So it's come to this

Oh, how wonderful of you to ask.

Well let's see---my baby's little episode turned into a nasty stomach virus, just at the same time that I was the only on working in my office and needed to be here to cover the phones. Luckily my beautiful, brilliant wife was able to take the time off, but after a few days I came home to find both of them climbing the walls in their own unique, but equally wall-climbing ways. Finally her stomach seemed to get better late in the week...just in time for me to catch it.

So yeah, my highlights of the second weekend in May (not graphic, I promise) include having to miss out on the graduation brunch that I was told would be a really good idea for me to attend, having to miss out on the Mother's Day brunch that any moron could have told would be a good idea to attend (even me), and otherwise not getting to sleep because my now-well daughter decided that she had enough of this napping crap, thank you very much. All this, plus getting just well enough to make it to work bright & early this morning.

In summary, my stomach hurts, I'm exhausted 'cause I haven't had a cup of coffee since Friday, and I've lost five pounds in three days. I can't figure out why this month hates me so much.

Turns out she doesn't like getting CAT scans. Oh well, you never know until you try, right?

(She's ok--had a nasty spill yesterday & a bad tummy today, which we have learned could have meant a concussion. Luckily it didn't this time, so now we're just waiting for the bug to pass---man there's some nasty stuff in the air out here. And not just when the legislature's in session. Hiyoooooooo!!!)

So yeah, first weekend in May we had to skip the fun outdoor picnic to celebrate Israel Independence Day and instead spend the morning at the emergency room. And I thought April was the cruelest month.

It's been a very sickly week for the world's most perfect baby and her beautiful, brilliant mommy. A week full of abbreviated work days, even more abbreviated nighttime sleeps (not sure if that makes much sense, but if not then it's a good example of how underslept I am--I'm pretty sure there's a literary term for it, but I'm too tired to look it up. Committed to the bit, lazy, or truly too tired to work a reference material?--You be the judge.*)

More than anything, it's been a week of discovery. And of all the discoveries I've made, the most disturbing is that I'm jealous of my daughter's affections for Diego, Animal Rescuer.

I don't know if it's his swarthy good looks, the fact that he rides a zip line with such grace, or that he knows just so darned much about rare animals that we'd never see in a normal lifetime (Spectacle Bears eat fruit? River dolphins swim in a river?
Baby jaguar will grow to tear out daddy's throat?). Just something about that guy doesn't sit right. And he's not good enough for my daughter--I'll tell you that much.

Man, I knew having a girl would be weird.


Update--five minutes after posting this message she flashed the screen while Diego was doing his big dance at the end. Seriously, it was Babies Gone Wild. I'm entirely out of my league here.

Huge mazel tovvy props to Benari for this article in today's New York Times. Did I mention that today is a Sunday? Sunday Times Arts Section--that gets a couple of readers, doesn't it?


Granted, the article's not mostly about it, but it is about the show that he's been working on, from which he's been posting lots of cool stuff on his blog. Go watch a little of it and support local comedy (local to Benari, that is).

I think most people have not given Hillary enough credit--either for her talent as a candidate or for her potential to be a good President. Watching Obama fans rabidly treat her as part of the problem is one of the reasons my support for him has been so tenuous throughout the campaign.

That being said, her attack on the pastor issue felt like an act of desperation. She needs to find something new, because that issue is so last week. Literally and figuratively.

Y'know, the opposite of grow more dark & ominous like they've been doing for the past few weeks?

Oh well, too bad I can't remember. Sounds like it would make a snappy song.


Yesterday felt like a day when things finally started to turn around slightly--on the way to school the world's greatest toddler was visited by a big friendly dog that made her giggle and run around.

At work, I had two good conversations about potentially encouraging job news (hold on while I check to make sure that I've veiled that statement with enough qualifiers......yep, that should just about do it).

My beautiful, brilliant wife gave a talk at the local med school, so apparently that's another group of smart people who recognize her brilliance (and I'm sure her beauty, but they'd better keep it to themselves if they know what's good for them).

And to top it all off I ended the day by finding a letter in the mail from a Boston hospital saying I had overpaid my bill. So they sent me a shiny check for five dollars American. Ice cream's on me!



Sometimes it feels like bad news is much easier to recognize than good news. So I'm just grabbing the good where I can.