Those Competitive Easter Egg Hunts

can it be true? am I really the first poster? i'd like to thank my mum and my dad ... and my kids for letting me have my moment in the glow of the computer screen... and my grade 4 teacher , mr anthony ...

Easter Egg hunts have taken on a competitive nature in The House of c.

Each of my kids was assigned a certian number of eggs to locate within a specific area in a specific amount of time, and a formula (derived from the United Nations methodologies for searching for WMDs) used to determine age-appropriate locations for hiding eggs.

When we fired the ceremonial starting gun (the electrical timers don't actually start until the competitors trip the starting beams), the kids spinted into the arena and began their search.

The big elapsed time displays are still running, though yesterday's search was suspended on account of darkness. Each competitor has located 12 of their 13 assigned eggs.

The winners? We parents, of course.
We can still delude ourselves that we're smarter than out kids.

bc

SCC: "We can still delude ourselves that we're smarter than our kids."

I hate me when I do that.

bc

See? This is why I moved to the Midwest. Here, there's simply no such thing a competitive Easter Egg Hunts. The trick is to put out way too many eggs. The kids find as many as their attention spans allow them, and then they retire to the porch to feast on candy and count their money. For kids under five, you hide the eggs a second time while they're inside the house having lunch, and do it all over again.

*Sighing wistfully* In my day, we used real hard-boiled eggs, and feasted on THEM as our booty. Had to find them quickly before the birds did.

We do Easter egg hunts in good years, but generally it snows on Easter. The exteneded R family has had some great hunts indoors. Indoor egg hunting is ok as along as you maintain careful count of eggs hidden, and eggs found. An older child once hid an egg inside a pot where a silk plant sits, and forgot about it. It took weeks to figure out why the living room near the bookcase was smelly.

Worry about getting into college by the 6th grade? I think its around the 3rd grade that you see kids hauling their books to school on a handtruc. Maybe its just a Fairfax County thing...

Joel, thanks for mentioning our business, in our third year, called EGGspanding Horizons in Bethesda. As you know, we have the simulated and flood lit backyard where egg challenged kids or kids who's parents want to provide a fast start, can work with our complete computer controlled camera system to analyze and improve their every move.

I would like to mention that we are proud of the stigma-free nature of our program and our most recent development of parent programs. Our parents can take our principles and work with their children long after their time at EH. Our students achieve the right balance between enjoyment and finding an appropriate quota of eggs (EQ).

Why would anyone, however young, want to collect hard-boiled eggs? Deviled eggs, perhaps, but not in the shell.

Up in Lancaster County they have huge public Easter Egg hunts which have been known to cause fistfights. In such a hunt, a large open field is divided into divisions based upon age. Conflicts occur when certain unscrupulous parents attempt to age shift their children so as to gain a competitive advantage. This can get ugly when your sweet six-year old is trampled by some kid with mutton chop sideburns and a biker jacket.

We saw the Richard Gere movie "Bee Season" over the weekend.

I remember winning our junior high spelling bee at night, under bright stage lights, in front of an audience of parents. Nancy Wilson and I were the only ones left standing at the end of the competition at Emerson Jr. High School. I bested Nancy Wilson on the word "congeal." There was no further competition--no additional junior high meet, no regional competition, no state championship. I took home a trophy that night, later to be returned to be engraved, but I don't know if the "win" ever went on my scholastic record.

Nancy Wilson and I would be paired in another competition four years later. I gave up playing the violin in junior high because it was just too difficult to carry the violin and violin case and all my text books to school. I don't remember my junior high days as being the age of backpacks. There was no bus service, so I walked the four miles to and from junior high school every day. Nancy lived in a district where students were bussed to Emerson and was able to continue playing the violin, eventually becoming first chair in the Bakerfield High School orhcestra.

Nancy had won the Bank of America award in music; I had won the Bank of America award in art. There were several of us vying for the Bank of America fine arts award. It went to Nancy.

I don't rmember Nancy having many friends in high school. I don't know with whom she spent her breaks or lunch hours, with whom she might have seen a movie on weekends. I don't think she ever dated. She had bulging brown eyes, a large nose, and a sad mouth that turned down at the corners. Her hair was thin and mouse-y gray-brown. Her build was unremarkable.

Nancy, so bright and so talented, went to UCLA and the first year there she committed suicide. Rod Gretlein had our high school's highest set of SAT scores. He went to MIT. While there, he committed suicide.

There are far more important things in life than fostering a child's sense of competitiveness.

At our church, they've gone way too PC with the Easter egg hunt. All the kids are limited on the number of eggs that they can find. This is so that all the kids will get eggs. We're raising a generation of wimps, I say. Some of these kids need to start learning that it's a tough world out there and that he who snoozes loses. Didn't get any eggs, little Tommy? Well boo hoo, kid. Toughen up.

It is my understanding that colleges today prefer the Valentine card tally over the Easter Egg hunt.

But I may just be thinking of those bleeding-heart liberal arts places.

bc has a House that moves at the speed of light??? COOL!!!!

We always had to have our Easter egg hunts indoors, since the ground sloped away from the house (a really slow-moving house, too)rather precipitously for about 330 degrees. Couldn't have the Easter finest mussed by rolling towards the river in pursuit of the goodies.

Luckily, it was a big house with lots of nooks and crannies. And china cabinets. And a baby grand. And big bookcases.

