Josh Gracin. Why does this twangy fool irritate me so? I've been Googling him to get some more information on his status and it's all annoyingly vague and largely supportive. It's disgusting that this guy is living it up in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills, "pursuing his dream," supposedly using his leave-time to remain on the show. Granted, he's not infantry (some kind of maintenance) but the fact of the matter is that we're at war, some of his unit IS deployed and it's a total insult to the other kids who, if not actually in Iraq risking their lives, are confined to their bases awaiting orders. I wish Jessica Lynch would be next week's celebrity judge and they gave her a pair of pliers to show the fat little fuck what she likely went through while he was mangling pop songs on national TV.

Stomach's feeling all better now and I've recovered from the funk I was in Monday night. Mentally gearing up for our three-week run of semi-finals. Seve came up with a great idea: a betting pool for the semis! Laid it all out and everything. I tweaked it a little bit and turned it into a 50/50 to raise a little money for the team and make it a bit less cannibalistic. We'll see how many people play along. Have to say I like how the nights shook out with none of them having a clear top three. Of course, I've got an opinion on how they'll play out, not to mention a preference, but I'll save that (the opinions; the preferences stay secret) for right before each show and post my picks right before I leave work each Monday.

Been thinking about PSI and how much I hate the beauracratic sloth it's become. I've said it before but the time might have finally come for something else. The whole form has stagnated, its only redeeming aspect being access to all. There's gotta be ways to retain that while reinvigorating the edge it used to have. Pretty sure I've pissed Marc Smith off with my recent comments. Whatever, truth is truth and a President for Life is nothing more than a dictator, no matter how benevolent he may seem. Between the anti-war statement debate that he effectively squashed to the Nationals registration fiasco that might see the whole Bay Area locked out of Chicago, things are ripe for change. Want to play with some ideas over the summer in anticipation of those changes.

Speaking of changes, Monday nights are about to undergo another evolution. Reintroducing louderJAM is just the first step. I want to redefine what we do at 13. The last five years have been great but I'm worried we're falling into a rut, like the Nuyorican minus the tourist appeal. We'll still do the slams but the format itself needs to be freshened up. More on that another time.

Did some writing at lunch yesterday. Haven't done that in ages. Ginna hit us with some writing exercises and I used one, combined with an idea from my Writer's Block. Didn't get far but just getting the juices flowing was a good thing. Funny, after years of trying to write something about my Army experiences, it's the only thing that's been coming to mind recently. If only emails were poems!

That's all for now. Today's web site: http://www.miniusa.com Yum!