Merry Christmas

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday.  We are looking forward to Madeleline's first Christmas, Part II (Part I took place this past weekend in Cincinnati).  She tore into her presents with the enthusiasm of Dan playing the Vendetta in Family Business.  It was great.

Be safe those of you who are traveling.  Can't wait to see all of you for BLD Summer New Year 2010.

JH

Happy Thanksgiving!

BLD Friends: Wishing you and your families a happy and healthy holiday. Thinking of you and thankful for you!

Fear the Rooney

Check out this link:

Betsucco Cards: #2 A capella

I suppose...

You never know when random facts about Delaware might come up in conversation.

I learned this morning that the husband of one of the ladies in my Bible study is a vet who specializes in poultry. She explained that though she is from Massachusetts, they couldn't live there because of the lack of poultry farms. I recalled some information that I heard long ago, and shared with her that a friend from college once told us that there was some crazy number of chickens per person in the state of Delaware. "Oh yes," she nodded knowingly, "my husband goes there a lot."

It made me smile to think that perhaps it wasn't completely useless information after all.

Black Dynamite

I don't know how you BLD boys could *not* go see this:

Black Dynamite Trailer

It's real. And it's a 2009 release. Next week, in fact. I expect a review posted here by Oct. 17th.

You look scared, Kristin

And I can't blame you.

Dartmouth v. penn

Did anyone else catch the Dartmouth football game on the Vs. channel today? I was randomly scanning the channels for good games this morning and was able to catch the last half of the home game against penn.

Unfortunately, we lost and extended the losing streak to 15 games. But it was still pretty neat to see the stadium, Leverone, etc. on tv. I found myself wanting to yell, "Rush the field! Rush the field!" to nobody in particular.

At least the rugby team shutout harvard 31-0.

Speaking of Roosters...

I can hear Lincoln now - "... and we'll have egg nog, just like they used to, ever since that rooster came into our yard."

Country Living and the Circle of Life

Well Dan, if you still have any interest in participating in the demise of small animals, you could always move out to the country and raise some chickens. This week saw the end of our surplus rooster population, i.e., 9 out of 10 roosters. It was an interesting experience. While certainly not pleasant, it's not as bad as you might think either. If done properly it's quick and relatively peaceful.

It's surprising how illuminating this experience (along with the joys and frustrations of a big garden) has been in terms of understanding the Bible. I constantly tell my students that we need to understand the context of the original audience in order to better understand the Bible. It's a little less of a stretch now to contemplate the sacrificing of animals or the despair of a locust invasion.

All in all, I recommend the chicken experience to those with the room and the zoning ability. Also, if anyone has some old family recipes calling for chicken with a few feathers still stuck in them, let me know. (Plucking a chicken is harder than you might think.)

A Few Notes

1) Is this blog dead? Am I the only one who follows it? Is there a twitter page now instead?

2) My parents are moving. So they made me clean out my bedroom.

2a) I got out a whole bunch of letters from college friends. Having read some of them, I'd just like to issue a yet another blanket apology to all of you for what a complete jerk I was. How did any of you put up with me?

2b) Special apologies to you know who and you know who else. I can't believe how self-centered I was.

2c) Try, if you get the chance, to read my editorial about the O.J. Simpson verdict (in the D, Oct 4, 1995)... it's a classic.

2d) This is a poem I wrote in high school, and turned in as an assignment:

The Life of a Sphere

Inspired by "Until Now" by Ralph Hertle

I want to break glass.

I want to tear things.

I want to kick holes in the wall.

But I can't.

I want to make people cry.

I want to kill little cute animals.

I want to destroy animals.

But I can't.

I want to scream.

I want to move apart from the pack.

I want to be different.

But I can't, because spheres aren't like that.

I can't, because well rounded objects don't do that kind of thing.

So here I sit, forever still.

---

I have some other ones that are even worse.

Good thing they didn't have social networking when I was in high school. They would have profiled me and locked me up.

Ha-Doug!

Billionaire recluse Doug Doucet turns 34 years old today. According to sources, Mr. Doucet will be spending the day with his wife and two or more daughters in his Boston-area mansion. A prepared statement made by a family spokesperson this morning confirmed that Mr. Doucet is in good health, and that he expected to eat cake later today. The family did not report whether the cake would be ice cream cake or one of those store-bought mixes with chocolate icing that you mix up and add.

A source close to the family, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that an emotional Mr. Doucet was hoping for some "cool Xbox games" as gifts, but feared that he might receive "more pink horsey dolls with purple hair and little combs." Representatives of the family refused to comment on these allegations.

In late 2008, Mr. Doucet's bid for state senate was derailed when photographs of Mr. Doucet's daughters combing his hair with little pink combs and brushes were published on the internet. In the photos, Mr. Doucet's hair had little barrettes with hearts and flowers on them. He dropped out of the race in disgrace soon afterward, and has been in seclusion since.

Happy birthday, Doug! I hope you get all you are wishing for.

ROUS's!

Do you think he said, "I don't think they exist," right before it attacked?

Anybody seen a six-fingered man?

Shades of NYE 2004-5

The Mazzucco family is oozing out yuckiness from all quarters today.

 It harkens me back to when the Walshes were quarantined at New Years because they had the Norwalk virus (Wesley was 1 week old), and still Jason managed to get sick. I believe that was the year Amanda missed her flight because she was writing thank you notes at the gate.

Ahhh, memories.

When in Alabama...

Joe's house is the place to be.


We drove through Alabama this week and were fortunate enough to get a couple hours with Joe. (And Kristin and Jay, of course.)


Eliza has admired Joe's dancing, cleaning, and guitar-playing skills via blog, so she was delighted to meet him in person.

Jon's Purpose in Life

Jon,

I was going through some old documents and found a document titled "Goals for the Term." I'm pretty sure it's Jon's from circa 1997. One of the goals is to be "more personable to others."

In the history of baseball, only four teams have traded away the reigning Cy Young award winner. Two of them are the 2007 and 2008 Cleveland Indians.

How is that goal coming along, Jon?

Dan