NOTE: Just got this e-mail from WMRA's Tom Graham who keeps up with Virginia politics and news for all the rest of us. . .
Hey Partner –
Nice work on the offshore drilling blog.
I really liked the map, too !
I imagine you are already following the continuing developments. The Times-Dispatch has already done some updates.
This is a big deal for Governor McDonnell. He succeeded in getting legislation approved by the General Assembly last month that would dedicate monies from offshore drilling to Virginia transportation improvements
The two main bills on this were
HB787: Supports oil and gas exploration and drilling 50 miles off the coast of Virginia. [Senate Companion SB394.]
HB756: Directs 70 percent of any drilling royalties to state road improvements.
In pushing for the above legislation, McDonnell and General Assembly Republicans had received much criticism from those who said it was silly to be passing bills about offshore drilling revenues when such drilling was – at the time the legislation was approved – prohibited by federal statute.
So the governor and the Virginia GOP are likely feeling pretty good about today’s developments.
There has been a long-standing moratorium on oil and gas drilling along much of the east coast of the United States. That, evidently, is about to change.
Obama to allow drilling 50 miles off Va. coast
ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: March 31, 2010
WASHINGTON -- In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling 50 miles off Virginia's shorelines. At the same time, he is rejecting some new drilling sites that had been planned in Alaska.
Obama's plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation's shores. Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico. . .
Thus began an article in this morning's Richmond Times-Dispatch. The Washington Postreports that the move will anger environmentalists and please oil and gas companies.
The drilling policy represents the White House's latest attempt to straddle a middle ground on climate and energy policy, an effort that has already seen steps to boost domestic energy production and demands for stricter limits on greenhouse-gas emissions. This week the administration will finalize the nation's first greenhouse-gas limits for emissions from cars and light trucks, regulations that will boost the fuel economy of the U.S. vehicle fleet over several years.
Interestingly, at the time I'm posting this, there was no mention of the expected announcement in The Dallas Morning News, which reports from arguably the heart of the American oil industry.
Trolling the web for perspective on this announcement, I came across this article about then Senator Obama on the campaign trail, posted August 3, 2008, on CNN.
Sen. Barack Obama responded Saturday to criticism that he has changed his position on opposing offshore oil drilling.
Obama said Friday that he would be willing to compromise on his position against offshore oil drilling if it were part of a more overarching strategy to lower energy costs.
"My interest is in making sure we've got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices," Obama told The Palm Beach Post early into a two-day swing through Florida.
But on Saturday morning, Obama said this "wasn't really a new position." "I made a general point about the fact that we need to provide the American people some relief and that there has been constructive conversations between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate on this issue," he said during a press conference in Cape Canaveral.
"What I will not do, and this has always been my position, is to support a plan that suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems," Obama added. "If we've got a plan on the table that I think meets the goals that America has to set and there are some things in there that I don't like, then obviously that's something that I would consider because that's the nature of how we govern in a democracy."
So, WMRA community of listeners, what's your reaction? Good move? Bad move? Necessary move? Politically expedient move?
NOTE: April 1st ON POINT (10 a.m.--noon) on WMRA
President Obama’s Energy Vision - President Obama announces plans to drill for oil offshore. On Point looks at the politics behind the move - - and Obama s energy vision now.
NOTE #2:map of proposed drilling area off Virginia coast
(Sending out an SOS - The "Scream Of Siobahn" tries to save Didi from an elimination-worthy performance, but to no avail. What becomes of the broken artist? Didi's about to find out.)
In continued observance of how I breeze through Am.Idol by fast-forwarding on my DVR, here are my brief (although, I'll admit, they've been getting longer) comments on Tuesday's Top 10 performances, followed by the even more briefly visited Results Show (this continues to be a very short visit). Usher is the Mentor this week. I thought he was fine. Much like Miley, he's trying to get these kids to PERFORM better, as if everyone has kinda given up on them sounding better. Let's see what happened, shall we?
1) Siobhan Magnus - Am.Idol's Allison Reynolds finally gets her Breakfast Club makeover, with Usher standing in for the part of Molly Ringwald. She's nervous as hell meeting him. For the live performance, she's singing "Through The Fire" which is appropriate since she totally crashed and burned and then tried to claw her way out of this one. She doesn't sound good from the beginning and then her panic level just rises throughout. She tries to find herself in the trademark shout, but even that kind of doesn't show up for her this. The judges mostly pan the performance until Simon really rips it apart. Then we spend another 5 minutes talking to her on stage, but I zip zap zop right past it, because it's over. Everyone oughta just let it go. When we come back, we bizarrely follow Siobhan backstage where she might be planning to kill herself in front of the vegetable platters set up on folding tables in the corner (what a crappy holding room they have back there!). Luckily Big Mike is on hand with a bear hug that keeps her out of reach of the plastic utensils.
2) Casey James - Casey is singing... wait, it just finished and I totally forgot. I'm not kidding. I have no idea what he sang. I'll go back and check later. Ellen and Kara rightfully tell him that he keeps singing in the middle of his range and that he's really stiff (maybe I added that part). Simon thought it was his best performance. Okay then. He also gets an exit interview at the end, so I guess that's a thing now. But I'm not listening. (p.s. he sang Hold On.)
3) Big Mike - He sings I Am Ready For Love. It's very pleasant and well-sung even if this is not the happiest song on the planet. It's pretty restrained for Big Mike. I just don't know if there's anything he can sing that would make me an actual fan of his at this point. But it was a totally nice performance, the judges dug it, and it looks like he is happy during his post-performance interview but I zip on past that nonsense.
4) Didi Benami - She is singing What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted? It's the weirdest thing ever! It's all over the place. It's WAY dramatic. Siobhan's scream finally makes its way on stage 3 performers too late and possesses Didi for the last few measures of her song for reasons unknown. The judges are all "i don't even know who you ARE anymore!" as if she just told them she was the loneliest vampire slayer in Sunnydale. Then EFFING SEACREST tries to rip some untold secret out of Didi so that's she'll cry on stage and Didi debates for half a second to go there with him and then steadfastly takes the highroad, which I immediately respect her for doing. Seacrest tries again and again until finally the judges are like "Fuck, dude. It's over. You lost. Just give us her damn numbers already." Reluctantly, Seacrest does, and then he and Didi hug. But Didi's smile is made out of steel and you know she's gonna cut that bitch after the show for taunting her on stage. Seacrest mentions Tim is gonna sing Anita Baker after the break and my DVR is like "WTF! don't put me through this!" Sorry, old friend. Truly, I'm sorry.
