Pinky and the Brain

So, in what I have to admit is a stroke of pure super genius, Paris Hilton has put out an ad in response to the McCain campaign including her in the Obama "Celebrity" attack ad.

Well played, Ms. Hilton.  Don't get me wrong-I still despise you; I still think that you are the biggest waste of DNA ever, and I still can't understand why anyone would admire you-but you do have a sense of humor.  And your delivery here is spot on.  The fact that I could watch you speak for more than ten seconds is proof of a miracle.  Wait a sec...

AMERICA, YOUR NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER!  BRETT FAVRE HAS BEEN TRADED BY THE PACKERS TO THE NEW YORK JETS!

I'll get back to Ms. Hilton in a moment, but the news about Favre just pre-empted my watching "Baseball Tonight" on ESPN.  I couldn't care less about Brett Favre.  The attention that football gets year-round drives me bonkers.  Here in Chicago, there could be a nuclear attack in Europe tomorrow when the Bears open the exhibition season against Kansas City and it wouldn't be enough to knock the Bears off the lead story on all local newscasts.  I like football, but it's not a year round sport, and I would lose this argument to 75% of the population here.  I digress.  I think sending Favre to the Jets is great, because he can slip in under the radar there, since the NY media is so ambivalent.  It will be a long, long time before we hear about Brett Favre again.

(Question: should it be required that sarcasm be written in a different font, or maybe a different color?)

OK, back to Paris: this is your moment.  Or should I say "was."  I implore you to go away for a while, say two decades, so that the genius of this spoof is not lost.  Go into the vault for a spell.  Sure, it would be very tempting to give your pal Britney Spears a call and make a series of follow-ups where she is your vice-presidential running mate, but I fear that would get old fast.  And as we all know, old is not hot.

God, I just made a reference to Paris Hilton's catch phrase.  Where am I, and what have they done with my universe?  We'll always have Paris.  That is one of my greatest fears.

I've never needed to cleanse my pallet more, so I'll segue into Desmond.  It's been far too long since I mentioned my son, who is 7 1/2 months now.  Sigh (that's both a wistful and content sigh).  When he was a newborn and the days turned into weeks and then into months, things seemed to be going by in a proper perspective.  Somewhere a few months ago that changed and time stared going by faster than ever.  I woke up a few days ago with an infant, and now he barely seems like a baby anymore.

For every addition there is a subtraction.  He has one and a half teeth; he cannot sleep comfortably on my chest anymore.  He rolls around on the floor like a golf ball on a cart path; he can't be left alone to nap in the middle of our bed by himself.  He has his own personality, and his complete and utter dependence on his mother and I seems gone, like if he wanted to, he could find a way to get by without out us for a day or so if need be. Not that he'll be cooking his own meals anytime soon, or even changing his own diaper.  It's just that I can see him laying the bricks on his road to independence already.

Everything new makes me smile, and the realization that some things about him exist only in memory now does not break my heart as much as I imagined it would six months ago.  I know that he is barely half a year old, but I think the latter realization is the first step towards letting go.  I think about Desmond as a grown man a lot for some reason.  I am in no hurry to see him twenty years from now obviously, but I also know that as life progresses we are left with no option other than watching our kids become adults.  I'd rather accept this in pieces than all at once.

When Desmond is happy he purses his lips together and blows, making a sound like a motor boat.  This is unfortunate when he is eating and makes me wonder if I could patent a plastic baby-feeding bubble, but otherwise it is a sound of glee.  It is an especially pleasant sound to wake up to.  Then there are the times when we mistake him for a parrot because of the loud squawks that erupt from him when he discovers that he can now put his toes in his mouth when he lies on his back, or that when he goes into the highchair food almost always follows.  He's very excitable.  Wouldn't have it any other way.

And now the news for parrots. 

Man, I love Monty Python.  See the second title of the video in the 'related' column?  "Sheep in Wainscotting."  That happens to be the name of a band I played in when I was in college.

No, it wasn't.  I leave with this: a week or so after the 9/11 attacks I walked over to the grocery store across the street from the drug store that I was managing at the time, and immediately noticed a small display table by the entrance full of plastic containers of red, white and blue miniature cupcakes.  A handwritten sign hanging off the table read "Patriotic Cupcakes $1.99."  And ever since I have fought the desire to go out and discover the next big singing group, name it "The Patriotic Cupcakes" and produce their first hit single "Only $1.99"