Thursday, July 28, 2011

Lazy Summer's End

I have been wondering what this last portion of Vacation would bring for me. And I have to say... Not much. :-) But I am thankful for a time of rest and relaxation before the madness of teaching high school and 8.5 units for the college sets in. It will be a busy time I'm sure, but rewarding nonetheless.

This week I am spending time reviewing and reading Farah's latest book in the Sherlock Academy series... It is called "The Holmes Brigade" and is her biggest and best work yet! I am so proud of her. You can check out more info on her webpage HERE!

I have been working on my story, via MY BLOG and have come to a point where I am happy with the ideas I've laid out. It is no Shakespeare, but I'd reckon it is better than Mary Pope Osborne and perhaps equal to Patrick Skene.

In addition we are making plans for a short trip to the LA area for EMMA'S Big First Birthday!

Other than that, I have devoted afternoons to Farah, Westly, Bike Riding, and Alias. Sigh. Summer is wonderful.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Addictions...

I am slightly addicted to blogging right now. I think I may have to go to rehab for this one (RIP Amy Winehouse). But I think writing this story is a good process for me to go through.

Here are some things I am also addicted to:

1. Smiles from Westly!

2. Thinking about Harry Potter and the final moments of greatness for the movie franchise.

3. Talking with Farah about Sherlock Academy's future.

4. The smell of Starbucks... Not even the drinks or treats.. JUST THE SMELL!

5. Alias... AH! I can't believe my wife did it to me, she roped me in and made me completely addicted to it. I can't wait to see what Sydney does next. PLEASE NO SPOILERS PEOPLE!

At any rate, my other blog THIS ONE is not the only addiction I have. So there! :-)

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Updates...

I just customized my new blog! HERE!

Thanks for all of the ideas from friends and family! Keep 'em coming!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Lightning Strikes Twice



Hooray, my brainstorming over the past three years has finally paid off!

Eureka! I found my story!

This past month I have been working on a story I've had brewing for sometime. Yesterday, I spent the day researching and planning the rest of my story on my other blog: CLICK HERE!

I can't give anything away just yet, but the plot will be interwoven with two other stories I had previously written (none of them have been shared with any of you out there in the blog-o-sphere)!

In addition, I have to say it is a joy to spend time creating new adventures, characters and worlds.

I write mainly for my personal enjoyment, but I hope (and this is a hope) that some random person will read it and be delighted by it...

Sigh.

It takes me back to the time when I wrote the story of FANTASMIC! when I was in the fourth grade. I swear, Disney was going through my trash. Lisa can testify to this story.

It also reminds me of the time when I wrote "The Easter Bunny is Missing!" and made copies for my whole family. I still remember taking a copy to my Grandma and Grandpa's house. I'll never forget the feeling of excitement I had when I published that work.

And, more recently, it reminds me of the time I read my story to Cassidy and the whole family. Cassidy's reaction will stick with me for a long time.

Sigh.

I love writing a good (well, that's to be determined) story.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Potter Patter

My heart has been heavy for the past few days. It has not gone "pitter patter", nope. It has gone "potter patter".

Yup, it's the end of a decade's worth of movie magic and marvels.

Harry is a little worse for wear (see the cuts and bruises), but that's what happens when the Darkest Wizard of all time is chasing after you for 7 years.





I have really enjoyed every moment of the HP Series (minus the Mike Newell issue). Here are my top memories of the film series:

10. Sharing the movies with Farah in July 2007. She was so sweet to sit and watch a movie series she wasn't that interested in (at the time) and watch them in marathon mode--we finished all 4 in 24 hours. (Now, I'll share with you that she cried at the finale along side of me!)

9. Seeing Movie 3 with a group of people who made an agreement to meet again. Though our budge won't allow us to go, we are excited to see if anyone else will go.

8. The final Midnight Premiers debacle with the tickets. It was well worth it. 7 horcurxes and 7 sobs from this man.

7. The Midnight Premier of Movie 6. We had so much fun playing "Name that Scene" at the front of the theatre. And I do believe they did an AMAZING job of decorating the 4 theaters to look like the 4 houses.

6. The Midnight Premier of Movie 7. I was shocked to be sitting by a girl who started weeping at the sight of the Warner Bros. logo. It was fun.