5) Tim Urban - Tim and Seacrest talk for a while. Who cares? Not me. (although I'm told Seacrest mentions his nickname of Teflon Tim at this point and Tim smiles through it as broadly as ever.) In the clip package, Tim meets with Usher, he sings "Sweet Love" and Usher calls him fake. He asks Tim if he's ever been in love and Tim lies and says he has, but I don't think he has been. I don't fault him this! Except he keeps having to sing "I'm in looove!" and it seems not so. Usher is all, "sing as if I'm the girl you're in love with," and Tim can't handle it. Usher has boy parts and Tim has boy parts - how can he pretend otherwise for the sake of the mentoring process? When we get to the actual performance, it sounds... better than usual? I don't know. Randy sings it better in his critique than Tim did in performance. Ellen takes her critique time of Tim to officially break up with him. Kara's can't do better than WTF? And Simon finds discussing him irrelevant to anything. If that's not bad enough for you, Andrew is up next.
6) Andrew Garcia - We are half way through and 4 performances have been total train wrecks. Andrew is singing Forever by Chris Brown. It's acoustic and it's not bad! Suddenly he can sing on pitch! It really was much better than anything he's done prior. The judges all say nice things to him, Simon says something about personality and how he's gonna get cut before dead weight Tim Urban if he doesn't find a personality and then Seacrest drags Andrew's mother into it - literally. I thin Ryan has turned to Crystal Meth to cope with this season. He is way out there tonight. It's like he's got all these great schemes to fix things, but none of them make any sense in reality. He's become Serena van der Woodsen.
7) Katie Stevens - She will be subjecting us to Chain of Fools. It's pitchy for days. I just think this stage is too big for her. She can't rise to it yet. She needs more years under her belt, I think. I'm bored. Zip Zap Zop. Randy thinks it's one of the best vocals of the night... by default? Because 4 of 7 people bombed? Ugh... I'm done with her. The judges are all in disagreement on where she should head. I say out the door. Sorry, Stevens!
8) Lee Dewyze - Looks so scared at all times! He sounds fine with Usher. He seems to know he needs to stop holding himself back. So stop holding yourself back then! He's singing "Treat Her like a Lady" He sounds good, still looks scared as hell. Get confident, stupid! It's going on too long Zip Zap Zop. The judges love it. Ellen says the night has finally started. With the 8th performer, Ellen? REALLY? the judges heap praise on him, hoping he can take it and suddenly become another interesting contestant on the show.
9) BOWERSOX! - She's on the piano! Usher loves her! Rightly so. She's basically using this opportunity to do everything she doesn't normally do to prove she can do it, if she CHOSE to do so. That being accomplished, she will probably never choose to do it on this show ever again. There's no guitar. There are high heels. There's no area rug. There is smiling at the audience. I think it's a smart move for her strategically. 3 of the judges totally eat it up and Simon begs her not to change who she is. She looks at him like, "Stay cool, my baby. Mama Sox is here to stay!" Simon just can't suffer the rest of the season without her. Seacrest gets even more nonsensical while talking to her. I hope he gets through the last contestant without foaming from the mouth.
10) Aaron Kelly - in the pimp spot, he's singing Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone. Usher gives him good advice, which he kinda takes in rehearsal, but then abandons in actual performance. It's just kinda flat. Randy's like eh. Ellen lies and says she really liked it. Kara is a little more honest and says she kinda liked it. Simon thinks it didn't really compare to other versions of the song on this show which is true. He was neither worst nor best.
Bottom 3 prediction? Siobahn, Didi and Tim. Maybe Katie Stevens. Siobahn could be in real danger.
Results show. Oh, this is gonna be quick. We zip through the beginning which seems to be a cross-promo for Clash of the Titans, but I'm not stopping to find out. There is no group sing this week. I hope that becomes a trend. They might have filmed a Ford commercial. It's hard to tell if it's Kris Allen or not when the images fly by at triple speed. Then we're on stage and Ruben Studdard performs. He looks very good (he's now a vegan!) and sounds nice, but if there was ever a visual reminder why it's not worth giving the title to Big Mike, they literally bring both of them out on stage together so you can be reminded that the smooth r&b crooners don't really survive outside this show. Ruben's going on tour with Clay this summer because it's apparently we've been transported back to 2003. Look, Ruuuben's not my favorite Idol winner, but he seems like a good enough dude. I don't mean to snark on him too bad.
There are two other performances tonight. One is Usher who manages to be both Fosse and MJ in a performance of a song that curiously seems to be spoke-sung. Then later on Diddy is premiering a new single? I don't know. There are too many non-Idol performances going on. Why does Fox insist on making this show last an hour?
Real final 3 were Katie, Didi and Tim. Katie got sent back to safety first and then Tim was also safe. Didi sang for her life, but the show ran way over and my DVR gave up. Why do you need to cram the show with so many performances and time-wasters just to have it go over at the only part that matters? I can tell you Didi didn't get saved. I know, I know, you're all very shocked. Still, I will miss Didi. I liked the tone of her voice and her general craziness and she was pretty. There are now 6 guys left and only 3girls and one of those girls is Katie who could easily be cut next week. It's really Bowersox against the boys for the win. Wowzers.
Next week we butcher the Lennon-McCartney songbook. What should Tim destroy? Blackbird? Eleanor Rigby? Please no, Imagine. I think it'd be most amazing if he just sang Help.
Okay, I'm an aging rock 'n roller, so old rock 'n roll song lyrics resonate with me. Even if, at the time, I found them a bit self-consciously cosmic. So, perhaps, I had an old Who song in mind last night when I came up with what turned into a very interesting way to kick off the maiden class in an essay-writing course I'm teaching for J.M.U.'s Life-long Learning Institute.
Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Who are you? Who, who, who, who?
Now, please, as one who's firmly in touch with her inner Popeye, I long ago gave up indulging in the kind of navel-gazing introspection such a question implies. But then I wasn't teaching an introspection class, I was teaching a writing class. And as a writing exercise, I found that "who am I" can be a very productive question to address.
