Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.
I cduoln't blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rseaercehr at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh, and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on.

New York, NY
Washington, DC (I believe only once for a firm outing)
Charlotte, NC
Naples, FL
Cancun, Mexico
Barcelona, Spain
Toledo, Spain
Madrid, Spain (probably my favorite non-US city ever)
Zurich, Switzerland (if only the airport)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Jerusalem, Israel
Haifa, Israel (site of the most beautiful thing I've ever seen)
Efrat, Unclear
Faliraki, Greece

I'm a little surprised, but I don't think I stopped in Providence or Philly at all this year.

It looks like I'm wrong, though: the Texas Republican Party can't wait until October. Check out what you can buy now at the Texas Republican Party Convention:

Thanks to my good friend Mark Nickolas at Political Base for the catch. You stay classy, Texas GOP.

UPDATE: I forgot one more thing, and it's always, always worth noting: how much attention would this story get if it were Democrats pulling a stunt like this?

Seriously. It would be a major story for weeks, and the GOP would use it as evidence of Democrats being rotten to the core for years. This person would become the latest in the long line of Ted Kennedy/Hillary Clinton/Howard Dean villains to complete the Democratic storyline.

If I hear anything about this on Tuesday, I'll be surprised.

UPDATE AND NOTE TO SELF: I should stop writing these things when I haven't slept in 36 hours. You know how sometimes people are listening to something, and they all have dumb stares because they're inattentive and don't understand what's going on? The Supreme Court was the opposite of that. Somebody would say something and I'd think "that's unbelievably smart." That's what I meant.

Then Aaron told me that Stefan had found a publisher, which then reminded me of that annoying old Xerox ad that ends with "and now everyone can get published!" I mean, I could find a publisher. I couldn't find a good publisher, but I could go around calling myself "a published author" if I felt like it.

Then I discovered that Stefan's publisher is some joint called Random House, his book was being translated into 11 languages, he was going on a book tour, and it was getting reviewed by major critics. That sounded absurd, but I thought, well, I'll believe it when I see it.

I've seen it. Stefan's book comes out tomorrow, and courtesy of Aaron, here are some excerpts from reviews:

---
Janet Maslin of The New York Times described his novel as:

"[an] emotional roller coaster ... 'The Story of Forgetting' is as
true to the anguish of [its] questions as it is ablaze with love and
vitality ... Mr. Block taps into the life force that gives [his
characters] a human, heart-wrenching answer ... a fresh, beguiling
novel."

---
Tina Jordan of Entertainment Weekly claims that:

"Block weaves together his disparate narrative strands with a deft
hand, tingeing his tale with a lovely touch of the fantastic."

---
Melissa Katsoulis of The Financial Times states that his novel is:

"Blisteringly good ... The redemptive qualities of storytelling are
gloriously displayed in this astonishing first novel, which confirms
Block as a strong new talent."

---
Publishers Weekly in a Starred Review has stated that:

"... this astounding debut captures an air of the fantastical while
presenting one family's heartfelt battle with Alzheimer's ... Block
displays an innate gift for developing believable characters each with
his own distinct voice. The result is a story that's compulsive and
transporting."

---
Mike Shea of Texas Monthly raves that:

"STEFAN MERRILL BLOCK is a talent ... [he] can write big: By tracing
[a] lineage through generations, he gives his narrative scope and
power. But it's the intimate moments--husbands, wives, sons, and
daughters devastated by the effects of Alzheimer's--that make The Story
of Forgetting, well, unforgettable."

---
Steve Giegerich of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch claims that Stefan's
novel is:

"nuanced yet intensely personal literature ... [Block's] investment in
vivid character development pays off handsomely in a tightly
structured narrative that moves flawlessly from start to finish ...
The brilliance of 'The Story of Forgetting,' poetic and spiritual, is
undeniable."

---
Kirkus Review claims that

"...what makes this novel special is Block's grasp of the emotional
devastation wrought by Alzheimer's ... the melancholy that must
accompany even the closest bonds once this disease has struck. A
sensitive fictional interpretation of family tragedy."

---

So, suffice it to say that Stefan's book is kind of a big deal. I will buy it at the launch party because I'm so awesome and supportive, but I am pretty sure it will be a passable read. The Financial Times said so!

I first met the AG when the interns were shepherded into a small room in groups of about 30 at a time to hear him speak. I found out later that a lot of his anecdotes were taken from his stump speech, but he seemed at once fresh, innovative, brilliant, and above all else a friendly and normal guy who just happened to be unbelievably good at both politics and the law. I was a believer. Best of all, we got photos with him, as a group, and I was slick enough to stand right next to him in our photo. We got the photos back a few weeks later: I looked great, the AG looked great, and the photo was too blurry to make out much of anything besides our identities. Still, it was a real treat to meet him.

The next time I met Eliot Spitzer was after he became governor of New York. I was helping out the Edwards campaign on some of their NYC fundraisers, which mostly meant that I stood around at a table in front and checked people in to the art gallery or ridiculous Upper East Side condo hosting the event. One night, we realized that the apartment, while enormous, had no natural place to put the table, so we just set up shop in the building's lobby as the residents came and went around us. The setup was a little weird, but the evening went by without incident until one of the residents walked in. "Hey governor," I said, and sure enough, Eliot Spitzer just so happened to live there. He graciously came over and talked to us poor schlubs for a couple of minutes, though I'm sure he didn't feel like it at the end of a long day. Again, he was charming and friendly.

I've met a fair number of politicians, and they are almost always underwhelming in person. I don't hold it against any of them, since neither charisma nor brilliance is really part of the job description. Still, being around Eliot Spitzer felt like a genuinely rare experience: meeting someone supremely talented who was actually living up to his potential while still being a nice guy. I was sure Spitzer would become president someday, even after his shaky first year as governor. I assumed that this Princeton/Harvard Law guy, with his limitless ambition, bold policies, and alpha-male personality, needed an experience like this, where he'd get smacked down for the first time in his life and finally learn humility. The last piece of the puzzle.

I guess it doesn't matter how badly that photo turned out. I've cared about politicians who have lost. I've cared about politicians who have been caught up in scandals. I've cared about politicians who have made me proud even if they couldn't come through in the clutch. I've just never felt let down before. I guess it's one thing if a politician turns out to do something so colossally unexpected that you have no idea to react. I'm certainly surprised that Eliot Spitzer was involved in prostitution, but I thought he had moved past the arrogance of thinking he could do that kind of thing and have a successful political career too. I guess I just thought this was the kind of bad habit that could be fixed with a little effort.

Maybe it's tougher than that, and it's unfair to expect someone to fix their unfortunate personality traits once they're elected to high office. It would be a shame if that were true. Governor, I'm sorry this is the end. I really hoped.

Unless he rhymes a few more upcoming wars with Beach Boys songs, in which case I'll support him pretty vigorously.

Clinton 31
Obama 28
Edwards 24

Republicans:

Romney 35
Huckabee 28
McCain 18

That is not how I want it to go, but that's my guess.

What's that? A big explosion in a modern-day city? Where have I seen that before?

It can only be ...

That's right: CHRONO TRIGGER: THE MOVIE. This is all misdirection: get ready for a time travel adventure!

(P.S. In all seriousness, I would much, much prefer Chrono Trigger: The Movie to whatever the hell this actually is.)

From the Onion today: "Red Sox Attempt To Break Fabled 'Curse Of Relief Pitcher Curtis Leskanic'"

"Ending the curse against the Rockies will just make it that much sweeter," said Boston resident Terry McMahon. "Not even Curtis Leskanic can stop this team!"

1. Red Sox
2. Phillies
3. Cubs
4. Rockies
5. Indians
6. Angels
7. Diamondbacks
8. The end of baseball as we know it
9. President Giuliani
10. Yankees

This means in the Division Series I'm rooting for the Red Sox, Indians, Phillies and Cubs. Playoff baseball!

KING OF SWORDS: where's your sword?

I also talked to the new president, who despite not having collegiate administrative experience seems to be really on the ball, i.e. he acted interested in what I had to say. Seriously, I think he'll be fine, but what do I know.

Anyway, onto the pictures. I took these with my new digital camera, so I have no idea what the settings are or why everything looks so blurry. It's a relatively inexpensive camera (AND I bought it with Lexis points, seriously) so maybe it's just not good enough. Anyway, I have about a 30-pixel-wide column here, so I'm linking each photo to itself so you can see more than the left quintile of it. Comments below each shot.

OK, this is scene-setting. My alma mater has a pretty campus!

Another scene-setter. The class of 2002 stayed in Comfort. (For everyone who didn't go to Haverford or live around there, that is actually the name of a dorm, and it's named after a real person. The traditionally fratty house is named after a guy named Drinker. I'm not making this up.)

I know, this is just getting excessive. But that was the last shot of stuff that looks the same as it always did.

So I seemed not to have any problems graduating from a college with the world's largest rubber floor as its basketball court and a dank pit for its cardio room, but evidently modern students needed the campus center green to have a gigantic athletic center in the middle of it.

Yeah, so it's an understated building, except that it's enormous and has "HAVERFORD" spelled out in giant red letters on the side that light up at night. (That's actually true.) In retrospect, my biggest regret in taking my new camera's original 16mb memory card to the reunion is that I can't show the walkway between the Coop and the new athletic building. It's actually really nice: on the right there's a hill curving down into a flower garden, and on the left there's a series of outdoor tables (with umbrellas? I don't remember) that would have been really nice in the warmer months. These kids have no idea how good they have it.

Here's Exhibit A. Again, the cardio room when I went there was a dank pit. It seriously was the wrestling room, until they decided it was too grimy for wrestling, and they threw in (literally) like two treadmills, an elliptical, a rowing machine, a Nautilus and some free weights. We did just fine without "space" or "a nice view" or "natural light." When I first saw this place I seriously almost went in and started screaming at the kids in there. A little abject terror would be good for the little SOBs. I'll move on.

OK, so on to the Coop, which has been completely redone. I apologize for the bars; it was closed when the alumni showed up so it was hard to get a good shot. Again, what kind of place is the Coop if they sell more than grilled cheese sandwiches and fries? Also, I forgot to check, but does this look like they took out Skeeters or what? Who's with me on bringing cheese-filled breadsticks national? It'd be bigger than pizza!

This is more or less a shot from the same place, 180 degrees turned around. I counted only two HDTVs in the Coop, which I think is what we had in there too. (Actually, for the record, when we went it was almost impossible to find anywhere on campus where we could watch WWF. No, we didn't have cable in the dorms.) Also, note the restaurant-quality tables. Seriously, did they decide that prospective students and their families who go to the eatery directly next door to the admissions office just might want to see something that makes them think the facilities might be nice enough to justify $40,000/year? What would give them that impression?

OK, now I'm just bitter. Note the DC has a better drink selection too. The DC has the same ice cream dispenser that you can see in the Coop photo too; no answer on whether it works 35% of the time.

There's a kindergarten by the cricket house!!! I have no idea who goes there, if it's children of faculty or staff or just some new revenue trick. Hopefully the presence of children around is convincing the college students to start asking each other out and stop turning each other down, but that's probably too much to ask. Also, I can still remember the first time I went in that cricket house on the left; it was a week ago when I went to reunion and drank.