Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

It's only fair if really old celebrities who my grandparents cared about die; not ones I know of.

T-shirt someone was wearing in the soup kitchen on Saturday:

A picture of a squirrel with the slogan "Protect Your Nuts."

Woke up, put on clothes, didn't go to work.

Yes, again, that has been pre-recorded.

I have to catch up on a few things. I at least have to mention that last week I went to a debate in which Todd S. tried to convince one of the founders of C*ddle Parties that our society is NOT too s*xually repressed. She said our society IS too s*xually repressed. (And no, my censoring is not a result of such repression, but a result of my not wanting people to find me here while Googling for s*x!!) Anyway, the debate was quite funny. Todd capped it off by revealing that not long ago, a web retailer was selling "Child Pimp & Ho Costumes" on the Web. I find this quite disturbing. I don't care what adults do with each other, but when they start giggling over their cute little 11-year-old ho, there's a problem.

too much editing, wrists hurt.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

That portion of the blog was previously recorded earlier in the morning.

Here's a pretty cool blog by a reader.

Lori wrote: "I just got my brandy new XM Satellite radio receiver
so that I could listen to Opie & Anthony, who are back on the air as
of Monday. Yay, oh happy day! Then, this morning, at 8:30am, Howard Stern announced that he is going to Sirius Satellite radio--XM's competitor when his 15 months are up
on his current contract with Infinity/Viacom!!! What am I going to
do!!!! This is a dilemma!! Am I supposed to buy two satellite radio
receivers and pay for both so I can hear both shows!? Isn't that a bit
excessive?! But I've been listening to Howard since 6th grade!!!
Oh, the humanity!!"

Was that when you weren't listening to Z-100?

Valerie's post reminded me to mention Rodney Dangerfield. My favorite joke of his: "Kids are having sex younger and younger these days. The other day I saw a birth control pill in the shape of Fred Flintstone."

There are now a few more mentions on Google News, all of them saying 6 or 8 minutes ago. The Associated Press has not released it yet. Where are you, guys? You can't have the Atlanta Journal-Constitution beating you!

OK, there is one story on the internet now. CNN wins. Look how much Sirius stock jumped!

It's fun to see news spread. Right now, this is the only story mentioning Sirius Satellite Radio on Google News. I'll update later or tomorrow... (If you can't get into it, it's a Times story.)

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

INTERNET SCOOP: Howard Stern is leaving Infinity Broadcasting after his contract ends in 2006, and intends to go to Sirius Satellite Radio, where he plans to run three channels. He said he's excited about breathing life into this new medium.

I don't know if any of you care, but since it's only a half-hour-old scoop I thought I'd beam it your way.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

A few metro area items to report today. First off, this morning 1010 WINS reported that last night, an armored truck flipped over on the NJ Turnpike and spewed change everywhere. As Adam Sandler says in "The Wedding Singer"...that's information I could have used yesterday!! Also, the Naked Cowboy of Times Square is now in radio ads endorsing Yahoo. Finally, there's an article in the New Yorker this week about a woman whose dog was nearly torn apart by a pack of junkyard dogs who live with an old man in a lot at Ninth Ave and 36th Street. The city has not done anything because no one handles dog-on-dog crime. Other dogs have been attacked, too. This morning it appeared that 1010 WINS has already picked up on the story, so now I'll bet something will be done. People complain about journalism, but the woman who wrote the New Yorker article wasn't getting anywhere no many how many calls she made or dogs were attacked. I'll bet the laws will change now.

Oh yeah? MEOW!! ;)

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

They said on the radio that there won't be rain this week. As if that's a good thing.

If you need some great '80s punk to start your Monday, and you're not feeling as patriotic as usual, click on this and click the "Not Proud of the USA" song on the right (by the Mice)...I like it not necessarily because I'm not feeling proud, but it is a fun song. Hey, maybe it will motivate you to vote.

Someone got to this site by putting in "Starting From Square Two lissner sold number of books." Hey, when you find out let me know.

(And if you did that because you're considering the movie rights, well, you should be.)

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work on novel revising.

Top news items on browser homepage: Mt. St. Helen's may blow in hours, and Bill Joel married a 23-year-old. So remember, boys: Practice piano every day, and don't move to the Pacific Northwest.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work...on the book.

