Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of the song?

So select Starbucks are closing all over the country due to lack of public interest in paying 4 bucks for a cup of coffee.

Not me, though, I love coffee and have been known to be sucked into the orbit of many a drive thru Starbucks. Just the drive thrus though, because actually having to get out of the car for a cup of coffee seems too hard.

So here I am at the drive up window of my neighborhood Starbucks waiting for the teen aged barista there-in to give me my coffee and lemon loaf. Standing next to her, and holding what appears to be a working staff meeting, has to be the MOD. She's saying that customer service has to be their first priority, that their business is based not only on great coffee but most importantly on how customers are treated. That customer service is really what keeps people coming back and that coffee can be had anywhere...blah, blah, blah. All this as I sit at the window for so long that I feel like an employee....

In Memory

We miss you grandpa.

I have NOT lost my mind,it's backed up on disk somewhere...

Oh yeah, he's male. All that's missing is a bottle...

What?

If English made sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur

We are in the midst of that TV season we call 'Political Ads', all new, all season for the foreseeable future. This is how bad it is, today we were playing with Aidy's trucks and had the TV going for back ground noise. Suddenly Aidric stops, points to the TV and says 'Bama!'. Oh yeah, he recognizes Barak every time. Hillary not so much for some reason, but Obama gets his attention every time.

A day without sunshine is like, well, night..

'Red meat is not bad for you, now blue-green meat, that's bad for you'

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My sister and I were out for dinner with the boys; yes, there is a wide streak of insanity running right through our family. After 2 minutes of flipping through the menu I'm ready to order. I don't need to read the whole book to know how it ends, I just pretty much point and order. The boys are ready because the kids menu only has 4 choices and 'mac and cheese' is pretty much a childhood staple, so really for them there was no real choice. My sister, however, is only on page 2 of the 8 page tome and needs more time.

The waitress comes along and I order and the boys order and my sister hems and haws and the waitress offers to come back. When the young woman comes back my sister has decided but is then stymied by the sides available. Now, this is an ongoing source of amusement for me and I constantly give my sister grief about this. When it comes to ordering at a restaurant my sister IS Sally Albright. You know Sally from 'When Harry Met Sally'.

As my sister thinks over her sides options and ruminates about how she'd like her steak cooked I make small talk with the young woman taking our order. I say to her, "Sorry, but my sister is who they based the character of Sally Albright on." The child stares at me blankly. "You know Sally from 'When Harry Met Sally'?" Not a glimmer of recognition. "You know the movie 'When Harry Met Sally'?"

A small mental cog clicks into place behind her teenaged eyes and she says, and I quote, "Oh, I don't really watch old movies."

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The mountains to the east of us have been snow capped for weeks now and when the wind switches around and comes from the east there is a definate frostiness to the air. Today we had windchills making our outdoor temps feel like 60...brrrrrr. Love and kisses and more later.

hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - fear of long words.

Never mind that his accuracy needs work and that his gardening technique needs honing, I want to know how many child labor laws we're breaking.

Why is 'Abbreviation' such a long word?

No, that is not a note of panic in my voice!

If you shoot a mime do you have to use a silencer?

Aidric turned 2 a couple of weeks ago and the feasting continues. This photo is from the family celebration in San Diego last Saturday. It was a chocolate cake, Aidric's favorite. He's just like his mom, he loves his chocolate cake; unlike his mother the boy also loves broccoli and cauliflower, that oddity we blame on his father. Eeeewwwww!



Aidric would like to thank his big sister and brother for his treasure trove of birthday surprises, only one of them is pictured here. He is such a boy, he loves trucks and tractors and cars, and mud and...well, you get the point.

Every calendar's days are numbered.

I talked to J yesterday, the pregnancy is going well, she and Matt have begun to choose baby names and they've sort of settled on two names, Salamander if it's a boy or Salamandra if it's a girl. I whole heartedly approve their spirit.

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Aidric has officially turned two, though unofficially he's been two for about three months now. I wish I could photograph his little face as he faces me down, saying no and looking at me with that defiant look in his eyes, and then the sheepish look he gets as I stare back at him very sternly until he looks away and comes in for the hug. You know that hug that says, 'thanks mom, I was just checking that you're still in charge.' And so on that note we prepare for potty training. Whos idea was this anyway?

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I've never been more grateful for my DVR. It allows me to watch my shows without having to sit through the ever increasing number of political ads. I am sure that many of you will be wanting to go out and get your own TiVo or something similar as the ads ramp up over the next few months. I have some advice for you though, watch or record some news programs too or you'll miss things. The other day I was watching actual TV and I was shocked to hear that Vampira, Bobby Fischer and Heath Ledger had died....so sad...Vampira....shocked....

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Gotta drive through L.A. tomorrow on my way to San Diego. It's about an hour drive through the L.A. basin, more if there's traffic and I can't drive 85 all the way through. As you crest the hill coming over the Santa Monica mountains and you see the brown air below you, you want to hold your breath until you get to the other side. You can implemant all sorts of industrial air quality standards but the only way to silence the damage of millions of cars on the road everyday is to keep millions of cars OFF the roads every day. On the bright side, global warming caused by all of those cars may one day cause sea levels to rise so high that the L.A. basin will be a nice large lake. On the down side, I'll have to drive AROUND L.A. to get to San Diego and that'll just take longer.

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Barack and Hillary debating in L.A. tonight. That's all there is on the local channels today. I gotta go now and see what's been recorded on my DVR. More later.

The News at 6

So the holidays are over, aren't they? There is a very sad helium balloon drifting about three inches from the floor in the dinning room, tiredly proclaiming 'Happy New Year'. All it's good for now is scaring the holy hell out of me when I wander the house in the middle of the night.

Aidric is still enjoying his Christmas booty and we have his B-day coming up to add to the madness. Thank you to all for the noise and chaos, you'll get yours.

The ultimate sign of a new year begun is the jam packed parking lot at the gym. As I cruise for a spot every morning I curse (to myself, because Aidy repeats things quite clearly now) every darned new years resolver and content myself with the knowledge that in a matter of weeks the parking lot will once again be empty.

On Christmas morning we discovered that Aidric really is my son. He opened his packages meticulously. He removed every scrap of paper and tape from the box he was unwrapping before he even considered opening the box. Unlike me though, he didn't care about the contents of the box, so much as he enjoyed just playing with box. Ah well, can'[t have everything.



This is a nice photo of a pod of Orcas off the coast seen during a whale watching tour.



Sorry that's all I've got for you now. Happy New Year to all.