Devil's haircut in my mind

I got my hair cut tonight. It's ok, i guess. Just not as good as when K1 cuts it. Oh well, i suppose not everyone can be THAT good.

Lessons for Bloggers, #1

If you don't want to have people with uncommon sexual peccadilloes coming to your blog, do not use the word "fetish." Ever. No matter what. On the other hand, if you like amusement from a.) the bizarre things that turn people on and b.) the random ways in which some search engines examine online content, then use fetish often.

As has been discussed here many times, people with some weird-ass fetishes end up coming to BlackRedYellow. And unfortunately for them, this site is going to do little to satisfy anyone's sexual jones, unless there are people who happen to get off on rambling sentence structure, corny jokes, and more detailed descriptions than you'd find in New York magazine of the restaurant where I just dined.

That makes me think...shouldn't there be a fetish site for people who get off on bloggers without a life or something. Some kind of "pale computer geek fetish" or something?

Anyway, the latest weirdness to get directed to my page is "women with haircutting fetishes." I was unaware of it, but apparently there are people out there for whom cutting the hair of women is rather....uh...enjoyable, and women who "like" having their hair cut. Like I said, you learn something new every day. And while I don't understand it, it seems much safer than some other fetishes out there.

I think the reason I get these things is because of how Yahoo! search looks at blogs. Basically, it examines the archive pages and strings together keywords, whether they seem to have any related context or not. Because it's looking at an entire month of posts, it can easily find many bizarre strings of words used over the course of the month.

Using the same search string on Google blog search, nothing turns up (not even my blog). Searching the web as a whole generates plenty of results, but not my blog, at least on the first few pages (it was #6 on Yahoo! search).

So I think Yahoo! needs to refine its search algorithms.

Another weird search result: someone found me while searching for "Applebee's cheese pasta." (Again on Yahoo!)

I don't know why you found my blog, but I'll just help out anyone else searching for it: I haven't eaten it, but I can tell you that it sucks. Why? Because it's from Applebee's, which in addition to having horrible, boring recipes, brings its pasta dishes frozen in a truck and microwaves them before bringing them to your table. Save yourself a few bucks by buying a TV dinner.

Applebee's. They say they're America's favorite neighbor. If you mean "neighbor" in the sense of a company that homogenizes America with crappy food while driving local establishments out of business, then sure....I guess so.

Great song

I'm listening to Ray Charles' "Standards" album right. Basically a collection of classic Ray tracks. Right now, "That Lucky Old Sun" is playing. Absolutely beautiful song. The progressions are awe-inspiring, particularly with the choral backing.

I would recommend this album as a whole, and particularly this track, especially if you are in a mellow mood.

In other music notes, I've had Queen's "Bicycle Race" stuck in my head since I heard it last Friday. That has to be one of the more annoying songs out there, and I can't figure out wtf it is supposed to mean. It makes no sense to me, and is annoying. And playing over and over in my head. Not a good combination, folks.

Honestly, I'm not sure I see the attraction to Queen as a whole. I have their "Greatest Hits" album on my iPod, which is presumably their best songs. Sure, some of them ("We Will Rock You," "We are the Champions," "Another One Bites the Dust," and even "Fat Bottomed Girls") are great to listen to. But the other 13 songs quickly get old. Beyond the arena rock at sporting events, I don't really understand the attraction. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back

That sage piece of wisdom, repeated by my dad on many occasions, could do my law school some good right now. fn1.

I am in the library right now, and I just opened up Internet Explorer, which of course has the law school home page set as its default page. Before I could click to wherever I was headed (damn...I now have forgotten what I was doing), I saw this gem scrolling in the sidebar, along with other law school news:

Q: Which law school was first to offer a joint European law degree and J.D.?
A: [Insert name of my law school here]

Ok, last I checked, we're all adults here. No need to do cheesy question and answer features. And how stupid is it to put that on your own homepage. Like you'd include it if it were any other school. And can we get any more self-congratulatory?

