As punishment for not taking him to the park yesterday, Fritz insisted on getting me up at 5:30 this morning. But, what the hell, I wasn’t actually sleeping anyway. I wanted to be able to listen to Final Engagement while I cut the grass today, so I converted it to mp3 (for my own personal use, not for distribution, and still – as far as I know – covered under fair use). When I did, I noticed that the first minute and a half of the first track is silence. What’s up with that? Hard to believe it got released that way (not that it’s a big deal; just curious).

Speaking of Maron, I hope we hear from anyone (Vernon) who caught him and Janeane last night. Those of us who live in areas where they apparently will never come need to live vicariously through you, you know.

I made the mistake of leaving the teevee on after the morning news, and accidentally exposed myself to the weekend Today Show, which is – amazingly – even more banal than the weekday fare. I didn’t really catch any of it, but I saw that they’d trotted out Elizabeth Edwards again, and the Today Show twit (no clue who she is) was grilling her about whether she was confident that John had “told her everything.” Jeebus, OK, we get it already. Johnny’s a scumbag (frankly, I still wish he’d been elected President, though I suppose he’d have probably disappointed me in the end, too).

Aw, that's so goddamn cuteThey did, however, have a story about a hound dog and an orangutan that met on a wildlife preserve and have become the best of friends. I have to admit, this was the cutest damn thing I’ve seen in a long time.

Now they’re doing a fascinating story on spray tanning. I kid you not. Dave Garroway, John Chancellor, Hugh Downs, and Frank McGee must be so proud. Well, Hugh Downs, anyway. The rest of them are just rolling in their graves.

Oh well, time for a little Renovation Nation on Planet Green, until it’s late enough to cut the grass (assuming it stops raining).