It’s an unwritten rule that when you take a family vacation to the beach, at some point you must get the family dressed up and head to the shore for the group pics. I used to dread this event. With. A. Passion. When the kids were younger I had to resort to scary big daddy voice in order to get them to line up and smile. I mean, smile at the same time. In the same millisecond. Instead of handing them a story to remember, I handed them a nightmare to run away from. It didn’t work out the way I wanted.

So we changed. We’ve only got a few years with these dearies before they leave our hive, so let’s not waste a chance for an awesome memory. Now we give the kids more freedom, and they give us this:

If you want to see the real photo essay of our trip, Sarabeth has a great series running here, here, here and here.

I’m out of words now…

]]> http://wholebrevitything.com/2010/07/21/polaroids-from-the-edge/feed/ 3 34.803099 -92.248271 34.803099 -92.248271 bryan jones DSC_0136-pola DSC_0034-pola DSC_0055-pola DSC_0088-pola01 DSC_0080-pola DSC_0146_2-pola DSC_0128-pola DSC_0192-pola02 DSC_0171_2-pola http://wholebrevitything.com/2009/11/16/twist-of-faith/ http://wholebrevitything.com/2009/11/16/twist-of-faith/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:22:06 +0000 bryan jones http://wholebrevitything.com/?p=1225 ]]> This entire day has felt sideways. It’s as if my reality has shifted a bit. Strangely, it feels eerily similar to when we first brought our newborn daughter home from the hospital a dozen years ago. I clearly remember how impossible it was to sleep that first night. I was so worried that at some point in the night that she might stop breathing. Burned into my memory from that night was the realization that my strength has some very definite limits. That night I learned the meaning of faith. “Please, dear God, let my daughter live through the night. Please keep my little angel safe from harm.”

There was no reason to fear that something bad would happen, her body was very strong and healthy. The problem was with me – I had no power to control the situation. I could make sure that she was in safe surroundings. But that night, that was all that I could control, and I was not prepared for such a realization.

The reason that this day has had a similar feeling is because yesterday I spent the day in two different – and I cannot stress how different – hospitals with a broken child. My little angel had fallen to the ground while playing a game at church and when she reached for the ground to brace for the fall, her arm twisted awkwardly causing three major fractures. I was standing nearby when the accident happened so I scooped her up as quickly as I could and within moments I was holding her in the back of a dear friend’s minivan as we raced across town to an Emergency Room. With every bump in the road her pain intensified and each scream was soul-wrenched. I was helpless to ease her pain, and with each wail, I lost a day of my life.

I did what I could – I stroked the tears from her face, I held her body as steady as possible, I called the ER to let them know that I was bringing in a badly injured girl. None of it was enough. She was in incredible pain and she desperately wanted it to stop, but Daddy couldn’t make it stop.

When we rushed into the reception area of the ER, I expected to be met by a team of trauma nurses, not an admissions clerk who was solely focused on keeping the situation calm. As Elizabeth screamed, we filled out the appropriate paperwork and then stood alone in the empty waiting room…just waiting. I studied the place trying to find the right doors to tear off of their hinges so that my daughter could receive medical attention. Eventually we were taken to an exam room where a group of polite nurses, and an attending physician let us know that their hospital could not take care of my daughter, and that we would have to move her to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Our time at ACH was a blur of compassion and healing. Many doctors met with us to determine what had happened and what would be best for her restoration to full health. We consulted with the anesthesiologist and wheeled Elizabeth into the surgery center. One of the state’s top pediatric orthopedic surgeons performed the operation, and within a span of four hours our family was on our way home.

Now after a day has passed, Elizabeth is resting well and her three broken bones are healing. My healing is taking place in a different way. I think that I’ve been broken for a while and this window into the reality of control (or lack thereof) may make things right. With that, I’ll say goodnight.

I am exhausted. I had no idea how tiring not-ripping doors off hinges and not-strangling people could be.

I’m out of words, now..

7:46 AM Jul 20th
This weekend, @sarabethjones has her H.S. 20-Year Reunion. (and I have the pressure of being a trophy husband.)

2:08 PM Jul 24th
White Trash Story – Casey Donahew Band: Perfect song for @sarabethjones’s 20YR Reunion. #DogtownNeverDies http://tr.im/tTxd

7:15 PM Jul 24th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: Don’t pretend that you went to school with these people. It confuses them, and pisses off your wife.

