Nader-cisstic

Can one get any more irrelevant than Ralph Nader?

Obviously Mr. Nader has not been paying attention. Had he taken the cue of other washed up icons who have attempted to reemerge on the public consciousness, he surely would have chosen that most democratic of vehicles, the reality show. Witness the arc of Hulk Hogan, Flavor Flav, Bret Michaels, Run, any member of any past cast of The Surreal Life, and any past competitor on Dancing with The Stars. All of these once-famous stars have re-captured the public imagination, squeezing another 15 minutes out of our collective attention tube. In so doing they have both reminded us of their singular brilliance and showed us another side to their personalities. Who didn't love seeing Jerry Rice dance across the ballroom after years of dancing away from potential tacklers?

Or look to Al Gore. Defeated, bearded, obscure Al Gore, who went from sheepish loser to Nobel Laureate. Why? Because he hit us where it counts: directly in front of our glassy eyes.

The fact that Mr. Nader chose a mainstream Sunday morning news program to announce his candidacy, rather than launching a new reality program (imagine a house with Nader, H. Ross Perot, both Doles, and Michael Dukakis, for example), shows just how out of touch with voters he really is.

Snow Day ?!

I have hereby determined that people in this area are complete and utter Wusses when it comes to winter weather.

We have 2, maybe 3 inches on the ground, and all the area schools have closed. Last night, I was speaking at a college info\ program, and the organizer commented that we would be done in plenty of time for folks to "go to the grocery store" to stock up in preparations for being snowed in. I arrived at the office this morning, and it's a skeleton crew--only the people who live right in town are here today.

It's a far cry from the hearty midwestern attitude toward winter weather that I grew up with...

Ahh, Heck I don't know...

I guess I'd vote for Barack?

All of this inexperience, he's-done-nothing-but-campaign-for-President-since-being-elected-to-the-Senate, yada yada concerns me, of course, not to mention the ruthless attacks that are sure to come in the general election...especially when their truthfulness is less important than their sting (Swiftboat anyone?) but if the biggest buffoon in the history of the world can be President for 8 years, does any of that lack of experience matter?

I guess what I'm saying is, does it really matter what your qualifications are to become President of the USA? Why not pick someone who looks good on TV, who can talk to the country with an optimistic message, and make us feel slightly less miserable about the state of affairs?

For the first time in this drawn out process, I'm actually looking forward to tonight's debate.

DVD Wars

Right, so the big news coming out of Cuba and Pakistan is kinda hogging the headlines, rightly so, of course... But today we also learned of the outcome of the DVD wars. Seems the death knell has been sounded for HD DVD, and Blu Ray is declared the winner.

Now, I really didn't follow this--didn't have a horse in the race, and honestly don't know the technology that well. But I gotta say, how could it have possibly turned out differently? No way something named Blu Ray was going to lose to the confusing mouthful of HD DVD. In purchasing an HD TV, why, Joe Consumer might ask, do I need to get a brand new HD DVD player? But Blu Ray--that's a value add.

The Eagle Has Landed

So yesterday was the big day. Valentine's Day.

There were cards, there were flowers, there were chocolates... but Barb, our front desk greeter/applications secretary extraordinaire, received the best Valentine from her husband.

Swoop.

He's the third one from the left, and for all of you non-Philadelphia Eagles fans out there, he's their mascot.


Swoop did a great job, making all the girls swoon with his gifts: flowers, heart-shaped box of candy, Eagles ball-cap, T-shirt, and the best of all, miniature Swoop doll.

And of course, Mike (Barb's husband) won the prize for Best Valentine.

Thinking of you, Doll

It's times like these, getting things ready for a big admissions program, when I think of Doll Dorsey. Doll worked in the admission office at Case Western Reserve University for what seemed like forever. She was kind. She was wise. She gave it to you straight. She was one of the best people I've ever known.

We lost Doll a little over a year ago. Cancer. Happened pretty fast. Publicly, anyway.

I remember one year when I was totally slammed, trying to get the confirmation packets out to the finalists for Case's prestigious Pre Professional Scholars Program. It was one of those typical things--get their admission letter, make sure it's signed by the Director, include with it their 'hey, you are so darn special that we're inviting you as a finalist letter,' and a bunch of other stuff, carefully place it all in the *right* Fed Ex envelope, and send them off. And as per usual, I needed to get this done before heading out on a recruiting trip the next morning.

So there I am, at the office, it's after 5, it's after 6, it's after 7, and I still have a mountain of work in front of me. By this time, the only people left in the building were my sorry ass and Doll--who was notorious for keeping late hours at work. Around 8 Doll popped her head into the work room where I was sweating away. She had her coat on, hat on, bag on her shoulder. She took one look at me, and dropped her bag, took off her hat, took off her coat, and got to work. She waved off my lame protests that she go home, and did what only the most bighearted people would do.

Make no mistake--she saved me that night. It wasn't the first time. I'm sure it wasn't the last time. And I wasn't the only one she helped out like that.

Doll was a treasure. I miss her.