5. Seeing the first movie. The movie was still in its opening week. I had picked up HP a year earlier, and though "Hum. When I get a break from school reading, I will totally love this one." But on the night I saw the first movie I hadn't finished the first book. I was on the chapter where Hermione goes with Harry to Snape's protection of the stone (the different potions that would transport him to the mirror) and I had no clue Snape wasn't the "bad guy". I remember sitting in the theater saying, "Oh yeah, this is where I am in the book. WHAT THE HECK!?" After that I raced home and finished books 1-3 in less than a week.

4. The 10 PM premier with Francy and Tanya. Hilarious memory.

3. The Midnight release of Movie 4 (ugh). So much excitement in the air, and a great Burrow moment.

2. Movie 5. The day after we came back from our Honeymoon, I raced to the theatre to see it by myself. Tears and all--that would be me crying, not Farah.

1. Seeing the film with the Burrow. Sigh. And seeing the films with Farah this past week. 8 films. 8 days. Sigh.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Taking a moment...

I will be taking a moment away from my blog for a few days (no more than 3), as I prepare for the madness of HP8.

See you all soon.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

HP, Here I Come!



That's right, y'all. I got my ticket (finally) today to see the midnight showing. I am VERY excited to go, though it will be completely bittersweet. I know it will be worth the struggle it has taken to get my ticket. At least I can stop stressing over where and when I'll see it. Not I know for sure.

As for the rest of the week I think I will find myself enjoying the summer hours and writing my story. Oh--and watching the rest of the HP Series. Fauf and I are on movie 5 today, and we'll be enjoying them till Thursday (EEK!).

Sigh. I am so happy.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Crickets.

There isn't much to do at 4:00 AM.

I should know.

The past week I have been awoken at least 3 times at the 4:00 AM hour by a somewhat-suspiciously-not-so-stray cat that is prowling the neighborhood. Sadly, this cat found our baby bird's nest, hidden away in our front door wreath, and attacked it. Just yesterday I discovered the remains of our little bird on the doorstep. For those of you who know about our bird story, it came as a shock. We're going to hope this isn't an omen, but just an evil cat that wants to harass me.

So. What do you do at 4 AM?

Well, for one I have been blogging on the new blog HERE.
For two (can you say for two?), I have been drawing pictures.
For three (if you can say for two, you can say for three), I have been watching absurd movies. See below.
For four (now this is just getting ridiculous), I have been venturing to Starbucks and have found it (SHOCK!) empty.



I'm sure I could be doing some better stuff to help the world, but hey, y'all--it is 4 AM.

Today, my plan is to move the wreath that the cat continues to paw at in hopes of getting a full night's sleep.

Here's to sleep, and Cookie Time!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Ah!

Harry Potter is almost here and I still can't find a ticket. Thanks for all who have been hunting for me.

The movie will be bitter-sweet, so I am partially OK with missing the midnight showing. But you know, deep down inside I will be broken hearted if I don't go.

Tomorrow will be the deciding day. We'll see what a few connections can do for me.

Fingers crossed. Wands at the ready.

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Hot Tub Musings

Last night, Farah and I were sitting in the hot tub (yes, we are living it up), musing about the future. We started dreaming up where we want to take Westly when he is older. Our plans became quite grand, but that's us. As it stands now, we have no extra money to even go to Barnes and Nobel, but somehow we'll make it happen. This morning I woke up with travel ambitions, and I decided to pen (type) all of the ideas we had.



(Eek! I love this little Future President of America! And if he is going to be President, we'll have to provide him with an enriched, cultured childhood--well, mostly.)

So here is a list of places I want to take Westly:



Age 1- Disneyland (In fact, just put this one on every year following. Let's pray Mimi can keep going strong so we can visit the Kingdom often--and freely.)



Age 3- San Diego Zoo and Sea World (Lions, Tigers and Shamu, OH MY! I think Westly will laugh at the monkeys.)



Age 4- Lego Land (A Land made out of Legos!? Four Year Olds!? Perfect... Ignore the creepy kid in the photo.)



Age 5- The Grand Canyon (This is something I don't care about, but it is big, and little Kindergarteners like big things, so this one gets a Kindergarten stamp of approval.)



Age 6- Sacramento (We'll be studying the state government and all that jazz, so it makes perfect sense. I remember first seeing the Capitol and being shocked that it really existed.)



