TGIF, indeed. This has been a long week, and Friday is at least a day late. I can’t wait to get this over with. Not only is this the last day of the week, it’s the last day of November. Damn, it’ll be 2008 before you know it.

It slipped my mind, but yesterday was the blog’s second birthday (that’s 14 in blog years). Seems like a lot longer ago to me. A lot of people have passed by here in the last two years. Over 300,000 visits. Some regulars, some lurkers, some who’ve come and gone (and even come back again).

Two years ago, I didn’t know if anybody would actually come over here, or, if they did, how long after the show was over that interest would die out, and that would be the end of that. It’s hard to believe this place not only outlived both MS and the Mark Maron Show, but the first version of AAR itself (and it may damn well be around for the end of the AAR 2.0 era – such as it is – too).

That’s not too shabby for a show that never got any promotion, was on in the middle of the night on the West Coast (if it was on at all), forced many of us to jump through all sorts of hoops just to listen to it, and required both a brain and sense of humor to appreciate.

It really was something special.

I think the best thing about this whole HD thing has been Dan Rather Reports on HDNET. Aside from the rather stunning HD picture, it’s the kind of quality news reporting that you just don’t get on the regular teevee anywhere else. In addition to Dan Rathere, they also have two other excellent news shows – In Focus, and World Report. You have to hand it to Mark Cuban. He really seems to be putting money into this thing.

Well, that was just about the longest Monday on record. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open all day long. I have no idea what’s going on in the world, except I’m getting pretty tired of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And Cheney lives to see another day. I’m getting pretty tired of him, too. I’m getting pretty tired of just about everything, actually. Mostly, I’m just pretty tired.

Man, I really don’t feel like going back to work today. After four days off, this is shaping up to be one really long week. And now Elizabeth Kucinich is saying that Dennis would “definitely consider” Ron Paul as his running mate? Oy.

A pretty nauseating Press the Meat on store for us today, Timmy Potatohead hosts the odd couple of James “Cupie Doll” Carville and Mary Matalin, plus Bob Shrum and republican creep Mike Murphy.

No clue who’s on Faze the Nation today, and I don’t much care.

Over at Fux News, Weaselface Wallace hosts grandpa Fred Thompson plus Carl Levin and Li’l Lindsey Graham. And apparently Ashley Judd is making the rounds again.

On the Goebbels network, George Snufalufagus hosts Chipmunk Cheeks McCain, and Bill Richardson, then it’s a roundtable with everybody’s favorite gay Republican, Andy Sullivan, ABC News Putz Jon Karl, and Cokie “the Hag” Roberts, and finally Marlo Thomas gets dragged out of mothballs.

Wolf Blitzer has Huckleberry Huckabee, Ayad Allawi, and schmuck from the National Review, Ron Brownstain.

Later, on 60 Minutes, Steve Kroft interviews The Eagles (the band, that is), Lesley Stahl does a story on high-tech thieves stealing customer financial records, and Anderson Cooper does a story on minimally conscious people (Republicans, I guess).

Have a good one.

I was thinking I needed to go and see who’s on the boobleheads today, and then I realized, hey, it’s not Sunday. It’s only Saturday. Cool.

Alright folks, time to get out there and stimulate the economy. I can’t, because I have to wait for the satellite guy to come. Sometime between eight and noon. Of course, if I’d happened to sleep in a little late (never happen; why is it when I have to get up and go to work, all I want to do is stay in bed, but when I can sleep in, I’m wide awake at the crack of dawn), he’d be here at 8 on the dot, but since I’m up and ready, he’ll be here two minutes to twelve. Oh well, beats going to work.

I do my fair share of pissing and moaning about life, but, truthfully, I have a pretty good thing going here, and have plenty to be grateful for – today, and every day of the year. This year, I’m particularly happy that I have my doggy home, safe and sound. Wouldn’t have been the same without him this year. I’m happy I have a job (even though I don’t especially like it), unlike far too many people who are facing the holiday season wondering where they’re going to get the money to pay the rent and put food on the table – never mind being able to scrounge up enough to buy a present or two for their kids. I’m thankful for my wife, who inexplicably puts up with me, pain in the ass that I am (I think it has something to do with keeping the Internet going). And I’m really grateful that I live in a day and age when I can sit in bed surfing the Internet on a computer that’s something like 1,000 times faster (and 15 times lighter) than what they used to get to the moon and back, and be connected to people and places all over the world, whom I’d never have “met” otherwise – like you guys.

So, here’s wishing all my virtual friends (and your non-virtual families) a very Happy Thanksgiving (even if it does fall on the 44^th anniversary of the JFK assassination) .

I really can’t wait to get this day over with. But I already don’t want to go back to work on Monday. Have a good one.