Who is Sock-Washy? My 3 yo daughter comes home from a weekend with my parents with a new friend, "Sock-Washy."

Sock-Washy is a black sock with a rolled up washcloth in it.

Apparently, my daughter misplaced the one of her several dozen stuffed animals she had brought with her to sleep with, and so my mother conjured Sock-Washy out of the ether. Or, more specifically, out of her suitcase and the hotel bathroom.

Not only did this comfort my daughter temporarily, but she brought Sock-Washy home, where it has assumed a place in the regular rotation of her cast of stuffed nocturnal companions.

It has no eyes, no face, no personality, no gender (most of her animals are insistently female) and no story.

It is simply Sock-Washy.

While my wife and I feel like idiots contemplating her pile of expensive stuffed toys (many of which, it should be noted, were also purchased by my Sock-Washy conjuring mother), we can't help admiring the zen beauty of Sock-Washy itself.

Sock-Washy.

Sakawashi (Japanese version)

Sokawashie (New England version)

Sock-Washy.  ¶ 4:48 PM 0 comments

  Don't f--k with the Army and the CIA? My dad has a theory on the mudslide that's (hopefully) about to wash away the Republican majority in the house and possibly the senate.

Don't F--k with the Army and the CIA.

The Republican leadership has stepped on and scapegoated the CIA for the last couple of years, and the army wants like hell to get out of this quagmire of a war. Is it any wonder that all the dirty laundry is coming out now?

Remember, McCarthy was tolerated by the Center Right until he went after the army.

At long last, is there a sense of decency about to prevail?  ¶ 9:12 PM 0 comments

  The dream of a post-boomer political discourse: Run, Obama, Run! Oh, the potetnial of a Barack Obama presidential candidacy (and, dare we dream, presidency) is exciting. Not only because it offers the Democrats an alternative to Hillary, but because it offers the opportunity to move politics beyond lame discussions of who won the sixties.

Obama, born in 1961, would be our first post-boomer president.

Finally, we could stop talking about the sexual revolution, Vietnam, and the cold war. For those of you keeping score at home, the hedonists won the first one, and the communists won the second and lost the third.

Now that that's settled, let's talk about the messy, multi-polar, globalized world we all live in now.

Run, Obama, Run.  ¶ 10:54 PM 1 comments

  My daughter gives notes Me: (signing the latest song from Noggin that's stuck in my head)

Her: Daddy, do that with a Russian accent. It's better.  ¶ 9:27 AM 0 comments

  That's Brand Promise... Is it bad a sign when you walk for almost 2 blocks in midtown manhattan looking for a Starbucks and are incensed that you don't see one?

(posted from Starbucks)  ¶ 9:23 AM 0 comments