A few notes on last night’s debate:

Most major news outlets inform me that I thought it was a close contest. This isn’t what I expected, though: I figured Edwards would charm everyone with his impossibly boyish yet articulate demeanor and Cheney would instantly turn off his entire audience by grunting and growling and possibly having a heart attack on live television. What I forgot is that Cheney is a master liar: he has the uncanny ability to spout 100% bullshit with such gravitas that there were times when even I started to wonder, for about a millisecond, if maybe there was a connection between Iraq and Al-Queda. Still, any informed American will realize that Edwards was telling the truth, whereas his opponent was not. The problem lies with the number of informed Americans out there.

I also found the debate’s physical set-up odd: it looked like they were sitting around a dinner table. I really wanted Edwards to ask Cheney to pass the gravy boat. “Oh, this is delicious stuffing. You’ve really outdone yourself, Gwen.” Possibly the funniest moment in my own viewing experience of the debate came during one of the many times John Edwards chortled in his good-natured North Carolinian way, and Amy exclaimed, “Commence to jigglin’!” I do think it would served Edwards well if, when backed into a rhetorical corner, he had jumped up from behind the desk, grabbed a washboard, and led everyone in an old-fashioned hoedown.

But seriously, folks.

In other news, we had a “team meeting” at work yesterday, where our boss thanked us for our hard work by informing us that, effective immediately, we were expected to work a minimum of forty-five hours a week. This is ten more hours than the previous minimum work-week: you do the math. (Actually, don’t bother; I just did.) This will drastically cut into my already enemic social life and is the best incentive yet to polish up the old resume.

Good times.