Yearly Archives: 2009

Christina Hendricks: Our Mrs. Reynolds is back!

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Joan Mad Men

Not being a guy who watches much TV — I tend to watch shows after they’re canceled, on DVD — I was very pleased when I started watching “Mad Men” (which hasn’t been canceled yet, but with me watching it it’s only a matter of time) and saw Christina_Hendricks“Joan Holloway.” And pleased for reasons other than the obvious.

This was the only time I had ever seen her other than her two appearances on the tragically short-lived “Firefly,” as “Our Mrs. Reynolds” — a.k.a. Saffron, a.k.a. Bridget, a.k.a. Yolanda — and “Trash.”

So my reaction on seeing her in the current series was to think, “Where’s she been?” Turns out she was on TV all the time.

Her specialty is playing a “bad girl” with a certain amount of wit. For instance, she’s the only actress I can think of offhand who can pull off a line like “But I’m really hot!” (spoken to Capt. Mal Reynolds) in a way that makes you laugh and agree with her at the same time (and yell at the TV, “Look out, Mal!”). Anyway, I’m glad to see she’s working…

Stuff this guy’s dad says

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If you don’t mind salty language, you might want to follow this Twitter site by a 28-year-old named Justin who simply records stuff that his 73-year-old father says. At least, that’s the alleged premise. There was quite a gem yesterday:

The worst thing you can be is a liar….Okay fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but THEN, number two is liar. Nazi 1, Liar 2

Anyway, I enjoy it. It’s pithy. It has great pith. Just don’t get pithed off at me if you check it out and don’t like it…

If we choose to go the way of the Soviets…

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I continue to be astounded that suddenly relatively sane people are talking about quitting in Afghanistan, given the consequences of such a course that immediately run through my head when I contemplate it (something I had no cause to do until recently).

Bret Stephens of the WSJ wrote of some of them this morning in a piece headlined “The Afghan Stakes.” An excerpt:

In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. A little less than a decade later, the Soviets left, humiliated and defeated. Within months the Berlin Wall fell and two years later the USSR was no more. Westerners may debate whether credit for these events belongs chiefly to Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Charlie Wilson or any number of people who stuck a needle in the Soviet balloon. But in Islamist mythology, it was Afghan and Arab mujahedeen who brought down the godless superpower. And if one superpower could be brought down, why not the other?

Put simply, it was the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan that laid much of the imaginative groundwork for 9/11. So imagine the sorts of notions that would take root in the minds of jihadists—and the possibilities that would open up to them—if the U.S. was to withdraw from Afghanistan in its own turn….

Personally, I didn’t need Mr. Stephens’ piece to help me imagine what would happen. If you do, I urge you to go read it.

Are you having trouble with my blog? I certainly am.

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This morning I went to check what comments there might be on yesterday’s posts, and I couldn’t call them up. Thought it was a Blackberry problem, but can’t get them on the laptop, either.

Right now, I’m just hoping it goes away soon. If it doesn’t, I’ll start the process of figuring out how to get support on WordPress.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience, if you’re having the same problem.

If any of you have a solution to the problem, please e-mail me at brad@bradwarthen.com.

Rex lets the first shoe drop

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Don’t know if you saw this on Jim Rex’s Facebook page:

Statement by Jim Rex
Thursday, September 3, 2009

“I have decided that I will not seek re-election to the Office of State Superintendent of Education in 2010, regardless of whether or not I decide to run for Governor. It is clear from my time in this office that there is a limit to what we can accomplish to move South Carolina’s schools and our state forward so long as we do not have someone in the Governor’s office who is making education, jobs, and economic development the top priorities of this state. I am in the final stages of making a decision about whether or not to offer myself to South Carolinians to be that kind of Governor – a “turnaround” Governor – or whether to return to the private sector and continue to work to make a difference there. Sue and I appreciate the support and encouragement we have received as we have moved around the state in these last few weeks, and I look forward to a final decision very soon.”

So that’s one shoe. He said at Bud’s house that if the other shoe’s gonna drop, it will be this week or next.

