Lentorama 2007: The Non-Canonized Catholic Person of the Day

Today's pick is Edwin, the first abbott of Westminster Abbey, which according to one source "opened" today in 1066. I use the quotes as the Abbey was really a rebuilt version of one already standing, the improvements coming from Edward the Confessor, who built the Abbey instead of going on pilgrimage to Rome. As luck (?) would have it, Edwards was too ill to attend the consecration of the new abbey's church, and he died a few days later.

Both Edward and Edwin are honored in the Royal Army Medical Corps window on the north side of the Abbey's nave. They were apparently friendly, which explains why Edward decided to rebuild Edwin's abbey rather than start anew.

Edwin served as abbott until c. 1071. That's about all I can tell you about him, which is kind of surprising given the amount of info about the Abbey that's online.

Five more questions, this time from Julie:

1. Have you ever seriously considering living outside New England? If so, what would be your first choice of locations?

Not really, if you consider serious consideration being relocation for an indefinite period of time. There was about a month where I was going to William and Mary for law school (deposited and everything), but hadn't thought beyond that about living in Virginia. I had job interviews in Tulsa and Titusville, Florida during law school, and would have lived in either place, though I don't think I ever saw myself as a staying in either place for the long term.

Were I going to pull up stakes, I'd like to stay coastal. I like the water, even though I don't swim very well and find the beach a little boring (not to mention the sunburns!).

2. One thing we have in common is having taken "bent arrow" career paths. What have you found to be the most important predictors of job satisfaction vs. dissatisfaction?

For me, it's been the amount of trust a supervisor puts in me to work independently. My first few jobs out of school were all ones where I had a significant amount of freedom to complete tasks, which I still prefer to this day over a boss who keeps tabs. I'm probably a little more sensitive to this than the average person, but not tremendously so.

3. Following up on Greg's question: A few years ago, you posted a truly moving tribute to your late sister. What characteristics of her do you see in yourself?

I've been thinking about this for a few days, and it's been hard to come up with something. We tended to be opposites in just about everything, which is something I think I've only appreciated in the last few years. If forced to say something I'd go with sense of humor; mine's probably drier than her's was, but they're pretty similar.

4. Riffing off the same post but on a much lighter note: You mentioned that your family was very supportive when you played sports. What sports did you play as a kid, and which one was your favorite?

In an organized sense, I played baseball and soccer, and was part of a youth bowling "league" for a few years (it's wasn't a league per se, as there weren't teams but rather recognition for individual achievement). Baseball was the sport I really wanted to do well in, but I was a no-tool player. The best think I can say about my baseball career is that I managed to play every position but pitcher, which I'll spin as a willingness to do what the team needed.

I also played a lot of street hockey during the summer as part of a town rec program. We'd play every night for an hour or two on weeknights. I probably did this every summer between the ages of 7 and 14. This was probably the sport I enjoyed the most, given its informal nature and the discovery that I was a reasonably good goalie. I never made the jump to ice hockey due to a lack of opportunity and skating ability, but the street hockey was fine.

5. And, on a still lighter note: Describe, in as many words as you like, the Tao of Gerbilitude.

Gerbilitude is 80 percent knowledge, 15 percent team dissention, and 5 percent dietary intake that would make a cardiologist weep.

Lentorama 2007: The Non-Canonized Catholic Person of the Day

I'm actually going with two today, both birthday boys.

The first is Constantine the Great, the Roman emporer whose conversion to Christianity and tolerance of the faith in the Edict of Milan are considered milestones in religious history. Of course, it's never that easy; Galerius passed a law tolerating Christianity two years before the Edict of Milan, and there's some debate as to how and when Constantine converted.

Constantine is also remembered for calling the Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council of bishops, which went a long way towards standardizing Christian practice. He's also attached to the Donation of Constantine, a document that purported to give the pope control of Rome and the western Roman empire. Used for centuries by popes to maintain temporal control of various parts of Europe, an analysis of the document's language and content point to it being a fake.

The other person with a bithday today is The Knights of Prosperity star Donal Logue. I'm not sure how Catholic he is, but his dad left the priesthood to get married and start a family. Logue was also born in Canada and has Canadian and Irish passports, even though he's spent most of his life living in southern California. I just thought that was interesting.

