Did you know...

...that instead of CNN or whatever, the Southwest Terminal at Midway shows Days of Our Lives from 1:00-2:00 p.m.? I did not know that, but now I do, because I am sitting in the Southwest Terminal at Midway, and Days of Our Lives is on.

Sunday was No and Lo's Baptism. It was nice. Sean's brother was whispering comments to his girlfriend at approximately 10-year-old humor level - no, scratch that, my nephew is 10 and he was much better behaved - but that was easy enough to ignore. Especially since I had to concentrate on keeping Noah safe from the devil. I don't have any pictures right now (damn you, non-digital camera!) but perhaps I'll have one to share eventually. Because those are some seriously cute babies.

I'm headed to LA for business and then fun, which is why I'm at the airport. Uyen has dangled the tantalizing prospect of Korean BBQ in front of me, and perhaps a night at Largo if the stars align.

Godparents 101

Tonight I had to go to a Baptism class at church, in preparation for the weighty responsibility of becoming Noah's godmother on Sunday. The class was honestly more interesting and useful than I had expected. It was set up almost boot camp style, with the priest turning to each of us unexpectedly and shouting things like "You find out your godson has been skipping CCD. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?" The best part was the pop quiz/obstacle course at the end of the class, where each of us had to run through the classroom protecting a plastic baby doll as Father Ken (dressed as the devil) tried to capture its soul and damn it to an eternity in hell.

Just kidding. Actually the class was run by a very nice elderly man from the parish, who told stories about being born again from above and giving children the gift of eternal life, and read from the scriptures in Greek. Then we watched a 15-minute film from the early 80's called "Baptizing Your Baby", featuring many people with horrible hair, narrated and presided over by a super gay priest. Then we went home.

David Cross is funny

And because David Cross is funny, I offer the following humorous selection from "It's Not Funny" for your downloading pleasure: HERE

The title and content of the track are wholly unrelated, if you're wondering.

Birthday summer

Between the end of June and the middle of August, three of my closest friends, both of my parents, and four of my nephews have birthdays. It's rough! Saturday marked the end of the birthday season for another year, with my nephew Nate's fifth birthday party. My sister threw the pirate-themed fête in her backyard, complete with a treasure hunt, eye patches, bags of loot, a treasure chest pinata, and pirate cake. The only incongrous element was a giant Scooby Doo moon bounce, though predictably the children didn't mind the breach of theme in the slightest. All in all it was a fun afternoon. My mom also managed to round up all seven of her grandchildren for a photo, which was actually quite a feat.

Speaking of the children of my sisters, my niece starts middle school in a couple of weeks. How did that happen? I basically know her as a child, but I'm looking forward to getting to know her better as an actual person. (You know what I mean.) I haven't had much opportunity, since I typically see her only briefly every couple of months. I need to find out if she has an email address.

Baby clit carrots

That's apparently what I bought at the store yesterday.



I ate some with lunch today. They're pretty good.

I saw a free screening of Little Miss Sunshine tonight, and it was hilarious. Steve Carrell was great, and Olive (a.k.a Wee Maureen) was awesome too. I must buy the soundtrack.

Pennsylvania

Lindsey moved to Pittsburgh this weekend. She stopped over on her way, which was fun. Another good friend of ours has been in Philly searching for an apartment for the past week; she starts her new job there in September. Lindsey starts med school orientation tomorrow. It seems so random that two of my best friends from high school will now both be living in Pennsylvania. Both of them seem vaguely surprised by their new state of residency as well. It wasn't like they both had this long-standing dream of living in PA. It's just kind of what happened. Well, more places to visit for me.

I saw the newer twin nephews this weekend - they are seven weeks old now. Not having seen them for over a month, I wouldn't have known them. They also look even more alike now than they did when they were newborns, which seems kind of weird to me. Lo is heavier, which is the main way to tell them apart now, but if No suddenly catches up they may never know who is who again. Okay, well, I may never know who is who again. Their ten-year-old brother also amused me by frantically gaining the attention of a bunch of adults in the room and then announcing, "I have a question or comment!" before going on with whatever he had to say. It was obviously the slightly askew application of some rule of etiquette he'd picked up, which is kind of charming, but it was hard not to crack up. Ah, children. I don't really want any of you right now, but you are fun to visit.

Finally, if you had to pick a commercial for which the actors therein loathe themselves the absolute most when they see it on TV - like, "Oh my God I want to kill myself" type self-loathing ... what would it be? I used to think maybe the Dr. Scholls "gellin'" commercials would win, but lately I've been thinking otherwise. Those Pepto Bismol commercials - including the new "hip hop" version - where the people have to do a little Dance o' Symptoms to the tune of the jingle, clutching at their asses when they sing "diarrhea!" ... I don't think anything can beat that. Seriously. I can't even imagine.

pow-pow-power wheels

pow-pow-power wheels
pow-pow-power wheels
pow-pow-power wheels



POWER WHEELS!

***

Who here is the right age to remember actually riding on Power Wheels? They were slightly after my time, but I was still young enough to use the ones that belonged to younger brothers and sisters of friends. Just not really in the target range. My neighborhood friend Jeff had one - Jeff was three years younger than me - and my friend Sarah and I used to get in trouble for driving Jeff's Power Wheel because his mom thought we were too old and would break it. We didn't, though.

POWER WHEELS!



I still have a scar on my right arm that Jeff gave to me. It was not Power Wheels related.

More old NYC and DC

Here are some more pictures taken by Chuck the Cartographer in the 1940s. Captions are his unless otherwise noted.


In front of the Empire State Building with bus


Goodyear blimp over the capitol building


Chuck didn't label this one, but someone must know what statue is is, right?


Facing the Washington Monument


Times Building - Broadway & 42nd St

That last one is the photo that makes me think these were taken sometime during the war.

Lists

I don't think I've made a good old fashioned list post in a long time. So, without further ado, here are some lists:

Mnemonics, Memory Devices, or Other School-Learned Phrases That Will Be in My Brain Forever:

• kingdom phylum class order family genus species
  
• y = mx + b
  
• first, outside, inside, last
  
• Mary's very eager mother just sat until night passed (Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto)
  
• Every good boy does fine (EGBDF)
  
• Roy G. Biv (red orange yellow green blue indigo violet)
  
• Gee, Scott has nice cuffed pants (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama)

Most Recent Stream-of-Consciousness Subjects I Looked Up on Wikipedia:

• diphtheria
  
• Laura Ingalls Wilder
  
• Thomas Pynchon
  
• Gravity's Rainbow
  
• Ten Commandments
  
• YHWH
  
• county seat
  
• Consenza
  
• Calabria
  
• urine
  
• Edmonton, Alberta
  
• white-collar
  
• The Magnificent Ambersons

Things My Nephew Wanted For His 10th Birthday Last Weekend:

• Spongebob Legos
  
• gold necklace
  
• purple satin Ninja mask