You might recall my proclamation about diving into the murky pools of online dating. Jeanna asked in a recent comment, “Totally off the subject, but are you still online dating?” and I figured that answer deserved its own post. I realize now I haven’t given an update recently.

I imagine, Jeanna, you’re referring to the fact that my profile is no longer up on The Stranger personals. Well, I took my profile off when I went to Europe because I knew I'd be unresponsive anyway.

Basically, I've met some nice girls online, but...

• Nice girls = friends
• Hot girls = girlfriends

I have too many of the former (which is why I started this madness) and haven't met or discovered any of the later online. Sure, I've had success in meeting people, getting responses, etc., but I'm not meeting the physical quality of girls I was hoping for. God intended for me to date models, and I must do His willing.

I think I'm going to stick to the old adage of meeting girls in person because it's just a waste going out with girls I'm compatible with on paper but no so much in person.

Clearly, God intended for physical attraction to come first in the act of courting. That's why Eve appeared to Adam naked. Now I must ask God's forgiveness for forsaking His plan and trying to covet thy neighbor online.

During my pilgrimage to Italy, I met an astounding number of beautiful women with relative ease and came to the revelation that:

1. Women overseas are very approachable (and attractive).
2. Women here are generally not as approachable (or attractive) in comparison.

Thus, unless I hop abroad for some extended period of time, I intend to tap the great confidence I gained in my interactions overseas to be more bold in approaching women here. I may or may not repost my profile, but I doubt I'll spend much time skimming through profiles or updating my own. Rather, I'll be out at a local pub or concert, and you can find me talking to the tall, hot blonde in the corner.

Just more than 24 hours after its launch, Halo 3 has sold $170 million and eclipsed all entertainment sales records -- beating out first day records set by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" for literature and Spiderman 3 for movies.

CNET reports more than a million players have logged on to Xbox Live to play the multiplayer version of the new game.

To answer your questions, yes I do own it and it does kick ass.

The wives and I are hosting an impromptu party at the Ballard Burrow (our apartment) tonight for the season premiere of The Office. If you want to watch the hour-long episode in HD on the new 42" widescreen TV, come on over! The show starts at 9 p.m.

maximum strength liquiddiabetic

Paolo Does Europe - Sept. 1

Long day today. I hung around Interlaken in the morning and took a later train. The happy hour last night at the hostel kicked my ass so a morning recovery was totally necessary. My team of debauchery included a soon-to-be Marine named John from Wash. D.C. (looked like Nate Krahn but shorter); a French dude; two Australian girls and a Swiss Army dude in full uniform. Oh, and this surfer dude from Laguna Beach (He hates the MTV show with his hometown's namesake) kicked it with us later. A lot of drinking, a lot of chit-chat. That was about it.

I took this beautiful train ride today through the Swiss Alps and it would have been better if I wasn't feeling so nautious. But then I remembered, as I was slowly dying, that I had Dramamine. That shit is so good it should come in a powder form and be made illegal. I have to thank Anna for the Dramamine tip.

So I got to Milan midday, found my way to the subway and went to Il Duomo (big church). The plaza was packed. I met some old American women who were touring with a larger group. They warned me about the expenses of the city and that added to a list I was already compiling about why Milan isn't so great:

• Il Duomo is under renovation. Scaffolding is everywhere, so it's not postcard picturesque at the moment.
• No cameras are allowed inside Il Duomo. I had nowhere to stash my camera, so I couldn't enter.
• The one and only hostel close to the city center, according to my Lonely Planet travel book, is under renovation, too.

Il Duomo is the only thing to see in this city as far as I'm concerned. This is a city of business, and one that's not very accomodating to backpackers -- especially scrubby backpackers.

Alas, I still took some nice photos:

I had to make a critical decision at about 18:00 (6 p.m.). Either I could trek out to try and find a cheap hotel in one of Italy's most expensive cities, or I could skip ahead to Genova on the West Coast. I chose the later.

I was sweating bullets on that train ride, watching the sunset, not sure where I could spend the night. I fully prepared myself to sleep outside in some park.

When I arrived at 20:45 (8:45 p.m.) I immediately found the informazione and the dude there was helpful enough to point me to the correct city bus. Somehow I got to my first bus stop. My lack of Italian language fluency was seriously hurting me in this city. While waiting for my second bus, I overheard a few dudes speaking English and it turns out they're Lithuanian (or something close to that) and were staying at the same hostel I was trying to get to. The bus came and the group of us hopped on.

Up and up it climbed. The hostel is on a huge hill overlooking the city. Not sure if I would have found it solo. On the way up the guys told me about how their aiming to go to school in Genova and all about their failed attempts to "fuck bitches." Nothing makes me happier than hearing them dropping f-bombs with those accents. So funny.

I get to my room and I'm lodging with a bunch of dudes who don't speak English, and the inability to communicate is really starting to show! Take for instance how they turned off the light while I'm writing this. Now I'm writing in the dark. Time to stop anyway. Need to rest. I've traveled a lot today -- from Interlaken to Milan to Genova. Tomorrow: Cinque Terra!

I missed the news last week that The Stranger has a new Editor In Chief, Christopher Frizzelle. Similar to his predecessor (promoted to Editorial Director) Dan Savage, Frizzelle is that uber-gay hipster type who got his writing chops in the weeklies circuit rather than the classroom.

(Don't worry, Savage retains his sex column and will remain alpha-gay at The Stranger.)

What I found most interesting about this story, which I got from P-I Art Critic Regina Hackett's blog (tons of interesting reader comments there), is that Frizzelle first worked at Stranger competitor The Seattle Weekly but was fired for leaking information to The Stranger. Frizzelle found refuge at the ever-ethically-sketchy Stranger, which rewarded him the title of book editor in 2003.

This explained the unusually large, but expected jab by the Weekly in this article that reports Frizzelle's promotion and points to no fewer than 36 Frizzelle articles in the last three years that have some basis in The New Yorker, boldly asserting a tone that Frizzelle has no original opinions or commentary.

Gotta love local media competition, like when Seattle P-I staff took a leak on the Seattle Times lawn after the latest JOA agreement.