It's only two years.

It's only two years of Republicans running the country after they won control of the Senate, to go along with the House and the White House, yesterday. GW Bush will likely go down as a Nixon-like president (without the Watergate): a great president when it comes to international issues, but one who left the homefront worse than when he found it.

Two years isn't that long. It's half of a standard college education, and ask anyone in their 20s how fast that went. It's also how long I've been putting down my thoughts and ramblings at this very URL, at least it will be tomorrow. So after two years with, first, a basic Diaryland template (the navy blue one with the lighter blue letters) and now this road-themed one, I'm in the process of constructing a new layout. I played around with some colors yesterday, but there's more to come. Yes, after two years, there's going to be a radical redesign.

You'll know it when you see it.

There's something about the music of Johnny Cash that is captivating. No matter what the situation is when listening to him, I feel like it is some older time. I admire that about the Man in Black ��he didn't reinvent himself to stay relevant as the decades wore on. When you're as talented as he is, you don't have to. At the base of it all, that's what distinguishes the lasting artists from the flashes in the pan. Springsteen, Dylan, U2 � for the most part, they stuck with what worked. When they experimented, the fans objected by staying away (Zooropa, I'm looking at you in the bargain bin). The Beatles were groundbreakers and could essentially do no wrong in the eyes of their fans. Same for Elvis, who is another one whose voice transports me to another time when I hear it (with the exception of the overplayed standards ��"Jail House Rock," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog."

NPR ran a great interview/album review on Morning Edition today, and, as a result, I'm putting Man Comes Around on my Christmas list. The cover of "Personal Jesus" was particularly cool. I think I want Elvis 30 #1 Hits too.

Planning for Saturday's Notre Dame-Navy game in Baltimore is heating up this week. It's a reunion of sorts with Bryan, Mia, Julie and me and our families (my sister included). Because it's a noon game, tailgating will commence at 8 a.m. Afterwards, we're touring the Naval Academy in Annapolis, then going to a 302-year-old tavern for dinner. As I told everyone in an e-mail earlier: As for postgame, I'm a sheep ��I'll stick to the flock (BAAAA!). I'm a cow ��I'll go along with the herd (MOOOO!). I'm an impressionable teen ��I'll do what my friends do (I LOVE N*SYNC!). Beer at a 300-year-old tavern sounds good (so long as it's not 300-year-old beer). (MMMM ... BEEER!)

That was at 10:30 this morning. I was already loopy. This is going to be a long afternoon.

I think when it's all said and done, they're going to link the snipers to about two dozen shootings. Now they're investigating a shooting in Arizona. This is bigger than we know.