think sometimes that people should have to qualify for a license for parenting. I figure that since adoption requires a rigorous process of determining whether or not either a single parent or a couple is fit to take care of a child, it shouldn't follow that two people should be able to just produce as many kids as they want because they can conceive them naturally. I'm not advocating state-sponsored abortions or mandatory limits on children like China does, but maybe certain consequences should be instituted in order to make people think twice about just having oodles of children, like an incremental tax increase per child or something. However, I still have mixed feelings about giving the government control in saying whether or not a couple should be allowed to have a child, yet I feel it's unfair to the child sometimes when they're being raised by an unfit parent or circumstances that aren't conducive to a decent home.

There's a woman in my building who has a 4 or 5 year old daughter, and there's something wrong with this woman. When I was at my last job, I used to meet one of my co-workers downstairs in my building's lobby and give her a ride to work since we lived 2 blocks apart and she didn't have a car, and every morning this woman would be there with her daughter waiting for the kid's schoolbus. I couldn't believe some of the things this mother did and said, it was to the point where I thought she was practically bipolar. One moment she'd be yelling at the kid (who was just sitting quietly in a chair) and the next she'd be cooing over the kid and smothering her with hugs and kisses. I remember one morning when the mother was really sick -- coughing and sneezing and hacking up phlegm -- yet she insisted her daughter come over so Mommy could give her hugs and kisses. The kid protested and said, "Mommy, you're sick," but the mother told her, "Get over here now!" Then she hauled the kid up onto her lap, again smothered her in hugs and kisses (and probably contaminating her with thousands of germs at the same time) and then wiped her nose on her daughter's sleeve. A couple of weeks ago, I was on my way out of the building and saw them on their way back in -- Mommy was chowing down on an ice cream cone and the daughter was practically in tears because she wanted some as well, but Mommy told her that she shouldn't have dropped her cone. Then Mommy proceeded to lick more of her ice cream and tell her how good it was and how she was so happy she hadn't dropped her cone because it was so good. It was practically torturing her poor daughter, and I almost felt like "accidentally" bumping into her to make her drop her own cone, but I really didn't want to distinguish myself out of all the other people in the building to this psycho.

I honestly think sometimes that people should have to qualify for a license for parenting. I figure that since adoption requires a rigorous process of determining whether or not either a single parent or a couple is fit to take care of a child, it shouldn't follow that two people should be able to just produce as many kids as they want because they can conceive them naturally. I'm not advocating state-sponsored abortions or mandatory limits on children like China does, but maybe certain consequences should be instituted in order to make people think twice about just having oodles of children, like an incremental tax increase per child or something. However, I still have mixed feelings about giving the government control in saying whether or not a couple should be allowed to have a child, yet I feel it's unfair to the child sometimes when they're being raised by an unfit parent or circumstances that aren't conducive to a decent home.

There's a woman in my building who has a 4 or 5 year old daughter, and there's something wrong with this woman. When I was at my last job, I used to meet one of my co-workers downstairs in my building's lobby and give her a ride to work since we lived 2 blocks apart and she didn't have a car, and every morning this woman would be there with her daughter waiting for the kid's schoolbus. I couldn't believe some of the things this mother did and said, it was to the point where I thought she was practically bipolar. One moment she'd be yelling at the kid (who was just sitting quietly in a chair) and the next she'd be cooing over the kid and smothering her with hugs and kisses. I remember one morning when the mother was really sick -- coughing and sneezing and hacking up phlegm -- yet she insisted her daughter come over so Mommy could give her hugs and kisses. The kid protested and said, "Mommy, you're sick," but the mother told her, "Get over here now!" Then she hauled the kid up onto her lap, again smothered her in hugs and kisses (and probably contaminating her with thousands of germs at the same time) and then wiped her nose on her daughter's sleeve. A couple of weeks ago, I was on my way out of the building and saw them on their way back in -- Mommy was chowing down on an ice cream cone and the daughter was practically in tears because she wanted some as well, but Mommy told her that she shouldn't have dropped her cone. Then Mommy proceeded to lick more of her ice cream and tell her how good it was and how she was so happy she hadn't dropped her cone because it was so good. It was practically torturing her poor daughter, and I almost felt like "accidentally" bumping into her to make her drop her own cone, but I really didn't want to distinguish myself out of all the other people in the building to this psycho.

After catching up on my usual readings, I don't feel so bad about doing nothing all day yesterday -- yes, even more so than usual. I guess New Year's Day is just the generally-agreed-upon Sloth Day of America.

Ingredients for Sloth Day of America:
- 1 TV (preferably large)
- 1 comfortable resting place (e.g.: couch or bed)
- several hours of mindless programming
- several movies

Assemble ingredients in apartment or house and mix well. Heat surroundings to 70-75 degrees. Let sit for length of day.

After catching up on my usual readings, I don't feel so bad about doing nothing all day yesterday -- yes, even more so than usual. I guess New Year's Day is just the generally-agreed-upon Sloth Day of America.

Ingredients for Sloth Day of America:
- 1 TV (preferably large)
- 1 comfortable resting place (e.g.: couch or bed)
- several hours of mindless programming
- several movies

Assemble ingredients in apartment or house and mix well. Heat surroundings to 70-75 degrees. Let sit for length of day.

In every movie that has a "suddenly-it's-a-few-hours-later" shot, if they're burning big thick candles, the fact that time elapsed is usually shown by the fact that the candle is suddenly reduced in height. However, I know this is another bit of movie magic because all the big thick candles I've ever had always burn right down the center and the edges usually retain their height, so I end up with a candle that hollows itself out as it burns and I eventually have to slice off some of the excess wax with an X-Acto knife in order to get to the wick.

Although if they actually have special movie candles that burn evenly all the way down, I think they could make a decent amount of money from selling them to the general public. I'm sure some candle chain could partner with the studios to offer us poor saps an "Official Movie Candle(TM)." And I'm sure people would buy it too.