My folks just turned me on to a new reality show (now in its second season) called “Living With Ed” that follows Ed Begley Jr. and his wife and their “green”/energy independence lifestyle, and their energy audits of their fellow Hollywood stars. I haven’t seen the show yet, but I love the concept and think it’s terrific that people are putting their money where their mouths are. It’s one thing for a star or politician to show up to some events in a Toyota Prius or mention s/he drives a Prius; it’s another for them to improve their energy and water usage, etc. by actually “going green”. And have no doubt about it, he is definitely going green — he generates so much power through solar and wind that he actually resells it back to the public utility.

How much crap do you throw away? If you’re a Berkeley, California, man who’s been saving his trash for the past year, you know the answer to that question — approximately 96 cubic feet of non-compostable waste (including 15 to 16 pounds of trash he generated while on vacation in Hawaii!) I wouldn’t want to visit the fellow, but I do like his style –

“When we throw something away, what does ‘away’ mean? There’s no such thing as ‘away.”‘ — Ari Derfel, the trash-saver (Save Your Trash — his blog)

Sara has her first tooth*! It just broke the surface of her lower gumline this morning. I haven’t been able to take a photo of it yet, and she’s been a bit of a crank-monster today. She’s had one dose of infant Tylenol for the discomfort, and she’s drinking her formula and nursing a little less today since I think it hurts for her to create suction.

* Sadly, she also has her first shiner, after toppling over and whacking her eye socket on the lip of my laptop. Poor baby… this mobility thing is dangerous!

Thank you, Noah! I forgot to visit the site, yesterday. I hope you are doing well. Didja get the Christmas card, or do I need a new address for you?

And for something completely different — Cuteness Alert: Sammy Sings Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. 

A Quick Recap, Thus Far

• December 28, 1973 – I was born in Southern California in Orange County.
• 1974 – My father started working at the USAA office in San Antonio, Texas. He moved down before my mom and I did, to start work.
• 1977 – We are back in Southern California, where my father’s been working at a now-defunct regional USAA office there. My brother, Thomas, was born in San Francisco in late April. Being at the hospital, standing outside the nursery, is the earliest memory I can recall. I was three years old.

In World News, Today … sigh

More of man’s inhumanity to man. We go wild with freakish surprise when a wild, caged animal breaks free and attacks, yet we don’t seem to realize we humans are an apex predator, ourselves… except we’re different. Not only are we endowed with logic, remorse, intelligence and “culture,” we are also the only animal that primarily attacks members of its own species.