7:38 PM Jul 24th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: DO NOT BRING YOUR 6-MONTH OLD ( dear God, why!?!)

8:41 PM Jul 24th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: DO NOT introduce youself to other dudes, and then ask, “So, have you ever kissed my wife?”

9:10 PM Jul 24th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip Just stop! (about an hour ago) @ Sticky Fingerz Rock and Roll http://loopt.us/_OmeOw.t

10:53 PM Jul 24th
#TrophyHusbaaamfirjdudjdjsjs

12:00 AM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip Leave the party with your dignity intact.12:00 AM Jul 25th from Birdfeed

11:12 AM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip What she said ☞ http://tr.im/tZTV

12:40 PM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip For the family picnic, dress your Little Dudes better. (apparently I’ve chosen poorly)

4:37 PM Jul 25th
Photo: ReunionTrophyHusband To be honest, this whole trophy relationship is the other way around. http://tumblr.com/xlx2grb75

6:30 PM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: Wear Polo cologne and see if anyone gets the joke. @ Home : North Little Rock, AR http://loopt.us/AQ3tQw.t

7:54 PM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: Be less obvious when spiking your punch. Unsexy.

8:57 PM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: Dancing. Remember your lessons from “Hitch” – No Freestyling. You are not Jiggy. @ Lit… http://loopt.us/1cVL9Q.t

9:28 PM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: “Let’s do the wild thing” is a song lyric, not permission.

10:28 PM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: Relax. (Frankie says so!) @ Little Rock, AR http://loopt.us/zTYHig.t

10:49 PM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: Eventually, you will have to dance. Just bite lip, and shuffle – a la Eddie Murphy.

11:40 PM Jul 25th
#ReunionTrophyHusbandTip: @sarabethjones‘s 20YR Reunion is over. 16YR Marriage is still intact. Win!

I’m out of words now…

My Home Screen #2

I love photography. ( It runs in the family ) I love to trap a moment, and hold onto it forever. If you are patient and curious you can collect some very special slices of life. One of my favorite things about the magic phone is that it makes sharing these moments so very easy to do. I send a lot of pictures to the web from my little, hand held friend.

The magic phone is ultra-capable  – you may have heard, there an app for just about anything. The ability to edit pictures on the iPhone is a really cool feature, and one that I take advantage of all of the time. Here is a quick look at the apps i use to style my mobile pics. …

CameraBag: This is a one-stop shop of awesomeness. One of my first photography apps for the iPhone and still one of my favorites. This $3 application offers nine different styles which can be applied to any image housed on the phone, or the styles can be applied as the photgraphs are made through the application. I really like the square ratio that is delivered by the “Helga” and “Lolo” styles. It reminds me of my old Hasselblads.

CameraBag for iPhone

TiltShift: A fun $2 application for manipulating perspective and depth of field, TiltShift allows for a lot of creative expression. I don’t use TiltShift as much as I use the other photography apps, but when I do, I’m always pleased with the results.

TiltShift / CameraBag for iPhone

FocalLab: Similar in service to TiltShift, FocalLab offers the ability to alter the appearance of an image’s depth of field. FocalLab also offers the ability to ad faux-motion to an image with multiple “blur” options. FocalLab carries a price tag of $2.

CameraKit: The easiest to use of all of the photography applications that i own. CameraKit, another $2 application, makes it very easy to add vignetting, saturated processing, and a slightly softened focus to any image.

Photogene: The swiss army knife of iPhone photography applications, Photogene offers a user-friendly interface for performing several essential photo-editing tasks. I use this $3 app for adding a slight white border to my images.

FocalLab / CameraKit / Photogene for iPhone

ToyCamera: I was too much of a creative snob to buy ToyCamera when it first came to the app store. It was a toy for the folks who didn’t know how to use the legitimate tools – at least that is what I thought back then. A few weeks ago, a friend at work showed me some shots that he had taken with this $1 app, and I was floored with how cool they looked. I use ToyCamera to deliver random processing effects for cool antiqued photographs.

ToyCamera / Photogene for iPhone

QuadCam: Another one of the painfully simple to use applications, QuadCam produces some incredible stories. The images captured with this $2 application allow the viewer to see a moment from several different perspectives enabling the imagination to create a unique narrative. I am a big fan of QuadCam.

