Tuesday, March 27, 2007

and I, am Tumble Bumble

Today at work, I got a quiet and polite "excuse me" and when I looked up, there was none other than Dan Zanes! I was a fan of the Del Fuegos back in the 80's and I really like the family albums he's put out in recent years, but any joy I may take in him or his music pales beside that of our nephew.

When he was around 2 years old he went through a series of names, meaning, he had decided that he was to be addressed by a new name. I seem to recall French Tape and Tumble Bumble being a couple of favorites for a while. A little after the Tumble Bumble era, the Dan Zanes era was ushered in. It was never that the kid didn't care for his own name, it seemed like it was more a matter of creativity and I guess, giving props to his favorite guy. For that matter, he has a framed photo of Jonathon Richmond in his bedroom.

So I mentioned to Mr. Zanes that he was quite a celebrity in our family and to my nephew in particular. And to my surprise, he pulled out a small piece of paper, wrote "Hello Rockin My Nephew's Name" and drew a little doodley picture of himself on it. Awesome. Considering that I've been casually stalking Dan Zanes around Brooklyn for the past 2 years after seeing him in passing multiple times, I am incredibly excited to finally meet him and get something cool for the little nephew.

Monday, March 26, 2007

got to git......eventually

Like many New Yorkers, I occasionally feel claustrophobic and in need of clean, green space. For a couple of years now, Jamie and I have discussed where our next home could be. Last year we took a trip to the west coast and discovered that while we liked Portland, it didn't have enough to get us west of the Mississippi.

Recently the conversation came up between Marc, Jim, Jamie and I about moving and where to go. I'm beginning to hear some rumblings among more and more of our peers about the subject. But it seems like so many of the places have issues: either too hot (Memphis) or too cold (Minneapolis), too far (Portland) or not far enough (Jersey City). I like checking out the statistics of a town on Sperling's Best Places , but it seems like the comment posters are either bitter and ready to bolt from their town, or quite possibly shilling for the local Chamber of Commerce. Our priorities are still the same: the ability to be a one car family, low cost of living, available and appropriate jobs and that we be close enough to regularly visit our families, but not so close that anyone can drop in unannounced. This last one was made a little bit difficult with the move by Jamie's family back up to New Hampshire. Unless we were to live w-a-y north, there's no such thing as "easy" access to folks in New Hampshire. We're probably living as close as we will ever be to them at this point, and unfortunately, it's not too convenient to visit them without a car.

Currently, the list of towns is not very long, but not too shabby. Pennsylvania is turning out to be a strong contender based on location and cost of living. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are both front runners in my imagination. Pittsburgh is quite close to my family and very affordable. It has a fairly strong non-profit sector thanks to all of the old philanthropic families and the weather is no different from what we basically grew up with. Philly is not quite as close to my family, but it's the most affordable big city around, while still being on the East coast. The cost of living and job market would both fall into our thumbs up column.
Lastly, there's always the weird little town of Asheville, NC. The job market there would probably keep it from being a real possibility, but it certainly seems like a lovely place.

Any other cities and towns you can suggest?

Saturday, March 24, 2007

either the smartest dumb thing or the dumbest smart thing

I'm a fan of Lost. I'm also a fan of trashy celebrity gossip. A month or so ago I told a coworker that Suri Cruise is the spitting image of Ethan Rom, the now dead Other from Lost (he kidnapped Claire, tried to kill Charlie and was ultimately killed by Charlie). So imagine my surprise when I recently saw a picture of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes with little baby Suri at what appears to be a basketball game. What I immediately noticed was the gentleman sitting in front of them. It was Ethan aka William Mapother aka Tom's first cousin!

When Tom and Nicole Kidman adopted their kids, no real mention was made about if the adoptions were for the sake of adopting or if they were unable to have children of their own. But with the recent speculation that Nicole is pregnant, I've decided that I have my own theory. They adopted because Tom couldn't have kids. When he and Katie got together, he convinced her to have "his" kid and Suri Cruise is actually the child of Katie and Ethan Rom from Lost! For that matter, maybe Juliet impregnated Katie Holmes!

Oh god, I need help.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

these are a few of my favorite things

Every day I get such a wide range of funny, inspired, occasionally ignorant questions from funny, inspired and occasionally ignorant customers. I try to make a mental note to tell Apes about it when I come home, but I often forget. I'm going to try to remember, if only to mention it here.

So far this week:
"Do you have a book on cabanas? Just pictures of people's cabanas?"
"I need a book on how to build a bomb shelter. You know, in case of a war."
"I'm looking for a book. I don't know the title or author, but I think it has the word {happiness, forget, love, the something and the something} in it."
"Where's the non-fiction?" This question is inevitably asked in an annoyed voice. The tone doesn't get any better when I have to explain to them that most of the store is non-fiction and I need more information, to which they usually reply, "No, the NON-fiction." Thankfully, this doesn't happen too frequently.
"Where is a book to help someone learn to read? No, not with words, just pictures. I told you, she can't read!"

Friday, March 02, 2007

March has become my Big Ben, Parliament

This time last year I was getting ready to have surgery (in April) to find out why I was having such a hard time getting pregnant. Sometime in early March someone said to me "hey, if you got pregnant now, you'd have a Christmas baby!" And I realized at that moment, that it was the second year in a row that I had heard or thought that. Well, obviously the third time has rolled around and let me tell you, it's just as magical as the first 2 times.

So, as much as a Christmas baby sounds sweet and all that, here are some other potential holidays/birthdays that I can now look towards.

December 7th: National Cotton Candy Day
March 14th (3/14): Pi Day
First Friday in May: No Pants Day
June 23rd: National Hug a Cop Day
August 30th: National Toasted Marshmallow Day
September 19th: International Talk Like a Pirate Day
November 15th: America Recycles Day
November 5th: Guy Fawkes Day (vive la Weasel)

Come on, first Friday in May.