It was, by the way, a loose, fun bunch of people gathered in the WMRA conference room last night. At the beginning of class, I asked everyone to tell me what they hoped to get out of our five Monday nights together. One popular goal was to learn to say what they had to say, only shorter. And more clearly. And more vividly.
Anyone who writes seriously, with any kind of writerly discipline and regular time commitment, quickly learns the power of verbs. Verbs are what you are saying; everything else is decoration to be applied judiciously, deliberately, with restraint. Yet it seems to take time to develop enough confidence as a writer to leave verbs alone.
It was with the power of verbs in mind, that I tried something last night I'd never tried before in a class. First, I read my standard bio to the class -- the two paragraphs I send out when I'm giving a speech and whomever I'm speaking to needs something for their program.
Next I read five, two-word sentences that I thought best described me. I am. I love. I think. I move. I write.
So, I asked the class, which gives you a better feel for who I am, the bio or the five, two-word sentences?
The sentences won unanimously.
So then, with great head scratching and head shaking, each person in the class wrote their own five, two-word takes on who they are.
The results were astonishing in their variety and insight. A post-sentence-writing poll showed that most had felt quite exposed by compressing themselves into verbs.
I think of this five-sentence drill as an exercise in Extreme Writing. Try it yourself. Try it with friends. Let me know if you find it as interesting as I did. And as last night's class did.
For the love of Jiminy, will you look at that? Not one. NOT ONE of my Final Four predictions came true. The Elite Eight was no good to me. The only No. 1 seed to get through to the Final Four was one i didn't pick to get there. Good on you Duke, but bad on me. Since President Obama and I had the same Final Four and eventual Champion Pick we are both plum out of luck. But he got Health Care passed last week, and I'm sure that accomplishment is softening the blow of his bracket going bust. What do I have that's as big as that? ...Sigh.
So we got four teams left: (1) Duke vs. (2) West Virgina, and (5) Michigan State vs. (5) Butler. I'm gonna go against conventional wisdom and say the Final 2 will be West Virginia and Butler, because what do I have to lose at this point? Why should anything in this year's tournament make sense on paper?
Sadly, with all my chosen teams eliminated I can gain no more points on the NY Times website. Right now I have 280 of 736 points possible. My ranking has plummeted to 24853 of all players. We'll see where I finish two rounds from now. Even if none of my teams made it, at least the games remain hard-fought and exciting. May the best team win!
(Action Jackson: the cast gets ready for a Populist Revolution.)
I need to give an empathic shout out to Les Freres Corbusier's production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson now playing at The Public Theater? This is a fantastic show that looks at the controversial life and legacy of Andrew Jackson, our first populist emo-rock front man president. The script is very funny and the songs all rock HARD. The cast is fantastic. The staging is great. The set and the lighting design are just bursting with style. It's such a slick production. Whether or not you saw the show last year at the Public LAB, you need to see it again this April. Seriously, don't miss out. This is one of my favorite shows I've seen in a long long time.
Go here for tickets. There are also some cool discount codes for the show here. Don't delay!
During last Friday's On Point, David Gergen had some interesting points to make during the show's "Week in the News" discussion. He was speaking about last week's vitriolic-ly expressed opposition to the passage of the health-care reform bill. Were the threats, taunts, and thrown bricks simply partisan politics run amuck or were they inappropriate expressions of something deeper?
David Gergen made the point that, in modern times, all the federal government's sweeping social reforms -- Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and the landmark Civil Rights Bills of 1965 and 1966 -- have been passed when Democrats had a substantial Congressional majority. But, Gergen pointed out, they were also all passed with significant bipartisan support.
Health care reform, however, was passed without bipartisan support. The GOP walked through the vote in oppositional lockstep. And, Gergen pointed out, historically when this kind of partisan divide has happened in Congress, people, sadly, have tended to become inflamed. And those of us who don't become inflamed over the actions of Congress, become alarmed by the behavior of those who do.
Mr. Gergen went on to caution that we do need to remember that "there’s a deep philosophical divide between these two parties. One [the Republicans] has a view of private enterprise and a self-reliant view which is much different from the Democratic view that the government is there to help people who can’t help themselves. And [that it] ought to embrace those people.”
This, of course, is something I've heard countless times. Yet it was interesting to think about this "deep philosophical divide" in the specific context of last week's passage of health-care reform and the angry reaction to it.
Some very simple questions came to mind, that I think need to be answered simply and directly before we go back to our customary political posturing.
Is health care a fundamental right? If someone gets sick, do they have a right to proper medical care? Or should medical treatment be the private privilege of those who can pay for it, personally or through insurance?
If health care is a fundamental right, who's responsible for providing it? Who's job is it to see that sick people get the medical treatment they need?
How does this all fit in with the "deep philosophical divide" between our two American political parties?
Okay, so I got questions. You got answers? Thoughts? Opinions?
We decided to hit up Pizzology for a quick lunch the other day just to see if we still liked the pizza as much as we remembered. The short answer is yes—that crust still does it for me for sure. We shared the lunch special, which was a slightly smaller version of the Napoli pizza with a chopped salad and a drink for $7 and we also had a half order of the pasta carbonara.
Like I said, the crust is my favorite part of the pizza by far, it is perfectly thin and crisp yet a little chewy too. The Napoli comes with a tomato sauce (and not too much of it), fresh mozzarella and oregano. You could also add any extra ingredients for half the price listed on the menu. My guess is they use the Napoli as their lunch choice a lot because it is a great base for adding other things. I just went for it as is, to taste the restaurant’s combination of flavors. While it was simple, it was very good. And the generous amount of oregano added a nice flavor. And I like that the pizza isn’t over-topped, which would detract from that crust (although last time we had one that was maybe slightly under-topped, but that’s another story). I had to fight hubby to get my fair share of the pizza and I think I could easily eat a whole lunch pizza no problem.
The chopped salad (which came before the pizza) was really tasty too. This is the third type of salad I have had there and I think it was the best. (I have also had the grilled romaine and the spinach salad). The lettuce is chopped into nice bite sized pieces and served with chopped pieces of olives, roasted tomatoes, gorgonzola crumbles, prosciutto, onions, and sliced parmesan on top. The dressing was appropriately tangy (described as a citronette) and between the two of us, we certainly ate every bite (although it is appropriately sized for one person I think—which was what it is intended to be).