Lentorama 2007: The Non-Canonized Catholic Person of the Day

Today brings us Antoine Augustin Calmet, a French theologian born on this day in 1672. He's best known for a 23 volume commentary on the Bible which was quite popular, though criticized for not fully addressing the more difficult passages. Which would make him the perfect college undergrad.

Not much more to say about Antoine, other than to note that his Wikipedia entry is pretty much his Catholic Encyclopedia entry. Even with attribution, it's plagarific.

The lack of posting yesterday and today's earlier short post were the result of my first trip to an IKEA store, specifically the one in Stoughton.

IKEA, in case you're not familiar, is a Swedish company that makes home goods and furnishings that are known for their design, low prices, and furniture that you have to assemble yourself. A couple of years back we mail-ordered some cheap nightstand-type things from them, but with the in-laws being down for the weekend and my sister-in-law living pretty close to the IKEA store, we spent most of Saturday on a family outing at their huge three-story building.

The first thing we did when we got there was eat, it being roughly lunch time. I'd heard much talk about their dining options, and went with what I'd suppose is their most iconic entree: Swedish meatballs served with potatoes, with gravy and a lingonberry jam on the side. For food served in a furniture store, it was pretty good. The lingonberry beverage (not a soda, but I don't think it was juice per se) was also tasty, if a little sweet. Certainly, I'd eat there again on a future trip.

As for the store, I'll admit sensory overload as we wandered through its showroom, given the number and variety of displays. We spent a lot of time looking at the room set-ups, and found a couple of kitchens that we'd be happy with when the time comes to renovate (though we'd probably opt for their installation service, given our lack of skills). We also found what we came for in the first place, a TV stand. The wife was sick of our last stand (which is really an end table), and that we both found one we liked was a miracle in and of itself.

Once we meandered through the showroom, it was downstairs to the marketplace, which is a cavernous maze of non-furniture home items, from kitchen utensils to bedding to window shades to framed pictures. We picked up a floor lamp and eyed some Roman blinds, but otherwise spent a lot of time trying not to get lost.

Then it was into the self-service furniture area, where you pick up the rectangular case containing your deconstructed item. And while we both found a TV stand we liked, apparently a number of other people did, too. They were out of stock.

This led to my second-ever trip to IKEA today, as the info desk noted that they'd be getting more of the TV stands today. Rather than follow the arrows that lead you through the store, we cut right in to the markeplace via the self-serve furniture. This is not as easy as it sounds, as most people follow the arrow-laden path through the store. Throw in the weekend crowd and it's another opportunity to feel what a salmon feels when heading upriver to spawn (we skipped the spawning for another look at the Roman blinds, which we passed on).

So we finally got our TV stand (and another floor lamp) and went home to put it together. Now, I appreciate the cost savings of unassembled furniture, and like the improved design and (in most cases) quality of IKEA furniture versus the kits from China. However, there are two ways in which IKEA could really improve things:

1. Instructions for assembly do not use words. It's all pictures. There are also no labels on pieces to indicate sides or the difference between the front and back of pieces. And while most folks would be able to sort this out based on where the holes are in the pictures, some of us aren't so smart. In my defense, there were three holes going vertically and horizontally on the pieces, and I just went in the wrong direction.

Still, I was sort of missing the labels and "helpful" Engrish instructions.

2. Make the screws out of better metal. Those screws I put in the wrong holes didn't like being taken out and put back in again, and in one case a screw stripped itself before I got it in halfway the first time. The wife was able to get it out and put it in its proper hole, showing more patience and better language choice than I did.

(Oh yeah, giving up cursing for Lent? Didn't go so well today.)

The wife is generally better at putting this stuff together than I am, as I get exasperated pretty easily. OK, "exasperated" may be the wrong word for something that repeatedly triggers the less savory part of my vocabulary. Not sure why putting furniture together pushes those buttons, but it does.

(Aside: the year before my mom was diagnosed with cancer, she had some work done on her knees, the result of which was that she had to spend a lot of time off of her feet. This came right after Christmas, when one of her presents was a VHS/DVD cabinet. Given her knees, I was tabbed to put the thing together, and for a couple of hours she got great entertainment from my adventures in assembly. It really was funny, in retrospect, and one of the last really funny times we had together before she was diagnosed with cancer. I know, way to bring down the room, but it's the way it goes.)

Lentorama 2007: The Non-Canonized Catholic Person of the Day

Today's subject is Pope Pius V, who on this day in 1570 excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I. He would later promulgate a bull releasing English Catholics from recognizing her as sovereign, nice in theory but a bit problematic for those Catholics on the ground in Old Blighty.

