So the Super Yahtzee game I play with friends has really morphed into a game of its own, distinct from Yahtzee's generic, non-trademarked roots, but certainly under its umbrella. To celebrate this diversity I stole the name of a game my kids invented and have played for eight years, and changed our game to "Rah". I even made a 100 pt category "Hu-Rah", like "hurrah." Alas, today at the bbq I found out from LuLu that their game is actually "Kaa", named after the Kipling snake from "The Jungle Book", and involves whipping their legs around on the trampoline and forcing others to jump or be knocked down. Hmm. "Hu-Kaa" certainly has its uses, but I'm not sure it's appropriate for our dice game.

Grandma on the Trampoline!!

At our Memorial Day barbeque my mother-in-law Jeanne Scorsone climbed up on the trampoline with the kids. It's a memory they'll have forever, and Lisa and I were very impressed!

The Memorial Day Barbeque

A great Memorial Day barbeque with friends and family (check out the video I shared). Everyone seemed to have a blast, and YaYa's friend stayed until almost ten.

Smiley and Grandpa go to a Brewers game

Smiley went to a Brewers game today with my Dad and Jonah. They lost - he's never been to a win - but you won't see any pictures because he and my Dad are fuddy duddies who think a camera steals your soul.

Harambe is Killed

A gorilla's life - any animal's life - isn't worth the life of a child. Get a grip.

A Wonderful Evening

After the movie PD and I took a 50 minute walk to the grocery store and back to get some hot dogs and brats to grill for dinner. LK is at a festival, GC is on a date, OJ is baking brownies, and the rest of us are outside enjoying the twilight as dinner cooks.

X-Men: Apocolypse

@the Avalon with Smiley and LuLu I'm surprised: this was a damn good movie and easily the best superhero movie of the year. Serious but not grim, action packed but restrained, it has a comic book plot that defies in depth analysis but still maintains an adequate depth to keep you interested. Well done.

I'm irrationally annoyed that Lisa let me sleep in. Yeah, I've been running on 3-5 hours of sleep all week and she was being nice, but now half my day off is gone.

LuLu serves Mass!

This afternoon LuLu served Mass for the first time. You can't tell from the pictures, but she was suppressing a smile. The Priest thanked her, people in the congregation congratulated her, and we're very proud of her.

Smiley's Camp Out!

Last night Smiley had a campout with friends in our backyard, not to celebrate anything but just "because." It was a little nerve wracking to have three 11 year old boys spend the night alone outside (hence no mention of it last night on FB) but it went off without a hitch. Even rain didn't damper the event! Thanks to LuLu and Lisa for helping out the tent up. I'm glad you had fun Smiley!

A Shining Moment

I've been quiet but attentive in class all week, because a) I'm exhausted & b) conservatives learn it's best to remain mute in collegiate settings. But yesterday with 20 minutes left in class the Professor asked us to analyze a case. Everyone looked blank, and I knew he was going to spend the rest of class breaking it down bit by bit. So I raised my hand and gave my analysis, and as I did so he got visibly excited. I don't remember the *order* of the words he used in reply, but they included "Brilliant. Wonderful analysis. Very well put. Well articulated. Excellent!" He was so exuberant that the whole class erupted into laughter. Certainly a great moment in my law school career, and best of all, I usurped his class plan and he dismissed us early. #DoubleWin

Yum

They need to toss that rabbit across the line, but then #YeahWeGood

Beth Howland

RIP Beth Howland, "Vera" from the sitcom "Alice". She was 74.

Wow!

We just got back from YaYa's theatre performance. I know she's my kid, but I'll never lie and say she's a great dancer, a great singer, a great softball player, a great worker, a great . . . well, you get my point. So hear me when I say from the moment she took the stage she OWNED it. Confident, expressive, fully in character and just magnificent. I regret not violating theatre rules and taping the first few scenes, during which my literal thought was "It's like watching Mickey Mantle hit little league pitching." I did damn the rules and tape the last third, but it was more of an ensemble at that point and it doesn't capture the best of her performance. Wow. The kid has gen-u-ine talent. I gotta get busy and get a screenplay produced, and include a role for her when I sell the rights. GREAT JOB!!!!!!

Fox 6 Meteorologist Vince Condella retired today.

Our Design Plan

I gained a couple pounds

I gained two pounds in the last week, and every ounce was well deserved. I ate like I was preparing for seven years of famine. No matter. Discipline resumed, and on we go.

Krampus

Not bad. Not great. But not bad.

Dirty Grandpa

Zac Efron and his grandpa Robert De Niro take a road trip to Daytona Beach to get Gramps laid. Vulgar, vulgar, vulgar - and funny as hell.

unning x-rays and whatnot on the infamous hip at my doc's

Odd Combo

I want to know how these folks even know each other.

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Very highly recommeded. For three hundred years a small town has been haunted. A ghost walks the street in plain sight, and anyone who takes up residence is bound to her curse and to the town - they may leave, but stay gone for too long and suicide is inevitable. What happens next - Mein Gott. What a twisted, downward spiral of terror and emotional anguish. A GREAT example of literary horror (think Peter Straub at his peak), with the only negative being a clunky first chapter. Wow.

The Super Reader Progam

I took the Youngin's to get some books and register for the Super Reader program at the library this evening.

Summer School

My "summer vacation" ended today as classes resumed. This is the first time I've ever repeated a professor. I like him, but his Socratic method revealed a disturbing mindset among my classmates. All but one argued strongly for ruling against a litigant based on his political beliefs, a position one guy maintained even after admitting he'd excuse those verbatim beliefs if they were espoused by a minority. Not only is that un-American and legislating from the bench, it's hypocritical and morally wrong.

Look Who's Back

A defeated Adolf Hitler mysteriously awakens in modern Berlin, and catches the eye of a freelance filmmaker who takes him across the nation ala Borat. As he engages with real life Germans you laugh out loud, but you also see the echo of 1933 in the way these normal folk agree with Hitler's worldview. It's made all the more powerful a warning because Hitler isn't portrayed as a buffoon, but as the intelligent, persuasive, and mad man he was real life. German with English subtitles. H/t to grace for the recommendation.

Custard visits the window!

The elusive one-eyed Custard continues to become more social. She not only came downstairs, she's actually sitting in the window!

Help us find Angelcakes

Our all white cat Angelcakes is missing, although she may be hiding in the house if you see her in bay view, please let me know 

UPDATE: Angelcakes has been found, sauntering into the kitchen from God knows where and then reacting with disdain when we showered her with affection.

The Dance Studio Sleep Over

Last night the three youngest spent the night at a lock-in at their dance studio. They had pizza, danced, watched the Blu-ray of their recital, and had a blast.