A.J. Leibling Is My Boy

"...I asked the waiter to recommend a small inn among the vineyards, where I might eat and drink well between long walks, or take long walks between heavy meals. Pedestrianism was always my balance for voracity; they were countervailing joys. Walking, I consumed what I had eaten, built up appetite for more, had noble thoughts, and spotted likely-looking restaurants."

From Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris , 1959

So comforting to find that something you thought was a sort of secret shame in yourself is a proudly espoused way of life in someone else, someone older, someone so New Yorker-ish.

And This Year's Award for Best Trenchant Political Commentary from a Chinese Chinese-Food Delivery Guy

So last night, 3 days after the election and 1 day after Sen. George Macacawitz Allen finally took his toys and went home, making it bearable to be from this state again, the Chinese Chinese-Food delivery guy at my door says "Congratulations--Webb!" and points to my Jim Webb sign in the front yard. I say yeah, isn't it great. And he says "Why Allen always have football?! He play football for four years, long time ago, badly, why he always hold football?! If Tiger Woods run for president, will he have golf clubs? Michael Jordan, basketball?! And he never do anything, get behind big issue, just sign onto little things!" Tell it, oh Delivery Guy Who Sees So Clearly.

So there you have it, pundits and bloggers, time to hang it up. Dude said in a few sentences, in the course of carrying out his day job and feeding hungry ping pong players, what everyone's been taking forests of trees and bazillions of electrons or pixels or whatever the hell we're using, to say all election season.

Haiku of the day, for a post-election weekend:

George, with your football
You thought we were all stupid
Good riddance, tosser