Defines vanity

there's a lack of multimedia imagery here that would help illustrate this anecdote but i'm not the driver who would, while in traffic, fumble for the phone in his knapsack just to take a picture.

during this morning's drive to work, i saw a new white BMW 650 coupe also in the commute slipstream - most notable about the whole setup was the custom license plate reading "ENVY ME".

i don't personally know the gentleman who was driving it so in truth i am not giving him a fair attempt to make any necessary clarifications ("the car was a gift from my mother - she thought the phrase sounded 'cool') - but - i'm going to go out on a limb and say methinks the guy has gone beyond sleeves and is wearing one or more of his insecurities directly on his automobile.

the man drives a nice car - by that definition some people are going to envy him. he probably knows that fact but still presses on with the direct imperative.

this is one of those things i have a hard time getting my noggin around - seeing things from that guy's worldview. nothing screams 'lack of class' to me quite like loud and/or ceaseless self-promotion. if you sink the winning shot in a pickup game of basketball, there is no need to declare how awesome you are - give your teammates half a beat and you'll receive your due adulation. in similar fashion, if you're successful in your career and you can afford a luxury car, by all means buy one and drive it with the satisfaction of knowing your hard work made this particular perk available to you - but pull back on the show a little and stick to the regular plate or at most a non-boasting vanity plate like "I (heart) BMW". all you're doing with "ENVY ME" is making people want to test out the durability of their Corolla's keys on your passenger side door.

2010: The Year Adam Makes Contact...

....with further developmental milestones!

sorry to those (maybe two or three) of you who have been waiting with bated breath for the next sobblog update - December through about mid-March are "the bad times" for Accounting people at my company and my time / energy for entering new posts has been somewhat limited.

the first month of 2010 was another busy one for Adam as he crossed the eight-month mark:

Culinary - his mastery of eating finger foods has been progressing nicely and his appetite for all kinds of food, both mushed-up and solid, remains impressive. on the fluid side, he's taken to drinking from bottles and sippy cups (with straws) all by himself, holding the container with no help.

Locomotion - the kid has started to learn the fine art of waving, or at least wiggling his fingers in a playful fashion. in addition he picked up the ability to clap his hands in response to someone else clapping, or just whenever he's feeling particularly cheerful. most notably, Adam has begun his journey into cruising, using the couch mostly to move himself around in quasi-bipedal fashion.

Cognitive / Logic - Adam has this motion toy that's basically a twisty slide that plastic balls travel down before entering a chute and going along a pneumatic air tunnel that shoots the ball back up to the top of the slide (or off the toy entirely, depending on the force of air). we plopped him down in front of that and he quickly fell in love with watching it do its thing - he surprised us though by watching us hit the start button (you kinda hit this little animal creature on the head) to put the whole exhibition in motion and then learning to do it himself after only a few demonstrations. boy genius - you read it here first.

Growing! - near the end of January Adam's second tooth (right next to the first on the bottom) began to emerge. the wide toothless smile gives way to the goofy-cute kid tooth grin.

enough talk, enjoy January's still and moving pictures!

January 1 - thus begins a year-long game of tag.

The picture you see in phrase books depicting "tuckered out".

Celebrating the better parts of the BCS Championship game

Chinese laundry / Ancient Chinese secret, huh?

Tooth #1 sighting

Mommy and son laugh over the drool stain on Mommy's shoulder

The intensity and enthusiasm of an all-star couch cruiser.

Adam and Paw Paw (grandma) appreciate literature.

Adam and Gung Gung (grandpa) share ribald stories that shock the monkey's delicate sensibilities.

G.I. Adam reporting for duty

When Dad's in charge of bathtime, Adam's hair gets crazy.

In pursuit of cinnamon maple puff

Snacking and talking some jive