Age 7- Disneyworld (This is a given. Seven year olds can really take in the magic. It will be epic. Sorry for the other Shaw babies who may make their debut, that's the privilege of being a first-born you get to really enjoy it while the others drool and look around aimlessly.)



Age 8- The Oregon Trail, I've always wanted to go on this trail (We'll study it and find the game to play, and Grandpa Shaw will tell him stories about the trail. He'll be dying to go there.)



Age 9- Dollywood (Who doesn't want to go there!? I'm sure Westly will be a big Dolly fan by age 9. If not, we'll visit Mt. Rushmore.)



Age 10- A driving tour of the East Coast, with a lot of touring around the Washington DC area (Time to get an education of our country. After-all, we will be studying the American Revolution, so it is fitting that we tour places like Gettysburg, Williamsburg, and all the other Burgs. Oh and Harry Potter World--he'll be a huge fan by then.)



Age 11- Hawaii (Can't you just picture Westly going to a luau? All the hula girls will think he is so cute with his little dimples. Plus we can visit where Obama was born so he can get that whole 'Modern Day President' vibe.)



Age 12- Cruise (By this time he'll be old enough to watch the other little Shaws who will enter the world... Sorry, West, but if you get all these free trips you'll have to pay it off on this one while Mommy and Daddy go explore the ship. We'll let you play at all of the ports.)



Age 13- New York, NY (To be a 13 year old in NYC would be awesome--scary, but awesome)



Age 14- London, England (Back to the roots and maybe Wills and Kate will have had a baby girl. By this time the royal heir will be 12 or 13, so by then Westly will be at the right age to start courting her.)



Age 15- Roma, Italy and Paris, France (Now that he's explored his roots, and probably been denied by the Princess, he can go fall in love with a hot Italian or French girl. Maybe that's weird for me to say, after-all I am 44 at this point.)



Age 16- Australia (I think I'll need to force him to become a surfer so he can surf with a wallaby.)





??????????????????????????????




Age 17-20- And now we enter the mystery years where Westly will assert his independence and go off with his friends to odd places like Brazil, Madagascar, China and Los Angeles.)




Age 21- Vegas (This is when I'll have my mid-life crisis--AKK! I'll be 50!--And he'll start gambling away his inheritance on the ponies.)

Sigh. This is what every kid running for president in 2036 will need to have done. So, I better start saving...

Did I miss anything?

Friday, July 08, 2011

Writings are Moving...

Ok, everyone. Call me crazy, but I am launching a new blog JUST for my stories. Therefore BLING BLANG BLOG, aka this blog, can be dedicated to my personal musings.

You can find it at:

http://michael-shaw.blogspot.com

I hope you all go there to read my work. Thanks for your support this past week!

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Sigh...

She is still my beautiful bride...



4 years today...

xoxo

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Yet another story started...

CHAPTER ONE

The harsh summer breeze lashed through the trees that lined the homes on Meadowbrook Avenue. The boiling summer heat that the residents had experienced just a year ago had vanished. This year, all over the neighborhood, and through all of England for that matter, residents were hibernating in their homes. Down every street the rumbling furnaces could be heard blazing to fight the strange cold.

Every night on Meadowbrook Avenue the businessmen and women rushed home from their jobs bundled up in scarves, gloves, and hats to scurry into their homes in the quickest most efficient way possible. The jingling of keys and locking of doors could be heard as residents secured every lock and window to keep the cold out. Yet it was a losing battle.

Were it not for the brilliant full moon in the sky the Village would have seemed deserted, yet in the icy-clear of that night, if one were looking, one would have seen a small window quietly creek open on the top floor of one of the homes. A skinny, blond haired boy sat shivering by the windowpane attempting to lower his pet lizard out into the night.

The boy seemed to be encouraging the lizard to brace the outdoors. The lizard looked at the boy and begrudgingly stepped down onto the windowpane.

“Come on Lizzy.” The boy said proding the lizard with his index finger, “You haven’t eaten a week. You’ve got to try to find something.”

The lizard wiggled back into the bedroom.

“No, no.” the boy reproved, “Back out.”

With a more forceful push of his index finger, the boy scooted the lizard out the window.

