reyonthehill

Am I the only person to think that the Sopranos season is going too quickly? Plot lines that used to take several episodes to develop, let alone conclude, are now unfolding within an hour.

I am with the majority, I believe, on the idea that last week's Uncle Junior episode (in the nuthouse, at last) will most likely be the last substantive appearance of the man who shot Tony twice. And this past episode's close look at Hesh, the long-time friend of Tony's father and one of Tony's closest confidants, will be the last we see of Hesh in the series. David Chase is apparently doing a last-call for some of the minor-major characters (including Johnny Sack in episode two) before he gets to the business at hand: How does Tony Soprano die, and who takes over the Jersey mob?

We certainly see Tony (whose sudden perverse gambling addiction is almost an annoyance, and goes against a lot of the Tony we thought we knew; "I wouldn't bet on football") seemingly discard his relationships with a lot of the people close to him -- his brother-in-law Bobby (episode one), his cousin and protégé Christopher (episode two), Paulie Walnuts (episode three), and Hesh (episode four). Silvio Dante, who has had dreams of being boss to only be sidelined by stress as Tony's consigliere is up next, one would think. And who will take charge in Tony's crew, Chris or Paulie? Will the bloodbath in New York cross the New Jersey border? And what will be the final story arc of Carmela, Meadow and AJ Soprano?

- Six former CIA officers have written a letter to former CIA director, suggesting that "Tenet should have resigned in protest rather than take part in the administration's buildup to the war." They are right. How will Bush/Cheney/Rove silence the uproar from Tenet's new book?

- "President George W. Bush will not support a war spending bill that punishes the Iraqi government for failing to meet benchmarks for progress," says Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. In an unrelated policy, the president does support an education bill that punishes under-performing schools to meet benchmarks for progress.

- And this highway collapse thing will greatly affect everyone in the bay area for the next couple of months. Hopefully, the company responsible will foot the bill, not taxpayers. (It's a good thing I take the train.)

Being all but displaced from my hometown, Buffalo (well, actually, a suburb northeast of Buffalo), my second home has become Philadelphia. I had spent time there courting my future wife after college before moving to California. My wife's family is nearby, just over the border in New Jersey, and her sister lives in Center City Philadelphia. My brother lives in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia. My sisters are not too far away (the Bronx and Connecticut). So when I go "home," I usually mean Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia, I'm able to hang out with my brother, possibly see my sisters, and a couple of Christmases ago, all of us, parents included, hunkered down sitcom-style in my brother's townhouse for the weekend. My wife and I are also able to spend time with her entire family while in Philadelphia. We got married in Philadelphia. In fact, I haven't been to Buffalo in quite some time, although a trip there seems to be looming in the future; to Syracuse, as well.

My new hometown is somewhat ambiguous. We own our home in Hercules (or, we are paying the bank to sleep there), but we initially moved to Berkeley, and that is where I work. We have both worked in Oakland, and that is the closest major city. We have spent a lot of time in San Francisco, and we love Marin. In reality, the entire bay area is our "hometown."

That being said, I root for the Oakland teams around here. I follow the Oakland Athletics, and to a lesser extent, the Golden State Warriors (who I'd prefer to call the "Oakland City Warriors" if I owned the team, but I don't). Buffalo has football and hockey, and I still root for the Bills and I follow the Sabres religiously, but Buffalo doesn't have professional baseball or basketball, so it has been easy to relocate my hometown feelings for the A's and Warriors. And wouldn't you know it, the Oakland Athletics were originally the Philadelphia Athletics. And the Golden State Warriors were originally the Philadelphia Warriors. The two teams I follow in Oakland both originated in Philadelphia. Talk about your hometown cross-breeding.

- If anyone cared to watch the democrat presidential hopefuls debate last night, the American people saw a distinct contrast to Bush's stay-the-course policy in Iraq and what the democrats have to offer, a way out of Iraq. (I missed the debate last night, it is a tad too early for debates, but from the MSNBC recap I watched this morning, I have to say, Hillary seemed to shine, and Richardson and Biden held their own.)

