Taken from a post on the BBS for Dinner For Five:

"Hold on. I thought Ted Kennedy was the highest person in political office? Bush bunked the junk when he found Jesus in the ditch where he crashed his beamer."

Thanks to Steven for letting me know that Dave Eggers was on an ep he and his bride saw the other day. I now know that it was episode #25, filmed in 2003, and will be shown on IFC again on September 24th. Tivo'd!

Once again, Flea has outdone herself. My favorite line from Date To Save:

"thanks to Jeff for the cool pictures and setting up the store. He was my 3rd missionary date. I don't love him anymore, but Jesus still does"

Be sure to pick up plenty of the Jesus Classic Thong -- makes a great gift!

I was reading in Sheryl's blog how she suddenly got the theme to The Mary Tyler Moore show stuck in her head at work.

So I wondered, what's the weirdest music you listen to at work? What's your favorite work music? What makes you want to pound spikes through your skull? For me, they are:

Weird
Cool children's music, like "Way Out" by Justin Roberts (the title track is great)
The soundtrack to the Wild Thornberrys movie (has stuff like Peter Gabriel & Youssou N'Dour on it).

Favorite
Mike Keneally, "Wooden Smoke"
Putomayo Presents, "Salsa Around The World"
Sam Phillips, "Martinis and Bikinis"
Various Steely Dan tracks

Skull
Any really loud, noisy acidy metally rock
Raucous laughter of insensitive coworkers (unless I'm one of them)

This is another really long meme I stole from someone I can't remember (sorry), so I'll do it in portions. Feel free to chime in with what you might be....

If I were a day of the week, I'd be: Friday - normal but eager to get on with the weekend
If I were a time of day, I'd be: 7:00 pm - time to go out or make dinner
If I were a planet, I'd be: Venus - naturally!
If I were a sea animal, I'd be a: a sea lion or dolphin
If I were a direction, I'd be: East
If I were a sin, I'd be: Envy
If I were a liquid, I'd be: Champagne - bubbly, sort of sweet, but tends to give you a headache.
If I were a tool, I'd be: A level
If I were a flower/plant, I'd be: a rosebush - pretty but prickly!

If I were a kind of weather, I'd be: The first warm sunny day of spring
If I were a mythical creature, I'd be: a unicorn or a witch
If I were a musical instrument, I'd be: guitar
If I were an animal, I'd be: a lioness
If I were a color, I'd be: deep blue
If I were an emotion, I'd be: passion

You are a cuddle and a kiss on the forehead - you like to be
close to your special someone and feel warm,
comfortable, and needed


What Sign of Affection Are You?
brought to you by 2 Comments

Apparently, Dick Cheney isn't always invisible, and George W. isn't the only big politico to raucously enjoy vacations. An article in today's Chicago Tribune** states that Mr. Vice President is too often seen and heard in Jackson Hole, WY.

"There is an occasional flight delay at the Jackson Hole airport while Cheney lands in Air Force Two, causing some passengers to miss connections in Denver. There is the sudden appearance of security flotillas on the Snake River so the vice president can fly-fish safely.

"And 'the buzzing,' as locals derisively call the military flyovers, markedly increases when Cheney is around, they say. Sometimes residents are awakened in the middle of the night by the drone of an AWACS plane, they say, and sometimes helicopters drown out residents' voices when the choppers fly above."

"The intrusions seem to peak in August when the region of Yellowstone and Teton national parks is teeming with tourists and visitors. As Cheney vacations, urban and rural values clash."

That's funny. As Cheney works, his political and many people's personal, economic, religious, and moral values clash. But wait, there's more:

"Last August, three helicopters, including one bearing Cheney, landed at a protected area known as Puzzleface Ranch, leaving locals more than a bit puzzled. With two other helipads in the region, conservationists assumed that Cheney would land on the preserve only during an emergency or security situation. The Secret Service confirmed that was not the case.

"The incident literally ruffled feathers around Skyline Pond, which is being ecologically refurbished with osprey and trumpeter swans.

"Still, nothing quite prepared people for the brazen invasion earlier this month atop the normally bucolic Snake River in Grand Teton National Park. In full view of rafters, tourists and residents, two Black Hawk helicopters skimmed the river.

