Back to the news, in all its depressing grandeur

Maya's messing with our usual nighttime bliss a bit more often as of the last few days. Our instinct is that she's going through something of a growth spurt. Or maybe the fact that she's napping a bit more has caused a disruption in her standard 10-hour conk-fest. I shouldn't even mention it since that's probably bad karma. But in case you see increasingly erratic postings (2am one day, 4pm the next) in the weeks ahead, at least I've got the excuse out there for all to speculate on.

I haven't offered much in the way of newsy shtick in recent days, but that's certainly not because there's a lack of scary goofiness in the mix. Iraq discussions are dominating the Old Guard news horses - Dubya's tone-deafness at this morning's silly two questions from a side newser with the Iraqi Prime Minister, Rummy's petulance in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, Abazaid disputing in everyway but actually answering Cheney's claim that the insurgency "is in its final throes," and the daily drumbeat of attacks that now sound like static in the background of our collective lives given that we're nearing 850 days in Iraq with no end in sight. We can still be shocked, though - such as the over-the-top and I believe entirely inappropriate photo on the front o' the NYTimes this morning showing a burned Iraq bombing victim. What's coming in the days ahead? Dubya's giving a primetime address next Tuesday. The Bushies will possibly need to further defend Karl Rove's atrocious speech from this week saying that, in effect, the Dems are pussies and want more dead American soldiers in Iraq to bolster their, well, pussiness. No news from Iraq would be the only real good news for the Bushies these days. I deeply fear the long, hot summer in Iraq won't let that be the case. Ick.

On the more personal domestic stage, I have come to believe in the last few days that Circuit City is essentially a large Ponzi scheme and that those little "registration" cards that companies insert in any new product you buy are entirely for their benefit (just try calling a manufacturer to find what they've got for you on file - in my case, bupkis). I've reached this conclusion in trying desperately to get just the shipping info necessary to replace/repair our not-so-old but entirely-busted digi camera. The camera will finally hit the mail today. And cause we're missing out on irretrievable yet random moments of Mayaness, I'll pick one up to get us through the expected limbo hereafter. If anyone's got a particular bias or love for a camera company and product, I'd love to hear from you on the subject. Regardless, we'll get some new shots up soon.

Oh, and after getting contacted by a local news station (KRON4) about a syndication aggregator project their working on with local bloggers, I've taken the first steps in that direction for and the Family Buick. If you've got a newsreader habit and want to get my posts hot off the presses, use the Feedburner or Atom links in my sidebar. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, ask one of the counter geeks at your local comic book or computer store. Or just check back when you get a chance, like our ancesters did way back in the late 90s. Either way, rock on.