I will write more full-length posts. Tomorrow.

Wow, major case of writer's block coupled with "who really gives a crap about my take on [fill in aborted post topic]." I've started like 6 or 7 posts and they're all in the drafts folder. Time to clear things out … so here's a bulleted list of random ideas, sort of like those "clearing out the desk drawer of my mind" pieces that columnists do when they forget they had an impending deadline and have to slap something together.

Consider this the blog-entry equivalent of a colonic cleansing for the brain (although hopefully more pleasant for those who have to see the results of it):

• Another Pink Panther movie with Steve Martin? Really?
• I was talking with a friend the other day and we determined that while Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo isn't a bad sequel, the whole franchise really lost its way by Herbie Goes Bananas.
• I've started and abandoned blog entries about 1) issues I have with youth sports; 2) my excessive love of social networking; 3) how awesome our President is; 4) how impatient I am that our new President hasn't fixed everything after 9 whole days in office; 5) how much I hate winter; 6) DuraFlame logs; 7) digital pens; 8) online consumer services; 9) how unethical it would be to post shills about clients or prospects, no matter how vague the references were;
• Saturday Night Live has been getting some hip musical guests (Fleet Foxes!). Not that I watch any more. Actually, does anyone watch any more or do people just catch clips on the Hulu? Actually, in checking out the Hulu, I'd say Letterman wins the hip musical guest prize, with Vampire Weekend, Okkervil River and Ben Kweller.
• Another music clip — Feist on Conan doing "1,2,3,4" (which is a great song) backed by Grizzly Bear. Pretty cool. Is she Canadian? Man, I love Canada's indie rock scene.
• Finally took Colin for his lead test today. The snow day was good for something and now our pediatrician won't be angry or figure out I'm lying when I say, "We totally took him, the lab must have lost the results" and I won't have to blame Juliet for not taking him.
• Jacob watched his third full-length movie tonight, Cars. It's funny that he has around $9,000 in Lightning McQueen-related merchandise but has just seen the film tonight. It's also interesting that Disney is still pimping the hell out of merchandise related to a three-year old film. Then again, they do sell tons of Snow White stuff, don't they? I'm amazed they still don't productize some of their live-action films from the 1960s and 1970s like The Apple Dumpling Gang action figure or California Atoms jerseys from the eponymous film about the football-kicking mule, Gus (starring Ed Asner and potentially Don Knotts, I need to look it up).
• Speaking of Ed Asner, are there any other television characters that made the spinoff transition from a sitcom to a drama, as did his Lou Grant (from The Mary Tyler Moore Show to his character's eponymous drama (ding ding ding, my goal of two "eponymouses" has been reached without having to resort to a reference to the 1988 R.E.M. greatest hits package) where he played the same character, just that he moved from Minneapolis to LA and went from broadcast media producer to newspaper editor)? Maybe Trapper John M.D. (from M*A*S*H, as played by Wayne Rogers, to … wait for it … the eponymous program, where he was played by Pernell Roberts?
• Lou Grant was recently referenced in a piece in the Columbia Journalism Review, which made me want to search out an episode or two. Not enough to actually do it, but to think about doing it. I think my grandmother used to watch it although I may be confusing that with Quincy.
• I still can't believe today was a snow day.
• Spring is going to eventually arrive, yes?

Additional Fun Facts You May Not Know About Me

Clearly, I've run out of ideas for original content and I don't feel like finishing a slide deck to defend myself from an angry client, so here goes.

• From 1991-1996, the Special Olympics were my archrivals. Now I have a greater respect for them, but have a hard time totally forgiving them.
• Reporters from the business press find my desperation funny.
• I have a really hard time saying "reciprocity."
• I once met Frank Perdue, while I was getting a haircut in Westborough (c. 1983).
• I am only an inch shorter than 6-9 Chris Webber. Which means he's not 6-9.
• Legendary Temple basketball coach John Chaney told me a question I asked him was stupid.
• I could read when I started kindgergarten. My teacher had me read to the first grade class, which probably made them hate me.
• The first two elementary schools I attended, PS 17 and St. Paul's (both in Troy, N.Y.) each closed at the end of the single year I attended them.
• I once tried to break up a fight at Yankee Stadium.
• My building superintendent in Washington wouldn't talk to me for a year because I called his mother an "old freak." (To be fair, 1) she was parked in a handicapped spot that my friend needed; 2) I had no idea she was his mother and 3) I had been drinking).
• My iPod has more than 21,000 songs on it. Some of them probably suck, but most of them are pretty cool.
• My first concert was the Stray Cats in 1982 at the E.M. Lowe's Theatre.
• In college, I played both "The AP Style Drinking Game" and "The WordPerfect 5.1 Drinking Game," which explains why I never had a girlfriend.
• I have seen Wilco live at least a dozen times, more than any other band.
• I had a severe crush on the girl who played the daughter of Kate. Or Ali. I forget which one.
• I was a church organist for 4 years, but couldn't really read music all that well.
• I misused the word "belie" in a meeting today.
• Lists like this illustrate the narcissism inherent in social networking.
• I try to act like I understand Zippy the Pinhead but most of the time I don't get it.
  

