kapgar

You've got to humanize yourself...

I'm going to hit you with a Snippet Thursday: The Reckoning with a theme today. It's going to be all about the show True Blood and my current disappointment in season 2.

Yes, you read that correctly. I loved season 1, but, seven episodes into season 2, I'm left with a pretty hollow feeling so far. Maybe the final five episodes will right that, but I just don't know.

Oh, and if you haven't watched season 2 yet and plan to, you might want to skip this post. It will be full of spoilers. So consider that your **SPOILER ALERT**

Bill
I'll be honest with you, Bill Compton is really starting to wear on me. He's become very whiny lately always bitching about Jessica or his relationship with Sookie, or the fact that Eric is "using" Sookie "inappropriately." Dude, you're a vampire... stop that now. You're becoming worse for the image of vampires than Edward from Twilight.

Sucky
Speaking of Sookie, another thing that annoys me to tears is Bill's constant hissing of her name and making it sound like "Sssuckeeee." Dude, I get it, you're a Brit playing a southern gentleman. But take a cue from Sam Trammell who plays Sam Merlotte. He's a native N'awlins boy and, when he says her name, it sounds like "Sookie" with a twang, the way it should be.

It has actually become a bit of a joke between Katie and me and anytime we hear Bill say her name, we bust out in a chorus of the "Suck It" product jingle that David Wallace and his son wrote in The Office. One of us will say "Sssuckeee" and the other chimes in with "Yeah!"

This was all Katie's idea.

Sex
Speaking of Sucky, I get that Bill and Sookie are enjoying the sexual aspect of their relationship. Very much, apparently. And I hate to sound like a prude when I say this, but do we have to see it all the time? And all these freaking orgies that Maryann keeps holding in the woods near Bon Temps? Really? I'm not easily offended, but I'm getting a little tired of this. It's like they're doing it just because they can and they need something to fill the 54 minutes in each episode. Also, as a heterosexual male, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm really getting sick of seeing Anna Paquin's boobs in nearly every episode. I'm guessing the embarrassment comes more from the fact that I so highly hyped this series to my wife and now here we are watching this and she's clearly uncomfortable so, by association, I am too.

Grams
I think what this show is desperately lacking right now is a moral center. In the first season, this role was assumed by Sookie and Jason's grandmother. As anyone who watched season 1 knows, she's dead now. And Katie and I both miss her terribly. When Andy Bellefleur is the closest thing you have to a moral compass in Bon Temps in season 2, you know something's wrong.

Jessica
This is one area where I have actually shifted my view. When Bill created her last season and when she returned to live with Bill initially this season, I couldn't stand Jessica. Just a bratty teen. However, once she was introduced to Hoyt and the two of them started seeing each other, I really began to like her. In fact, the burgeoning love story with Jessica and Hoyt is one of the best things going in the season, IMHO. I really want those two crazy kids to work out. Something tells me they won't, but a guy can hope!

Jason
Just when I was beginning to enjoy the story with Jason and the Light of Day Institute, they had to go and discover who his sister was, didn't they? Man! And Sarah shoots him in this last episode we just finished watching? Even I know it was the paint gun that Jason and Steve were using for target practice on the course a few episodes before. Did the writers really think I'd forget that soon? That is what happens, right? Well, I guess we do get a bit of a change of pace for once... instead of a woman that Jason messes around with being found dead as per season 1, this time she at least gets to think she killed him.

Godric
I get that Godric is a 2,000-year-old vampire and the creator of Eric and I understand why saving him is important, but this hunt and the trip to Dallas and all that jazz has been just completely underwhelming in terms of excitement level. I enjoyed seeing the history sequences between Eric and Godric, but even that isn't making up for my overall boredom with the storyline. Tell me it gets better.

Funny thing I'm noticing, I seem to prefer vampire stories that explain how certain vampires are created more than the rest of the story being told. I like the creation sequences in the Twilight books, particularly Jasper and Rosalie. I liked the creation of Louis by Lestat in Interview with the Vampire. And I liked the creations of Eric and Bill in this series. But anything that happens after that kinda pales by comparison. Am I weird in that regard? Anyone? Anyone?

Good?
Not all of this season is entirely bad. As I said, I like where the Jessica storyline is going, so long as it doesn't take a 180-degree turn.

I was briefly enjoying the Daphne and Sam bit. Until she was revealed to be a Maryann minion. Very disappointing.

