Niece!

Stats can be found on Scooter's blog, along with two other photos, but of course I like this one:



Eryn is not at all certain Amelie is great, but I bet she'll enjoy the female playmate in a year or so.

Toddler Hint

If you want to keep playing with the stick from a croquet mallet, you might not want to hit Mom in the back with it. At least, not twice.

"Ouch, Honey. Do not hit Mommy" apparently translates as "Whee! That was fun! Do it again as soon as I go back to sorting laundry."

A wonderful opportunity

During her congressional hearing, Condoleeza Rice stated: "I do agree that the tsunami was a wonderful opportunity to show not just the US government, but the heart of the American people, and I think it has paid great dividends for us."

Nobody in this Administration gives a damn about anyone but themselves and the people they play grabass with, do they? They can't even pretend convincingly to care in public. Why didn't she just say "It's so cool all those people died where we're not killing anyone! Look, a wave!"

THAT'S what I was missing!

The 520 calories in two average slices of Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza were not enough. I'm thrilled to find they're now offering specially sliced dip-friendly pizzas that come with three dipping sauces!

Diponomic.

How To Build a Better Fort

Just give up your living room.

Damn partisan Lefties!

I was listening to MPR on Wednesday and heard the result of the vote on Condi Rice, plus a little of Kerry's explanation of his "no" vote and the explanation of one Republican senator's "yes" vote. (I missed the Senator's name). I'd planned to fume here about the vote, but willworkforfreedom has done it nicely for me here.

I'll just add this. Anonymous (well, to me) Republican Senator said that he was disppointed the Democrats had turned the vote into a partisan issue. That's fascinating, because while all the Republican senators who voted (two did not) voted in favor of Rice, thirty-two Democrats sided with the Republicans in favor of her.

A potato masher, a yellow VW Bug, and Mulberry Street

Those are the items my 21-month-old daughter chose to take to bed with her for her nap today. She’s in her crib right now, presumably mashing the bejeesus out of the car and the Seuss book.

I never would have thought of that combination: I wonder if it would help me sleep.

And this is a surprise, why?

Gonzales may have lied to the congressional committee about his role in getting W. out of jury duty. Woah...something shady? In the Bush Administration?

What kind of witch are YOU?

You scored as Hermione Granger. You're one intelligent witch, but you have a hard time believing it and require constant reassurance. You are a very supportive friend who would do anything and everything to help her friends out.

Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...?
created with QuizFarm.com

planetdan

This is just plain funny, if you live in the tundra.

Look!

Someone snapped a picture of Condi's soul!

$9.25

I figure that's what the Minneapolis Star Tribune owes me. In mileage. Twenty-five miles times the going rate of--what, $0.37/mile--for telling me Alton Brown would be doing a reading/book signing at Bound To Be Read in St. Paul. I got there, looked around, and found a reading about to start for something called something like Are You Earning What You're Worth? (and I don't need someone to tell me that I'm not), but no Alton Brown, and no I'm Just Here For More Food. Here's my conversation with the man at the counter:

Me: Isn't Alton Brown supposed to be here tonight?
Him: Yeah, if you believe the Strib.
Me: Dang it.
Him: Are you earning what you're worth?

He was very sorry I missed Alton (who was there on Saturday), but it wasn't his fault; it was the Strib's.

Sentences are neat

Eryn has recently begun stringing words together, sometimes with amusing effect.  This morning, she spun around in tight circles for 10-15 seconds, then stopped, looked at the floor, and said “Wow…floor fast!”

Inaguaral costs

It costs $58,000 to armor one Humvee.

The security alone for the upcoming presidential inaguaration is estimated to cost in the tens of millions of dollars, and the entire affair will cost around $40 million. That's 689 Humvees. Thirty-three percent of the Humvees in use in Iraq currently have no armor.

Hm, I wonder what it costs to, say, provide a meal to a kid at school for a year? Establish and equip a field hospital in Indonesia?

If I had embarked on a war that went on longer than I had planned and cost significantly more than I expected it to cost, I'm thinking I wouldn't spend all sorts of cash on the biggest bash ever put on to celebrate the swearing in of a president. I might, instead, request a few minutes of air time on the major networks to announce to the country that because we're now running a deficit, and because there are so many people who need so many things in so many places, I'm going to recommit myself to office in a small, tasteful, somber ceremony in the Rose Garden. I might add that while I know $40 is a drop in the bucket in the face of the level of need, I hope this change inspires the rest of the government, and the rest of the world, to consider carefully how and why they spend the money they spend. Yes, it's breaking tradition, but some things are more important than pomp.

One more comparison: this inaguaration--this party--will cost at least $5 million more than we pledged in aid to the areas hit by the tsunami. What's 155,000 dead people? We have ourselves a swearing-in to celebrate!

What I read

There is a list of the books I've read (excluding texts, for the most part) since 1994 here. You'd think I'd have read more in 10 years, but there it is.