Woodward [bow in reverence] has a great lead story in the Post today, detailing how he and Mark Felt wound up having late-night passionate sexual encounters in a Rosslyn parking lot, discussing the fate of the presidency in between go-arounds. Fine, I made up the sexual-encounters part.

For the Star Wars geeks out there, think of the story as an abridged Episodes I-III, if All The President's Men were Episodes IV-VI.

For wannabes like me and my associates over here, it's pretty inspiring stuff. Woodward frankly recounts a panicky quarter-life crisis, just a couple years before Watergate broke, that we all can relate to:

"This was a time in my life of considerable anxiety, even consternation, about my future. I had graduated in 1965 from Yale, where I had a Naval ROTC scholarship that required I go into the Navy after getting my degree. After four years of service, I had involuntarily extended an additional year because of the Vietnam War.

"During that year in Washington, I expended a great deal of energy trying to find things or people who were interesting. ...To quel my angst and sense of drift, I was taking gruaduate courses at George Washington University."

(Enter a chance meeting with Mark Felt in the White House, one evening.)

We can take a lot from his story. He really put himself out there - starting conversations where there didn't seem to be initial interest. Granted, there's a thin line between engaging and annoying...but when you're in my position, you want to err on the latter side. Network, strike up friendships, be persistent - don't be shy. Balls out. It sure seemed to work out for Woodie.

"Felt seemed sympathetic to the lost-soul quality of my questions. He said that after he had his law degree his first job had been with the Federal Trade Commission. His first assignment was to determine whether toilet paper with the brand name Red Cross was at an unfair competitive advantage...."

A lot has changed since then...the media environment that allowed for the gradual peeling away of layers-Watergate reporting left us a long time ago. But a lot of the fundamental stuff stays the same.

Anyhow, kudos Woodward, blah blah - all that shit.

If I don't land on my feet, I can always put this degree to good use in the custodial services sector. Toilet paper investigations.