Tim Kaine Eyebrow Button

Anyone watching coverage of the Democratic Convention knows what I'm talking about, but I WANT one of those Tim Kaine Eyebrow buttons.

DO WANT.

So This Kid Drops Out of School ...

With the blessing of his parents, to become a professional Guitar Hero player.

I can't decide which is my stronger reaction:

1. Seriously?

2. His parents could at least have bought him a real #^$%*&# guitar.

3. One can become a professional video game player? Seriously? How sad.

Senators, Governors, and Baby Wahoos, Oh My!

Quick hit #1: future VA junior Senator Mark Warner is going to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National convention. Should be a gratuitous boost to Warner's campaign, should give Obama a bit better bump in the Old Dominion, possibly elsewhere (though I wouldn't stake much on that), and brings into question whether VA Gov. Tim Kaine will be Obama's VP pick. Interesting.

Quick hit #2: While I was off at a meeting, Iris took Lilja over to the UVA Grounds. Seems she was utterly delighted, which, of course, utterly delights me.

Quick hit #3: I'd be worried were it possible to OD on baby Hoo gear:

Barack Obama Crossing the Tracks:

The RR tracks, ifyaknowwhatImean.

People Remember the Darndest Things:

So the whole family goes out to dinner tonight to see off my brother, who's heading back to school in a couple of days while we're out of town on another in-state research trip.

Whom do we run into but my old boss, Steve Ballard, for whom I poured a hell of a lot of concrete over seven summers. I still remember a couple of the 16-hour (literally) days, and, of course, the record heat that happened to coincide with big pours damn near every time, it seemed (for those that don't know, concrete is incredibly exothermic, making a brutal summer day that much more fun).

Steve and I talk for a brief bit about my baby, my research, that sort of thing, and then he turns to his table and introduces me shortly, tells them I worked for him in summers for a while. It was then that I made my mistake:

"Yeah, he hollered at me in a dumpster once."

"Haha, yeah, I put him in a dumpster and then yelled at him."

Good-natured laughs and retorts all around. Until:

"But he paid me back by sinking my jet ski."

Oh, damnit. You see, I'd opened the door to wacky things that had happened in the past. It's unusual to have been hollered at by your boss while you're on your ass in a dumpster, especially after he's the person who used a backhoe to lift your butt up in there in the first place.

It's equally unusual, I suppose, to have sunk your boss's jet ski.

"Oh, that was you?"

Oh, damnit. And, of course, I have no idea who this person now addressing me is.

I rolled with it, made a good joke about what an idiot I was (and really, how hard is it to make that sort of joke when you sink a freakin' jet ski), that sort of thing.

Anonymous continues: "Yeah, Eileen told me about that a couple of weeks ago."

Wait, what the hell?

I haven't the first idea who Eileen might be, nor how she heard about this, nor when.

But just in case it ever comes up -- if you sink a jet ski, you're liable to hear about it -- nine years later -- from complete and total strangers, who heard about it from other people who are complete and total strangers to you.

So unless you've got a good sense of humor about yourself, I advise you most earnestly to avoid sinking jet skis.

No. No. Nonononononononono. NO!

NO!

I Somehow Cannot Bring Myself to Believe This:

A Commentary?

Overseen on our way to the video store this evening:

A couple in a minivan in the drive-thru line at Burger King.

Eating.

Burgers.

...?

Your Debut Album:

Saw this elsewhere, thought it was kind of a fun little lark:

1 - Go to the Wikipedia randomizer.
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Random quotations.
The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

If you want to do this again, you'll hit refresh to generate new quotes, because clicking the quotes link again will just give you the same quotes over and over again.

3 - Go to flickr's explore last seven days.
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Put it all together, that's your debut album.



Here's mine:

Weil Conjecture: What Love Truly Is



(Photo courtesy of Aamir Yunus, supplier of the random image.)

Heroic Child Escapes Daycare, Goes to . . .

