Finn’s First Christmas

Today was Finn’s first, and Reese’s second, Christmas. It was a very, very white one, much to their parents’ chagrin. A few photos, more of which can be found in the Fall-Winter Snapfish photo book:

Finn with Reese's new monkey.

Finn and me after opening our presents.

Reese and me, post shave, watching one of our new Civil War documentaries. Interest level about what you'd expect.

At Some Point It Has To Stop

A few more inches last night. It’s looking like we’re going to have a very (deep) white Christmas. A view from our backyard this morning:

Pics of the Woodlawn House

Lots of prospective renters have inquired whether we have any additional pics of the abode. Yes we do, and here they are:

A view from the street.

The front porch. Not a bad place to hang in the summertime.

This is the living room. The front door is just visible on the left.

The dining room. It flows directly from the living room which, as this picture goes, is directly at the right.

The kitchen -- not huge, but great for day-to-day bartop living. The guy who took this pic was standing in the dining room.

This is the men's dressing room, which is connected to the master bedroom. For whatever reason, I cannot find a pic of the master bedroom, one of four rooms in the master suite.

This is the second dressing room in the master suite. It isn't this blurry in real life.

The bath in the master bath. There's also his/her vanities and a walk-in shower. Truly magazine-worthy.

This is one of the offices. There is another, located in the master suite, that can also serve as a nursery.

This is the downstairs kitchen. This is part of a downstairs apartment (also has a bathroom, bedroom and living room).

This is the downstairs bedroom, the smallest of the bedrooms.

This is a few from the backyard. That grass is Dreamturf, so it requires no maintenance.

Now That’s Quite an Argument

On Friday, a three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in re: Kentucky’s attempt to seize 141 gambling-related domain names. The State’s theory is that domain names constitute “gambling devices” under state law, and thus are subject to seizure. I’ve been trying to glean the news to get some idea of how the arguments went and, thus, how the court may rule. That’s no easy task, but one snippet from a recount on Online Casino Advisory gives me hope.

According to the article, one of the judges asked the State’s attorney whether “the state had a right to seize a bus that was taking customers to Indiana’s legal casinos as a ‘gambling device.’” The attorney answered “yes.”

According to attorneys for the State of Kentucky, a bus may be a gambling device.

So, a bus is a “gambling device” if it is being driven to a casino. Does Kentucky also have the right to seize automobiles driven by Kentuckians on their way to Indiana? Under the state’s rationale, I should think so. And any airplanes leaving Louisville bound for Las Vegas? Under the state’s rationale, why not?

If that’s all Kentucky has to hang its hat on, it loses.

More From Seattle’s Garbage Nazis

It was bad enough when Seattle announced that garbage men have the right to go through your garbage to determine if you are improperly disposing recyclables. On Friday, our garbage man told Rhonda that it’s actually much worse than that.

Seems that every night, a small legion (nay, army?) of garbage police patrol Seattle’s streets in white minivans looking for residences that have extra garbage ready for pickup the following day. Apparently they take notes, filming it in many cases. They use that information as “evidence” of extra garbage, which gets billed out at $6/can. If the driver does not mark the resident for extra garbage pickup the following day, he gets written up. If the resident calls to complain about a false extra garbage charge, as I do often, the City uses the video evidence as proof of extra garbage. All to make $6.

Seinfeld's soup nazi has nothing on Seattle's garbage collectors.

To review: the Earth, we are told, is all but melting due to global warming. Times are so tight these days that the City can’t spare two nickels. But it can afford to pay garbage police to roam the city in polluting vehicles filming garbage cans. And all to make an occasional $6.

If anyone knows who comes up with these ideas, or if anyone knows of another so-called free country where taxpayer dollars are used to monitor the garbage, please let me know.