- The democrats plan to deliver the Iraq spending/withdrawal bill for Bush to sign on "the four-year anniversary of the 'Mission Accomplished' speech the president delivered aboard an aircraft carrier while wearing a flight suit." Who is writing this screenplay?

- And better late than never? Former CIA director George Tenet writes in a new book, "There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."

- The House passed a "war spending bill that would require American troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq by Oct. 1, setting the stage for the first veto fight between President Bush and majority Democrats." It is on.

- The current republican mayor of New York city (and former democrat) on the 2008 election field: "I hope Al Gore enters the race; I think it would be good for the country." (For Gore to win? Or for Gore to tackle Hillary's chances?)

- And aspiring-president John McCain has called for Attorney General Gonzales to resign, although he'll do just about anything for attention these days. Oh, to be young again.

Jake Tapper blogged about Speaker Pelosi skipping a congressional meeting with the commander of forces in Iraq, and I commented...

You are right, Jake, it is newsworthy. What is also newsworthy is the declining clout the president and vice president have with their insistence that the bill will be DOA. With that statement known and well covered, the democrats are bravely -- my word -- moving on with what they feel is a better approach. The American people have spoken, will the president listen?

Once again, real emails, real life. (Keep them coming.)

You made the top list of bullshit jobs..... of course, it is actually your side job.
-- Jimmy Steamboat, New Jersey

At first, I thought you meant engineering, my day job, but I've got to admit, blogging is a lot like engineering. Engineering my demise.

I can't say I disagree with this... "This is one of the bullshit jobs you can do immediately, with no training and no prior experience. You can also become very famous, since the established media, increasingly devoid of excitement and ideas of its own, has taken to siphoning off daily blogging activity as a much better and more interesting alternative to actual news." (Minus the becoming famous stuff. Of course.)

Umh, there is now video of the rogue elephant seal terrorizing the Pacific coast, not far from where I'll be surfing come late July. I've been referring to the surfing lessons as "shark baiting," but "rogue elephant seal baiting" isn't that much better.

- The president told PBS' Charlie Rose that it would be "a catastrophe for American forces to leave now" in Iraq. And how did it get to this? Does this mean Bush is the man competent enough to do the job?

- And our next president..? "Giuliani said the country is under threat from violent extremists who hate much about what America stands for, from freedom of religion and expression to the full participation of women in society." But, if we prevail in Iraq, under Bush's direction, all of this will go away. Come on Care Bears, let's stare.

- The political game of chicken between the democrats and the Bush administration on the funding of the Iraq war is getting interesting. There is no way that Bush will concede his failings and start to bring the troops home, which would be the right thing to do, so this will most likely end up being a lose-lose situation for everyone, especially the troops. The democrats will look like they are stonewalling the White House indifferent to the troops, while the Bushies will look like the fools that they are, unwilling to compromise on their failed war policies.

- The democrats are still hounding Gonzales -- granting immunity to his top aide -- but are also planning to question Condoleeza Rice on "the administration's now-discredited claim that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa," used to get us into war. It is about time.

- And Google is now the most visited website. La-te-fuckin-da.

The wedding reception turned out to be a good time, as the stuffy, yet increasingly fun, cocktail hour winded down. My wife and I sat with a bunch of couples our age and, except for my wife insisting that my "double-fisting" was an embarrassment, the night went off without a hitch.

I talked for a few hours with a detective for the New Jersey State Police. He works in the narcotics division so I didn't tell him how I had celebrated four-twenty two days prior. I have a favorable bias towards cops since my father is one, so the two of us instantly hit it off. I had an opportunity to use some of my police humor ("Oh great, I've got to sit next to the cop," etc.), which isn't always available. As the cop and I discussed, there is usually that one person who hates the police, for whatever reason.

My promise to my wife to "get drunk and not dance" (my sister-in-law told me that I'd be a "great date") was only half prophetic -- I danced a little.