Here are a few random things I’ve noticed while riding the subway almost all morning, going to and fro from client to client and back again:

• There seems to be an increase in the number of designers relying upon outlined fonts to make their words display better. Perhaps the most seen and diagnosed version is used in the new and now old The Life Aquatic.
• I don’t remember a State of the Union address that has received as much attention as the one tonight to be given by our President George W. Bush. This must due, in part, to the immense following Mr. Bush has from both the right and the left. It goes unreported but there will be probably just as many red state beer-drinkers tonight watching Mr. Bush as there will be wine-swilling blue staters. I hand it to the President for giving the people what they want — even the 49% percent who didn’t want him.
• For a number of reasons, I’ve had to deal with some state and city government bureaucracies lately and to a tee, all of the people I’ve been in touch with (either on the phone or in person) have been pretty nice, straightforward and easy to deal with. As much as we all bash our government custodians of civil society, I’ve been impressed with the efficiency and carefulness of their work.
• There was a small news item in today’s newspaper about the largest Canadian t-shirt maker, Gildan Activewear, Inc. shutting down their plants in Canada and will move some of its operations to the United States. This may be one of the first examples of offshoring Canadian work to lower paid Americans.