She turned and nipped at the boy’s hand. Tura rubbed his index finger, which dripped a warm shade of scarlet down onto the snow-laden windowpane.

“Silly old sod.” The boy remarked as he shut the window and watched his beautiful lizard’s scales shimmer as she shimmied down the drainpipe.

Tura heard the familiar rumble of the furnace from the basement kick in followed by the rumble of his own stomach. He walked out of his room and down the two flights of stairs. Just before he reached the bottom floor he heard the television from the living room.

“In related news,” the newsreader recited, “Another series of abnormal behavior has been captured on CCTV. You may want to put the little ones out of the room for this one. As you can clearly see, this footage you’re watching shows a man in a purple cap suddenly appearing near the Tower Bridge in London. If you watch closely you’ll see he’s pulling something from behind his cloak—that’s right he’s wearing some sort of cloak—but it appears that he is pulling a large knife from his cloak. Just out of shot we can see the bobby on guard fall over apparently knocked out. Though the man doesn’t make contact with the bobby, the screen did go fuzzy for just under one second.

“London officials aren’t commenting on this peculiar scene, but they are saying the man in the fedora may also be involved in Bus 219 missing from outside of the Kensington Gardens earlier this week. The Prime Minister, had this comment to make, ‘While the cuh-cuh-current state of the nation seems uneasy, I urge everyone to rest assured that we have cuh-cuh-contacted the—proper guard to assist in defending the good people of Britain.’

“As for other news, the weather…”

Tura wondered about these strange events. Just last week he had ridden on Bus 219 to Kensington Gardens and had sat by a man wearing an odd sort of jacket and a peculiarly colored fedora. He couldn’t remember, but it may have been purple. Or was it maroon?

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Yet another...

“Class I have an announcement to make.”

The whole class fell silent to hear the news. Even Bobby Tomlin, stopped poking Debbie Dorkelson’s back.

“He’s back.”

A few of the class members looked around at each other.

“Old St. Nick, Kris Kringle. Santa Claus is back.”

“Oh shut up.”

“I’m not joking look, I know your parents have taught you all extremely well, and have shipped you here to get an education, but its all true. Santa Claus is real, and he’s coming here today.”

I knew it! And I'm ready for Santa. He's finally bold enough to show his face. Well, this time. This time I was going to give him a piece of my mind. I'm ready for him.

Monday, July 04, 2011

Kid's Book pt. 2

Here's another section of Brandon's Story. For some reason I like this part, but I'm not sure it can be built into a full story. I have more written...

The Monster Grows Nigh

It was a breezy summer evening. The sky was glowing in shades of cotton candy and nectarines. A small, shaggy haired boy sat on the front porch of his house playing with the hole on his right pant leg. He had just made the hole sliding into home plate, where unfortunately he was tagged out, losing the game for his team. The jeans were somewhat new and he knew his mom would be upset with him because she had just spent the last four dinner times on the importance of taking care of his things. But what’s a kid to do? He had to try to win for his team.


After picking at the hole and making it significantly larger, he watched as a few of the neighborhood boys ran by the vacant lot across the street. The boys were screaming as though a monster had just come out of the bushes and attacked them. But the only monster that Brandon knew about was the Monster of Tomorrow. For Tomorrow was the worst and most horrible of days.
Perhaps it had finally happened and Tomorrow had actually become a monster. That’s what the boys were running from! He could imagine Tomorrow coming across the lawn with horrible, sharp claws; its mouth dripping with saliva preparing to feast on the brains of innocent boys.

But just as Brandon convinced himself that Tomorrow had grown into a monster, much to his dismay, the real neighborhood monster ran by Brandon’s house; Patti Wilcox. She was about a foot taller than all of the boys in her class and was always trying to catch one as her boyfriend. Brandon’s mom tried to tell him that girls have their growth spurt about two years earlier than boys do. But Brandon knew better. Brandon knew Patti Wilcox was really an evil ogress.

Patti ran down the street with a shocking shade of red lipstick smeared across her lips crying, “Oh Tommy Fullerton! You’re the only man I’ve ever loved!”

Brandon dove behind the brick wall on his porch. Peeking out from behind the wall Brandon remembered when he first met Patti, pre-ogress days, back in Kindergarten. She was a normal kid back then, she liked to play on bikes, dig in the sand, and once she even attempted to snatch their teacher’s pet snake. But alas, now all she could think about was boys, being top girl in school, and boys, boys, boys.

