Facebook'ing the last half of February. Yes, February. And yes, I made Facebook into a verb.

February 16th

A big day for my Smiley. He volunteered to do a petition @ the school Mass this morning, & all props to the teacher for letting him do it despite his speech problems. We've got him all gussed up & are planning to attend in force, & he's practiced all week. "For all soldiers we pray to the Lord". Sadly, he's so worried about it he had several nightmares last night, meaning sound sleep was in short supply here.



He did great!



With reports of a Borders (bookstore) bankruptcy a "low probability event" the company began reorganizing. "Good luck to them. They have a more pleasing color scheme than B&N and I wish them all the best."

CBS New's Lara Logan was beaten and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault by a crowd of Egyptian "pro-democracy" protesters. I wish her well.

President George Herbert Walker Bush received the Medal of Freedom, the highest honor our nation can bestow upon a civilian. Congrats sir!

"‎"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." -Anais Nin"





Feb 17th

[a few school districts closed due to teacher protest 'call ins' related to the budget battle in Madison] "MPS reports only 'slightly higher' than normal call ins, 425 as opposed to the 'norm' of 340-350. Putting aside the budget bill, just think about those #'s. On a typical Thurs in Feb, 350! teachers will call in sick in MKE. For the 100 who are legit ill on those days, I wish them all the best. For the other 250 who took a spa day, thanks for putting the kids first. Your dedication has made our schools what they are."

"Stay away from the crack . . .unless you can manage it socially - Charlie Sheen"

Feb 18th


"I've finished Charles Portis' novel 'True Grit'. It's a very short book, written as a monologue by the teenage heroine a half century after the events. I love the voice Portis gave the character; think Huck Finn with a bad temper and a cranky disposition. Well worth a read."

"I can't understand why a person will take a year to write a novel when he can easily buy one for a few dollars. - the late great Fred Allen"

"Woke up to discover MPS is closed with the teacher 'flu'. Not that I'm cynical or anything, but I do note that with the scheduled day off on Monday MPS teachers have now guaranteed themselves a 4 day weekend with which to spend their average salary of $46K (for working 9 months a yr w/ wknds and holdidays off). But it's not about $ people, it's about their rights!"

"tried and failed to secure Taylor Swift tix for Grace. The only ones i could get were out of my price range, and efforts to borrow the xtra $ were for naught. So I failed my 1st born again. Wonderful.

Feb 19th

‎"YaYa's junior troop is doing a service project and needs to collect a few things. If you'd like to help her troop out they need: men's socks, men's underwear, wash cloths, travel size soap, shampoo, prayer cards/coins, tooth brushes/paste. Our goal is to make 50 small care packages for a omeless shelter, so it's a great cause. No donation too small :)"

"After work tonight we sat down & watched "Eleven Minutes" a documentary about the creation of Jay McCaroll's 2007 fashion line. Fascinating to watch, and Jay is certianly a character. Interesting fact: he turned down the prize $ from his win on Project Runway, citing the fact that the contract gave 10% of his earnings, in perpetuity, to the PR production company."

"Other than Molly, is anyone on here going to Madison to support Gov. Walker? Someone asked me to go, but I have to work this morning - insert lame joke about how only teachers can skip work w/out penalty. Anyhow, if you are heading to that mess, stay safe. It could get ugly, esp since unions are bringing in folks from out of state to swell their numbers. (that's a fact out of the JS front page article, not opinion)."


Feb 20th

"I had a great day post-work. Capped it off by watching 'Piranha 3D' with Lisa - believe it or not, her Redbox choice, not mine. It was campy, gory, featured a lot of boobs and an awful soundtrack. I thought it was swell."



"That's supposed to be a clear bottle of water. What you're looking at is the typical, persistent backwash of Ginger."



"After a nice dinner w/ the kids Lis & I sat down to watch "You Again". Despite some nice buzz here on FB I thought the script was paint-by-numbers, w/out an original thought to be found. BUT it did pick up steam in the last third, so not all was lost."

Feb 21st

‎"I find it ironic that the same day that thousands of people skipped work to rail against our “undemocratic” leader [Walker] fewer than a quarter of the registered voters in Madison bothered to vote in an actual election." - Phil Hands of the Wisconsin State Journal"

"This evening's soundtrack: Edith Piaf, George Harrison, Amy Winehouse, Fleetwood Mac, Rihanna, David Bowie, Black Sabbath . . ."





Feb 22nd

"‎16 years ago today I met Lisa for the first time. 2/22/95 will always rank as one of the pivotal days of my life, and she remains the best thing to ever happen to me. Happy Anniversary."

Feb 23rd

"I watched 'Monsters' tonight. Despite its moronic choice of title, it was grand. The story involves 2 people trying to cross the "Infected Zone" & reach the US - the Zone being an area of Mexico that has been overrun with ET's who arrived when a space probe broke up on entry. Yeah, yeah, I know - but it's GOOD, even moving at times. IIRC it won several film awards in the UK, and I think it was well deserved."

"Lisa took YaYa (or Grac.E as she now writes her name) to Justice to use up a gc from her aunt katie (thanks!). She found a lot of bargains, even buying something for LuLu. Nice mother/daughter time."

"You're born an original. Don't die a copy." - John Mason"

Feb 24th

"I downloaded a virus on my home computer. Working hard to fix it as we 'speak'."

CBS has stopped production of "Two and a Half Men" due to the dispute with star Charlie Sheen

Feb 25th

"B4 work I sat down w/ the kids & watched Tyrone Power in "The Mark of Zorro", (these kids will appreciate movie history if it's the end of me). Since it features no talking dogs or singing teenagers, they wandered off 1 by 1. All, that is, except for LuLu, my doll. For her faithfulness she was treated to the greatest sword fight in movie history - Tyrone Power vs Basil Rathbone, a scene she even asked me to rewind."

"I've mentioned before how I quiz the kids about what artist is playing on the radio, in an effort to get them to pay attention and broaden their listening taste. Yesterday the radio was playing "Captain Jack". I asked YaYa who was singing. "Uh . . .Guns 'n Roses???" she said. Long silence. "That may be the only time in history," I said, "where Billy Joel was confused with Axel Rose"



South Viet Nam: Death at Intermission time - a link to a contemporary time article detailing the first combat deaths in Vietnam, Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand and Major Dale Buis. It was July 20th, 1959, ten years to the day before man would walk on the moon.

Feb 27th


"I'm just going to say what needs saying, regardless of the boos from the gallery. Kirk Douglas made a harmless ass of himself at the Oscars, and it was downright embarrassing. Kudos to Justin Timberlake for recognizing the humour in the situation, and a big un-kudo the folks who let a senile, barely intelligible Douglas present an award. A healthy, younger Kirk would be appalled."

Duke Snider, the HOF center fielder for the Dodgers, is dead at 84. In high school I read his autobiography "Duke of Flatbush". RIP Duke.

Feb 28th

"Self Pity
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
- D. H. Lawrence"

Frank Buckles, the last living US WWI veteran, has died at age 110. RIP sir, and thank you.

Hollywood sex symbol Jane Russell has passed away at the age of 89. RIP.