I really like Terry Bellefleur and am happy he's playing a much larger part this season even if it involves dating Arlene. But the scene where he defended Lafayette against Andy was great and has quickly become one of my favorite scenes of the series.

And I still get to see where the Jason vs. LODI storyline will go. I'm looking forward to that quite a bit. I wanna see Stackhouse go postal on a bunch of born-again Christians.

Tell me it's worth it. That I won't be regretting seeing this season through to the end. Is season 3 better?

Despicable me, I’m having a bad bad day...

Just a quick one today.

Katie decided to have some fun and made me into a Minion.

Of course I had to have a little return fun.

That is all.

Make your own.

Cocked your head to the side and said I'm angry...

It's been a week and a half since I last blogged.

Wow. I'm pretty sure that's the longest I've been neglectful around these parts.

You know it's bad when both your wife and your mom have taken notice of the fact that you haven't blogged in a long time and are actually a little mournful about it.

I know it's a very off-day, but I hope you don't mind some snippets. Given I've missed the last two Snippet Wednesdays -- and even the last two potential Snippet Thursday: The Reckonings -- I don't see it being a big deal that I do it now, right?

Rest
And on the 14th day, they rested.

This past Sunday marked 13 consecutive days of exercise for Katie and me. As you know, we've been working out weekday mornings for quite some time. Well, a couple weekends ago, we started exercising on weekends as well. Two really long walks in a row now that the heat has calmed down a bit and a 20-mile bike ride this past Saturday. That one caused us to be a bit sore, so we took Sunday off. And we're back at it again this week. All five weekdays so far. Not sure what will happen this weekend. We'll have to wait and see.

Camera
I guess it was a good thing I distracted myself with exercise this past weekend. I was feeling a bit naked without my trusty Sony D-SLR. My friend Eric was shooting a wedding and asked if he could borrow it. This is the first time my Sony has not been with me or at least somewhere I knew he should be. I felt a bit "off," if you get my meaning. Nothing was quite right until Monday when I got my camera back -- in perfect working order -- from Eric. Gah!

Beans
But not having my Sony around gave me time to play a bit more with the camera in my new iPhone 4. It's a nice camera. Not perfect by any stretch, but nice... and far more portable. And what's really nice is the automatic geotagging I get in my iPhone photos when they're uploaded to Flickr.

Of course, even this isn't perfect as the geotag of this Jelly Bean photo would indicate. Apparently, I found myself some jelly beans to photograph in "a mysterious place with no name" in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean near the western coast of Africa.

Guess it's a good thing my passport finally came in the mail, eh?

Bloody
Katie and I are tearing through True Blood seasons 1 and 2 on DVD right now. We got free video-on-demand of all episodes of season 1 from Amazon and season 2 came in from the library but is due back soon. Funny thing was a conversation between Katie and I as Bill and Sookie were having sex and he bit her, drawing blood down her neck...

Katie: [jokingly] "Edward would never do that to Bella!"

Me: "That's because Edward is not a real vampire. He has no fangs. He couldn't if he tried."

Heh.

Chiro
Speaking of conversations, this happened at the chiropractor's office the other day. We finally discovered how old he was.

Me: "You're not even in your thirties!?!?"

Him: "You were born in the Seventies!?!?"

I get it, I'm old.

Lamb
The other day, a coworker and I were coming in to work together and she told me about a book she just started reading. She wasn't sure if I'd ever heard of it because it was, to her, a pretty unknown author. Turns out it was Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Only like my favorite book of all time. It took some work to not hug her right on the spot.

Hunger
Speaking of books, on the very strong recommendation of @DownWithPants and @Amanda234, I began reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's the first in a three-book series and, so far, it reminds me a lot of Takami's Battle Royale (loved the book, hated the movie) and Bachman/King's The Running Man (loved the movie, haven't read the story). And I don't have to wait between books as the final book in the series (Mockingjay) came out this week. I hate waiting. I'm not a patient person at all.

Okay, I'm outta here. Have a great weekend!

Go do, you'll know how to...

Just a handful of quick snippets for you today. Sorry it's so rushed.

Vote
Only a month left until CBS2Chicago finalizes the choices for this year's Capture My Chicago book. If you haven't done so already and you have a free moment, can you please check out my profile, create a quick on for yourself, and vote on some of my photos? I hate whoring myself out like this, but I'd appreciate it.

