T.D.

Happest of birthdays to GA! :party:

CDs arrived, condition as advertised, fast. Many thanks!

I'm very careful about what I eat (vegetarian except for certain social occasions), but I voted for #3 instead of #4 because I will occasionally have dessert. But even my desserts aren't very extreme (Fig Newtons are a recent example). Haven't drunk alcohol for over 12 years (but drank far too much beer up to that time). Started turning the diet over 7-8 years ago, and have gradually gotten stricter. I've always exercised a lot, and have never been overweight. [Added] I'm 6 foot 2-1/2 (may have once been 6-3 before age started shrinking the spine ), don't weigh myself (or own a scale), but probably average in the 170-175 pound range. Probably was well below 170 as a marathon runner, up around 190 when playing recreational hockey.

PM sent on: Eric Dolphy Quintet featuring Freddie Hubbard - Outward Bound (New Jazz/OJC) 20-bit remastered/ZYX, digipak $2.50 Jaki Byard - Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, volume seventeen (Concord) $12

Funny, the Pats just reacquired Branch on Tuesday, from the Sea-aints for a 4th-round draft pick. Also interesting, considering that Moss only brought back a 3d-rounder.

Many thanks, dudes! I've rarely posted in the last year-plus, but still lurk. Appreciate the thought.

There's been talk of the Pats using their cache of draft picks to trade for Vincent Jackson of the Chargers. I doubt it's anything more than tabloid/talk radio babble, but the rumor's out there...

Nah...Mangini's good at motivating teams late in the season (esp. garbage time when the club's already been eliminated). For instance, they were 1-11 last year, but won the last 4 games (!) to finish at 5-11. A classic "Mangenius" finish (I harken back to his Jet days). I figure the Browns are a lock to win at least four games this year.

Now there's a report that the Vuelta runner-up tested positive.

Check out this interesting book review: http://www.chessvibes.com/reviews/review-the-kgb-plays-chess/ Chessvibes has become my favorite chess news source.

Fer sure.

Yeah, I saw the "hands around" in the early AFP item, but nowhere since. Still, it's about the funniest story I can recall. I initially did a double-take, fearing some kind of belated April Fool hoax.

Ditto, a couple of weeks back.

Recently saw this for the first time (via Netflix) and thought it was excellent. It motivated me to read the book (hadn't read any McCarthy since All the Pretty Horses), which was even better (IMO). I'd put the film in the upper tier of Coen bros. work, and will read more McCarthy, who previously hadn't impressed me so much.

+1

Happy Birthday! Chess babe and Patriot cheerleaders for your enjoyment...

Excellent news (even though I'm one of those concerned with pianos and tuning). Will definitely buy it.

In other WR news, Michael Crabtree finally signed with the 49ers, ending his bizarre holdout saga.

After taking Bengwads to OT, I think the Browns are starting to improve somewhat and have a good chance of escaping the bottom 3. The Rams look unspeakably bad, and Bucs also seem horrible. After surprising me with a victory, the Rai-Duhs seem to be regressing to their standard abysmal form, and may make a run at the bottom 3.

I stopped watching TV a couple of years ago, and watched Letterman very rarely prior to that, but I'm shocked that this is surprising so many people. Gee, a show-biz celeb was having sex with a subordinate!...How unusual. I saw in today's newspaper that ex-intern Stephanie ("Monty") was named as one of the sex partners. Another stunner! Going back ten (?) or so years, I always assumed Letterman was boinking her. Her frequent air time was otherwise inexplicable. Either I'm highly cynical or a lot of Letterman viewers are bizarrely naive. I figure the latter.

Thanks. I read the chesscafe site every week ("regular" features updated every Tues. at 10PM ET), and had seen it. Re. current chess events: in his first tournament (Nanjing, CHN) since disclosing that he is trained by Garry Kimovich, Magnus Carlsen leads at the halfway point with 4.5/5. No other player has won even a single game. Re. recent chess events: the K-K nostalgia match was a dud, as Karpov was in atrocious form and got pummelled by the aforementioned Garry K.

Lions win!!! Browns (sorry, SS1), Bucs and Chiefs are pitiful.

The Pats are likely to sign a backup QB soon (don't think they'll go with just Brady and Hoyer), but I'm not sure Garcia's a fit there. Conn probably knows more... Congrats to the undrafted ex-MSU Spartan on making the club, though.

I loved Pulp Fiction, but am overall not a huge QT fan. Didn't even bother to see Kill Bill (seemed too violent, and an insider view of a genre I know or care nothing about). I did see IB today, and it was excellent, better than I expected. The Euro cast really killed it, especially Waltz/Landa, who oughta get nominated for an Oscar IMO. Quite a few female viewers, but it was a college student crowd, so can't draw any big demographic conclusions.

Plaxico Burress cops plea, to do two years (maybe 20 months with good behavior, but I wouldn't bet on that)...