What up, Mad fans! Were you having a W.T.F. moment right along with me? The season is nearly over, only two episodes remain, and this coming Sunday's show should be epic. Don's surreal Palm Springs experience was awesome (as was that Neutra house he stayed in), and taking into account the timing along with the weaponry foreshadowing, I gotta think this season's climax is going to coincide with the Cuban Missile Crisis and everyone's lives are about to go nuclear. How did you like Betty's creepy "date" with the neighbor kid last week? Does anyone else fear that Paul Kinsey's not going to make it back to New York alive? What about Peggy's makeover by her new gay friend? What about poor Sal when Kurt came out of the closet so casually in the Sterling Cooper break room? When is Joan going to get her revenge on Roger (and Jane)? What do you make of the complicated feelings between Peggy and Pete? Will Don abandon his whole Draper persona and start fresh as Dick Whitman or some other new identity? (Doubtful, but an interesting possiblity.) Will Duck's takeover succeed or is Duck about to crash and burn now that he's hitting the bottle again? And who did Don send the book to? Is the blonde woman from the car dealership flashback going to figure into the plot before the season ends? Or Rachel Menken? So much intrigue, and I gotta tell you, I'm positively fixated on considering all the possibilities.
Ava's too busy sporting her little chicken Halloween costume to worry about the goings on at Sterling Cooper. She's focusing all her energy on being cute and adding some form of mobility to her repertoire of tricks.
Hey, remember a few weeks back when I was ragging on the show House? That didn't stop me from entering the "House Challenge" over at Polite Dissent. You just enter a list of 10 diseases you think may show up on House, and then each week, there is a scoring system based on whether your diseases were mentioned, tested for, treated, or turn out to be the actual patient diagnosis. I've already got 3 points this season. Here's my list, and I sincerely hope none of you have any of these conditions.
Only 5 more days until the next Mad Men. I can't wait. If you want to join a rabid but fairy cerebral Mad Men conversation, I recommend the one over at What's Alan Watching. Alan's reviews/analyses are the best, and he'a already received close to 200 comments on the episode that just aired two nights ago. And if you want to read some grade A Mad Man satire, check out Unbound Edition and prepare to laugh.
I don't know about the rest of you, but my investment portfolio is down 20 percent since September 1.
Twenty percent.
In 40 days.
Add that to the stress that my job security is on liquifaction instead of concrete.
I ask you, is this a recession or a depression? It feels like depression to me. Or at the very least, anxiety.
I'm in my mid-40s. I'm a college graduate. I work in a skilled job. I don't cheat on my taxes. I've never been arrested. I'm registered to vote. I fulfill my jury service. I am, in short, a model citizen.
It's not supposed to be this way. What happened to the American Dream?
I often find myself going through life, shaking my head in disbelief at what I see. And then sometimes I am awed by something so stunningly beautiful that I'm breathless. I hope to document both here.
"Hello, it's Dick Whitman." 
I don't know about the rest of you, but my investment portfolio is down 20 percent since September 1. 