Another reformer, particularly in regards to the morals and financial probity of the Holy See, Pius V is also known for two long-lasting changes. First, he helped created a new missal for Mass, which was in place until changes in 1970. Second, he started the habit of the Pope dressing in white (which he did prior to election as a Dominican). Prior to him, popes dressed in red like other cardinals; some of the current papal vestments are still red, mostly shoes and hats.

(I promise, it won't be a pope every day, but given the lead bit of info this was a hard one to pass up.)

OK, so after the groundswell(?) of favorable opinion about Lentorama, I present:

Lentorama 2007: The Non-Canonized Catholic Person of the Day

Today we check in on Pope Paul II, who was born on this day 590 years ago as Pietro Barbo. Suffice it to say he's not going to crack anyone's top 10 list of popes, as his longest lasting acts were to create the jubilee years and OK the wearing of the red biretta for all cardinals (they're the boxy hats with the points).

Pretty much everything Paul II did with regards to foreign policy was a bust, as he managed to irritate the king of France, get the King of Hungary to declare what was a fairly mediocre war against the excommunicated King of Bohemia, couldn't convince Frederick III to wage a crusade against the Turks, and failed in attempts to merge the Russian church with Rome. He did manage to curb the influence Venice had on papal affairs, which is something.

Paul II also undertook a fair amount of reform within the Vatican, which was about as popular as such reform is today. While he did supress some intellectuals on religious grounds, he did support Christian scholars, the building and repair of monuments, and collections of art. He also seems to have been a bit of a dandy, with a taste for fine clothing and jewels (maybe he's behind the pope's big hat and golden slippers?). Paul II also provided a great deal of entertainment for Roman citizens, not quite to the "bread and circuses" level of imperial Rome but pretty lavish for the time.

While he was the nephew of a pope, Paul II wasn't as nepotistic as many popes, and didn't seem to have the penchant for out-and-out vice that other popes did. So while not a great pope, he wasn't exactly a dud, either.

Book Log 2007 #5: The Perfect $100,000 House by Karrie Jacobs

The title object of this book seems impossible, at least to anyone whose bought a house recently. The idea of "perfect" and "$100,000 house" going together doesn't quite jibe. But the author goes on a cross-country trek to find such a beast, and does so in more than one location.

As you can imagine, a $100,000 house does have some limitations. By popular standards, it's generally small, though not always at or below the author's target of 1000 square feet. It's sometimes designed and/or built by architecture students, or by architects whose ideas may not mesh with neighbors who enjoy a street of Colonials. And the price doesn't include land (among other things), just the house.

All that being said, the book does make a good argument against the current trend in cookie-cutter houses and for a smarter design/build approach that can still utilize the methods that make current home construction affordable.

My biggest problem with the book was the lack of photos. A book about design and architecture with no photos! Each chapter had a drawing, and while the drawings were nice, photos would have been a huge help for a reader who isn't attuned to thinking visually.

Sorry for the lack of posting, but it's mostly been for a lack of postable info (not that it's stopped me before, I suppose). The highlight of the last week was braving the nor'easter to have Valentine's dinner at Terramia, a very nice North End restaurant. Otherwise, it was a lot of sitting tight and waiting for the thaw.

Which leads us to today and Ash Wednesday, wherein I have my annual bout of not knowing what to give up for Lent. I'm going to give cursing another try, and so far it's been OK. We'll see how long that lasts.

I've also been debating whether or not to bring back Lentorama and its saint of the day. I'm leaning against it, given the number of saints with thin back stories. I know that announcement will sadden the three of you who followed along.

If you've not read Greg's blog recently, he's got a new meme to propagate: a five-question "interview" based on leaving a comment of interest with the interviewer. So the following is my interview based on questions provided by Greg. Should you care to be interviewed by me, leave a comment.

1. Why so long learning to drive?

The simple answer is inertia. I took the driver's test my senior year in high school, didn't pass, and drifted into other things before leaving for BU. It helped that most of my friends were a year or two older (and got their licences as early as possible), and that my hometown is small enough that you can get pretty much anywhere you need to go by walking or bike. Throw in 10 years or so of living in Boston, and there you have it.