1. My dad is a font of corny lines, which have been repeated so many times throughout my life that I now find myself saying them. Which isn't good, given that I'm prone to the corn myself. Some favorites...
- When we were kids, and people would comment on how fast we were growing: "Must be that high-quality weed food we've been feeding them."
- Whenever something becomes apparent to him: "'I see,' said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw."
- On finding something that was in an obvious location: "If it had been a snake, it would have bit me."
- On finding something that was well-hidden: "You know what they say. It's always in the last place you look."

What does the death penalty accomplish?

The death penalty has been in the news recently, as California executed Stanley Williams, the founder of the Crips gang, on Tuesday.

This is completely senseless to me.

Williams was executed for his role in four robbery-related deaths in the late 1970s. He claimed he was innocent in these cases (a position which may have harmed his clemency bid). His lawyers unsuccessfully attempted to have his conviction thrown out. He may be guilty, or he may not be. I would lean toward guilt, simply because significant attention has been given to his case and multiple appeals have been filed. However, the uncertainty of a guilty verdict is always a problem with capital punishment.

But what is a bigger problem to me is the ultimate futility of it all.

In his years on death row, Williams renounced violence. But he didn't just talk about it. He wrote several children's books which condemned violence and gangs. While nothing he did was going to bring back the four lives he allegedly took, he was making a positive difference in society.

So what good did it do to end his life? He wasn't asking to be released from jail -- only to have his capital sentence reduced to a death sentence. Today, one more person is dead in California, and the only thing that has been satisfied is the primitive demand for vengeance from some some of the victims' families.

At the end of the day, putting people to death makes no one better off. It doesn't make our society any safer. It doesn't bring back the people who have already died. It only gives some kind of revenge. And what kind of system is that for a civilized society?

Oh, so now we can't torture people? Tragic!

Note the sarcasm in the title.

Word out of Washington is that our fabulous president has finally agreed with Sen. John McCain's ban on all forms of torture, along with cruel, humane, and degrading treatment of terrorism suspects.

In response, I have two questions:
1. Why was this even an issue in the first place?
2. Since it was an issue, why did it take so long for the Bush administration to agree to the ban?

Seriously, I fail to see why our country -- supposedly a proponent of human rights and the bringer of democracy, capitalism, and all things good to infidels in the dark corners of Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the globe -- should EVER be condoning the torture of detainees.

I'm a realist. I realize that torture will happen. It may be from soldiers/intelligence officers who are under too lax of supervision and who start making mistakes. Or it may come from officers who know a suspect has key information and need to get it out of him/her and cross the line trying to do so. But just because torture at some times is inevitable doesn't mean we should endorse it.

If the Bush administration really believed that "we don't torture," as the President declared recently, then why did it fight tooth and nail to stop this ban?

My strong belief is that if we are going to improve the world, we have to hold ourselves to the highest possible standards. Otherwise, we stoop to the level of those we are trying to defend against and defeat. This torture ban is one important step in that process.

Actually enforcing it, and punishing those who violate it, would be an important second step.

The Holly and the Ivy

Our title today is the title of a rather forgettable Christmas song. I don't really know what it's about....I just remember seeing it in Christmas songbooks as a child.

Anyway, J1 and I went to Fred's for dinner tonight. It's always a good spot for cozy atmosphere, solid American food, and hundreds of pictures of cute dogs on the walls.

Their vegetarian pastas are rather good, with nice use of vegetables (although not particularly "Italian"), and their homemade mac and cheese is excellent.

They always have nice candles on the tables, and for Christmas they've accented them with some seasonal trimmings.

Watching the path

I love getting things shipped to me. Well, I love it when I'm sitting at home all day, so I won't miss the delivery guy. Otherwise, the whole process of trying to schedule a delivery, missing them again, and finally having to trek out to 42nd Street and 12th Ave. to pick up my package is a bit of a pain in the ass.

