I hope that the sight of Americans being dragged through the streets Mogadishu-style will perk people up, not only to this election, but to the administration in its current state. Perhaps there are, in fact, more pressing issues requiring our attention rather than whether a) two people who love each other should be allowed to do so or b) grown men who take steroids to make them better than other grown men who play a boys game.

As an aside to the steroids in baseball issue, I highly recommend the latter half of Ralph Wiley's recent article on ESPN.com in defense of Barry after Mr. October Reggie Jackson decided to toss a few salvos into the arena.

I'm looking forward to the dive out to Anacapa this weekend. My cold has finally abated so I don't have to worry about not being able to equalize properly at depth. Also, it gave me the opportunity to get back to the gym after a l-o-n-g hiatus to get my body back in the mode of physical activity. But certainly, I hope to incorporate more diving as part of my season-to-season routine. I think I've firmly entrenched cooking as an indoor hobby, and I've been struggling to find a hobby that really takes me out of the house. I think we can all laugh at the last attempt at a social hobby. Remember, all this is in the effort to lead a more interesting life.

Jacob and I once discussed what to do with my Magic collection. At one point, I had all of the hottest cards, and could have gotten quite a pretty penny (probably on the order of $500-$1000) for the standard items (that doesn't even include the really rare stuff I've managed to amass). In the end, we agreed that cash in hand is no substitute for fond memories. Honestly, cash in hand is a poor substitute for many things, but, as Woody Allen said, money is good, if only for financial reasons.

I checked the DMV website this morning, and they've got a system that allows me to check, over the web, what the wait time was. 10 minutes. So I decided to make myself breakfast and watch a little TV and relax. I saw a video on VH1 that really caught my attention. The sound was typical singer-songwriter: something in the mold of a Jason Mraz or Matchbox 20. I stuck around to find out who this band was, and to my surprise, it was freakin' Hanson! Wha-wha-wha?!? I had just been duped into liking a Hanson song? Wow.

It gave me a sort of quiet satisfaction to know that I had accurately predicted this moment a few years back, when the topic of disposable music had arisen. I opined that after the pop-craze had died down (it hasn't, but the musical landscape is a lot healthier now than back then), that the two survivors would be Christina Aguilera (because of her voice) and Hanson (because of their ability to play their own instruments). In the end, I forgot to figure in the sex appeal of Spears, Britney and Timberlake, Justin.

I was stuck at the DMV today for two hours, and it was abysmal. Yeah, it said 10 minutes, but that was at 9:30am. I eventually left an hour later, not bothering to check the site again, figuring that it can't get that much worse in an hour's time, right? Wow, was I appallingly wrong. In the effort to quell my disgust, I went to a local Indian restaurant for lunch, Koohinoor. In the past, I would have wholeheartedly gone to this restaurant, and in fact, it was the venue of choice when having dinner with Mara, who helped me move in my TV when I ill-advisedly bought it without transportation. But after repeatedly going to Taste of India in Woodland Hills, Koohinoor just comes out flat. I ended up mashing up the flavorless samosas, cutting up the flavorless tandoori, mixing them together, and being surprised at how flavorful they all of a sudden became. If Koohinoor had actually created it, I would have been impressed. Instead, I'm left with nothing but one less destination in Thousand Oaks.

I checked the website again after returning from the DMV. Yup, 10 minutes. Stupid system.

But waiting for two hours at a mindless DMV made me realize that sitting in a jail cell will probably really suck. Every time I think to myself that I'll be prepared for the worse, I ponder the possibilities and can't help but shudder. I guess that's one of the main reasons why I'm really trying to make the next few weeks count; I have no idea what the weeks afterward will bring. And so, I'm going to continue perfecting my TiVo computer, enjoying scuba trips, and ranting about restaurants.