so, hunter s. thompson shot himself last night, and it sure is sad, although i wish i were sadder about it. he was a truly revolutionary writer, although i never really got so into him. he wrote for espn.com for the last four or so years (probably because his writing was so wacky and, shall we say, dated, that no large publication would take his work), and they did a really good job of compiling his recent work and had a real nice first-person account from one of the espn page 2 editors. they essentially shut down new material on page 2, which was a nice gesture. he was one of the initial columnists for page 2, and, in so doing that, he helped to give legions of american males much more to do at work.

i have nothing actually interesting to say about him, although i did read fear and loathing in las vegas while sitting at the cook county courthouse near old orchard on a jury summons in the summer of 2001, and, later that summer, i could be found reading his espn columns between dubbing bozo tapes at the wgn studios, and i read his pieces on the hell's angels and the kentucky derby for my literary journalism class in the fall of 2001.

former espn.com and current nfl.com columnist gregg easterbrook wrote his final tuesday morning quarterback column of the season last week. i find him to be mostly fascinating although sometimes annoying, and generally worth reading. why am i telling this now, when his next column won't come out for about three months? because he gave fine offseason advice: replace one cup of coffee a day with herbal tea. i've been doing that, and my wide variety of herbal tea tastes just fine.

i've been on an ebay kick lately, and i don't know if it's a good thing. i've checked off a few records from the 'to do' list, getting the plastic constellations' mazatlan for 7.50, and xtc's apple venus v.1 for 6.50. i'm currently bidding on the most recent william elliott whitmore cd.

what i should probably do is only write when i've got something fringe interesting to write. that's all.