Easy Amusement

If you're like me (and I know I am), you've been known to chuckle occasionally at the funny kitty pictures with captions on them, viz. www.icanhascheezburger.com. Realisticats, however, has raised the bar. My personal favorite, both because of the genuineness of the sentiment and because I freakin' recognize that picture:

Three Days and Counting

Vacation is nearly here, with so so much to do beforehand . . .

The Cake B-Sides album is all right--apparently it's nothing new to those in the know (heck, I already had 3 of the 11 listed tracks, and 2 more were just live versions of well-known Cake songs. I find their cover of "War Pigs" getting stuck on repeat a lot--Cake + Black Sabbath = Good Times.

I predicted in my March 20 post that Alberto Gonzales would resign. Or that it was likely. Yay me. Not that it takes a crystal ball to figure out that he would fall on his sword for the U.S. Attorney firings and ensuing coverup. If ever there was a loyal Bush soldier. But he hasn't been disbarred for perjury or anything, so he can still get a law job. I hope he uses the torture memo as his writing sample for those job applications. Like he won't end up at a Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institution, cushy corporate gig, or K Street lobbying shop.

I dig the Hipster Olympics. Just like any number of bars in downtown Portland. Or the Pearl. Or Alberta Street. Or Sellwood. Or wherever the next cool neighborhood in Rose City is.

It IS growing on me

The Rilo Kiley CD gets better with repeated listenings, even if it is a blatant attempt to get more radio airtime. Either they focus grouped this really well with my demographic (liberal left-handed thirty-something Alaskan professionals?), or the sweetness of Jenny Lewis's voice finds a way to show through all the studio "magic." Or some third option I hadn't even considered. Like, man.

50,000 U.S. legal jobs to be outsourced by 2015?

Big corporate law firms are increasingly outsourcing legal work. It's not surprising that a lot of document review and boilerplate work would go to a place like India, where costs are low (thanks in part to government social welfare spending, ahem), the lawyers learn the same basics of common law, and English is the language of government and commerce.

I think they won't be outsourcing small-firm stuff anytime soon, what with economies of scale. Criminal law probably needs to stay stateside as well. Government lawyers probably are safe, although who knows--if the Bush administration can privatize a war, all bets are off.

Lest I forget how truly fortunate I am, I read war stories from the big city legal sweatshops on Temporary Attorney. It's a shame that my brothers and sisters in the legal profession have to work in such awful environments--and now this is the same work that's being outsourced.

Hmm

Got the new Rilo Kiley CD today, and it's not rocking my world as much as some of their earlier work. It's not bad, it's just not amazing--I give it 3/3.5 stars. It might grow on me after repeated listening, I suppose. Some tracks are too disco-ey, and Jenny Lewis's voice just doesn't sound as angelic as on prior albums, or even her solo album. Standouts for me: "The Moneymaker," "Dejalo," and "15." I tell ya, I shoulda been a feisty music critic . . .

P.S. I'm impressed that I'm listening to it in Bethel on its official release date. Why couldn't you hook that up for Harry Potter, Amazon?

Kiita! (Or: Go Whalers!)

Despite the mixed feelings, it's always nice to see my high school's football team do well. Yes, part of me thinks paying for equipment and travel is a colossal waste of money that could be spent on hiring and retaining more good teachers, or a much much much better college prep curriculum. Yes, it's uncertain how many kids are actually staying in school and out of trouble because of the opportunity to toss around the old pigskin. Nonetheless, it's good to see the home team start off its second season with a win. I also couldn't think of a better way to break in the brand new field, a very generous donation. Because "football" is more fun as a concept than "fiscal responsibility" anyway.

The score was Barrow 18, Seward 16, not that the linked article would tell you that . . . scores and opponents are meaningless details in this new era of sports journalism. Those details are here and here if you don't want to take my word for it.

Where have I been?

A fair question, to which I would answer "around the way." I've been in town, mostly, working and running (A LOT--the Portland Marathon is in 47 days, and I did my first 20-mile training run yesterday, yay me), plus planning a gaelic beverage and obscure film party. I did get into Anchorage to see Cake last weekend--they never fail to put on a good show. I was a little bummed that, after their encore, the piped music came on--the international signal for "get out," and then they came back for two more encores. And of course there was no reentry into the venue. Lame. But a good show nonetheless.

Can it be that I've been writing this blog for over a year? Egad. I should have thrown a party. That also means I've been back in the Bush for over a year. Crazy how time flies.

I haven't said much about the Alaska Republican scandals, but they pretty much speak for themselves if you search Google news for Ted Stevens, Don Young, or VECO (devilish laugh). It's still an uphill battle to unseat either Stevens or Young next year, but hope springs eternal, yes it does.

It's also sad to see Karl Rove leave the White House. So sad. Surely he'll be back to running dirty campaigns for a lot more money.

I don't quite understand this, or what it says about the Red Army during its first 50 years. Amusing nonetheless.

At the end of next week, I'll be a South-Going Zax, heading down to Seattle and Denver for about 10 days total. Ah, vacations. Ah, civilization.