Sorry I've been inactive for a while. One phone line cuts down on available internet time. I won last year's strat World Series (we had to play it this summer instead of last fall on account of me being away at school) in six games thanks to some great pitching by Pedro Martinez and three Carlos Delgado homeruns.

What I'm spending most of my time doing, however, is working on our storage shed, which is coming along quite well despite the fact that I'm as useful with a hammer as my dog. Well, ok, I'm not that useless, but Jon is like Bob Vila on steroids and it makes me look bad by comparison. I've learned all the ins and outs of Home Depot (you have to aggressive and get the straight pieces of wood -- otherwise you'll get stuck with the warped ones) and all the neighbors are coming by inspecting the site (they seem surprised when it appears as though we're not doing things horribly wrong).

I'm going camping this weekend with Almea -- camping isn't as easy a proposition this year because most national forests and state parks are closed due to extreme fire danger. I'm expecting the ones that are open to be jam packed. They're even taking reservations at campsites, something I couldn't have imagined a couple of years ago. At least I have my reservations.

Noah, you're forgetting a vital function of the DC public school system: to provide administrative patronage jobs. If the district has to trim down, how are those poor politicians going to reward their friends and relatives?

Also, what do you folks think of the Pledge of Allegiance decision? This reminds me of the Confederate Flag controversy (albeit not as ugly or offensive) in the sense that this is a symbol that wasn't a part of the original pledge but which people are now clinging to as some vital part of their being. I agree with the reasoning that religious symbolism in official government oaths and whatnot are a problem if we really want a separation of church and state, and furthermore I think that "under god" screws up the rhythm of the pledge anyway.