Thanks for the Memories ...

As any readers of this site might have noticed, this here blog has been running on fumes for some time now. Call it the vicissitudes of life, or a lengthy writer's block, or being too damn busy, or -- more likely -- just plain laziness, but yours truly has hit a formidable dry spell. The blog has had to take a back seat to family stuff, work stuff, new-kid-on-the-way stuff, moving stuff, Billie Jean-is-not-my-lover stuff, etc., and so it is time to officially pull the plug on this blog. Jack Kevorkian is out on the street again (atta boy, Jack-Attack), so the time seems right.

Likely I will be back on the blogosphere in some fashion, albeit with a site that no one knows about, so that I might be able to post or not post at my leisure and without the tsk-tsking from fellow bloggers (yeah, I'm talking to you, Pants, still the nastiest and funniest blogger I personally know).

Three things before I bid you adieu, however. First, thanks to the contributing bloggers here, namely Cassandra D (my beautiful, kind, compassionate, fiery liberal wife) and some really good friends: Daniel Gale-Grogen, Larry Mondello, Conrad Spencer, Dash Riprock and Turtle (although I'll be damned if those last two ever posted more than one or two entries). You guys are all great writers, if not exactly great people, and I encourage you to be fruitful and multiply.

Second, the final episode of "The Sopranos" rocked. David Chase, we are not worthy to breathe the same air you do. Why can't he run as a Democrat in '08?

Third, indulge me one final photo of Apple Rosebud, who is now past 18 months and growing. She will have a little brother in August, although she doesn't know it yet, and subsequently I suspect that she will be weathering a bit of a lifestyle upheaval soon.

So let me just say that this morning she kissed me for the first time, and (cue the cornball music) it was an amazing moment. Each day, I look at this smiling, temperamental toddler and -- although I am far from a "child person" and never seriously anticipated having kids -- I fall in love with her all over again. Daily.

It is something I had never looked forward to prior to getting hitched, and so it is a gift for which I am particularly and deeply grateful. Even when she gets royally pissed off, which generally only happens when we're in a restaurant or at a family gathering, she just makes me feel happy. Maudlin as hell, I realize, but it is what it is.

Here's to you, Apple Rosebud.

This blog's for you ...