Sorry Sarah!

I just can't do it. As ridiculous as it sounded to me initially, after doing a little research I would feel like too much of a cold, heartless, you know... if I poked fun at the idea.

A quick backstory here: A relative, eh, "Tim" called one day with the really bright idea to get a helper-monkey for an arthritic relative who requires daily assistance from a nurse/caregiver. At first I thought Tim was joking, the words "helper monkey" bringing images of chaotic zoo scenes and flashbacks of Zack as a toddler to mind. I felt bad though when I realized how serious Tim was about the idea, and I admit after consideration it would be pretty neat. Helper monkeys are pretty amazing actually and provide a great deal independence to the folks they help. However, our relative doesn't really fit the target profile for the particular non-for-profit group.

So my heart softened I stopped making fun of Tim. Surprisingly though, my saintly sister has been begging me to post a blog poking fun at "Tim." But I can't bring myself to do it, so here is a picture of one of the cute little fellers in action....

http://www.helpinghandsmonkeys.org/

Backyard Badassery

This is my friend Michelle. She cares about two things: crime fighting, and hearing conservation for the unborn. I think that's cool. I also think its really cool that she had a pistol readily available for this picture. Seriously though, the smaller of the two marksmen should be celebrating their first birthday today, so congratulations!!

(note: Michelle, thanks for humoring me with the shooting-range pose)

LOLcats

Hey Ma - this one's for you! Has anyone else heard of this "LOLcat" or "memecat" rage going on the 'ole internets? Its silly, that's fo shizzle. I read an MSN article, googled it, and came up with a ridiculous number of hits... give it a try yourself ... Its the same-old pictures of "cute" (aka EVIL) cats and kittens doing something "funny." Jay - remember www.stuffonmycat.com? Yes, in that genre, except these pictures are accompanied by gangsta-captions, see example below:

I can't explain it, but it really cracks me up. Maybe because deep down, all the evil cats of the world (Mom, ahem, EARL) really are nothing but little gangstas, and they just see us as their beeyotches. Yeah I just said that - its a gangsta post! So google it, tell me what you think. This site is a good one: http://www.dropline.net/cats/

Trip to Bonaire

Two things I must say about the trip up front: 1) If you haven't learned to dive yet, please do, and 2) When you do, go to Bonaire. So yeah, it was a good time. The island of Bonaire itself is fairly remonte, 2 hours by plane from Puerto Rico, just north of Venezuela, and next to its sisters Aruba and Curacoa. And somewhat surprisingly for the Caribbean, Bonaire is not lush and tropical but a little desert covered with cacti. But, it is "a diver's paradise" as advertised by the liscence plates there. The entire west coast is basically one big dive site, with the reef starting just 50 ft from shore at some places. What makes it so awesome, though, is that you can just drive around until you see a spot you like, then jump right in the water and dive - which is exactly what we did. The reefs along the coastline are all protected so there are plenty of beautiful fish everywhere you look. We took two cds-full of underwarter photos, if you want to take a look try the link below...

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=166926979/a=47646916/t_=47646916

Why Matt loves Washing-Dulles Airport

Yup. That's it right there. The 'ole "W-D" shuttle. I don't ever remember seeing these things before our last layover on the way to Zack's graduation. But as Matt pointed out, they sure are goofy looking, like something you would expect to see in Total Recal. I don't understand why the airport doesn't just invest in some sort of tunnel system like Atlanta or a tram like Newark, but hey Washington-Dulles, its your airport, feel free to do what you want. You have my permission. Its not like these goofy things are probably ridiculously expensive because they're custom-built, or that you have to pay an army of dudes to drive these things back and forth between the terminals all day.