Wes works in a book store and notes that the book I mentioned yesterday was on Oprah, hence its high ranking. It might be fun to read, but could just cause a whole bunch of The Rules-like debates.

In other news, a famous photoblogger with one of the best sites in NY has been goodly enough to submit a list of Zierings! Thank you, Kevin of Forgotten NY!

>>Dawn Wells (Gilligan)
Robin Williams (well, he was never the star of another TV show)
Guy Williams (Lost in Space)
Mike "Touch" Connors (Mannix)
Andrew Shue (Melrose; played pro soccer after show ended)
Frank Bank (Lumpy Rutherford) has rarely appeared in a non Leave It To
Beaver show, though he has been Lumpy in 4 decades
Dustin Diamond (Dustin is unemployable in Hollywood in a non-Screech
role, except when he is boxing Horshack)
The dude who played Arvid on Head of the Class

If you have any doubts about how neurotic women are about men, look at what the number 2 best selling book in the country is.

I just went to the pizza place next door. $3.50 per slice may seem a little much, but it's got chicken parm and broccoli on it. Anyway, they always have the Post and Daily News out to read. Two things from the Post:

1. The articles on the first few pages of the Post overwhelmingly give the debate to Kerry. Wow, did the Post change owners overnight or something? I'm going to e-mail some Posties to see if gremlins got into their newsroom and adjusted the rightist bent.

2. Lisa Minelli is accused of having cheated on her husband by beating up on her chauffeur, too. Allegedly.

ME: I have a short attention span.
PERSON: I know. I've had a conversation with you.

Hmm. I'm not sure what he was trying to

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

I had a lil' debate with Dawn yesterday about Sex And the City. Thanks for putting it up, Dawn. I just don't think it's fair to assume that women try to emulate the SATC girls. It's just as bad as the assumption Dawn doesn't like, that all men in NYC are horrible. SATC is a dang funny and well-written show.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

#$^*& sun is out.

Someone wrote to comment on my picture from the other day, saying Pampers under a bathing suit was "degrading." Hey, I was two!

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

I don't think the forecasters expected as much rain as we got yesterday. It was still raining and the wind was howling into the wee hours this morning. Now it's cloudy all day even though they predicted sunshine.

It is still pouring out and I stepped in a puddle. I just went to a very entertaining "Feed the Young Writers" reading in NYC, hosted by Ned Vizzini. Now I'm home and I can finally actually write. Yay.

I guess I liked sunny weather more when I was little.

How do you solve a problem like...

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

It's pouring today. A good novelizing day. But I'm at work. Boo.

Overheard on the PATH train from NY to NJ (from two trainmen sitting there in caps and white hats):

TRAIN STAFFER 1: Did you do that terrorism training yet?
TRAIN STAFFER 2: No. I'm trying to avoid it.
TRAIN STAFFER 1: Yeah. I already missed the first one.

We are not making this up.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

OK, I admit that I wrote that in advance. Work is really busy and I barely have time to blog. And weekends are busy because I'm finishing up the novel. My goal for more than a year was to finish it by late October 2004, and I'm going to meet that, but I have to keep working steadily to do that.

It seems like there are two phases of novel-writing: creation, and telling the story. Sometimes they go on at the same time, but the first one -- making up everything about the characters and their world and their story and history -- has to be thought about constantly, not only while writing. Once everything is finally nailed down (sometimes after a few revisions even), you then get to finally look at it some more and just figure out where you're doing a good job of telling it and where you need to take a scythe and start carving and shaping.

It was only after three years of work on this one that I know everything that has happened to these characters. And yes -- as the cliche goes -- I know what they ate for breakfast today. Some of the details will not make the final cut, but I know it's in their history. Maybe it will be re-added somewhere. Maybe just as a line. But I know it, so I can focus on how to tell the story.

Was that boring? Sorry.

Actually, there was a point to all this...my first two novels took place in New York, so there was a little less research and creation involved. They were about women close to my age, so I also was able to do a little less imagining, even though the main plot twists never happened to me. This new novel is harder because I was doing more research. I'm glad I'm finally able to focus on honing the "telling" of it.

In other news...yes, there's another hurricane, and I was too busy to even mention it here. Plus, even I'm getting a little jaded by them. In a few months we can move on to blizzards.

