The Family's First Cougar of Excellence

This is a once a month award, given to two third graders who go "above and beyond;" who model exemplary character traits, including friendliness, kindness, and responsibility; and who "do their best, even when no one is looking."

Emilio Turns 70

Emilio got his Social Security card today (day 70 of his young life), which really made me happy. I had been intending to go to the local office to submit the paperwork, but apparently we had submitted the paperwork through the mail and I had forgotten it.

The temperature got up into the fifties today, so it was a good day to get out. When I left for class, Mari strapped Emilio into the Baby Bjorn and took him to meet her friends at the Rochelle Lee Foundation where she often does volunteer work (the organization's goal is "to create lifelong readers among teachers and students"). She figured out that Emilio was big enough to fit into the togs you see at right, so he was stylin'.

It was Emilio's second outing this week, as we went to dinner at a neighborhood restaurant (Charlie's) with Jack and Julie on Monday night (I had the new mac'n'cheese dish, but Mari liked it better than I did). After we left Charlie's, we headed to Sweet Occasions to buy chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cake.

Julie is now nineteen weeks pregnant, so we spent a lot of time talking about parenting stuff, but we also mixed in some Saturday Night Live evaluations. Jack liked Scarlett Johansson's showing better than I did (she hosted last Saturday's episode). I was happy to see the Taco Town commercial again, as it has become one of my favorites ("Pizza? Now that's what I call a taco!"). The highlight of the show for me, though, was the Duluth Live sketch, which featured Will Forte as an overly enthusiastic lead singer of a local rock band performing the new theme song for a Minnesota morning news/talk show.

As for the rest of the sketches . . . 1. I missed the beginning of the opening cartoon by Robert Smigel, but I liked the skewering of Pat Robertson that I saw. 2. The opening monologue was OK. Cute. Decent but not memorable. 3. Taco Town. Chris Parnell does the voice over, so I'm thinking this commercial is his brain child. 4. Deep House Dish. Ugh. 5. Smorgasbord. Double ugh. Jack saw something in it that I didn't. 6. TV Funhouse: Darwin. OK. 7. Mike and Tony’s Chandelier Galaxy. Three ha's. 8. Duluth Live. Will Forte rocks. 9. Death Cab for Cutie was the band. I usually fast forward through the music, but I was surprised to find that I actually liked the first song--"Soul Meets Body" 10. Weekend Update. Nice segment on Alito hearings. Props to Rachel Dratch for her impression of Alito’s teary wife. 11. My Super Sweet Sixteen. Ordinary. 12. Once in a Lifetime Jewelers. Ugh. 13. Tiny, tiny submarine somewhere off the Kumil-Kamchatka Trench. One ha. 14. Death Cab for Cutie again. Not as good as the first song. 15. Mr. Willoughby. Two ha’s.

My Top 5 Will Forte Characters:
1. The Falconer
2. The Bad Speller
3. Zell Miller
4. The abusive Morgan Stanley broker
5. Tim Calhoun (the lame political candidate)