more financial news

GM has cancelled the lease on two jets (out how many, I don't know) after the flak (ooh, punny) they got in response to their trip to beg from the government.
AIG has quit the business of leasing out jets to others.
See, everything's related.

It's Probably Everywhere By Now

But here it is anyway,


Whoa! Apparently this is the post-turkey-pardon interview. If you don't want to watch, the gist is this:
Palin pardons turkey.
Palin gives interview - very cogently, of course.
In background of interview, guy unlifes* turkey.
* "Slaughter" is the word that seems to show up most often in articles relating to the matter, but look how humane the whole thing is. There's no blood until the camera stops rolling and Palin demonstrates what the word GEEK used to mean in the good old days.

Can't you just see what would have happened in a McCain/Palin administration right after they might have closed down Gitmo?

a more fun post than last night's

Coco, this morning:
I like science with Joe and music with Joe because I'm a good scientist and good, uh, musictist.

Tired Day

Last night we had a game night, which is always fun.
But it also meant that limericks got started late and with some wine as inspirational fuel instead of the usual coffee, so I was up until three.
Oh, well. I figured I'd drop off the kids and come home to take a nap, only to realize I had signed up to help out with the art teacher in Coco's class.
And then it was a half day followed by a playdate and parent-teacher conferences and TaeKwonDo.
Gaah!
But I'm okay now, thanks.

Oh, is there someone else in the room?

I liked this better as the Daily Show's "Moment of Zen" a couple of nights ago because it was shown without comment, but then again I guess the Daily Show's audience is more intelligent than that of CNN.


"Does I understand
why no one shakes my hand?
Oh, yes. - heh, heh - it's planned.
It shows I'm in command."
- The Leader of the Banned

Coco Tuesday

It's not really Tuesday. That's okay, though, because Coco isn't always aware of the day of the week.
Actually that's not fair. He is. He is learning a lot in school and is more aware of how time passes and how things work. All the stereotypcal little kid things are disappearing.
Good thing they have been replaced by endless fart sounds.

Strangeness

From Nov. 14:
Sun [Microsystems] shares were trading at $4.11 at mid-day, putting the market value of the company at about $3 billion, a little less than what Sun has in cash on hand.

Is this only mindblowing to someone as naive as I (am) [I have to do that to check my grammar.]?
On the one hand it might mean that you could make a "little" profit if you were to get a loan (hahahaaa! flaw number one) and buy the operation, take the cash on hand and run off to, uh, well, to flaw number two.
On the other hand it points out that the problems here and now are beyond the merely monetary otherwise Sun's board could do just that: take all the cash on hand and give all the assets to Goodwill. Don't forget to get a receipt.


Along those lines I have an ad campaign for J&B (or whatever your preferred midprice brand might be): A Holiday Gift that is 40% recession-proof/Vol.

Thanksgiving Week

If you're not too busy (and not already living there) fly over to Germany in order to catch the network premiere of this awesome movie starring* my friend Florian Luehnsdorf. Nov. 26, 20:15, ARD.

* I'm not exactly sure, but it seems from the poster that they have a masterful costume and makeup department and he's doing some magical Eddie Murphy Norbit thing and playing all the parts. If not, he might just be one of the greyish guys in the background. But I think you'll see what kind of a pivotal role he plays. I think it's his seasickness that starts off a crucial plot twist.

Madge Monday

A sample of Madge's work as a photographer. Not bad, I say.

Playing Tourist

I've been playing tourist in NYC for part of the past two days because we have a visitor, and tomorrow we will try to take the train to Philadelphia to be true tourists. It'll just be a day trip so we're unsure about what to pack. iPods, of course. But other than that? I don't think we'll be making snacks to take.
But we're trying to meet some friends who live there. I'm excited. I've never been.
Let's hope the weather cooperates and that I'll be able to sneak in a cheesesteak even though I'm the only one in our group who wants one.
I have read, though about onions topped with cheezwhizz (or however you spell it). But I'm not sure they'll mix with any sort of travel. Or, for that manner, any sort of social life. Eek.

Picture Day

It's picture week at the kids' school, so on different days you see other kids in getups you wouldn't see the rest of the year. One kid in Coco's class wore a red bow tie yesterday.
Today was Madge's turn. It was also gym day and because of the confluence of fancy dress and gym class some kids were allowed to sit it out. Madge hadn't overdressed, but sat it out, too.
Crafty. She didn't actually say anything about her clothes, just sat down with the others.
Hee, hee.
I'm glad she can improvise on the fly like that, but I'm also glad she still feels that she can tell me about it.

