Tragedy

Today is the end of an era. We just discovered that Greg is leaving the Wiggles. He's the good one; he wears Yellow and drives the (toot toot chugga chugga) big red car. Plus he's the lead singer.

From the article:

Page, 34, said he had been diagnosed with a chronic condition called orthostatic intolerance. While not life-threatening, he said it caused his heart to fail to pump enough blood around his body when he stands up, making it difficult to keep up with the band's strenuous performances and global touring schedule.

"This emotional decision was one which was very difficult, as I have dedicated almost half my life to the Wiggles," he said in a statement. "I will miss the other guys very much, as well as seeing all the children in the audiences."

How do you tell your kids that their childhoods are over, that innocence is lost?

For the younger, more easily tricked children out there, they are replacing Greg with some second stringer who isn't fit to wear the Yellow.

We Want Our Highspeed Rail!

According to this article, we Californians might have to wait another couple of years to decided if we want to think about having a high speed rail system from LA to SF. For anyone who spent last weekend (like we did) slogging across the state (and you must have been there; the roads were packed), it should be obvious that this rail line would be a good thing.

(And this, coming from a card carrying libertarian, [if not a completely dedicated one].)

Science has murdered sleep

This article shows a future where sleep becomes more and more irrelevant. The world the kids are growing up to is going to be so different, with their jetpacks and flying cars.

You Ruined My Life

EJP said that just now.

Good Lord, how am I going to survive?

Our Tiny New Friends

For the past couple days, SKGP has been itchy. Because a friend had a bout of head lice last week, we were suspicious. This morning, I was sent to the store to pick up some special shampoo. As we combed her hair with the special brush, our fears were confirmed. Infestation.

We think we killed them.

Now my head itches. And the other areas of my body that are covered with hair. I've got a lot of hair.

DMP is going to read this and freak out. We may not get a lot of work done together this week.

Mouse is to mice as louse is to lice. So, what does that say about spouses?

A Fun Day

Yesterday, we had a nice family day.

We got up and lounged about for a while. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We went to SKGP's gymnastics. We came home and had lunch, and EJP took a nap. There was a minimum of fussing, yelling, and screaming, which makes any day a good day.

We went to the 4:00 PM showing of The Jungle Book, performed by Children's Musical Theater San Jose. The kids, aged 6 - 13, were very good and the sets and costumes were high quality. This production was the exact opposite of a Little Mermaid show (which completely blew -- we were very happy SKGP chickened out of joining) that we saw earlier this year put on by a Gilroy group. Both troupes ensure all the kids have a part in the play, so it must be the adults who make the difference.

After the show, we went to our favorite restaurant Aqui for dinner, which was excellent. They are opening a Campbell restaurant next spring, so watch for it. I just sent an email to them asking them to open a Gilroy restaurant -- A man can dream, can't he?

After dinner, we went to Sweet Retreat (which I found when RCP was convinced I was going the wrong way) and had really big ice creams. Then we drove past our old house (which is still a work in process), and home, listening to a song about a skunk over and over.

Let's do that again sometime.

World's Greatest Song

The following song, by Lucas Miller (the singing zoologist!), seems to be the greatest song my kids have ever heard:

Stinkle, stinkle, little skunkie
Tell me why you smell so funky
Lifting up your tail so high
You're so stinky, you make me cry

The fourth time through, they were still laughing like maniacs.