WHISKER PICKLEFACE and ZUCCHINI BUTTFACE

What can I say? Claire and I are hilarious. We made up nicknames on our walk home from lunch today. Will, Claire, and I have walked to lunch every Friday we've been home together this summer. It sort of became a tradition last summer, and with "Crazy" ruining our summer this year, it was one of the few things that remained intact. So off we went today, for our final Friday of the summer before school begins on Tuesday. Next to Disneyland and our Alameda outing, our Friday lunches really rank up there for me. How the interesting names came about I'm still not quite sure. But we ended up with Claire as "Whisker Pickleface" and myself, "Zucchini Buttface."

Too much "Spongebob Squarepants"?

I'm listening to the "Evita" soundtrack featuring Antonio Banderas and Madonna. Remember when that movie came out in '96, was it?

My Ricks College dorm pals Jeff, Doug and I went to see this movie several times when it was out. We got the soundtrack and memorized all the songs. I'm not sure what the fascination was either, because I was never a big Madonna fan. Anyhow, we were hooked. Listening to the music tonight brings back fond memories of late night runs to Horkley's (the 7-11 of Rexburg, ID) to grab gobs of little red Swedish fish candies and a refill for our monster-sized mugs of whatever soft drink concotion we could possibly create. Ah, the memories. Ricks College.

Our neighbor wound up getting arrested again on Tuesday around 5pm and taken into custody for the third time in a week. So his arraignment was on Thursday and wow, did that ever not go well for him. The judge instructed all the inmates to exercise their right to remain silent. It was "open court" and should an inmate decide to speak about the facts of their case, the D.A. could use their words against them later.

After a dozen or so different inmates went through the process of being charged and assigned a return date, it was "Crazy Next Door"'s turn. After his charges were read, the judge assigned a $20,000 bail for each misdemeanor court order violation of our restraining order. Oh, and his ex-wife and her mother-in-law were in the courtroom also to follow up on their own case against him. He's apparently a real winner in all aspects of life.

So "Crazy" decides it time to be belligerent and uncooperative and before you know it, instead of a simple "Here's why you're charged and see you tomorrow" procedure, he blurts out, "I already posted bail twice last weekend." Yes, well, actually it was his mother and inexplicably she DID post his bail two times ($500 and $1,000, respectively). It was revoked. The judge informed him the new bail was a total of $40,000.

He continued yelling about spending time this weekend with his son. The judge then put this guy's son on his restraining order followed by saying, "No bail." Ouch! As far as I know, this guy is looking at some jail time for his choices.

Lastly, his mother came to the apartments today to clean out his stuff because his eviction is up tomorrow. The police are prepared to have his car towed on Monday if it isn't moved. And the locks will be changed tomorrow. If everything isn't moved, a date will be given for his family to make sure they clean it out.

Justice is served.

So, school begins Monday and I feel really out of it. I have seen my class list and I'm quite pleased with several familiar faces and families that I am totally excited to be able to work with! This should be a fantastic school year.

Meanwhile, Dallas is clear across the world dancing in New Zealand with MMDG.

I've got 2 tickets for "Romeo and Juliet" next month at Zellerbach. Hopefully I can take my students on another field trip to see a Schooltime Performance.

Lastly, the Beijing Olympics are wrapping up. I've enjoyed watching them immensely. I've set the DVR just about every night and have been able to closely follow all of the action in men's and women's basketball, soccer, baseball / softball, and volleyball. Swimming, gymnastics, and track-and-field were hit-or-miss with me. I tried to make sure to watch as much Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt as I possibly could. What they did at this Olympics, along with Nastia Lukin and Shawn Johnson, should be long remembered!

The poor Team USA softball team. Silver medals are beyond bittersweet. After outscoring their opponents in 10 games 57-2, they lost the gold medal game to Japan, 3-1, after beating Japan twice in the past week. They are 108-3 in the past 12 years. This one really stings considering softball is on the shelf in London come 2012.

But congrats to the gold medal soccer team for beating Brazil after losing star player Abby Wambach to Brazil in a tune-up for the Olympics.

I'm looking forward to seeing "The Clone Wars" with Claire and my nephew / niece Molly tomorrow. They're always a lot of fun when they get together. Just last month or so we went out to "Kung Fu Panda" together. It should be a fun way to keep the last weekend of summer going strong!