good mood food

A cool photo of my son Tom last night at the Wolves game, posing with three distinguished members of the Timberwolves Dance Team. Have you ever seen Tom look happier?

And it was a beautiful evening as temperatures finally inched above freezing. We walked along Hennepin Avenue getting to the game, through the Hennepin Theater District, where I was amused by the marquees. First, there at the Orpheum Theater: Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, Christian hipsters from the '80s. Then at the State, Boz Scaggs was appearing. Boz Scaggs was mostly in the '70s, a minor music figure I assumed, and I know so little about him that I was surprised that he could possibly have enough fans left to fill the State Theater.

But the marquee at the Pantages Theater was the cool one: "Arby's Annual Meeting: Good Mood Food." It's funny to think of Arby's corporate people having a meeting, don't you think? What do they talk about? The newest roast-beef sandwich, the one that will put their customers in a good mood? As fast food goes, Arby's isn't so bad, I guess, but I don't remember it ever putting me in a good mood, not so far anyway. On the other hand, when have you ever seen me in a bad mood? Or do you have to already be in a good mood to go there? And more importantly, how sick are you of my rhetorical questions??

the uninjured one buys lunch

Jerry and I picked up my son Tom at work at noon and took him for lunch at the Day by Day Cafe over there on 7th Street in St. Paul, where they spent a good part of the time comparing their recent sports injuries and their remedies and their slow recoveries.

First, Tom got knocked down during a basketball practice last Wednesday night, somehow landing on his head and his foot at the same time. You know how basketball is -- you're moving in multiple directions at once, who knows how these things happen? He limped off the court in major pain and later went to Urgent Care to have his foot x-rayed. No broken bones but a nasty sprain and a temporarily purple foot which isn't too attractive. He's still having a hard time walking, which is why we were picking him up in the first place -- so that he wouldn't have to mess with taking the bus home from work.

Then last Saturday Jerry fell while ice skating and landed just wrong, messing up his shoulder. He had taken Jose and Jose Felix ice skating over there at Rice Park in St. Paul. Jose Felix, who had never ice-skated (or seen snow) before, was a pro, apparently drawing on his roller-skating history and his relative youth. Jerry, who has ice-skated many times in his life, took the fall and as result has had pain and trouble sleeping and anxiety over the possible extent of his injury. His chiropractor says there is nothing seriously wrong, just needs a little recovery time. Let's hope she knows what she's talking about.

I had oatmeal for lunch. I know that sounds weird, but the oatmeal at the Day by Day is the best!

it was seventy years ago today

It is hard to imagine what John Lennon would have been like at age 70. He was born seventy years ago today and was murdered thirty years ago December 8, and we were all cheated out of watching him grow older.

*

And in those forty years that he lived, what a difference he made. It's hard to imagine how our lives would have been different if there had been no Beatles, and, let's face it, John Lennon was the creative spark of the Beatles.

*

And it's also hard to imagine how our lives might have been different if he had still been with us the past thirty years, not only for his musical new directions but also as a voice and influence for peace and sanity.

*****

Closer to home and on a more personal level, it was twenty-nine years ago today that my younger son Tom was born. I remember that day so well, and he has been a joy from Day One. We celebrated his birthday last night, had cake and ice cream up on the 21st-floor rooftop on a perfect evening, and in a few minutes I'm taking him out for a birthday breakfast. It's hard to imagine what life would have been without him the past almost-30 years!

the morning after the fireworks

It's a perfect Sunday morning here on our deck. Except for the fact that the movers will be here in about an hour to take away the deck furniture that I'm sitting on.

Last night, we took a break from the final packing and sat here on the deck with Tom and watched the Aquatennial fireworks, which are always the best fireworks of the year. Before that, we had dinner with our friends Dina and Norby and their two little boys, Lucas and Dante. They thought we needed that dinner break too, and at this point we are taking advantage of any breaks we can get. We took them over to see the new apartment (that we have started moving in to), which of course is just a basic apartment, but they liked it and envied the freedom that we have right now, that we are in such a good position to take our time to find that great new home.

(Then last night when I went back to the apartment, I was talking to two people in the elevator, and they told me they too had moved into their apartment for just a couple months -- and that was two years ago, and they're still there.)

So I will miss this house terribly, but I know we got a good price for it, I know we have lots of great memories.... and now it's time for the next adventure.

