God bless YouTube.

It has The Frog Prince and The Boy Who Could Fly, both in their entirety.

Turning into our mother.

It happens to everyone sooner or later. Sooner, in the case of me and my siblings. A sampling of what we adopted:

Shannon: chilly barbarino, Tinkle Time, I LOVE MY FAMILY!, staring at the computer with one hand in front of mouth and nose
Sarah: chilly barbarino, clapping, giggling and squealing with delight when I get into bed
Brigid: Tinkle Time, a love of coupons (exaggerated to the nth degree), clapping
Kelly: repeating every single behavior from mom's youth
Patrick: 'comfy clothes', Popsy la Wopsy

This week's celebrity sightings

1. 4 members of Blood, Sweat, and Tears

2. Alice Waters

Also, I was in Albuquerque on Saturday morning, in time for the Mass Ascension of Balloon Fiesta, the city's annual hot air balloon festival. There were sooooooo many beautiful hot air balloons, all going up in the air at the same time. I felt very fortunate/in the right place at the right time.

Debbie Downer pt 3

The following is an exchange between me and this lady I worked with last week:

Her: I was out on disability for 10 months last year. My dog ran into me and I fell at just the wrong spot, breaking both legs.

Me: Did you have the dog put down?

She looked at me like Cruella Devil. Speaking of, winter (i.e. fur season) is approaching.

Sick hobbies

I cannot fully explain why I enjoy the following two utterly tactless hobbies any more than I can rationalize my love of Maury Povich and William Drayton Jr. (commonly known as Flavor Flav).

1. I visit Nacogdoches' newspaper website and looking at engagement announcements in order to laugh at ridiculous-looking couples/pictures. I can kill a couple of hours easily doing this, and I generally laugh until I cry. It is a gem.

2. When a couple I know is getting married, I check out their registries to see if their selections are in good taste.

Ahmadinejad

When the Iranian president spoke recently at Columbia University, I asked Rachel if it was bad that I think he is attractive. "I do too!", she replied. In the past, I mentioned the same thing to my Iranian-American friend Rouzheen, who answered, "Well, he is the anti-Christ, so yeah, it is bad."

DC

I just returned from spending two days in our nation's capital. Pops was there to receive the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service for a case which resulted in the largest-ever criminal penalty for a case involving deliberate pollution from ships and the intentional falsification of ship records- more than $37 million. We attended the ceremony at Constitution Hall and also visited the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, and the Holocaust Museum. I was so thankful to be able to attend and get to see my dad receive his award.

The acting attorney general thanked the families of the prosecutors for giving up their loved ones for all of the time and energy commitments. As the applause began, my mother answered, "De nada."

Uncle Jesse

I left two cans of hairspray at Shannon's house and my can in New Jersey ran out and my hair is hurting. I am realizing just how much like Jesse Katsopolis I am becoming.