I saw this article on the Telegraph site today.

Josh Heinzl answered the phone with an enthusiastic “Hi, Josh’s Toys and Games! This is Josh.” The smile on Heinzl’s face and the welcome in his voice were quickly replaced with a blank stare and frustrated tone.

“Listen,” he spoke politely but pointedly into the phone, “are you guys going to offer me free processing? Otherwise I’m not that interested. You never offer a better rate.”

Heinzl hung up the phone and let out an agitated sigh.

“Credit-card processors,” he explained. “They call at least three times a day.”

This is the life of a new businessman. But Heinzl isn’t your typical entrepreneur; he’s 15 years old. And while he isn’t old enough to drive, the Windham native is buckled in and ready for a ride to the top, in a car made of Legos.

Josh’s Toys and Games opened last Friday in the Pheasant Lane Mall. The store, which is located on the ground level near the Sears entrance, offers a variety of Lego products as well as puzzles and games.

I have to go to the mall this week in my errands run; I’ll have to check this place out. Any competition for KB is good.

I have this post in draft form that I keep there and jot down reminders to myself of things I want to post, but which I have neither time nor energy to do right away.

Unfortunately, sometimes my statements are too cryptic to jog my memory if I leave them for too long.

For instance, there’s two in there right now that’ve been there for a while:
J2/J1 asshat in restaurant, mom ‘calm down’
funny conversation or story? Not dad backing into van… clifton park pizza?

…honestly, no clue. They sound like they would’ve been cool posts though.

I went to drop off my DVDs at the library today and got caught in a giant traffic jam caused by construction shutting down various side streets and spilling out into the main street.

No police could be seen helping to direct traffic.

About a mile and a half further along I discovered why: The police were all at the ice cream stand.

Dunkin Donuts.

Those of you from the area know that Dunkin Donuts are thick on the ground around here. The best way to tell you’re out in the boonies is when you stop passing them every 50 yards. Then they’re only 100 yards apart.

But one town is fighting the good fight. That town would be Wellesley.

And I am amused.

Ha ha. Though I have to admit I experience a twinge of irritation that they had to use a female pronoun.

This was a very interesting article. Basically, the argument is that Protestants have a softened, friendly view of Jesus and God, which makes it odd that so many of them seem interested in Gibson’s new movie.

I must admit that this view of Jesus as your pal has always confused me. Especially the people who feel called upon to pray for assistance with every minor decision in their lives. To me, that seems rude. You don’t pester important people unless you have an important question, and if you truly believe Jesus is the son of God then I think he has better things to be doing with his time than dealing with your random questions.

Jesus Fangirl: OMG, should I wear the blue blouse or the yellow sweater?!?!?!
Jesus Fangirl: HELP ME JESUS!
Jesus Fangirl: *prays*
* a light comes on in Jesus’s office *
Jesus: *stops what he’s doing and some crops in Africa die*
Jesus: WTF? It’s that stalker girl again.
Jesus: *looks at the message*
Jesus: !!!! Holy crap you interrupted me for this you stupid cow?!
Jesus: *grrr*
Jesus: wait, I’m nice
Jesus: *flings an anvil at the girl*
Jesus: here’s a sign. See, it’s kinda blue.

Anyhow, back to my original point, which was that the article made me think of the “Buddy Christ” idea that came up in the movie Dogma. And, in fact, if you think of Jesus as your best pal, who you can pester at any time of the night or day… your image of him is already the Buddy Christ. Which is decidedly at odds with the view of him I was brought up with, as somewhat remote, not really inclined to intercede directly on someone’s behalf, as that, after all, is the job of Saints and other minions.

It also seems to me that this view of the universe feeds very well into the arrogant, privileged attitude that so many of our Protestant leaders have…

New dining room table! Now we just need chairs. The ones from the card table just look so wrong.

Also, mom reports that Tom Brady is moving to Seabrook.

SEABROOK.

E: Seabrook, known for tattoo parlors, adult bookstores, strip joints, a nuclear power plant, and TOM BRADY
K: Don’t forget the cheap cigarettes.
E: Oh right! :) And fireworks!

Setting: Advanced Algorithms class. Prof. C has stated a version of the so-called perfect marriage problem.

The problem: Arthur has 100 knights and 100 ladies. He’s decided that since he’s sooooo happy with Guenivere, they all have to get married too. So he asks the ladies to each make a list of the knights she’d be willing to marry. The knights are all chivalrous and obedient so they will marry whomever they’re told to marry. Arthur hands off the lists to Merlin and tells him to come up with a list of pairings so all the ladies are satisfied.

So Prof C draws a picture of the situation on the board.

Knights| o o o o o . . . o o o o
Ladies | o o o o o . . . o o o o

She starts drawing the appropriate lines between the two groups, then pauses and looks at the graph with a slight frown.

Prof C: We are, of course, talking about heterosexual marriages only here! We’re not going to get into any of the more modern interpretations of Arthur and Lancelot.

XDXDXD

Had PBS on today while working on the computer.

After Grover got done quoting from Jabberwocky, they proceeded to another bit.

UN falls from the sky.
Voices: UN!!
F falls from the sky.
Voices: Fff!!
Voices: UN!!
Voices: Fff!!

K: …

(It turned out to be fun. But for a second there…)

A couple of random bits that I don’t believe managed to make it in to my posts from either of the trips.

Baby Names

I have several stories about baby names.

Story the First:
On our Tuesday at Disney, in the morning, we stood in line with a family who had a little girl of about 3 or 4. Her name was Alexis. On the way back to the hotel in the afternoon we were across from a different family with a little girl of about 3 or 4 whose name was Alexis. And then, when we were coming back from Downtown Disney, a little girl of about 3 or 4, named Alexis, was sitting behind us.

Story the Second:
Bob’s cousin and his wife are expecting their first child. If it is a girl, they will name her Madison.

Now, aside from the fact that these are people who are FROM WISCONSIN, why WHY would you name your child the single most popular female name of her generation?

Story the Third:
This story may shed some light upon the answer to my previous question. This story is easier to tell if spoken aloud, but I will attempt to get the gist of it down here. The same cousin and spouse were talking about someone they know, who named their daughter Porsche (they pronounced it ‘poor-sha’) and were boggled that someone would name their child after a car.

The statement passed too quickly for me to question, and I doubt I would have asked the question anyway, but I wonder: Was the little girl named Portia, an actual name, and they simply misunderstood? Or had they actually seen this written down somewhere?

Because everyone I know pronounces Porsche as ‘poorsh’.