And the next time I blog from these deck chairs, it will be on our balcony at the new place.

oh, what a circus!

Much of our packing for this double-move is done, but it's hard to make that final push.

***

Three sets of movers will be arriving within the next week: first, Sunday, the guys who will be moving some of the larger stuff that we're taking to our interim (or not so interim?) apartment; then, Monday, the piano movers to gently (I hope!) move the Steinway into climate-controlled storage somewhere; and finally, next Wednesday, the company will pick up all the rest of the furniture and boxes that, at least in theory, we will not be needing for an unknown number of months.

***

Tomorrow morning, we pick up the apartment keys. Our plan is to start setting up there so that on that final moving day, next Wednesday, we can go just collapse into our new temporary home (but, really now, aren't all homes temporary?). Sometime after that, we'll house hunt. After we catch our breath.

***

We took a break from the ongoing moving stresses last weekend to take Tom to the latest visiting Cirque du Soleil-in-a-tent show, Kooza. That's me, Jerry, and Tom in the photo, in case you just happened to stumble onto this blog and are wondering, who the heck are these clowns? Jerry and Tom, Tom especially, are big Cirque fans. It was a great show and a nice diversion. Life under a tent riding a unicyle on a high wire? There are worse things.

"i hate wind", i say

"What wind?" Jerry responds.

This was after Joan and Tom and I had been complaining in unison about what an awful April it had been because of the gloom and mostly too-cool temperatures and especially the wind. The wind blew like crazy (and is still blowing, even today) even on the relatively nice days!

(I realize there is nothing more pathetic and trite than a guy in Minnesota blogging about the weather, but bear with me....)

"And how can you hate wind, anyway? Think how awful it would be to have no breeze on those warm sunny days!" he says.

But I'm not anti-breeze! I'm anti-wind! -- the kind of wind that makes it hard for me to even walk one block to work or for Joan or Tom to stand out waiting for the bus -- day after day after day. It's not much consolation that it might be hot wind instead of wind-chill wind. Let's have some calm days! What if I wanted to golf (which, thank goodness, I don't!)?

... or how do I get into that windless bubble where Jerry apparently resides?

zone flipping at 7:10

I have one of those funky non-electric satellite alarm clocks, the kind you used to buy at places like Sharper Image stores (back when there were Sharper Image stores)...

Well, I woke up one morning last week and looked at my alarm clock and it said 7:10 -- time for me to get up. So I did my usual morning stuff -- shaved, showered, had breakfast, woke up Jerry, and went to the office. I was sitting at my computer at the office when I noticed what the time was -- 7:10! huh?

So I called Jerry and told him I must have looked at the clock cross-eyed an hour ago -- it must have been 6:10 an hour ago instead of 7:10 -- and he actually had an extra hour to go back to sleep or whatever. He went over and looked at my clock, and it said 9:10! My clock was skipping from time zone to time zone. Either the world is spinning haphazardly or my satellite clock needs new batteries!

But i've been thinking how my mind has been less than focused lately, skipping all over the place, not ever sure what day or time it is! so that's enough of that. Focus. Focus. Today is the thirtieth of April 2009, tomorrow is the first of May. Okay. Okay.

And what did I miss commenting on in the meantime?:

-- The Obamas' new dog.
-- Susan Boyle.
-- Arlen Specter becoming a Democrat.
-- The swine flu (but stayed tuned)...

But here's one I can't leave commentless: the death of Bea Arthur last weekend at age 86. Jerry and Tom and Joan and I were all so sad to hear that news. I can't begin to tell you how many times over and over again we have watched all The Golden Girls shows and quoted from them to each other, and Dorothy was always my favorite character. Even though the show hasn't actually been on the air in 15 years, it always seemed fresh and familiar and welcoming in reruns and on DVD. Consider how many hours we have spent with Bea Arthur and the other Golden Girls actors and characters. It's no wonder we take it so personally.

marching into april again

Tom just got done beating us at cards again. Now, a little while before midnight, he and Jerry are downstairs watching TV, and I'm exhausted -- on a Saturday night! -- but way too wired to go to sleep. The last several weeks for me have been work almost non-stop, and it's kind of peaceful to sit down at the laptop on the Blogger site and realize how blank my brain is. Tschaikovsky is playing on my iPod (through the stereo), followed abruptly by an old Dionne Warwick/Burt Bacharach song. I'm having some herbal tea, drinking from a mug that says "Republicans Are Creepy" (A Christmas gift from Tom).

