Let’s hear it for Jimmy Carter, who secured the release of Aijalon Gomes from North Korea. Republican Presidents piss the world off, and Democratic ex-Presidents smooth things over. I guess. Though I suppose the North Koreans aren’t quite as endeared to Harry Truman as we all are.

In other exciting news, my new Kindle has yet to ship, but is expected to ship today and be delivered Monday. I’m rather looking forward to getting it. There are a boatload of free books available for it, and there are ways, to, um convert other books that are out there to a Kindle-readable format. I’d been resistant to the whole e-reader thing, but it looks like the Kindle 3 is a winner, and I’m looking forward to getting back to reading something other than reference books again.

But I guess the most exciting news (from my perspective, anyway) is that, pending the results of the inspection, which is now my only ‘out,’ it looks like we bought a house. Thank goodness for the shitty housing market and low interest rates, ‘cuz I’d never be able to afford this (let alone be willing to actually shell out the bucks) otherwise. On the dark side, though, I’ll really miss my brand new appliances, and I won’t be able to quit my job anytime soon (not for at least 15 years, anyway). Good thing I don’t work for USA Today.

Oh well, time to get my act together and close out this week.