The pasta, I thought, was just okay. It was spaghetti with thick pieces of pancetta and more of the olives (both green and brown olives). I don’t think I have ever had olives in carbonara. Not that I mind, because I love olives, and they did add a zing of saltiness that was nice. But the sauce was just sort of runny and didn’t have a lot of eggy flavor, even with the pancetta. Carbonara I have had in the past has been a bit thicker I guess. It wasn’t bad. It was just okay. Hubby was disappointed because he liked the last pasta we had so much.
They are getting ready to open up their patio (they were working on it when we were there). It looks like it will be a great patio; it has huge garage door windows looking into it as well as being screened in, which is a nice added bonus in Indiana. I am wondering how much staffing up they are going to have to do. Our server told us it could seat an additional 50 customers which would what, double the size of the restaurant? Which is great for the fact that I have heard there can be a bit of a wait at dinner time, but I am wondering how the kitchen will handle it. Only time will tell I guess.
I tend to agree that Pizzology is serving some of the best pizza in town, and I think it is because of that crust. Lunch is a great option for a great deal and so far I have not seen a wait at lunch time.
Pizzology 13190 Hazel Dell Parkway Carmel, IN 46033 317/844-2550 www.pizzologyindy.com
(Paige coming back next week, is against all odds...)
In continued observance of how I breeze through Am.Idol by fast-forwarding on my DVR, here are my very brief comments on Tuesday's Top 11 performances, followed by the even more briefly visited Results Show. It was Miley Cyrus mentor week (if you needed any indication about how little respect the producers have for this years vocal talent), and the contestants are all singing songs that were #1's on the Billboard charts. Ahh, but there's a twist! They must be songs that were released at least 20 years before Miley Cyrus was born! What's that you say? There was no such stipulation? 9 of the 11 Contestants chose to do that on their own to seem as musically irrelevant as possible? Sweet Jeebus, what are they thinking?? Anyway, here's how it went down.
#1 - Lee Dewyze sings The Letter, big-band style. Lee remains consistently slightly under-pitch. Miley advises him to have more personality. It's good advice that Lee doesn't really apply to his performance. But why choose this of all songs? Makes no sense to me.
#2 - Paige Miles - Girl, when Miley tells you that you are pitchy you are in TROUBLE. It's beyond the pot calling the kettle black. This performance is awful. She's singing Phil Collins Against All odds, because it was against all odds that she would ever choose this song? It's the worst Idol vocal I've heard since Jon Stevens' Crocodile Rock back in Season 3!! (I actually looked it up. That was BAD. This is WORSE.) The judges all tell her flat out it was terrible. She's gotta go. A terrible vocal. And why choose this of all songs? Makes no sense to me.
#3 - Tim Urban - Oh jeez. It's like Tim saw Paige tank from off-stage and thought "Hey! Being the worst is MY thing! I can be lamer than you!" He then went out there to suck worse than Paige, sliding across the stage like he's Conrad Birdie or something, but still the challenge was too great to sink so low. He's singing Crazy Little Thing Called Love. WHY? These people are total idiots with the song choices tonight. Makes no sense to me.
#4 - Aaron Kelly - Singing I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. A song from the 90's! WOW! All the judges think he did great and jump on the fact he has "tonsillitis" this week. I actually am liking him a little bit this week, but maybe it's just because they put him on after two total stinko performances. Seacrest calls him "Archuleta" and even though I wasn't a big Archie fan, even I know Archie could sing circles around Aaron.
#5 - Crystal Bowersox - BOWERSOX! She's singing Me and Bobby McGee. It's a little too obvious a song choice for me, but I'll give her a break because she should sing Janis at some point this season. Miley tells her to up the key, and I believe she takes the advice which is good. When the tempo picks up and she smiles, I get goosebumps. What would this season be without her? Ellen is a bit critical of her again. and I don't know what Ellen's angle is. I guess she just wants her to keep improving and never get voted out.
#6 - Big Mike - Sings when A Man Loves A Woman in a very loungy style. The vocal is not bad, which would put him head and shoulders above 90% of the contestants left in the competition even if he wasn't already physically head and shoulders above them. A pretty generic song choice though. Kinda boring.
#7 - Andrew Garcia - has come to bore us all thoroughly with I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Miley tries to fix what's wrong with him by making him put down the guitar for one performance. It doesn't really help him. She requests for him to learn the lyrics too. He seems to mostly follow this advice. This contestant has run out of gas. Again - the theme is No. 1 Billboard songs. Why choose this of all songs? Makes no sense to me.
#8 - Katie Stevens - sings an actual contemporary song with Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry. Unfortunately it doesn't really go well. I don't know what kind of song fits her voice, but these big throaty songs only highlight her weaknesses. No pitch control. Really not good. She's still trying though. I'll give her that.
#9 - Casey James - Is singing the Power Of Love. I give up. It's too corny. I dig Huey Lewis and I love Back to the Future, but again, why - WHY?? -choose this of all songs? Makes no sense to me.
#10 - Didi Benami - tempts the gods by singing a song titled "You're No Good." Well, Didi? You're okay, you're okay, you're okay. Baby, you're just okay... there's something I like about Didi. maybe it's just that she's hot. She could be doing much better than she is right now, though. #11 - Siobhan Magnus - Allison Reynolds is singing Superstition. I dunno... I mean, she's cool and she can sing. But she doesnt really do anything with it that you wouldn't expect. You're basically just waiting the whole time for her to do her now-trademark screech at the end. She does it, and then you're like "enh.." And for the last time tonight I say, why choose this of all songs? She's not gonna record anything like this. Makes no sense to me.
So the bottom 3 i thought were easily Paige, Tim and Andrew. They were just awful in a sea of really bad singing and song choices. When we got to the Results Show Miley braved a live performance (which is not her forte) and then Joe Jonas and his current girlfriend came out and put all of the bad performances of this week to shame with a truly horrible performance that I couldn't spend more than a few seconds listening to.