But the best part of shipping things today is online tracking. It allows obsessive people like me to track the every move of their package. It's slightly more interesting than watching grass grow, and somewhat less interesting than watching paint dry. But what can I say -- my ski boots left FedEx Ground's Portland, OR shipping terminal at 4:26 a.m. and I want to know where they are now. And although they're probably on a semi going straight to the east coast, I'll keep checking twice a day in hopes of an update.

Since I'm getting multiple packages, I have a rare hat trick. My boots are coming FedEx, the ski bag is coming UPS, and the skis are coming DHL. So I get to use the tracking interfaces of all three major shipping websites at the same time.

My only thought is...what the hell did people do before the internet? Not only were they unable to shop online, but they couldn't know where in the U.S. their packages last crossed a scanner.

Hopping on the bandwagon

I really am not a fan of fads. If someting is popular, I am likely to stay away from it, out of a kind of principle. I think some people would call this being curmudgeonly, but I call it "thinking for myself."

Consequently, I grew rather annoyed with the rise of the rubber "cause" wristbands, that arose out of the Lance Armstrong "LiveStrong" campaign. Now I actually liked the original campaign. In typical Nike style, it was a brilliant piece of marketing. Lance Armstrong is a compelling and inspiring story, the yellow (in addition to being the leader's color at the Tour) is a eye-catching color, and the LiveStrong motto had so many nice meanings.

Add to this the fact that the money was going to support cancer research (being opposed to this is about like being opposed to babies and kittens), and it was a campaign that was hard to dislike.

Of course, the yellow wristbands soon became a fashion accessory and lost most (if not all) of their meaning. Everyone else started jumping on the bandwagon, so that there were wristbands in every color of the rainbow -- or more accurately, every color of the Pantone color wheel (since there are only seven colors in the rainbow). Pick your cause, and there was a wristband to match it.

Opposed to genocide in Darfur? Get a green one. Want to promote debt relief for third-world nations? Get a white one. Do you want to raise breast cancer awareness? Wear one in pink. And so on and so forth.

It all reminded me of the W.W.J.D. wrist bracelet fad of the late 90s, or the colored ribbons worn on lapels to support causes from AIDS awareness (red) to bringing the troops home safely (yellow -- not to be confused with Lance Armstrong Yellow).

I remained above the fray. Until last Friday, that is, when I went to the blood drive at Barnard to donate blood. They gave me a reddish "Give Blood" wristband, and to my mixed shame and pleasure, I've been wearing it occasionally.



I am a huge fan of donating blood. I don't do it often enough, but I really think it's something that should be emphasized more. It's easy, relatively quick, and relatively painless. It saves lives. And they give you free snacks afterwards. What more could you ask for?

So now I'm a part of the fad (although I think the fad has mostly played itself out). They always get you in the end, ya know?
donate blood, livestrong, armband

Farewell, Mr. Van Jeremy

Well, it finally happened. After Miami Heat President Pat "I only won championships when I had multiple Hall-of-Famers in my starting lineup" Riley announced this summer that he would have a more active role in the operations of the team, it only seemed a matter of time before he was back in the head coach's chair. Yesterday, he threw Stan Van Gundy under the bus and took over himself.

Of course, there are multiple injustices here. First, it is debatable in my mind whether Riles is even a great coach. Note the two horrid seasons he had in Miami (as soon as the talent level went down) before he stepped aside so Van Gundy coudl take over. Second, Van Gundy has been a solid coach, taking the Heat to within one game of the NBA finals last year. Even though Shaq has been out of the lineup with an injury for most of the year, the Heat have been ok (though not great).

But none of that matters. Now that Miami has a couple All-Stars to work with, Riley wants to call the shots again. I'm hoping that their season is a disaster, and I'm looking forward to an early playoff exit for them.

But the biggest injustice here is the loss of Stan Van Gundy from the national sporting scene. Without him, how are sports fans going to turn on the TV and believe for a moment that porn star Ron Jeremy is coaching a basketball game?