I am not disciplined enough to write a real entry, and these ideas are too long for Twitter

• The festival of Colin is fully, completely over, just 10 days after his birthday. We had a party on Saturday and the last of our out-of-town guests, loyal reader Al Kurchin, departed yesterday morning. Photos and videos are forthcoming.
• Botheration (a word I first heard in the "Percy’s Ghostly Trick" episode of Thomas the Tank Engine) is a word I would like to start using on a regular basis.
• It only took seven weeks, but I finally got my car back today. Huzzah! I did notice a few quirks and items missed here and there, so it will likely be going back into the shop. And I guess it’s a pain in the ass to get a Toyota hybrid technician to come and work on an Altima hybrid (Nissan licenses the technology from Toyota). Botheration! There, I did it.
• If the Celtics win the NBA championship, it will probably require them to play the maximum of 28 games to do so. That’s a lot of games for which I need to stay awake. Almost made it through the whole game last night.
• Manly things I did last weekend (it’s been a busy week):
  • Bought a circular saw. Didn’t use it, but I bought it.
  • Held a pinata while children swung at it with a small, wooden bat. (I’ll be posting video at some point).
  • Planted flowers.

Catching up with me

I realize I’ve been posting less lately. I’ll try to post more, not because I think anyone gives a rat’s ass, but because writing in longer form is somewhat therapeutic. Although the bite-sized 160-character tweets are much easier to bang out.

Here goes, a few items from the past week:

• Is there no birthday transgression, like, say, going to dinner with a client, that 38 flowers can’t fix? I don’t know, someone tell me, otherwise I wasted some serious money.
• Went to Auburn Hills, Mich. to visit a client Thursday. On the way out, took the scenic route through the tony Detroit suburbs. On the way back, went right through Detroit Rock City, 8 Mile and all. If you like burned-out abandoned buildings and don’t have time to visit Flint, Detroit is the place for you. Wow.
• Today could be the nicest day ever. Actually shot some hoops in the driveway during Jacob’s nap. This is the first time I have shot by myself since we moved in. I usually shoot with Jacob, but let’s face it, he’s kind of a ballhog.
• Went to IKEA today to buy shelving for the kids’ toys, which have taken over and become somewhat unruly. These shelves supercede the Great Target Shelving Purchase of 2005, which at the time had been deemed the final word in toy shelving. Man, was that shortsighted. Additionally, I purchased three economy-sized packages of IKEA meatballs, which certainly have some sort of faux-Swedish name. Did give Juliet some time to herself (including appointments for eyebrowns and nails … yes, I am pleading my case re: the birthday incident) as well.
• Got word on my 20th high school reunion, which makes me officially incredibly, incredibly old.

Citizen Kane

Been a while since I rapped at ya:

• Through the largesse of our good friends the Audets, we were treated yesterday to the deliciousness that is Kane’s Donut House. Wow. Tammy, you have to check out Kane’s. You will be amazed.
• So I gave Jacob a donut for breakfast this morning–he was to eat it in the car, it was a "reward" for him being "co-operative" in getting up and dressed (read: I woke him up too late to eat a balanced breakfast at home, so in order to get him moving, I offered him a sweet, delicious donut, no questions asked). Somehow, in eating the donut he was able to skirt the law of mass/matter conservation. I gave him one donut. Some of it went into his mouth. But there was somehow at least 6 donuts worth of crumbs and pieces on the floor of my car. I’m going to get him to make me one of those perpetual motion machines next.
• Kellogg’s used to tout that Frosted Flakes were "part of a complete breakfast," and then illustrate that their definition of a "complete breakfast" included eggs, toast, jam, pancakes, fruit and some sort of multi-vitamin, in addition to the Frosted Flakes.
• Last night marked the first time since 1991 that I watched zero minutes of The Oscars. I tried.
• Perhaps it was because this year I am afraid (for different reasons) of the best supporting actor and best actress. Javier Bardem scared the crap out of me in No Country For Old Men; and while I never saw La Vie En Rose, I do have an unnatural, pathalogic fear of Edith Piaf.
• That Daniel Day-Lewis fella, he’s a pretty solid actor, glad to see him win. Reviews for the film (which the New York Times compared to Chinatown and Citizen Kane) have been universally positive, except for one holdout. I wonder what Arch Danielson would say about it.

