[For Joey]

I owe you a phone call. Please accept this photo as a down payment.

It seems that my cell phone has had a stroke. I'm reasonably sure it's related to the countless times I've dropped it on the asphalt while getting into or out of my car. When I squeeze it, my service bars fill up. Squeeze it again, and they disappear. Repeat and they vary in number. Hmm.

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It's 2:39 + I'm not sleepy = I'm making Cox a mixed CD for his birthday. This provides an excellent opportunity for a clunky segue into this tidbit of info: Coxy-poo will be manning the Nashville is Talking operation this weekend. So click on over and leave lots of inflammatory comments that will boost the page hits.

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Katrina's death toll might be lower than the original estimates. I truly hope this is the case. I imagine it will take a very long time to really know how many are missing vs. dead, since people are scattered all over the Mid-South at this point. But the fact that the body count is relatively low upon this initial sweep gives me great hope.

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Remember the other day, when I said my hope for humanity swelled because of all the giving going on? I still have hope for humanity, but there are people in this world — this city — who are ruthlessly evil. Honestly. Criminals targeting Louisiana license plates? Sickening.

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New Orleans' Voodoo Music Experience might come to Memphis next month. The lineup originally included NIN, Foo Fighters, and the Flaming Lips (among other pretty big names). Not sure if they'll be on the bill in the final incarnation of the concert. Organizers say it's likely to be a Katrina benefit.

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If you haven't seen the latest Onion, get thee gone. I love The Onion with every fiber of my cold, shrunken heart, but I'm having a bit of trouble with the site redesign. I miss the big, bold headlines and the way it was laid out before. It'll grow on me, I'm sure, but still. I prefer stasis. Speaking of redesigns, check out the new Guardian. One thing I cannot get used to about that paper is their tight margins. The way the headline text rides up so close to the folio makes my heart palpitate.

I left some trapped white space on my Metro front today. If anyone says anything, I'm going to tell them I was just trying out a European design trick. It's the troof.