Definitely one of my “feel good” songs is “Love it When You Call” by The Feeling, a band I learned of through a friend Dan in the UK. They’re pop/rock, but just enough in-between both not to lean one way or the other too much. It also doesn’t hurt that the lead singer is queer and adorable! But this tune always has me smiling and bopping my head on my morning metro commute. I’m not really interested in Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but put some songs like this in and I might be.

I also think about it a lot when I hear news of the iPhone. I had an IM conversation with James yesterday about people and the phone. Most of us are starting not to care for the telephone as a means of communication, some are already calling for the death of voicemail. When I saw the video of the reporter trying to heckle people queued up for the iPhone, I wondered if a more zinging question on his part would have been, “Have you ever used your phone to call someone?”

I love hearing from friends and even some family and while instant messenger is ok, “LOL” seems much better when you can actually hear the person laughing. I know a lot of people that don’t care for using the phone, which makes me wonder how they conduct any kind of business. I used to hesitate to call people because I’d think I was bothering them, but now I figure they’re enough of an adult to tell me when it isn’t a good time to talk. I just don’t think I’m ready to see the advance of technology herald the death of the phone conversation.

On a lighter note, there’s been a bit of a bumper crop of babies among my friends in recent months (and days — Congratulations Felissa and Neil!) so maybe this primer is a good thing. Baby’s First Internet by Kevin Fanning & Kean Soo. — Not sure how to explain the internet to your young ones? Presenting a series of nursery rhymes to teach children how to comport themselves on the online. I think they would do well to create a real book from that!

Two recent gems:

• Last night outside Merkado as two female servers were setting tables for dinner, “… yeah lots of great looking guys around here. None of them straight though.”

Ladies, you’re in Logan Circle. You already forced the queers out of Dupont, they had to go someplace!

• Downstairs in the cafeteria for lunch, the sign for entrees lists “Turkey Scallopini,” but there is no label on that specific tray. 4 co-workers are all milling about, staring at it wondering what it is. One says, “I don’t know, maybe it’s some kind of squash?”

I can’t judge them too harshly though. They asked the cafeteria employee what it was and even she didn’t know and had to go get the chef.

I really thought I had heard it all when I first heard David Sedaris read about his experience with the Stadium Pal (skip down to Lesson Four), also here’s a video of him on Letterman reading the account but the volume level is horrible.

Silly me for thinking that there could be no more advances in the field of surreptitious urination technology:

Ask any golfer if he’s ever been caught out in the middle of the course … no bathroom in sight and Nature was Calling, Loud and Clear! The answer is a resounding … “Sure I Have! I went in the bushes, I tried to find a tree, I went on the side of the golf cart, etc. etc.”

Enter the UroClub™! My first thought is that it has to beat the Stadium Pal out by the fact that you’re less likely to have to conceal what you’re doing from the few people that may be around. The design is very simple, too — just a mini portaloo, no complicated attachment system. But you still have to deal with carting around your wee and even better, carting it around in the same bag as your clubs, nice! And I love that the inventor, a practicing urologist, implies that most golfing males suffer from urinary frequency.

I can’t help but think that there’s a large fetish market that all of these manufacturers are missing out on.

From Wired come some other takes on the recent media scandal over Iran releasing an image of a missile launch that had clearly been photoshopped.

From Jesus’ General come these great parody ads of Senators Larry Craig and David Vitter, co-sponsors of the Marriage Protection Amendment

If we allow homosexuals to marry, who's going to take care of the needs of the many straight married men who like to blow guys in public restrooms? - Larry Craig

Being diapered by a prostitute didn't end my marriage. But if my wife knew homosexuals were marrying each other, she'd divorce me in a minute. - David Vitter

A well-needed chuckle after reading about Obama’s recent turn towards endorsing faith-based organizations.