A few years ago, I read a book called The Joy of Stress, the premise of which was that stress is not necessarily a bad thing, that there is good stress and there is bad stress and that you have to use stress to your advantage. This has been one of my busiest busy seasons but, surprisingly, one where the good stress is far outweighing the bad stress. Assuming that I actually survive through the middle of April, this has been one of my better busy seasons (out of 32), maybe because of outstanding co-workers or the best mix of clients or, who knows?, maybe the stars happen to be aligned just right.

After the busy season ends, I'm expecting a big change in my business, possibly taking on a couple of partners, bringing on decisions that will mean a bunch of new good stress/bad stress issues. In between this and that, I might need a little break, possibly back home, maybe taking a walk in Ocean City, New Jersey, on the beach where one day my ashes will be strewn. Maybe I'll jump in the air once, or, more likely, maybe I won't.

On the stereo, from the iPod, I've Got You Under My Skin, one of my favorite songs. And the tea is making me sleepy.

beware the ides of march -- 2009

This morning, a Sunday at the Four Inns restaurant in downtown St. Paul, Joan, my barely-limping sister, was giving me a hard time for not updating my blog in two weeks -- "I'm so sick of opening your blog and seeing that Joan Rivers photo!" she said. Jerry and Tom looked on with blank looks, since they never look at my blog and of course had no idea what she was talking about.

So here I am, back at it, mostly to move Joan Rivers out of the spotlight but also to let all my faithful fans know that I'm alive and well. The first two weeks of March are always nuts for me at the office -- major deadlines on the 15th, the Ides of March (although this year since the 15th fell on a Sunday, the deadline extends to the 16th, so I can take a little breather today). I'm hanging in there just fine, except for being nap-deprived.

Non-work happenings of March 2009:

-- Both our houses are still for sale. Lots of lookers, lots of great comments, no buyers.
-- Jerry took a couple of overnight trips during the past two weeks (while i'm slaving away over a hot computer) -- the first to New York City, the second up to northern Minnesota (Lutsen, on the North Shore of Lake Superior) to go skiing. Either trip sounds great to me (as long as I wouldn't have to actually ski) (Of course, right now getting out of town sounds so wonderful that I wouldn't care if it were to Topeka, Kansas!).
-- I've been reading the newest John Grisham novel, The Associate, for at least a couple of weeks. This is a book that should have been done in a weekend, but, wow, is it a pathetic excuse of a Grisham novel! He used to be a better writer than this, or at least less lazy than this. Not recommended.
-- Everybody is talking about the economy and it may be just that it's a sunny day and I'm feeling blindly optimistic, but I'm wondering if maybe in some ways the worst is over. Let's all get over being depressed about it and make some adjustments.
-- Obama is doing ok, but, wow, who would ever want that job? And I'm feeling kinda sorry for Republicans, who are stuck with Rush Limbaugh (their chubby new "face"), Bobby Jindal, and Sarah Palin. Oh, more March 2009 news -- Bristol Palin and her trash boyfriend broke up. What a big surprise -- wonder when they'll show up on The Jerry Springer Show.

Back to normal soon, guys. My version of normal, that is.

what do the normal folk do?

Jerry decided to take a whole day off -- today, a Saturday -- and he somehow talked me into taking the day off too... His reasoning -- "I need to work this Sunday, so you should just work Sunday too instead of today, and we'll spend the day together." This time of year, I'm working all the time, and right now so is he, but I rearranged a client appointment and cancelled a haircut appointment (and I desperately need a haircut) and took the day off.

So now what? My idea of taking a day off would have been to stay at home and "chill", but, no, Jerry said we should do what normal people do on a Saturday. Which is what, I wonder?

We started by going out to breakfast, at Victor's 1959 Cafe ("revolutionary Cuban cooking") in south Minneapolis, then headed to the Mall of America (the opposite of "chilling"), the highlight of which was running into comedienne Joan Rivers, who I actually like very much. She was there for some promotional event for QVC cable shopping network, I think, and also to autograph a couple of her newer books that I had never heard of and had no interest in. If she would have been signing copies of her old bio, Enter Talking, I would have waited in line (It's one of my favorite celebrity autobiographies). She is 75 years old now but has had so much plastic surgery that she looks like a very blond mannequin. Scary! but she's still funny.

