I think this may be the best internet video I’ve ever seen:

Horse statue vandals caught on tape in Saratoga Springs

Okay, so Donjuanica pointed this out to me originally, and I forwarded it to Atticusser, and some disparate opinions have arisen.  Donjuanica said “HIL-arious.”  I said it was “Funny because it’s really stupid.”  Atticusser says, “Not funny because the guys who made it think it is funny.”

So weigh in: Funny or not funny?  Somebody call the people at TBS, since they claim to know about these things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1jPnm33Pkk

I’m sitting here in the hospital while my wife is prepping to give birth to our second son (heretofore known as Chachi). It has been almost exactly 10 years since we did this the first time. If Chachi had waited until his due date 2 days from now (the 24th), it would be exactly 10 years to the day. Of course we recognized this coincidence before today, but it just dawned on me that it is exactly (again, almost) a decade since Johnson’s only real birthday. What a curiously symmetrical number. Especially considering that this is likely our last go ’round. First and last on the ~ same ~ day with a decade between them. I should have something profound to say but the only thing I can think of is “Whoa, deja vu”.

It feels different this time. For instance, while this time I am thinking about this blog, 10 years ago I was thinking I might blog in my pants. I guess you get used to the process.

Another big difference: 10 years ago Donjuanica and Suz had been dating for like 10 years instead of married for like 10 years. Happy anniversary guys (holla back!) Again, sorry I couldn’t make it to the reception.

One thing is no different at all. We still don’t have a name picked out for this boy (though Chachi may remain a permanent fixture in nickname form). I don’t like to pick anything before seeing the baby. It’s my own little idiosyncrasy. So now I’m scouring for baby names in a stupor, looking for ideas. Just like the last decade, only on the internet this time instead of with books. In the brilliant words of Yogi Berra, “it’s like deja vu all over again.”

I guess the point is that I’m bored. And that Yogi WBAGNFABB*.

Please submit your other name suggestions in the comments.

* Would Be A Good Name For A Baby Boy; variant of WBAGNFARB

I have no real reason for posting this picture (which is of a donut box that someone brought to work) except to say that, for some reason, it does not make me want to eat either donuts or prunes. It does, however, make “me” want to “start” using unnecessary quotation “marks”.

The first person to identify this house wins…uh…something.  Maybe an e-card.

A little history: My wife grew up in Long Beach, California.  We were down there over the weekend for the funeral of her maternal grandfather–a remarkable man, I must add, but that’s for another post–and we spent a little time revisiting her old neighborhood.  This house is just a few blocks away from the home where she grew up and belonged to a family that my wife used to babysit for frequently.  That said, the house has a much more historic and important place in American pop culture.

So submit your guesses.  Your e-card awaits!

Today I went to lunch with my wife.  I took some pictures on my camera phone.  Here they are.

OK, so I stole this from Dave Barry’s blog, but it deserves the attention.

Punchline options:
A. I should say “ultra - extra strength”!
B. Take THAT, not-so-fresh feeling!
C. Mom, do you power wash?
D. SEE COMMENTS

UPDATE: I suppose it was inevitable that Wal-Mart would change it eventually, even though it was Wal-Mart *Canada*. For those of you who care, I refer you to this screenshot (which may also have been taken down by now, who knows?).

Isn’t it frustrating when a major scandal erupts, like oh say, the collapse of our economy, and immediately everyone involved starts pointing fingers at everyone else and trying to escape blame despite the fact that everyone else on the planet can plainly see the truth? Wouldn’t it work more to their favor to own up and say something really witty and unexpected? Wouldn’t that make us all smile and think, “Hey, they’re not so bad!”?

Take this example as expounded by the children of our CTR 5 primary class (that’s sunday pre-school for you heathens):

My wife was teaching a lesson on honesty, which 5 year olds understand intrinsically of course. She was reading to the kids a story about a little boy whose Mom had made a fresh batch of cookies. The Mother left the cookies out to cool on the counter, instructing the boy not to eat them, and left to do whatever Moms do when they’re not baking cookies or leaving pies on the sill (must have been laundry day… *SLAP*). Well, as you can guess, the boy ate all of the cookies (he was a very fat boy). When the Mother returned, she saw the cookies were gone and, rather naively if you ask me, said to the boy, “what happened to the cookies?”

At this point my wife, who had the kids at rapt attention, turned to them and said, “What do you think the boy should say to his Mom?”

There was a very split-second moment of silence as the kids processed the question and then Evan, who has a condition similar to mild autism and is thus very wise, threw his hands up in the air and shouted, “SURPRISE!”

We did not correct his answer.

For those of you who have designs on raising the next crop of nerds, here’s a great little Christmas gift to get your kids off on the right formative track.

Though this little fable is relatively obvious and unimaginative, it does at least have an entertaining and all-too-true moral pay-off.  The geeks in the room will appreciate it more than others, but the moral is generally applicable.

Enjoy.