I guess the lack of outdoor egg-hunting explains why Phillips Exeter turned me down.

You black-balling bastards!!! *shaking fist hystrionically in front of face*

:-)

Loved your 9:57, DolphinMike.

I'm in a quandry at the moment over whether to go into high dudgeon or acquire some umbrage over the increasing use of "metric" as a noun for measure or measurement, e.g., "now it's just another metric of a child's aptitude." I'm aware that everyone does it, and in fact in my prevgious job I worked for several years amongst a strange tribe of linguistically challenged savages (the U.S. Navy) who were mad, mad, mad for the word "metric." We had metric coming out our ears. We had metrics for things that weren't remotely metrical, such as "morale." (The Navy used to have morale, pre-Rumsfeld. Now its morale metric has...er...plummeted, since Rummy's Pentagon virtually disembowled the Morale, Welfare and Recreation branch to transfer funds to guess which foreign operation. The b*st*ards.) The use of metrics, is, I'm beginning to believe, a subtle Orwellian bean-counterization of the lexicon, and I think I'm agin it. (However, I think bean-counterization may have to be added to the Achendictionary. Mo? Achenfan? Whaddaya think?)

OK, cleaning up some old business:

Well done, clang. Leading off is a heady experience, isn't it?

Welcome, MarchDancer. Be sure to familiarize yourself with mo's AchenFAQs and other rules and procedures of the boodle. Having done that, kick off your shoes, grab a cuppa joe, and enjoy.

As a father of five (three grown and flown, two suffering from Failure-to-Launch syndrome) this may be the first year in several decades where we did no Easter Egg hunting of any kind (even with the grandkiddies, who were unavailable this year). Somewhere in the deepest recessess of the attic over the garage lies a large cardboard box destined never to see the light of day again, I fear. In it are five forlorn Easter baskets, several pounds of recycleable articifial "grass" (whatever that stuff is you put in the baskets to "cradle" eggs which couldn't possibly break if hurled in a clyclotronic atom-smasher at Cal-Tech), and the dust-gathering husks of plastic Easter egg halves that formerly were used to hold coinage and the occassional Hershey's Kiss, and which were hidden about the yard.

I wonder if there is a market for this detritus on eBay? Probably not.

Joel's paean to the "Daddy Wars" and various posters' notations regarding lawns, gardening and yardwork have emboldened me to make a startling confession. In his kit, Joel refers to his No. 3 priority, "Mastermind lawn maintenance strategy." I think from the context this clearly indicates that Joel indeed is master of his lawn, and has the power and authority to control its destiny.

I, on the other hand, have come to realize I have no such dominance over my lawn. In fact, quite the opposite. I believe it is time for me to "come out of the potting shed" (a variant of coming out of the closet) and admit the humiliating truth: a quarter acre of chickweed-infested suburbial fescue has made me its b1tch.

ScottyNuke, I would hate to think that your folks would have had to sell the baby grand because of that whole Easter Egg affair.

One year I won the Bank of America award for insufficient funds.

Easter Eggs are cool, cause like, I heard that if you hit UP-DWN-7X you get these extra life points. Oh wait. That's like totally different.

DolphinMichael, I'm sorry to say the piano was part of the whole package when they sold the house...

To the next-door (OK, across-the-street, but I'm being very literal) kid who used to beat me up.

*SIGH*

Curmudgeon, By my optic Program Easter Egg has an insufficient metric. We need to cogitate on this soonest.

I don't know if I am overly concerned about the blurring of the Frittata-Quiche line.

At least the discredited test of how many times an applicant failed to wear green on St. Patrick's Day seems to be finally in disuse.

It was pointed out yesterday that a couple of people didn't bother sending (or more accurately, forwarding) Easter Bunny presents to their grown children and that it was "no big deal". As someone on the (non)receiving end from my parents for the first time, I agree that it was indeed "no big deal". I, for one, am glad that we can be open about the need to take economic considerations into account over issues that are "no big deal", such as selection of their retirement home. ; )

Seriously, way too much chocolate laying around the house. We've taken the elementary precautions of installing defibrillators upstairs and downstairs, and we spent a few hours last night going over the drills, but I'm still a little concerned. I will do my best to clear the house of chocolate as soon as possible to avoid the temptation (I know that doesn't make "sense" per se, but my theory is that I might as well get it over with).

We have started a nice blood doping regimen for our child to give him the edge needed in the world of competetive Easter Egg Hunts. Although there have been rumblings of urine testing in the near future. Luckily, we've got our own personal BALCO rep.

LOL, grimmace, and SofC's defribrillator strategy.

Someone just e-mailed me a link to this terrific site, called "Demotivators." At least half a dozen made me laugh or snort (in a good way). Enjoy:

http://www.despair.com/viewall.html

Mudge, who tasked you to utilize that use of the word "metric?"

I remember when the only discussion would be about a good age to start showing your kid how to throw a curve.

Now, its whether or not to try blood doping on your 9 year-old before an Easter Egg hunt.

Curmudgeon, where can I find these "rules and procedures of the boodle"? I submitted my first comment a few days ago and was both relieved and disappointed it went unnoticed.

