Diamond in the rough.

Sometimes -- sometimes -- you will find something worth reading in the comments section of any given internet site. I like to peruse the comment section after I read an article on my local news site, KATU. I can't think of any particular reason why I habituated to that particular channel, except for the fact that I used to utilize their traffic maps when I worked in Gresham.

Anyway. Unimportant. Don't read that paragraph. Sorry.

Today Portland's TriMet opened its newest leg of commuter rail service: "...the Westside Express Service, or WES, which will run the 15 miles between Wilsonville and Beaverton."

Naturally, as soon as the article went live the war began in the comment section between the "government is wasteful" camp and the "less cars on the road is a good thing" camp. I skimmed; nothing interesting in the arguments...until I saw this comment by boggler99:

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commute to gresham from wilsonville in as little as 3 hours! WOOPIE, 3 hours to gresham, 3 hours in hospital in gresham after beating on max, 3 hours back..sounds like a fun filled day to me.

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I laughed like a friggin' loon. I don't know, just something about his/her tone gives the impression that they know a thing or two about beatings on the Max. And the hospitals in Gresham.

It's only a flesh wound.

My shoulders are killing me. It's definitely related to keyboarding; my right shoulder is a little bit worse, and that's my mouse hand. I blame my craptastic chair, my abysmal desk setup, and my huge boobs.

My arms are pretty much useless; even taking 800 mg of ibuprofen four times a day isn't helping. It is exquisitely painful if I press even lightly on my acromion. I can't tell if it's the bursa or what, but the pain is so bad that it makes me nauseous. It's a hot, sickening pain. I can barely get out of bed in the morning, and work itself is agony. I'm trying to take frequent breaks and carefully stretch my arms; it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, so maybe I'm doing myself some good by at least preventing further damage. Or maybe the ibuprofen just makes it so I can't feel it. I dunno.

Sure wish I had health insurance. Think icing would help?

Obama: Snowy Washington Needs 'Chicago Toughness'

By Frank Ahrens

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 28, 2009; 11:24 AM

President Obama, you're not in Chicago anymore.

Shortly before a meeting with business leaders on the economy at the White House, Obama said he wanted to make an unrelated comment to the press. In a slightly amused tone, he noted this his daughters' school, Sidwell Friends, was canceled today because of a snow and ice storm that hit Washington.

The suburban schools systems and many private schools in the region were closed today and the District public schools opted for a delayed opening because of the sleet and freezing rain that made some roads and many sidewalks treacherous.

"Because of what? Because of some ice?" Obama said to laughter around the table. He said Sasha, his 7-year-old, pointed out that in Chicago, not only is school never canceled for snow, "you'd go outside for recess. You wouldn't even stay indoors."

He concluded by saying: "We're going to have to apply some flinty Chicago toughness to this town. I'm saying that when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things."