I've been in meetings all day and have a lot of big and little things that I want to ask you and tell you and hear about from you. Yet this post is supposed to go live in a couple of minutes, so let's do what we love to do here (comment, comment, talk, rant, confess, admit, help, comment again),

Jane — and Charlotte, who just turned 14 (happy birthday, Char!) — is feeling rather under-the-weather today, so this Open Thread is coming from the staff hive mind. Jane did manage to get through the entire staff meeting before excusing herself to go feel awful at home, but not before running

So I finally made Dan go on vacation this week and he took off to Cabo with his mom. Managing editors have the hardest time actually getting breaks, because they are generally the ones that keep everything running, so even though he travels more than anyone else here — and definitely ...Continue

While I am taking off writing any real Open Thread intro for the holidays, at least I am posting this column early, to give you extra time over the long holiday weekend to talk to each other about the myriad issues that come up over a long holiday weekend — in particular this family-reuniony one,

Here's some of the Top Secret Methodology behind your weekly Open Thread:Secret 1) The only reason I share little anecdotes from my life every week is because I love when you share your own anecdotes from your week in the comments. And just today I manipulatively thought: I'm surrounded by a staff