My initial ambivalence is now further complicated by adding panic into the mix. I worry that I inadvertently violated some Boodle by-law, regulation, GAO, etiquette, or "best practice" with which I was unfamiliar. Will the Boodle Police seize my hard drive for violations of Title 37 of the Boodle Code (Annotated) for Inappropriate Political Content in an Initial Posting?

Perhaps it is safer to lurk.

With trembling hand I hit "Submit."

Dolphin Michael mentioned "blood doping". That brings to mind a New Yorker cover showing cops with flashlights searching a parklike area. In the foreground, a young cop shines his light on an Easter egg for a tough-looking detective. The title of this noir scene: Hard Boiled Egg Hunt.

I have a black racer and a few garter snakes in the yard. Perhaps not the best idea to let them frighten impressionable egg hunters?

Monkeystyping, it's never safer to lurk. And it's certainly never more fun.

Hitting "Submit" was easy wasn't it? Now you want more, don't you? Go ahead... we'll all be better for your boodling.

Dave of the coonties:

That's why a well appointed easter egger will always have a couple of "domestiques" out in front covering and protecting before the big egg finds.

Here's a nice Achenblog mention in an item about what Anne Schroeder is reading:

http://www.extrememortman.com/blogs-famous-media-read/blogs-the-famous-media-reads-anne-schroeder/

Meanwhile, in HUGE journalism news, the Pulitzer Prizes will be announced this afternoon at 3 p.m.-ish. Please tune in to the Achenblog for results.

Anne apparently doesn't read the 'Boodle.

Lessee, Monkeystyping, if I can remember all the rules (mo and Achenfan know them and can link to them much better than I can. At the moment, Achenfan's asleep in Hong Kong, and likely won't be joining us until this afternoon. mo's probably working (a da**ed silly thing to do, I know, but that's how she gets sometimes), but will probably check in later on. OK, I'll give it a try:

1) No hitting.

2) No crying.

3) No serious profanity, though mild profanity is accepted (however, be advised that there appears to be a Wirty DirdTM filter somewhere in the mecahnism, and use of inappopriate terminology may result in your post being confiscated by The Powers That Be, during which it will be forever lost in Cyberspace. So if you suspect your post might be bowdlerized, make a copy of it first. Use of asterisks in key places, using the number one (1) in place of i's or l's, etc., may fool it. However, I note earlier today scottynuke got away with "bastards," to my surprise.

4) Avoid criticisms such as "This blog STINKS" because this phrase and its close derivitives are reserved for LoneMule, who owns the copyright thereto.

5) Staying on topic is VERY important, except during the 99 percent of the time when it is mocked, derided and ignored.

6) No pinching.

7) We generally frown upon posters using more than one handle, unless it is clear from the alternate handle who the poster really is (e.g., Cow Town sometimes posts as Cow Person, Tim appears in guises such as ScienceTim and StorytellerTim, etc.)

8. Try not to use phrases such as e.g., i.e., metric, or poop (a Weingarten franchise).

9. If you must smoke, do it outside.

10. Limit breaks to 10 minutes. Lunch is 30 minutes (exceptions may be granted with prior approval).

11. Don't forget to sign your time card at the end of the pay period.

Boodlers? Any more rules I've forgotten?

Curmudgeon and all sufferers of chickweed infestation. I read somewhere that young chickweed, like the dandelion, makes a good salad green. I never tried it though, I do look at my bounteous crop and consider it.

Monkeystyping, I'll take it upon myself to provide a brief comment. Curmudgeon was recently appointed Shop Steward, so he may have a few comments as well.

Regarding rules, laws and regulations, this situation is a good example of why there will always be work for lawyers. Buried back in previous boodles is a link to an outside website (I believe it was mo's) which has a bit of a dictionary for reference. Someone will find it for you; I couldn't in a quick search back. The alternative is to read every kit posted by Joel and all the comments since early 2005.

For general guidance, I refer to Joel's second letter to the Boodle, chap. 3, verses 23-26

23 Worry not about spelling, nor grammar, nor punctuation, particularly those errors which may be committed by others.

24 Should you wish to correct an error, use the Self Castigation Club (SCC), as was prophesized by Weingarten and verily correct your mistake. Or not. Either way shall be good.

25 Worry not about the use of italics, for such useful methods of adding emphasis to selected words or phrases are not meant to be of this boodle, nor of this world.

26 Flame not, lest ye be flamed. As with all things, post in response as ye would have posted unto you.

Mudge,
Did you notice that Murray Waas was reporting again at the National Journal?

And over the weekend, there was the big blogosphere flapdoodle because of the NYT's lead op-ed, "The Bad Leak," meant obviously to poke fun at or challenge last week's WaPo op-ed by Fred Hiatt, "The Good Leak." I found "The Bad Leak" to be very reminiscent of your writing style and arguments, Mudge.

The WaPo ombudsperson Debbie Howell did her bit over the weekend defending Hiatt, only to have her arguments ripped to shreds at the blog, firedoglake.com.

Very good feature at the NYT this morning about the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine enrolling seven of its students in an art appreciation class, all the better to "see" their patients and their patients' problems once these students become doctors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/arts/design/17sina.html

We'll see who gets the journalism Pulitzers...the topics, which papers, which writers...

When are they going to establish a Pulitzer for blogs? Or, more specifically, for kits?

Kurtz covers Waas at some length in his column today, even citing the phrase "the new Bob Woodward." Kurtz also slams the notion that Waas is a leftist partisan hack in a Q&A during Kurtz' (now ongoing) online chat.

