So I’m driving up 101 where twelve miles of bumper to bumper behind a blinking, siren-surrounded, jack-knifed big rig are followed by sleet, flying debris, drunken car wind, thunder and a legal addict blowing smoke distress signals out the barely down window of beater beemer.

Beyond the rubber arms swatting saltless tears from my de-de-frosted windshield, lightning stretched across the eastern sky just as a mile of billboards went black. The radio goes dead.

And there I am, driving through a THX rainstorm, alone. For a split second, in a dark that makes fog invisible, I have no incoming marketing or entertainment.

I damn near panicked.

While all of us so-called Web 2.0 participants were busy patting ourselves on the backs, some little company went and invented a new kind of corduroys where the grooves go sideways instead of up and down.

The dude who purchased the 1 billionth song from iTunes scored a new iMac, 10 iPods and a $10,000 gift card for more songs.

For the boy or girl who just became the 6.5 billionth person on the planet, nada.

Last night I had the good fortune to hang out with Team Joyent after their most excellent presentation at the SF Tech Sessions event. The Joyent product offers a great way for small business teams to manage email, etc. It’s definitely worth a test drive.

And I’m not just saying that because the guys promised me a little alone time with Jill. I’m pretty sure I blushed when I found out she reads my blog.

Of course, I figured it was better not to mention the fact that my logo dude above got down with her like crazy in the 80s (which is part of the reason for his bad posture).

When I read the outtakes from the port deal hearings, I find that I have little or no trust for either side and very little insight into the real motivations of either side.

In other words, security matters have officially reverted back to politics as usual.

Ongoing list of things to do before the kids arrives:

1. Learn how to peel and slice an orange like they do in Japanese restaurants.

2. Get used to saying: “Mmmm, this ice cream is good,” everytime we eat cottage cheese.