as more and more people frequent the internet the evil lurking there grows, not just through the most pernicious of things such as: spam; data mining; censoring; and social networking.

but in all the ridiculous things that keep popping up like youtube asking me to rate another user’s comments on a video someone else posted.

when asked what he thought about portland’s greg oden, shaquille o’neal responded:

“i don’t. i’m a shogun. you can’t ask me about a low level ninja.”

sourced from here.

natalie keeps a file of stories she wants to recall from when the kids were small. she has been keeping these stories since our first son was born more than five years ago.

last night i watched over her shoulder as she typed out:

kids in bed at night.
mom: who left ted (a teddy bear natalie has had for years) lying on his face on the floor?
ethan: well, if you think he is sort of alive then he could just turn over.
mom: do you think he is sort of alive?
ethan: No, but you do.

looks like i have a new source for ideas on day’s when i’m feeling less inspired.

i came across this somewhat unrelated recommendation while reading a site detailing how to cook perfect ribs…

don’t cook tofu

given that i have a vegetarian in the house i won’t be able to adhere to the advice but i can certainly second it as barbecue wisdom.

i have a hard time reconciling the difference between how much attention my kids want from me and how much attention they pay to me…

our annual ski trip includes another routine, a game if you will. tld likes to convince restaurant and hotel staff that we are a gay couple. i know, how do you mistake a couple of prima donna, extremely particular, slender, white guys in small rimmed glasses to be gay.

but it appears we may have gotten too good at the act. last year checking in to a hotel, before tld even dropped any hints, the young, female clerk asked “would you like a single king or two double beds”.

this year we were at our friend’s son’s soccer game and were introduced to another kid’s mom. i don’t recall trading a dozen words with her but later she would ask our friend if we were a gay couple.

tld believes this characterization troubles me, and if it did, i’d have some soul searching to do with people jumping to this conclusion even without an act. but on the plus side, i can take comfort knowing that i’m the odds on favorite for being the top in the relationship.

our daughter was on the swing with a two and a half year old friend of hers who was doing what most boys do with girls, talking about his penis.

this little boy has a baby sister and his mom asked “what does your sister have?”

he didn’t answer right away, so natalie thought logan could help out and asked what she had.

logan responded “a brain.”

depending upon who you ask the annual ski boondoggle, which had been ten years strong, didn’t go down last year because either (1) i was in new zealand or (2) tld was getting knee surgery. obviously, if you ask me i put all the blame on (2) tld’s knee surgery.

but tld is bionic now and i’m back in the country so the tradition has been restored.

thanks to the hospitality of the v-family, we were tearing up the slopes in utah under sunny skies by day and taking in live theater; delightful conversation and home cooked meals by night. what a wonderful way to wrap up my “spring break”.

so i have an idea for a new cable news network, the channel would be called “ten plus”. the idea is that no story would ever be less than ten minutes long; there would be no gaggle of pundits pontificating; and every story would be in-depth researched reporting.

as i have been considering this idea, a friend sent along the following link the crisis of credit visualized. i think this thoughtful eleven+ minute video is more informative than the combined coverage i have seen from the existing cable news networks on the credit collapse.

this is kind of me published elsewhere but unlike here an editor massaged my writing. what do you think, do i need an editor here too?

heights observer – condition outsells price

on spring break, be back monday 23 march.

cheers.