The Jose Chung episode of X-Files is on right now. Classic—classic!—episode. A must-watch.

I saw on the news tonight that the state is offering a $27 million bonus to the company rebuilding the 35W bridge if they come in under time.

Now that’s an awesome idea! If it’s Opposites Day. Let’s just give the company as much time as they need, yeah?

I finally went across the University Avenue bridge (just above the collapse). Not to get all teary-eyed or nothin’, but man is it scary looking. Just a massive chunk of roadway at a 45 degree angle into the river.

People all seem to be affected by the bridge collapse in different ways. I was in line the other day and the woman in front of me asked the checkout person if she knew anyone on the bridge when it collapsed.

Now, if you’re in New York and it’s right after 9/11 where so many more people lost their lives (or, thankfully did not) in the Towers, this is not a question that’s completely out of place. But in this instance… not so many people directly affected. Just sayin’.

I thought it was an odd conversation starter.

But this woman does not take the prize for most inappropriate response to the collapse. That prize would go to the author of an article in a newsletter I printed the other day.

The author (I use the term loosely) described how she sat down, turned on the TV, and her “entire world was changed forever” upon hearing of the collapse.

Really? I mean… really? Your entire world? Because your daughter knew of a girl whose mother was on the bridge? It changed your world?

Boring world.

The kicker was that she was a nurse. How’d you like to have her for a caregiver? “You have cancer? Oh my god! My world! It’s destroyed! I’m making this all about me! All about meeeeeee!”

Heh. It’s the Jesse Ventura and Alex Trebek portion of the episode:

“No other object has been misidentified more often than the planet Venus.”

Hell, I didn’t vote for him.