1337! Now with a bike rack!

Had to stop and visit my baby.

Productive couch

I'm going to lose the nerd crown in my house. This was going on while I was doing dishes.

Franny's new do

Since Franny apparently won't post a pic...

Happy Birfday F!

Happy birthday Franny! It's not as easy to celebrate as it used to be, but I gotta recognize your day. :)

(Sorry about the poor picture. It's from the Mizz's zero point naught megapixel camera. D's always sleeping in the room with the good pics.)

Remember the point of the day

Happy 1st Birthday D!

I had to sneak a happy 1st birthday wish in here for D while it was still actually his birthday.  He's catching up with his brother just as fast as he can.  He figured out walking in about a week, and although he's not great at it yet, he loves it and gets further every day.

Tomorrow is official party day, with a Cinco de Mayo theme, including beer, margaritas, guacamole, and a pinata.  We're really just using D's birthday as an excuse to invite some friends over, but he doesn't seem to know that.  I'm pretty sure he doesn't read this blog yet, so everybody be cool.  Don't spill it to him, OK?

Maybe it's a good idea Dad's not on Facebook

Mom's okay, I suppose.  She'll never post anything about burping. :)

Erin Go Braghh

(pinch)

The Day the Muzak Died?

I'm not sure how it happened, but I found out about real news via the Onion, which noted that the Muzak company (elevator and hold music) filed for bankruptcy.  Turns out it's true, but that's not the point.

What got me is that I had almost forgotten about the term "elevator music", which maybe is their problem.  I work in a lot of different places these days, and I can't think of the last time I rode an elevator that was playing music.  Now, maybe I'm just not hanging around the classiest places, but I remember back when most public elevators in businesses had heart-stoppingly boring music playing, and you'd think that I'd stumble on it now and then if it was still popular.  It's almost the same thing with hold music.  These days, if there is anything playing at all, it's either some radio station that's local to the business's call center or propaganda from the business itself.  Usually, though, it's just stone cold silence, often making me think I've been disconnected.  (Since I'm usually on a cell phone these days, I don't even expect a dial tone to clue me in.)  Anyway, has this stuff largely disappeared, or am I just frequenting the wrong kind of establishments?

Who's your favorite president? Okay, now which one's the best?

C-Span released their 2009 Historians Presidential Leadership Survey today.  It ranks all the past presidents in a number of categories and called the overall winner as...drum roll please...Abraham Lincoln, who, you know, totally rocked.

As I'm sure everybody already knows, James Buchanan is officially the WORST.  PRESIDENT.  EVER.  Actually, I admit that before checking Wikipedia, I couldn't remember what he might have done that would warrant that title.  Apparently he didn't really do anything.  As in, he did nothing to stop the South from seceding.  That might have been it.

For the record, W came in number 36 (out of 42, if you have to ask).  Obama is still leaping tall buildings and shooting laser beams out of his eyes, so historians haven't noticed him yet.

The link at the top goes to the official C-Span survey page.  It has the whole list, as well as breakdowns of the categories in the survey.  A little light reading for political junkies.