In a fortnight, Season Four of Mad Men starts up. If I burn through an episode of Season Three a day, I can be all primed for the debut.

Mad Men’s official website is here, which contains sneak peaks and cast interviews, recaps and full episodes from last season as well as a cocktail guide. The official iPhone app can be downloaded here.

AMC brilliantly whipped up interest and hype last summer before its Season Three premiere by allowing users to “Mad Men Yourself” which just about everyone on the planet did. The avatars were able to be used on Facebook and Twitter and everybody was a cartoon character for a while. If you were one of the few that didn’t, you can still do it here.

Bring it on, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce!

Today is the day of my DreamJob interview. Yes, on a Sunday after the retail store closes in Clarendon. I’m told to dress “business casual” but all I have are jeans and dress pants. So I’m off downtown to find some khakis. Nothing says business casual like khakis, right?

I’m thinking “what would Jim Halpert wear?” I mean, he’s pretty business casual in a “always put together” kind of way. But minus the tie, I don’t think I’ll be sportin’ the tie today.

So I’m downtown with a $100 bill budget. Luckily, there’s a huge sale going on at Macy’s today, and a lot of it is dresswear. The khaki’s are on sale ($32.99) and Michael Kor shirts are on sale 1/2 price: $24.99 each. I’m trying to decide between dress shirts named Frosted Lilac and English Blue but since they’re on sale I decide to get them both and make the decision of which to wear at home.

Ok, the English Blue is winning out. Would Jim Halpert even wear lilac? Black accents of shoes, belt and 611 Records shoulder bag. Contents of my bag: three black pens (two Uni•Ball Vision fine point, on Sharpie ultra fine point), water bottle, resume in manilla folder, sunglasses case, hand lotion, a paper towel, tin of wintergreen Altoids and a blank book given to me as a gift-with-purchase from Apple several years ago. Now gimme that job!

spotted on JMG.

Watching a certain 80s drama, with it’s men-brooches and moussed hair, has got me thinking back to my 80s drama, with its men-brooches and moussed hair.

Living back in the town where all my (early-mid) 80s drama happened is always a reminder: driving down 50 in Rosslyn—that’s where Jason lived; walking Connecticut Ave on a blustery fall Sunday—that’s where me and Michael would duck into Timberlake’s to drink and watch the Redskins.

It’s odd familiarity.

This show didn’t let go off its babyboomer roots so there’s no 80s beats playing in the background, its always gotta be some cheesy Procol Harem or some shit playing. I’m throwing some Scritti Politti into my background.

And it’s more than the fashions that are throwing me back too. It distinctly reminds me of driving these (now familiar) streets of DC, going to places I’d never been, so that Jason can pick up shit from his old boyfriend’s apartment. It reminds me of dinners and cigarettes with Michael before we laughed ourselves down the street, knowing onlookers were jealous.

Now these streets are so familiar that sometimes I don’t recognize them anymore. That’s not true—they’ve become all to familiar. Which is a good thing; there are new memories now, built upon the foundations of the old. Sometimes I will point these memories out to friends but most of the times I won’t. At times I want to keep them to my own 80s self.

Oh Kristy McNichol, where are you? You were such a shining beacon of normalcy in our youth when all we had to look to was someone relatable, complex like us and knew the words in our heads that we could not put into our mouths.

During Family, you showed us it was okay to be the youngest and to relate to the adult world that was going on around us. You were there for us, relating, skateboarding, putting into words the complex youths that we were, but nobody realized. The one that witnessed activity around us yet never had it focus upon us. And yes, we remember Pinballs because in a different way, we felt the same bounce.

We bought your album even though we knew it was silly bubblegum rollerskating music. We bought the satin jacket and wore it to 8th grade and were the coolest in school. We skated to “Go For It”. And when you get the chance, you know you gotta take it, go for it.

Then we saw your movie career skyrocket and plummet but we still went and watched them, because it didn’t really matter because you were in them and that was all we needed to see. You were our hope.

Then you had The Breakdown that we’ve all experienced except yours was public and ours was private. We appreciated your courage in playing that out for all of us. We were there with you, every step of the way.

Then we championed your return to stardom with network television and then you freaked out again and that was okay in our eyes. We understood. We’ve all have reoccurrences of those freakouts and we’ve dealt with them, publicly or privately. We gave you your space.

Now, you’re silent in your public career and you play tennis. That’s fine. I won’t question your motives for not returning to any public eye, but if you ever should just remember that there are people out there that love you and welcome your return.

And please don’t even reference a young Helen Hunt in this clip, her performance during this episode was just as bland and faceless as her career 20 years later.

10:30-ish // Eddy’s awake before I am, something that never happened at the beach. Now is groggy-sleep time, the TV is on am I’ve opened the curtains to reveal the brightness outside. The city looks bright but a little hazy and looks warm enough to wear shorts outside.

12:11 // Time to leave the hotel. The bits are at Astro having diner food and after a nice long shower, it’s time to join them. Maybe we’ll check out the High Line today?

12:16 // Ah, the sidewalks.

1:16 // After a brief walk thru the park, we’re now at Tavern On The Green, having bloodys/screwdrivers. Feels good.

3:49 // We’ve walked and walked. Now we’re thru The Bowery, thru Chinatown and down near (what I believe is) City Hall and to the Brooklyn Bridge. We’re going to walk halfway across the bridge and then back. Then back to Canal and then I need to drop by and see John at Record Runner. He’s got the new a-ha and a video bootleg of DD’s Songbook sessions they did last year (?). Also on order for (unfortunately) next week of the Rio release that contains all original 1982 mixes and demos, an the 1981 Hammerstein concert DVD. I wish they would have cone out this week so they’d be waiting but oh well.

10:30 // Record Runner purchases secured! I’ve put two more upcoming DD purchases: the Rio Masters DVD which came out in the spring and the Hammerstein DVD. John was able to give me the advance copy of the Rio re-release which isn’t officially available until Tuesday.

We reconvened at Gym Bar with Scott & Mikey who drove up from DC today. Dinner reservations were secured at Landmarc in Tribeca. Back to the hotel for another street gyro (nothing to eat all day) and then a nap and showers.

12:33 // Grilled skirt steak salad on watercress with roasted peppers, gorgonzola cheese and chimichuri vinaigrette.

4:27 // Back at the hotel room now. After dinner we went to Rawhide which was boring. Between us all there was a battle to where we’re going to go next. Half of us wanted to The Eagle and half wanted to go to double-headed Disco at Nowhere. It was raining and cans were sparse so once we made a commitment we needed to stick to it. Instead, we looked in a guide and found that Barracuda was only a couple of blocks away so we walked there and spent the remainder of the evening there. Logan Hardcore was performing in the back and we had a fun time having cocktails and hanging there, meeting people and watching the show. No street-vendor gyros tonight, time for sleep!

5:09 // Goodnight.

The Real World DC cast was at JRs today, accompanied by an obtrusive camera crew. Do they really think they’re going to capture good footage in a crowded bar when they can’t secure any audio?

I love the “where are they?” from the director at 1:16 and also when he tries to block my recording by moving his hand up and down at 1:30, like they have private domain in a public place. Douchebags.