on saturday marty and bella went to a wedding. bella had the job of handing out hershey kisses to guests walking out of the church after the ceremony. as she dropped the foil wrapped sweets into the passing palms of exiting people she was instructed to say, "kisses from the bride and groom."

meanwhile back at home, i took the boys kite flying. it was a stupendous day for such an outing a...

a new TROYSCRIPT was posted today. new mom

a new TROYSCRIPT was posted today. outmatched

i just read of a report that claims swearing at work boosts team spirit and morale. if this is true, i've been blessed to work in some pretty high-spirited places where morale was soaring.

on October 8th, awareness of scrotal lift technology hit the mainstream. being google's number two hit for the term my logs spiked in response to peoples' sudden curiosity. unfortunately my dissertation on the topic does not seem to be hitting the mark with these information seekers because such visitors only stay for an average of 15 seconds, which is not nearly long enough to take in my enlightened commentary on the subject.

based on other google offerings, my guess would be they're actually after the site discussing the related Scrotal Drape and Support product page. i made them one click stronger at least.

yesterday upon waking up the first thing i heard was marty walking down the hallway calling the following out to the house: this is alex's fourth day home, bella's second and my first. i think marty is feeling the pinch of having so many cantankerous and inflicted humans milling about her home. especially since when bella cuts class she conducts her own school in our ping-pong room. while in teacher mode she expects to be called Mrs. Fun. however, if you cross her or make light of a provided assignment a more apt name would be Mrs. Pissed-Off-And-Surly, although no one is brave enough to say that to her face.

the people i live with are sick. the whole lot of them. it started weeks ago and has been evolving through the ranks with great alacrity. when this happens i possess great skill at avoiding the funk my people carry. i wash my hands with greater frequency, interact with people using more care, pop echinacea like tic-tacs and sleep in remote parts of the house. last night while slumbering on my futon/couch something stirred me from sleep. i opened my eyes to find alex's awake face inches from my own. he had curled up next to me on the small futon space.

hey aleo.

hi dad.

what's up?

i had a bad dream.

i'm sorry to hear that.

then he quick-sneezed, dotting my face with phlegmy shrapnel. and just like that i joined the infected masses. in the future i'm going to start sleeping in the car ... and with it parked in a neighboring zip code.

an email excerpt:

As you turned me on to the original I thought you should know, if you had not already heard, Ken Follett just came out with the sequel to Pillars of the Earth. It is called World Without End, I have a copy and will be commencing reading in the next few days.

five minutes after reading this message i jetted to my local bookstore and made one of their copies mine. i've been waiting over fifteen years for follet to produce something along the lines of his original pillars, which for me has been one of the very finest tales i've been lucky enough to enjoy (via a college class marty took dealing in european architecture).

thanks for thinking of me snake. and for those of you who don't know pillars, fix that. for those that do, you know what to do.

a new TROYSCRIPT was posted today. different

when anthony is hungry and not getting what he wants, be it mashed potatoes or a drink of water or a spoon of oatmeal he shrieks like a pre-pubescent howler monkey.

when anthony is offered food he doesn't want, he waves his left arm wildly back and forth as if he's trying to karate chop any attempt to get it near his food hole (or mouth for those not accustomed to having their mouth called their food hole).

when anthony decides he is done with something he's already been given, he squeezes the morsel in his tiny fist, watching it bleed through his clenching digits. once the food is properly disintegrated he madly waves this raised fist above his head sending the little bits of food flying each and every way.

between the screaming, flailing arm and airborne food our kitchen oftentimes seems like a food processor is running full-bore without the lid on.

Leon Botstein, President, Bard College

this guy manages to convey in four minutes what i, in a embarrassingly curcuitious manner, have been trying to say for over five years. not only do i applaud this man's effort, i would like to offer to make for him some built-in bookshelves in his music room. and that isn't a joke. if you are this guy and you live in the continental united states, contact me. i'll be over. we'll share. we'll laugh. we'll bond.


thanks to all who forwarded it to me. i love it.

and for those who may have already seen the above, here's another, older pachabel treatment that clip reminded me of.


and, for any who don't have kids or a sense of humor, here's one for you

this year's everyman submission deadline just hit. the current numbers stand at:

entrants: 4,174

photos: 8,122

largest category : landscape & nature (3,199)

smallest category : from the attic (599)

one might say the figures are slightly up this year. if i'm more dodgy this month than most, you'll please understand and forgive.