The Mall was mobbed today, thousands and thousands of people. We bought some shirts on sale at Macy's and then wanted some coffee, but all of the coffee shops either had long lines (I don't do lines) or had no available seating. So we left the chaos of the Mall behind and headed into Bloomington, where we found a very cool Starbucks in a very seedy strip mall, and had a leisurely cup of coffee while we read the newspaper -- much more my idea of a day off!

Tonight, Tom is here. We're going to watch In Bruges on DVD and then play cards til we head to bed.

Then we'll get up and go to work, which for us this time of year, is normal.

oh, to be in Phoenix!

It would be pathetically predictable for me to go on and on about this Minnesota winter -- how it is the worst in years; how it was 17 degrees below zero (not counting windchill) as I was walking to work this morning; how we are currently having days when the temp doesn't even go above zero all day long; how it seems to snow every other day; etc., etc.

So I won't. You know how I hate being predictable.

But this evening I was thinking about Phoenix, Arizona, where the temperatures today were about 75 degrees (above zero). Tom and I were at the Minnesota Wild/Phoenix Coyotes hockey game in St. Paul this evening. The first thing I always think is, how did Phoenix, a city out there in the middle of the desert, get a team that plays hockey, a winter sport? And then I'm thinking, what about those Coyote players, flying north to play in Minnesota, where the temps are 90 degrees cooler than where they left. Gosh, it must have been a shock to their systems. They were awful tonight, even with Wayne Gretsky coaching, losing to the Wild 6-3.

And I do have to say that I'm sure that a winter in Minneapolis is not as bad as a summer in Phoenix!

.... but I do admit, as I go out there to scrape ice off my car windows, that a couple days in Phoenix might feel good right about now....

Maybe this coming weekend, for instance, when the Arizona Cardinals are hosting my Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday for the NFC championship, the winner going on to the Super Bowl (Sorry, I just switched from hockey to football).. ! I could hang out with the Eagles fans that you know will be interspersed in those home-team stands .. (And how did Arizona ever get a football team, anyway??) Go, Eagles!!
*****
It's been a while since I've blogged, and I've been meaning to have some profound thoughts looking back at 2008, and here it is the 13th of January already.. Is it too late? I'd hate to be like one of those people still wishing people Happy New Year in March!

the 23rd bond

Sitting here with my laptop, watching the Vikings game with Tom...

Last night we went to see the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. You know I'm a Bond fan, and, yes, I realize that the Bond movies aren't as much fun as they used to be -- too dark and brutal! --, but I love our tradition of going to the new ones when they come out, which is always somewhere around my birthday. Jon and Tom and Joan and Jerry go with me, maybe partly just to humor me, and the best part of going is watching with them... I do think Daniel Craig is a good Bond. I just wish they weren't doing away with the Bond traditions, like Moneypenny, the gadgets, the awful puns, etc...

You know I like traditions, things that don't change too much. Those are the things that will go through my mind as I'm lying on my deathbed!

My all-time favorite James Bond movie: You Only Live Twice. 2nd favorite: Goldfinger. Least favorite: Moonraker. Best Bond: Connery (of course). Best of the Roger Moore films: The Spy Who Loved Me. Best Bond song: "Nobody Does It Better" (Carly Simon), from The Spy Who Loved Me. Worst Bond song: whatever that song was in Quantum of Solace. Worst gadget: the invisible car in Die Another Day.
*****
Our 28-day "cleanse" ended yesterday. So Jerry and Tom and I re-started a Sunday morning tradition: bacon and eggs (and coffee!!) at the Dinkytown Cafe... Ah, the sweet pleasures of life... :-)

the 9th of October, many years later

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my son, Tom..... 27 years old today. wow!

*****

My sister, the autograph hound: Joan called me last night from New York, where she is enjoying her semi-annual Broadway trip. She was standing outside the stage door at the theater where she had just seen (all of) Daniel Radcliffe (from the Harry Potter movies) in Equus, waiting for him to come out and sign her program. Earlier she had seen the new production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons and had gotten autographs from cast members including Patrick Wilson, John Lithgow, Katie Holmes, and Dianne Wiest. Tonight she goes to see Patti LuPone in Gypsy, which she first saw last spring and which she loved so much she just had to see again.

