Judge Hellman

I'm sorry I missed an impromptu house concert this weekend, even if my own show was pretty fun. There were probably more people at the show I missed. I'm not sure what that means.

One of these days I'm going to finish the companion to my embarrassingly nerdy balderdash page for Wise & Otherwise. We've played a lot in the past month, and there's quite a buildup of cleverness to archive. Thank you (and your Manfriend) once again for a lovely time yesterday, havot.

The icon featured with this post was the cause of much consternation for our darling fiendish dog this afternoon. I don't know where the squirrels are getting this stuff. The not-cold-enough weather must be causing them to go insane and turn to robbing bakeries or something.

If you have a caption I should write on it, and I know you do, please comment.

Looks like Girlyman are coming back to Chicago in April. This time to Schubas. Tickets appear not to be on sale via the Schubas website right now, but the show is listed on Girlyman's website. It's on a Wednesday night, which is a little less than optimal for me and my dahling, but we'll still probably try to hit it.

I've decided that if the Mountain Goats ever come back to Chicago, I want to be there. The Sunset Tree is definitely growing on me.

Also known as "How Carly Got Her Couch Back".

It was great to see those of you who were able to make it up here. We love our friends!

My main purpose here is to post this photo of the dog, who does love people, but gets a little worried when there are lots of them around. As Bryan said, she spends a lot of time in a "cute, worried state". So you can see a picture of the dog reclaiming her space:

( dog pix cut )

Totally pointless post. I have this desk that I really like, from IKEA. It's apparently purchasable from them, shipped, for $99 right now. I feel like I should tell y'all that, just in case you have a need for a desk.

This will never compare to the sweet deal jessypie got on her desk, but still.

(rubs shoulder, following nudgery pokery)

Right on cue, it snowed and I had to make soup, this time potato leek. I also made pound cake. So it was not the healthiest meal ever, involving lots of cream and butter, but it was delicious. We can't always eat mounds of vegetables.

I took Carly to the vet this morning for a check up. This has been a somewhat constant part of our lives for the past month and a half or two months -- the continuing saga of making sure she's back in total health. The doctor said he was very happy with where she was, and now we don't have to go back for a month. Prior to today, it's been about every two weeks. So that was a very happy thing to find out. A healthy doggie is a happy doggie.

Well, okay, a healthy doggie who has rid the world of all rodents, cats, trucks, skateboards, etc. is a happy doggie. But this was a good start.

A quick note from Michigan, which is a repeat of some of y'all:

I wish we could be in many places at once for ringing in the new year. I'm totally happy being where I am, but I'm thinking of my peeps in the Chicagolands too. Can't wait to hang with you in this new year.

Some of you may not be aware that I am the King of Euchre on the internets. But not just regular old Euchre. Oh no. I am the king of the two-handed version. I am the Keeper of the Rules for two-handed euchre.

Behold my top ranking:

http://www.google.com/search?q=two+handed+euchre
http://www.google.com/search?q=euchre+for+two+players

I get more email about this page than anything else on my website. That's not really saying much, since it amounts to maybe one email a month, but hey, it's good to be King.

I got an email from someone the other day telling me how she has educated her husband in the ways of euchre thanks to finding my page. I told her I was similarly schooled by my wife's family, and that I taught them cribbage in exchange. That's not entirely true, because my ex-sister-in-law who was instrumental in my euchre education is a monster cribbage player herself, but whatever.

Part of the response I got today, and the reason I had to post, was this:

"Nothing like marrying a midwestern girl, I always say."

Indeed.

[Update, for the anonymous person who was wondering how I got the royalty status:]

I didn't do anything special to get the high ranking. I did submit the page specially to Google, but I think the main thing is the page has been up there for a couple years now, and it's highly relevant for those search strings. Time, and a fairly well-crafted page, will get you a good ranking if that's what you're after. Incoming links also help, of course, but I have no idea if I have those or not.

Lease: signed. Now we need to get keys. The call goes in later today.

A mischievous Irish friend told me "Cead mile failte" means "You can have then van" in Gaelic. I actually believed him for a second, because I don't know a shillelagh from shinola. Fortunately, the internets saved me.

In honor of the internets, I will present to you what Joe needs.

- sign and mural artists
- a double
- your help
- an editor
- you
- to learn about libel
- to try a number of different things
- food, badly
- wood to build his house
- to catch as many fish as he can to make money
- good commentaries
- to stop reviewing whack games

and finally...
- a "Whack-A-Mole" in his yard

One of wild_basil's recent favorite movies is now in the public domain.

Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant star in Charade, downloadable now.

In other news, we have been accepted at the new apartment in Evanston we applied for last week. So we'll be moving for real. The trumpets will sound before long, and this time we're not letting volunteers eat a big tasty brunch first.

The Reader has a PDF edition. Am I the last one to find out about this?