So if he does get into it, what does that do to the race for governor? I was intrigued that Wes Wolfe suggested Rex would be in third place behind Vincent Sheheen and Dwight Drake. I asked Wes why he thought that, to which he responded:

The money and connections Drake has are pretty powerful. Plus, Rex’s only claim to fame was beating Karen Floyd by 455 votes. Also, Rex’s fundraising operation, at least so far, has been woefully inadequate compared to Drake and Sheheen. I think he could pull third, but he’d have to show me something special to prove that he can get into the runoff.

My own thought is that Rex has more name recognition than Vincent, and lacks the controversy that attaches to Dwight as a result of his lobbying clients. In a Democratic primary, that is. For many Republican voters (those of the Sanford ilk), Rex brings baggage just from being associated with public education, which they despise. And there are enough of that sort of voter to be a factor in a general election. But that’s not a factor in a Democratic race.

I don’t know for sure which of those three ought to get the nomination, but if I were to predict I’d say Rex would start out with an advantage, whether he should or not. But of course, no one really knows; we’re making educated guesses.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that (or so they say)

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The last couple of days, whispers about a certain public figure being homosexual have gradually been seeping into the MSM. My question is, should they?

Actually, I have several questions, including:

  • What does it matter if he is? Aren’t we supposed to not care? I’m constantly told by my children and others of their generation that we’re not supposed to care, that it’s the same as being hetero — even as some of that generation use “that’s so gay” as an apparent pejorative, which confuses me because it’s so, well, my generation.
  • At what point does the usual MSM dodge for reporting unsubstantiated rumor — that blogs and other low-threshold media have reported it to the point that the resulting buzz (not, of course, the underlying rumors themselves, perish the thought) has made news to the point that it must be reported — rise above being a lame excuse?
  • Should I even be writing about it here, even in the rather priggish manner in which I am doing so?

I almost did so yesterday, when WIS actually did a report on the subject, which caused a bit of triumphalist chortling in the blogosphere. But I didn’t. Such is my reluctance to address such a subject. (The WIS report raises a subquestion: Should one say “crap” on broadcast TV?)

But now that Peter Hamby of CNN — yes, a national news organization — is reporting that Jake Knotts is actually accusing our governor of coordinating this whispering campaign against Jake’s ally — an accusation for which I’ve seen no justification, in the governor’s defense (merely having an apparent motive does not make one the prime suspect) — I’m faced with the fact that just about everyone but me is talking about this. (Such as Politico, and both national and state blogs.) No newspapers so far, though, unless I’ve missed something. I can well imagine the conversations going on in newsrooms as they decide what to do, or whether to do anything. And I remain surprised that WIS did it first.

But should anybody be reporting any of this? Whose business is this?

It’s perversely interesting (if I may use that modifier) to see how things like this play out in this allegedly “enlightened” age. Consider for instance the subset of this phenomenon, whereby the apostles of tolerance are the first to “out” political conservatives who are said to lean that way. Their excuse, of course, is that they are exposing the ultimate political sin in this postmodern world, hypocrisy. One can do all sorts of hypocritical things in the name of exposing hypocrisy, including acting like there’s something wrong with someone being “gay” even when one adamantly insists the rest of the time that there is not.

Me, I’m Old School. Personally, I appreciate people not talking about their sexual predilections. For instance, I do NOT appreciate people talking ad nauseam about their “soulmates,” of whichever gender. When they do, I tend to harrumph.

And when third parties talk about someone else’s rumored predilections, I get really uncomfortable. It doesn’t seem right.

The whole thing is just so cringe-making that I might take this post down when I look back at it later.

What do y’all think?

Of course you think that, Joe — you’ve GOT a job

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Y’all know I like Joe Biden, but he does tend to say things without a lot of forethought. Such as this:

(AP)  Trumpeting economic progress to a skeptical nation, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says the massive government program intended to stimulate and reshape the economy is reaching and exceeding goals.

Nearly 200 days into the effort, Biden says it is more effective “than we had hoped.”

Biden’s upbeat report card, to be delivered Thursday in a speech at the Brookings Institution, comes as economists say the United States is slowly breaking free of the most crippling recession in decades. Yet public angst is also deepening about the cost of government intervention, and millions of people remain out of work.

Of course, that may have had lots of forethought. He might be the designated guy in the administration to go a bit further than POTUS himself can go, and see if it gets saluted. It’s certainly a role to which Joe is suited, and a typical one for the Veep.

