I haven't been sleeping well. Too depressed. I stare at the ceiling, then at the glowing lights on the clock. When I finally get to sleep, I have anxiety dreams, with my own pantheon of archetypes. The unattainable lover, the high school clique that does not include me, being lost, trying to run and not being able to.

On the plus side, if there is one, I have no appetite. I've always made jokes about the High Stress diet, and how it is my only successful one. I ought to be in negative sizes by the end of the year.

I'm off to build a new web site from an old one. Chicken salad from chicken shit, speciality of this house.

The Rude Pundit is in rare form (even for him) this morning. Here's the first paragraph, after that, you should just follow the link and read the whole thing.

"Aww, yeah. It’s on now, motherfuckers, it's on now. Deciding that it was time to treat the Bush campaign like he treated whores in Saigon, John Kerry went to town on the President and the Swift Boat Vets for "Truth" in a speech yesterday to the International Association of Fire Fighters. In so many words, Kerry said, in essence, "Bitch, you talk smack about me, I'm gonna fuck you in the ass until you bleed. You wanna fuck with me? Don't send your attack poodles out - come at me like a man so I can turn you into the little bitch you are, you fuckin' deserter." Of course, nothing else Kerry said in that speech was reported, including promises to make up for the cuts in funding for new equipment that Bush has inflicted on fire fighters."

Some days, it's worth getting up, you know?

Other days, not so much. It looks like it's one of those other days in New York City, today (thanks to the Punk Princess for this):

"Mayor Michael Bloomberg, already under fire for his tough stance against anti-GOP protest groups, yesterday suggested that First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly are "privileges" that could be lost if abused."

Excuse me? My constitutional rights are now privleges? Can you say "Fascist"? I knew you could. What an asshat. This is why I was leery of the POTUS's plans to move the military from abroad to stateside. It's hard to have a military takeover if your military is outside of the Fatherland, uh, Homeland.

Tromp. Tromp. Tromp. The sound of the jackboots in the streets.

Has got to be "no". Because nobody around my office ever seems to be able to figure out what it means.

Him: Do you have stock photography?

Me: Some. Seven disks of medical stuff.

Him: Anything else?

Me: No.

Him: What about other stuff? Other than medical?

Me: Uh, still no.

Him: Why not?

Me: Other than this is a hospital and all I do is the hospital web site, and have no use for other stuff? Or other than nobody buys me stock art?

Him: Well, I want to add graphics to the web pages I'm designing so that I can give them to you to design.

Me: Please don't.

(Me, thinks: thank god it's my night to work out with Nic Cage. And then go home and drink.)

Well, kiddies, the New Shoes have fully propagated. Don't you just L-U-V them? I do.

On the other hand, the list of Things I Do NOT Love has expanded exponentially lately.

Last night, watching the Olympics on NBC, there was a color piece about the original games. It opened with these words:

"While the theory of evolution is highly controversial, there is no disputing evolution of sports..." or some similar tripe. But the reporter definitely said that the theory of evolution is highly controversial. To whom? Creationists, maybe, but I can't think of any other group of civilized humans who question the evidence. Are we going to have a new Scopes Monkey Trial in this century?

And for NBC to broadcast something so pandering and, well, flat out stupid... I'm speechless. For once.

Other things that I've seen on the Olympics that make me see stars (and not in a good way) include the new Corvette commercials that sexualize pre-pubescent children. Children, I may add, who are shown driving, and driving with wild, video-game abandon. Oh, yeah. Real fucking responsible.

Then we have the devotion to the stars and the hotties. I'm watching swimming, for example, and the sportscasters are talking (non-fucking-stop) about one athelete or another, and how they are expected to win, and how they're currently swimming behind the pack, and there, in some other lane, completely unremarked upon, is a dark horse tearing up the water, and winning the gold, which is just an apostrophe to the "real" story.

Another thing that I have lately come to detest is that stupid bright yellow rubber band that signifies Lance Armstrong's something or other. He won, OK. He beat cancer. He's got a cool girlfriend. He's got some charity. Fine. Do we all have to wear the yellow rubber bands?

I didn't think so.

I do, although it doesn't seem to be propagating yet. The lovely Kathy over at BlogMoxie has skinned me. (Yes, those are a pair of my own shoes.) And I've never looked better. Now I have to put the rest of GirlyShoes in order.

On the work front, things suck, and then they suck more. Where do I begin? How do they suck? Let me count the ways. They suck to the depth and breadth my soul can reach.

I have had to suffer through two meetings with the PHB and Loogie (from PR). On Friday, and again today. The conversations ran along these lines:
Loogie: This is wrong. Those aren't the medical specialties that we want to highlight.

Me: Those are the ones you gave me when you gave me the architecture I was supposed to follow.

Loogie: They've changed.

Me: Do I know that?

Loogie: You do now.

Loogie: We don't want to use that photo. Change it.

Me: Anything in particular?

Loogie: Anything that represents a money-making specialty.

Me: And that would be?

Loogie: Just pick something.

PHB: Is it hard to change a single image in a Flash animation?

Me: I need a drink

Finally, I'd like to say that, although the milk of human kindness runs in my veins, I have no sympathy for the folks on the west coast of the state who are carrying on like a hurricane never hit there before. My God, people, the entire state is a hurricane magnet, it's not like you live in Iowa, y'know?

Buy fucking shutters. Put them up. Don't build multi-million dollar homes on barrier islands*. Watch the Weather Channel. Evacuate when told.

*Barrier Island. If that name isn't a clue, then what is? Island Whose Only Reason To Exist Is To Be a Buffer For the Mainland When Really Ban Storms Hit?

And that thing that shocked the world? That a barrier island could become two barrier islands with a new channel? Take a look over on the east coast at Hutchinson Island. Happened in the last century. Big storm. Big storm surge. New inlet. End of story.

It's just like the folks living on the banks of the Mississippi. If something is named the 100 Year Flood, isn't that sort of a clue that this shit goes on with some regularity? Don't build on the flood plain. It's just that simple.

This just in from the Kerry campaign:

"Tonight may be your only opportunity to ask George Bush a question before November's election. This is your chance to put him on the spot in front of an audience of millions.

George and Laura Bush will do an exclusive interview with Larry King on CNN at 9:00 p.m. EST. Unlike all of Bush's "Ask the President" events and Cheney's "Town Hall Meetings," where attendees either have to sign Bush-Cheney loyalty oaths or are handpicked by the Bush-Cheney campaign, this event is open to all Americans.

To call in, watch Larry King Live at 9:00 p.m. EST and call the number shown during the program. After you call in, please make sure to share your call-in experience with us. Click here to report.

To email your question before the show begins, click here. Please share the question you email to Larry King with us - we are tracking our supporters' success. Click here to report.

Our goal is to get as many Kerry-Edwards supporters to call in or send an email to Larry King Live as possible. We know that not everyone can get on the air, but the impression we'll make with our thousands of calls and emails will be a lasting one. With your help, everyone working for CNN - producers, writers, editors, and staffers - will realize that George Bush owes Americans a lot of answers:

What does Bush plan to do about the fact that 1.9 million Americans have lost their jobs under his rule? What does Bush plan to do about the fact that 44 million Americans don't have access to health insurance? And how does he expect our children and young people to shoulder a deficit that is already out of control? Or afford education? What is his plan for Iraq?"

I had a question for President Bush:

Have you ever actually read the constitution of the United States? And if so, did you understand it? Specifically the parts about freedom of speech and separation of church and state?

Thank you.