Music
I've been checking out some really great music this week. Stuff from the library and stuff from friends. I've really taken a shine to Hot Chip's albums One Life Stand and The Warning as well as Kelis' Flesh Tone and Jonsi's Go. If you want to check out some new stuff, there you go!

Dune
My buddy Whall Tweeted this earlier today and it cracked me up to no end.

If you don't get it, I'm not even going to try to explain it.

Tweets
Speaking of Tweets, Avitable posed an interesting question today on his blog -- "has Twitter killed blogging?" I've seen this question asked before but finally decided to comment. As I said on his blog, I can't speak for everyone, but it has certainly diminished my desire to blog as much. And I think being able to distill your thoughts into 140 characters or less is a great skill to have. Don't use as many words and save some time. Maybe it's just me. Head on over there and share your thoughts if you're so inclined.

Well, it's time to get ready for a nice dinner with Katie. Talk atcha soon.

Truckin', got my chips cashed in...

Welcome to a special Blogher edition of Snippet Wednesday. Am I at Blogher? No. I just thought it might get the attention of all the people there and actually drive a few readers here. Am I evil for doing this? Yeah, probably. Will it work? I dunno, I'll tell you in a couple days when I check my stats.

40
I don't really know why, but I TiVo'd 40 Days and 40 Nights and just finished watching it now. It really was a pretty bad movie, but, for some reason, I enjoyed watching it. Me and my bad movies.

Plants
This year, Katie and I pared back all the veggies that we planted. Last year, we just tried growing too much stuff and it got a little out of control. Some of it worked while some of it did not. So, this year, we're growing serrano peppers, tomatoes, squash, and zucchini. The peppers? Great! I've picked six so far and have at least 30 more sprouting. Squash and zucchini? Well, not much in terms of fruit yet, but damn if the plants are huge. Tomatoes? As a result of the squash and zucchini, the tomatoes aren't doing so hot. They're being crowded out. And it's the tomatoes that I really want. Check out the stuff that is growing...

 

Keychains
As I told you the other day, while in Chicago, I picked up a couple of those LEGO keychains. One was the alien from Toy Story and the other was a recreation of the original spaceman minifig that debuted in 1978. I was asked for some pictures, so here they are...

My only problem with the spaceman keychain is that he's not an exacting recreation of the original. The difference is minor, but enough to mean something to a purist like me. It's all in the helmet. Check it out...

The original helmet (right) is flush from the forehead down through the chin guard. The revised helmet (left) has a chin guard that sticks out further than the forehead of the helmet. This was done to provide a way for a visor to stop when pulled down over the face and appear flush with the helmet itself. Plus it looks more realistic.

Fine, I'm picky.

Truck
Speaking of LEGO, when Katie and I were at my parents' house, my dad gave me back an old set I had built years ago and that has been sitting on his desk all this time. It is the 5580 Highway Rig and it's apparently somewhat valuable on eBay. It's also gotten a bit grungy from grime, but I plan to disassemble, wash, and rebuild it. Should be fun. It's a pretty intense set. And I got a chance to try out photographing it with a nice background display.

Photos
I've been bad about this whole Photo365 challenge. The other day, I looked at the set and realized I was a month behind in tagging pictures. Well, I'm all caught up. Through today, even! It took a while to find them all, but I'm good again. And I've passed the 200 day mark. This has been anything but easy. I really can't wait for it to end, but I know I'll miss it. Is that weird?

It's time for bed. Yeah, it's only 9:15. I'm pathetic. I admit it.

It's been one week since you looked at me...

With just a couple hours to spare, here I am! With Snippet Wednesday! Huzzah! Huzzah!

Reminder
There are so many bloggers that have kinda sorta given up on blogging in recent months. Several of them, I'd like to just reach out and say, "what gives? C'mon! Just write a couple blog posts!" But wouldn't that be hypocritical considering I haven't blogged in a week and, even when I do blog, it's infrequent at best. So I'll just shut up, okay?

Fantasy
As I was logging in to write this blog post, an e-mail came in from Brandon informing me that he's starting back up his Blogger Fantasy Football League. Now this is something worth celebrating! YES! It means we're that much closer to the real NFL season. Oh happy day!

Drives
Yes, my replacement Time Capsule arrived and is hooked up (within two days, mind you). And we bought a Western Digital My Book as a secondary drive and it is hooked up. Our WiFi network is up and running. The TiVos have refreshed their recording queues. The hard drive on the iMac is backed up. And...