But I have to admit I never really had the seemingly universal desire of all teens to get my licence. Even now, I think I'd be OK with not having a licence. The wife is certainly glad I have it.

2. Did you ever play an instrument? If not, what do you think would be fun to take up?

I was in the sixth grade bell choir, whose members were supposedly those who scored the highest on a musical aptitude test. I think I just test well. In any case, I won't say that I really learned how to play the bells, as our music teacher would circle the notes for us. It was really an exercise in repeatedly counting to four.

At BU I took one semester of piano. The teacher was a grad student who was fulfilling some sort of requirement, and thus not really into the teaching part. We spent three months playing and never used the black keys! This really screwed me when I took the second semester class, which was full of music majors.

From all of the RA trainings I've developed some mad skillz on the kazoo, too.

3. Within the past few years you got back into the habit of going to mass. What prompted that?

To say that I got back into the habit suggests that I had a habit to start. Church attendance in my family was never compulsory, and for many years it was mostly related to attending CCD before or after mass. As we got older I went less frequently, pretty much only on holidays or the more notable obligatory days around Lent.

What got me into the habit was the wife, who was at least a semi-regular attendee at Marsh when she was a free range Protestant. As she was deciding to take the papal plunge we moved up to Brighton (the summer of 2001) and started going to St. Ignatius (which is about the only part of the BC campus I'll speak positively about; they let you stand during communion!).

I do find that I enjoy going, and find our current parish has the best sense of community of any that I've been in. Though it's odd being a young(er) couple without kids, as the two main buy-ins seem to be having kids in the parish school or being elderly.

4. During an an average workday, what random thought about Sarah will pop into your head and make you smile?

It's usually the thought I have at about 4 pm when I think to myself that she's going to call, and she almost always does. Like a lot of couples we talk at least once during the work day, and the late afternoon calls are faves as it means we'll be together shortly... unless she's calling to say she's working late.

Other than that, if I read something online about a shared interest and I hear her voice in my head. That makes me laugh, especially when I share the item with her later and her actual response matches the one I came up with!

5. Sadly, I never met your folks. Which of their good/bad traits do you most see in yourself?

Hmm, this is a toughie. I would say that from both of my parents I took a love of reading, as both were regular readers. I'd also say that they both influenced my sense of humor, with my mom providing the prankish side and my dad the drier humor that I more often use. I'd also attribute my interest in sports to them, as both were fairly athletic as kids, and were very supportive of us when we played. This then extended into spectating, and you can thank my dad for planting the seed of BC disdain. You can also thank(?) him for my Notre Dame fandom. Both of them were pretty solidly Democrats, so you can put my left-of-centrism here, too (though my dad held a Neanderthalic position on immigration, which I don't share).

On the less positive side, neither of my parents were particularly great patients, and I take a similar tack, though not to the degree that either of them did. I also think I've taken after my dad in following an easier path, work-wise. Not that the current job isn't challenging, but like my dad I'm not looking out for a job that'll call for a ton of extra hours (which is kind of ironic, given the years spent working in the sometimes all-consuming world of residence life). The wife also likes to reference a family penchant for pack-ratism, to which I'll plead no contest. She also thinks the Coen side has some tendency for going a little over-ripe in the melon, to which I'm going to ask for a continuance.

For all the talk of dominance by the BU men's hockey team in the Beanpot, the opposite story can be told for the BU women's team. Since its inception in 1979, the women's team has won the Beanpot once - in 1981. For years they were the only club team in the competition, and the string of consolation game appearances - usually losses - underscored that fact.

But last night, for the first time since that 1981 win, the women made the Beanpot final. The only problem was that they had to play BC at BC. And it turned out as you might expect, with BC winning the thing 6-1.

And while it smacks of "it's an honor to just be nominated," it's a pretty big positive to be in the title game at this early stage of the team's varsity status. Especially when you consider that two years ago, they finished last while being outscored 13-1.

So congrats of a sort to the Lady Icedogs. Hopefully the stretch run goes better for them than last night.

Book Log 2007 #4: The Coffee Trader by David Liss

I'd been looking for A Conspiracy of Paper, Liss's Edgar-winning first novel, but the only book of his the library had was this one, the story of a 17th century speculator named Miguel Lienzo who is living in Amsterdam as part of its community of Portuguese Jews. Having seen some business reversals, Lienzo devises a plan involving the coffee trade, which is just beginning to take off. But with his plans for wealth he must also deal with a partner he doesn't trust, a brother he doesn't like, a sister-in-law he may like too much, a former partner who has apparently gone mad, and a community leader who can crush Lienzo whenever he wants. There's also some excerpts from the memoirs of a moneylender sprinkled throughout, which gives an alternate (though not really objective) view of the action.