QuadCam for iPhone

I’m out of words now…

planes, trains and automobiles

In that time, I missed the 2-year birthday of wholebrevitything. So…hey, we’re two!

On to the now, I don’t want you to miss these two things:

1. Sarabeth has a great post about our 42 hours in New York.
2. I’ve awakened Flairification.

I’m out of words now…

Spiderman

I have many questions for Spidey this morning.

I’m out of words now…

Without any kind of theme, here are my 16:

1. I was accepted to Baylor University eight times.
2. I once worked at a sandwich shop where we had to greet customers as they walked in the door by saying “Welcome to Substop, home of the 18-incher.” We had T-shirts emblazoned with the same message.
3. For two years, I worked at a party picture company called Flash.
4. If you put the two preceding items together, you’ve got a career written in the stars.
5. I have been detained by Johnny Law five times, but bail was only required thrice.
6. My grandfather was born without a first or middle name, just the initials J.B.
7. One Summer I worked as a professional cowboy in Colorado.
8. My dress shirt are size is 19.5 x 38
9. When I was young, I wanted to be a Jawa when I grew up. That, or a dentist.
10. For Halloween, when I was six, I dressed as Space Ace Frehley from Kiss.
11. I went through thirteen skateboards in three years of middle school.
12. My diploma declares that I have earned a Bachelor of Arts in History.
13. I am married to a woman who holds Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.
14. On paper we are unemployable.
15. For the last ten years, we have had two 18-wheelers up on blocks at our family ranch north of Austin.
16. Counting college and high school, I have formally studied German for six years, yet all that I can clearly recall is: “Ich habe eine grosse bleistift.”

Now, let’s see if Alison, Lance, Wade and Rich want to play along.

I’m out of words now…

So, the story goes like this:

A few weeks ago, my mother told me that my grandmother had recently read a wonderful little story about Colt McCoy (the Texas Longhorns’ quarterback) in an obscure small-town church  newsletter. “Colt and his little buddy Shipley are witnessing for Jesus, and bringing college kids to the Church of Christ right and left.”

The author of the article, for some insane reason, decided to include the cell phone number for Colt’s father. My grandmother thought that was just wonderful, so she picked up her phone. She’s country. She’s almost 90. And she’s not afraid of anything.

When Colt’s dad answered, my grandmother told him about the article, and that she was very impressed with Colt. Then asked if Colt might give her great-grandson (who lives in Austin) a call to invite him to join Colt at church some time. Papa McCoy said that he was sure that Colt would do just that, but, they were in New York for some award presentation but when they returned to Texas, Colt would give him a call.

When I saw my grandmother over the holidays, I asked her if this story was true.

Her answer was priceless: “Well,” she said, “the last time I talked to him, he told me just how wonderful he thought it was that I was so interested in my great-grandson’s affairs…”

“THE LAST TIME I TALKED TO HIM” I think that my grandmother is now stalking the McCoys.

I’m out of words now…

Merry Christmas from The Dude

So, two mixes were born.  …

Whole Brevity Thing - LudaChristmas

[download the mix]

1. Santa Claus And His Old Lady / Cheech & Chong
2. I Don’t Have A Christmas Tree / Mark Mothersbaugh
3. (Baby It’s) So Cold / The Apples In Stereo
4. Come On! Let’s Boogie to the Elf Dance! / Sufjan Stevens
5. Don’t Shoot Me Santa / The Killers
6. Don’t Believe In Christmas / Pearl Jam
7. All I Want For Christmas Is You / Heike Has The Giggles
8. everything’s gonna be cool this christmas / Eels
9. Lonely Holiday / Old 97′s
10. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) / Death Cab For Cutie
11. Do They Know It’s Christmas / Pete Yorn
12. Winter Wonderland / Liz Phair
13. Sleigh Ride / The Late Greats
14. Feliz Navidad / El Vez
15. Donde Esta Santa Claus / Guster
16. Christmas / Blues Traveler
17. When I Get Home for Christmas / Snow Patrol
18. Christmas With Jesus / Josh Rouse
19. Cold White Christmas / Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
20. If You Were Born Today / Jimmy Eat World
21. Christmas Time (Is Here Again) / The Beatles
22. Twelve Days of Christmas / Bob and Doug McKenzie

Whole Brevity Thing AcoustiChristmas

[download the mix]