She raved about All My Sons, and I was a bit envious after having just seen last week a great production of another of Arthur Miller's plays (this one from 1955), A View From the Bridge, at the Guthrie Theater here in Minneapolis.

the eagle has landed

I was chewing on my Juicy Nookie Burger when I asked Tom and Joan, "What is the name of this place?.. The Shamrock what?"... "It's just the Shamrock," Tom said. "Why?" they both asked, rolling their eyes. "You're going to put this on your blog?"

"Not unless something blog-worthy happens", I answered, adding, "On the other hand, when has that ever stopped me?"

The Shamrock Grill & Pub it is, the "shamrock" apparently being some part of a former incarnation because there is nothing Irish about the place now. It's a sports bar with good burgers and fries, on West 7th Street in St. Paul. We've tried to come here before, but other times there was always a wait for a table, and we didn't. Wait, that is.

I don't do lines, you know.

At about this time, my cell phone rang. It was Jerry. Their plane had just touched down at MSP from Denver. It was Day Twelve of the twelve-day adventure for Jerry and the German girls. They had a great time, I've been looking at hundreds of digital photos. For any of you considering a vacation to the American Southwest, they all enthusiastically recommend it with the following proviso: Don't do it in July. It's way too stinkin' hot.
*****
The photo above: Jerry at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. (By the way, do you know that if you click on these blog photos, you'll get a full-screen version?).

what happens when Mary and John visit

Picture it: Our house, yesterday afternoon.

My sister Mary and brother-in-law John have been visiting from New Jersey, their first time in Minnesota in many years. Mary and John and Jerry and Tom were upstairs in the dining room playing Mexican Train Game. John won the game (big surprise), then Mary came downstairs to the family room where my sister Joan and I were, for some unknown reason, watching on YouTube.com various and sundry versions of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", my favorite 70s song (Which is the better version -- Thelma Houston or Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes?). We were watching a Julie Andrews version of it (seriously!) when Jerry came downstairs to go to the garage to get his briefcase out of his car.

Suddenly we heard Jerry calling from the garage, "Somebody come help me!" My sisters and I ran to the garage to find out what was wrong. There was a strange woman in Jerry's car! She was going through his briefcase, stealing checkbooks and who knows what else. John and Tom came running from upstairs. Jerry was screaming at this chick and making sure she didn't get away, then yelling at us to call 9-1-1. Joan got the new experience of calling 9-1-1 and being the one to say, "Get the cops over here right now! We have a burglar!"

The squad car was there in about 3 minutes and arrested her (the burglar, not Joan).

So what was this woman thinking, robbing a house that obviously had a lot of people in it, the game upstairs and the YouTube thing downstairs? Well, for one thing, both the front door and the back door were open to keep air flowing through the house and might have been the only open doors in the neighborhood. You see, soon after John and Mary arrived, the air-conditioning unit blew up, and it was getting kinda warm. So this wacko woman snuck (sneaked?) into the noisy house and slipped into the garage. After her ordeal of having Jerry screaming at her like a madman and my family members giving her looks that could kill, let's hope she has been scared straight and deterred from a life of crime.

Meanwhile, we are telling Mary and John this kind of stuff ordinarily never happens to us. We never guarantee live entertainment to our guests.

P.S.:

"Don't Leave Me This Way" -- Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes (lead singer, Teddy Pendergrass) -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=q5tqAIY-TzA

"Don't Leave Me This Way" -- Thelma Houston -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=VOY-s9iaJjU

Lupie's and special effects

I've been hanging out with my sister Nancy at her home in North Carolina the past several days, the trip delayed from last month. We've sorted through piles of paperwork and financial details and accomplished quite a lot in a short time. Last night, we were mostly finished with all that and drove up to Charlotte, about a half-hour north of here, a city I've flown into several times but have never really seen, and we drove around the inner core, the downtown, got a flavor of it (It felt a lot like Indianapolis to me). Saw where the Panthers and the Bobcats play. Ate at a fun hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Lupie's.