Good luck, San Van Jeremy. We'll miss you!
van gundy, NBA, Miami Heat

The call you never want to get

Bad news came tonight in the form of a call from a friend I hadn't talked to in months. We worked together back when I was doing consulting right after undergrad. We lost touch after I moved to New York and she was working in England.

Unfortunately, the circumstances of us talking again were not ideal. A mutual friend lost her husband a few days ago under tragic and unfortunate circumstances.

I don't really want to go into it here, but I've feeling a little disoriented and a lot bummed out tonight. My thoughts and prayers tonight are with all the people close to the situation.

Have yourself a very tuba Christmas

J1's friend from college, Jason, was in town this weekend for the annual Tuba Christmas concert at Rockefeller Center. It is an orchestra composed entirely of tubas, baritones, Sousaphones, etc., which meets on Sunday morning to rehearse (anyone with an instrument can join in) and then plays an hour of Christmas songs in the afternoon.

J1, K1, and I went down to hear them play. Here's some pictures from the afternoon.

The famous Rockefeller Center tree, towering over the statue of Prometheus.


J1 and I in front of the tree, waiting for the concert to start.


About half of the tubas:


If you look closely, you can see Jason in his Santa's hat, hiding behind his tuba:

New York, tuba, Rockefellerphotos, pictures

Christmas in Midtown

Saturday afternoon, we trekked down to midtown east to see all the Christmas windows, decorations, etc. It was pretty crazy....there was a stretch of sidewalk in front of Sak's that was so crowded we could hardly move. There was a lot of good stuff to see, so here are some of the pictures I took.

We started out at Bloomingdale's, which had the best windows, in my opinion. They were interpretations of fairy tales. Some were a little weird and racially charged (Little Red Riding Hood), but here's a couple of the cool ones:



Bergdorf's had interesting windows. They were slightly far-out, but they had some nice designs.



In front of Tiffany's, there was a massive glittering crystal star hanging above the street.


Cartier's store is decorated like a giant gift:


We stopped by St. Patrick's to warm up and rest for a few minutes. They had an almost-life-size Nativity scene.


I was rather unimpressed with the windows at Sak's. They were so abstract to lose most of their beauty.


This one was mostly funny because as K1 and I were standing there taking pictures, these two guys were totally checking out the model. One of them is like, "Damn! That girl is hot!" I can only hope they were joking.


Midtown was a blur of motion.

New York, christmas, photos, pictures

New York Winter Wonderland

We got a good blanket of snow here in the city last night. Not as much as New England, but probably around six inches. It was falling in massive white flakes, some the size of a fist.

Sleet came later, but that let up quickly, leaving the city blanketed in fresh, white snow.

I think New York is at it's most beautiful during and after snow storms. (Which doesn't mean snow storms are necessarily fun, as they make getting anywhere next to impossible.) All the grit and dirt is covered up with a fresh layer of white. Snow rests on the fantastic architectural features of the classic buildings that line the streets. Most importantly, everything is quiet, save for the rhythmic scrape of snow shovels and the crunching of snow being packed below the tires of passing cars. Fewer people are out bustling around.

It's like you take regular New York and put a trumpet mute on it. The same city is still there -- it's just a little quieter, the pitch is a little different, and everything is a little softer.

After the sleet stopped, I grabbed my camera and went out to shoot a few pictures. The sun was just coming out, and the snowy trees and buildings looked fantastic against the brilliant blue sky.

Before the clouds broke, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine was shrouded in snow.


Someone on my street built a tiny snowman on the sidewalk.


The trees on Broadway were still covered in snow as the sun came out:


The lights of the trees on Columbia's College Walk shine under the snow.


Columbia's Low Library, surrounded by snowy stairs.


Birds fly across Columbia's central campus:


The Alma Mater statue, looking out from under a cap of snow, watches Columbia's campus.

New York, columbia, photos, pictures

All about me

This fill-in-the-blank survey seemed kind of like fun, especially after I deleted the questions I considered boring, then edited it extensively for length.

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name:	Black Red Yellow
Lefty or Righty?	Lefty
The Shoes You Wore Today:	Black Steve Madden ankle boots
Your Perfect Pizza:	Giordano's Deep Dish in Chicago or Grimaldi's in Brooklyn
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	You mean this calendar year? Because it's almost over -- that doesn't give me much time. However, this school year, I'd like to graduate
Your Best Physical Feature:	eyes
Your Bedtime:	midnight to 2:00 am
Chocolate or Vanilla:	Vanilla
Do you Swear:	early and often
Do you Sing:	in the shower
Do you want to go to College:	What's this survey for....13-year-olds? I already went, took a few years off, and went some more. Yes, I'm old, and perhaps a little bitter
Do you get along with your Parents:	Yes, if I keep contact to a minimum
Eaten a box of Oreos in the past month?	yes, almost single-handedly
Eaten sushi in the past month?	yes
Country you would most like to visit:	France or Italy
Number of CDs owned:	I think it's in the 300 range
Number of things in my Past I Regret:	what are you, my psychologist? I'm not answering that.
Create your own profile

Some great blogs to check out

Well, since I am often a little slow in adding quality content here, I figure I can at least give you some other good sites to read for your dose of humor and good writing.

These are blogs from a blogring set up by an internet forum that I used to frequent. The first, by welfareloser, is a chronicle of a mother and her three kids, who are too smart and naughty for their own good. Welfare is pretty damn smart herself, and she will make you cry with laughter when you read her stories. The second, by ialsohaveadream, consists of random thoughts and stories from a 20-something guy who is funny as hell.

Check them out....but make sure you're someplace where you won't get in trouble for laughing.

Quote of the Day

Today was the “wrap-up” day in my Deals Seminar, taught by a law firm partner who has been in the field for 30+ years.  As usual, he was babbling about how much better it was to practice law in the “good old days,” when firms (and partners) were really hard-core.  I looked over at my friend Sean’s paper (we worked at the firm together), and this was his take-away from the class:

“Partners enjoyed practicing law better when assault was a training method.”

"Misunderstandings"

This just in from the "entertainment" desk:

Former "American Idol" contestant Julia DeMato was arrested and charted with alleged drug possession and drunken driving in her Connecticut hometown over the weekend....Police said a search of her SUV found two marijuana pipes, some marijuana and a baggie with a small amount of cocaine. She told the News-Times of Danbury (Conn.) that it was a misunderstanding.

This has to be the funniest news story I've seen in some time. It was a "misunderstanding"?!? Define "misunderstanding."

Did Ms. DeMato misunderstand the contents of the baggie, thinking that it was actually the baking powder she needed for the batch of Christmas cookies she was going to bake later?

Did little Julia "misunderstand" the generally accepted laws of her state, which frown on possession of marijuana and cocaine?

Did our wanna-be starlet misunderstand why she was being punished? After all, the pipes probably belonged to Michael Irvin's friend. Why was she being blamed?

Or was it that Ms. American-Idol-Washup misunderstood her place in society? Maybe she thought she was actually a famous and important celebrity, and by extension thought that the police would turn a blind eye to her contraband. Maybe she believes the police simply "misunderstood" how important she is, and that the problems will all clear up once her agent and publicists show up.

Whatever the case, Ms. DeMato, this is an important lesson: If you're going to be a celebrity who gets in trouble, perfect your lying/making up cover stories skill. It's pretty weak right now.
Julia DeMato, American Idol,cocaine, marijuana

Madness, coming to a computer near you

The best news that I've heard in several weeks came out this morning, as CBS announced that it would be making live feeds of the NCAA tournament available for free starting in 2006.