1. Season’s Greetings / SNL
2. Someday At Christmas / Jack Johnson
3. Silent Night / Ween
4. Christmas Music / Daniel Johnson
5. Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas (live) / Eels
6. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town / Mason Jennings
7. Christmas is Coming Soon / Blitzen Trapper
8. Yeah, I Know, It’s Christmastime / Andrew Dost (Anathallo)
9. Valley Winter Song / Fountains of Wayne
10. All That I Want / The Weepies
11. Snow Day / matt pond PA
12. Winter In The Hamptons / Josh Rouse
13. 25th December / Everything But The Girl
14. Listening To Otis Redding At Home During Christmas / Okkervil River
15. All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue / Over The Rhine
16. Winter / Joshua Radin
17. Joy To The World / Clem Snide
18. Come On Ring Those Bells / Phantasmic Feat. Tess Wiley
19. The Holidays Are Here (and we’re still at war) / Brett Dennen
20. It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad / Sufjan Stevens
21. Winter Wonderland / Jason Mraz
22. You’re A Mean One Mr Grinch / Sixpence None The Richer
23. All I Want for Christmas Is You / Teddy Geiger
24. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas / Coldplay
25. Happy Christmas (War Is Over) / Maroon 5
26. Paper Sleighs / M.I.A.

I hope you dig the tunes, and I hope that you have a wonderful holiday full of family and friends. Merry Ho Ho Ho!

I’m out of words now…

Spiderman Passed Out In The Bathtub

I’m out of words now….

Old Favorites

Normally, when my jeans have reached the end of their blue days, I hop online and purchase another pair of old favorites. I’d love to be able to run to the Gap and pick up a new pair, but 38×36 is one of those “additional sizes available online.” So, it’s off to the internets for me. …

Last month I found that it was time to let another pair of jeans fade away, so webbing I went to order their replacements. Amazingly, the price of my favorite jeans now rings up the cash register at $69.00. Outside of the sophomoric humor of the price, WHOA!, when did jeans become luxury items? This dude can’t afford fancy pants, so I needed another option.

I’ve always wondered whether or not it was possible to dye faded jeans back to their blue glory of the past. Theoretically it is possible, right? With nothing to lose, I set off into the the world of mommy bloggers to solve this mystery. If I can handle coloring The Dramatic’s hair, certainly I can wade into the waters of the stitch and bitch. The answer was simple…of course you can! Apparently this skill has been handed down from mothers to daughters for generations, they’ve just been holding out on the guys all this time.

After decoding the language of the moms, here is the best recipe for jean rejuvenation that I have found:

Ingredients Needed:

• One box of Rit Denim Blue Dye
• One box of Rit Black Dye
• One box (24 bags) of Lipton Iced Tea

Order of Operations:

1. Wash and dry the Old Favorites.
2. Start a small wash cycle using whatever water temperature you wish, pausing the cycle before agitation begins.
3. On a stove top bring a quart of water to boil in a sauce pan, and then mix in the denim dye until stirring until the powder is fully dissolved.
4. Repeat Step 3 for the black dye as well.
5. Add the two saucepans full of dissolved die to the water in the washing machine, and let the agitation commence. (Sidenote, I think that is what the obstetrician cried upon my delivery into this world.)
6. After 30 seconds of agitation, add the Old Favorites to the murky black-blue water of the washing machine.
7. Allow the wash cycle to carry on for 2 minutes, and then pause the cycle allowing the jeans to soak for 10 minutes.
8. Repeat Step 7 until the wash cycle is complete.
9. Allow the jeans to dry as you see fit.
10. Take the largest pot you have and fill it half way full with water and bring to a boil, and then remove the pot from the heat.
11. Add the 24 tea bags to the boiling water and allow all of the dark goodness to work its way from the bag to the water.
12. Add the dyed and dried jeans to the pot of ultra strong tea and stir them in until fully covered.
13. Allow the tea to stain the jeans for 30 minutes, then remove the jeans and allow to dry.

That’s it. Simple enough, really. The secret to the whole process is the tea-staining. Without staining the jeans with tea, or coffee if you wish, the jeans will come out with a purpleish-hue. That’s cool, too, but not exactly the look I was going for. If you follow the steps above, you should be out about eight bucks, and have jeans that look like this:

Restored Old Favorites (click pic to view larger)

I’m out of words now…

What it’s all about:

“the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue.”

