I don't know what's worse: That three days have passed since Cheney shot a man in the face without a new blog entry, or that I've just spent two hours watching Independence Day in its entirety.

On my drink. Without a couch.

Fuck, work must be getting to me!

It's been the marathon week. So much for a ceremonious three-day weekend... On about four hours' sleep, I drove back to God's Country East early Sunday morning, covered five different events, logged eighty miles on poor Betty (sadly Betty's a fuel-inefficient truck, not what you're thinking), wrote two stories, and worked thirteen hours straight.

Then the work week "officially" started on Monday. ...Last night, Tuesday, I worked till 10 p.m.

Seriously, Independence Day. If that's not a cry for help, what is?

Anyhow, it's good a good time to be a reporter. 'Doesn't matter if you're at a paper big or small - anything can happen, you just gotta be at the right place at the right time. And if you've got talent, well, carpe diem bitches.


Take my friend Jonesy, writing for the Tuscaloosa News who just made her TV debut on C-SPAN the other day talking about the Alabama church burnings.

Or imagine writing for the Corpus Christi Caller, when you get this call from a local ranch owner...

The paper I work at recently broke the war of words between George Clooney and Jack Abramhoff's dad, who lives in the area. I was interviewing the day before, sitting in the managing editor's office, when the assistant editor walks in and asks, "Hey, you think I should call Abramhoff's dad?" The next morning the story's all over the airwaves - these things break that randomly, I swear.

So everyone's been jumping on the hunting incident bandwagon these days - it's like shooting fish in a barrel. It's one of those things that makes everyone a comedian - even Jay Leno comes across as mildly "funny."

That's why I say: Can't we be rational about this? Accidents happen. Milk will spill! Clearly this is nothing more than politically driven, overblown media hype. Can't we put aside our differences? I think Oscar-nominee Bill Pullman said it best:

"We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. We're gonna live on! We're going to survive! Today, we celebrate, our Independence Day!"

Hey look - The Deer Hunter's on. I guess there's hope after all.