So it's my last full week in DC, and my Alaska story ran this morning in Seattle. Besides helping Alicia out with a Homeland Security story, that could very well be all she wrote for The Seattle Times, folks. I gotta do work for my Crimes of War seminar, as well as several thousand other things.

But it would be a great note to go out on, and bittersweet - despite filing less copy, I've learned a ton working with the Northwest rag this summer. And in the end I'm finally getting it: that these stories of politics - of who gets what and why - are limitless. You just have to do a little digging and the stuff writes itself.

As Walsh says in Entourage Season II, Episode 15, where Queens Boulevard premieres at Sundance, "This is my Deer Hunter." Well, maybe that's taking it a bit far...but I'm proud of this one.

Especially proud considering I had an anonymous hate message waiting for me on my voice mail this morning. (The good people at The Seattle Times generously post my phone number, for anyone who wants to take a shot...) Like I said, this probably makes me persona non-grata up in the Yukon.

But what the hell - to be perfectly honest that's really what I enjoy most about reporting: Pissing people off with cold, hard facts. Ask any of my ex-girlfriends...

Except I've since moved on to members of Congress. Which group is more gratifying to annoy? 'Still a toss-up.

I'm really gonna miss this.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm busy working on my multi-billion-dollar bridge to Caracas.