The weather was nice enough yesterday for us to have some happy hour beers on the Happy Gnome patio. I didn't have enough money or sense last summer to do anywhere near the amount of outdoor stuff I should have, so this summer I'm trying to make up for that.

Ben, Caitlin, Jenna, and Shelley all showed up, but it was nevertheless a bit weird drinking outside at the Gnome without Jess. Last summer we were there probably once a week on average, or at least that's how it seems now. O nostalgia!

I had both the worst Rogue and the best Ommegang that I've ever had, then headed over to Jenna's for the usual marathon of reality shows. ANTM continues to frustrate, unless you actually think the plus-size model can win. Then I guess everything is going swell.

I bought GTA IV earlier this week, but I haven't been able to get into it yet. Probably this is because I'm still only a few hours into the game, but so far I'm getting the illusion of space without the illusion of freedom.

I want to steal cars and search for hidden packages: I want to unlock things, I want to collect — but so far the game hasn't given me anything to do on those occasions when I've just cruised around. That's not to say that several aspects of the game aren't amazing, but I'm not especially excited yet.

(Back when I worked for BestMark, especially was our code word for criticism. You could say "He was not especially nice" but not "He should have been nicer.")

A coworker informs me that an email I sent out got forwarded to Adbusters magazine, and — long story short — I'm quoted there. Not a publication I ever expected to find myself in.