Bring your Blogger to Work Day
by Ben Golliver on Oct 21, 2008 4:08 PM PDT
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PrintYesterday, at long last and with all praise due to the intrepid Ryan White, I fulfilled my dream of peaking behind the curtains of The Oregonian's Sports Department.
Before my tour of The O's Broadway Street office could begin, however, I found myself confronted by a 450 person lynchmob, which I initially mistook for a John McCain rally, but which was actually a group of Blazers fans circling the building, literally calling for Jason Quick's life. "Kill him!" one shouted. "Terrorist!"
Okkkkk.
I made it safely inside thanks to the hard work of the Oregonian's security staff (Don't think for a minute that all the front desk security guy does is sit and stare blankly at dumb questions about how to check in. On the contrary, he is out there protecting people like me. Literally risking his life to protect others.)
I approached the front desk and was told by the male receptionist -- the manreptionist, if you will -- that I could take a seat in the waiting area. The waiting room has a newspaper for you to read while waiting. How convenient! Guess which one it is?
I always panic a little bit when confronted by an ink-exuding piece of paper, no matter how good the content, so I instead just checked Oregonlive.com's top headlines on my phone and looked around for any signs of bulletproof glass. I didn't see any. I took that as a good sign, generally, although I immediately realized why John Canzano probably doesn't like coming into the office. If I got some of the voicemails he plays on his radio show, I'd be living in an undisclosed bunker and you definitely would not find me in an office building that lacked bulletproof glass. Just sayin'.
The news room itself was breathtaking. All the signs of a normal office: refrigerator cleaning schedules, mission statements posted on the wall, extremely detailed fire evacuation plans. I expected Dwight Schrute to catch a bat in a bag over my head at any moment.
But perhaps what was most impressive was the building's foundation. Even under the weight of more than 200 GIANT WHITE COMPUTER MONITORS FROM LIKE TEN YEARS AGO, the building's floor did not sag in the slightest. Say what you want about the newspaper business, but the employees are working in a building that far surpasses code.
Speaking of the monitors, each was strangely tagged with a barcode and serial number, presumably so that when they are moonlighting as boat anchors and the anchor line snaps, River Patrol will know where to return them.
The newsroom was massive: rows and rows of workstations stretching perhaps a football field's length, and then repeated on multiple floors. Two thoughts came to mind. One: There are a lot of empty desks here. Two: I devour the news on a daily basis and I have literally not heard of almost all of these people. I tried to derive some greater meaning about the nature of a changing media landscape from these observations however I think the appropriate conclusions are: copy editors don't need to be in their desk at 2PM on a Monday, and I should probably start reading something besides the sports section and the front page headline.
In any case, Ryan did a superb job of parading me around the Sports Department, which was filled with genuinely nice people and an editor who seemed surprised that blogs were written by people and not robots. Greetings from another planet, sir! Keep up the fine work.
I searched high and low for the sporstwriters' grinding axes but they must have hidden them behind the huge stacks of Wheaties boxes and media guides because I could not locate a single one. One writer was even kind enough to explicitly point out that, "We do not hate the Ducks and Beavers." I am more than happy to put that on the record for you.
As the tour continued, this website was recommended as a great way to kill the entire day. Oregonian Employees Covert Blog Reading On Company Time For The Win. I also couldn't help but notice, posted on a tackboard, a "tribute" to a certain former Oregonian writer who doesn't like blogs. Beef: it's what's for dinner.
And that concluded the Sports Department tour.
Mysteriously, we then made our way past the 4 1/2 floor (Ryan "explained" this... but I don't think I got it or at least it didn't stick).
We then made our way upstairs to the Editorial section of the office. Wow! Nice offices, guys! Is that wood panelling? Could you maybe be a little bit more blatent about keeping all the best chairs and office suppies for yourselves?
The Oregonian had just endorsed Obama the day before so I was expecting a One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest madhouse dealing with the response. Instead, it was mostly quiet, nothing but empty hallways and corridors covered in framed copies of various awards and recognitions that the paper has received. "I'm not sure I've been down this hallway before," Ryan remarked at one point. I'm not sure anyone has. There definitely wasn't anyone else walking around at that moment. Where the heck are we, anyway? The point sunk in: this operation is much, much larger than I had anticipated it would be. The Oregonian is huge.