But it goes too far for me. I get turned off by either those who are too quick to say the stimulus has failed, or those who overstate its positive effect. Truth is, we don’t know yet. And may never know. Aren’t we still debating whether the New Deal pulled us out of the Great Depression?

Of course, my own situation may cause me to be a bit jaded on the subject. But I think I’m looking at it realistically.

Speaking of reality, here’s a cold dose of it: I ran into Sen. Hugh Leatherman at breakfast this morning. He was in town for a Budget and Control Board meeting, which I think he tends to dread these days because it always means another fruitless argument with the governor. (Here’s something interesting to watch: How much longer will Rich Eckstrom continue to back the gov, with re-election coming up next year?)

Anyway, I said something about my worry that prospective employers are hesitant to hire me, or anyone, until the economy warms back up, and the Senate Finance Chair said he doubted that would happen in S.C. until another year has passed. Or maybe two. He may be right, but I know I can’t wait that long. Nor can a lot of other people.

On that subject, Sen. Leatherman said he was recently talking to an economic development prospect, and the head of the company asked him, Isn’t South Carolina the state where a business prospect wanted to talk to the governor, but the governor ditched the meeting to go see his mistress in Argentina? Is that what doing business in South Carolina is like?

The senator said no, that’s not what South Carolina is like. But he hears that sort of thing a lot, unfortunately.

My message to the U.K. (and Ireland)

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Someone explained to me how to send Darcy Willson-Rymer, managing director of Starbucks in the U.K. & Ireland, a direct message on Twitter. So I will, in response to his kind note. But my pitch to him takes more than140 characters, so I’m going to post my message here, and use the Twitter message to bring him here.

A lot of trouble, but potentially worth it. It’s a cosa de bizaneese, as Sollozzo would say. Here’s the message:

Thanks for the kind word on my blog post!

But seriously, would you pass on my idea to someone in your marketing area? I truly think my blog (and possibly other blogs, but mine first) could be part of a great symbiotic relationship with Starbucks. Starbucks stores are full of people with laptops. Advertising on blogs seems a natural fit. And if those bloggers are blogging FROM Starbucks stores, you’ve got a great promotional information loop going.

I think it could work. And in case you’ve lost the link to my idea, here it is: https://bradwarthen.com/?p=1325

Hey, I’d even be glad to go blog from some of your stores in the UK (if my fare were paid). Ireland, too.

Here’s hoping someone at your end sees the potential I see,

-Brad Warthen

How was that? I’m rather new to making business pitches…

There’s just me, and 41,999 other people

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Just saw this item at SCBiz:

South Carolina’s most populated areas have lost nearly 42,000 jobs during the past 12 months, according to numbers released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The hardest-hit areas were the two top tourist destinations, Charleston (9,300 jobs) and Myrtle Beach (9,100 jobs). As a percentage of total jobs available, the Myrtle Beach metro area had the biggest decline of any one region, at 6.9%.

Overall, South Carolina lost more than 77,000 jobs in the past year….

The Columbia area lost 6,300 jobs during the year.

So now at least I don’t think I’m alone. (But wait — does that mean I actually am?)

Of course, I never thought I was. I was among 40 who left The State in one swoop (Robert and I were just the ones you heard the most about most), so I’ve always had company in this unemployment thing.

A Little White Guy who lies

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If you wonder whether our governor can hit new lows, you should depend on him. He can, and will:

Gov. Mark Sanford says he told “a little white lie” to his staff to conceal his secret trip to Argentina in June to visit his lover. The governor also says God is on his side, and he has no intentions of resigning…

That is drawn from an interview in The Washington Times. Goldang them pointy-headed liberal newspapers!

The governor’s narcissistic, never-failing willingness to excuse himself boggled the minds even of the Times‘ editors; their headline was “S.C. Gov. Sanford says God on his side.” He also, in the piece, claims to know how Sarah Palin feels. At least he doesn’t claim Sarah is his “soulmate,” for which we are thankful.

