Hilarie: hi Hilarie: what are you doing? Hilarie: but i feel bad for everyone and it sucks Hilarie: im safe Hilarie: my firm is laying off 15% of its lawyers monday me: you better hope not or you'll have to attend Hilarie: if its cancer, will betty neuman hold nonprofit charity events for me? me: yeah, 17 was fine me: seriously, don't worry, it's almost certainly some little nonsense cyst that they'll have to remove Hilarie: i miss being 17 Hilarie: it sucks Hilarie: but then sometimes i just feel freaked out Hilarie: most of the time im not worried Hilarie: thanks that makes me feel better me: I've got cancer in mine but even my crazy druggie uncle never got it from smoking or anything of the sort me: you're almost certainly fine then Hilarie: no i have no history me: you don't have much cancer in your family, I assume Hilarie: ok thanks me: happens all the time me: my ex-girlfriend's doctors spent several months doing tests and she was distraught for the whole time thinking she had cervical cancer, then it turned out to be nothing Hilarie: i guess but i do smoke me: don't worry about the cancer thing, doctors are generally overly-cautious about that Hilarie: and my firm is doing massive layoffs Hilarie: and some crazy guy bashed in my mirror on my car while i was in it and i thought he was going to kill me Hilarie: i have to get a cat scan to see if its cancer Hilarie: and the x ray showed something in my gum Hilarie: i went to the dentist Hilarie: not good me: hey, how's it going? me: Thomas Friedman and how he constantly gets things wrong me: he's a New York Times columnist and best-selling author who writes largely on foreign affairs Hilarie: who is he? Hilarie: nice. what is the article about? me: just finishing up this short article for Vanity Fair and drinking coffee me: sorry, my gmail keeps going out me: I'm probably not the one to ask, I don't follow economics Hilarie: how long until it gets better? Hilarie: anyways the economy is going to shit Hilarie: well your dad never had a good effect on you me: it's my dad's addiction Hilarie: but i dont see the point of going to south africa to do it Hilarie: well i think in some ways personally hunting is better than the commercial food industry me: well, I've never been able to convince anyone of its virtues Hilarie: :( i dont like it me: I forget that hunting is controversial in certain circlees me: no, it just had that effect Hilarie: did you put up the hunting pictures to piss people off? Hilarie: nice. glad you are going to bring his ego down. me: you may have heard of The World is Flat me: but he's also a giant douchebag who routinely extrapolates from little incidents Hilarie: then he will probably complain about big government even though he is employed by them me: actually, some of the goofier con pundits already do call it the Pelosi-Reid-Obama recession Hilarie: no. im sure he just blames it on the democrats me: he may not even acknowledge that the economy is bad until such times as Democrats can be blamed for it Hilarie: should i ask brice?