Finally, I've been wanting to mention that asking trivia questions shows the transition among generations. A few weeks ago, I helped host bar trivia and I did an audio round of songs that mentioned school in the title or lyrics. They included Beatles ("Getting Better"), Hall & Oates ("Adult Education"), and Steely Dan ("My Old School"). By the third song, a pair of players at one of the front tables said, "These are all OLD!"

I guess it happens...an '80s song like Adult Education is considered "old" to kids who are 21 or 22. It's still odd, though. I always try to mix up my audio rounds so no generation is slighted (there was an Eminem song in there too), but I found the reaction interesting. No one complained about our question about the Battle of 1812...and that was before their time, too! Audio rounds should be age-diverse, but it's still up to people to learn songs that were on the radio before they were born. It's cultural history. Besides, that's why it's trivia!

Okay, so I got to ramble a bit. I hope everyone has a happy Monday.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Tonight starts Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement in which Jewish people are not supposed to eat or work. I'm not religious, but I think it's good to take stock of what you've done wrong, atone, try to do better...the fasting can be worthwhile because it reminds me what it's like to not be able to snap my fingers and have whatever I want instantly. There certainly are people all over the world, and in our own country, who can't have the things that some of us take for granted. So while I don't necessarily follow religious customs for the traditional reasons, I do think there is value to them.

Thus...no black and white cookie tomorrow. ;)

J.K. writes: "How can you like oatmeal when it has killed so many people?"

Actually, the weather question was a legitimate one. But it generally isn't very harsh up here, so that's probably why I don't see as much of the dark side.

Woke up, will later put on clothes and go to work.

I have a ton of work to do right now, and now I have a cold. I know, I know, cry me a river.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

One or two people have e-mailed me to ask how I can like wicked weather when it's ruined lives and washed away homes. Well, of course I don't like it when it ruines lives and washes away homes. I also think trains are beautiful, but not when they hit people or crash.

I do love seeing nature's fury, when the sky turns charcoal and green and the winds toss the traffic lights and the rain creates pools of reflection in the street. Sometimes it's nice to walk around in a storm and be reminded of the power of this world you might be lucky enough to inhabit for 70-80 years.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

So no novelizing today. Boo.

I woke up this morning around 7 and drank in the cool fall air and heated up a b&w cookie started working on my novel. I got through pages 200 to 340 (the end), and it took me until just now. There are still things to be fixed, holes to be filled, but I really needed this time to focus and get through it. I stopped only for internet breaks, food, and yeah, to go to the bathroom.

This morning, the dentist's office called and left a message on my voicemail letting me know that there was a cancelation today, and if I want, I can have my root canal today instead of next month! (I passed.)

Woke up, put on clothes, didn't go to work.

We are having a wonderful thunderstorm. If the remnants of Ivan are this bad after it's been on land for days, I can now imagine how awful it was down south. Oddly, the first mention of it on this blog was August 27!

I think we've reached the midpoint of the worst here, because my barometer was down to 29.7 inches an hour ago and is starting to rise. The tropical depression is moving away, but it's still supposed to rain all day. We needed to cool off.

I just got an e-mail from a friend saying, "Best weather EVER." At last, people who understand me!

The fruit store near my house had, as of today, pumpkins! Big ones and little ones. It's pumpkin time.

At my writers' group meeting tonight, more than twenty minutes were spent recounting various Ali G episodes because someone brought up Ali G. At least five episodes were recounted, in proper accents. I sat there stone faced. It's not that I don't have a sense of humor. It's just - didn't Stuttering John do all this stuff ten years ago? He was asking serious people stupid questions long ago. He asked that Reagan impersonator, Jim Morris, what it was like to be with the Doors. Is it funnier with a lame accent?

Ali G, Tom Green....ZIERING.

I brought some of the beginning of my new novel to the group - part of the 15 pages that I've revised like 60 times in three years. Yes, I am STILL revising those 15 pages. The group didn't hate it or find it glaringly unreal. So that was good news. I think I'm done revising it for now. (Emphasis on "for now.")

Another topic of discussion at the group was whether to give money to homeless people. Two people said that they don't want to give to alcoholics. My feeling is, why is it ok for wealthy people to get themselves sauced, whereas homeless people, whose life sucks and actually have a good reason to get plastered, aren't allowed to? If they really are alcoholics (and how do you know?) they're going to drink anyway, so give them a buck and maybe they can eat, too. If you think I'm being funny, I'm not. Who are we to judge the lives of someone who lives on the street? I know you can't give to everyone. But don't kid yourself into thinking you're doing them a favor by withholding the money. They ask for it because they need it. Even if it doesn't turn their situation around. Even if you don't approve of what they're using it for. Maybe it will make them feel better for an hour. We all use money to do that for ourselves, don't we?

