It's been a while since I've had an evening fraught with alcoholic concoctions as sole dinner fare. Well, blame it on the 14th of July. A massive hangover ensued but fun was had, a small price to pay when one attempts to mix exotic liquors with gay abandon. The last nail into the cerebral coffin was a succession of perfectly calibrated raspberry Mojitos (recipe below). So adhering to my strong belief that there's a silver lining behind every single cloud, I present you with a diary about liquids instead of solids. I'm sure that there are some of you returning from an exhausting bout of live-blogging in hotel lobbies & rubbernecking with the powerful in Austin, and surely, you must be looking at the prospect of putting your feet up, holding a frosty highball filled with a pacifying mélange of mind altering fluids.

Welcome back.

Good Morning gardeners! Frankie can’t be with us today.  She wrote me a few days ago saying she had some unexpected personal matters that would make her unable to host the Garden Blog today.  She asked me to stand in, and I told her I’d be glad to help out.  Some of us, myself included, look forward to participating most Saturday mornings. If the diary didn’t appear, who knows how many people would be hitting refresh on their browsers repeatedly, perhaps for an hour or more. That won't happen today thanks to Frankie's planning.

I intended to post some photos of my trip to Holland this week so I will do it here in the body of the diary.  Earlier in July, we visited my wife’s cousin in Holland.  I have some garden-related pics below the fold.  

The cool people are in Austin, including my future wife.  It's a boring and rainy night in Iowa City.  You might as well suffer with me.

Join me below for some of my favorite things.

I walked out to the mailbox the other day and found The Issue--you know, that city-centric magazine with the Obamas on the cover? Instead of burning it or defacing and returning the subscription cards, I sat down and read through the cartoons until I bumped into Elizabeth Kolbert's "Turf War." Though technically a book review, Kolbert's piece is really an overview of our green problem. Specifically, our American fetish: The luxuriant, well-manicured lawn that stands in for our ideas about propriety, character and achievement.

Everyone else seems to be whooping it up in Austin, so it is my turn tonight to open the FNatM lair, pop the popcorn, set out the milkduds and red licorice, and turn down the lights.  Trying to figure out what to write about when the movie room is a bit empty is tough.  Why do movies?  Maybe we should instead sneak into everyone's empty apartments and go through their trash and download the luds off their landlines.  What?  The feds have done it already?  Okay, then let's talk about the international secret service -- you know, the CIA/Mossad/MI-6/KGB kind of thing.  Remember, it is just fiction...

Got a Happy Story is a community gathering every Friday night where we share stories large and small that have put a smile on our face.  It is a time to acknowledge the joy and wonder we experience.  The Happy Story diary exists as a way to anchor the community in hope and comfort while we do the hard work of taking back our country. Everyone and all sorts of stories and pictures are welcome. May we find joy and strength here.

The plan for tonight's diary was for Eddie and I to write it together from Netroots Nation.  We'd had a blast last year scrambling the streets of Chicago looking for free wifi to post Happy Story.  Alas, it was not to be this year.  Eddie is in Austin and I am stuck at home dealing with numerous life situations.  I figure that there are plenty of people who had planned to go to NN and weren't able to, as well as many for whom it wasn't even a possibility.  So I think we should just share our little happy stories with each other.

I have some sad news to report. Months ago, this diary series broke the story of a horribly injust imprisonment.

Today, it pains me to report that the prisoner has died...

Welcome to the Postgame Show for Mojo Friday: Traveling Wizard Edition.  Thanks to our "HOO HOO!" host, Hedwig!

First round stats, as of 3:15ish Central, are:

149 participants
894 comments
6.0 average comments per participant
36389 total mojo exchanged
28.0% average participation rate

I will update these stats tonight, and again Sunday morning, as revisions to this diary.