Thanks for the heads-ups, Loomis. As it happens, I spent an entire weekend virtually blog-free, Internet-free, NYT-free, commentariat-free. (Though I did read Joel's Daddy Wars kit, of course; one can only take Ludditism so far.)

Spent two days installing a porch (no lie!) on the vacation house my wife and I are building on the cliffs of the Potomac near Robert E. Lee's birthplace. Saw two bald eagles Saturday and one Sunday. Watched "West Wing" and "Sopranos," took two Tylenol for aches and bruises, and lapsed into unconsciousness.

If the NYT is stealing my stuff, I'll sue the SOBs.

'Mudge, I have no idea how that happened, unless there's a Python escape sub-routine in the Wirty Dird filter (TM)...

I meant to type "bustards" in any case.

For those new to the boodle, mo's fabulous Achenfaq is here:
http://www.mortiifera.com/?p=67

Having been compelled myself to catch up on the Kits and boodles in August of last year, I can tell you it is a somewhat harrowing experience. Although, when Joel is "out of pocket", as he says, and the blog is dark, it can be entertaining.

I do think if they were to give a Pulitzer for Distinguished Boodle, this blog would win. Easily.

I will post a kit about the Pulitzers probably around 4ish....so just plan your day accordingly...

Happy Easter Monday to dr, SonofCarl and all you other Candian-type people. For me it's Dental Work Day!

and the additions: http://www.mortiifera.com/?p=68

We lapsed into unconsciousness, too, because of the frickin' heat. Nice balmy high of 97 expected today, just three degrees shy of the record.

The corporate state owned my husband for most of yesterday morning, as it will own him next Sunday morning. Some vacation.

I've noticed that highly offensive words like "screw" and "beaver" make it through the filter. Oh - but those words only offend females... Sorry!

Mudge, that's very cool about the bald eagles. I can't remember ever seeing eagles back East when I lived there (many years ago now, admittedly). They're quite common here in the NW these days, but still a thrill. I've seen them in the winter along rivers here in Washington and Montana, feeding on fish, perched in trees, looking like something out of The Birds, only much, much bigger.

I read Frank McCourt's Teacher Man over the weekend - what a wonderful writer he is. And I started Doctorow's The March, which is quite good, too.

Did I mention "Hammer", "bang" and "Pound"?

I wonder if one WaPo writer whose intitals are Gene Weingarten is up for a Pulitzer.

bc

bastard makes it through, but the B-word doesn't. Now I'm really offended. I think there's some gender discrimination going on here!

Curmudeon, I very much liked the despair link. True to my sense of humor!

In real life (I've always wondered about this phrase -- isn't all life experience "real"?) I have found "the gift of desperation" to be an excellent motivator. Will not explain circumstances. Bailing out of bad marriage part of this package.

I don't have children, and for reasons unknown, never participated in the egg hunts of my nieces and nephews.

But when I was a kid, we used real (no artifical or golden eggs stuffed with candy in my deprived childhood!) hard-boiled eggs for the hunt.

Mother would boil them Saturday evening, and we would color them with the vinegar based dyes from Paas. We never stuck on the too cute smile and bunny stickers that came in the dye kits -- our eggs were pure.

As it was always too cold to hunt for eggs outside (also too many wild critters that would have eaten them overnite) we did the hunt inside.

This was before egg hunts became part of one's overall life achievement record, surpassing even SAT scores to determine acceptance to the right college.

We got baskets too -- unlike the truly deprived Cowtown!

Then we ate egg salad sandwiches in our school lunches for a week.

I grew up in a very different culture of achievement from Loomis and others; light-years removed from the frantic East Coast "rush to the ivies" antics.

Confession (please don't kick me out of the boodle!): I was most definitely not at the top of my high school class.

The 1960s came late to rural Colorado -- but I partook in some of that ethos with great abandon when in high school (early 70s). I partied a lot (my parents were worried I that I would run away to Haight Ashbury).

I had (all gone now) extremely tight curls for hair. I wore it in the best Irish imitation of an Afro as I could (it was really cool).

I dressed in long, flowing yards of embroidered crepe and such. Beads and leather chokers were my jewelry of choice.

College? Who thought about that? We didn't even take SATs in Colorado -- we took ACTs (they still do, although I think the SAT has made inroads).

When I was 15 I told my parents I wanted to be a professional "freak," or hippie. Needless to say, they were alarmed. Threats of sending me to the Catholic school in Colorado Springs did nothing. I knew it was a bluff.

My high school GPA was 1.20 points lower than Loomis' (see her post from Friday).

This all changed my senior year when it began to dawn on me that I had to do something after graduation. My parents told me I was getting luggage as a graduation gift. Another instance of motivation through the gift of desperation?

I cut the mass of curls back to a respectable length, changed my dress code, and applied to one university. The University of Colorado - Boulder -- then and now the flagship university of Colorado.

I guess I did well enough on my ACTs that they overlooked my GPA and conspicuous lack of any achievements in high school.

(Actually, I'm being hard on myself -- I was on the gymnastics team for the one year the school had one -- I even won the regional competition! But this was before Title IX -- the state had no competition beyond this for tiny schools. Maybe even for the bigger schools).

I think CU used to accept most instate applicants with a C average or better.

