Binkomonster!

Binkomonster. Unmanaged Chaos IS Our Business.

Funny, the title struck me as I was listening to the Pasadena Rooftop Orchestra on the jazz channel last night. Because apparently, one of the albums in their discography = Rhythm is our Business. And lucky for us that the cable jazz station includes all sorts of interesting factoids about the music as well.  It turns out that PRO is *NOT* from SoCal as I would have guessed, but instead hail from the UK (huh!) Yah. Whatever. The music is great, and that's really the thing here.
About an hour of jazz, followed by a wonderful 20 minutes on the patio (it was warm in SF yesterday) with the VeePee, this time listening to Duke Ellington with a glass of Hey Mambo (great stuff guys!) and we were ready to retire. So a shower + jammies for us, and I get to face this:

Yes, that is my stack of reading materials.
Yes, it is quite high.
Yes, I do love my books.
Yes, I've at least gotten a chapter into each save one.
No, the little black thing on the right is not some kind of droid. It happens to be our mini planetarium (for those nights we have trouble falling asleep).

We've given up on TV. The current season of Mad Men is done, and other than reruns which get boring quick, the talking picture repository is a boring wasteland. News is depressing, the financial channels even more so, reality TV is a horror best not discussed nor touched with a 10 foot pole, and sitcoms? Please. At least reading is giving the grey matter a nice sharp edge which is useful. Lucky for us I've had a chance to make a shopping foray at the Stanford bookstore (and what a coincidence! the pile seemed to mushroom substantially right after).  The only problem is that at the rate we continue to accumulate reading material, one day soon, we will be completely buried. We will be like those people you hear about that have obsessive-hoarding syndrome.  Family and friends will begin to wonder that they haven't heard from us, suspicions will get the better of folks, and after prying open any of the doors to our castle, the only thing visible will be three hands sticking up from a sea of tomes. Perhaps I had better make a friendly visit to the local library to part with some volumes that could best be utilized by others. Anyhoo. I digress. So what am I currently reading?

What can I say. I love my physicists.

Memo #6: Surely, You are Joking Mr. Veepee?

From:    The Binkomonster CTO

To:        The Binkomonster VeePee (also known as Cutie, Snuggler, Pumpkin, Squeezy-Cheeks)

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A happy sigh. It continues to be a roller-coaster ride, with signposts whipping by so fast we hardly have time to read the print. Two weeks ago ushered the 4 month anniversary of our VeePee in his current office. I might have scarfed a cookie in honor (or a cocktail, I can't remember). But what I do distinctly recall is that we opened our lovely Petrus 1970 two Sundays ago. And that really was meant to mark the occasion. After all, we had to drink it this year (supposedly, it is at 'peak'), and shlepping it to the NYC satellite office was simply not an option. So hey, a little steak, a bit of potato gratin, a cake from Miette, and Presto! Add wine and get some very happy folks. The new grill that is allowing us to make lovely slabs of charred meat for supper is working just fabby. Now as for you Mr. VeePee, well, what can we say? You continue to grow like super healthy grass, and boy have you shown us glimpses of your personality! No wallflower are you. Nope. You are even more snuggly than BooBoo (and I think he knows because he seems to gravitate and want to cuddle up to you now rather than the tired old executives). And you can giggle. And you seem to be flummoxed by this 'crawling' thing, instead wanting to just get on with it and walk. And the curiosity! I have a sneaking suspicion that the books which now lie so organized in the home office aren't going to be that way forever. But it's all good if it feeds that interested nature of yours. Your smile when we get to see it is amazing. I call it the 10,000 watt special. Because it is. More accurately, it's like the power of 10,000 suns shining down and that translates into some major positive energy. You also have the 'lower lip stickout' which is usually a precursor to imminent meltdown. The silver lining here? At least we get a sign beforehand so we can try all sorts of tomfoolery to head the screaming off at the pass.  We feel so lucky to be able to be spending our time with you little guy. You have no idea how much joy you've brought to the castle. The only thing that could make it better? The ability to slow time down....