Tuvok Obama

My big brother and his spunky girlfriend (who is clearly having a very positive influence on him) recently quit their jobs to go volunteer for the Obama campaign! How cool is that!?!!? First they went to Chicago and now they are in my hometown of Denver, working at the DNC.

If I weren't:

a) carrying for an infant

b) mired in a 6-year academic program

and

c) perpetually broke

I'd join them too!

Alas, that is not to be. So instead, here (at right) is my contribution to the cause. My kippah off to my buddy Josh for passing this along to me.

Go outside and play

Aaron, baby and I are just back from DLTI -- the Davenning Leadership Training Institute -- held in a picturesque Jewish retreat center in Connecticut. The weeklong program is the first of four sessions held over a two-year period, focusing on how to become a better religious service leader. I attended the program and Aaron played Papa Extraordinaire.

The program was wonderful, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their art of service leading. The logistics were difficult, being away from home, away from all the paraphernalia, with a 6-week-old infant. Breast-feeding in the downright FREEZING cabin at 2 a.m., with no heat -- well, that was a memorable experience to say the least.

Sadly, this one week away constitutes our collective family "vacation" for the year, if you can call it that. I came home to find an email from a work colleague heading out for his own vacation for the year. As he pointed out (in the graph above), we Americans really don't do very well when it comes to giving our brains and our bodies a timeout.

Stephen Colbert and Breast Pumping

Having a newborn in the house creates a dangerously ripe opportunity for watching really bad television. About 90 percent of the time, I'm feeding her or holding her, both of which happen on the couch, and I'm too tired and too manually challenged to do anything other than watch lame TV programs that under normal circumstances, I would be too embarrassed to admit.

Maybe that's why that quote from The New Yorker posted in my last blog entry struck me as so gosh darn funny.

I've become a rabid devotee of Stacy London's and Clinton Kelly's antics on TLC's What Not To Wear. Who knew that watching other people's fashion foibles could be so much fun!?!

Catching up on Hugh Hefner's girl posse on The Girls Next Door provides endless amusement. I admit it, I'm hooked. Several times a week.

Thank god for Tevo, which is catching me up on all of the Chelsea Handler shows of the past year. Why would anyone spend time studying Hebrew verb patterns when you could be making fun of Jessica Simpson and Tom Cruise? Don't ask me!

Lastly, I've discovered the Colbert Report, which is actually slightly *less* embarrassing than my other TV fare these days. You can imagine just how funny this skit was then, as I was sitting at the dining room table milking myself to make a bottle for the baby and this came on the tube:

Random funny writing of the week

From the "USA Today: The Network's Newest Misfits" TV review in the Aug. 11, 2008, issue of The New Yorker, by Nancy Franklink:

"Even if you're not usually interested in distinctions between different kinds of stupid, I submit that in this not entirely pleasant year (see index under 'political primaries') there's a little room for some good stupid. While watching the ABC competition show Wipeout when it premiered six weeks ago, I became at moments a truly happy idiot, and I could hear my brain cells, one after another, packing their suitcases and walking out of my head, saying regretfully but firmly, 'I'm sorry, I just can't live here anymore.' Well, fine. Go, then. Still ,it's not as though I'm addicted to stupidity, so after a couple of episodes I forgot about Wipeout and moved on to Bill Moyers. Then, scanning last week's onscreen TV schedule, I was stopped by the description of Wipeout and was pulled back in: 'Obstacles include Foamy Launch Pads and Killer Surf.' That's all I needed to hear... ."

Okay, so I couldn't care less about this TV show, which I've never even heard of before now, but that's just one damn fine piece of writing!

Adi update

Good news! On the one-month anniversary of her birth, Adi had a glowing check-up from the orthopedic doctor, who reports that her hip joints are forming beautifully. We can begin weaning her off of the body harness, and she might be completely done with it by the end of the month.

Papa was so happy he cried for 10 minutes straight. The first thing we did is give her the first full-fledged bath since she was born!