Bottom 3 were Paige (no shit) Tim (duh) and Katie (liked less than andrew it it's own sort of elimination). Bottom 2 were Paige and Tim and then Paige was revealed as lowest vote-getter. Simon's all "no need to sing for your life, there's no way in hell you're getting the Judge's Save." And Paige is all "Thanks, wasn't after it in the least." They show the montage of Paige's journey back when she cared about being in the competition and then she sings her way out. Everone that's left will be on the tour this summer. Excited, yet?
This is certainly the tournament of upsets. Pretty much at every turn the lower seed was winning match-ups against heavily favored teams. Sigh, I'll do this briefly, because it's gotten too painful. Heading into the Elite 8, I'm not doing well. Only 4 of my 8 finalists remain, and I've been completely shut out of the Midwest quadrant. Butler's defeat of Syracuse left me only Kansas State on one whole side of the draw. Kentucky still has a shot at making it to the Championship... but I have no confidence in my bracket at all at this point. So expect to see West Virgina make the Final Four!
Ironically, even as my hopes dwindle, my ranking at the NY Times website went up this round! I am now ranked 13,886 of all players with 280 of 572 points possible.
Fingers crossed my remaining teams have a good showing this weekend!
About a month ago, I held a two-part, personal essay-writing workshop at Lexington's Boxerwood Gardens. We got together on the theory that conversation among people who love and venerate good use of language stimulates and disciplines the writer in each of us.
I sat among a generous-sized circle of people; some of whom had already written a lot, others of whom had hardly written at all. All of us, I'm pretty sure, enjoyed ourselves mightily; those of us who'd hardly written gaining confidence; those of us who had written getting shaken out of our accustomed (and, perhaps, slightly jaded) approaches to the page -- getting a good smack upside the head about how good writing demands risk, not repetition..
If I "teach" anything at these workshops, it's that essay writing, first and foremost, involves clear thinking. What, exactly, am I trying to say? It seems to me that people often try to work out what they think by writing about it. And while the result may certainly sound impressive, it's a muddle rather than an essay.
This means that a personal essay-writing workshop is a mental work-out for the temporarily fearless. We are gathered to learn to write about things that matter to us. And in order to do this, we have to know exactly why these things do matter -- not to the world in general, but to us as individuals. In order to write a really good personal essay, we must get beyond our mysterious reluctance to put who we are down on the page.
Whew! It's a bonding experience! But then risk-taking adventures always are.
When we were finished with the second session, we Boxerwood work-shoppers had no desire to let our group go. So, we decided not to. We're having a reunion this Sunday at Books & Co. in Lexington, at a book-signing for one of our members.
Lisa Tracy was one of the people who'd written a lot. Obviously, because here's her website biography:
Lisa Tracy is a journalist and author of a number of books, including Objects of Our Affection, Muddy Waters: The Legacy of Katrina and Rita, and The Gradual Vegetarian. She has served as Home and Design Editor and Sunday Magazine Managing Editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer, worked in press relations for the ABC Television Network, and hosted a radio show on consumer affairs for the Federal Trade Commission. She also worked as an actress and stage technician before entering the field of journalism and is a member of Actors’ Equity. She has taught composition, creative nonfiction, literature and history.
Her latest book, just out, is called Objects of Our Affection: Uncovering My Family’s Past, One Chair, Pistol, and Pickle Fork at a Time (A Bantam Hardcover; March 23, 2010). Lisa's family has been around Lexington forever, intricately tied up with the area's history, busily amassing historically interesting possessions. Object is a book for anyone who's had to deal with family possessions that need upkeep, yet are not really useful anymore, or for anyone who watches Antiques Roadshow, orfor anyone who likes a good memoir. Or, if none of this applies, Objects is, I can testify, simply fun to read
Lisa Tracy, in elegant mode, surrounded by family stuff
I'll be at Lisa's book-signing tomorrow in Lexington. Along with, it looks like, about half the Boxerwood essay workshop.
How about you? If you're within striking distance of Lexington, please do stop by.
COUNTY RELEASES VANDALISM DETAILS REGARDING GOP HEADQUARTERS
On March 26, 2010 at approximately 8:47 A.M. County Police responded to 455 Albemarle Square for a report of vandalism to the GOP headquarters. Sometime between 6:15 P.M. on March 25th and 8:45 A.M. this morning unknown suspect(s) threw at least two bricks through the windows of the headquarters. Two of the windows were completely shattered and a third was partially damaged. A preliminary estimate of the damage to the windows is approximately $1,000.00. There was no apparent entry to the building.
The officer on scene collected evidence and the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the Albemarle County Police Department at 296-5807 or Crime Stoppers at 977-4000.
Frankly, it's been a hard and discouraging week, news-wise. Incivility has dominated our legislative process and our national conversation; some of it originating right here in our neighborhood.
Yet, I'm sitting here feeling good and hopeful and positive about the future.
Why?
Because the WMRA community of listeners rocks, that's why!
Enough people contributed enough support to WMRA's Spring Fundraiser to meet --and surpass -- our minimum goal of raising $135,000 on-air. Which means to me that the wish for civil discourse remains alive and well in our community.
How sweet it is! -- as the Great One was wont to say. Thank-you all, so much!
NOTE: This refers to the incident at Tom Perriello's brother's house.
VANDALISM INCIDENT DETAILS CONFIRMED
The Albemarle County Fire Marshal’s Office and the FBI are confirming details regarding an act of vandalism which was reported on March 23 at 303 Heron Drive in Peacock Hills in the Ivy area of Albemarle County. The act of vandalism was discovered by residents who returned home and smelled gas and then discovered that the supply hose connecting a liquid petroleum tank to burners on a portable gas grill was severed. The grill was located on a deck adjacent to a screened porch on the back of the house. Investigators believe that this was a deliberate act of vandalism and that the supply hose was intentionally cut. While there was no immediate threat to the residence and its occupants, investigators believe the leaking gas could have posed a danger had there been an ignition source nearby. Investigators collected physical evidence from the scene and have interviewed the victim and nearby residents. Local officials are working co-operatively with Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who has been involved from the early stages of the investigation. Anyone with information on this incident or other unusual behavior in the neighborhood is encouraged to call Crime Solvers at (434) 977-4000.
