Voila! Lea!

Here's me and my favorite niece! We had fun this Saturday. I spoke in a ridiculous voice of which I did not know I was capable, and she peed on my lap.

It's not short for Aaliyah, as far as I know

Alright, Lea, here's my first life lesson for you, uncle to niece: If you ever get stuck at work until 2 a.m. because of a city planners' meeting, keep some Airheads or even some Jessie Spano Memorial Caffeine Pills in a drawer.

That's right, folks, the man who tied his shoes wrong all the way through college is now an uncle. My lovely sister and her lucky husband gave birth yesterday, though only one of them described feeling as though she had been "hit by a bus." (The other one, unfortunately, felt that way a few weeks ago courtesy of a Yadier Molina home run.)

I'm so happy for them. I just wish I didn't live 700 miles away. But hopefully when the kid's old enough to be properly spoiled, we won't be too far apart.

Baby pictures? I've filed my request with the proper authorities. You'll get 'em when I do.

Bush: Women care about drapes

Bush said he gave incoming speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi the names of Republican interior decorators -- his "first act of bipartisanship since the election" -- to help her put new drapes in her new office. I am so positively sure that he would have said the same thing if Steny Hoyer was the next speaker of the house.

Donald Rumsfeld, we really knew ye

And we didn't like ye at all.

Pay no attention to the man doing cartwheels through the streets of Louisville

OK, well, I'm not quite that giddy. But with Tuesday's election results, the feeling of political powerlessness that has gripped me for six years has subsided.

I'm not wild about some of the Democrats who were elected, and I think the country was better off with Republican Lincoln Chafee in the Senate than with a freshman Dem in his place. But I'm looking forward to seeing what changes.

There's not much time; maybe nine months. After that, all the good Republicans and Democrats are going to be running for president, so this next legislative session is hugely important.

Thanks everybody!

My 27th was great. Didn't do a whole hell of a lot, but it was great to hear from so many people. We did go to Steak & Shake, though!

We saw Borat

Attention, people going on a first date: Choose another film. All others, right this way for Borat, where shielding your eyes while laughing is standard operating procedure.

Nice try, Jules. Happy trails, Adebisi.

Two moments defined tonight's episode of Lost:

• Juliet's video trying to persuade Jack to kill Ben in surgery. Mmmmm sorry, sweetheart, I'm not buying yer game. I'm convinced you're on Ben's team, and I have the relentless suspiciousness instilled by J.J. Abrams to thank for that.
• Eko's death. So much for relentless suspiciousness -- when you spend the whole episode thinking, "Okay, obviously he's the one who dies, sure, but it can't be that obvious, so it must be somebody else," and then the action telegraphs it more and more and then he dies, you reassess your whole Lost state of mind. I guess the producers have reached the point where they have to do something completely obvious to keep us on our toes.