The Lazy Blogger

I am considering changing the name of this blog to "The Lazy Blogger" in acknowledgment of my over-reliance on BPN postings as fodder for the blog. But this shit writes itself, people:

Haunted house
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I know this sounds completely crazy but I am wondering if my house may have a ghost. My house was built in 1934 and there was one couple who lived in it until the death of the woman in the 80s. The woman died in the house and it was sold. Since my son could talk he would say things about seeing a lady, a shadow, a ghost, etc at different times while in our house. Sometimes he would be afraid and other times not. These days, he will be perfectly happy in a room, playing alone, when all of a sudden he will run out of the room terrified and say something about seeing a ghost. Sometimes we hear strange noises inthe house or will find things in a different way than we thought we had left them. Does anyone believe in ghosts or have experiences with them? I would like to say I don't believe, but I am a very open-minded person and since we really don't know what happens after death, I am starting to believe my son
- haunted house owner

Knitting at meetings
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I'm wondering if others think that it is acceptable to quietly knit during PTA or similar meetings if you are clearly a member of the audience and not leading the
meeting. I have always done this and someone just told me that they think it is
disrespectful and plain rude.
Multitasker

Amigos Amigos Amigos

Do you remember in The Three Amigos (one of my favorite movies) when the villagers all dress like amigos ("Sew like the wind, incredibly old woman") in order to confuse and defeat El Guapo? Yeah, I thought it was brilliant too.

According to this article, Hezbollah are also fans of that Martin/Chase/Short vehicle, and are now employing the Amigos Amigos Amigos tactic to their own advantage. There are, in fact, a plethora of Hassan Nasrallahs.

The Cute People Have Invaded

Oh the joys of motherhood, here they are: not crying, whining, nursing or throwing stuff at me.

Fresh Outrage

For those of you who are not networked in with other Berkeley parents, I know you look to me to generate appropriate anger over the lost sheep of the East Bay. I've tackled milk several times. Today's newletter brings answers to the following two queries (summarized):

1. Should I bring my kids to Burning Man?

2. Should I let my brother-in-law, who is the caregiver - nay, manny - of my young daughter, deal pot out of my house?

Now here's my question:

3. How off-kilter is your moral compass that you need to appeal to your neighbors to answer those questions? And why would you? Aren't these the kinds of things we used to hide from one another?

So how do the Berkeley Parents fare in answering? To their credit, it's pretty unanimously agreed that the manny should not be allowed to deal. But that doesn't take a PhD in philosophy or social welfare to get right. The BM question gets a split vote: one "leave the kids at home", one "take them to the Family Camp", and one "wait til their older". Annoying there is not "Burning Man is stupid and people who attend should not be allowed to breed" response. Hmm, we'll have to work on that.

I Feel a Little Dirty Admitting This

As much as I think the US News and World Report college rankings are bogus bullshit, I did feel a slight glow of satisfaction in learning that the University of Chicago moved from #15 to #9 this year (even if it's because they reported a higher endowment than they previously have reported). I feel bad about feeling good, and want to be excoriated, so that my guilt will be purged.

What the aych-eye-double-hockeysticks?

On Friday, the Brookster, Q and I got a little stir crazy and decided to head into SF to see some art. We ran into our old neighbor Julianne. She's good peeps. For those of you who might have visited us at the green house, she was the one with the stanky cats. Anyway, we asked her how were things, etc, and in particular, how are the new tenants who took our apartment?

She went to great lengths to let us know that Amos and Annie (yeah, that's what they go by) are REALLY REALLY nice people. But, "they, ummm, do howl therapy." They bark and cluck and howl like animals as part of their particular brand of yoga/worship/therapy. But they are really nice folks. He is a "part-time teacher" and she is a "life coach/storyteller". *sigh*

Googling "howl therapy" just yields blogs devoted to poetry and the poets' progress in analysis, so don't bother.

Quinn Finally Arrives

I am pleased and exhausted to report that Quinn joined us on July 31, 2006 at 2:04 p.m. He weighed a whopping 9 pounds 12 ounces, 20.5 inches. He is an expert nurser and sleeper, and is slowly warming to his role as a little brother.