Random Drizzle and Hail

Now that I have a toddler, I watch a lot of Sesame Street. I tell you this: Elmo laughs like a psychopath. He'll walk up to a baby, or to a goldfish, and ask it a question. He'll look silently for a few seconds as the baby/goldfish (quite reasonably) just sits there. Then he throws his head back and laughs maniacally. But the writers for Elmo do have a sense of irony, too (like when Elmo said "Goodbye Dorothy...and friends of Dorothy...or like when the Violin said "we're going to watch a goldfish think? This should be exciting"...or like when Elmo--whose best friend is a goldfish--acts with indignant disbelief when a friend shows up saying a rock is her friend).

I had to make an exception to my vegan lifestyle: if you can't eat pizza and chocolate during a snow emergency, why even live in Minnesota?

I'm still astonished by canned green beans. For less than 70 cents, you get a meal that is 70 calories, no fat, 7 grams of fiber, and 3.5 servings of vegetables.

My favorite parts of The New Adventures of Old Christine are when Christine/Barb share an adventure, and when Richard/Matthew share an adventure.

Now that The Twilight Zone gets saved to my DVR, I truly never have to be bored again. And let me tell you something about the hour-long episodes: they are good. Yes, they drag a bit, and don't have the snappy twists. But the longer episode allows them to explore theme deeper. "He's Alive" ends with a haunting image of Hitler's shadow moving, as Rod Serling tells us about prejudice and bigotry. "Valley of the Shadow" really opens up an exploration of pacifism, freedom, and utility.

There are also playful episodes of The Twilight Zone: in one a writer's fictional characters come to life...yet he is a fictional character too, right?...and then when Rod Serling tries to come on and say so, the writer shows that Serling is a fiction and makes him disappear. Good times. Post-modernism, baby!

That Paul Newman makes a mean spaghetti sauce. Sockarooni indeed.

I asked my wife if she thought I was the youngest male in America with Celtic Woman on my iPod. No, she said: some little boys may share an iPod with their moms.

Minnesotans all eventually become existentialists. Shoveling snow is a Sisyphus type task: not only will there me more to shovel eventually, but if you didn't actually shovel, it would eventually go away on its own. Plus we have the Vikings.