I love the concept. Focus attention on an issue, and make a valuable difference. I have 30 minutes left to post on Blog Action Day, so here we go.

I don’t have an organization to point you to to reach out and make a difference. If you’re looking for one, maybe the List of 88 ways to fight poverty can help. Or, hop on over to advergirl, where I was first introduced to this whole campaign. My approach to fighting poverty is a little more hands-on. Get ready, it’s complicated: When someone in need asks for help, help.

On an almost-daily basis, as I walk the couple of blocks to work from my parking spot, I get the opportunity to help someone who needs a hand. It might be a ride to a shelter, or McDonald’s. It might be a couple of dollars. Every once in a while, it’s just a kind smile and an ear to listen to a story. It doesn’t take much to make a momentary difference in someone’s life. It’s simple really, I just try to always keep a couple of singles with me all the time, and then when I walk through downtown Little Rock, I keep my eyes open for folks that might need some hope.

This isn’t a heroic thing, it’s a human thing. The line between living on the street and living in an air conditioned home is incredibly thin. The line between sanity and insanity is even thinner. When I was in college, I had the unplanned opportunity to share my house with a couple of homeless guys. When I say share my house, that’s an exaggeration. I lived inside the house with my roommates, while Mike and Jacob lived on our large covered porch. But any time that the temperature hit freezing or below Mike and Jacob slept inside in our warm room. (to save money, we only heated/cooled one room in the old house, and all the roommates would tote our sleeping bags into the warm/cold room at night to sleep)

How we met Jacob and Mike, and came to ask them if they’d like to stay on our porch is a long story. A much shorter story is that having known these men changed my life forever. The year that we all lived together I learned the simple fact that people are people. There’s not much that separates us from one another, except for the walls that we build over time.

Mike found himself outside of my wall of “normal” because fighting in Viet Nam had robbed him of his clarity, and he had trouble balancing the real world and an imaginary one. Jacob’s path to the margin of society was marked by addiction, and the shame he carried along with it. I realized way back then, that it wouldn’t take much for me to find myself in their shoes. It’s totally by Grace that I haven’t. And that’s why I choose to share hope with anyone who needs a little bit.

And because today is Blog Action Day I’ve jumped on this soapbox to ask you to keep your eyes open as you walk through your day. You’ll find folks all around that need hope, and if your reading this, I’m 99% sure that you have the ability to share a little.

I’m out of preachy words now…

I just got off of the phone with the fine folks of Bank of America, and it appears that my bank account has been emptied by some dude cruising the truck stops of Tennessee.

Here’s the scam: you use your credit/cash card at a gas station and the gas station’s lax security allows your bank account info to linger on the local network just long enough for a scumbag with skills to pull your digits and head out the door with access to all of your dough.

That is until the dough has all been spent, which took just less than eight hours. In a way, I pity poor little skillful scummy, ’cause he robbed the wrong dude… man, I’ve got three kids and a mortgage and the first of the month is about a week away. I would have loved to have been there when the card was denied due to insufficient funds. Surely he expected that gravy train to carry him a little further, like, all the way across Tennessee.

Here’s the lesson to be learned: Stick to the gas stations you know well. I would say “the gas stations where you won’t get robbed” but for the last two years, they’ve all been robbing us. According to B of A, (most likely) this is the joint where I was scammed: Pilot Travel Center

No Good Deals has more on this sad state of affairs.

I’m out of words now…

Below, you’ll find a list of the online homes that I visit frequently, however this does not include: Disqus, Dopplr, Loopt, MySpace, Diditz, Signal Patterns, Outside.in, Triiibes, Pownce, Plurk, imeem, AideRSS, SonicLiving or Yelp. – My residences on those sites are quite dusty due to lack of use. Just roll over the screencaps to see what purpose each site serves.

twitter.com/bryanjones

extraawesome.com

adfeed.flairification.com

facebook.com/p/Bryan_Jones/559745199

ilike.com/user/bryan_j64

linkedin.com/in/bryanjoneslittlerock

last.fm/user/extraawesome

flickr.com/photos/extraawesome/

flairification.com

I could make the excuse that knowledge of the Social Web is part of my job, but… Well, I think that I’d still use these sites even if it wasn’t part of my 9 to 5.

