Tell You [a] Little Story

Here's the real photo, in case you were troubled by the other one.

Elliot's birthday is tomorrow. He's the kid who made me a mom. He was born at 1:23 in the morning, and didn't breathe for a long ten minutes -- until the hospital's respiratory therapist on duty was summoned and she came in and slapped his little foot hard. He cried. And I cried. And Steve cried. We had a birthday party for him today at the local skating rink. Elliot is good at roller blading, so we try to encourage that talent at all costs. There was a grandpa at the rink who looked an awful lot like LaVell Edwards, so I kept staring at him to see if it was him. I don't think it was. There was also a large group of older tweens and their forty-something skating mentor who was teaching them how to jam skate. Should I sign Elliot up for some lessons? They didn't do too many tricks, but when Britney Spears' Piece of Me came on, they all got in a long line that stretched halfway around the rink and skated in synch. It was sort of impressive, for tweens. At the

Try not to be jealous that I'm starting to memorize all the three-letter words in the Sowpods dictionary. Tonight was the A's. aah aal aas aba abb abo abs aby ace ach act add ado ads adz aff aft aga age ago ags aha ahi ahs aia aid ail aim ain air ais ait aka ake ala alb ale alf all alp als alt ama ami amp amu ana and ane ani ann ant any ape apo app apt arb arc ard are arf ark arm ars art ary ash ask asp ass ate att aua aue auf auk ava ave avo awa awe awl awn axe aye ays ayu azo I just wrote those without checking the list. Do I have mad skills, or what?

I've been putting off blogging about our new house because I was holding my breath that our house in Phoenix would close without a hitch. Exhale. It closed yesterday. This morning, a large sum of money showed up in our account. I sort of wish it could just stay there and earn lots of interest and I could buy new clothes and take the family on a glamorous vacay to Costa Rica and such. But another house beckons, and the money must go. As far as selling our house, we feel very blessed. The whole transaction was completely painless, if you don't count waiting for 6 months for a buyer, and then having an extra-long 60-day close. The buyer paid our full asking price (although we had of course lowered the price over the months) and she paid cash so there was no danger of her not getting financing. From the name on the contract, a letter verifying her funds, and the wonder that is Google, we surmise that she is a retiring family law attorney from Minnesota who will most likely be snowb

Steve stayed up last night to play around on his computer, and I woke up this morning to this beauty as my wallpaper.

My Phoenix Suns fanaticism peaked in 92-93. Since then, every time a major backbone of the organization leaves, I like them a little less. Think: Cotton Fitzsimmons, Paul Westphal, Jeff Hornacek, Tom Chambers, Dan Majerle, KJ, Danny Ainge, Sir Charles. Those are the oldies but goodies. I didn't follow the team for a while, so I don't care much about losing Scott Skiles, Anfernee Hardaway or other early-00's Suns. But I care again and I really am sad about losing Mike D'Antoni . Suns stock just fell yet again, in my view. {Photo from azcentral.com}

I've been spending a fair amount of time using iTunes lately, importing cds to my iPod. For those who don't know, when you click on a song in your library, a window in the bottom right corner shows what people who looked at this song also bought. It's called Listeners Also Bought. Today it occurred to me: I've been seeing the same name show up first in this list, over and over. Leo Kottke. Apparently, everybody who listens to artists I like also buy a lot of Leo Kottke's stuff. I've never heard of him, but he must be very big. Very big. According to iTunes, people who like Creedence Clearwater Revival also enjoy Steppenwolf, The Steve Miller Band, and...Leo Kottke! Listeners who like swing also buy Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and...Leo Kottke! The versatility of this artist is truly amazing. Today I discovered that people who listen to Claude Dubussy also buy Leo Kottke! And that's not all. Listeners who like Pink Floyd also appreciate The Jimi Hendrix

The news from Myanmar is devastating. I feel completely helpless. And sort of guilty for the big meal I just gorged on at China Lily.