To reinforce this point, take a look down their staircase. They call the internet a series of tubes, but look at this....
It's the neverending news spiral. It might just go on forever.
WIth that, the tour was pretty much over, but I got a big kick out of this display in front of one of the elevators. Apparently as a morale booster (maybe?) they've juxtaposed a copy of the year's highest-selling paper next to a flat screen television that shows off the current Oregonlive.com front page in real time.
Except when the flat screen blue screens. Haha.
Ok, ok, in fairness it was working for the most part.
Who says newspapers are slow, unresponsive and technologically backwards? Not me. The future is seeping in slowly, it seems. Baby steps.
I entered the day excited to finally see HOW NEWS WAS MADE by the dominant media outlet in our city.
I left the day flat-out impressed by the funny, creative and kind people that make the news. Just think what they could do if given modern technology to work with... I'm sure they think about it all the time.
-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)
A very special thanks to Ryan White for playing host. You can read Ryan's work, as always, at The Tailgate.
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Gah. Sorry.
Take a couple weeks off and I forget the BE Code of Honor.
That place doesn't look nearly as comfortable as my mom's basement.
He who laughs last thinks slowest.
Can I come hang out there during the next nuke attack?
# 10 Top Charles Barkley Quote: On the Portland Trail Blazers (back when they were known as the Jail Blazers) serving Thanksgiving meals: "In between arrests they do community service."
by BlazermaniacAndy on Oct 21, 2008 5:01 PM PDT reply actions
Uh
…I found myself confronted by a 450 person lynchmob, which I initially mistook for a John McCain rally…
oookay? So you’re saying John McCain supporters are a lynch mob?
That’s a little over the top.
Sergio has a knack for making passes that lead to layups and dunks, for both teams. - Ben G.
twas a joke, good sir,
i’ll pass the blame for that to keith olbermann who has brainwashed me with his special comments.
the intention was not meant to offend but rather to make light of the media’s portrayal of his rallies and the online response to quick.
honor terry porter
by Ben Golliver on Oct 21, 2008 5:41 PM PDT up reply actions
I thought
you just meant that Mccain rally only had 450 people, as opposed to the Obama rallies which have been getting close to 50,000.
I thought it was the best line in the article, besides the part where you talked about the monitors moonlighting as anchors.
He who laughs last thinks slowest.
yeah that was part of it too.
honor terry porter
by Ben Golliver on Oct 21, 2008 8:31 PM PDT up reply actions
But not a good joke, sir.
I couldn’t tell where “joke” ended and reality began until the description of the newsroom in the 10th paragraph, and then only because I’ve been in a newsroom.
Whether the joke is tasteless or not (and I can’t decide how I feel about that), it was confusing. Which was really the problem here.
Jerryd Bayless has two emotions: Kill and Win.
"I think it’s going to be very beautiful game next year."
-Nicolas Batum
NorrisHopper30: "someone injure pubert jones"
by rockingharder on Oct 21, 2008 8:48 PM PDT up reply actions
sorry i will try harder next time.
honor terry porter
by Ben Golliver on Oct 21, 2008 9:48 PM PDT up reply actions
one of the most interesting
Things I’ve read on blazersedge. You balanced telling with entertaining perfectly. I’ve always wanted to tour the Oregonian
Goodbye blue Monday
Keith Olbermann
You actually watch this guy?
He was one of those people who dislike bush so much they threaten to leave the country…
Please I will open the door(yes the door to america) on the way out. No he won’t because he knows he couldn’t say what he does on public airwaves about the president of any other country in the world.
Maybe outlaws car can take care of this guy?
Sergio, grab the playing time by the horns.
Keith Olbermann
Has no problem, that a long walk off a short pier can’t fix.
I like him on sunday night football
"It was like some sort of crazy torture in the movies. How do people do that so long without taking a breath? I think my ears are still ringing."
-Adrian Peterson, describing Autzen
Maybe outlaws car can take care of this guy?
LOL very nice
honor terry porter
by Ben Golliver on Oct 21, 2008 8:09 PM PDT up reply actions
As a matter of fact . . .
let me name some other countries where they vociferously savage their leaders: Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Korea, Japan, Australia, and more. Actually, one of the things that strikes many foreigners from industrialized democracies who visit the U.S. is the relative narrowness of the ideological and policy debates in this country.
