Say Hello to My Leetel Frien' - Ex Utero Edition

Look who showed up on Sunday:






Cute, huh? Another girl (4 against 1 at my house now; anybody know where I can rent a Port-a-Potty?) 6lbs, 9 oz, 18 5/8", and in an awful ^%$# hurry. One hour from first contraction to outside baby. Worth the trip, though.



So there I was, happily leading services for the congregation on the last day of Passover, at a point where I couldn't stop, and the phone buzzes (I had it on vibrate so as not to offend anyone.) Who else would be calling? Finish up, hand off to someone else, call MIL, she says "I think we're getting ready for the baby", I walk home, half an hour later, there she is. Best part is the guy who took over for me at services, also named Dan, is the last guy who got beeped in the middle of leading services. He was doing the additional service for Yom Kippur, though, and it's not like you can just grab someone to take over. I at least made it easy for them.

All right, Outta the Pool

Mr. Possum loses this one; no additional SkinnyJuniors as of yet. Plenty of matzah and associated GI distress, a considerable lack of sleep, but no babies delivered Chez Skinny at any point over the extended holiday weekend.



Mr. P had selected a girl, arriving on 4/20. Mrs. Skinny would've been happy to oblige, but Jr. ain't quite ready yet. Updates as events warrant.

Word Invention

Terry sent me this link from Iowahawk the other day, where the good Raptor describes his brief visit to Postville, IA and the surprising accumulation of Orthodox Jews floating around that end of Flyover Country. I've known about this group for a while - they've established a major kosher meatpacking plant out there, presumably to be closer to the cows.



In any event, I mentioned to Terry that there's a book out called Boychicks in the Hood, in which author Robert Eisenberg describes his visit out there to see the Jews in Iowa. Which led me to coin what I think is a new term to describe noticeably Orthodox Jews living in rural parts of America:



Hayseedic: adj. - pertaining to or describing an ultra-Orthodox person living and working in traditionally rural, non-Jewish areas of the United States. cf. RebNeck, Yankel Reb.

There's a point at which

you start to ask yourself why you bother.



Today's one of those days.

Why Brer Jimmah

should be kicked out of the US and his citizenship revoked:



Carter Pays Tribute to Terrorist Mass Murderer



Perhaps the Georgia Nut will now fully embrace Hamas by signing up be a suicide bomber.

If You like to Grill

or even if you just like to eat, can I recommend you join Weber Nation?



I am watching their chef on a video podcast grilling some marvelous looking steaks. He hasn't even put them on the grate and I'm salivating.

The Lovely Jordana

has sent along a link that will leave the transportation buffs (like my Dad) glued to their computers for a day or 70:



London Transport Museum



Your spouses will hate me forever, or thank me for getting you off facebook for a while.

Archives in the News

Nothing ever dies in this modern media world, as Wally World found out:



Candid Camera: Trove of Videos Vexes Wal-Mart



It's a marvelous tale of handshake deals, unintended uses, unintended consequences, and the ability of Americans to turn lemons into lemonade.



I imagine the exec who killed the arrangement with this video company is no longer a "new Walmart Exec" but an "ex-Walmart Exec." This highlights a real problem in all organizations regarding institutional memory and the dangers of losing it or missing the value in it. Chances are the exec looked at costs and said "we can get this cheaper." Not a ridiculous idea, but it REALLY would've been worth investigating the parameters of the deal, not to mention saving the tapes for posterity, archival use, etc. Lessons to learn, folks.



Thanks to an archive buddy for passing this one along.

Statistics

I can't think of a task I'm less suited for than sitting here like a yutz and attempting to collate statistics on web usage. I can't figure out what the important numbers are, and I'm supposed to be providing them to a group of people who know even less than I do about what we should be looking at.



I'm sure there is value in these things somewhere, but heck if I know how to dig it out. The process itself is beyond mind-numbing, and it takes forever to do. I know every job has crappy tasks that just have to be done, but this is one that never should have gotten dumped in my lap. Not only do I hate doing it, but I'm no good at it and my time would be better used elsewhere.



Though I guess that's true in a great variety of ways around here.

Want to meet a Hero?

Meet a hero.



Mind you, I don't recommend this as an idea to try at home, but the instinctive reaction by L/Cpl Croucher was to save his fellow Marines. What's the British version of Semper Fi, anyway?



Nice job son - you done good.