You see, our governor apologizes, and lightly flogs himself publicly (in rituals less convincing that that of Henry II), but he doesn’t mean it, because his life experience has not given him understanding of consequences. In his mind, anyone who thinks he should resign (which should be the minimal consequence, given his actions) has something wrong with him (or her) — ulterior political motivation or whatever. In his mind, surely no fair-minded person would want him, Mark Sanford, to suffer consequences. Not a tall, rich white guy who hasn’t had to do any actual work this decade (or most of the decade before, near as I can tell) … not him…

Progress in my bid to woo Starbucks?

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My effort the other day to prostrate myself in an appealing manner before Starbucks sort of bore fruit, in that I got this message via Twitter:

Loved the blog and thanks for the mention

That was from one Darcy Willson-Rymer, who is managing director of Starbucks in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Unfortunately, he didn’t opt to follow me on Twitter, so I couldn’t figure out how to message him back (if you know a way, tell me). I found what seemed to be a way to e-mail him indirectly (had to sign up for a service called “Spoke“), but so far no response.

Among other things, I told him in my message that if we could just get that sponsorship thing going, I’d love to hop across the pond and blog at some of his stores in London and Dublin. Hey, I’d even go to Slough if he’s got one there. As long as Starbucks is paying, of course.

You know, they’d go for my deal if only they knew how much I love Starbucks. I love Starbucks the way Winston Smith loved Big Brother. OK, that may not have come across the way I meant it, but I meant it in a good way. You see, I too love Big Brother, as many of y’all know…

You tell ’em, Dr. Paul! (In your own sensible way)

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Dr. Paul DeMarco of Marion, at the Gallivants Ferry Stump Meeting in 2006.

Dr. Paul DeMarco of Marion, at the Gallivants Ferry Stump Meeting in 2006.

Our own Dr. Paul DeMarco is as always dispensing wisdom, or at least good common sense, in his op-ed piece today.

As you know, Paul used to be a regular on my (old) blog, but he got sick and tired of all the pointless, childish yelling, and some of the comments bothered him too, so he quit contributing. But we remain friends and stay more or less in touch. And he’s one of those doctors who knows what’s good for what ails America: a single-payer health care system.

Here’s an excerpt from his piece this morning (I’d reproduce the whole thing, but that might step over the line copyright-wise, and then Cindi would have to call me and yell at me, and I’d yell back at her, and she’d go to her office and sulk until she thought of some more choice things to call me, then she’d come back and yell at me some more, and it would be just like old times, but I know she’s busy, and I don’t want to put her to all that trouble):

Ironically, the cure is right at our fingertips: Simply expand Medicare to all Americans. Canadians, who cover all their citizens with a system similar to our Medicare, point to it as a source of national pride. In the ’60s, they recognized that justice was the first principle to be addressed in health care; once they decided that no citizen should go without reasonable access to medical care, they were well-positioned to face the difficult but not insurmountable questions about what should be covered and how to pay for it. While it is clear that the Canadian system has its problems, there is little doubt that taken as a whole it is better for the average citizen. The Canadians achieve similar overall health outcomes as the United States while spending just over half what we spend.

Are there Canadian health horror stories? Certainly, but America has no lack of those herself. More to the point, anecdotes shouldn’t be the basis for health policy. The United States would have to address legitimate concerns such as waiting times and access to specialists if we adopted Medicare for all. But universal coverage will immediately improve the lot of the many hard-working small-business people with chronic diseases who are floundering without health insurance. My barber is a perfect example. He’s one of Main Street’s most solid citizens. His shop lights are already on when I drive by in the early morning, but he must rely on charity care because as an owner-operator, he can’t afford a health policy. His plight does not exist in Canada.

Americans are rightly skeptical of government and wary of our recent deficit spending. But the notion that publicly funded health care is a new and radical idea for us is nonsense. Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration are all federally funded single-payer systems that have been in place for decades.

U.S. Medicare alone covers 45 million people — 12 million more than the entire population of Canada. Some seniors are so comfortable with Medicare they seem to have forgotten it is publicly funded; at town meetings, they have argued against the public option as unacceptable government intrusion while at the same time singing the praises of Medicare. And although the empty claim that government-funded health care would be bloated, intrusive and inefficient has been repeated incessantly, the truth is that U.S. Medicare achieves satisfaction rates similar to private insurers while operating with roughly a third of their overhead….