And that’s the truth.
by Trutherlizer on Oct 21, 2008 9:38 PM PDT up reply actions
Freedom of speech and thought is a wonderful thing...
Odenied: If you're given lemmings—make lemming-ade (Bow4Meow)
Is that his issue?
A person can believe exactly the same as Mother Theresa and still be difficult to be around. The problem is if a person is benign or malignant (I’m a devout Christian, but I try not to be a jerk about it).
quid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur
It's nice to see the way the right responds.
The same folks who object to a McCain rally being compared to a lynch mob goes two for two on death wishes to a talking head they disagree with.
I rest my case.
Right wing = hypocrisy
There are so many examples. Most recently: the party of “small government” and “laissez-faire” leaping to the defense of Wall Street—to the tune of a trillion dollars (that’s a THOUSAND BILLION). Then there was that little adventure in Iraq—led by the party that had crucified Clinton for “nation-building” when he intervened in the Balkans. Another THOUSAND BILLION down the drain—and counting. Oh, and then there was Senator Craig. The less said about that classic exercise in right-wing hypocrisy the better.
Just scratching the surface, here. But I’d much rather get back to talking hoops.
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
Hypocrisy?
Hmm…
What is 90+% of the left’s stance on the border? Leave it open, don’t try & restrict incoming aliens.
The same left wing is bitching about the financial crisis… Hmmm… Why are we in a financial crisis? Too many people taking out loans they can’t afford. This number is only increased with illegals coming into the country.
How about Barack Obama’s plan to redistribute the wealth to anyone making less then 75k a year?
Oh yes, all illegals fall into that category as well.
Sergio, grab the playing time by the horns.
by TheGreatDane17 on Oct 21, 2008 9:12 PM PDT up reply actions
The biggest reason why we are in this financial mess today.
2004 congressional hearing on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac where democrats are outraged that the Regulator and republicans do not want to deregulate these institutions. Even Clinton at the end says democrats were wrong.
Exactly
This unregulated shadow market turns out to have dwarfed the rest of Wall Street. It wasn’t a bunch of bad mortgage loans that brought down financial institutions like Bear Stearns—institutions that had survived so many recessions and punctured “bubbles.” It was the incredibly greedy, reckless, and foolish practice of buying “insurance” on those bad loans—insurance that left those institutions free (or so they convinced themselves) to loan money without sufficient capital.
This financial meltdown has the greedy, anti-regulatory “supply side” right-wing all over it. As does the rationale that it was the fault of people who bought homes they couldn’t afford.
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
It was both bad mortgages and CDS
If you didn’t have bad mortgages, you wouldn’t have had mortgage instruments defaulting and the CDS problems would have never been triggered.
Bad mortgages, and over-reliance on bad insurance against those mortgages being bad, results in bad things happening.
But no, I can’t agree with your greedy, anti-regulatory “supply side” right wing statement. If people hadn’t bought homes they couldn’t afford, we wouldn’t be here. You don’t have to be a right-winger to see that.
Greedy bankers figured they had found a way to make lots of money by making loans to people who couldn’t afford them, and greedy homebuyers wanted a bigger and better home than they could afford. Both were greedy, and both have been caught out, and both are getting help from the taxpayers to limit the damage to the innocent that would flow out of the consequences of their greed. It’s a mixed up mess. But no one should exonerate either the mortgage providers or the home buyers who went in over their head, and knew it.
There were a lot of people living in homes without any furniture because they couldn’t afford furniture, simply gambling that the price of the house would go up and they could cash in before their variable rate mortgages went up. You can’t say they haven’t been a big part of the problem.
The most amazing thing about my amazing ego is I have amazingly little about which to be egotistical.
The pick and roll this year will emphasize "roll" followed by "dunk", followed by the wailings and lamentations of your women.
Yes, but...
ask yourself what changed? Did people suddenly start wishing to live in nice homes for the first time? Of course not: people have always wanted to live in nice homes. In the past those that couldn’t afford them were turned down for the loans, and that was the end of it. What changed is credit default swaps, which gave greedy, foolish lenders the false belief that they could offer loans that they knew to be extremely problematic to these homeowners (many of them first-timers) with no risk to themselves. Where does the greed lie in this scenario?
