The above photo was taken of our youngest son earlier this week. It made it to Page 1 of Flickr's Interestingness and was shown on the main page of Explore for March 16, 2006. I plan on saving it back for his senior football banquet.

Reading and loving: "I Am a Liberal. There, I Said It!" by George Clooney — " you, you weren't misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic."

Our youngest son turned 9 months old on Thursday. Yet another month that's flown by at the speed of light... He's now been out (in the world) longer than he was in (me) officially! He can now pull himself up to 3/4 standing up on his knees, can sit up on his own from any position, and can crawl backwards and in circles (and Army-crawl and bunny-hop forward). If you turn your back for even an instant, he's suddenly 15-feet away from where you last left him. Thank goodness we're already baby-proofed. Having two who are mobile is a whole 'nuther ballgame though. He would give anything to take off running and catch his big brother, so I think it's just a matter of time. He can already step-forward when you hold him by his hands. We are actually starting to plan his first birthday party (hoping to go back to Oklahoma just like we did for big brother's first). It's like déjà vu all over again... I can't believe it's all gone by so quickly!

In continuing with the spring cleaning trend I've got going on, I just put my Crumpler "15 Love" camera / messenger bag up on eBay. When Mrs. Poopypants stayed here last August, she looked mine all over and then went back home and bought one herself. Since she lives in San Francisco and actually has the luxury of seeing the bags before she purchases them, she ended up with the "7 Million Dollar Home" and convinced me that it would be a much better fit for my accessories. And after getting my new Tamron 28-75mm I realized that if I wanted to carry all of my lenses, plus my speedlight, and not constantly have the Tube-O-Lager strapped to the side.....well, it was time to upgrade. So up on eBay the other one goes! It's a fantastic bag in terrific condition (as you can see in all the close-up photos at the bottom of the listing) - so grab it cheap while you can if you're so inclined.

This St. Paddy's Day my heart will be at McGuire's in Pensacola, downing an Irish Wake. In actuality, I'll probably be holding a Diet Coke and trying to stay awake - and the only green I'll be covered in will be strained peas and puréed green beans. (Sidebar: Todd just asked me to type the word "Goonie", so this is for you babe!) Anyhoo, once upon a time I could party and drink and celebrate this holiday properly with the best of 'em. So cheers! Don't do anything I wouldn't do... (Which gives you a lot of wiggle room!)