I did do very well in college, finishing with an "A" gpa; graduating with middle honors and such.

In truth, none of the kids in my high school did the over-achievement thing. The brightest kids (and I) went to CU-Boulder. No one went out-of-state.

It was probably different in the cities, which were a bit more sophisticated than my tiny hometown of Monument.

Now, my niece and nephew in Colorado are already prepping for the SAT and ACT (the oldest just started high school -- so the Rocky Mountain states are still running behind in achievment metrics).

My brother is hurt and baffled that they don't want to attend his alma mater -- Western State College in Gunnison -- of cow tipping fame. He has done very well (a vice president of his company) with a degree from a small rural school. He doesn't understand the effect of metrics on a child's life.

But his kids do. My niece doesn't think any school in Colorado is good enough for her ambitions. It was my turn to be hurt and baffled when she told me she would never go to CU (its party reputation does hurt it).

Denver is no longer a cow town. The state Stock Show, held in January, is no longer the most exciting event of the year.

We used to show our horses at the Stock Show. I loved it! I was too young to show, so I got to wander all the exhibits with the same friend who got knocked down my lightning with me. Cotton candy and freedom from parental oversight at age 8, 9, 10! Pigs, cattle, chickens even! More cotton candy. Nausea.

The stench from the Stock Show, held smack dab in the middle of Denver in the old coliseum, was the flower of January. One could smell it for miles and miles.

Long ago days in another culture.

I was 27 when my then husband I and I moved to the DC area. Back to where I had been born but not raised.

SHOCK!! I might as well have moved to an alien planet. All the damn trees gave me claustrophobia. (So did my husband.) And the people, the culture, were entirely foreign. I was traumatized.

I still don't feel that I competely fit in. When I go back to Colorado to visit (one day to live) I feel home. The people in the grocery stores look and dress like me. The tempo is tons more laid back.

I won't go into how much I miss the land. Have already done that in other posts.

I wonder if it's possible for a slacker who finds herself late in high school to get into any college anymore. Probably she would have to do a few years in community college purgatory before gaining entrance to an actual university.

I think this is a shame . . . we live in a society in which redemption from a few misspent years is getting harder and harder to attain.

I'm setting my clock for the announcement of the Bank of America Pulitzer Prizes.

Dolphin Michael -- thanks so much for your Easter Egg hunt school.

It's not too late for my youngest niece (5), or for the soon to come children of my oldest nieces. Unless my sister and brother-in-law have already found one for her. They might have -- they live in the heart of childhood metrics land -- Chevy Chase DC.

Could I perhaps get pre-conception entry for the yet-to-be-born family members?

and also for my nephew's beautiful girl, Bailey -- true, she'll be three in a few days -- a very late start -- but maybe you'd consider her anyway . . .

So I finished Captured by Aliens by the distinguished author Joel Achenbach on the weekend. A fine read. Very interesting discussion of the interplay over the years between the scientific exploration for life in the universe and the, ahem, less scientific community's viewpoints.

What? Where'd this gold star come from? You shouldn't have.

Question for those inclined to go off on a tangent. There is some discussion in Captured by Aliens about neutron star explosions that, to put it mildly, may affect future egg rolls (or at least require rain jackets in the future). A blast of gamma radiation potentially "sterilizing" (to use the phrase from the book) an entire section of the galaxy. Does anyone know anything about this, or is anyone able to point to further reading on this topic? Is it anticipated that such a gamma ray blast would be intense but momentary, or would it last for a certain amount of time? Would there be any hope for life on earth's "leeward" side of such exposure?

Why don't they award Pulitzer's for Best Boodle? At a minimum, they could offer something in a commemorative coffee mug.

And thanks for the tips on Boodlerules. I appreciate the opportunity to lower the discourse.

poop

Loomis -- I read through the boodle too quickly -- a sugar-hangover from Easter perhaps?

So, Kurtz has finally noticed Murray Waas -- and debunks the "left-wing luny" stuff.

Excellent! I'm going straight to read him after I post this.

I very much enjoyed reading "A Bad Leak" yesterday in the NYT.

I spend much time on the phone with my (formerly Republican) mother dissecting the rolling of the WaPo editorial page.

I thought Ignatius' piece on Rumsfeld was bizarre. He still believes that Iraq is a situation to be won militarily -- even the military doesn't seem to beleive this anymore.

Anyway -- my 2 cents worth.

nelson,

I always thought you were a guy! I guess the name fooled me.

I love all of your 1:03 PM post. Especially this part:

>>I wonder if it's possible for a slacker who finds herself late in high school to get into any college anymore. Probably she would have to do a few years in community college purgatory before gaining entrance to an actual university.<<

This is what my HS-junior son is trying to find out. He goes to a "secondary school" with nearly 5,000 students. He's looking for a small, cow-tipping college who will forgive that he didn't turn in a couple of assignments each quarter in high school. He has absorbed into his brain every bit of information a class has taught him, but hasn't always spit that information back the way the teachers want him to. (He's getting better though.)

He also wants a small-college, liberal arts education. He wants to be able to work at the campus radio station or TV station and major in anything he falls in love with. He wants to know the teachers and he wants them to know him.

And you know what? There are TONS of schools like that out there. Some of the most-successful people I know graduated from them.

