I'm not dead yet...

No, my friends, I haven't kicked the bucket yet. Nor have I been eaten by a moose in the nether regions of New Hampshire.

I was suffering from an absolutely horrible case of writer's block. You see, I'm working on my thesis (I think I've mentioned it here, but it's the culmination of three years' work, 60 grand and the capstone on a completely non-marketable MFA). It's due to my reader and adviser in about five weeks. Ten days ago, I completely conked out - I was sick of the project, didn't know where to go with it next, out of ideas and couldn't string together two coherent paragraphs.

For my subscribing faithful, you'll probably ask, "How is that any different than your writing here, Mike?"

In which case, I'm smack you in the face. But point duly noted.

Anyways, I felt like if I wasn't working on the thing that I've left my job to actually work on, then the last thing I should be doing is writing about the miscellany in my life that appears here. It's not that I don't love you readers (yes, all 2 and a half of you), it's just that I am a man of principles. Sometimes. And my principles said that I had to churn out another chapter of thesifizing before I posted another blog to destroy your workplace productivity.

But good news. I sat myself town and told myself, "Mike - now I don't like you and you don't like me - but we're going to lock ourselves in this room and not come out until you have 10 or more pages written that don't look like used Charmin." And it worked. I'm on a roll now (which is like unused Charmin).

Alas, this is not the long-awaited, genius post that you've come to expect, nay demand, from my thoroughly unprofitable site. Those are coming. For now, I've got a meeting that I have to get to, so you're just getting this update, a LOTD and two YouTube videos I've become obsessed with. See, I can make sure your productivity plummets even without writing.

You're welcome.

---Link of the Day---
Check out Pando.com. My brother alerted me to this site. It's a way to send large files (up to 1 gig) for free. So, basically, we're using it to illegally share music. Can I get an "Amen!"?

Also, it has a handy function that will allow me to post files here. Once I figure out how that works, I'll probably post some sample tracks that you can try for free and then go buy the album so I don't get sued.

---Videos of the Day---
Okay, so over 15 million people have already seen these on YouTube, but in case you haven't, I enjoyed them. You will, too. Both are from Jimmy Kimmel's late night show on ABC, which I don't watch, but do enjoy every time I happen to flick through it.
"Sarah Silverman - 'I'm doing Matt Damon'"








...and the response...



Talk soon!