As any sports fan knows, the first weekend of the NCAA tournament constitutes the best four days of the year. The sheer volume of games (four at a time for the first two days) is overwhelming, meaning that there's always going to be at least one good game on. There are the tight games and the potential for epic upsets. There's always the 15 or 16 that gets up on the 2 or 1 and makes you think that maybe....just maybe....this could be the year that a 1 loses in the first round.

And then there are the upsets that happen. The games where Bucknell is up on Kansas late, and it looks like the can pull it off. All over America (save for Lawrence, Kan.), everyone is rooting for David to beat Goliath, for Cinderella to find the glass slipper.

Ah yes. Forget Christmas. March Madness is "the most wonderful time of the year."

Of course, the volume of games has always created a problem. CBS can only broadcast one game at a time. They choose which game to show based on regional preferences, popularity of the teams, and the presence of other great games.

As a Michigan State fan living in New York, this poses a problem. It is difficult to find Spartans games in the first two rounds, as there are too many east-coast teams which CBS would rather show. So State fans are left to find a sports bar broadcasting the game, or paying for a subscription to watch the games online.

Not anymore. Now, all the games from the first three rounds of the tournament will be available for FREE online. Ahhh....the glory of it. I can hardly wait for the tournament to start, and it's only December. I can sit in front of my TV, watching whatever game is on broadcast, while also pulling up other interesting games on my laptop.

And I will be able to know I can see MSU's every game. Yup, life is good.

Number Pattern Test

K4 posted about taking the Number Pattern Intelligence Test. Seeing as I was bored in class (and taking a number pattern test is a more economical way to spend my time than shopping on eBay), I decided to take it.

I must say, it was hard as ****. I mean, I've done tests like that before, but this one was way harder. A bunch of the series of numbers were a complete mystery to me -- I could see no rhyme or reason there. Eventually, I got bored and ended up just guessing on almost half of them. Ended up scoring a 77. Not bad, I suppose.

The more interesting result was the Compatability test. Ok, I don't know if it's interesting, but that test was a hell of a lot more fun than the numbers test.

SimilarMinds.com Compatibility Test

Your match with K4 you are 69% similar you are 56% complementary

How Compatible are You with me?
Ok, so now you all need to take the test and find out how compatible you are with me. Post the results on your blog or in the comments section.

The Hook-up

I am so happy right now I am doing a happy dance around my apartment.

Last night, as you will remember, I wrote about how I wanted to buy a pair of Lange Banshee 90 ski boots, but was having trouble pulling the trigger.

The problem, of course, was price. The pair I had found on eBay were $171, including shipping. While in the whole scheme of things, that's a low price for good ski boots, it was more than I wanted to spend, because I'm a cheap bastard. I was hoping to get my entire ski package for under $300. Having already spent $150 on skis/bindings, and needing another $25 or so for poles, these boots would push the package into the $350 range.

There were other boots I was looking at in the $125 range, and I was wondering if I should get those instead.

This afternoon, I decided to check on "completed listings" on eBay to get a sense of what the Banshee 90s had sold for in the past. I noticed sales by Liquidation Sports, which was selling the same boots for $115 (including S/H). However, they didn't have any listed in my size.

So I called them, and Felicia, the nice person who answered the phone, promised to check and see if they had any 11.5s in the warehouse. She called back and said they had one last pair, which I promptly bought. So basically, I just got the boots I wanted, saved almost $60, and am pretty pumped right now.

Ski Fever

I decided that I want to do more skiing this year than I have in past years. For whatever reason, I just cannot stop thinking about heading for the slopes.

So I decided that it was time to buy my own skis. I hate renting skis. First, it's expensive. The cost of rentals easily doubles the price of a day of skiing.

Second, rental skis suck. They are usually poor quality to start with. Then, they're beat up. The edges are so dull that it's impossible to cut in, especially on the ice and slop that is epidemic on eastern mountains. The boots never fit quite right. And you never know if you're going to pop out of the bindings unexpectedly.