RD, only government employees and certain school divisions observe Easter Monday. Our boss once reverted to childhood and told the office support staff to go home one Easter Monday. The suffering he went through answering the building phones that day makes him remind us as Easter approaches that 'Easter Monday is NOT a holiday'.

"Teacher Man' is on the watch-for-it list at my used bookstore. Idiots will sell this precious book so I will give it a good home when it shows up there.

I am not sure if I am scum for admitting to purchasing used books when I am on an author's blog. I will admit to being a moderately savvy consumer. Joel should take heart. His books never show up in the used book stores I visit.

dr, I admit to purchasing used books. But then, I admit to being scum, too. What a ya gonna do.

dr,

I finished reading Teacher Man a while ago and would be happy to let you give my copy a good home.

kbertocci@hotmail.com

I only buy used books (usually at library sales) - mostly I "borrow" books from the library. Oh, I inadvertently bought one of Tim LaHaye's books (he's the author of the Left Behind series - signs of the End Times, etc) when it became damaged while I had checked it out. It was an accident, I promise! I paid the fine and declined to keep the book...

Last summer I loaded up on used books, which I take on airplane trips. Got a couple by Updike - slim volumes, easy to pack and read, wonderful writing (and recommended by Joel). I was reading A Month of Sundays coming home - it was the only book I had brought in my carry-on - and I discovered that it is quite sexually explicit! Really funny and well written - but I was hoping the people near me weren't reading over my shoulder!

Sometimes you get lucky with used books. I bought a used hardback copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and had it over a decade before I noticed that it had the author's autograph on the front inside cover. I've often wondered if that autograph is authentic.

Those Despair folks have a line of calendar products, I've seen them around the office here for a few years now. Funny.

As far as the gamma radiation danger from neutron star explosions, I look at it as another form of Potential Sudden Human Smitage (PSHS). A clump of dark matter, an asteroid impact, good 'ol Sol going nova (what would you do it you knew the world was going to last 8 more minutes?), a fast-acting virus, Global Thermonuclear War (Would. You. Like. To. Play. A. Game?), etc., any number of Really Bad Things can happen that could wipe us all out in a short period of time.

I'm not ready to don the aluminum foil headgear while I'm Wating for the Hammer to Fall.

bc
PS Did I mention how atrocious I thought last week's "American Idol" tribute to Queen was? With the exception of that Paris (not THAT Paris) young lady, I found it unwatchable and unlistenable. Feh.

Nelson, I especially liked the Demotivator that said "Leaders are like eagles. We don't have either one here." I'd love to hang this up in my cubby, but I suspect my future employment wouldn't bode well. One can only speak so much truth to power before one is compelled to speak truth to the woman at the unemployment compensation office. (And she don't wanna hear it, either.)

kbertocci, you would give away your books? This is a concept unknown to me, and my husband rues it weekly. Many thanks.

dr, some books are keepers, some are not. "Captured by Aliens" and "Biker Chicks in Chains" (annotated, and with yellow highlighting) are keepers. George W. Bush's college thesis, Profils [sic] in Curge [sic]" are not.

Mudge, sounds like a nice house on the Potomac. I regularly excavate for fossils for the museum in Westmoreland County, and we always see bald eagles. They tend to fly around catching fish 10 feet from me, until I get my camera out, when they instantly soar up to roughly 40,000 feet--I've never gotten a picture of one.

SCC: Is not. Jeez. I wish I had been tasked to utilize better grammar than that.

Joel's "Can We Stop the Next Killer Flu?", that ran in December...hmmm.

Yes, I do have my fingers crossed for Joel and Gene and several other Pulitzerworthy folks both here and abroad (As a guy I know pointed out, anyone filing from Iraq deserves some sort of special recognition anyway. As do the folks serving in the armed forces over there, of course.).

bc

Dooley--that's where we are, Westmoreland County (Stratford Harbor). We're on the cliff about 100 feet above the river, and standing at the cliff edge once in a while you see one fly by *below* you--unbelievable. The two I saw Saturday where in two trees at the dge of our lot, about 150 feet from the porch. There's a family of four eagles that live about a mile upriver, on what is probably the Stratford estate, and they regularly patrol down the cliffs for a few miles. I've never been a birdwatcher, nor ever seen a bald eagle before starting work on our house there about three years ago. But watching them--and watching out for them--is addictive.

The folks serving in Iraq perhaps could use a Pull-out-zer Prize.

Sorry.

Maybe I should change my boodle name to something more gender-revealing . . . I know Loomis is really Linda because she started posting as lindaloomis.

I've always had this irrational feminist fear about using my first name for any reason.

I realize most people use nicknames that describe their take on life, which hat they have on as they post (Tim in all his guises) or how they view themselves (Curmudgeon, who is probably a secret teddy bear).

TBG -- I hope your son finds one of those small, non-ivy-covered liberal arts colleges and blows the radio station away with classy work! They do exist. May he follow his bliss.

I wonder if the rush towards elite schools only is a coastal phenomenon. And Japanese, of course.

My little sister (who is now in her 40s) did not go to college (she partied even heartier than I did) after high school.

But she managed to endure years of NOVA classes (I'm not trashing NOVA -- without places like it many "left behind" of the non-Tim LaHaye variety would never catch up) and finally got into The American University under their now-defunct adult-experience program.

