Friday Fragments

it's the end of the month as we know it

♣ I finally got around to posting all of the pictures I've taken this month but we're tragically short on days to devote to another Media Day. Instead you can pick your poison here:

• Home Improvement, June Festivities, and Jack's Wedding
• Booty and Amber

♣ Some of these breathtaking photos have never before been seen by human eyes, like the photos from Rebecca's birthday last week, where we went to the Sequoia in D.C. (the cheap outdoor part) and bumped into Jack and his groomsmen partying late into the night. They were still there when we left around 1:30 AM, but Jack was alert and chipper the next day. That's one of the skills they teach you at Princeton.

♣ Speaking of birthdays, today is Kathy Biddick Smith's Sweet Sixteen¹. Happy Birthday! Kathy and her husband also tied for first place in the "Which married couple would win in a fight?" poll. The most important question to take away from that poll is: "Why the hell do I know so many married couples?"

¹: Times Two Minus One

♣ Since Kathy and Chris tied in first place with Anna and Ben, there's nothing left to do but have the face-off and place bets on the outcome. Here's how I envision it will turn out: Ben and Chris start talking about World of Warcraft and get completely sidetracked. Meanwhile, Anna will exploit her baby for the cute factor to distract Kathy and win by a hair.

♣ However, this could get reversed if Kathy wins the drawing for the $5 gift certificate and uses it to buy a book of fighting techniques. How would she get entered in this drawing? By filling out my 2007 Census before tomorrow! If you haven't done it yet, do it today!

♣ It's interesting to see the distinct layers of visitors from various phases of this site's life, from the fossilized core of 1996 visitors through varying shades of visitor sediment as I moved to Florida and back, to this year's brand new faces. I actually heard from an old friend this week, Andrea from Canada, who was a visitor in 1997, and also a member of the now-defunct URI! Fan Club which had three whole newsletters. I knew her back in the days when text messaging meant you had ICQ installed and chat rooms were not full of FBI agents pretending to be eleven years old.

♣ Fun text messaging fact of the day: If you happen to spot me wandering down the street and quickly send a text message to a friend describing what a hottie that Brian character is, and you have one of those phones that tries to guess what you're typing based on the keypad letters, your phone will presume you are trying to type ASIAN instead of BRIAN. I have already petitioned the Roget's people to make this a permanent synonym.

♣ This weekend kicks off the summer with all the style of an octogenarian dressed completely in Kmart clearance items. Tonight, we'll be going to Wolf Trap to see Bill Cosby perform and to eat Jello snacks. Tomorrow, we're heading down to Colonial Beach for the Spellerberg's annual Fourth of July Weekend family gathering (since, in the absence of Vu, I am the token adopted Asian brother). Tomorrow is also Matt McGuire's birthday -- happy birthday!

♣ Have a great weekend!