We drive by this place probably 6 times a week, and probably at least half of those times we have said, “We should really try this place.” And now that there is a new-ish chef, I thought, hey, what better time? And I have recently heard the previous owners have just recently reacquired the place as well. The exterior of this place and the fact that really the main entrance is really more the back door than the front is sort of weird, but once you get inside, the soothing, minimalist, modern interior calms you. The lighting is soft and the music nice.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, we are friendly with the server who waited on us the night we were there, because he has waited on us at several other locales, including L’explorateur and Euphoria (and even at Pizzology for a minute). It is also nice to know you are going to get great service from someone who knows about the food. So the chef at H2O, John Adams, is the previous sous chef from L’ex, and is quite young. I love that he is taking the primarily sushi menu and expanding it out. (Not being a huge fan of sushi rolls myself). He has added several hot appetizers as well as some hot entrees.
We started with the tuna tartar and a couple of oyster shooters for hubby. While hubby enjoyed the (small and good quality) oysters with a mignonette sauce, the real star of this course was the tartar. The tuna was outstanding in quality. It was marinated with soy, ginger, lemon and cilantro I believe, and served with wonton chips for dishing it up. It was really good. Even though when we first got it, it didn’t look that big, there is a lot of fish there and it is easily something to share, particularly with how rich and deep the flavors are.
Next as a little treat, we got a sampling of the chef’s charcuterie plate. Wow, this was outstanding. Everything on the plate was housemade and it was all really good, even the head cheese which I am normally not a huge fan of. Well, the platter consisted of the head cheese, a cured tuna, and a pork and chicken liver pate. There were beautiful accompaniments of giardiniera (lightly pickled veggies), caramelized cipollini onions, and pickled mustard seed. Seriously, it was all really really good. The slices of the chicken liver/pork pate were probably our favorite because hubby and I both love chicken liver. The giardiniera and the caramelized onions were delightful to cut the richness of the pate and head cheese. The giardiniera consisted of marinated onions, olives, jalapenos, and carrots. It wasn’t too spicy (although we are told can be varying in spiciness depending on how long it has been marinated). The whole plate was served with nice thin toasted and seasoned slices of baguette as well. I am telling you, this plate was a huge surprise from a sushi place. If they have it as a special, my recommendation is, get it. And it is certainly big enough for many people to share.
Next, we had the salmon carpaccio which was also really good. It was very thinly sliced raw salmon served with a lot of the traditional salmon accouterments, but in a new more refined way. There was a drizzle of a crème fraiche type sauce as well as a creamy green sauce which I believe was a bit of caper flavor. There were some capers on top as well as crispy blue potato chips. Salmon is not traditionally my favorite fish, but this dish made me love it.
Now it was at this point, where hubby said, “everything else could suck and I am coming back here to dinner tomorrow!” Unfortunately, I think he put a little jinx on the rest, because while it certainly didn’t suck, it wasn’t as good as the stuff at the beginning. We had also ordered one of the small warm entrees, the mussels and clams with sausage, blue potato, celery and tomato. Now the mussels were really good, small and tender and obviously fresh, and I loved the delicate but flavorful tomato broth they were served in. The potatoes didn’t really do anything to add and the clams were way too big for me (which to be fair were listed as Cherrystone clams). There was no way to eat the whole clam in one bite and there is just something wrong to me about cutting up a clam.
We also had a fluke cigar roll special which was a piece of fluke wrapped in a spring roll-type wrapper and fried, then rolled inside a sushi roll with some of the giardiniera. The flavors were unique but just wasn’t overly exciting to me, even though I really liked the giardiniera. Hubby agreed and he is more of a fan of sushi rolls than I am for sure.
We also had a dessert which was two spicy brownies served with crème anglaise and raspberries. They definitely had a little kick to them which is fun with a rich chocolately thing, but they were a bit dry.
One little gripe though unrelated to the food. Again, it's with the website. In this case, it looks pretty, but is horribly out of date. In fact, I don’t think it has changed since I started checking the menu more than a year ago. Please, please, with all the wonderful new menu items, get someone to update it every once in awhile.
But, I have to say, even with not being as wowed by the last few items of the evening, the first few items placed H20 up there as one of the better restaurants in Indy, at least in my mind. The chef is doing wonderful, creative things, and I was really impressed with that charcuterie plate. If he keeps up this new direction, they may need to add “Land” into their name somehow.
This morning when I sat down to write this blog, I just couldn't figure out what to focus on. It felt as though I were experiencing a kind of existential bafflement, a free-floating puzzlement.
Or this baffling example of how ubiquitous partisan politics has become in American society, as reported in The New York Times.
After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.
Or, who knows, maybe it's just fatigue from fundraising (uh, with respect, you supported WMRA yet? 1-800-677-9672 or wmra.org.)
Experiencing existential bafflement is not fun. Yet thankfully it's a malaise with a cure. One that I, personally, think has been best prescribed by the Dixie Chicks.. . .
Some days you gotta dance Live it up when you get the chance 'Cause when the world doesn't make no sense And you're feeling just a little too tense Gotta loosen up those chains and dance.
NOTE FROM MARTHA: This morning, I wrote on his blog about the posting of Tom Perriello's brother's home address on the Lynchburg Tea Party's blog. My morning post is below.
Congressman Perriello’s office confirmed today that a line to a propane tank on a gas grill was cut at Bo Perriello’s Charlottesville home on Tuesday.
Tom Graham, WMRA's plugged-in political guy, sent me this just-released press release from Representative Perriello about the situationat his brother's house, so that I could pass it along to you.
Statement of Rep. Tom Perriello on Incident at Brother’s Home
Washington, DC—Today, Rep. Tom Perriello released the following statement in response to an ongoing FBI investigation into a severed gas line at the home of the congressman’s brother.
“My number one priority right now is ensuring the safety of my brother’s family, and I am grateful to law enforcement for their excellent work. While it is too early to say anything definitive regarding political motivations behind this act, it’s never too early for political leaders to condemn threats of violence, particularly as threats to other Members of Congress and their children escalate. And so I ask every member of House and Senate leadership to state unequivocally tonight that it is never OK to harm or threaten elected officials and their families with anything more than political retribution. Here in America, we settle our political differences at the ballot box.”
Decades ago, when I was in the restaurant business in Charlottesville, we affectionately used the term "L.F" (meaning the Lunatic Fringe) to refer to customers who just needed to make life unpleasant for other people. Such people do exist, but they are generally harmless.