She graduated in '04 -- magna cum laude with a degree in art history. It was one of the best college graduations I've ever attended -- because she did it as an adult -- sheer grit.

Commencement fell on Mother's Day that year, and as she walked near where we were seated, her little girl yelled out "I love you Mommy!" It was so cool!

Of course, finding a job with an art history degree is a tougher sell.

So I don't get kicked off the boodle for being a high school slacker?

There are also tons of ospreys in Westmoreland. I'm not a bird watcher, either--I go there mostly for the fossils--but when the birds are right there in your face, what can you do? It's not as addictive as the Achenblog, but it's right up there.

Note to all: a new boodle handle for nelson -- test-boodling it to see how it looks.

Curmudgeon -- fortunately for me I have the freedom to hang anything I want to around my work-space -- an old, painted press-board computer armoire (too fancy a name to call this thing) in my bedroom.

I see gifts for Christmas Future from me to various family members coming from the Demotivator.

(nelson in disguise)

nelson, I think we are probably teeming here with high school slackers. Late bloomers, I like to say.

At the graduation ceremony when my husband got his PhD (another late bloomer--he was 47), two young college-aged men stood up and yelled "YAY MOM!" when one woman was handed her's. I get teary-eyed when I even remember it because it was very moving to see the pride and happiness on their faces. (But then I get teary-eyed when I think of Curmudgeon and his teddy-bearness, too.)

*turning crimson*

Columbia U. will post the Pulitzers at 3:15 at http://www.pulitzer.org/index.html

sln;

As far as high school goes, I think I'm safe in saying "being bored with repeating essentially the same stuff year after year" counts as "slacking."

:-)

'Mudge, holding up the cummberbund doesn't count!!!!! *L*

Here's some Pulitzer-worthy journalism:

Namibia Governor: Jolie to Have Baby There
Monday Apr 17, 2006 9:00am EST
By Stephen M. Silverman

A governor in the remote Southern African nation of Namibia says Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are planning to have their baby there and even give the child a local name, because Jolie "loves Namibia."

Samuel Sheefeni Nuuyoma, governor of the Namibian province where Pitt and Jolie have been staying at a tiny beachside lodge, told the Sunday Times of South Africa he had breakfast with the couple on Friday.

Saying he wanted his guests to feel "at home and free," Nuuyoma continued, "Namibia is a country where everyone has the right to freedom of movement, and they must not feel inhibited when they visit this beautiful country of ours."

According to the Associated Press, the Namibian government has made efforts to keep paparazzi away from Pitt, Jolie and children Maddox, 4, and Zahara, 1, by telling journalists entering the country without valid work permits that they could be arrested.

Nuuyoma could not be reached for comment by the AP.

As PEOPLE reports in its current issue, Pitt and Jolie visited a local game reserve with their children upon arriving in Namibia. According to a local source, Jolie "fell in love with the country" when she filmed Beyond Borders there in 2002 and is "here for the birth of the child."

Another source tells PEOPLE that the couple have a plane on constant standby should they change their minds.

That last paragraph is my favorite part. Oh yeah.. that and the part where everyone has freedom of movement there--except for journalists.

It's the end of the world: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/levey/

RD - Re: Lancaster County

It's not worth living there.

I would suggest taking 30W and then 81 or 83S out of town as fast as possible.

You'll feel better.

TBG, can you elaborate? I never read Bob Levey's columns. I did notice the "bob blog" link today but hadn't checked it out till you mentioned it. I love the comment that wished the WaPo had called it the "Bob Loblaw Law Blog" (thanks yellojkt, for that gem from Arrested Development!).

TGB, I've been studiously avoiding that particular EoTW today. I noticed it this AM, boggled at it for a moment, then moved on.

bc

The Post got four pulitzers:

Investigative Reporting: Awarded to Susan Schmidt, James V. Grimaldi and R. Jeffrey Smith of The Washington Post for their indefatigable probe of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff that exposed congressional corruption and produced reform efforts.

Explanatory Reporting: Awarded to David Finkel of The Washington Post for his ambitious, clear-eyed case study of the United States government's attempt to bring democracy to Yemen.

Beat Reporting: Awarded to Dana Priest of The Washington Post for her persistent, painstaking reports on secret "black site" prisons and other controversial features of the government's counterterrorism campaign.

Criticism: Awarded to Robin Givhan of The Washington Post for her witty, closely observed essays that transform fashion criticism into cultural criticism.

Wow, some WaPo folks are going to get some nice checks from the Pulitzer people. Props to Dana Priest for repeating (I think she won one last year...)

See 'mudge's link above.

Congrats to all the winners and finalists.

bc

Bob Levey wrote the stupidest column for the stupidest of readers. He was always complaining about some sort of nitpicky, persnickety problem he or some idiot reader faced and then ranted on about how someone ought to do something about it. No solutions offered, no possible attempt to see the other side.

He also included idiotic "neologism" contests where he seemed to pick the stupidest, most-idiotic winner. The prize? To have lunch with Levey himself.

His public service items included raising money for Children's Hospital and sending inner-city poor kids to camp. Both nice causes and definitely filled his daily column space nicely for him.

He also listed high school reunions, although in his wisdom he failed to list them in any logical order. Sometimes alphabetized by the name of the person organizating the reunion; sometimes listed by year, but rarely in any helpful way.