Notice how deferential Paul is to mindless anti-gummint sentiment, with that “Americans are rightly skeptical of government.” Paul’s a very civil guy, which is why the blog makes him uncomfortable. He gives the knee-jerk anti-gummint types more than their due, despite his politely reminded us that so many of them don’t know what they’re on about (such as the cranky old people at town meetings who somehow don’t understand that the Medicare they love so much is a gummint program, which to me ought to be grounds for having one’s right to vote revoked).

And before you Ayn Randians get all cranked up about the failings of gummint, let me say that you’re right: Gummint has it’s flaws, just the same as private companies or the Church or non-profit agencies or anything that’s run by mere humans. But as Paul also explains, Medicare produces results at least as satisfactory as the private sector, at about a third the overhead.

As I said, Paul always makes good sense…

Shop Tart may have the answer

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No, not the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. Anyway, we know the answer to that … it’s 42.

But the Shop Tart may have the answer to my dry cleaning question. I’ll have to look into it, although I take stuff to the cleaners more often than once a month, so it might not work for me, based on her math. We’ll see.

Also, I’m not sure I want to look be “fabulous,” or even look that way. I’ll settle for clean and neat. My needs are simple.

Don’t give up on Afghanistan, Mr. President

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So when did we start speaking of Afghanistan as though it were Iraq?

I seem to recall that the people who wanted us out of Iraq, until very recently were saying:

  • Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan is the must-win war.
  • Afghanistan is the place that harbored Osama bin Laden and others responsible for 9/11.
  • It’s horrible the way we have neglected our commitments there (to spend resources on Iraq).

I mean, Barack Obama, who during the campaign would tell anyone who would listen how HE was the guy who had been against our involvement in Iraq from the beginning, was also one of the most aggressively belligerent U.S. politicians when it came to Afghanistan, and to the al Qaeda hideouts across the border in Pakistan.

And when he came into office, it looked like he was going to follow through. Not only that, it appeared that he was going to be sensible about our Iraq commitments, which was very reassuring.

Now, I read with horror this piece today in The State:

On Monday, McChrystal sent his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan to the Pentagon, the U.S. Central Command, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and NATO. Although the assessment didn’t include any request for more troops, senior military officials said they expect McChrystal later in September to seek between 21,000 and 45,000 more troops. There currently are 62,000 American troops in Afghanistan.

However, administration officials said that amid rising violence and casualties, polls that show a majority of Americans now think the war in Afghanistan isn’t worth fighting. With tough battles ahead on health care, the budget and other issues, Vice President Joe Biden and other officials are increasingly anxious about how the American public would respond to sending additional troops…

Say what? We’ve got our finger in the wind on Afghanistan now? We’re checking the polls to see if we’re going to fight the freaking Taliban, the guys who coddled Osama while he was dreaming up the Big One?

What is wrong with this country? And does a country that would let things come to this pass deserve to survive, in evolutionary terms? Apart from standing up and fighting for what is right and against what is demonstrably not only wrong but horrifically so, are we truly not willing to fight against those who would like to see us dead? What sort of organism, or social structure, gives up to that extent?

Get garage a new clock, Mayor Bob

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Ran into Steve Benjamin at breakfast this morning. He mentioned that he’s resolved to work on his penmanship after this blog shared his notes from a meeting last Friday. He also asked what I’d thought about his presentation. I told him he can’t go wrong with me talking government restructuring, but I wondered how it resonated with the voters. He said he’d been getting pretty good feedback on the overall topic. Not the “strong mayor” part, but the part where he pitches consolidation of Columbia and Richland County.

I found that interesting, but I have a burning new issue for this contest between Steve and Mayor Bob: The clock in the little guardhouse where they take your money on leaving the city parking garage at Assembly and Lady is always wrong — and always wrong in a way that favors the city’s coffers, not the driver leaving the garage.

The regular latecomers (among whom I may be counted; I’m still sort of on newspaper hours) at the place where eat breakfast most days know that when it gets past 9:30, it’s time to finish your coffee and skedaddle. Why? Because the garage, which is free in the early morning, starts charging at 10. And the latecomers tend to be retired and unemployed folk, so we don’t like coughing up that buck. (On the days that I come earlier, I park on the street and leave before 9, because that’s when Lovely Rita starts checking the meters.)