Circus

I know. Very extravagant, going to the circus in the middle of the week. And trust me, I have a feeling we will all pay a bit of a price for it tomorrow - a bit was already paid tonight at the belated bedtime.
But it may have been worth it all just to see the joy on the face of the elderly nun sitting next to Madge.

Coco Tuesday

The BYOBama party at Coco's friend's house was fun.
I am pleased to report that I was able to make someone snort red wine out his mouth and nose onto a white, I repeat: white, coffee table. Heh, heh. I didn't even think the comment was that funny, which is probably why the delivery went over so well.
But enough about me; this is a Coco post.
Coco's friend lives in a big house and they have a banister which the kids are allowed to slide down. This blew Coco's mind and he spend a considerable amount of time climbing stairs and sliding down the handrail. So much so that he rubbed his chest sore and now has a little scab on it.
Logical minds might wonder about other damage. The other stuff was taken care of with a warm soak after we got home that night. He says it's all better.

Madge Monday

Madge has been under the weather over the weekend and today was no different. So she stayed home while Coco went to school. Not a bad day, really.
Mind you, she wasn't too sick to go to the movies this weekend, or to an improv theater thingie - at which she and Coco performed admirably when they got to be on stage. Just sick enough to stay home from school.
See? Sometimes I can be a nice dad.
What's a trifle more disconcerting is that she seems to have been having nightmares recently and won't tell us their content. How are we to help? Is she saying she can handle this on her own? I don't want her to handle this on her own, since it'll tell me something about her.
I want her to handle cleaning up after herself and getting her own food and drink on her own, since that holds no surprises for me, I think.

vegetable as adjective

Now that the election is over, spare time can be allocated in different ways again.
And once more I notice how I'm behind in glancing at poetry.
Yesterday I found one with lines that seem familiar. Andrew Marvell is the poet, though that sure seems like a magician's stage name, if you ask me.
Anyway, the lines are (from "To His Coy Mistress"):

Had we but world enough, and time
and
Now let us sport us while we may

Both seem worth remembering and dropping knowingly - that is, if you enjoy having people stuff you in gym lockers.
There are a few in between that are quite jolly, too, of which my favorite is (speaking of having but enough time and world):

My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow.

misunderstanding

Friends of ours invited us to a party to celebrate the outcome of the election and the party is entitled B.Y.O.B.ama. See? Punny.
I told Madge about it and she asked what byob stands for.
So I told her and she said, "Why? Didn't they want Obama to win?"
(This one may take a while so SOUND OUT what byob stands for, especially the last "b".)
I was confused about this and started explaining that people don't just drink alcohol when they're unhappy. In a roundabout way I thought she might have gotten that impression because I occasionally play and/or sing country songs around the apartment.
But then it finally surfaces that she didn't know the word "booze" and didn't relate it to the idea of alcohol.
She thought I had said "Boo's."

Congratulations

Oh boy.
And now, if I understand the message correctly, it's up to us to make something of ourselves.
Because


we can.

Coco Tuesday

We went to vote this morning. Fun stuff. Lines. Cranky voting booth "helpers." But at least the crowd was cheerful.
Then we had a long day hanging out since school was closed. Coco was busy spelling whatever he could on his day off and assembling letters out of pens, marveling that a capital I turned on its side becomes and H.
Just wait till he figures out that they're adjacent in the alphabet. It'll blow his mind.

Madge Monday

Madge was extra tired and cranky today. It's amazing what a one-hour time change will do for little people's schedules. She, of course, wants the benefits on both ends. She wants to be able to stay up extra late and still get up at the same crack of dawn as before, in order to watch more morning cartoons.
And tomorrow we have the day off in order to fret all day long about the election. Part of her homework is to watch some of it on TV. We'll see how that goes.

Halloween Highlights

One of the best moments was when we were at a party and the kids were handing out candy and ran out. Coco went to his bucket to try to "sell" some more. (He called it selling. He has much to learn about capitalism.)
Today, though, he's not sharing a single morsel.

Another great moment was when we went by a house with some slightly tipsy treaters, one of whom was a lawyer who all of a sudden got obsessed with asking the kids about "any known peanut allergies."