1. From the edge of the deep green sea (Cure)
2. Am I Right (Erasure)
3. Will Never Marry (Morrissey)
4. Dead (They Might Be Giants)
5. Pain Makes You Beautiful (The Judybats)
6. Candle In The Wind (Elton John)
7. Nothing Like (Ned’s Atomic Dustbin)
8. Dead To The World (Finns)
9. Lee And Molly (Ziggy Marley)
10. Warakurna (Midnight Oil)
11. Closedown (Cure)

• Justin had his first basketball practice last night.  The team jerseys will be black, so I was thinking “The Rim Reapers” would be a good name for the team.
• The movie “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire” seems like the screen play was done by reading every fourth page of the book.  I understanding cutting stuff from the book to make a movie, but the movie seemed very jerky and the decisions for what they kept versus what they deleted seem haphazard at best.

My psychic powers are telling me that I will see this comic on several skeptic sites today -

In a surprise move, the White House and Republican in Congress have agreed to support the merger of Microsoft and Oracle. It was initially expected that a merger of this magnitude would be opposed at the highest levels. EGI has learned that Microsoft has struck a deal with the Republican Party to improve the Republican party’s image in exchange for Federal backing of the merger.

A pair of EGI reporters uncovered this secret agreement accidentally, while exchanging instant messages. Using Microsoft’s Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger, the reporters were discussing Senator Rick Santorum (R). When the message with Senator Rick Santorum (R) was transmitted via MSN messenger, the (R) was switched to a rainbow. The reporters instantly recognized the rainbow as the symbol of homosexuality acceptance and racial acceptance.

This subliminal suggestion may have been forgotten, until later in the conversation the two reporters were discussing Senator Ted Kennedy (D). Not surprisingly, the (D) in the transmission was converted to a martini glass. The martini glass implies that all Democrats are drunks.

With this evidence in hand, EGI felt it need to investigate the story. Microsoft developers admitted, off the record, that this was only a small part of a much larger plan to improve the Republican’s image while discrediting the Democrats. In the coming weeks and months, MSN and MSNBC will begin to air a number of stories that present key Democratic officials and the Democratic presidential candidates in a negative light.

1. You’ll Dance To Anything (Dead Milkmen)
2. Posters(Dada)
3. People Are Strange (Echo and the Bunnymen)
4. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead (Depeche Mode)
5. Walk Like An Egyptian (Bangles)
6. Good Day (Dresden Dolls)
7. All Right Now (Material Issue)
8. A Question of Time (Depeche Mode)
9. Trust Me To Open My Mouth (Squeeze)
10. Who Goes First (Ned’s Atomic Dustbin)
11. Mothers Of The Disappeared (U2)
12. Wasting Time (Judybats)
13. Somebody (Depeche Mode)

• A friend of Danielle’s got to experience dinner with the Hofer’s. We were having a normal dinner conversation, discussing how the gender of a baby is determined by whether it receives an X or Y Chromosome from the father, because the Egg always contains an X Chromosome, when the girl says, “Okay, that’s enough science, can we talk about something else.” To which Danielle responds, “But this is interesting.” Imagine if it would have been an atypical dinner conversation…
• Our space-saver microwave went out last week. The new one came in yesterday (we had to special order it because our other appliances are beige). I was hoping that since I ordered the same brand that I could reuse the mounting brackets. The top holes and cord hole worked, but the rear mounting bracket had changed just enough and was originally installed poorly enough to cost me an extra hour of installation time.
• I think we need to add a few more things to our weekly schedule. It now stands like this: Monday - Allison piano and sometimes girl scouts. Tuesday - Allison ice skating (x2), Danielle volleyball, Justin occasional scouting. Wednesday - Justin sometimes has scouts. Thursday - Justin Basketball and occasional scouts, Danielle occasional scouts, and I’m sure something else. Friday - not sure. Saturday - Justin basketball games.
• I’m still withholding judgment on the two bands Mike introduced me to - Dresden Dolls and Noisettes. The Dresden Dolls make me think of a Berlin lounge act mimicking the Smith’s lyrics. I’m not sure what to think of the Noisettes.

Conversation overheard at India’s Kitchen

• Waiter of Indian or Pakistani Descent[WoIoPD] : Can I get you something to drink?
• Group of 3[Go3]: In a minute. We want to look at the buffet first.
• Go3: [Looks at buffet for a few minutes then returns to table]
• WoIoPD: Would you like anything to drink?
• Go3: No thank you. We are going to a different restaurant.
• WoIoPD: Would you like to see a menu first.
• Go3: No thank you, we didn’t realize this was an Indian Restaurant.
• Me [a little too loudly]: Who would have thought a place named India’s Kitchen would be an Indian restaurant.
• Coworker: Perhaps they thought it was Apache or Navajo food.

• What are the three terrors of the Fire Swamp? One, the flame spurts. No problem. There’s a popping sound preceding each, we can avoid that. Two, the Lightning Sand. But you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too.
• Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.’s?
• Rodents of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist…

or maybe they do

Scientists have discovered the remains of a rodent the size of a small car which used to forage the South American continent. The 1-ton creature is believed to have been about 3 meters in length and 1.5 meters tall.

The giant rat’s skull, which measures an impressive 53 centimeters in diameter was found by Andrés Rinderknecht and Ernesto Blanco, two scientists from Montevideo, Uruguay.

The two paleontologists stumbled upon the fossilized remains in a broken boulder in San Jose along the coast of Uruguay.

By looking at the size ratios of the skulls and bodies of existing rodents, scientists determined the bodyweight of the rodent must have approached 1,000 kilograms or a ton, making it the world’s largest rodent to have been discovered to date.

Bitter rivals Microsoft and Oracle Corporations appear to have settled their differences and are on the verge of a merger.  Anonymous inside sources from both companies have confirmed to EGI that the companies have been in negotiations for some time.  Documents supplied to EGI suggest that a merger will likely happen by the end of the year.

The chief liaison between the companies, Edward Zander, retired from the role of President and Chief Operating Officer at Sun Microsystems earlier this year to focus all of his efforts on completing the merger.  Mr. Zander is scheduled to receive 200 Million in stock should the merger become finalized.

Scott McNealy, the current President of Sun Microsystems, speaking through his secretary, has denied that Edward Zander left Sun to work on this merger.  ”Only a fool would believe that Ed would be working with Microsoft or Oracle, let alone working to merge the two.”  The official word is that Mr. Zander is “Exploring other business interest”.

Washington insiders are concerned about the merger.  They fear that the merger is the first step toward Larry Ellison and Bill Gates common goal of not only domination in the software industry but World domination. A Gates spokesperson confirmed that taking over the World was not outside the realm of possibility.

Someone close to the negotiations revealed that Bill Gates and Larry Ellison had agreed in principle to a plan that would give Bill Gates North and South America as well as Australia.  Ellison would receive Europe, Asia and the rest of the Asia Pacific.  Humans would be removed from the continent of Africa and it would be turned into a huge wild life reserve.  There are some indications that the Middle East will be punished for support of terrorism by forcing the inhabitants to use DB2 and UNIX.

Microsoft stock has been steadily climbing for the past month as rumors of the merger have gotten out.  Oracle stock price initially climbed as well, but not lately as the merger is being seen in a negative light for Oracle shareholders.

The one and only female in our office is pregnant (no, I didn’t do it).  Her due date is at the end of June, and she was saying how she would probably have the C-section on her husbands birthday.

I suggested that the correct date for the C-section would be the 24th, because it you used the European date format the baby’s birth date would be two four six eight.  She thought it was a good idea, but wasn’t sure her husband would go for it.