Finally, a guy at the writing group said that recently, he had a dream that his book got published. "And when you woke up," I said, "Did you say, 'Oh damn'?"

See if you can find a more Ziering Ziering than Tommy Puett. I dare ya!

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

This morning, Howard Stern was talking about "Zierings," stars like Ian Ziering who will never star in a show again after their first show (in this case, 90210) ends. He was trying to "guess the Ziering" on various shows.

This morning, as I was heading to work, the crossing guard at the corner apprised me of town events. "I called the emergency number this morning," she said. "Whenever it rains, the lights do this." She pointed toward the traffic lights, which were blinking instead of just turning red, yellow and green. "They're supposed to get a new box," she said, "but it costs $7,000 and the mayor doesn't want to pay for it. That's dangerous. This is a 8-way intersection!" Then she went and helped a kid across the street.

I got a press release today that made me laugh. It's from Citizens Against Government Waste. The headline says, "Hurricane Porky Blows Through Capitol Hill."

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

PR GUY TO ME ON THE PHONE, JUST NOW: Why is it that I'm the only one who thinks it's newsworthy just that we're here?
ME: I'm sure your mom thinks so.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Judy Blume is winning a major literary award today, as well she should. The Times notes:

"Ms. Blume has also made some updates in the books, like replacing the belts and pins that hold sanitary napkins in place in 'Are You There God?' with sticky strips to attach them directly to underwear."

Thanks for all of your advice on the dentistry. People seem to think that the estimate wasn't half bad. OK. I'm not giving up black and white cookies anyway.

Tonight was an excellently-hosted team trivia game in NYC run by Neil and Sarah. My team won, 99 percent due to the knowledge of Val, Bob and Phil in categories including musical theater, '80s TV, and Harry Potter. I had little to contribute except bad doodles and worse jokes.

Hello. This morning I woke up, put clothes on, went to work, and ate oatmeal.

My dentist sed I probably have to a have a root canal and a crown. It's normally $3,000 but they can do it for $1,800. Isn't that SWELL?

Does $3,000 (or $1,800) sound right to anyone? How do people pay for these? I mean, I can pay for it, but wow - that's a lot of money. My tooth doesn't even hurt.

Literary kingbreaker King Wenclaus of the Underground Literary Alliance has started a blog.

Didn't have a chance to input this conversation from Thursday:

ME: It's noon, and I haven't edited anything.
MY BOSS: I've got news for you. It's noon and I'm leaving.

Oh, cry me a river, Condit.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Satan's Laundromat seems to be appaled at a guy trying to sell picture books at Ground Zero: link.

I was on a road trip this weekend. Many observations, so I'll summarize, in no particular order:

1. The car I rented had a digital display that, for some radio stations, would scroll the name of the song playing and the artist. I guess some stations now input that information for radio displays. Maybe this is something everyone knew but me. Anyway, someday our kids will have that on all of their radios, and they won't be able to comprehend a time when we would hear a cool song, sit through six others to wait for the DJ to tell us what it was, and never find out anyway.

2. I went to a high school football game Friday night. I've been doing that for the last few years each fall, as part of something I'm writing. You can see everything that's right with the world there.

3. I learned even more about the weather at a seminar. So watch out! Here's a site that the junkies say they like: www.wunderground.com, the weather underground.

Have any of you read "At Home in the World" by Joyce Maynard yet? The best book to read during fall. If you read it, e-mail me and tell me what you think.

Have a happy Monday.

I won't be blogging this weekend, in honor of the Sept. 11 anniversary. I think there are people with better things to say right now. For those who say, "It was 3 years ago; get over it," well, it's still worth taking stock of the things we have every day, and thinking about how we can improve ourselves and our lives. I am thankful for many things, including the fact that people like you read my goofy writing. Have a nice weekend.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

A nice review of Square Two.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Thanks to Lori for forwarding this excellent puppy tale.

Nothing I'm posting today is coming out. That includes comments on people's blogs. Maybe some people will be able to see this. I won't.

