• work hasn’t hit full speed yet, but it will, probably just in time for the election, so I won’t promise a stream of brilliant commentaries I may not be able to deliver [Edit: Sarah laughed at my wording here, and she's right, it's a little off... but hey, you never know - I could say something useful on here, maybe...];
• I can only take so much of the mud-slinging (there may be irony and sexism worth slapping down, for example, in the pairing of the argument that Palin was chosen solely because of her gender with the argument that she shouldn’t have been chosen, because of her duties as a mom, but I can only handle so much of it while keeping sight of things that are more directly relevant to my own life); and
• there’s only so much commentary that is appropriate or useful. I may share my thoughts from time to time, but I’m doing my best to keep above the partisan sniping. That is, I may proudly stake out a position as a staunch conservative, and it will therefore not be too hard to figure out how I expect to vote, but I prefer commenting on the race per se to simply extolling the virtues or lamenting the flaws of any of the candidates. Thus, to the extent a topic or talking point makes any of the leading political blogs or a site like National Review, I’m proportionally less likely to blog about it; I don’t really like saying things that are redundant or unlikely to affect anybody’s views.

That said, yes, I thought Sarah Palin was fantastic. Yes, I think she’s an asset to the ticket, one which it would be very dangerous for the Obama/Biden campaign to underestimate. Yes, I think her future is a very bright one. Very bright, indeed.

• ed cottrell
• cottrell
• baker botts
• edblog
• “ed cottrell” blog

I assume some of those folks are my new co-workers. Hello! Don’t worry, all; it’s pretty harmless on here.

Some of the more specific searches from the last couple of days, from the relevant to the weird (all spelling errors original):

• enloe high school prank
• the shack book review [Ed. note: there are about 50 related searches...]
• the pros of conservatism
• zo’é (o anche poturu
• i hate coldfusion
• newcar tax consequences
• business ethics in perlis
• should online poker be legalized?
• funny quotes by category “about home”
• is houston under evacuation order? [Ed. note: there were a lot of searches similar to this one, too...]
• country with most mnuclear threat
• eleanor roosevelt look fear in the face
• july texas 2008 bar exam blog
• texas mandatory evacuation law
• the higher power of the shack

I can explain most of those. Not sure why I suddenly became a popular site for hurricane evacuation information or “most mnuclear threat,” though…

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, must have known it was coming, but he still sought divine intercession before tackling the question.

When a member of the audience here at a Gold Coast retirement compound asked him about Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, Senator John McCain’s designated running mate, Mr. Biden crossed himself before speaking. That drew a laugh from the overwhelmingly Jewish crowd of several hundred here at Century Village.

“The press has been asking me that question and I’ve not answered it for two reasons,” he said. “First of all, I don’t know the governor. There’s no reason not to respect her and I believe she’s qualified to be the vice president.“

Draw your own conclusions.

Source: Biden: ‘Children Are Off Limits’ - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com.

Hat tip: Lifehacker.

We hadn’t heard from BAR/BRI, at all, despite the fact that UPS delivered our packages some time ago. You see, we very carefully sent them in two separate packages addressed one by each of us, because of the likelihood that somebody would get confused, only record one, and try to stiff us $600. Of course, come to find out, somebody got confused, anyway, by the arrival of two iPods from people with the same address and last name. So, he recorded one of them, put me down for a refund, and put Sarah down for $600 of incompetence fees. When I called to figure out what was going on, the lovely young lady on the other end - after misspelling my name repeatedly, refusing to believe my name is Ed, refusing to listen to which way Sarah spells her name, getting confused, crashing a computer, putting me on hold, dropping my call, and explaining that the status on her computer was irrelevant because all refunds are processed promptly and without fail - insisted to me repeatedly that it was all my fault for sending them in one box and, thanks to the intrepid warehouse staff of BAR/BRI Texas, my incompetence has now been rectified, restoring the perfect record of BAR/BRI’s database.

Sigh.

Only in Seattle could an event touted as a way to help the environment get washed out during what is supposed to be the driest time of the year.

Car-free days is part of Mayor Greg Nickels’ campaign to encourage people to walk, bike or take mass transit.

One neighborhood is closed off to car traffic during selected weekends this summer.

Favorite quote:

“I think it promotes awareness of whatever we’re promoting awareness of,” said resident Thomas Hubbard.

Well, obviously!

First of all, I think this kind of thing is entirely fair game. Secondly, it’s hilarious. Thirdly, ouch. What better way to make the point that, in fact, a man who has spent more time running for President than not since his election to the Senate is not qualified to win?

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin » It’s Smarmy and Smirky ‘08!.