Not that I mind paying the buck occasionally. Gaming the system is one thing, but the service has to be paid for by somebody, right?

What bugs me is that the clock the garage goes by is always set several minutes ahead. I’ve had to pay at 9:57 and 9:58. I grumble, but I pay.

Today, I had a double shock. I got up from reading the paper and drinking coffee at 9:42. I was on the 6th level, so it took awhile to get to my truck and thread it down through all those levels. Then, when I got to the gate, it was down. It was only 9:51.

I asked the lady if the time for closing the gate had changed. She said it had. I asked, “What time is it now?” meaning, What’s the new deadline? She took the question both ways, answering, “It’s 9:55, and the new time is 9:30.” I double-checked: The time on my truck was still 9:51. And my truck is within a few seconds of being perfectly aligned with my Blackberry, which is perfectly synchronized with the U.S. Naval Observatory official time. At least, I think it is. Let me go check…

Oops. Somehow my phone was almost a minute behind. I’ve fixed it now. (I also checked against Zulu Time, and interestingly, the Naval Observatory time seems to be lagging by about a second. Not that I’m going to worry about it. I’m channeling Phileas Fogg enough here today…)

Still. That makes the clock in the garage three minutes fast. There was a time when there was an excuse for this — you couldn’t instantly check to see what the real, official time is. If one clock was faster than the other, you could argue which was right. No more.

I don’t mind the city moving the time to 9:30. Given the city’s fiscal problems, I’d vote to do that. In fact, I wouldn’t object it the city went to charging 24 hours. I don’t know why they don’t do that now, unless it’s just a matter of saving on personnel.

But if the understood time is 9:30, you shouldn’t get charged at 9:27. That’s all I’m saying.

See the unbelievably petty stuff that people who don’t have jobs obsess about?

Picturing DeMint in a powdered wig

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Tim Cameron, formerly of The Shot, wrote on Twitter today:

It appears DeMint’s reelection in 2010 will be much more like the Battle of Yorktown than Waterloo http://tinyurl.com/ncs6j3

… to which I had to respond:

Yorktown? So who’s DeMint gonna be? Cornwallis?

Tim came back with:

I was referring to ease of victory for JD. But Obama hasn’t even meet w/ Graham & McCain on HC. How bi-partisan is he being?

And being a last-word kind of guy, I said:

Well, in fairness — he had promised to do that on national security issues. I don’t remember him saying he’d [be] consulting them on domestic…

I’m not even sure how we got onto Obama. Oh, I guess because of the Waterloo thing….

So I guess Tim was casting Jim as Washington. Hey, whether Washington or Cornwallis, I’m having trouble picturing him in a powdered wig. Now if he were Bonaparte or Wellington, that wouldn’t be a problem, since the wigs had gone out of style by 1815.

Take me, Starbucks — I’m yours

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First, a confession: I really like Starbucks’ new ad campaign. When you Google it, you find a lot of people sneering at it. They find it pompous, overbearing, supercilious, and so forth. Everything that people who don’t like Starbucks don’t like about Starbucks comes into play.

But me, I love Starbucks. So when those ads — which I first saw in The New Yorker recently — say things like “If your coffee isn’t perfect, we’ll make it over. If it’s still not perfect, you must not be in a Starbucks,” I just think, that’s absolutely true. Other people think it’s obnoxious.

But as I said, I love Starbucks. There was a time when I was prepared not to. Back when I was not a coffee drinker, back when I avoided caffeine (and fell asleep a lot in meetings), I bought into the anti-Starbucks propaganda. When Starbucks replaced the Joyful Alternative in Five Points, I sneered along with all the others at the supreme irony of that venerable head shop (which, let’s face it, had since its early-70s heyday morphed into more of a boutique) with the perfectly symbolic name being displaced by this ultimate, soul-less cookie-cutter corporation that was trying to take over the world, yadda-yadda.

Of course, at the time, I had never been in a Starbucks, much less tried the coffee.

