NP: Sonny Sharrock, Ask The Ages (CD)

Hey look! I'm a statistic!

As the NYT analysis points out, "self-employed" is maybe as well-defined of a term as "alternative rock." Yeah, I'm working for myself, but I'm not exactly lighting up the savings account.

That said, I'm cautiously optimistic that I've gotten yet another bailout shot, just when things were starting to get particularly grim. Not a done deal, but more news early next week. In the meantime, I continue to stock up on irrational hope by way of that Lotto thing.

Latest news has Howard Dean kicking major butt in New Hampshire, but I seem to recall Gephart still has the edge in Iowa. Which means that the unconventional strategy of laying low early might just work out for my man Wes, as those two heavy hitters might cancel each other out and severely damage John Kerry in the process, leaving no frontrunner and a weakened field after the first two contests. That might be overly optimistic, but I just refuse to believe the flood of conventional political wisdom about the primary process that's overtaken mostly every media outlet.