Many of these homeowners were duped by lenders into believing that they were in fact NOT taking a gamble. They were told that when their rates adjusted, they could always refinance. They didn’t realize that if the price of their homes dropped thru the floor that they’d be stuck. Most of these homeowners were newbies, with no financial expertise whatsoever. By contrast, the people selling them the loans were financial experts. Who do YOU blame?
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
I blame both
CDS weren’t even big players in the market until after a huge number of bad loans were made. Then, people started to get nervous, and said, “How can we cover ourselves if this stuff goes bad?” Someone else came along and said, “Hey, there’s CDS’s out there, let’s buy some of those.”
Here’s the thing, most of the CDS’s were not even bought by the people making the loans. They made bad loans, securitized them, and sold them on to investors. The investors were also greedy — “I can get a better rate of return, and there’s no real risk, if those homeowners default, they’ll foreclose and the house will be up in value, so I’ll come out fine.”
But then, the investors woke up to their risk, and went in for the CDS option to cover themselves if things went bad. And people like Bear Stearns and Lehman said, “Hey, there’s money to be made in selling CDS, let’s do more of them.”
And meanwhile, Bear Stearns and Lehman were also investing in those securitized mortgages, which increased their exposure.
So I blame lots of people. If someone was buying a house that they couldn’t even afford to buy furniture, then they were doing wrong, and they don’t deserve to be bailed out. They helped create the mess. If they are really that stupid, then they are really that stupid. But I blame them for it.
And I blame anyone who listens to someone selling them a product and never asks a single “Wait a minute!” question, or reads any of the fine print, or anything else. If that’s the way people are going to behave, then “a fool and his money are soon parted.”
So, I blame stupid/greedy/both homeowners, greedy mortgage lenders, greedy investors, greedy investment bankers, and politicians (of all parties) who thought they could gain or hold power by encouraging the whole con game until it all fell apart.
And I find it particularly offensive that until perhaps two weeks ago, our British and European politicians have been blaming the US when our bankers and politicians have been playing the same game, and our mess may actually be a bigger one.
The most amazing thing about my amazing ego is I have amazingly little about which to be egotistical.
The pick and roll this year will emphasize "roll" followed by "dunk", followed by the wailings and lamentations of your women.
Here's the bottom line
Regardless of who you feel was at fault—and really, you and I are just quibbling over degrees of blame—this puppy, combined with the equally costly Iraq debacle, is going to be seriously impacting us, our children, and our grandchildren. We’re not talking billions of dollars but THOUSANDS of billions. I can’t even get my mind around that, and I think I’m doing better than the average person.
This may mark the beginning of the end of the USA’s status as a “first world” country. The U.S., when Bush & Co took over, was the #1 creditor nation in the world. We were the #1 debtor nation in the world BEFORE this meltdown. What happens now? This could get very ugly—I’m talking 1929-ugly.
Thank God for the Blazers. And let’s say our prayers for the health of our Big 4. Because without the escapism the Blazers are providing me right now, I’d be truly depressed. For now, I’d rather live in denial, hoping that this economy doesn’t tank as badly as it appears it will.
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
One point I do need to rebut
You keep referring to people who spent so much on their homes that they couldn’t afford furniture, stating that those families were gambling and deserved what they got. That’s at least a reasonable argument. But how large a percentage of the people now defaulting on their mortgages actually fall into that category? I’d guess it’s a very small percentage indeed. I live in a neighborhood in which at least a dozen families have been foreclosed on, and NONE of them were living without furniture.
This reminds me of the classic argument against welfare, pointing to the “welfare queens” who cheat and pop out more and more babies to keep collecting their benefits. Of course there are people like that; there always are people out to scam the system. But how large a percentage of family assistance actually goes to people like that? Further, how big a dent does family assistance as a whole make in our budget? A hell of a lot less than one stealth fighter—not to mention one Wall Street bailout.
You’re clearly well-versed in numbers. So I’d suggest that you “do the math” when assessing how significant a problem greedy, gambling homebuyers (or welfare cheats, if you prefer) are. A few million dollars in wasted tax dollars is nothing to sneeze at—until you contemplate MILLIONS OF MILLIONS (i.e., trillions). A little perspective, please.
