Again, I have to apologize for not being very active on the \’ol blog here.  For those who want to read what I\’ve been up to, check out my nerdy posts over at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Blog.  People seem to have figured out that I\’m just buying time on this blog by adding videos, but I actually have been writing elsewhere.

Also, on Saturday I\’ll be at the Americans For Prosperity \”Defending the American Dream Summit\” in Milwaukee.  Due to the multiple restraining orders filed against me, it is as yet unclear which breakout session they will have me speaking to.  But it will be at 3:15.  I\’ll update here if necessary.

On Sunday morning, I will be on \”Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes,\” so tune in to that.  I\’m thinking pink tie, but I can be dissuaded.

Finally, my wife has alerted me to the fact that at her work, someone has begun writing a newsletter called the \”Latrine Ledger\” and posting it in the bathroom stall.  My column with them will be starting next week.  Unfortunately, in order to read it, you will have to go to my wife\’s office and sit on the women\’s crapper.  From what I understand, there have already been complaints about the Ledger\’s liberal bias, but their expose on the dangers of using hand dryers while talking on your cell phone was top notch.

Oh, and last thing – I was scheduled to give a speech to the Conservative Young Republicans of Milwaukee this week, but I got bumped for Joe the Plumber.  My brush with fame.  I\’m sure we\’ll re-schedule for another time when such a high-powered national celebrity isn\’t in town.

I mentioned a few months ago that one of my favorite things to do was to go to used bookstores and just browse around the old books there.  I don\’t even necessarily intend to buy them most of the time – I just like the look and the tactile feel of used books.

But there is a downside to spending a lot of time browsing through books for more than 10 minutes.  Your neck starts to hurt like hell.  Since books are stacked horizontally, you have to crank your head to the right, nearly touching your ear to your shoulder.  And after a while, it feels like your head might get stuck there permanently.  I\’m sure people have needed years of physical therapy to correct this chiropractic disaster.

So here\’s what I\’ve come up with:  If I ever own my own bookstore, we\’re going to have movable carts that customers can lie on horizontally, and my dedicated workers will push them around to look at books.  Naturally, the carts will expand or contract in order to accomodate the height of the shelf.  As usual, blended fruit drinks will be available for an additional cost.

Here\’s the first schematic of my invention that I\’ve drawn up.  The \”customer\” is represented in this blueprint by actor Pat Harrington Jr., otherwise known as the plumber \”Dwayne F. Schneider\” from \”One Day at a Time.\”  I thought this made the drawing a little more realistic, since I can\’t think of any reason why he wouldn\’t be a regular patron.

Or I could just stack the books vertically, I suppose.

Jack Bauer is going to tie global warming to a chair and shock its nipples with a lamp cord until it stops.

On Saturday night, my buddy Barrett and I went to the UW-Madison union to see a band called Explorers Club.  He liked this band so much, he had their album \”Freedom Wind\”  on his Top 10 best albums of 2008 list (which can be heard on the podcast we recorded).  They sound a great deal like the Beach Boys – and by \”a great deal,\” I mean \”exactly like.\”

This kind of makes them difficult to judge as a band – I mean, their album is really, really good.  But how many demerits do you issue them for sounding exactly like another band?  In some respects, every artist steals a certain style from someone else.  But this is SO blatant it\’s distracting.  On the other hand, they\’re stealing harmonies from one of the greatest bands of all time and making them their own, which is a technical achievement in itself.  Look – here\’s the deal – we can go around and around all night on this, or you can just start making me a sandwich.  Your pick.

The band is a bunch of young guys from South Carolina, so you can imagine their disappointment at the front row of their show being populated by a bunch of 30-something dudes.  I would think they probably don\’t make much money (and what they do make, they have to split seven ways), so the only benefit they get is the occasional starry eyed college girl.  While most of the guys in the band take turns singing, there\’s one guy who is clearly the \”lead\” singer.  But it was weird, because he tucked himself all the way in the corner, and his microphone was turned way down.  It was almost as if he were embarrassed to be the lead singer, which was ridiculous, because he could really, really sing.

So, of course, after the show (and a few beers), I accosted this guy.  I told him he needed to get out of the corner, turn up him microphone, and be the damn lead singer of this band.  There may have even been some finger wagging involved.  I pleaded with him to have more confidence in himself, because he\’s a great singer (he also happens to be kind of a chubby guy, so he may not believe in his ability to be a front man).  I am 98% certain he thought I was hitting on him.

At the end of the evening, we ended up destroying some French toast (pardon me… \”freedom\” toast) at Perkins.  (Me and Barrett – not me and the guy from the band.)  Like Grandma always said, there is no sadder place on earth than Perkins at 2 AM.

Anyway, here\’s a live-ish performance of  \”Don\’t Forget the Sun,\” by Explorers Club: