Autumn Music

Still trying to wake up on a quiet Saturday morning. Luckily, my head cold seems to be getting better. I'm going to head out for a 15-miler in a little while. Six weeks to go until the marathon. I just booked my flight to Chicago and a rental car so I can visit my brother while I'm out there; he's in Peoria, about 2.5 hours from Chi-town.

Speaking of trips, it looked like I was going to Anaheim for a work conference in December, but things have changed and I might actually be going to New Orleans instead. Hopefully that will work out and I'll get to see what the Big Easy looks like a year post-Katrina; from what I hear, the French Quarter is getting back to normal, minus a lot of the visitors. I haven't been to New Orleans since 1998, so it should be interesting.

A little dab'll do ya:

• I finished the fifth episode of Completely Conspicuous last night. This week, I discuss the Army's new take on prisoner interrogation, the improved quality of TV, music recommendation engines, why the NFL is the best sports league, and the Pinhead of the Week. Thanks to everyone who's listened to the show so far. I've been having fun doing it.
• Well, the Senate released a report yesterday that confirms that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with al Qaeda before 9/11, which Dubya had repeatedly contended was our main reason for invading Iraq. Nice.
• Here's a shocker: Arnold Schwarzenegger said something stupid. The real surprise is that he doesn't do stuff like this more often.
• A judge ordered a Malaysian restaurant called McCurry to change its name to avoid confusion with McDonald's. Yeah, McD's has its new line of Crispy Tandoori Chicken sandwiches coming out, so they don't want to mess with that.