Go Australia!

Talking on a cell phone to my Aussie friend James is hard enough, what with his heavy accent and all. But talking to him at 7 p.m. and learning he'd already been drinking at a bar for nine hours made things slightly more difficult.

"John, Australia just won the World Cup cricket championship," he declared. "We had to get here early because of the time difference, so yeah, I'm quite lubricated right about now."

The last time I'd talked to him in the Saturday early evening range was two weeks ago when we were trying to figure out the plan for the night.

This time, we agreed to meet at The Coffee Shop at about 9:30 before we head off to some birthday party at Link Lounge. I have no idea whose birthday party it is, but Bryce from Salonika promises that a bunch of her models will be there. Word on the street is these models prefer the company of broke 36-year-olds, so stay tuned.