I’m out of words now…

a.k.a. The Big Show

We have this Christmas tradition of covering the tree with coupons after the kids have finally hit the rack on Christmas Eve. These personalized coupons cover things like “Sipping @ Starbucks with Mom” or “Donuts with Dad” (that one seems to be re-usable) and they’re cashed in throughout the year.

Last Sunday, my littlest little dude cashed in his “Build Me a Blog” coupon. He was the last in the family to stake a flag in the world wide interweb, but he jumped in with gusto.

He picked the theme, name, and his header image in all of 2 minutes.

Then, it was time to write the first post. “Will,” I said, “what do you say when you meet someone…what do you tell them about yourself?”

“Uhhh…Oh! I know! I say ‘Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die.’”

Excellent. He is already speaking in movies. For his about page, I asked him what his blog was going to be about.

“I’m funny, and this website is all about funny.”

My pride cup runneth over. Hop on over to The Willinator and check out his site.

I’m out of words now…

…One more thing… The Willinator found a perfect youtube clip to sum himself up. But there was a problem since there’s a bit of swearing at the end of the clip. We couldn’t let him put the clip on his site… but this clip is extraawesome, and I couldn’t pass on it. I mean, c’mon, it’s Inigo Montoya wielding a lightsaber!

Cheers!

flairification is the latest addition to this little of blog consortium I’ve been building over the last year or so.

Here is the rundown:

wholebrevitything.com – just one dude’s slice of life.
extraawesome.com – my collection of cool found on the interwebs.
adfeed.extraawesome.com – OPP (other people’s posts) about advertising.
flairification.com – truth well flaired: a place where I can write about advertising, thereby saving wholebrevitything from shop talk.

I hope flairification turns into a place where lots of folks can post, and add thier perspective on advertising. Like SB’s appreciation of Target’s latest 30 second spot. So feel free to be a guest writer of the flair.

It’s after 3AM now, and I’m out of words…

I’m out of words now…

On this day back in 1993, Sarabeth Mahnken foolishly stood up in front of a jury of her peers, and exchanged vows with me. OK, so we had more than 12 in our bridal party…there were 16, and I’m not including our beloved ushers and the other 2nd string attendants. It was a big crew. …

Children. We were children. I’m still shocked that we pulled it off. I still had two years of college left (due to academically red-shirting my freshman year) and Sarabeth was hired by Baylor to travel around and recruit highscholl students to spend the “best years of thier lives” in Waco, TX. I still vividly remember studying for my first set of finals after we married and I realizing “Wow, If I screw up this time I’m gonna ruin two lives, not just one!” No pressure.

So, now I’ve had 15 years to run her off, but she still chooses to stay. I’ve accidentally tried hard to do it, but she understands me as noone else can, so she knows that somehow it will work out. She’s one stubborn amiga. And there is nothing in life for which I am more grateful.

Happy 15 Sunshine! You always leave me at a loss for words…

Know what happens when you buy your little dudette a phone? Texting. Voluminous texting. Here is the one-sided view of part of our conversation:

Have a good day Dad! :-D

Watcha doing? :-)

Coming home soon?

Hi!

Where r u?

See ya!

Hello? Dad?

Can Riley sleepover?

Please

Pretty please with sugar on top?

Almost here?

Back in AR?

Ya here yet?

Almost here?

Kxupnfnbuneherhnfnmealakfkwlmjmjmjtjtj753ajamak!!

Just got out of the movie

Kit Kiterage

Coming home soon?

Sweet!

See ya soon!

Where is the other Wii remote?

Could Blair sleepover?

CAN Blair sleepover?

All I want to know is this, what happened to all of my smileys?

I’m out of words now…

So, here they are, the entrants in the for the First Dooce Almighty Memorial Blog Give-Away. I am delighted to say that I know and care about each one of you guys. I am also glad that my mom didn’t comment 572 times, just to make me feel better about myself. (To be honest it might take Jan-Baby a flashlight and a week to find my blog.)

Under the intense supervision of my biggest little dude, Jonathan the Just, all names were placed in the hat and shuffled for approximately, 47.89 seconds. Give or take .32 seconds. As promised, Sweet Sarabeth then blindly drew the winning name.

And the winner is …

That is really cool. Of course it would have been cool if anyone of you dearies had won, but Kelli is a brilliant young writer at the Agency where I work. All day long, she is witty and clever on demand, so I’m thrilled that she is going to have an outlet to be independently creative.

Thanks for playing along, friends.

I’m out of words now…