does anyone happen to have suggestions for a couple of good bars in the adams morgan vicinity? tommy's 24th birthday is this weekend, and we plan on "painting the town with his drunken drool," as jess said.

i've actually known tommy in some capacity since we were 18. we both lived in webb dorm our first year at uva, and though i recognized him around grounds when i saw him, we never properly met each other. (the fact that his suite was voted "most anti-social" might have had something to do with it. that, and warcraft.)

the first time we were formally introduced was at some 80s-themed frat party that same year. i was there with naomi and becca, i think, and tommy was there with matt and billy, who happened to be friends of na's and becca's. all three of the boys were fairly drunk and, for some reason, matt and billy became completely obnoxious and tried to foist tommy on me. they did the worst thing they could have done to two uncoordinated people like us: they tried to make us dance together.

when i refused for the billionth time, matt and billy christened me a snob and eventually left us alone. and from that time on, tommy was known to me and my friends as "scary dancer boy," even though he hadn't really done anything to deserve that title. nevertheless, scary dancer boy he was. and i would cross to the other side of the street when i saw him coming.

of course, things changed in october 2000. anyway, i guess i'm trying to say: happy birthday, boyfriend!

Everybody with some time to kill and a chip on their shoulder about the press should take a look at this article on Slate. And then take a look at today's lead on Salon. Any justification for squirting the news out there early will do, it seems...

I think a case could be made for journalistic ethics only existing for the sake of journalists' egos. "Nobody gives a shit about [boring analysis-free story], but by writing this piece I'm doing my part to save democracy" is the original formulation, I believe. Now it's "People are talking about the following piece of irresponsible journalism: [irresponsible journalism]". The whole ethics thing is just there for old times' sake.

I don't think there's any going back. Now the first thing you do after getting your first byline is set up your own online internet punditry lemonade stand and start pricing fake bookcase backdrops for via-satellite appearances on Hardball.

Of course I say all this through the elitist prism of someone who already heard the rumor, is glad he did, and is now implying that he thinks others shouldn't be similarly informed. It's probably just residual anti-press/pro-Dean bitterness.

this morning, i was again watching the fine "where in the world is matt lauer?" this time, mr. lauer was lazing about on a private island in the virgin islands. the island was owned by a slightly dorky, middle-aged british guy who had bought the piece of land a couple of decades ago to impress his girlfriend.

i would just like to remind tommy and, indeed, dutiful boyfriends everywhere, that tomorrow is valentine's day.

i think what with the hoopla over issues like gay marriage, the war in iraq, and the presidential campaign, i've really lost sight of the more important things-- like the opening of the d.c. coyote ugly this weekend. and joel achenbach's insightful article about it:

"[The bartenders] are not skimpily dressed, at least not exactly. They wear long pants, for gosh sakes! That said, the jeans are so tight, they're epidermal. There is no flashing of thong straps, but that carries with it another tantalizing implication. This one lass, she's got a horizontal tear in her jeans right at the rump line, and one begins to ponder the possibility that some of these young ladies aren't -- how to say this politely? -- wearing much in the way of drawers."

hard-hitting!