Brandon watched as Patti tackled Tommy Fullerton (more proof that she was an ogress). Brandon could hear the sickening sounds of kisses being planted all over poor Tommy’s face. Poor Tommy attacked by an ogress! After much deliberation Brandon finally decided he would face the ogress and save Tommy from a fate worse than Tomorrow. But just as he was about to move from his hiding place he heard Patti cry, “Come back here Thomas Richard Fullerton, you forgot your hat!”

For a brief moment Brandon forgot about the real monster; not Patti Wilcox, but Tomorrow. For Tomorrow was the worst, and most horrible of days. Tomorrow wasn’t the day to go to the dentist nor was it the day where he had to get dressed up to go to Aunt Bolivia’s house. No, Tomorrow was the worst and most horrible of days: The first day of school. The first day of the forth grade.

It’s not as though Brandon was a poor student; he normally received good marks on his work, teachers tended to like him, and he never was sent to the principals office. But this year things were going to change for Brandon.

The choice Tomorrow brought was horrific! Mr. Thomas or Ms Bella. Mr. Thomas was the most strict and oldest teacher in the whole school. He also happened to look something like a troll. But when considering his other option a troll didn’t seem so bad. Ms Bella taught the other forth grade class and Brandon heard she smelled like rotten sauerkraut, had a nose that looked something like a smashed radish, and rumor had it was probably a witch. Either way Brandon knew that this was going to be one of the worst years ever.

Which teacher should he be stuck with? What will come of Tomorrow?

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Start of a Kid's Book

Here is a clipping from a story I started back in 2004... The story is intended for 3rd to 4th grade students

CHAPTER ONE
Right Before the Trouble Started

Brandon’s trouble started months ago. In fact it all started back at his Third Grade Open House.
It was nearing the end of year. Brandon had just completed a great year with Mr. Davenport. Mr. Davenport was a cool teacher who gave out candy sticks and showed movies for class parties. But now that Open House was nearing, Mr. Davenport started acting differently.
Just a week before the big night Brandon noticed they spent nearly the entire cleaning and scrubbing the classroom. On the day of Open House, Brandon and his classmates were given the task to cover all of Mr. Davenport’s odds and ends with old bed sheets.
“Parents don’t need to look at all of these things.” Mr. Davenport explained to his students as he pulled a pink and yellow flowered sheet from the cupboard. “Clara and Jasmine, you two girls go clean the sink. Mark and Jonah you can dust off the computers. Everyone else clean out your desks while I get more sheets. I need more sheets! How did this classroom get so messy?”
Brandon thought it was funny seeing an adult running around trying to clean before the parents came to inspect. Brandon knew the feeling. Every Saturday before Brandon could go out and play ball, his room would be inspected. Brandon supposed Open House was the equivalent to the Saturday Morning Inspection at his house. Not that Mr. Davenport had anything to worry about; his classroom was one of the coolest in the schools.

