Well, sorry it's been quiet here, but I've been working on improving my Work Habits, which always seems to have a direct effect on my Writing Habits.

On the plus side: I've had a satisfying string of successes in my most recent project, and I've learned much that can be applied to the other, bigger project that has been dogging me for months.

On the minus side: having gotten out of the habit of writing regularly, I'm having trouble getting motivated to get back into it. Leaving aside the amount of time it takes to throw entries together, I'm just not exercised enough about anything to want to call attention to it.

No, that can't be it... a more accurate answer is, I've just Had My Fill of so many topics that have been beaten to death on the web sites I read that even I don't care what I have to say about them, and I don't have the inclination to go dig up new topics right now.

On top of that, the state of the presidential race is just depressing. Having run across The Truman Show on cable Monday night, I was struck by the similarities between the fake-nice (but-actually-sinister) people of Seahaven and the front-runners of both parties. Blech. Please, if you're in a state that matters (Missouri doesn't, sadly): please, please vote for someone other than Gore or Bush. While Bradley and McCain have shown some undesirable qualities here and there recently, their minuses are line noise compared to the twin blaring air horns of mediocrity and misleading mush coming from Bush and Gore.

See, there, that's bitter. Nobody wants to read bitter. Or at least, it's no fun to write it for very long, which is closer to the point.

(Don't get me wrong, things in my own life are dandy, I'm just in a funk about the way things are going 'out there'.)

I'll be back, I'm sure. It just may be a little while before I get both the time and inclination. Plus, I really do need to get more serious about working to put food on the table and DVDs in the player. In the mean time, feel free to amuse yourself by checking out the other logs on my little portal (the second paragraph of links is the one you want).

Here are two fine, fine pieces to look back on over the next few weeks:

• Salon's Jake Tapper wonders what the hell is wrong with the ordinary Republican-in-the-street:
  
  The ho-hum candidate [Salon, seen everywhere]
  It's not just that he's evasive -- which he is, refusing to answer questions about his ties to contemptible racists or his position on various relevant issues or his record as governor. And it's not that he's so completely and utterly unprepared to rule the nation. It's that he's the perfect representation of the mediocrity for which we as a nation continue to settle.
  
  
• Former Cedar Rapidian (now Des Moineser) Donald Kaul does a good summing-up of the presidential race for anyone who hasn't been paying attention (and there are plenty):
  
  Lowdown on Candidates [DMRegister, seen I-forget-where]
  [Bradley] is aloof, they say (although they don't tell us why that's bad).
  
  Gore has the most governmental experience, McCain the most life experience and Bradley - Ivy League hero, Rhodes scholar, pro basketball player - is living my life. Bush has gotten really good at executions.
  
  You would think that a nation of 280 million, many of them educated, could do better, but it can't. So pay your money and take your choice. It's called democracy, folks, and it is hard upon us.

And a couple of bonus quotes: