Oh wait, we do.

Enron-o-Rama: From Scandal to Spectacle By Rob Walker

Ex-Enron vice chair commits suicide

Keeping in mind that this guy was an internal whistle-blower, where are all the Vince Foster-era presidential conspiracy theorists now? Man, I wish we Democrats had a kooky religious fringe.

I had to sit in a room full of Republicans this week to help out our political reporter (the first GOP gubernatorial debate) and was reminded again why I despise the GOP. Of course, the leading Republican candidate, former LA mayor Richard Riordan, would be a Democrat if he were running in Arizona. If you think CEO's of tech startup companies crave media attention, get within 50 feet of a campaign event with a notepad in your hand.

And while I'm on the topic of angry mobs: if you think Mormons and Scientologists are cults, try offending Apple fans. This was just one of a flood of angry letters over this story. Can you find the offensive paragraph? (That's a trick question: the letter-writers were offended by the paragraph we forgot to include, one equating Steve Jobs with God.)

How, in the name of everything that is good and holy, did this nut-job get his own show?

TNR Online | The Real Enron Scandal by the Editors

Once again, policy does matter.

Woo-hoo! Off to San Francisco again!

TNR Online | Recount by Jonathan Chait

A well-reasoned argument for a repeal of Bush's tax-cut plan.

It looks like the war honeymoon is over;

Simple Gifts - How Bush's shallowness makes him a good war president. By Jacob Weisberg

Also, see item below...

Daschle attacks Bush on deficits

Finally, someone noticed that last year's tax cuts were bad.

How's this for the start of a New Year: I woke up at 11:30 or so, played Tribes 2, went back to sleep, woke up, took a shower, and for a highlight, visted the giant downtown San Jose Fry's I didn't realize is there until about a week ago. It even has a cafe that serves a pretty decent Tuna Melt.

Last night was fun. I went down to Santa Cruz and met up with my buddy Murray and his wife for First Night, an arts program started in Boston that now includes 200 cities. We had an awesome dinner and saw a couple of performances, including a ska band and a blues duo.

But it's time to get back to work. I dread going back to the office tomorrow. But I guess I should be happy I have a job.

Happy New Year! Let's hope 2002 is better than 2001.

I've always suspected that the graphics department girls despise the reporters here, but now I finally know for sure: the one I really hate just asked who makes the Xbox, obviously having not bothered to read even one of several stories I've done on the subject. When my editor told her, the other graphics girl said "Really?"

I hate that department.

In case you were wondering, snakes do pee and poop.

Don't believe me? Ask Earl

It's so nice sitting around doing nothing...

I couldn't find a cheap flight out, so I'll fly back to San Jose tomorrow. What sucks is that I don't have any firm New Year's plans. It looks like I may go to Santa Cruz with Murray and his wife, but a friend from Orange County may be in town, and I'm sure she'll want to go to San Francisco.

After briefly debating whether to drive to Phoenix (in light of certain shoe-related events), I will go ahead and fly. But you can be sure I'll be sniffing the air for signs of sulfur.

Just one more gift to buy...

I know, I know. It's been awhile since I last updated. I've been really, really busy with end-of-year/Christmas madness, scrambling to get everything taken care of in terms of shopping, work, etc/ before I take off to Phoenix.

Nvidia finally released drivers for my 3D gaming glasses, but unfortunately, Tribes 2 is one of the games that doesn't work well with them. Sigh. But the 3-D versions of Quake 3 and Castle Wolfenstien are pretty cool.

Another cool thing I have to mention: for those of you who use multiple instant-messaging systems, Trillian is an excellent instant-messaging client that aggregates your Yahoo, AIM, ICQ and MSN accounts into a single application. No more having to run multiple programs just to keep in touch. You won't be able to use the most advanced features of your favorite instant-message systems, but Trillian does a superb job of handling the basics of sending and receiving messages -- and that's really the point, isn't it? One minor detail: my Yahoo"Web presence" indicator (the smiley-face under the "contact me" section of this site) makes it appear as if I'm offline, even when I'm not.

That's right, folks, the Newshounds (the Business Journal softball team) have actually won a game. It was a beautiful come-from-behind victory that left the other team so stunned and defeated that one player on the opposing team (Washington Mutual) threw her glove on the ground.

It was a great game, perhaps better than this year's World Series.

Okay, maybe not...

WE WON!!! WE WON!!

Details to come...

Who here remembers W.'s promises about the big tax cut?

The Deficit President - And how he's getting away with it. By Jonathan Chait

Of course, now he can blame bad economics on Sept. 11.

CNN.com - Taliban fighter from prison uprising says he's American - December 2, 2001

And of course, he's from Northern California. Actually, that explains a lot.