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
I never talked about welfare cheats
The point is, a lot of people over-extended, and knew or should have known they were over-extending, but didn’t care to find out and be careful.
Your argument seems to be, “Well, people have always been greedy for bigger homes than they could afford, but the banks used to keep them from destroying themselves.” Fair enough. Doesn’t change the fact that they were greedy.
Yes, this could get ugly. It could even get uglier than 1929. What a lot of people over there don’t realize is that it could get even uglier in Europe. And I’m talking a lot more than financial ugly.
There’s a lot of tensions in Europe, with Muslim populations growing, a lot of resentment, a lot of hatred.
How did Hitler rise to power? A combination of financial upheaval and suffering, national resentment, and racial hatred. I’m seeing those things increasing in Europe, and a demagogue could take advantage. This time, I’m not sure the decent people of Europe have the strength to resist mob mentality stirred up by a demagogue. It could get very ugly indeed.
Sorry if I just depressed you more. Back to the Blazers, I guess.
P.S. My job is somewhat related to the financial services industry (not directly in it), so I have to keep pretty up to date on what games the investment industry is playing. We had big trouble brewing long before CDS became a significant player. That’s why I jumped in on this one.
The problem was neither CDS nor securitization, both have been around in one form or another for many years, and can serve a useful purpose. The problem is the decisions people made on many levels.
The most amazing thing about my amazing ego is I have amazingly little about which to be egotistical.
The pick and roll this year will emphasize "roll" followed by "dunk", followed by the wailings and lamentations of your women.
Nothing wrong with CDS
Insuring against risk is completely appropriate. That’s why many people buy life insurance.
The problem is
1. Using them as a gamble, a bet that companies would fail.
2. Relying on them when the provider was not solid. This is like buying cheap insurance from a company that may not be able to pay, and then making decisions based on the assumption that the company will pay.
3. Substituting CDS for decent credit analysis, and thus not having any idea how exposed you really are to default risk.
In other words, Credit Default Swaps aren’t a bad thing, it is the misuse of them that is bad.
The most amazing thing about my amazing ego is I have amazingly little about which to be egotistical.
The pick and roll this year will emphasize "roll" followed by "dunk", followed by the wailings and lamentations of your women.
OK, this isn't my area of expertise
But it’s my understanding that CDS were created to be “misused.” According to 20/20,a bunch of financial whizzes from MIT etc. were brought in by financial institutions to devise a way for them to take on risky loans without risk to themselves, eliminating the necessity of keeping cash reserves on hand to protect themselves. The financial instruments these whizzes (think basketball stat geeks) created were hundreds of pages in length, and no one but the “whizzes” actually read and—supposedly—understood them.
Now, common sense would dictate against this whole scenario. But greed overcomes common sense every time. The CEO’s wanted to believe CDS would work, so they bought the snake oil. You can say snake oil isn’t inherently bad, and you’d be right. But that’s just a technicality, in my opinion. What we’re arguing is the validity of blaming defaulting homeowners for the financial collapse. And clearly that’s invalid, because homeowners have always applied for loans on homes they couldn’t afford. What changed, as I stated above, was the sudden willingness of lenders to not only OK those loans, but to ENCOURAGE them.
Which isn’t to hold Congress—both Republican & Democratic—blameless. No question Democrats in particular were too quick to assume that poor folks should get in on the housing boom. Those legislators bought the snake oil too. But stop blaming the homeowners—that’s bull.
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
I didn't see the 20/20 spot
Wrong side of the water. But I would have expected them to over-simplify things, and sounds like they did.
I don’t see how someone could claim they were created to be misused. It’s an exchange of risk.
Taking risks isn’t bad, and exchanging risk isn’t bad. Let’s use a simple example.
If the guy who owns the store down the way thinks he can sell 1000 litres of milk a day, he orders that much in. Actually, he probably orders 1100 litres, because stores don’t like to totally run out of stuff.
Now, he just took a risk. If he runs out, he might lose customers who won’t come back if they can’t get milk. So he’s taking a risk that 1100 is going to be enough. But he’s also taking a risk that he might get stuck with too much. He probably has enough profit margin that if he sells 800 litres, he’s fine, but at 600, he’s hurting. So he takes risk, but because of that risk, we can buy milk, he can make enough money to pay his employees, and he makes enough to take care of his family as well. So risk isn’t bad.