Works
I finally got around to downloading one of those pieces of software that will allow me to transfer my music from my iPod back to my computer. I went along with Juliette's suggestion and purchased the full version of PodWorks. And it works! It's currently transferring all the music back from my iPod to my iTunes account and it's copying right where it is supposed to go on one of the external hard drives. I was considering PodManager, but discovered that it pulls the music from my iPod and places it on my desktop for me to then copy into iTunes. PodWorks cut out that extra step and is uber easy to use.

Juliette, you are a goddess amongst mere girls! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you so much right now that, I tell you what, I'm going to buy a copy of your book, Morning Neurosis, and attend one of your signings so you can throw your John Hancock on it! Oh wait, I already did that. I guess you're just going to have to take my word for it, okay?

Runaways
One of the movies I've most been looking forward to this year is The Runaways. It's the biography of the all-girl rock band from the 70s featuring Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. I figured that if there was any one movie that Kristen Stewart would excel in, it would be one in which her regular drugged-out appearance would be a natch fit. Basically, I was just waiting to find out it was in theaters. Then, a few weeks back, I opened up my Rolling Stone magazine and saw a big two-page spread for the movie. This is it, I thought. Um, not exactly. It was an ad for the DVD/Blu-Ray release of the movie the following Tuesday. Huh? Did it never make it to theaters? How did I miss it? Well, whatever, it is now coming in from Netflix. So I'm a happy camper.

Playlist
I had fun today asking all my Tweeps to set my musical playlist for the day. I challenged them to just name any artist or band and, if available on my iPod, I would add a pair of songs from them to an On-the-Go playlist to set my musical mood for the day. Damn, it was fun! I got some great suggestions, a vast majority of which I had available, but several I did not. I should do this more often. It was even more fun than setting my iPod to shuffle.

Well, I'm out of here. Adios.

I've never seen you shine so bright...

I'll be darned if I'm not on time with Snippet Wednesday this week!

Red
I still stand behind the whole red-light camera program, in theory. However, in recent weeks, as I've driven near some intersections with these cameras in place, I have noticed issues. I saw one the other day that snapped a picture of a guy who was 100% still at a red light that he was going straight ahead through. These cameras are supposed to catch violators of the right-on-red turns. So, I guess it's a lot like my view of the death penalty - I support it, but it needs to be re-evaluated before it's implemented. Even my hometown of Naperville is re-evaluating.

Red
I am sooooo looking forward to the new movie Red (based on the graphic novel by Warren Ellis) about retired CIA black-ops agents coming back to help their leader when his identity is compromised. It stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren as the retired team. It also stars Mary Louise Parker, Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss, Brian Cox, and Karl Urban. That's one helluva cast! But the key for me is seeing Mirren and Freeman kicking ass and taking names! That would be wicked cool!

Red
I just read an article that some of those RedBox DVD rental units may start popping up in front of public libraries. Check that, for now it will just be popping up in front of a single library for a six-month trial period, but still. Interesting. I can see this being good for libraries that charge a minimal amount for rentals. Some of them do. And having a RedBox to distribute the latest movies at a similar price is good for those people trying to find the latest and greatest as well as libraries attempting to cut back on what they spend on materials. However, if you're talking my library, which charges zero for rentals, then I might have a problem. Well, maybe not. I don't want to see my library dip into the red with overspending on some materials. Oh hell, let's just say it's a pretty cool collaboration and leave it at that, eh?

Red
Speaking of RedBox, it seems they're going to experiment with an online distribution model in addition to their kiosk machines. No one is quite sure if this just means online video streaming or online sign up with mailbox delivery. Only time will tell. But it could mean viable competition for Netflix. Lord knows Blockbuster wasn't a viable competitor. Heh.

Red
I'll bet after being on this flight, the passengers are seeing red indeed. Holy cow! People sitting in their seats being tossed in the air, hitting the ceiling of the plane and then winding up in other seats??? I'm thankful every day that Katie isn't on a flight that is nearly that bad. She's nervous enough about flying. Experiencing this would push her over the edge and she'd never fly again. I can guarantee that. Me? I'd recover, but suddenly be a bit timid about flying, I'm sure. Otherwise, I love it too much.

That's enough red for now.

You never will be mine...

