soundboard de cheevo

I am playing catch-up right now with my recently updated trip blog. The Brown family four went to up to the mountains of northeast Alabama two weeks ago and we had a nice, relaxing time. I lucked into getting us a new log cabin at DeSoto State Park that someone had cancelled reservations on at the last minute. We were only the second group of guests to rent the place. Trip photos and commentary are here . Tragically we did not make it to the Fort Payne museum of the country supergroup, Alabama. I guess there's always next time.

Bill Gates, left, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett speak during a press conference Monday, June 26, 2006 in New York. Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, recently announced his intention of giving 10 million shares of his company to charitable organizations, the majority going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) I will never know what it's like to be this rich, but I have always liked it when people who are do good things in this world. I work in the news world and so many stories are depressing and mundane, but this has captivated me. I like that king of all nerd, Bill Gates, is stepping back from Microsoft to tackle real issues like childhood diseases in third world countries. The saying goes, "Think global, act local," but with many billions of dollars, Gates has the unique power to make parts of the world change for the better. To the naysayers who say people like Gates and Angelina Jolie do this for publicity and righteousn...

Who can resist getting photos of a baby taking on a miniature birthday cake. Poor Ben was so overwhelmed with attention from everyone that by the time he got to his cake, he was pretty much over it and didn't know what the hell was going on. I'm not sure that any cake actually made it into his mouth. When the icing got in his nose and eyes, it was all over. He did make another appearance after a quick bath, but then succumbed to a very much needed afternoon nap. After all the grandparentals, aunts, uncles and cousins left, Mary Catherine and Jason got to kick back and unwind with their neighbor friends, a bit overwhelmed at all the tornadic activity surrounding Ben's first birthday. His cake theme -- mosquitos and crickets -- perfect!

I learned how to make animated gif files today so here is a little story about Fred the cat, my muse, or mews as it were.

Miles' first feature captures his limited mobilty. Maybe he should shop at The Scooter Store for alternate mode of transporation since the all-fours method doesn't seem real successful.

- I was telling his mother today that it's hard to believe that Ben was a tiny baby just one year ago. He has been a bright ray of sunshine in our lives and it's impossible to imagine our neighborhood without its little prince, who ironically shares a birthday with Prince William. Happy 1st birthday Nugget!

It's weird the way life goes full circle. Thirty years ago it was those two who made sure my sister and I were taken care of and now that is what she and I do when my parents come for a visit. I lay in a deep coma this morning at 8:00 a.m., physically exhausted from the amount of marathon cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, reorganizing, washing, drying I did in preparation for the parental visit. A bearded face kisses my cheek and then says, "In this morning's New York Times there's a clue for a Rolling Stones' song that has the word 'sugar' in it." Without opening my eyes or moving a single inch from the carefully crafted wind tunnel I create with electric fans and squishy pillows, I reply, "Brown Sugar, Dad" and steal another 20 minutes of sleep before I officially wake up to two fully-engaged, well-caffeinated parents who are ready to start the day. I always say I wish I could channel the energy of a three-year-old during drag-ass days, but I w...

The positive aftershocks of the first unofficial 1990s University of Montevallo reunion continue after almost a week. Everyone had such a good time, we didn't want it to end as the sunlight faded out at about 9:00. It was great to see people I hadn't seen in 10 years or longer, meet their kids, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and/or dogs. The wife of one of my bandmates had told me the place would be covered up with kids. I didn't believe her until I got there and realized that each one of the herd, ranging in ages from six months to 13 years and every age in between, belonged to someone I know. My band, Every Alice on Earth, had some definitely butterflies to content with after a six year hiatus and only two practices under our belts. The good thing was that no one seemed to mind our screw-ups except us and when it was over, we got to relax with the rest of the adults, watch the kids play, drink some beers and relax. My friends Sam and Angela were nice enough to g...

Sound is always weird during an outside show and we were nervous, but everyone seemed to like us, especially the kids. - (Photo by Mike Johnson)

As Chris Tutor pointed out tonight at work, being Jon Stewart sure must be great these days. In a recent off-the-cuff moment Dubyah, reacting to the call for the firing of Donald Rumsfeld, referred to himself as "The Decider." The material just writes itself as this brilliant spoof illustrates (literally). Fans of Super Friends will surely appreciate this recent piece of brilliance -- kinda makes me want a cheese sandwich or an Eggo waffle.