My conversion began in New York City in 2004. I was there to write about the Republican National Convention. National political conventions will wear you out if you’re a delegate, with delegation meetings, the plenary sessions, the parties, the sightseeing, the shopping, and more parties. No one ever gets a full night’s sleep at a convention. For journalists, it’s worse. You’re imbedded with a delegation, and you try to be there for everything they experience. Then, when they’re grabbing a nap, you write. You also branch out and check out newsworthy things that the delegates don’t do. Two-four hours sleep at night is about par.

There was a Starbucks near my hotel (of course; there’s one on practically every block in Manhattan), so I fell into the habit of grabbing a tall House Blend before I’d sit down to the laptop in my room. A House Blend with several Sugars in the Raw, because my palate had not yet adjusted to enjoying coffee in its own right.

As time wore on, I got more and more into it. Starbucks coffee is inextricably tied up with the early days of my first blog. One of my favorite early blog posts, headlined “The Caffeine Also Rises,” was — while not technically written in a Starbucks, but in a Barnes & Noble, was nevertheless written on Starbucks coffee, which B&N proudly serves — written on a coffee high. An excerpt:

This is blogging. This is the true blogging, el blogando verdadero, con afición, the kind a man wants if he is a man. The kind that Jake and Lady Brett might have done, if they’d had wi-fi hotspots in the Montparnasse.

What brings this on is that I am writing standing up, Hemingway-style, at the counter in a cafe. But there is nothing romantic about this, which the old man would appreciate. Sort of. This isn’t his kind of cafe. It’s not a cafe he could ever have dreamed of. It’s a Starbucks in the middle of a Barnes and Noble (sorry, Rhett, but I’m out of town today, and there’s no Happy Bookseller here). About the one good and true thing that can be said in favor of being in this place at this time is that there is basically no chance of running into Gertrude Stein here. Or Alice, either.

I’m standing because there are no electrical outlets near the tables, just here at the counter. And trying to sit on one of these high stools and type kills my shoulders. No, it’s not my wound from the Great War, just middle age….

In those early days, blogging and Starbucks coffee sort of went together like Kerouac’s continuous rolls of butcher paper and benzedrine. But in a good way…

Over time, I quit taking the sugar, because it got in the way of the wonderful taste of the coffee. House Blend. Komodo Dragon. Sidami. Gold Coast. Verona (my favorite). Even the ubiquitous Pike Place. They’re all wonderful.

But beyond that, there’s the Starbucks experience. Yeah, it’s all based in a conscious marketing strategy, but it’s a strategy based on good stuff that works. For me, anyway. First, there’s the smell, which immediately makes you glad you’re there, and makes everything else about the place more pleasant. Each Starbucks is both warm and cool, in all the positive senses of those words. The music is pleasant, and chosen with enough thought and originality to rise miles above the stuff you hear in most stores. Everything is nicer in a Starbucks. Women are more beautiful, for instance. No, I don’t think they are objectively more beautiful; they just seem that way. It probably all arises from the smell, but the rush after you get started on that first cup probably plays a role, too.

The whole thing just works. It works to an extent that if I were ever to endorse a product for money, the one I could endorse more wholeheartedly than almost any other would be Starbucks.

Hint, hint.

For a couple of years, I’ve had this idea, which I would pitch to someone at Starbucks if I knew how to get in touch with the right person. Basically, it would be to have Starbucks sponsor my blog. And in return for lots of free, gratuitous mentions of how wonderful Starbucks is, I would get a nice chunk of change and all the coffee I want.

I would spend a couple of hours a couple of times a week blogging live from different Starbucks stores, with my Webcam on. I could do impromptu interviews with the people who come and go (and at the Gervais St. store, there’s almost always someone newsworthy to chat with), and otherwise share the experience while blending blog and product. This I could do with no ethical qualms at all, because my love of the product would be completely unfeigned.

There are a couple of problems with this idea, I’ll admit. First, I’ve seen no sign that anything like this fits into the Starbucks marketing plan. Second, I have no idea how to find the right person to pitch it to.

So I’ll just post it here, and refer to it from Twitter. Starbucks is one of my followers on Twitter, so there is an extremely thin chance that it will get to the right person, and an even thinner one that said person will like it. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Why am I passively pitching this now? Because I’m about to try to start selling advertising on my blog. I don’t know how or whether that will work, or whether it will be worth the bother, but I thought I might as well give it a try. And Starbucks would sort of be my dream client.