Sadly, the Pitchfork Music Festival has wrapped up for 2010 with a pretty little bow on it.

Granted I only went to a single day of the festival, I still feel compelled to write about it.

I missed out on the earliest act of the day, Sharon Von Etten, because I mistimed the train I was taking to get into the city. Bummer. I was kinda looking forward to hearing her.

As I entered the park, though, I was greeted with the acoustic stylings of The Tallest Man on Earth. I really dug on his sound and am looking forward to checking out more of his music. 

There was a pretty rough transition next from TTMOE to the next act, hip-hopper El-P. I didn't really dig on his first few tracks, but I finally started to get into it after that and enjoy his music.

Next up was one of the bands I was most looking forward to, Liars. However, what I wasn't expecting was how noisy and uneven they sounded. It left me happy that I spent the time wandering the booths instead of sitting in one place and listening to them. It just didn't fit the mood that was set by all the acts up to this point.

The disappointment of Liars was made up for by Robyn. I wasn't sure what to think about a former pop starlet at an indie music festival, but, DAMN, she tore it up. Just a high-paced pop and electronic set which left me wondering how she could've had that much energy considering the heat.

Next up was Broken Social Scene. The only bad thing I can say about them is that the sound system for their stage was a bit wonky. While I've experienced worse, the sound did go in and out a little on a couple of tracks. But I think that's a combination of the stage crew and the heat. Otherwise, Broken Social Scene was fantastic and the end of their show left me wanting to hear a lot more of their music. Good thing my iPod had some.

The final act of the night was Modest Mouse. This was the band I most wanted to see going into the festival and the reason I chose Friday over any of the other nights. The verdict? I was left a bit empty. While the songs that Isaac Brock and company chose to play were decent enough and ones that I recognized, they weren't ones that I truly knew well enough to be able to sing along with. I am not a diehard Mouser like so many other people that were in attendance, and I hate to sound mainstream with this request, but it would've been nice to hear "Float On" or "Ocean Breathes Salty" or even "King Rat." They left after a little more than an hour and came back about 10 minutes later for an encore which lasted a single song. Still nothing of those three tracks.

If I had known that this might have been a possibility, I probably would've opted for Saturday, instead, so I could've seen LCD Soundsystem. The downside of that would've been missing Robyn and Broken Social Scene, of course. But seeing as Modest Mouse was my number one reason for choosing that night, I think Saturday might have made for a better overall evening.

Oh well.

The festival grounds themselves, including the vendors, were great. I had a lot of fun wandering from tent to tent and just perusing what was available. I did buy a few smallish items and loved that Shawnimals was present for me to get a little bit of a Ninjatown fix.

Will I go again next year? Damn right. I'm not sure if it will be one, two, or three days. We'll have to wait and see. But I always seem to have fun at Pitchfork. So why the heck not?

Here are some pictures I took at the festival.

I think it's pretty obvious that I'm a junkie for Pixar animated films. They're always great. However, when it comes to other studios and their digitally animated feature films, I'm a bit more hesitant.

They always seem rushed, unfinished, poorly written, poorly acted... you name it.

So, yes, I was a bit wary of Despicable Me based on the trailers. I just didn't see it being any good save for a few moments of potential levity here and there.

Katie and I went to see it on Sunday and I would like to say, here and now, that I was wholly wrong in my pre-judgment of the film. It was hilarious and heartwarming and thoroughly enjoyable. The voice acting was good, the characters were a lot of fun, and damn if those minions don't steal the movie.

But the biggest surprise was that this was actually a movie where 3D paid off!

Katie and I have been to a few films in 3D since the craze came back full bore. And, honestly, none of them needed it. It was merely a gimmick to make you pay more to see the film and, thus, rake in more bucks and thrust the film higher up the all-time grossing list (I still wonder how Avatar would've really fared if it wasn't in 3D).

Despicable Me, though, used 3D like films that came out in a past era. Items on screen came out at you making you jump or laugh or whatnot. But, unlike old 3D films, it wasn't done intentionally like when an actor is swinging a sword and makes it a point to stick it out at the audience for maximum 3D effect. These scenes fit into the movie and flowed well with everything going on around it. 

All-in-all, I was very pleasantly surprised.

You gotta take if off, baby, for me...

