Every now and again I'll spend a morning agonizing, "Why does this day ring a bell for me?" Yesterday needs no introduction, but 9/12 also has its little niche in history, and it took me a couple hours to remember why. Then it hit me: today, four years ago, GWB threw down the gauntlet at the UN to live up to its declarations on Iraq. The UN, of course, failed to pick it up.

That little tidbit aside, it's hectic times in these parts. I caught a glimpse of Condi Rice from a distance of a couple hundred feet yesterday, managed to avoid any imperial outbursts vis-a-vis the ignorant protesters here in Halifax, had a job interview, and dished out advice to my younger sister who is having a helluva time right now. It's too bad *she* can't be coming out for the visit too, as an escape from BC seems very needed.

What is less hectic is the turnaround time on two book fronts. I've been waiting for more than two weeks after the "expected delivery date" for Ralph Peters' New Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremacy (everybody needs some light reading sometimes), and it turns out that I won't be getting my hard-bound thesis back until late November or even early December. That's a long wait for such an important piece of my personal history. Better late than never, I suppose.

I was disappointed with Harper's speech last night; too short, too vague, and too soft on explaining why we fight. I know that he's better than that, which probably only feeds my disappointment. Also, if anybody watched the Mackay/Rice stuff this morning, did you also get the feel that Mackay's speech was like a student delivering a report to his professor?