If anybody has been trying to call us and are constantly getting a busy signal, it's because our phone service is not waterproof: almost every time it rains or snows our phone goes out. (Because there were heavy rains on Thanksgiving, we've had no phone service since then.) A Verizon tech then comes out after a few days, "fixes" things (or the wires dry out by themselves), and we wait until the next rainstorm to knock it out again.

So if you ever get a busy signal trying to reach us, it's because Verizon has yet to waterproof our line. Or something. So drop us an email or call our cell phone instead.

1. "Amelia, can you please smile so we can take a photo for the Christmas card?"
2. "Look...if you smile so we can get a picture, you can have a mint."
3. Smiles come fast and furious for 5 full minutes.
4. Amelia celebrates receiving mint with "the yummy dance."

New video at Jeremy's website: "What's So Funny? 2 (a remake of Amelia's "What's So Funny?).

If you like circa-1995 BMX freestyle riding, I uploaded a bit of my video to YouTube:

If you're a fan of Providence rockabilly and rhythm-based video games (who isn't?) then you'll be interested to hear this: Guitar Hero II has a bunch of b-side songs you can play along with. So in addition to songs by Van Halen, Rush, Nirvana, Spinal Tap (!), and Dick Dale, you can also play along with "Mr. Fix-It" by The Amazing Royal Crowns.

(Oh, and for you Homestar Runner fans, you can also play Strong Bad's "Trogdor the Burninator".)

Pumpkins drummer says truth prevails on new album

Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin has broken his silence about the reunited band's new album... In a posting attributed to Chamberlin on the Pumpkins' Myspace.com page, the drummer said "As some of you know we are indeed creating music again -- music that comes from a place so pure it will burn the lies off the very souls of those who try to discount it."

Well, I guess we now know that Billy Corgan's pretentiousness clearly is contageous.

At Kyoto's Fenway Park, it's always October 2004 (ESPN)

A late-night stroll through Kyoto reveals white-faced geisha, the mysterious teahouses of Gion, the millennia-old Shinto shrines ... and a small red and blue sign for a bar named Fenway Park...

A shake of the head and a short ride in a cramped elevator later, you walk into a little piece of Beantown here in Japan's most traditional city. It's complete with Red Sox memorabilia on the wall and Sam Adams in a bottle. A Boston fan named Yasuyuki Ohta holds court behind the bar he owns with his brother.

Though I didn't go to Willett (I was a St. John's kid) this surely is a proud moment for my old hometown:

Attleboro elementary school bans tag

Officials at the Willett Elementary School in Attleboro have banned playground tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chasing games over concerns about the risk of injury and liability for the school.

The kids' websites have been updated with new photos from this summer: Amelia | Jeremy

The design of this site has been pretty much the same since I bought the domain in 2000, when I hastily put the site up to help with a job search. I've been wanting to redesign for years, and lately wanted to add new features and switch over to PHP. Anyway, I finally decided to do it even though the design is clearly not done. But at least I'm finally moving forward with the site and will fix it up in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, please excuse my appearance and forgive any (temporarily) broken links.