While it's not really a mystery or a thriller, there's healthy bits of both, which keeps the pace up, and the depiction of the Amsterdam Jewish community is pretty interesting. It does end a little too neatly, but that's a minor problem. It's worth a read.

So I've now completed the Hockey East road trip, getting the Mullins Center at UMass-Amherst under my belt. The game itself was a 3-2 win that saw us take our now-usual sluggish start that builds into a lead, but with the wrinkle of either fatigue or complacency allowing UMass to get back into the game. Throw in a penalty with two minutes to go and you have some interesting 6 on 4 play which thankfully didn't lead to a tie.

There was a fair amount of pre-game spectacle, from a dry ice-filled intro to a pre-game speech from the UMass coach (which at times seemed like a dig at our fans with the multiple exhortations for classiness). The fans were pretty into the game, and there were good numbers, though at least some of the students are still learning the game (it seems like many of them were sitting right behind us).

A big chunk of the arena is sold as general admission, which is good in that it allows you to stake out decent seats. It's bad in that you have people scouting out seats into the first period, like they just got to the movies and are trying to find seats together. That'd be less irritating if the place was full, but it wasn't. Not that I'd expect it, given that it seats over 8300 for hockey.

Two things I didn't care for:

1. The lack of a central scoreboard. They've tried to remedy this by putting video scoreboards at either end, but it's not optimal for a newer building, I think. All of the banners use the middle space, which seems like a waste.

2. The general boxiness of the arena, which was reminiscent of both Tsongas and the DCU Center in Worcester that way. That's more aesthetic than anything else, of course.

All that being said, I did enjoy the experience and would go back out to Amherst for games without reservation. Now that I've been there - and now that Vermont is in Hockey East - my new arena rankings are:

10. J Thom. Lawler Arena, Merrimack College - I've now been since the renovations, and while it's an improvement, it's still not good. Sorry.

9. Schneider Arena, Providence College - though I should go back next season for a re-assessment. Just when they're not playing BU, as I don't think I've seen us win there.

8. Alfond Arena, University of Maine - my last experience has soured me on the building, with the lack of seat backs and oddly pitched roof. That and the price gouging.

7. Matthews Arena, Northeastern University - given how close I work to this venue, I've not been to a game here in years. I can't imagine it's improved, but it's still one of the few old barns out there.

6. Conte Forum, Boston College - for the same reasons as before.

5. Tsongas Arena, UMass-Lowell - I've not been here for a long time, so I'm kind of defaulting here.

4. Whittemore Center, University of New Hampshire - again, a building I could stand to revisit.

3. Gutterson Fieldhouse, University of Vermont - one of the old barns that's still a good place to see a game, as long as you don't mind bleachers. Always good energy from the crowd.

2. Mullins Center, UMass-Amherst - perhaps a little too recently visited compared to others, but a new fave for sure. Just wonder what the building is like when they play Merrimack or Providence (such as last night, when they drew fewer than half as many for the Friars as they did for us).

1. Agganis Arena, Boston University - the homer raises his head again, but really this is the class of the league. It better have been, given the cost to build it.

As many of you know, the Beanpot had its first night this past Monday, with predictable results: BU beat Northeastern and BC topped Harvard, setting up a repeat of last year's second Monday. And the second Mondays of 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004.

Not much to say about our semifinal, which opened up as closely-played as our other games against the Huskies this year, only to swing our way as the second period went on. It was one of their best games of the year, on the heels of what was likely their worst game, after which Jack had a 45 second press conference in which he specifically called out the seniors for a lack of leadership.

Guess it worked. Wish it didn't have to, though.

The game did feature what was the second-most embarrasing own goal I've seen in Beanpot play, when the NU goalie cleared the puck into his net while trying to avoid pressure from a BU player. The most embarrasing one comes from 1989, when BU goalie Peter Fish swept one into the net to give even more help to Harvard in their 9-6 win. Not surprisingly, Fish went 6-10 that year in what might be the only three goalie rotation I've ever seen (and which I don't remember, problematic given that I'd have been regularly attending games that year).