Things I think I know

• Sales people are very different creatures than you and me. At least I think so, after two days in a big room with a thousand of them.
• Remember when Ronald Regan’s campaign for re-election missed the point of "Born in the USA" and used it as their theme in 1984? Yesterday, on a smaller scale, something very similar happened. Two salesmen led off their presentation by doing a choreographed dance to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” to illustrate each salesperson’s role as a small element part of a bigger team—missing the song’s fairly obvious and rather cynical message about the bleakness and powerlessness of being such a brick. Plus, the "Hey, Teacher, leave us kids alone!" refrain was almost daring us to have an adverserial relationship with our two presenters.
• You can get shot in Atlanta for ordering a Pepsi. Not really, but it is certainly hard to find one. And I am definitely part of the Pepsi Generation (particularly if there is no RC Cola around, which is pretty much everywhere).
• While I find their claim that they have saved thousands of trees by offering insurance online to be somewhat specious (particularly since the third word in their "Quote. Buy. Print." is "print," ostensibly on paper, which is made of trees), I find the cartoon spokesperson in the ubiqutous eSurance ads to be attractive, in a shameful cartoony way. Clearly I need to get home.

Urge Overwhelmed

• I cranked Urge Overkill’s "Positive Bleeding:" this morning. What a great song and one of my favorite of 1994.
• We just got a Nespresso machine at work. I finally figured out how to make frothy milk and now can have a top-notch capuccino whenever I want it. I am not unlike 30 Rock’s Ken getting addicted to caffiene when Tracy bought the studio an espresso machine. "It’s like my heart’s trying to hug my brain!"

Gruel

• I don’t care what TS Eliot said. So far, January is the cruelest month.
• I am eating a cup of Cream of Wheat, sitting at my desk after an early-morning call with our Chinese client. I haven’t had Cream of Wheat in awhile, and now I remember why.
• Off to NY this weekend for some time with the in-laws and Bernice’s big birthday. I won’t say which one it is, because a lady never tells. But it rhymes with "beventy" and is more than 69 and less than 71.Then observing MLK Day by working (and flying to Atlanta, which is apropos).

Cleaning out my brain

• Gotta give a shout-out to the launch fama PR did for our trash-to-ethanol client, Coskata, re: their partnership with GM announced yesterday at the North American Auto Show. It was picked up by more than 300 outlets, including CBS Evening News (complete with "Back to the Future" reference), the Drudge Report and, now, Harrison3.com.
• There is a fantasy lacrosse league. I kid you not. I’m taking Michael French and Waldemar Fries, if only for the obvious Burger King tie-in for a team featuring French and Fries.
• The Newton Free Library has a pretty kickass and eclectic CD collection. On Saturday I was able to grab some albums from Jets to Brazil, Tortoise, Low, Hank Williams (Sr.) and the Jayhawks. If the RIAA is reading this, I did *not* load the songs onto my Mac and iPod.
• Just learned that Juliet’s cousin Dan imports those cool Dutch bicycles that Ezra commented on awhile back.
• It snowed again today.
• Next week I get to go to tha ATL. Dirty South. Of course, I’m going for a sales kickoff for a client, so there’s limited street cred in that. I would like to try and visit the Little Five Points neighborhood when I’m there, among my favorite spots when I was there for the magical 3-weeks that was the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games, when I covered track and field (cool!) and yachting (boring!).

If there’s one team I hate, it’s Lafayette

Got to see the Harvard Crimson knock off the Leopards, 27-17 today at venerable Harvard Stadium. Many thanks to Erin for hooking us up with the tickets.

Tonight, a quandary — we have a free babysitter (my mother-in-law is in town). As much as I’d like to do dinner and a movie (given the rarity of such events) game 2 of the ALCS is at 8. What to do, what to do, what to do … I am going to try and TiVo it, but we all know I’m going to spend all of Michael Clayton refreshing the browser on my BlackBerry,