He was replaced a year or so ago by John Kelly, who actually writes an intelligent column worthy of reading every day. What did the Post do? They moved Kelly's column from next to the comics every day to a different page of the Metro section each day. So much for his success.

(Although I am a fan of Kelly, he also does not put his high school reunion info in any kind of order. It makes you wonder if these guys use computers or have interns or other helpers who know how to alphabetize.)

Whatever he is, Bob Levey is not someone whose blog I will ever want to read. His column was like the Nancy cartoons of old. You saw them, your eye was drawn to them, you HAD to read them. And then you were sorry.

There's my rant on Bob Levey.

But what about those Pulitzers eh? Way to go WaPo!

TBG, don't forget Don & Mike share your opinion of him.

:-)

Big props to Robin Givhan. She did the story about Dick Cheney's fashion, or lack thereof.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43247-2005Jan27.html

I wonder what Christopher Durang, Rolin Jones and Adam Rapp are thinking. They were all nominated for Drama but no award was given.

What's with that?

Note that Pulitzers also went to Louisiana papers that had to be working under duress to get out the news about Hurricane Katrina. Two to the Rocky Mountain News out Colorado way. And several to the NYT, one for the eavesdropping story that the paper (Carl Bernstein mentioned this) sat on for a year. One to Dallas, one to Oregon, and perhaps one or two I failed to mention. (For the record, Bernstein very much liked Priest's reporting on the secret detention facilites for "persons of interest" in eastern Europe.)

Rocky Mountain News caught my attention several years ago when a reporter there was the only person to get Dr. Vince Fulginiti to "go on the record" about the little-known clinic in the early 60s to treat the worst of the world's smallpox-vaccine injured.

Reminiscent of TBG's post about Durang, Jones and Rapp, one of my all-time favorite quotes is from Alfred Hitchcok, who, upon finally being knighted by Queen Elizabeth, was asked why he though it took Buckingham Palace so long to recognize him. Hitchcock replied, in that deadpan that was his, "I always assumed it was negligence."

My bad: the Sun Herald is in Gulfport, Miss.

Plus, as Weingarten correctly points out, Priest's a hottie.

Pulitzer committee to playwrights: "We thought you were pretty good at first, but now we guess you're really just OK."

RD,

Before I forget... I want to tell you that your "surfing porn" conversation on the boodle the other night is still being quoted by my husband. He thinks it's hilarious. So do I.

I hope you don't mind that I'm going to repeat it here for new boodlers/lurkers:

Posted by: RD Padouk | April 7, 2006 09:47 PM

My wife: I know what you are up to.
Me; I'm surfing porn.
My wife: You are not! You're on that silly blog!

bc, funny "Wargames" reference. That was recently on tv again and I caught the last bit.

TBG, you're making me snort today.

In a good way, I mean.

bc

Yardley has a very nice little essay/appreciation on "Treasure Island" at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/16/AR2006041601023.html

Argh! When is Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day" scheduled for this year?

Off the top 'o me 'ead, methinks talk like a pirate day 'tis in September.

Arrgh!

bc

The San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service won Pulitzers for their Duke Cunningham reporting. Very deserving awards for some excellent work. It continues to amaze me how quickly that case developed. It was just a few months between the inital reporting and Cunningham's resignation. Also Mike Lukovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution winning for editorial cartooning is great to see. He had an excellent cartoon in last Saturday's Drawing Board showing Bush at the Pottery Barn leaning next to a huge pot that said 'Iran' and the sales clerk says "Oh @&#$, he's back!"

(I'm not ignoring the deserving Post awards, just thought I'd mention some of the others.)

Levey. Sigh. Oh well, at least he'll be easier to ignore on the Web site than in the paper.

Avast, 'mudge!

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

Sept. 19th. Arrrr.

bc

That's all and well, bc, but I prefer Talk Like a 19th Century Cockney Bootblack Day.

Shine ya' shoes Guv'nor?

Blimey!!

Oy! Time for a buck and steer!

Cor! Have I moidurded the flap and doodle?

TBG, et al, thanks for the Bob Levey info. Won't waste my time.

Bayou Self, thanks for the link to the Givhan article - it is really good. In fact, Joel linked to it in his new Kit. See y'all there!

Ack! Argh! *flame shoots from ears*

The piece I'm editing at the moment contains the phrase, "For the ninth consecutive straight year...," "television, radio, outdoor, and other mediums...," and "age 18-34 years of age."

Your tax dollars at work. And this piece of crap is supposed to go to Congress.

I need a buck and steer.

TBG, but it was great to see Bob Levey make a fool of himself when he tried to criticize movies... SNORT.

Seriously, I got my REAL name published twice in the Bob Levey column, so I can't really bash him. I thought his column helped give the Post that hokey hometown paper feel.
Not that nabbing crooked lobbyists isn't important. Or not-a-crook presidents. It's just like... when you pick up the Post and every page is full of reporters swooping off buildings in quest of the Pultizer (or laughs). Where, in comics term, it was KAPOW, BONK, or Zippy's rantings...

It was nice to dip into a column that reminded me of Mary Worth and had almost no mention of politics whatsoever. In a way, he was the first blog before there were blogs, he had so much reader feedback in his columns.

Curmudgeon, I've had several consecutive "straight" years. All of them, now that I think of it. Not that there's anything wrong with non-straight years.

Hi! Very interesting! pnvhn