Amazing stuff, Goatberg watchers. Walt’s column this week (see here) is 853 words long and contains 17 uses of I, me, my or mine. That’s up from 15 uses in last week’s column. This week’s column is ostensibly about a pair of Bluetooth headsets, one from Plantronics and one from Aliph. But come on. We know what he’s really writing about. By the way, in advance of the 3G iPhone release we’ve had Walt in for a check-up on his hypnosis and everything seems to be in tip-top shape. Also, just for kicks and to make sure he’s fully buttered up, I took Walt out to dinner at Il Fornaio in Palo Alto. The great part of dining with Walt is watching the way he treats the waiters and other staff. He’s like, “Do you know who I am? I’m Walt Mossberg, goddammit! Yes, from the Wall Street Journal. Have you heard of it? It’s a newspaper in New York. Kind of a big deal. Now will you please bring me the kind of bread I asked you for? And then would you go stick your head in a vat of boiling pasta water? Thank you. No really. I mean it. Boil your head. Fine. Call your manager. I’d love to speak to your manager.”

And on and on and on. All night long. God I love hanging out with him.