Generally.
A WMRA listener sent us this post from Politico last night. The blog referred to in the article can be found at this link:
POLITICO
Tea partiers told to 'drop by' Perriello's home By: Andy Barr March 22, 2010 10:20 PM EDT
A tea party organizer angry over Rep. Thomas Perriello’s (D-Va.) vote in favor of health care reform published what he thought was the freshman member’s home address on a blog, in case any readers “want to drop by” and provide a “personal touch” to their views.
Rather than giving out Perriello’s address however, the tea party activist mistakenly printed the home address of the congressman’s brother. Perriello’s brother and wife have four children under the age of 8.
In the post, the author gives out the address to his “friends” in Perriello’s district.
“Just in case any of his friends and neighbors want to drop by and say hi and express their thanks regarding his vote for health care,” the author writes. “I personally believe it’s so important for representatives to remain fully grounded and to remember exactly what it is their constituents are saying and how they are telling them to vote. Nothing quite does that like a good face-to-face chat. It has a much more personal touch to it.”
The post does not have a byline but was published on a blog run by an organizer for the Lynchburg Tea Party, a member of the group confirmed to POLITICO. There is no contact information on the blog, but POLITICO has been able to trace the blog to Mike Troxel, an organizer for the Lynchburg Tea Party who has been active in the organization since it launched last year.
In an interview with POLITICO, Troxel admitted to writing the post and said that he has no intention of removing the address from the blog.
Troxel found the address through a directory website and said he would only replace what he currently has on the blog with an address provided by Perriello’s office.
“If they would like to provide me with the address of Tom, then I’d be more than happy to take it down,” he said. “I have no reason to believe it’s not his house.”
“We’re pretty ticked off he voted for it,” Troxel said.
Troxel, a 2005 graduate of Liberty University, added “I was a journalism major in college, so I have every reason to believe my research is accurate.”
Kurt Feigel, who frequently works and communicates with Troxel and runs a companion blog, told POLITICO that he has no issue with Troxel posting what he thought was a congressman’s home address.
“They have our home addresses. I don’t have a problem with it,” Feigel — a fellow tea party organizer — said during a phone interview. “I don’t think it’s a good thing if it’s not [Perriello’s] address. But I don’t have a problem with posting his address.”
Feigel justified Troxel’s decision to post the home address by saying that Perriello’s office does not “respond to e-mail, they don’t respond to letters, they don’t respond to us showing up at his office. So what am I going to do?”
“We should be protesting on his front lawn. He betrayed his district,” Feigel added.
The post is time-stamped for Monday. Perriello’s office first learned of the post on Monday afternoon and immediately called the congressman’s brother.
Nobody has stopped by the house yet, but the family had lamps stolen out of their yard this weekend as Perriello — a moderate who sided with the majority in passing the bill — weighed how to vote. The congressman’s office did not know if the events are related.
An aide for the congressman posted a comment to the blog asking that the address be removed. The comment has been taken down with no correction to the post or any explanation. Troxel said he never saw the comment.
I am certainly not saying that all Tea Partiers are flirting with membership to the L.F. There is a great deal of legitimate, conservative concern about policy being expressed among its diverse membership. But it does seem as though Mike Troxel's purpose in making that particular post was to make the brother of one of our elected representative's life unpleasant, don't you think?
If this post had been an isolated example of L.F. behavior done in the name of political protest, I would have deleted it and not passed it on to you. But coming on the heels of the Tea Partiers' racist slurs and homosexual taunts slung at members of Congress; and, even more distressingly to me, the behavior of some of our elected representatives on Sunday, as reported by The Washington Post'sDana Millbank.
As lawmakers debated their way to a vote on the legislation, dozens of GOP lawmakers walked from the chamber, crossed the Speaker's Lobby, stepped out onto the members-only House balcony -- and proceeded to incite an unruly crowd.
Thousands of conservative "tea party" activists had massed on the south side of the Capitol, pushing to within about 50 feet of the building. Some Democrats worried aloud about the risk of violence, and police tried to keep the crowd away from the building.
But rather than calm the demonstrators, Republican congressmen whipped the masses into a frenzy. There on the House balcony, the GOP lawmakers' legislative dissent and the tea-party protest merged into one. Some lawmakers waved handwritten signs and led the crowd in chants of "Kill the bill." A few waved the yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flag of the tea-party movement. Still others fired up the demonstrators with campaign-style signs mocking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
It seems to me the time has come to ask ourselves if what we've always considered unacceptable political protest is becoming more wide accepted. And if so, is it really the best way to conduct the country's business.
Today President Obama is expected to sign healthcare reform into reality. To mark this, I wanted to write something cogent and wise that would help put the epic political struggles of the last year into perspective.
Then, I came across the following essay by NPR's Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving on NPR.org. It's offered as today's entry in Mr. Elving's"watching washington" column; and, politically speaking, it's just about as cogent and wise a take on healthcare politics as one could wish for.
In the later phase of the health care debate, the argument most often heard from Republicans has been this: The American people have rejected this bill; we are only their messengers.
The verb "rejected" is often amplified with words such as "overwhelmingly" or "resoundingly" or "again and again."
How can President Obama and his Democratic Congress possibly move a piece of social change legislation comparable to Social Security or Medicare without the support of the American people?
You can almost hear the deafening roar of response, even as you ask the rhetorical question.
As the GOP has featured this line over recent weeks, Democrats have been thrown back on defensive arguments. They say the bill's components are popular, even if the bill itself is not. They say the popular judgment is mostly negative because the news has been dominated by the process in recent months, not by the substance of the bill -- which remains largely mysterious to the average voter.
This recalls the judgment of some historians and political scientists that the Clinton administration's push to change health care in 1993-1994 ended badly not so much on substance as on image. The "optics," as political operatives would say, were awful. So the bill failed.
Lately, the optics have been pretty awful again. The moves made in December to nail down 60 votes in the Senate (and forestall a Republican filibuster) looked sleazy and cheapened the underlying bill. And when Democrats talked for a time about using a "deem and pass" procedure in the House that would enact health care "without a vote," the optics got even worse.
But with all that bad publicity and all the doubt generated by a year of debate and opponents' vituperation, the latest Gallup Poll showed 48 percent against the bill and 45 percent in favor.