This morning, our brother Davy, the brother that lives in Shanghai, called and gave me a few laughs, and after that Nancy and I went to a movie. She wanted to see the new Indiana Jones movie, and, since I tend to avoid special-effects movies these days, I had very low expectations, but I ended up liking it more than I thought I would and maybe more than Nancy, who had high expectations, did. Don't go out of your way to see it, though.

Flying home tomorrow morning. Getting together with Jon and Tom in the afternoon for Father's Day. Watching the Tony Awards tomorrow evening with Joan, who has seen several of the nominated plays, and Jerry, of course.

Maybe back to North Carolina in a couple months.

gin!

No, not gin, the liquid kind. Gin: the card game.

My son Tom and I last Saturday night were listening to the new Madonna CD, Hard Candy. I'm a little too old for Madonna, Tom maybe a little young for Madonna (he's 26), so she's a good place for us to meet in the middle (This is an OK CD, not as good as her last one [Confessions on a Dance Floor]). Tom comes over most Saturday nights and we play games with Jerry and listen to music, and Tom stays over. He is a card-playing fanatic. We usually play Hand & Foot or Golf, unless we play dominoes instead (Mexican Train Game), and he and Jerry almost always beat me. Last week, though, we were playing Gin, which Jerry and I were in the mood for since we had just seen the play The Gin Game the night before at our favorite local theater, the Jungle. Our enthusiasm for this production must have carried over or maybe Madonna put him into an agreeable frame of mind, because somehow we talked Tom into going with us to see it if we would go for a second time. No, I think it's the Gin.

I called Jon, my other son (mid-thirties, somehow!), and asked if he would go with us too. Jon is very into arboretums (arboreta?), zoos, art museums, architecture, and music, and I would love to be able to pass on to him (and Tom) an appreciation for live theater too. I know -- Papa, don't preach, but I'm happy to say that tonight we are heading back to the Jungle with the boys and my sister Joan (already a theater enthusiast) for more Gin Game, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with them.

And somehow I won the game, too. First time I've won a game since October.

a Wild night with Tom

Tom and I had a great evening tonight at the Minnesota Wild game... The Wild beat the Nashville Predators, 5-4, with 4 seconds left in overtime. Exciting finish! (How the heck did Nashville ever get a hockey team, anyway?)... Tom has become an avid hockey fan... but, after all, he has lived his whole life in Minnesota ("The State of Hockey").

*****

Check out this video -- the Wild score another goal:

rollerskating with Hillary Clinton

last night, doing some desperate channel-surfing, I landed on one of those presidential-candidate debates, this time Republicans. These are really painful to watch, but, even though I will end up voting for whoever the Democratic nominee is, somehow the Republican debates are easier to watch. When they screw up or make total fools of themselves or call each other names, I'm kind of happy. When the Democrats debate, all I can do is cringe, because I have to vote for one of those stiffs.

I don't know why anybody would run for President these days. Who but a fool would go through the humiliating process? I mean, it's kind of amusing to watch Rudy Giuliani pretend to be religious or any of these Republicans pretend to care about public education, but how refreshing would it be to see real debate, to have these candidates say what they really think? And the media outlets are disgusting in their coverage of all the wrong non-issues! I must admit, though, as I look up at that line-up of even these Republican candidates, that any one of them seems to least have a brain, unlike the current holder of the post. I don't have the patience for this campaign and wish we could ignore it, but I do look forward to that magical date: January 20, 2009, when somebody else moves into the White House.

Tom, my son, prides himself on being non-political, but the other night he had a dream that we all went rollerskating with Hillary Clinton. My question, of course: was she wearing one of those hideous pantsuits? Can she possibly look all that bad in a dress?

Hillary isn't so bad. I could vote for her. The main issue I, like many of my fellow Democrats, have with her is that she voted for the Iraq war and until recently still supported the idea of that war. Other people that I know, people who would normally vote for a Democrat, say they wouldn't ever vote for Hillary because of the possible "dynasty effect" -- a potential 28 years of 2 families in power: Bush, Clinton, bush, Clinton.

but then there's Barack Obama, who has the limpest handshake of any man that I've ever shaken hands with. Doesn't a handshake say something about a person?

Or John Edwards, with that annoying accent?

What is remarkable is how all these candidates are making non-candidate Al Gore look so good. I of course am thinking that maybe he wouldn't look so good if he were standing up there at the debate podiums next to all these other chumps. Still, if he were running, I think he would be my guy.