my birthday

Who is this guy, and why am I standing next to him holding the car seat and giving a thumbs up? For my birthday, I asked Ame if we could go to a book signing at a local bookstore.

"Booksigning you say, what a literary and cultured thing to do on your birthday." Before you get too nervous (or exchited for that matter), don't worry, it's not exactly Dostoevsky here; the guy in the picture is a sports writer, for ESPN magazine. He's actually my favorite; I have a link to him on the right of this page. His name is Bill Simmons, he goes by the handle, the 'boston sports guy'. I check online almost everyday to read his article. Well, he has a book about the Sox and he's done a bunch of promotional tours. I don't really get too much into the birthday thing anymore, so this is what I wanted to do, stand in a 45 minute line to say hi, have him sign my book and snap this quick pic. (I'm already anticipating the wise cracks about me standing 45 minutes in line to do anything. Not likely to happen again anytime soon.)

I should have brought my real camera, as was suggested by my friend Chris at work, but it felt too. . . I don't know. . . creepy at the time. Isn't that what teenage girls do for the pop star that that they have a crush on? Here's a regular guy in his mid-30's who is becoming very successful and increasingly famous. In hindsight I probably should have just brought the good camera. I didn't so this is my pic of Simmons, me, and my clearly ecstatic son.

first tree

You're looking at our first Christmas tree, more specifically our first non-synthetic tree. As of today, the fake one from target that served us so well for our first 4 or 5 Christmases together is retired. Sitting in front of a crackling fire, watching the baby try to decide which is more fascinating, the fire (which he is pretty sure he loves), or the new thing in the corner with all the sparkly lights. The fire is still winning most of the time. Just like the t-shirt says, life is good.

We, well let's be honest - not really we, more like Ame actually has gotten a pretty good start on the Christmas shopping too.

mad fisherman and more

oh hi fans. let me take a moment out of my fishing lessons to share a little of what's happening. let's see, we had a fire in the fireplace last night. love that . . . could watch it for hours, in fact I did. I'm also taking every chance I get to watch this fine fishing program you see here. this guy is awesome, he's more animated and crazy than any baby einstein video I've ever seen. Of course it's a little tough to concentrate with my mom making snotty comments about my mad, televised fishing instructor every five minutes. look mom, he's not called the "mad fisherman" because he's normal.

let's see, what else is new. we're watching the little, old tv because dad's big TV is broken. so matt came over to see if he could get it working, which he almost did. the problem with his visit the other day was that he sneezed when he was here, twice. well, his sneezes are about the loudest things I had ever heard in my whole life, so I cried a bit. Matt, give a guy some warning next time or I won't share any of my Charlie Moore fishing tips with you.

One last thing before I go. last week I was minding my own business with mom and dad and before I knew it, a couple of ladies jammed these gigantic needles into my legs. It hurt like nobody's business and I'm not about to forget it. Then they put these big ole bandaids on them on my legs, as if that helps any. If you see them anywhere, let me know. They were middle aged, wearing white outfits and had needles and bandaids on them. While I'm on the topic, the nice man there did happen to mention that I'm in the 95th percentile in height and weight. My dad tells me that's good.