Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Batting a thousand

Today is my six-year anniversary at this job. I just attempted to look in the archives, to see how many stories I had in there, and the system maxed out at 1,000. In April, 2005. You can do the math on how many stories I've written during my tenure based on that -- I'd rather not.

At least I have Lil Mama to comfort me.

It's that day again

Six years later, it is easy to make offhanded jokes about Sept. 11., and you can count me among the guilty in that regard. It was a terrible, terrible day followed by yet more terrible days, and I find the only way to cope with such sheer awfulness is to try to find some levity. Anyway, I am going to try and go against my nature for a moment in order to remember someone who was lost that day.

Shortly before Sept. 11, John Willett, my dad's friend and a classmate in the MBA program they'd both recently graduated, took a job with Cantor Fitzgerald (a company that would lose 658 of its employees in the attacks). I heard lots of stories about John from my dad, but only met him once, when the two picked me up at the airport. I remember joining with my dad in teasing him about a fellow classmate he had a crush on. She was cute, he was smitten and he had been convinced to do her work for her. Ah, boys. It's hard to believe I'm the same age he was when he died. Anyway, this is what my dad wrote about him in the days following:

John was a good guy, a hard worker, had brilliant business sense. He was funny and reveled in his bizarre - and sometimes bad - tastes. Most importantly, he remained idealistic to the core. He lost a job and career in politics because he decided to blow the whistle on corruption in Missouri. He lost many weeks and weekends when he could have been studying or putting a new career together because he continuously had to return to Missouri and testify against the bad guys.

It’s a shame to lose him.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Everything you've heard about the Lifetime network is true

Saturday, I watched a made-for-TV Lifetime movie (Too Young to Be a Dad, which was totally Canadian-riffic) that was so estrogen-packed, I started my period a week early. Wowsers.

Here's what an Amazon reviewer had to say about the movie (which is packaged with the surely-awesome, Mom at Sixteen:

[Matt] is an [honor student]-or should I say-a "DISHONORABLE" student-who without thinking, goes to bed with a classmate named [Francesca Howell] (played just as terribly by Katie Stuart), and gets her pregnant. He should've been arressted for statutory rape, and for stealing a pregnancy test kit from a drug store. He did realize he'd have to pay for his consequences. Later he and [Francesca] did sign an agreement to put up their baby up for adoption after it was born. The adoption wouldn't be final for six months. When the baby-a girl-was born, [Matt] wanted to see it and hold it. When he did, he decided to keep the baby. It was a stupid idea on his part, for he'd have to take on all the responsibilities of raising the baby all by his stupid self.
This movie was about doing the wrong thing.