What about trading risk? That’s what we do when we buy insurance. If I depart this life early, my wife gets rich (don’t tell her, or the risk might go up :-)), so she can take care of the kids without a lot of trouble. There’s a risk of that happening, but the insurance company has taken on some of the financial aspect of the risk. I pay them to do so. Nothing particularly unethical here.
All CDS did was trade the risk. For a price, the issuer of the CDS took on the risk of a default. That’s all it is. To say they were created to be misused is simply mistaken. They are a legitimate investment tool which a prudent investor/portfolio manager could use to good effect. The error was not in using them, but in over-relying on them.
But to respond to your final sentence, I do blame the homeowners, too (in general, I’m not talking about people who lost their jobs or became ill, etc.). No one held a gun to anyone’s head and made them buy a house they couldn’t afford. People made decisions, freely. We’re talking about adults here, consenting adults. No one should get a free pass for the decisions they made.
Homeowners wanted a house too expensive for them. That’s greed, as surely as it is greed for investors to want a high yield investment which is too risky for them, or lenders to want to sell mortgages which are too risky for them. It’s greed all around. Everybody wanted more than was reasonable and prudent for them to have, and tried to get it.
The most amazing thing about my amazing ego is I have amazingly little about which to be egotistical.
The pick and roll this year will emphasize "roll" followed by "dunk", followed by the wailings and lamentations of your women.
Typical Left wing response
To assume that All people who disagree with them are on the Right. I prefer the middle of the fence…easier to identifiy the Idiots on both sides.
OK, so you're an independent thinker
who objects to a McCain rally being compared to a lynch mob makes death wishes to a talking head he disagrees with.
How like you independent thinkers to assume that everyone who thinks death wishes are inappropriate is a lefty.
Newspapers
I dropped my subscriptions to the Salem and Portland papers almost 10 years ago. They are irrelevent in these days (in printed form). I do browse the online versions from time to time. But, in today’s electronic age they have totally lost their influence. It’s not a one stoplight city now, where ever you live. No more getting your news from one printed source only and the alphabet channels. Good reporters like White, Canzano, and others who embrace other mediums will continue to be read (on the Net), but physical papers overall…. I would hate to be in that industry. It’s just a matter of time. I kind of feel bad, but it’s like cable TV taking over the television, and trying to convince us that the WNBA is just as fun to watch as the NBA. Ain’t going to happen.
There is probably no more terrible instance of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man — with human flesh.
Paul Muad'Dib - Dune (Frank Herbert)
My Translation: My Dad is a dude just like me, and my sons are dudes like me also. I love that.
Season Tix: Section 315, with my sons
Only chance...
They could convince most to watch the WNBA is if…
They forced them to play with no jerseys, yes?
Sergio, grab the playing time by the horns.
i love the oregonian
its way better than the ‘sound byte’ tv news crap that doesnt give in depth articles about anything.
newspapers wont die. There will always be a market for in depth articles about various things around the community instead of just 30 second media news bytes.
oregonian 4tw
chicka chicka yeah
not only that
But there’s always the fact that you can hold a newspaper in your hand. The demand for real things is never going to die out, not even in the most science fictioney possible future
Goodbye blue Monday
In the future, you can hold an electronic paper
And with the current state of newsreaders (Sony, Kindle, …) the future is not too far away. Like book publishers and magazines, printed newspapers will never be as big again as they once were, though they won’t die completely if they handle things correctly and extend their valuable brand to electronic media you can trust. The Oregonian does a pretty good job in this arena.
Odenied: If you're given lemmings—make lemming-ade (Bow4Meow)
Crap
I had a comment and can’t remember it after reading all that political stuff. I am almost as eager for the election to be over as I am for the NBA season to start.
Eh, howzit, brah. You get any da kine?
Thank you for writing that
My company is so doomed by the coming elections that this site helps take my mind off. Then a thread like this takes a life of its own and it drags me back into the impending gloom.
Let’s talk about the BLAZERS.
quid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur
I've already voted...
so all the political crap is totally irrelevant to me.
can focus solely on the BLAZERS!
:-)
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