Welcome to Frugal Fridays where we share money saving tips, discuss living frugally and generally talk about personal finance issues. Your usual host, the wise and frugal Sarahnity, is enjoying the camaraderie at NN. Those of us who have been left behind can (sniff) talk about bank fees

All financial institutions make money in several ways: interest margins, investments, and non-interest income. With market conditions squeezing margin and investments performing poorly, many financial institutions are relying on "Non-interest income" – which is what you and I call fees.  

If you prefer to keep your money in your pocket, read on...

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

Lately, even though the blackwoman has been trying to maintain her summer groove, she found herself wondering how the conversation on race devolved into who if anyone, can use the ‘N’ word.

Back in the day Richard Pryor did a routine about never again using the word after he returned from a trip to Africa and came to the realization that for him the word spoke of degradation that he was no longer willing to assign to black folk in America.

More recently Chris Rock riffed about the difference between black folk and niggahs.

Since yesterday's Live Blogging "Vote for Change at Netroots Nation!" YAY!!! went over so well...

...and since you guys (some sampling of you, more accurately) have been asking for more live-blogging of convention events...

...and since I am light a meaningful live-blogging event at the moment..

...I figured I would live-blog a meaningful place at Netroots Nation 2008.

The Hilton Hotel Lobby.

More below the break.

•    "The Shame of Postville, Iowa," an editorial in Sunday’s New York Times, calls attention to an essay written by Erik Camayd-Freixas.  Mr. Camayd-Freixas is a professor and court interpreter who witnessed the aftermath of last month’s ICE raid on the Postville community.  He was disgusted when he saw the injustice in the legal system that the workers were subjected to; instead of being deported immediately, over 260 workers were charged with serious identity fraud crimes and sentenced to 6 months in prison:

Hat tip to Land of Enchantment for those amusing shoe diaries and for inspiring me to beg and cajole shoes pics from my progressive friends and allies in Second Life.

Can't get to Austin this year? We have got a deal for you. Free. No registration fees, no hotel fees, no travel costs. Food, of course, is on you. Also, no sore feet, no sore backs. Bad hair days are possible, but that's a matter of taste.

Over the past year, we've been busily building community in Second Life. And for months we've building a great environment and planning a concurrent week of events, with a score of programs streamed in from Austin. We plan, we dance, we talk politics, we attend public affairs programs, we dance. We watch old movies and listen to political speeches.  Then we discuss. We post diaries here. We read, we rec, we comment. Sometimes the music is live, sometimes our DJs stream it in. Did I mention we dance?

Dance this way for pics and schedule highlights.

Ladies and gentlemen (ok ok ok Ladies and Guys)-
I know many of you have been feeling badly because the "uncool kids" the true nerds among us are in Austin having a huge nerd party and for various reasons, we the cool kids couldn't make it...but that's ok!  Below the fold you will find all of the good things about NOT attending Netroots Nation in Austin

Here in Arizona, we have our very own despot - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Crazy Joe thinks it's a good thing to feed his fellow humans outdated food (the famous "green bologna"), and to cut costs by feeding them this substandard sustenance only twice a day.

Crazy Joe has his own richly deserved page on Crazyspace. Just take a look at his "friends"!!

I'm writing a diary on this even though I live down here in the CA - 29th CD (Pasadena).  

I am just very proud of my parents, Roger and Sharon, who live in the WA - 04 CD and are working to change that part of the state from Red to Blue.  It's hard work and knowing that my wife and I are working in tandem with them to do the progressive, boots-to-the-ground work is an great feeling.

They are working on George Fearing's campaign to defeat incumbent Doc Hastings and on the Obama campaign locally.

On June 18, 49-year-old Esmin Green was admitted to the Kings County Hospital Center psychiatric ward.  After waiting to be seen for 24 hours, she fell to the floor, began to convulse and then passed out.  Two security guards and one doctor walked into the waiting room, looked at her and then walked away.  After one hour, a nurse finally came over, kicked Ms. Green, and then proceeded to get a stretcher.  Shortly afterwards, Ms. Green was pronounced dead.  The entire incident was documented on a security camera, and is now on YouTube, thanks to the Associated Press.