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Yesterday was my birthday. But frankly, I felt a little sheepish about celebrating, simply because my life has been a non-stop celebration for the past month.

I’m not bragging. But I seriously have been luckier over the past month than at any other time in my life. It’s just plain eerie.

• I won the family NCAA pool. I picked the final four correctly and had Kansas to win.
• I won a Segway tour for two around downtown Chicago. I’m actually completely psyched for this…
• I won the Sony “Young & the Restless” sweepstakes. Seriously. The 46″ TV just got delivered to my house yesterday (thanks to my brawny FIL and a reluctant FedEx guy).
• I got a hot new job at the MacArthur Foundation. I start at the end of the month.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m psyched for all the good fortune. I just hope there’s no karmic retribution…

Someone calling him/herself “Hombre” made a comment on the blog regarding the ongoing political debate. I actually have no idea who Hombre is, but I’m glad he weighed in on an important point.

If you judge candidates by their actions as opposed to their words, Obama is the LEAST likely of the three to bridge the gap, as it were. Oddly, John McCain seems to be the MOST likely to actually listen to and work with members of the opposing party.

I have to agree with Hombre that one of the defining characteristics of McCain’s long tenure is stepping across the aisle and breaking with party-affiliation in service of a particular issue. I’ve often said that I myself would break with my Democratic voting record to support the “maverick.”

But, quite frankly, after nearly becoming the Democratic VP candidate in ’04, McCain took pains to ally himself with not just the Republican party, but specifically the Bush administration. While I thought switching parties would have been extreme, I was sorely disappointed in his cowering conciliation. It seemed like he realized that if he wanted to be president one day, he had to play by the very rules he had become famous for flaunting. His tardy endorsement of Bush’s campaign that year came off as wan and defeated. And my hunch is that conciliation was only the beginning, as he strains now to pull the neo-cons and a soon-to-be-disenfranchised religious right into the tent with his challenging voting record.

He can still be unpredictable. He can still be volatile. And, lately, he can even be doddering. But is he really the maverick anymore?

As a joke, A-Is-For-Aric and I decided to enter the American Idol songwriting competition. This is schmaltz like your Bubbe would spread on her bagel. Try to listen without gagging. Actually, Aric plays the 80’s ballad keyboard masterfully. And the lyrics are particularly bold.

Breaking a Record
By J. Gordon Wright

Face the light
Face their eyes
Ask myself
Is it time

Turn the page
Take the stage
Ask myself
Is it mine

Look without seeing a thing
Hear without listening
To the sound that’s calling me

| Maybe I’m breaking a record tonight
| Breaking through something I’ve held inside
| Maybe this time when they shine the light
| I could be the one
| Maybe this is something I have to try
| Never did I think I would get this high
| Suddenly it’s starting to seem like I just might
| Break a record tonight

Used to think
It’s out of reach
Tell myself
Not to feel

But now I see
This could be me
If I tell myself
That it’s real

So many things I could be
They will come if I believe

] Excuse me if I repeat myself
] I just want to get it right
] Say it till there’s nothing left to hide
] I try to hear what’s etched inside
] I try to hear the track
] It’s time to turn the tables right
] ‘Cause now’s my chance, I’m breaking a record…

Wait… what’s that? Is it…? Could it be…? That’s right, key change! Damn straight.

| Tonight…
| Breaking through something I’ve held inside
| I know this time when they shine the light
| I will be the one
| This is something I knew I had to try
| And I always knew I could get this high
| Suddenly it’s starting to seem like I just might
| Break a record tonight

Listening to it now, I don’t think the schmaltz will hurt our entry. But we went waaaaay over the recommended time limit. Get comfortable:

Hmm… It might be the right length for Celine, maybe I should give her a call…