I actually wasn't going to do any snippets this week. I had nothing yesterday. And I was pretty sure I'd come up with zilch today. However, Katie, in an attempt to make her brother feel like he actually has something worthwhile to live for during his day, helped me come up with enough crap to populate a Snippet Thursday entry. Day late, but not a dollar short!

Pitchfork
Yes, tomorrow is my live music day to end all days! The Pitchfork Music Festival is here and I will be there all day long boiling in what is predicted to be high 80s/low 90s temperatures with about 80% humidity. Oh joy. I love music, but that's brutal. The final day of Pitchfork last year found me wearing jeans, and doing so quite comfortably. Help. Me.

But for anyone interested, I will take some photos and upload them over the weekend to my Flickr account and I'm sure I'll be Tweeting throughout the event so long as there is a reliable AT&T connection at Union Park. It was, at best, spotty last year.

Strippers
My brother-in-law and future sister-in-law are going to a sports card show this weekend at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago. Pretty much the same one I went to with them earlier this year. However, this one got pretty interesting in that the Stephens Center will also be hosting an adult entertainment show called Exxxtacy 2010. So, basically what we're talking about here is a bunch of strippers in their red-light best walking around amongst families with children. And I thought Hooters was family friendly.

I'm trying to talk Scott (the BiL) into writing a guest post about this experience complete with photos from Becca (the FSiL). Anybody else want to see him do it? Votes?

Steinbrenner
No, I'm not wearing a black armband in memory of George Steinbrenner. Sure I was a huge Yankees fan back in the day. I worshipped them during the 80s and early 90s, an era that his iron hand ruled over unquestioningly. And he was responsible for bringing in my favorite baseball player of all time, Don Mattingly. And I do respect the hell out of him for many reasons. And, well, considering all that, maybe I should've been wearing a black armband. R.I.P. George.

TV
This has been a great week for TV. Psych is back. White Collar is back. The new Covert Affairs debuted. The Closer is back. Rizzoli & Isles premiered. Geez. Who needs the regular television season when you've got quality fare like this?

Geneva

Katie and I bummed around our hometown of Geneva this past weekend. It was great just doing our own thing the entire day and we discovered a few new things that made it even more fun. Like Steak Sliders at Wildwood. Yummy! And a bike race that is new to our town but, hopefully, will be back next year when I have my good camera on me (I didn't want to carry it that day only to discover this race was going on after it was too late to do anything about it). So I got a couple photos with my Blackberry. Oh well.

I think I'm going to skip the final snippet we came up with. This should be more than enough for you all, right?

Time to head to Predators!

Fool for a lifetime...

Because of the holiday-shortened week, I almost forgot today was Wednesday and, therefore, SNIPPET WEDNESDAY!!!

Faith
Marty nearly blew my mind the other day when he Tweeted about Faith No More playing a gig in NYC the other night. Faith No More? They broke up more than a decade ago! Well, apparently it didn't stick and they got back together last year (minus guitarist Jeff Martin) and have been on tour for a bit and I had no idea. Sure, the U.S. leg of the tour is/was lacking more than just a bit, but how cool would it be to see them play? I loved these guys and never got to see them live back in the day.

Attic
I gave the attic one more shot. Lo and behold, in one container that I thought contained old board games, I found them! My Speed Racer LEGO sets, my robo-monkey, and my Octan Racer. Just some all-around cool stuff. I was stoked. But also in the container were a couple of my old stuffed animals that I loved from back in the day, including...

Opus
I had no idea how old this guy was. This Penguin Lust Opus from Bloom County dates back to 1984! So hard to believe. But he's in pretty darn good shape, don'cha think?

And I also found...

Woody
That kid Andy from the Toy Story movies had his Woody in the form of a Old West sheriff. My Woody was Woody Woodpecker. I have no idea how old I was when I got this, but he's still around. Pretty beat up but I would think that's an indication of the degree to which I loved this guy.

However, being as young as I was, I could not, for the life of me, pronounce "Woody Woodpecker." So I wound up saying — and, yes, this has found a place of prominence in the annals of Apgar history — "ooo-nee cock-er." Well, "woody," "pecker," "cocker"... not that I was too far out in left field with that one.

Cubs
Speaking of funny stuff, I was driving behind a car on the way home today with the license plate "CUBS BY 2." I had to laugh.

Cubs? By 2? What? Lost by two? Only won two in the month of June? Missed being in last place in the NL Central by two?

You become rather cynical as a Cubs fan.