"Angry river users shook their fists. Wildlife tumbled over from the choppers' downdraft, witnesses said. Plants were rippling in the high winds, they said.

"'They were at tree-top levels,' said Martin Hagen, a captain who navigates the river for a rafting company. 'Here you go out for a quiet day along the river and suddenly comes this great noise. It was a big, big disturbance.'

"The park rangers at Grand Teton were flooded with complaints. The lead ranger called the Secret Service detail guarding Cheney to complain because he had no other number: The National Park Service has no way to communicate with military aircraft. The choppers were violating park service rules not to fly lower than 2,000 feet.

"'That's way too low to fly,' park spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo said of the nearly eye-level flight path of the helicopters. 'Visitors were frightened, and animals were disturbed. That type of reconnaissance mission is not something to do in a national park.'

"Kim Tisor, a spokeswoman at Ft. Carson, Colo., where the helicopters are based, said the Black Hawks were practicing medical evacuation. As she put it, 'a high-security mission' in the area (that is, Cheney) means that the helicopters need to practice nearby.

"'They were doing some training,' she said, adding that pilots are trained to be 'fly-friendly.'

"Cheney is usually not so obtrusive, local reporters say. And at times the federal ensemble around Cheney entourage has attempted to be neighborly, they said.

"A spokesman for Cheney did not respond to a request for comment about the vice president's general neighborhood awareness."

**I hope the Trib and this article's author, E.A.Torriero, will accept my apologies for rudely hijacking the article instead of linking to it, but the Trib requires you to sign in, and I doubt non-Chicagoans care to belong and receive the occasional yet still-annoying admails.

I'm now an E-Bay seller! It only took three years from the time we started talking about it and purchasing wholesale stuff.... am I a little poky? It's much less intimidating than I had expected.

I definitely have to work on my photography skills, though.

Just when I thought it was safe.... the other kid gets sick. I know, you're all sick of my-kids-are-puking stories. (Trust me, so am I!) So, in lieu of details of how Jacob has spent the day puking (though he was fine when I dropped him off at summer camp this morning), I'll ask for your advice.

What, if anything, occupies your mind and hands when you and/or your kids are sick?

When I'm sick, I need to have my laptop on hand, a good book, perhaps some trashy magazines (Us, In Touch, crap like that). Ginger ale is crucial. If it's a cold/flu, I always sip a combo of ginger ale & orange juice.

I know you all must think I am doing something terrible to this child, but poor Danny is sick again. Yesterday, we went to visit our friends Sally & Steve, whose kids Olivia & Katie are the same ages as our boys. The kids all played beautifully and everyone had a nice brunch, sitting in the backyard.

When we got home, Danny went down for a nap and I ran to the store with Jakey. Then Jake, DH and I played outside (okay, I read a magazine and watched DH and Jacob play, but I was there) in the sprinkler until Danny woke up and joined us outside. The only thing is that Danny seemed sort of unusually fussy and clingy. We figured he was just out of sorts and hungry, so we brought the kids in and I made them a pizza while DH gave them a bath.

Danny was miserable in the bath for some unfathomable reason, so DH brought him out and we got him into clean PJs. He felt feverish, so we dosed him with a little Tylenol and then DH tried to feed him a little yogurt while I washed Jacob's hair and got him out of the tub.

Jacob devoured the pizza and asked for some bageldogs, but Danny wouldn't eat. When we got the kids to bed, he was completely exhausted and dropped off almost immediately. Unfortunately, he woke up all night long. DH took care of him initially and gave him some infant Advil, but when I awoke and took Danny's temp, it was 103. Poor little monkey!

I snuggled Danny and he sipped some water, and he finally passed out around 4 am. Of course, I was awake then, so I watched a little of In The Line Of Fire on TCM, read a bit, and then went back to sleep.

When Alberta came to take care of Danny, he didn't want to go to her (very unusual!), but finally snuggled up to her on the sofa to watch some of Daddy Day Care.

I don't know why Danny seems to get sick every other week, but he's got his two-year checkup in about three weeks, so I'm going to check it out with Dr. Cleo.