Managed to get a pic before the run through of Wednesday’s show. When the show opens you can just barely make me out yelling “LIGHT IT UP!!” I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m willing to bet that you can hear my laughter throughout.

John Oliver wished me a happy birthday last night backstage at The Daily Show.

Going to see The Daily Show today…It almost didn’t happen though.

Here’s the scoop. My friend Miles is a producer on the show and set it up so I could get tix and a little tour of the studio. I got to NYC last night (birthday night for those of you keeping track) to a text message and voicemail basically stating that his Audience Coordinator screwed up and that we weren’t on the list anymore. Miles promised to do everything he could to fix it. And that also, Barack Obama would be the guest.
Can’t say I wasn’t bummed. But I had faith in him. And if it didn’t work out, I’d have to gut an audience coordinator. So, this morning Miles came through on his word. It turns out Barack Obama would be conferenced in via satellite and that we would get to see the show after all. How was this made possible? Because we got his 2 audience seats.

I AM SEEING THE DAILY SHOW USING BARACK OBAMA’S COMPS!

girl 2 places in front of me : The snickerdoodle. (pointing at cookie display) It’s that one in the back.
counter girl : (grabbing the cookie in the front)This one?
girl 2 places in front of me : No in the back. The one on the red plate.
counter girl : (searching)
girl 2 places in front of me : On the red plate.
counter girl : (searching)
other guy working : They’re all labeled.
counter girl : (searching)
*There is only one red plate in the display. The rest are green. Which begs the question, was she color blind and only saw red plates and one green one?
guy in front of me : I’ll have a large Chamomile tea for here.
counter girl : One small coffee.
guy in front of me : No. Large Chamomile tea.
counter girl : Oh. (long pause) What size would you like? Small, medium, or large?
guy in front of me : Large.
counter girl : Is that for here or to go.
guy in front of me : For here.
counter girl : OK.

That pretty much sums up the day I’ve had.

I finally got a Lomo Colorsplash and started snapping pictures. I have a lot to learn still, but here are some shots.

See the rest here at flickr.

I wonder if restaurants can deny fat people service the same way bars can deny service to drunks.

The Dept. of Homeland Security has made sure the water supply at Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport is safe and sound.

The other day I found out that one of my high school teachers was in a bit of trouble with the law. The charges were dropped and he was cleared, etc. But the school board – or some other governing body – was threatening to take away his teaching license (or whatever the right to teach is called) and his pension. So he put a call out to all his former students to send supporting words to his lawyer. So there I sat, in a Subway on St. George Island (the only place with any internet access), and began to write a letter of recommendation for the teacher that 15 years prior wrote me a letter of recommendation. It was one of the more surreal experiences I’ve had in recent memory. I like to think that maybe he too scraped together a letter of recommendation for me while munching on a cookie at Subway.

so if they make it up to “R” in the hurricanes this year
It’s going to be named Rene

Thanks Lady Dehumidifier.