Thursday? Bring It!

* I still haven't played my Madden 06 yet.

* Do you have an opinion on the Israeli pullout from Gaza? This is one of those things that I think will come back to haunt Israel. I just don't think it was a good idea. We'll see.

* My coworker just told me, "Muckdog, let me just say that you're amazing." It was work related, but still kind of an upper.

* OK. The market? See, I told you so. Despite it being options expiration week (which are normally a positive thing), August just is a funky month. Not to time the market with a calendar, but when we've had a nice rally preceding the month, it seems natural to expect a pullback. I'm looking for some buyable dip in Sept. or Oct., but it could happen earlier. I don't see my indicators screaming buy yet. I'm still long the index, but will get more aggressive if we get such a buyable dip.

* Did you see the cheerleader movie, Bring It On? For some reason, I liked it. I thought it was kind of funny. So the other night on TNT or wherever, I watched the sequel, Bring It On Again. Sheer agony. HORRRRIBLE.

* With 50% more caffeine than regular coffee, Shock Coffee is aiming to charge not only morning coffee drinkers, but also the beverage market. Link. I quit caffeine, so don't make that funny face at me. And don't blame me if you can't sleep at night, either!

* Oil prices? Yeah, they're up there. As you know, energy prices going up is not inflationary. Oh, it's common wisdom that it is. CNBC did a segment this morning at a grocer comparing food prices and how much they've gone up. But look at the retail numbers coming in. Folks are spending more at the pump, and less at the malls. The money getting spent at the pump is going overseas, too. Believe me, that's not inflationary.

* Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria got whacked on the head with a pole. Link. Unfortunately, it wasn't my pole. Sorry for the male humor. But, eh, you understand. Heck, Eva Longoria. C'mon. Throw the muckdog a bone. Er....

* So if you're the San Diego Chargers, do you go with Drew Brees or Philip Rivers? I think Brees, but if he breaks a fingernail and Rivers steps in, Drew may go to the sidelines for good. (Then ask for a trade. See the Kurt Warner or Drew Bledsoe stories.)

* Is Cindy Sheehan still camping in Crawford? Haven't kept up with that story too much.

* When was the last time you had banana bread? (Uh, today! Coworker brought some. Pretty decent.)

* Cheers.