Have a great day, Ms D! Hope your Thanksgiving was beaucoup wicked cool!

I'm not happy about your brother-in-law going to Iraq, even if he's getting combat pay. When I was working, I had a manager, Angela, who had a son. That son, Patrick, joined the Marines (BTW, he was British, not American, but put his life on the line for us). Patrick was killed in the early days of the war, leaving behind a brand new, pregnant wife. Patrick and Shauna never got their happily ever after, and their child will never get to know Patrick. The last thing I want is for your sister's child to grow up not knowing her or his father.

Hey there, its been something like 10 days since I was last here. Life, huh, ya just can't live without it. I'm not sure if I'll be again this week (maybe tomorrow), so I figured I'd stop by and say "hi" and wish you a happy Thanksgiving, Ms D. Cheers--

In that video log I wasn't trying to make it seem like you guys were interferring to much. I don't think you guys are...and I like that everyone expresses their opinions. I was just trying to reiterate the fact that I am an adult and so can make adult decisions. I wasn't really upset or anything. BTW who's Ashley???

The only good thing about my brother in law going to Iraq is that he is going to get paid quiet a bit of money for it. And right now with a baby on the way they really need that money.

Safe voyage, Ms D.

Hi there, Ms D. Sorry about the ruckus. My first reaction early this AM was off a bit, I think, and when I wanted to correct it, I saw you'd, very legitimately, gotten irked by some of the comments. Yes, there is a separate thread for "should Danielle do hardcore". Should you? You tell me--its your decision, but I think a bunch of us mucked and muddied it up, and for my part, I wanted to apologize directly. I also wanted to apologize if I misquote you. I could have heard something wrong on the video log, could have remembered wrong, could have taken what you said in the wrong context, which if I did (and I probably, almost certainly, okay I did) get wrong, I want to apologize for that, too. Not only have you nothing to apologize for yourself, not only should you not have to worry about what you say or how your phrase it in your own house, but you quite simply don't need the added stress of people telling you to do X, Y or Z when what you want to do is A, B or C, not when you and Rob (and probably Lia & Ashley, too) are getting things set to go premium in a month or so, not when you're getting ready to hit the books and take the odd nap during a lecture, and that sort of thing, so once again I'd like to say I am sorry, and state here, publicly, that yes indeed I am a moron (sometimes). Hope your day goes by with less stress and more joy, Ms D.

Here I was coming to say "have a great day" (BTW, have a great day!), and my eye got drawn to some of what grande351 said. I was, but probably shouldn't be, surprised to find your mom and I are the same age. That's a bit of a mind-trip for me. For what its worth, I always treat you and everyone else (try to anyway) as equals in every respect (I'm no better than you, I'm no worse than you), and treat you the same way that I'd want to be treated myself. It struck me, like it struck grande351, just how you don't act like someone our age might think a 20 y.o. acts nowadays. I guess the easiest way to put it is that while I'm nearly twice your age, it doesn't feel like such a gap--the thing I'm not sure about, though, is if that means you make me feel like I'm back in my early 20s, or that despite your age you're much more mature than I'd have assumed for some one from your generation (consarned young whipper-snappers, stay off the grass!). Did that make sense? And I sincerely hope your bro-in-law is home much earlier than scheduled now--IMHO, he shouldn't be deployed with a child on the way, period (for that matter, I have to ask, if Russia of all places can make it a law that a mother gets 1 year paid leave to take care of a newborn, why in the heck can't the US do the same?). I hope you have a great day. Hasta luego, Ms D!

Aww...thanks for the little note. It's mucho appreciated. The Playboy shoot went very well. I got to shoot two days in a row (even though I wasn't supposed to) because of the girls flaked at the last minute.

Hi ya--just passing through here this AM and wanted to stop in, drop a note to really just say "hi", say how great it is that you, Lia, Rob and a couple others are getting to work with PB (break a leg--or busta move, which ever ). Don't forget to eat a good breakfast (I haven't said that for a while, so ...). Anyway have a great day. "Go Team Venture!"

Its been a while since I did the genealogy party trick, so here goes:
Prez-Elect Barack Obama isn't the 1st member of his extended family to run for or achieve high office. His 3rd cousin 2x removed was James Madison; his 4th cousin 3x was Lyndon Johnson; his 7th cousin 3x is Jimmy Carter; and his 11th cousin 1x is George W. Bush. He's also related to Dick Cheney (9th cousins once removed) and Sarah Palin (10th cousins). Even within the Senate he's related to a colleague, Evan Bayh (11th cousins). Beyond politics, he's a 10th cousin 1x of Warren Buffett; Samuel A. Maverick (the Texas rancher who refused to brand his cattle) & James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok were Barack's 6th cousins 6x removed. There are others, of course, including a good percentage of the Senate from both sides of the aisle (i.e., Orrin Hatch, Susan Collins, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Harry Reid, Jay Rockefeller, Gordon Smith, and Senators -elect Mark & Tom Udall), and a good number of former presidents, from Washington to the defender of slaves of The Amistad, John Quincy Adams, and on into the 20th Century with TR, FDR & Nixon. He's even related to Britt Hume from Fox News (8th cousins twice removed), as well as Anderson Cooper & Arwa Damon from CNN, A.B. Stoddard of The Hill newspaper & MSNBC, Katie Couric from CBS, Charles Gibson from ABC and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post. Its a very big, extended family!