al's my man.

I sincerely hope you all watched Live Earth on Saturday. I got up at about 9:30 with plans to head down to the show at the Mall, but considering it was a bajillion degrees outside and it wasn't supposed to be much of a show, I decided against it. Instead, I stayed in and watched the performances from other countries... for about 6 hours. No joke.

Most of the performances were incredible, but further research this morning proved that Bravo didn't show some of the best ones. I mean, Damien Rice and David Gray performing Que Sera Sera TOGETHER?! Very very cool. Bravo also failed to show Bloc Party, Toni Colette and the Finish, Jack Johnson, or UB40. No fun. Luckily I can watch everything on MSN. Sting and the Police were incredible (not surprising) as were the Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, and Madonna with Gogol Bordeloo doing "La Isla Bonita"... sooo good. Even James Blunt impressed with his rendition of Cat Stevens' "Wild World." Jane Goodall was there, which is pretty incredible. She was even more impressive with her chimpanzee impression.

I thought the Live Earth program did a great job of focusing on the idea that I was taught as the "Tragedy of the Commons," which, in sum, recognizes the importance of the individual as part of the larger group. If we each take a small step, the impact will be massive. While big changes get a lot of press and make an impact on our surroundings, they certainly are much more difficult to orchestrate, take time to get passed through legislation, and put the work in someone else's hands. If we each become responsible for ourselves and our actions, things can change very quickly and very drastically.

I'll get off my soapbox, but I just wanted to highlight this incredibly important event and its possible impacts around the world. I hope it works... we've started on this way too late.

happy birthday, 'merica.

I know it's not officially the 4th, but I will not be at work tomorrow and therefore will not be blogging. How I love national holidays.

It's kind of crazy being in DC for the 4th. Everyone is so.... patriotic. This is my first Independence Day not spent in southern Florida in many, many years and it's kind of weird. I usually spend the 4th laying out on the beach, eating some barbeque with my ridiculous family and getting a wee bit hammered without letting Nanny know, and then heading back to the beach to watch the fireworks be lit off a barge out in the Atlantic. This year will most definitely involve the barbeque, drunkeness, and fireworks, but no beach. Boo. I'm headed to a big barbeque at a coworker's house in Georgetown and then over to Sam's rooftop to watch the fireworks. The goal is to avoid the mess of the Mall, but I've got to admit that it'd be pretty cool to see everything from that level. I think I'd want to sit on the steps of the Lincoln, but it's just not worth staking out a spot at noon. DC puts on one of the best shows in the country, so we should be fine viewing it from Chinatown.

Besides the food, I think my favorite part of the 4th is just that everyone seems genuinely happy. The 4th doesn't bring the stress of gift-giving like Christmas, people want to be outside, and *most* people get over all the political bullshit and enjoy being American, at least for a day. I can't wait to hear the Star Spangled Banner butchered by over the top singers, make a cake that looks like a flag, wear my white jeans, and listen to Bruce Springsteen.

i heart southerners.

Yesterday, in addition to being the summer solstice and the day of the best concert of all time (Wilco!), was Annual Seersucker Day up on the Hill. Trent Lott started the whole thing about 10 years ago and it has caught on with many of the Southern Senators and staffers. Even Hillary Clinton's Executive Intern was caught in the faboo fabric! :)

And yes, the guy in the black shoes is Ted Stevens, from ALASKA. White Bucks, Ted, white Bucks...