Axodys Vox

I found the juxtaposition of these NBA related buzz pictures and the ads beneath them amusing:

Gilbert Arenas Credit Score

I'm an NBA player, I don't have to worry about that stuff- right?

Jordan-enough-sleep

You're looking a little sleepy MJ. Good thing you've got a job where you can kick back a little.

Goodbye-yellow-teeth

C'mon Michael Curry, don't be ashamed of your smile.  Your teeth can't be that bad.

20 month year old Houston has blown us away the last couple days with a bunch of new words seemingly out of the blue.  Last night after dinner he loudly called his Nona (Mary's mom) NOH - NAH!  Then at bedtime he told me nigh-night!  I rushed him back to Eawyn's room so he could demonstrate for Mary and his sister and sure enough he happily repeated it.  Tonight he just referred to his little brother Nathan as Nay-Nay.  While there's a definite trend of words beginning with N he's also saying things like Pa-pa (Mary's dad) and "eat" now too.  I can't wait to hear what he says next.

Someone's writing a biography of your life (to date).  What is the best/worst chapter of the book? 
Submitted by Ross.

Worst chapter is probably middle school.  The best chapter for drama/highs/lows is probably my mid to late 20s.

This morning I had to run a couple errands including picking up some dry dog food at Petco.  The barbershop I frequent is across the street and I've wanted to get a haircut for a couple weeks now so I glanced over to see if the barber pole was spinning today.  Then I did a double take.  Not only was it not spinning, here was no barber pole!

I quickly took care of my Petco errand and drove across the street to see if the barber shop really was gone.  Unfortunately it was.  Aside from a small sink, the former home of "the brothers" (as I liked to call them because the two barbers that ownded the shop actually were) was completely empty.  There were no signs on the window indicating they had moved or closed the business, they were simply gone.

Considering I started going to that barbershop at least 20 years ago when I was a freshman in high school I felt pretty bummed out to see it gone.  My dad always went there too before he died so they knew both of us fairly well.  In fact, now that I think about it, they cut my hair the day before my wedding and the day after my dad died.  Still, they weren't personal advisers or anything like that.  Just friendly acquaintances to shoot the breeze with about local sports while they cut my hair.  I just wish I had known that they were closing up shop so I could get one last haircut and wish them well in their retirement.  I'm going to miss those guys.

Update: I found an article about the brothers closing up their shop after the barber that I went to today mentioned it.  Turns out they had been cutting hair since 1961 and finally decided to retire at age 67.  Oddly, the article gives the impression that Saturday the 5th would be their last day, but they were already cleared out when I stopped by on Wednesday the 2nd.

This is the hat I finished up for Eawyn a couple days ago.  She grabbed a skein of yarn and wanted to buy it while we were wandering around Jo-Ann's tracking down a couple other things I needed.  It was inexpensive acrylic so I humored her.  It's totally my own design and I'm fairly proud of the stem design I came up with at the top where I decreased it to the point where I could throw in a little cabling. 

Eawynhat

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I made a hat for Houston as well that I finally finished up yesterday too- he's just harder to photograph.  It's based on the London Beanie pattern I used for Nathan's second hat, only it follows the pattern exactly.  It will actually stretch enough to fit my head, but isn't tall enough to provide the ear coverage I prefer for this type of hat.  I have plenty of yarn left though so I may make a modified version for myself that I can use for cycling.

Eawynhoustonhats

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What's the best late-night TV talk show?

I tend to watch Leno the most.  I favored Letterman during his first couple years at CBS, but than I suddenly got completely tired of him.  I enjoy Conan a lot too, especially since he's closer to my generation, but I don't stay up that late as much since I've started biking and Houston has gotten older.

Today is Vox's first anniversary since the official launch.  What's the best experience you've had on Vox in the past year?

It's hard to think of one specific thing.  I just really like the fact that it gives MIcah, Kristen and me a place that we can share news, pictures and other random stuff that's going on with our extended Gilman family..

I haven't discussed it much with anyone outside Mary (and a brief mention to Kristen), but Kid Nation has definitely been my new favorite reality show this season.  Sure the kids can be annoying at times, but the show as a whole leaves me feeling optimistic about the future.  It's fun to see how capable the all the kids are and how successful they can be when they all work together.

On a more cynical note, was anyone else as thrilled as I was that beauty princess Taylor got voted off the Council?  I still can't believe she cowed the other three older leaders into not getting the food reward that everyone wanted yet again (first the pizzas a couple weeks ago and then the barbecue last night).  Talk about having no understanding of people or group morale.  The microwave and cocoa was lame (do they have any other instant food anyway?) and this week's toothpaste, floss and toothbrushes reward while a responsible choice on the face of things, was in no way shape or form a necessity.  When it came time to vote I was sure that her friendship with all of the yellow girls would carry her through, but was pleasantly surprised when one actually made the right choice and voted against her. 

I felt bad for Mike when he was unanimously voted out by his generally successful red team.  I never felt like he was a natural leader, but he was still the second best leader of the original four, I'm not sure what more his team wanted from him.  I'm definitely hoping that being the new red leader doesn't comes up all roses for Fidel Castro admirer (learned that today on his bio page) Guylan. 

I always felt Anjay was the second weakest council member by far so I was pretty sure he would get the axe.  It was kind of sad/funny watching him stress out and crack when pitted directly against Olivia (who revealed a side of herself that I didn't particularly like this week). Amazingly enough he  pulled out the victory, but still ended up fighting back tears when sour grapes Olivia proved graceless in defeat. 

I also thought it was pretty awesome that Laurel's green team had no interest in replacing her and refused to run against her.  It still boggles my mind how poorly they've done in most of the challenges.

Finally after the election, everyone's favorite anti-hero Greg finally won the gold star too which was cool.  He's probably the most interesting kid in the group to me simply because he's see-sawed so dramatically between being a sulky, angry and unmotivated goof-off to a caring, capable and valuable member of the community.   Hopefully his positive path will continue through the remainder of the show.