Our first four dog’s names

Amy and I have dog names planned out (aren’t you excited?):

1. Dingus (found on Trivia Pursuit card for Jesse James – it was his nickname)
2. Ginger (pronounced like “finger”)
3. Murfin (evidently a street in Ann Arbor)
4. King Babbot (the director of photography in the really bad, but totally influential childhood movie, The Last Starfighter)

Soundtrack for the Iraq War

There is a new CD coming out inspired by an Iraq veteran who was paralyzed in the war. These songs got him through his days.

Proud to be an American? I am…

This the number one most emailed article in the NY Times last week. Pretty telling, huh?I only included the intro (because it is so damn funny. and so damn scary), but the article covers a number of books on the dangers of “American Happiness” (you know, it’s a warm gun).I did just get a Barnes & Noble coupon. Hmmm….

clipped from www.nytimes.com Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge? A popular video on YouTube shows Kellie Pickler, the adorable platinum blonde from “American Idol,” appearing on the Fox game show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” during celebrity week. Selected from a third-grade geography curriculum, the $25,000 question asked: “Budapest is the capital of what European country?” Ms. Pickler threw up both hands and looked at the large blackboard perplexed. “I thought Europe was a country,” she said. Playing it safe, she chose to copy the answer offered by one of the genuine fifth graders: Hungary. “Hungry?” she said, eyes widening in disbelief. “That’s a country? I’ve heard of Turkey. But Hungry? I’ve never heard of it.” Such, uh, lack of global awareness is the kind of thing that drives Susan Jacoby, author of “The Age of American Unreason,” up a wall. Ms. Jacoby is one of a number of writers with new books that bemoan the state of American culture.