Hooters.

No word on whether he went for the wings or for the *cough* drumsticks.

However, Hooters wasn't his only stop:

"He then crossed busy Dallas Drive to go to a RaceTrac gas station to purchase a soft drink and snacks."

A five-year-old rolls into a gas station convenience store and purchases a Coke and something to munch on . . .

. . . and no one thinks this is sufficiently weird to inquire?

10 of the Most Racist Toys Ever Made:

Can be seen here.

No argument here. Holy crap.

A Bit of Fun to Pass the Time in a Hotel Room:

Got linked to a pretty fun little game. (A couple of other games can be found here and here. Both are pretty easy overall, but they both have their tricky elements -- including a sneaky little question from a god-awful midwestern state [no more hints].)

Here's a screenshot of my final time in the Name the Presidents game. I'm fairly sure it didn't start counting for a couple, if only because I doubt I could enter all 42 in 57 seconds, but what the hell, it's my official final score:

A Lighter Moment on the Way Home from the Vigils Yesterday:

Still haven't fully processed yesterday, but when I do, I'm sure I'll blog something about it. It was my first two anti-death penalty vigils, seeing some people again for the first time in four or five years, including the mother of a wrongly accused on death row, and a lot more than that besides, so it'll take a couple of days to filter in and back out.

On the way back home last night, though, there was a light moment. Iris called, wondering whether I'd not yet left the vigil outside the prison (which, for the record, is simultaneously closer than I thought and solidly in the middle of nowhere). I was on the road, and while I ordinarily frown on gabbing on your cell phone while driving (and generally swear when I see jerks doing just that), I was that jerk last night. In my defense, I was literally the only vehicle visible on the road, so I felt ok with it.

"Where are you?"

At this point, I'm at roughly mile 240 of a 300-mile drive over the course of the day, though I don't know this at that point.

"I'm, uh, hmmm. I have no earthly idea where I am. 58. That's all I know."

Turns out I was in Courtland -- Nat Turner country. Go figure.

God Busted: Deals Cocaine in Tampa:

The next time that someone tells you that they don't need drugs because they get high on Gee-Oh-Dee, ask them how long he lets you ride before taking dropping a plague.

"Ok, dude, listen. You don't pay me by next week, you get the frogs. You still don't pay me, well, you're fuckin' stupid, but it'll be your firstborn. No one ever rides three weeks, get me?"

Thomas Paine PWNZ0R3D By Teh Intarweb:

I laughed.

Buying Beer:

I'm 30 years old, and I was carded buying beer tonight.

Awesome.

Baby Boning Up on Her Southern Knowledge:

It's t-minus ten days now until we hit the planes back to VA for eight months, which makes Lilja's book of choice yesterday all the more amusing. Now that she's crawling, she's much more inclined to play by herself and amuse herself for good stretches of time -- really good stretches, since she's curious about absolutely everything (though a bit too interested in cables and cords).

Yesterday afternoon, she meandered over to one of the book shelves, pulled a book out, and was just on her belly opening it, turning pages, managing to take the dust jacket off without ripping it (kind of impressive, actually).

Her book of choice?

1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the South.

Incredible choice.

Happy Mother's Day:

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there.

We certainly enjoyed celebrating our first Mother's Day around here.

A Nerd's Guide to Music and Pop Culture:

I'm either not nerdy enough (unlikely) or not well enough versed in pop culture (bingo!) to get all of these references, but this is fantastic -- and it leads off with Meatloaf!



Nabbed this from Heather

Radio-Controlled Lawn Mowers:

Every so often, you run up against something that makes you think "I'm now one step closer to having 'seen it all.'"

That moment today was when I saw a city worker cutting a swath of grass between the main road and the river using a radio-controlled lawn mower.

...

Seriously?

I'm not sure whether to look at that and think "I want one of those!" or "my god, can people seriously be THAT lazy?"