For the first year in many we did not sit at one end of the arena, having been moved towards one of the blue lines. In the process, we were also moved up to the first row of the balcony, with only a platform for disability seating behind us. The area underneath the platform is open, so we also gained a storage area.

They're going to have to pry us out of these seats.

Looking forward, I'd like to be optimistic about the final, but our results with BC this year have been so unpredictable I'm not going to hazzard a guess. Rather, I'm focusing on Friday, where I'll get to finally knock off the lone Hockey East arena I've never visited. One game at a time.

Oh, and USA Today is also on the case with the shadow penis. Alert the FCC!

And to show how out of it I am when it comes to the Super Bowl ads, here are the top 5 as ranked by USA Today's Ad Meter:

1. Crabs hijack cooler thinking it's their god - this Budweiser spot took the top spot by almost a quarter-point over the second place ad. Which is befuddling, as this is smirk-worthy at best. Yahoo! Sports also noted that it's derivative of the ETs who worshiped "The Claw" in Toy Story.

2. Mutt get dirty, gets a ride on the Budweiser wagon - speaking of derivative, the fish out of water story here isn't a donkey trying to become a Clydesdale, but rather a stray dog who, thanks to some strategically placed dirt, is mistaken for a Dalmatian and gets the adoration he didn't previously get in the gutter. It was cute, but not as good as the donkey ads.

3. RPG for beer goes horribly awry. Two guys, one Bud Light. They rock-paper-scissors for it, with one guy "throwing" paper while the other throws a rock. Literally. I kind of liked this one, to be honest.

4. A guy and a girl demonstrate the qualities of Doritos while flirting - badly - forgot about this one, which was made by some sort of amateur but was shot well and did a nice job of humorously interplaying things about Doritos (crunchy, cheesy, etc.) with what the two people were doing.

5. ESL was never so watered down - an English as Second Language class learns how to ask for Bud Light, and that if they are asked for one, how to say that they don't speak English. It was better than it sounds, but I don't think it was the fifth best ad of the night.

The two ads I noted - the Garmin ad and the K-Fed ad - landed in the bottom 10 (the Garmin ad in the bottom 5). I'd be more befuddled if I hadn't seen the surprising high rating for Wild Hogs, an upcoming Disney movie starring Tim Allen and John Travolta as middle-aged bike wannabes who tangle with an actual biker gang. That explains a lot about who was rating these things.

Anyway, you can go here to see the full Ad Meter ratings.

Not much to say about last night's game and attendant spectacle. It was four hours of perfectly OK entertainment. If I were rating on a 10 point scale, we never got below 5 but only rarely hit 7 or better. About the only point for that (for me, at least) was Devin Hester's opening kickoff return TD, though it's apparently a bad year for that in title-determining football games.

And for those who don't watch for the football, there wasn't much from the ads, either. Lots of ads that gave a chuckle, but nothing outstanding. If pushed to find a favorite, I'd either go with Garmin's "Mapzilla" or the K-Fed ad.

Prince was pretty good, too, though I'm probably not the best person to judge a Prince performance (I'm thinking this might have been the only part of the night that Greg tuned in for, so perhaps he'll comment). I'm also grading against other halftime shows, which gives Prince a pretty good curve to work with.

Even Puppy Bowl seemed a little off this year, for what I saw of it. Perhaps it was the lack of daschunds.

Book Log 2007 #3: The Quantum Zoo by Marcus Chown

I don't do so well with these books that claim to take a difficult subject and make it easy for regular folks. Unlike the one I read last year on economics, I at least made it all the way through this one. I just can't say I was thrilled, and I'm not sure why. Not sure if the explanations just didn't work for me, or if I was off-put by the quick changes from stuff I knew to stuff I really didn't. I also wasn't happy with the last section of the book, which looks at how all of the previous discussion applies to the universe. It felt a little rushed and not quite complete.

You may do better with it than I did, and if not it's at least not that long.

OK, this one struck me too funny. Now I will stop. Seriously.

And this may be the end of the worst day of school EVER.

OK, I'll stop now.

OK, given how well this one fits together, I'm beginning to wonder if the pairings are all that random. Not that it matters, this is the most entertaining The Family Circus has been in years (if not decades).

As entertainingly absurd as most random generator things are, this may actually be an insightful comment on the advent of McMansions. Kudos to Joe (via Craig) for turning me on to the Nietzsche Family Circus.