Official Photo

Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man!!!
There's a party in my BRAIN!

Veterans' Day

We went to the parade.

There's a Party in my City.

One of my last vestiges of cool with my students is that I can tell them about my friend Ben, who is not only related to the Bat Commander of Aquabats fame, but actually played with the Aquabats for a period. Why ska is still considered cool at this point at all is certainly up for debate, but my students continue to be seduced by its syncopated wiles.

Ska past aside, Ben is still a pretty cool cat, and he is one of the producers of the hit kids show "Yo Gabba Gabba", which my kids are fans of (of which my kids are fans), and which most any parent would agree is a googolplex times better than listening to Barney and the Wiggles. We were supposed to connect with Ben and his family at some point over Thanksgiving--either on their way to or from their Thanksgiving destination--but because of traffic and other stormy factors, it was not convenient for them to stop over. Ben called, though, and told us that Yo Gabba Gabba Live was coming to town and asked if we'd like to be on the guest list. "Does the Pope wear a funny hat?" was our immediate reply, and this past Thursday, we went to the show.

Birds!

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the large number of birds on their way through to warmer southern climates. We have an electrical substation just kitty-corner from our house, and in the early afternoon, it's almost always completely covered in chirping birds. I wish I had some better pictures of them in flight (when they all take off at once, it's pretty spectacular), but I'll have to live with having just a few pictures of them just chilling.




I wish this one turned out better, but I like the curved wire at the top:



Of course, all of this reminds me of my favorite Mel Gibson/Goldie Hawn vehicle, Bird on a Wire.