I started out thinking maybe I could get a cheap used ski package for around $200. But the more I looked, the more I started expanding my budget. Basically, cheap used packages are basically rentals that were in such bad shape that they're not fit to rent anymore. I figured if I was going to spend the money, I might as well get stuff that would last awhile.

I found a new pair of Dynastar Agyl 9 skis with Look Nova 10 bindings for $150 at Cupolo Sports.



Now, I can't decide what boots to buy. I think I want the Lange Banshee 90s, but I can't pull the trigger.

"But sleep won't come, the whole night through...."

Once again, I seem to be suffering from a bout of insomnia. Of course, it would HAVE to happen on the night when I have to be up at 6:30 the next morning for an appointment.

I went to bed early (11:30), but absolutely could not relax and go to sleep. Part of the problem is that I kept thinking about skiing and feeling so excited that I couldn't sleep.

The other problem is entirely my fault. This morning, I woke up at 8:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. So I got up, ate some cereal, and read my typical round of sports stories and columns. I thought maybe I'd watch a movie because I was up so early and had all this extra time. However, I felt so tired and had a headache, so I after an hour, I laid back down in bed. I didn't think I would sleep, but after a few minutes, I fell fast asleep.....until 2 in the afternoon!

So even now, it's been less than 12 hours since I got up, and I generally have a hard time sleeping until I've been up for at least 12 or 13 hours.

As Smashmouth said, "Tomorrow's gonna hurt."

By the way, bonus points for anyone who can identify the song from which I took the title "lyrics".

Quote of the Week (possibly the year)

The whole group of us are hanging out over at J2E's Saturday night, playing a little no-money poker before our dinner engagments.

J2 was, as usual, upping the pot.

J1 was suspicious. "You just want all my chips," she said.

J2's priceless response: "Actually, I want your chips and your love. But I'm married and you're dating BRY, so I'll settle for just your chips."

The line brought down the house, and frankly, I'm still laughing.

"Hey! Look at me!!"

Being an attention whore is cool and all. I mean, they help the world go round. How would the E! network exist if it weren't for C- list celebs happy to whore themselves out for a minute or two in the spotlight? And clearly, the quality of the fabric of our society would diminish if the E! network were to disappear.

That said, being an attention whore shouldn't make you look pathetic and desperate for an ounce of validation from someone....anyone. Unless you're Jenna Lewis. fn1.

This is why I wrinkled my nose at the ad that came in my inbox from MarathonFoto, the "official photo partner" of the San Francisco marathon. It offered a new special product -- holiday photo postcards with your marathon photos, to show off your achievement to your friends.

To me, this smacked of an attempt to tap into people's desire for self-promotion. It would be like buying a new BMW, then sending out a photo postcard with a photo of you standing next to it, letting everyone know "Look what I got this year!"

I have no problem with people sending out pictures of themselves, or their kids, or their pets, or whatever. Especially with kids, it is a convenient way of letting everyone see what your kids look like in the current year. But when it's some form of blatent self-promotion, I have to draw the line. It's fine to be proud of finishing a marathon, but do you really have to pay $18 for 30 photo post cards so that you can wave it in the faces of your friends and family? I say "no."

1. Jenna was the "Survivor" cast member most famous (infamous?) for the "leaked" honeymoon sex tape that sufaced on the internet. Information later surfaced indicating that she was the person who "leaked" the tape, and she and her agent were behind the online operation set up to sell the tape. All the while, she claimed great distress. See details here.

Pull it out

Let's say you're pretty young (under 30 or so). You look decently young. You have a nice head of dark hair. Amid all that dark hair, you have ONE white hair.

I'm not talking about a patch of gray hair, or a few strands here and there. When that's the case, it's probably time to let nature take over, or else go for the dye bottle, depending on your preference. But imagine that there is only one white hair.

Of course, amid all the dark hair, the white hair really stands out. It's so obvious that the first thing you think when you see the guy is "hmmm...that dude has one white hair."

At that point, wouldn't you just get out the tweezers and pull out the white hair?

Just a thought.