* * * * *
His mom had arrived home early from work. She stood in the kitchen preparing an early dinner, which looked like it had a lot of vegetables in it.
“Hi there, Sweetie.” She still called Brandon Sweetie even though he was almost nine years old.
“Hey, mom.” Brandon replied as he reached for a shoebox he had placed on a nearby shelf.
“How was school today, Sweetie?” she asked while chopping a carrot into small pieces.
“We learned and stuff.” Brandon replied now sitting at the kitchen table sorting his baseball cards by team.
“Oh I love stuff. Stuff, stuff, stuff.” she said with a smirk on her face.
Brandon put his baseball cards down and smiled at his mom. Brandon’s mom always wanted to know what was going on at school. She never liked it when he said he said “stuff”. She figured it was because he was trying to hide something (Which was the case when Brandon lost his watch on the playground and the time he earned a C- on his big Social Studies test). But today there was nothing to hide; he was just being lazy with his words.
“Well, Mr. Davenport had us do a lot of cleaning.” Brandon continued working on his cards and matched two Dodger teammates together.
“Oh really?” she relplied with a bit of a smile on her face, “Well, at least he can get you clean.”
“Yeah,” Brandon blushed remembering his laundry he didn’t put away, “Oh, and I finished painting my map of South America and the Amazon Rainforest for tonight.”
“Now that’s worth seeing.” Brandon’s mom unpacked a few more unknown vegetables on to the counter.
“It’s ok, I guess. Patricia said it looks like an elephant painted it.” Patricia was the know-it-all girl who always tried to boss Brandon around. “But when I told that to Mr. Davenport what he said, Mr. Davenport said he’d never met an elephant who knew how to paint Brazil the way I did.”
Brandon’s mom smiled and dropped the now chopped vegetables into a large black pot on the stove.
“Well I don’t know anything about elephants who paint, but I once knew an elephant who could dance ballet.”
“Mom!” Brandon blushed, his mom always made up eccentric stories.
“Well, elephants or not, I must say I’m excited to peek into the forth grade classes. I can’t believe you are already going into the fourth grade!”
“Not for three months. Remember summer comes first!” Brandon couldn’t believe his mother was already thinking about the next school year! He had barely started to plan his summer of baseball games and sleepovers and she was already thinking about school.
Brandon’s mother finished adding ingredients to what looked like a vegetable soup before she reminded him that he would need to get washed up for Open House.
Open House was always a lot of fun, but he felt like he was on show, like one of those little dogs on the Thanksgiving Day Shows. His mom would want to parade him in front of the judges (The teachers in this case) and tell them all of the great things he knew how to do. At least dogs got treats.
But this year things would be different at Open House, and this is where all of the trouble began.

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Stories I've Been Working on...

Here are some starts to some stories I have been working on. Some of them are a few days old, other a few years old... Just thought I'd try posting something different...

Earl hated gum. To Earl gum was one of life’s great mysteries. He didn’t understand why people chewed it. Mouths moving up and down like cattle grazing in a field. But worse than gum in someone’s mouth was where the gum went when the cattle grazer had finished chewing it. In Earl’s world there were only two types of people: those who didn’t chew gum, and the second the punks who would chomp their gum, blow bubbles making extremely annoying popping sounds, and then dispose of the gum under their seats. Gum chewers were Earl’s mortal enemies.

Today the gum just wouldn’t come off. Earl Shlepper worked feverishly with his chisel and pick in his hands. He recognized this type of gum, it was the crusty tangerine orange gum, either Flavormint or Tangaswirl (it was hard to say) but both were two of the hardest gums to remove from the backsides of chairs. As Earl bent over and forced the gum to cleave from the floor he felt the little trickles of sweat begin to escape from inside the brim of his hat. Next to gum, Earl’s considered his uniform the worst item in the world. From the first day he started his job at the old theatre he had to wear what he considered to be the goofiest, stupidest hat, shirt, and pants in the world. It resembled that of a doorman’s in some posh hotel from the 1920’s, and quite possibly could have actually been from that time period. Earl adjusted the golden lined brim of his hat and wiped his forehead with his wrist and continued back to the laborious chore of chiseling away the tangerine gum.

So, from this, how old do you think Earl is?

Friday, July 01, 2011

The Guest List, Please

Every year my sister Susie lives it up on her birthday... She goes out to eat, celebrates with friends and family, and always has a great time. It got me thinking. What if I could plan an amazing party? You know, invite anyone in the world. Besides the typical family and friends, if I wanted to extend my list who would I invite? Well, since I am having a party on the 4th, maybe I should invite some people. Well, here it is:



Kate and Wills, I mean, who doesn't want these two at their party?




Barbara Harris, AKA Mrs. Andrews from "Freaky Friday". Farah will tell you I love "Freaky Friday" with Jodie Foster, and her mother in the film is totally ridiculous. She looks like she'd be a hoot at a party.




Weird Al. I've been watching his ridiculous video of "Preform This Way" where he parodies Lady Gaga and I can't get that dumb porcupine out of my head. I love it.




Oprah. Especially if Gayle is in tote. 'Nough said.



Buddy, The Cake Boss. I would love to have this guy at my party. He is rather amazing. Sigh. If only we lived on the east coast.



Abraham Lincoln. Ever since I got over my fear of Lincoln (thanks for that one, Susie) I have been fascinated by this American Icon. He would be good fun at a party because you could play games with his hat.

Those are the party guests as of today... We'll see which ones show up on the 4th.