Woke up, put clothes on, took photos of people waiting for the bus in the rain, went to work, ate oatmeal.

More fun New Jersey political dirt with wide-reaching implications is coming. This time it's the Republicans, and no one's coming out of the closet.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Today in America, we celebrate those who wake up, put on clothes (usually) and go to work!!

We do this by not working today.

Speaking of work, what would you do if you were Jewish and the guy making your sub at the sub shop used some anti-Semitic comments as he was carving up your sandwich? Would you say anything? Mr. NJWT wasn't sure.

Despite the fact that the hurricane is down in Florida, it's been pretty breezy up here today. Meanwhile, Hurricane Ivan could be the next threat.

For those who think I just randomly made up the term 'weather porn' yesterday, click.

Woke up, put on clothes, didn't go to work.

I think I've finished a draft of the first half of the novel. Now, there are no xxx's in it and I don't have to move things around. All that took is three years. There will be more revisions anyway.

Today's topic: People complaining about how press 'overcoverage' of the Sept. 11 anniversary. Listen, folks: The only reason that it seems like overkill is because every media outlet in the country covers it. The only way to avoid "too much coverage" would be if CBS and CNN voluntarily decided not to cover it because FOX and ABC were already doing it. Then they'd be negligent. It's an important event and has to be covered.

People also complained about the media covering the "duct tape" scenario. Well, we had the government telling us they'd raised the terror alert. People kept asking what they could do about it. No one was giving them an answer. And someone had a suggestion. It would have been unfair not to cover it. The media doesn't promote fear, and in fact, people aren't scared easily. They're still living in New York, skydiving and eating sushi. But they wanted to know if there was anything they could do, so someone gave a suggestion.

I will admit to one thing. We killed Princess Di!

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

At 11:34 a.m. I was getting on the PATH train, and a man in a WELCOME TO NEW YORK, NOW GET OUT t-shirt was getting off the train, and a man in a WELCOME TO NEW JERSEY - DON'T WORRY, WE HATE YOU TOO! shirt was getting on. Seriously!

Jon K. writes:

oatmeal, I'm
eating it;
apples and
spice

in dactylic monometer.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Valerie has posted a sexy weatherporn photo of Hurricane Frances. It's not going to hit us, though. Maybe this Tropical Storm, Ivan, will. Probably not. Anyway, within two weeks we'll be out of the woods regarding hurricanes for the year.

The word "HURRicane" is dactylic.

If you're here to read the dacylic entry Dawn just referred to, it's yesterday (Sept. 1)!

At the beginning of summer, I came up with a summer reading list for friends and blog readers. These are books I'd recommend -- some just plain fun, some more weighty, but all riveting reading. (I don't recommend reading that's a chore - trust me.)

But now the cool weather is here (thank god; better for writing) and there are two books that come to mind that are great to snuggle up in front of the fireplace with. One was also on my summer reading list. The other is not my favorite book ever but it's very readable, entirely appropriate for winter, and like other books I recommend, it's extremely compelling.

So click here for two books that are great autumn/winter reading. (And no, they're not mine.)

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Supportive Alan correctly points out that "My Favorite Things" is dactylic! He notes:

The message can be sung to "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music:

Itching dark urine and clay colored stools,
Odor that passes and smells like old mules,
Brown poopie pieces and pee-pee that stings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Today I got a piece of junk e-mail whose subject head impressed me, as it was written in dactylic monometer! Dactylic monometer is a fairly rare poetic meter, moreso in junkmail subject lines. Here was the subject head:

Itching, dark urine and clay colored stools

Or, properly versed:

Itching, dark
urine and
clay colored
stools.

It was actually written as "clay c()l()red st()()ls" so as to throw off junk mailers, but it was possibly also going for that cummings use of unusual punctuation and grammatical types. Even the capitalization is off.

Note carefully that the accent is always on the first of three syllables. Dactylic words are "beautiful" and "yesterday." "Itching-dark" and "urine-and" would also fall into the category, although in this case, the poet uses two words to achieve the DA-da-da DA-da-da effect.

So let's recap:

Itching dark
DA-da-da
Urine and
DA-da-da
Clay colored
DA-da-da
stools.

Maybe I will scan the actual message later to see which meter the poet used.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Despite being arrested, Michael of www.satanslaundromat.com managed to publish his usual excellent photos, these being of the convention. Read the entry from a day or two ago about his arrest.

