Shout out to the home of the winter surf

Gentle readers, we've had a visit from one Thomas Dwight Nager, now of Niterroi, Brazil, the town that plays Oakland to Rio's Frisco. Bom dia Tomasinho! Who else will check in in the comments section for their own shout out?

And another thing, Dwight. You mention the Balfour Declaration. Would you believe I'm distant kin to the Balfours? Like, some Troy in Edinboro tied the knot with one Elizabeth Balfour back in the late Mid-18th century, making me about as close kin to the Lord that issued the declaration as Bush is to Kerry. Wow. Living history.

As to your general point about Palestinians and Israeli's getting along, it ain't happening. You'd need to see a truly charismatic figure rise up sprouting the message, and (s)he'd probably be assasinated for impersonating the messiah. We can't send in Rodney King as an emissary to help everybody "just get along." So I guess yall got everything straightened out with them favelas, eh?

But, anyhow. Walked from Columbia U. to the Soros Foundation at 58th today (see my old Central Eurasia web site for excitement). Was struck by the quantity of nail salons and hair places on the East side of the street. I knew there was a price and traffic differential between the West side, where Zabar's, H & H, and all the shiny new stuff is, and the East, but this was pretty striking.

Gotta go. Fear another rough night with Graham up every two hours, now that he seems to have a cough. Why did that stupid painter have to tell us not to turn the heat on? Why did we have to listen to him? Will this rain let up in time to get the cracks in the stucco painted before winter? Will we get our interior painting done in time for the family to gather at Thanksgiving? Stay tuned...

15 minutes per post is now an iron law, much like Matthew Barney's student work with restraints, where he tied himself up with bungies and tried to paint.