Happy Birthday, John!

We got a reprieve from summer today. I think it stayed below 90. Very nice. So Sam and I went to the park this evening. He played on the playground and I walked around - mostly up and down the big hill. Good exercise.

We walked around the big water tower and saw a small hawk. Sam can't stand for birds to be at peace, so he managed to chase it away. He rivals Mr. Lunch in his bird chasing abilities.

The last few months I've been a reading slacker. I've checked books out of the library only to let them sit next to my bed until they're due. I think the last book I finished was Great Expectations for my book discussion group. I started on the next two but didn't finish in time and then just gave up. It probably had something to do with the fact that I had read them before and didn't feel pressured to finish.

I just started The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd. It's a novel about art school in the late 50's/early 60's. I've heard good things about it. It's supposed to be a better version of Art School Confidential. It's pretty funny so far:

Majoring in Art at the state university appealed to me because I have always hated Art, and I had a hunch if any school would treat the subject with the proper disdain, it would be one that was run by the government. Of course I was right. My suspicions were confirmed the minute I entered the Visual Arts building on arrival my freshmen year and took in the faculty show in its gallery. I beheld: melting lop-sided Umbrian? hillsides, nudes run over by the Cubist Express, suburban-surrealist flower ladies going about their daily tasks weeping blood tears the size of water balloons, and kittens. Yes, kittens. I thought, "Now these people hate Art a lot. This is where I belong. Perfect." - Chip Kidd, The Cheese Monkeys

I saw Chip Kidd speak at the AIGA (hmmm... what could that stand for?) conference in Vegas a few years ago. He had just written a book about Batman. You could tell he was a huge Batman fan, but he kept talking about the homoerotic aspects of the Batman/Robin relationship. It was hilarious.


When I got home today Sam showed me what he got at the dollar store with my mom: a Texas flag, some pencils, and a Bible. I said, "You got a Bible at the dollar store?" He said, "It's the HOLY Bible." Oh.

Then we had a discussion about whether we were Christian or Jewish. I told him it's something that he can decide when he gets older. He thinks that since he goes to church he's Christian. Those Unitarians obviously aren't doing their job! :-)