So yesterday I was taking an exhausted nap after having woken up real early due to some godawful hammering outside that started at 8:30am.

And I had this weird dream. I don't remember all the details, but here's what I do remember:

I was looking out over the fence into the yard of the house next door. And what I saw was this clown wearing a very bright clownsuit. And he was standing in front of what looked to be a group of folks sitting there, listening to him intently. And what I overheard made it clear what was going on: He was trying to get these folks involved in his clown multi-level marketing scheme.

Now what is a clown multi-level marketing scheme?

I'm not totally sure, unfortunately. Since I was next door and behind a fence, I couldn't catch the details.

But in the dream, I decided to go find out. I went into the alley behind our house, and he was gone. What was there instead was a very brightly colored box that looked like a well-wrapped present with a "FREE" sign on it and a bunch of balloons tied to it.

I reached down to take a look at it when the clown reappeared. He had this amazing wig. It was gigantic and was in the shape of a giant red triangle with the tip pointing up. I thought, I have GOT to get a picture of this!

So I pulled out my camera and thought, I want to get the tip of his wig in the upper corner of the image, so I turned the camera 45 degrees to frame the shot just perfectly, and somehow, I couldn't get it to focus on him. Every time I pressed the shutter, the image would simply shake and go out of focus.

Clown mojo, I guess.

Meanwhile, the first thing I did after I woke up from the damn hammering was to rush to my computer and pitch a story to Salon about Friendster. I'll let you all know if anything comes of it.

Hello, again, dear readers...

I write this afternoon with good news.

Yesterday, I wrote a letter to Giants owner Peter Magowan making the case that the Giants should issue me a credential so that I could cover the team as a freelancer. I'd been working on this letter for weeks, trying to get it perfect, wanting to impress the man, but not wanting to come off as demanding anything.

Today (one day!) I got a response from him. He said that while the Giants don't issue season-long credentials to cover the team, they'd be happy to issue me credentials for any individual games I might like to cover. So...while I have yet to investigate how this will play out in reality, I am very excited. This means that if I have story ideas, I'll be able to get access to the team to work on them! This is a big thing! I had been interested in sportswriting, but the barrier to entry to writing about baseball is usually quite huge. And in general, I haven't been willing to put in the 10 years in podunk towns writing about high school football that it would take.

Now, because of the experience I got covering the World Series for Time last fall, I will have the opportunity to go to Pac Bell Park as a reporter whenever I desire. At least, that's how it appears to be playing out. We'll see. I'll let you know more as I know more.

Oh, and finally...check out the new section to the right where I have links to a bunch of my professional work.

By the way, I was just doing some searching on Google for my name, and it came up with some great results. For one, a story I wrote a long time ago about the race to build the world's biggest rubber band ball has resurfaced online. It seems that the publication that I wrote it for, Getting It, has re-emerged from obscurity. Actually, it may still be obscure, but at least its website has been revamped. Improbably.

Anyway, then, further on in the Google search, it turned up "Books by Daniel Terdiman." I mean, it's true, I was an editor on Drama in the Desert, but I never really expected that somewhere on the web, someone's created a page called, well, Books by Daniel Terdiman. Now I just have to add to that page.

We're home. It's 1:30 in the morning. Yes, that's when we get home from our "job." It's so weird working these hours. In some ways, it's not bad because we get much of our daytime free. But on the other hand, it really keeps us from doing anything social with people. And that's sad. I'm feeling like I miss other people.

But it's okay, I suppose. This job will only last until mid-April, and then we'll be free to pursue some daytime temp work maybe. Hopefully, Kathleen will find some way to get a real job soon so that I can concentrate totally on freelancing.

As I said earlier, one way we get through the temp job is to listen to NPR. And that really does make the time go faster. Tonight they had Jonathan Franzen, author of "The Corrections" on City Arts and Lectures. That was pretty cool. He was funny, interesting, intelligent and self-effacing, all fun things to listen to in an interviewee. The other night, they had Steve Martin and Robin Williams on the same show. Now THAT was crazy. I think letting Robin Williams loose in public is dangerous, though, and in some ways, I wishe he would get muzzled.

Anyway...the war goes on, and it's getting increasingly bloody. At first, the Administration was like, Hey, this is going to be a cakewalk, and the Iraqis are just going to surrender en masse and we'll be in control in just days. Now, they're saying, well, hey, this is a war, and there's going to be casualties, and it's going to take some time. And WE never said it would be over quickly. Those fools. I just can't stand their sanctimony, and I wish someone with a loud enough voice would point out just how idiotic and criminal they are. Tonight, it was announced that Halliburton would get the contract to repair the burning oil wells. Like that's a surprise. (See my blog of March 11 for more on my thoughts on that.)

As I may have mentioned, or maybe it was just at a party, I really can't stand how we're being manipulated into needing to support the war because we have to support the troops. But as some people have said so eloquently, the best way to support the troops is to get their asses back onto American soil. They're fighting an illegal war, for no reasonable purpose, and I just can't stand it. The other day, two marines were killed, one in a battle to take an oil well. I mean, I just wanted to hear the Defense Department explaining that kid's death to his mother: He died taking an oil well. That's America, baby.

I think it's time to effect some regime change at home, as many say. I just wish I knew how to make it happen sooner than Election Day 2004. Sigh.

Have a good Wednesday. I'll be waiting to hear back from Magowan, or at least his secretary.

Peace.

I've just finished two of the projects that have been keeping me occupied for quite some time. One is the story (which will appear soon on SFGate) about covering the World Series the week before and after my wedding. The other is a letter to Giants owner Peter Magowan asking for his help in getting a press credential for this season.

Oh, and I'm in the early stages of pitching stories about the Broadway Show League, which is a softball league New York City where, yes, people from broadway shows play.

In any case, it's nice to have that stuff finished, because it frees my mind up for other things. And yes, dear readers, that includes Flap Flap Wiggle.

Meanwhile, our temp job goes on. It's actually quite amazing how quickly eight hours of data entry can go. I suppose it helps that we have NPR to entertain us. Indeed.

See you soon. Same time, same channel.