Mickey writes: What kind of oatmeal did you NOT eat?

Plans are to wake up, put on clothes, go to work.

T-shirt spotting of the day: In midtown Manhattan, worn by an anti-RNC protestor, "Asses of Evil."

Some sad '80s news:

Laura Branigan, a Grammy-nominated pop singer best known for her 1982 platinum hit "Gloria," has died. She was 47.
Branigan died of a brain anuerysm Thursday in her sleep at her home in East Quogue, said her brother Mark Branigan. He said she had complained to a friend of a headache for about two weeks before she died, but had not sought medical attention.

Here's a report on stuff I did Friday.

Woke up, put on clothes, didn't go to work. Didn't eat oatmeal.

Will soon wake up, put on clothes, and go to work.

Links to some hot topics: 1. There's a hurricane way south of us. 2. A woman has accused William Kennedy Smith of rape again. 3. It's Friday!

Woke up, put clothes on, went to work.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work, ate oatmeal.

I hate August. It's boring and reeks of golden days about to end. Not a good month for all the shrinks to be away. But in eight days the month will be over, and it will feel like back to school (even if it isn't really).

Mickey writes: Good reporting involves more than this. Small details such as hot or cold, flavor and consistency add to the story and keep the attention of the reader. Take the story to the next level. Explain to the reader how the facts affect him or her. It requires a deeper look into the ramifications of such action upon society.

In other news... I got a lovely e-mail entitled "Your wonderful book" from a Pittsburghian, regarding my first novel. Thanks sooo much. It was sweet!

Some kids just came in to tour the newspaper. One precocious girl took delight in asking me questions that had nothing to do with newspapers:

GIRL: Do you like pizza?
ME: Yes.
GIRL: Do you like Care Bears?
ME: Uh...yes.
KIDS: Yay!
GIRL: Who would you rather have for president: Bill Cosby or Eddie Murphy?

The reaction has been overwhelming to the addition of oatmeal to my day!

Chris C. writes: What flavor?

I had bananas and cream, Chris.

D.B. writes: How many packets?

Two.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work, ate oatmeal.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Sometimes I eat oatmeal, also.

Woke up, put on clothes, didn't go to work.

THANK YOU.

The Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. Aug. 20, 2004 — A judge on Friday ordered a psychiatric evaluation for a doctor who told reporters he had an affair with the former aide accusing Gov. James E. McGreevey of sexual harassment...
The mental evaluation was ordered after Assistant Prosecutor Judy Gagliano listed a series of what she called "bizarre" statements attributed to Miller, including that he was a CIA operative and that a tenant has al-Qaida ties and would blow up public buildings, including the courthouse where the hearing took place.
Miller, who was arrested at his home in Livingston, remained in custody on $500,000 bail...
Authorities started investigating Miller after he made threats beginning Aug. 12 that increasingly raised concern, acting Essex County Prosecutor Paula T. Dow said.
"Our charges are not related to Golan Cipel," Dow said, "and we're not focused on that." Authorities noted that the investigation started before Miller made his statements about Cipel.
When asked how much general credibility Miller possessed, Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said, "zero."

Now let's find out if he's still practicing medicine. The reason he left his wife and kids years ago is probably not because he is gay. He probably is not even gay. And quite possibly, Golan Cipel isn't either.

Woke up, put on clothes, didn't go to work.

I did do some work today. I went to a "pug party" to take photos and write about the pugs. I will link to the article when it comes out.

It has been thundering; perfect writing weather.

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

Now the Associated Press has quoted the Post and Daily News as quoting the doctor who claimed to have an affair w/Golan Cipel. They didn't note that the guy claimed to be a CIA operative and raved in three languages during his half-naked press conference. O the hysteria.

The Village Voice just HAD to use this photo from Getty Images...go to the column all the way on the right, eight down, page 4.

The New York Post has outdone itself this time.

Their cover story is about an N.J. doctor claiming he had an affair with Golan Cipel. It’s only at the seventh or eighth paragraph that it notes that the guy was raving in three languages during his press conference. He also was wearing only shorts.
The Daily News, on the other hand, did not put this story on the cover. And close to the top of the Daily News article, they note, “Miller also claimed to reporters that he is a CIA operative who takes pills doled out by the intelligence agency to make his skin darker so he can infiltrate unnamed groups. He offered no mementos, letters or photos as proof of his relationship with Cipel.”
You have to question why a guy would hold a press conference to say he was someone’s gay lover, anyway. The Post should have at least put the press conference in the context of the guy being a raving “CIA operative.” But they’re not exactly known for quality journalism.
Whaaaat's next?

