I played a round of golf today at the Montecito Country Club (110, don't ask).  It was gorgeous outside; sunny, crisp, with beautiful views of the ocean and the channel islands.  I've been reading about how cold it is going to be at the two NFL championship games tomorrow, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Foxboro, Massachusetts.  I'm sure those are really nice places with wonderful people, but brrrr...  I'll take Southern California, thank you very much.

My picks for tomorrow's games, Green Bay and San Diego.  Yeah, I know all about the Patriots.  We'll see.

So, McCain won in South Carolina.  I think that makes him the clear front-runner among Republicans; this proves he can win a purely Republican primary (no independents or Democrats voted).  Thompson finished a distant third, behind Huckabee.  We won't know whether Guiliani is really a factor until "super Tuesday".  Stay tuned! 

Huckabee's support is often characterized as the "religious" vote.  But what's weird is that in the U.S., everyone is a religious voter; check out this chart in the NYTimes.  The number one trait that would cause people not to vote for a candidate is "doesn't believe in God".

The next U.S. cycling star is going to be Tayler Phinney, Connie Carpenter and Davis Phinney's son.  He just won the 4000 meter World Cup - at seventeen.  Look for him on the Slipstream team later this year.  And in a few years, maybe, in Paris :) 

Quite possibly the dumbest idea you'll hear this year, even though it is mid January: Columbia Journalism Review suggests unionizing bloggers.  Yeah, that'll work.  [ via Slashdot, where the commenters have not been kind. ]