Hey David, thanks for the heads up on that Chron story. I had not yet seen it.

Don't know if this counts as game, but rarely did a week go by where our fridge didn't have Han Solo serving time in it.

but rarely did a week go by where our fridge didn't have Han Solo serving time in it.

So you prefer your heroes immobolized in carbonite, eh?

::takes all kinds of notes::

Yeah, sure. Keeps them from running away until I finish. God, I'd have to go to so many meetings if I said that anywhere but here...you have no idea.

Games I played:

Outdoor: hotbox (I almost forgot about that one!), bingo (basketball freethrow game--word would change depending on who you played with), Red Rover (school recess--needed a lot of kids to play), Red Light/Green Light, hide n seek, mud pies, hand-slapping with sister/best friend (Miss Mary Mack-Mack-Mack, all dressed in black-black-black), jump rope (got eight stitches and a decent scar), Pogo Stick, and riding my bike to the neighborhood playground three blocks away (and getting called back for supper by my dad's distinctive whistle, which had about a mile radius--who needs a cell phone?).

Indoors: Solitaire, double solitaire, gin and rummy 500, cribbage, and canasta (with the grandparents only); Tripoly, Life, Sorry!, Monopoly, Battleship, Yahtzee, Uno, Pit (stock trading game), and Operation. We also played with my brother's cool railroad set and pulled out the Lincoln Logs and Tinkertoys, as well as his old beat up Tonka trucks.

Best ever, though, was when we got together with my godfather's family every month or so. The hosting family's kids would organize a "haunted house tour," which was basically a gross-out-with-spaghetti-and-peeled-grapes-for-body-parts combined with a painful-crawl-across-upside-down-plastic-mats (those nubby spikes hurt!) in various permutations. Also, when we got together with my uncle's family a few times a year, we would usually do a play/rendition from a kids book (I remember my older cousin Tim improvising with the then-famous line "The devil made me do it!" when we did Billy Goats Gruff).

From way the hell back:

In Kalamazoo?

Shrift, where you last night???

On Friday, I was at home watching Homicide DVDs and not indulging in mischief of any kind. Had I known Pat Buchanan was going to be in town, I gladly would have gone on campus and assaulted him with a variety of condiments. I would never waste perfectly good pie on a hypocritical jackass.

Somehow seeing the words Homicide and Pat Buchanan in a sentence together makes me too happy.

Just caught up again. I had forgotten how quickly one could fall behind here. I knew I recognized the person on Desperate Housewives, but didn't remember that she was Buffy's roommate. Plus, AT on Arrested Development!

I had no idea that Prince Charles and Camilla were getting married so soon and that the Pope's passing ruined their wedding plans. It's all sorts of sad for them, but I just can't stop laughing.

Three Rivers Stadium, R.I.P.

PNC Park is one of the very best new parks, a far better place to both play and watch than Three Rivers.

Ozzie the cat just brought me the laynard for my Ipod shuffle, which he obviously hunted and killed all on his own.

Makes me wonder where the shuffle itself is.