Today was a huge loss for progressive politics as Ted Kennedy passed away from brain cancer. He was one of the most effective lawmakers of my generation -- and my parents' generation -- and he will be missed. I went through and found a voicemail he had left for my boss a couple years ago on our office machine. It certainly showed his personal touch and effort he made to a then-freshman Congressman.

Micah's cold — Summer 2009 Edition Update

In somewhat lighter news, my vacation cold has cleared up and we'll have to see how long my [kennel] cough lingers this time around. Every time I get a cold at home I go through the same back and forth with my mom about echinacea and whether it actually does anything. It usually ends up with me relenting and taking five pills that I truly believe do nothing.

Excitement at home

I find it hilarious that my father not only subscribes to TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, and People Magazine (his rationale is that he has to use his airline miles to get something), but that he actually reads them. There are many, many publications that I get for free and never feel compelled to read — the ironically named "Executive Intelligence Review" comes to mind.

Yesterday I caught a great Fresh Air interview with Mike Judge. There's a great segment where he describes coming up with the voice for Hank Hill at 12 1/2 minutes in. I decided to check out his newest show called The Goode Family. I didn't even hear it until after it was canceled. It's an animated show about an über-PC/vegan/eco-friendly family that struggles with modern life. There are 12 episodes out there and they are hilarious. I hope that Comedy Central picks it up for a second season.

I'm home in Minneapolis for the next 10 days. GE is leaving for England for a year tomorrow, so we had a farewell midnight dinner at Denny's. We noticed that while Denny's strict ban on board games and cards still is in effect, they now offer free WiFi. We presumed that means that we could both bring laptops and play Yahoo Cribbage there for hours, right? We were also unsure if Scategories or Taboo counts as board games.

Since Costco sells coffins, I wonder if they have a discounted family pack. Note to self: don't die in Minnesota if you want to be buried in a Costco casket: it's not one of the 34 states where you can buy your own. Think about it: If Costco Caskets are outlawed, only outlaws will have Costco Caskets...

I tinkered with the site design again today. I think it's much cleaner with less reliance on images. If you're viewing this in Internet Explorer, you're definitely missing out. At the very least, try out Firefox 3.5 or better to see the glorious round corners and alpha-level transparency.

Guinness got really sick over the last couple weeks. She stopped eating and sleeping (two of her favorite things) and her liver started shutting down. I went with KP to the animal hospital and we had a few minutes to say goodbye to her before her sedative set in. She was only five years old and will be greatly missed.