It's late....

It's officially Sunday morning. Erin and I were privileged to attend a gala this evening at the downtown Hilton to benefit the House of Tiny Treasures. House of Tiny Treasures is an accredited private school for homeless children run by SEARCH (www.searchproject.org). The theme of the Gala was: Bikers and Babes.

In case you were wondering- Harleys aren't really our thing - but it's a great cause and an excellent organization. A lot of the folks I know on staff there have amazing stories of being brought out of homelessness through the efforts of SEARCH. Anyway - the reason I'm up right now....

Erin has to work in the morning and I have to disassemble our elliptical so we can return it to Costco after church. When we got the elliptical at the end of last year it took me and 4 of my neighbors (who all play football at Rice) to lift the thing upstairs. When we get the replacement... it's going in our room downstairs...

Because it's late and Erin really needs to sleep - I'm trying to kill a little bit of time so I don't wake her up when I go downstairs. My Mom always compares my Dad to 'a bull in a china shop' when he gets up in the morning..... a trait which I've inherited.

So it's random post time:

First off:
According the: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/10/baby.names.ap.ap/index.html
Jacob is the top baby boy name for 2007! I'm flattered. What I found disturbing about this article is that for girls, the 31st most popular name is: Nevaeh - which is 'heaven' spelled backwards. When did that become a trend? Seriously... as a society we've achieved an all-time creative low when it's come to spelling things backwards to come up with new names. I suppose in five years time 'Bocaj' will be the new most popular name for baby boys.....

Random Follow Up:
Before Erin and I got married - she made a bizarre request of me (by which I mean demand)... and when you're engaged you do all sorts of ridiculous things that you would never fathom doing in your right state of mind - things that would ordinarily violate the code of ethics by which all men abide (like a shared commitment to persist in making immature jokes, breaking wind whenever possible, and growing lots of body hair). But of course I was in an altered state of mind... somewhere between the bended knee emotional high and the mind numbing trauma of being asked to have a serious opinion about things like registering for tupperware there exists a mental malaise in which a man will acquiesce to any request simply because he's no longer paying attention. I found myself in such a state when Erin made this request of me:

She wanted me to get my eyebrows waxed.

Dudes and waxing don't normally go together unless you're speaking of cars.... but I went.... tail tucked between by legs, to do this deed. We went to some joint that does nails too.... I get nauseous when I walk into those places but I think after a couple of minutes the smell numbs the nerve endings in your outer extremities which I suppose is a good thing for what was about to take place......

Anyway - here's the thing. Once my own fashion statement which linked me to most of Eastern Europe was plucked from my forehead - a light shined... and now I'm a plucking addict. I can't stop plucking my eyebrows... if I have to go a week w/o doing it I freak out. Marriage changes people. I watch Gilmore Girls basically every day of my life... and I pluck my eyebrows. I even spent a portion of my day today at Joann's crafts helping Erin pick out fabric to make blankets with. Crossing the threshhold of Joann's is like crossing the picket line to break the strike. Every man you see in a craft store may have a smile on his face, but on the inside he yearns for something apocalyptic to happen that will free him from the torments of trinkets and fake plants yearning for the attention of his once sane wife who becomes transfixed on 'making things' whenever one gets within 5 miles of a craft store. If craft stores would just put a 17 in. B&W tv in the back with ESPN and a mini-fridge I could chill at the craft store all day....the whole area would be like a national man refuge and upon crossing into it's presence all men would be free of questions about matching thread with fabric for a period of 10 min or until the Top 10 highlights play in their entirety (whichever comes first). I think that would go a long way to restoring my own personal dignity.

However... there is no TV at Joann's and because I've been dragged in there so many times with Erin.... I sort of like it. I know right where the snuggle fabric is - I know the patterns she likes and it's fun when she finds something she likes and gets all excited.

So here I am.... 45 min or so have passed since I started this communique.... and I think it's safe to head downstairs and get some rest so tomorrow when Erin gets off work we can swing by a craft store... maybe check out Target for some picture frames... and head home for some Gilmore Girls..... hopefully I can steal away some time tomorrow to pluck my eyebrows.

-Ekaj