Exercise

Had an amazing thing happen this morning. I went to the gym, and my time on the elliptical virtually flew by. Treadmill, too. And on each, I was able to go faster than I've done before. Noticeably faster. I've no idea why. I was really, really tired yesterday, and I slept a long time, so maybe that's it. We'll see tomorrow. Tell you what, though -- it was a great feeling, whatever the reason.

French is going reasonably well. Still quite early, of course, and I make lots of mistakes, which is more than a little exasperating. And my accent -- whew! More Pittsburgh than Paris, I'd say. But I'm trying. Giving it my best shot. Like the gym, every day.

I'm fascinated to read in The Economist that a case is being made to keep the Bush uber-wealthy tax cuts in place. The reason, not surprisingly, is politics. With their hold on the House and Senate suddenly in question, the Democrats are reluctant to be painted as 'raising taxes', even on the uber-rich. They also feel that taxing the rich might reduce the amount that they spend, at a time when reduced spending is exactly what we don't need. So, even though the rich got that way by not dumping their money into purchases, some folks feel that it's a risk they don't want to take. I'd like to see the Democrats man-up on this, but, hey: these are politicians. Everything is a political exercise, to them.