from Gideon Strauss

1. Take a book from your shelves with more than 200 pages.
2. Find some real person’s name there.
3. Find out his or her date of birth.
4. Find someone else born on the same day.
5. State a connection between this person and yourself.

Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malphurs. Kevin Costner was born on January 18, 1953. Born on that date in the year 1882 was author A.A. Milne, author of The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. While I was trying to get my daughter to sleep today, I was pretending to talk for the Winnie the Pooh on her mobile in her bassinet. She thinks stuffed animals talk to her.

I didn’t realize it until today, but 10 of the 38 primates in the Anglican Communion will be at the conference in Birmingham in January.

So some girl I had never met bought my breakfast this morning. I set my plate down at a table a few tables from hers, and when I turned around to thank her, she was gone. Odd.

Georgia Tech, coached by John Heisman, beats Cumberland 222-0.

We ended up finding the cute coat below at Babies R Us. That has got to be the cleanest, prettiest and most organized store I’ve seen! It was so great, I wanted to buy the entire store. We did buy some purple things for Kyrie along with the coat. I so want to live near Tulsa just for the shopping opportunities. But I guess that would make us more broke, so maybe it’s a good thing that the selection in Monroe is horrible. Anyway, Thanksgiving was wonderful and visiting with family was tons of fun today. Everyone loves little Kyrie and they continue to all agree that she looks like Rick. I haven’t gotten pictures like I wanted to while we were up here because of the busyness, but I promise to get working on it once we’re home. I’m done for now.

As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in a town that boasts Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Stephen Tyler (Aerosmith), and Dennis Byrd (and Hanson, but we can just pretend that’s not true).

But my mom killed me yesterday when she started talking about how she got “Warren’s autograph” for her dad. Warren was my mom’s late patient. And, of course, mom thought I wouldn’t know who Warren was…that I wouldn’t know her buddy, HALL OF FAMER Warren Spahn. She tells me this right before she tells me that she still has a pic I took with Ralph Kiner. So she thinks I wouldn’t know who Warren Spahn is, but that I knew Ralph Kiner well enough to want to have my picture taken with him. AHHH.

Then today she starts talking about her buddy, Billy…who is none other than Billy Sims. At least she offered to get an autographed football the next time she sees him.

Oh, and this one’s for you, Matt. My uncle Tom is buddies with the NY Mets’ general manager Omar Minaya, so he got to chill with the owner and players last year when he was up in NY. When he was leaving the owner’s box, kids were asking for his autograph because they thought he must be someone big. That could be you, Matt. Just buy us tickets to NY, and we’ll make it happen.

For the second year in a row, I have finished my shopping before 6 AM. The only prize: TurboTax Deluxe. I like shopping, but it’s way too early to shop. When I got back to my mom’s house, I asked Rachel if she wanted to shop. Her reply: “Not in the morning!” Sorry I asked.

We’ll probably go back out later to see if we can’t find a nice coat for Kyrie at Burlington Coat Factory.

Rachel and I saw Rent at the first matinee on Wednesday. We found it artistically lacking. There were some good parts. Rachel commented that Rosario Dawson was probably better at playing an exotic dancer than most exotic dancers.

Of course, the strippers in Monroe have no teeth and get caught stealing lingerie from Wal-mart. But I guess that describes half the population of West Monroe.

We went to my grandma and grandpa’s yesterday, and they met their great granddaughter for the first time. I went to see an old friend, Sherrie Pankake. Her kids, Jacob and Holly, are mucho awesome soccer players. A few weeks ago, her daughter, Holly, was playing a Hurricane Katrina charity game when Garth Brooks (who lives back home in Owasso with Trisha Yearwood) dropped a ten dollar bill for her to pick up. When Holly was turning in the money, she told the volunteer, “This money is from the guy on Sesame Street.”

I find it hilarious she thinks he’s famous because he was on Sesame Street. I should go back to bed.