Woke up, put clothes on, went to work.

Woke up, put clothes on, went to work.

Dems want the gov'nor to resign early. He's saying no.

They were talking about the beach rumor on the radio this morning.

McGreevey rumor about the beach put to rest?

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

(Okay - that announcement was pre-recorded.)

Several people have found this page by looking for McGreevey jokes and talk. The last few days' entries have had some. By the way, read my books. (Shameless.)

This is way fun to go to if you're in NY: Punkmetalkaraoke.com.

T-shirts spotted this weekend:
(1) On a girl: "No one knows I'm a Lesbian"
(2) On a different girl: "MY bush could do a better job as President"

I'm glad that instead of people making jokes about NJ being corrupt or ugly, they're doing gay jokes. It's a nice relief.

Woke up, put on clothes, didn't go to work.

Another major writing weekend. I want to get my book done by the end of October.

McGreevey joke of the day: "There were suspicious about McGreevey before. When they were trying to choose the state song, everyone else wanted 'Born to Run,' and he wanted 'Mandy.'"

Non sequitur of the day from a conversation with my dad:

DAD: What are you doing this weekend?
ME: Mostly working on my novel.
DAD: Well, if you decide to get an SUV, there's a lot of money off.

He also kept telling me different things that happened on the Ali G show and kept saying, in the middle, "It's funny," which actually was funnier than whatever he was saying about Ali G, which wasn't that funny. Despite people continuing to try to convince me that it's funny. But someday, I probably will see it, and I probably will think it's funny.

I got an e-mail forward. Here's an excerpt

Top 10 McGreevey jokes

10. The New Jersey state bird: swallow.
8. New Jersey raises terror alert level to lavender.
7. We know he didn't like Bush, but this is ridiculous.
5. What do McGreevey and the Israeli Navy have in common?
Jewish seaman.

Don't ask about the others.

One of the biggest McGreevey rumors went around two years ago. This is it, quoted from the Morris Daily Record of NJ (in a column yesterday): "When he broke his leg walking along the beach in Cape May shortly after being elected, the official line was that the governor was with his wife, Dina. Insiders told a more intriguing story. They said the governor was romping on the beach with another man, not his wife. Dina, the rumors said, had to be transported to the scene by helicopter."

Hours from now, I will wake up, put on clothes, and not go to work.

This storm will be pretty weak after traveling on land to get to us. It might still be a nice break from the heat, though. There are two more stirring behind it.

It's pretty early. Our fiercest ones come in early September. Beware!

Woke up, put on clothes, went to work.

My main page has been getting a lot of hits for the last few days. I don't know if people are clicking on it to link to the hurricane maps, or what. I don't see anyone new linking to it, that I can tell. If you know, let me know.

Mickey asks:And also why is the emphasis on “consentual” affair? Aren’t all affairs consentual?

People are saying McGreevey is "courageous" for coming out of the closet. McGreevey said his affair was wrong.

NO, that's not what was wrong.

He met a 31-year-old Israeli tour guide in 2000 when he was mayor, and then when he became governor, said tour guide was apparently flown to America at the expense of the Democratic party. McGreevey hired the guy in 2002 to be the state's Homeland Security advisor at a salary of $110,000 per year.

In a state that had seen about 700 people die from the terrorist attacks next door just the year before.

He hired a guy whose only experience was having been in the Israeli Army. Which you are required to be in if you are Israeli.

And that guy is being mentioned in the press as the one who is expected to file a sexual harassment suit against McGreevey.

Don't put an entire state at risk to give your "friend" a job.

If that's what happened, then what's wrong.

I'll bet the spin on this story will look very different in a few days.

Rumors say there was a lawsuit threatened by the other man, which prompted this.

NJ Gov. McGreevey just announced, "I am a gay American...and I indulged in an adult consentual affair." He said his wife has been wonderful through the ordeal. (They have a kid, too). Wow. So, that's the news. This should provoke a lot of discussion, eh?

Our gov is resigning at 4, according to informed sources. I shall say no more. But there's more...