That does not look like overwhelming rejection. In fact, it's within the margin of polling error.
Moreover, the 45 percent level of approval was achieved despite the same poll's finding that the respondents believed the bill would only improve health insurance and health care for two groups: those currently uninsured and those with low incomes. Clear majorities of respondents thought everyone else, including doctors and other health professionals and the middle class, would suffer.
Yet even given that impression, more than 4 out of 10 were willing to approve the idea of an overhaul along the lines President Obama has proposed.
What would happen if the bill's image were to improve, even slightly, in the days and weeks ahead? What if the passage, and the proliferation of positive details about the actual bill, were to lift its approval in the Gallup above 50 percent? What would be the primary Republican argument in that case?
Would they say the bill was only popular at 60 percent or 70 percent or more?
One thing is clear. Without the Democrats' narrow win in the House this past weekend, the Republicans would have won the health care argument in two ways. First, they would have blocked legislation they opposed. But beyond that, the snuffing out of the bill would mean all their arguments against it would be deemed true -- or successful, and therefore unchallenged.
Was the bill a governmental takeover of health care? We would never really know, but the argument would be remembered in these terms.
Would the bill have been a body blow to the economy? Would it have killed jobs, destroyed small businesses and undermined Medicare? Would it have bankrupted America?
Without a bill in place, all these arguments would remain unproven and impossible to disprove. We would know only that these arguments prevailed, and that the bill, in defeat, would stand guilty as charged.
Perhaps the bill in implementation will grow even less popular, as problems arise and receive extensive airing. But what would happen if, as consumers learn they will benefit, in many cases, from provisions of the bill, they start to feel better about it?
Is it possible the bill has been a more potent political weapon in prospect than it will turn out to be in reality?
These are my new favorite cookies. There is something for everyone. There are a lot of ingredients and that's why I'm calling them kitchen sink cookies. They are just about fool-proof. If your cookies tend to fall flat, try these. They are hard to screw up.
Kitchen Sink Cookies
Ingredient List
1/2 cup unsalted butter ½ cup vegetable shortening 1 cups packed light brown sugar (or sugar in the raw)
2/3 cup sugar 2 large eggs 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups all purpose white flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder ¾ teaspoon baking soda generous ½ teaspoon salt 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
In a mixer or a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening and brown and white sugars until light in color.
Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix until combined. Stir in the pecans, corn flakes, coconut and oats.
This is a good time to add chocolate chips. You can add peanut butter here too.
Let the dough stand for 5 to 10 minutes, or until firmed up slightly.
Use an ice cream scoop and place balls about 2 inces apart on silpat or greased cookie sheet.
Use your hand to pat down the balls until about 1/2 to one inch thick.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. The sides will be a light brown and the center will look slightly underdone. Set the cookie sheet onto a wire rack and let stand until the cookies firm up slightly, about 3-5 minutes (this is super important so they don't break apart!). Transfer cookies with a spatula to wire racks. Let stand until completely cooled.
Makes 24-30 3 inch cookies. Store in an airtight containes for up to 1 week or freeze for up to one month.
Enjoy! Try them and let me know how much you love them.
Little note: you can make them larger or smaller, just adjust the cooking time. :)
(on the left: Rafa wins a tournament wearing a not-crazy pair of shorts for the first time in ages. on the right Rafa and Marc Lopez share the trophy. They are both delighted by their success and so am I.)
This weekend, Rafa Nadal and Marc Lopez went from being just a Spanish wild card doubles team, to being the Doubles Champions at the Indian Wells Masters Series. They claimed the title after beating the No.1 seeds, Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic,7-6(8), 6-3 in the finals. Congrats, guys!
Rafa had two big matches on Saturday. The first was the singles semifinals against Ivan Ljubicic which Rafa rather surprisingly lost 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (1). Rather hilariously, Rafa claimed he'd lost that match only "accidentally." The rest of his totally charming explanation went like this: "That's my feeling, because I was playing (well) enough to win the tournament. It was an important accident, and I have to learn to try to play more aggressive next time, try to convert the opportunities. But for the rest, nothing to say, no? I was feeling I was playing better than probably ever on this court. This tournament I was playing very good, having very good victories, beating a very difficult opponent like Isner, and later against a very good Berdych. So I happy about how I did here. I am playing at my best level. I know that. But just not today." It should be noted Ljubicic played the tournament of his life, taking the title over Andy Roddick in the Championship match on Sunday,
If the afternoon gave Nadal troubles, they didn't stick in his head long, because by the team the doubles final rolled around in the evening, Rafa shrugged off the disappoint of the earlier loss and went to work winning the final, which not-so-surprisingly, made him very happy.
"For Marc and me, it was an amazing week and a dream to win the title here. After losing an important singles [match], the victory in doubles makes me happy. Always is nice to win the tournament, no?"
Always is nice indeed, Rafa. Nadal now heads down to Miami to play at the Miami Masters Series Tournament. Rafa drops to #4 in the world this week, because this was his first tournament back since the Aussie Open, and because he didn't reach the same result he did last year in Indian Wells when he won. Rafa has lost a bunch of bonus points to add to his ranking by not playing the past few weeks. He made it farther this tournament than current world's No. 1 and No. 2, Roger Federer and Novak Djokivic did. Plus after Miami, we're into the clay season which is always Rafa's bread and butter. So expect more success! Vamos Rafa!
Oy. My bracket is DEAD. I was worried that my pick for Final Four competitor (2) Villanova was in danger of losing early, and that worry proved to be well-founded. Nova got bounced by (10) St. Mary's in the second round. But that wasn't the worst of it, my pick to win it all was Kansas and in a shocking upset, Top-Seed Kansas lost to (9) Northern Iowa. I wasn't alone in picking Kansas to win it all. President Obama picked them, as did about 96% of bracket builders. So now we're all screwed.
Overall, I have 8 of my sweet 16 picks still in play, and I can still have 6 of my elite 8 picks make it to the next round. With all the losses, I still managed 200 out of 404 total points on the nytimes website and I'm ranked 19,204. So I'm slipping a bit. We'll see how the rest of the tourney plays out. If the first two rounds are any indication, there will be more surprises ahead!
Ron Elving (and Ken Rudin) at work
