the vatican in space...

giving new meaning to brother from another planet, the catholic church yesterday embraced the possibility of the existence of extraterrestrial life, seemingly in an effort to heal 400 year-old wounds caused by the persecution of galileo. mulder now has one more reason to get scully to believe, as it's been given the official ok from rome to acknowledge that there may be aliens out there. just don't even THINK of suggesting they evolved from fish, or you'll go straight to hell.

no, he fell, really...

so what's most interesting about this story is that it does not involve political scandal; rather, it's about charlie rose's abusive relationship with the street. and his willingness to sacrifice his face for his macbook air. i recently saw one of these, and i can't say i blame him. hell, i'd fall on my face for my scratched-up, year-old macbook, no question. plus, bruises make you look badass. charlie rose, you win. ain't no one gonna mess with your tough ass at the next met gala.

the saddest thing i've read today

now that spitzerwatch 2008 has reached a level of media coverage that even i find hard to palate*, i can't imagine i've got yet more to say.

this morning, the times ran a little profile of silda wall spitzer, the governor's wife. all along people have been commenting on her appearance with the soon-to-be-former governor at his press conference on monday. i'm not surprised; such is the role of a political wife. however, i'm not sure i could ever do that. while i think i'd smack him and leave if i got that news, i'm also from a long line of proud irish folk that bury emotions deep inside for the sake of a good public appearance.

i'm not sure if i applaud her or am just confused by her... but either way, i can't imagine how awful she feels. or how their daughters must feel- as if being a teenager in the public eye isn't hard enough on a good day.

but of all things, this seemed to grab me today. the times was referring to a piece last year where silda gave a tour of the spitzer abode... and it was noted that only artwork by the family or their friends was hung on the walls. one in particular was then discussed:

One multicolored drip painting, in a den that the family calls the Adirondack Room, had been signed “Spitzer Wall,” because the two of them had painted it together early in their courtship.

“Eliot and I had been to the Whitney and were looking at a Jackson Pollock, and he said, ‘I could do that,’ ” Ms. Wall Spitzer said, imitating her husband with a braggadocious tone. “So I said, ‘Let’s see you try,’ and then I helped him.”

i guess it's the tangible quality of this painting, embodying their early hopes and dreams, fun times and whatever... it just made me so sad. also because it was something i'd be likely to do or have... and so i guess it just hit me. this whole thing is pretty sad.

spitzer's politcal career is set to end in less than an hour (although you never know, marion barry came back...) but this thing will drag his family through hell for years.

*coverage is reminding me of the night billy martin died, when my father was watching the 4000 news stories in succession, only to have the rest of my family threaten to make him sleep in the garage if he didn't surrender the remote and let us watch anything else. but there was nothing else on.

yeah, it's about spitzer

well, by now this thing has been beaten half to death. we don't know what's going to happen to the governor, although political analysts presume there is no going back to governor from client 9. i can't imagine what more can be said about this scandal, but i guess i have a few comments on the situation.

1) last night, on one of the 4000 roundtable discussions on New York 1, someone, i forget who, pointed to the failure of spitzer's aides to keep him out of this situation. now, i am the first to say that any politician is only as good as his best staff member, but if you need an aide to remind you TO REFRAIN FROM DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL WHILE HOLDING PUBLIC OFFICE... well, maybe politics isn't the right career choice for you. i'm not quite sure what a good career for those unable to discern illegal behavior from legal behavior might be, but i know what isn't: governor*.

2) shut up, wall street douches. no one wants to see your smugness. just because spitzer did something wrong doesn't mean that all of his prosecutions were invalid. it's a real shame, as many of his actual achievements will be filed deep below the client 9 jokes in the history of new york state.

3) is anyone else surprised that the spitzers live in a crummy modern building? i always pictured them as pre-war types. this is more of a letdown than i'd initially figured.

4) "importantly" is still an improper use of the word, i don't care how much you've hurt your family or that the times has reluctantly accepted its usage, it's poor form... and now we can all see that poor grammar evidently leads to a life of crime and the frequenting of prostitutes.

i guess this can be a lesson to us all... the higher your horse, the harder you hit the ground when you fall. mr. spitzer, you steamrolled yourself. (and i was so hoping it would be bruno that was crushed...)

*unless, of course, one is governor of connecticut, where scandal is likely listed in the job description.

extra motivation, coming right up

i have gotten really really slack with going to the gym lately- twice a week is my max, when i even make that. it's so cold, i'm so tired, etc. while some of my excuses have been valid - wisdom teeth, sickness- the most oft used one is sheer laziness.

i read about a site called stickk.com (corrected, thanks matt!) which lets you set contracts with yourself to achieve your goals. i set up my own contract to exercise three times a week for twelve weeks, and pledged $5 a week to get it done. if i don't go to the gym three times in one week, $5 bucks goes to a charity of stikk.com's choosing. so either i get in better shape, or some orphans get some cash at the end of the 12 weeks. everybody wins! i think. unless i become a skinny orphan hater.

happy valentines day!

hello reader(s)! i hope you're all having a great day- i don't like the idea of valentines day as a romantic holiday. i think it's kind of stupid. i like to show my bf i love him everyday, and vice versa. i guess i just hate being told that i'm supposed to be all romantic and stupid on this day more than others. that being said, i'm still having a little dinner and movie date this evening. i can't completely ignore tradition (i'm only partially dead inside).

however, what i feel is more important about today is the opportunity to show little bits of love and kindness to people. so every year i try to make little cookies or goodie bags to give to people and brighten their day. if you worked with me, you'd have some cookies and a valentine now. since you probably don't, please accept my virtual good tidings.

in trying to figure out why hallmark says i should be (more) in love today, i did some research, and it turns out that the first references to valentines day as a smooch-fest date to Chaucer's writings sometime in the 1300s. Ophelia also got just that much more mad over the day, referring to it in Hamlet. but until the 1840s, it was pretty much card and rose free. then everything went straight to tree-killing hell.

but, on the bright side, the catholic church used to recognize 11 separate st. valentines... this could happen to us every month. maybe hallmark simply rescued us.

happy valentines day!

xo,

anxiety girl

erin go bagless

the new york times recently featured an article on ireland's plastic bag tax, and the changing popular opinion of plastic bags (icky). there's plans on tap to also tax atm receipts and gum. amazing! now, just see what you can do about being the most car dependent country in europe.

read the article here.