Who needs alarm clocks?

This is our morning, times two!

Fallen Stars Game!

Check it out, I just discovered a Fallen Stars video game that you can play online! It's a fun little time killer, and addictive too. Just don't let your boss see you!

What makes a president effective anyway?

In light of today's big primaries in Ohio and Texas today, I thought I'd share a book I stumbled across a few days ago called The Presidential Difference: Leadership Styles from FDR to George W. Bush. It was published back in 2004 by Princeton University's presidential scholar Fred I. Greenstein. In it, he examines the last 11 U.S. presidencies and identifies six critical factors in determining the effectiveness of a president:

• Effectiveness as a Public Communicator
• Organizational Capacity
• Political Skill
• Vision
• Cognitive Style
• Emotional Intelligence (Greenstein deems this one most critical, "In its absence, all else may turn to ashes.")

PBS.org has a good rundown of the definitions of those criteria that they published back during the 2004 elections and since I haven't actually read the book yet, that's about all I can tell you about it right now. But I love the idea that there might possibly be concrete, observable, measurable behaviors (dare I say competencies?) that could be used to assess candidate performance and help predict effectiveness - just like any other job!

Because when it comes right down to it, what is a presidential campaign but a nationwide job interview where every single citizen gets a say in who is hired for the most important job in the country?

Find me some fiction!

Anyone have any good novels you can recommend? The last few books I've read have all been non-fiction and I'm pining away for a good meaty story. So friends, what would you recommend I pick up on my next trip to the library?

Falling Slowly wins Best Song!

I'm just so pleased that "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once won for best song at the Oscars last night. It's a gorgeous song and a wonderful movie, one of my current favorites. Both Glen and Marketa's acceptance speeches were sweet and inspiring. Marketa's return to the stage after getting played off initially was definitely the best moment of the night. So happy for them!

More of me!

In case you hadn't noticed, I've added a Twitter feed to the sidebar of my blog page (and set it to update the status on my Facebook as well), so now you instant updates on my every fleeting thought and mundane action. Ah, the miracle of the internets!

All this Useless Knowledge

Saw this blog post about an abandoned book depository in Detroit a few months ago and it really stuck with me. It's just so sad to think of all these books, all this knowledge going to waste.

I happened to mention it to Bobbo last night and thought I'd share it with all of you. The writer of the blog also posted some amazing pictures on Flickr that you should definitely check out.