Ann, Doug, Lolly, Lolly's boyfriend James and I went to see Phish last night at the Worcester Centrum. As you can probably tell by the setlist, it was an awesome show. Much better musically than New Years' Eve, although MSG is a much nicer place to see a show. I really expected them to play songs from their solo acts at NYE, but better late than never. Highlights included YEM, Moma, Stash, Ghost - well, basically the entire second set. Even Fuckerpants was good - I think wearing the shirt made me enjoy it even more. I'll definitely be picking up a copy from LivePhish Downloads.

Mmmmmm...Vinnie's.

Here are some pictures of the aftermath of the blizzard.

Doug and I went skiing today at Gunstock I tried telemarking for the first time - it was incredibly fun. I feel like I've reached a plateau with my alpine skiing, so it was great to have a new challenge. My hamstrings are killing me!

We are in the midst of Blizzard '03 or the Birthday Blizzard or the Holiday Blizzard, depending on what trashy local news station you watch. It's snowing as hard as I've ever seen - and harder than Ann's ever seen. Luckily we were able to hunker down with some Stone Old Guardian, my Dad's Chex Mix and a little Joe Millionaire.

Teen Girl Squad - the sequel. This one is funny too.

This picture might be one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Yesterday I took Ann cross country skiing in Weston. She did pretty good for only her second time out. It's been a very long time since I've skied on waxless skis - I can't say I loved it, but since I broke my classic racing skis in college (going over a jump trying to impress Reggie) I didn't have much choice. The conditions were excellent, since we got about a foot of powdery snow Friday (following a prediction by the idiot meteorologists that we were going to get 1-3 inches).

Today, we read the book Dear Mr. Lincoln, which is based on the true story of a young girl who writes to Abraham Lincoln and advises him to grow a beard. He takes her advice and does grow a beard! After finishing the book, each child was asked to write a letter to President Bush. I did not give them any prompts about what to write?just to write whatever it was that they wanted to tell him. I swear they came up with all of this on their own!

(The spelling is corrected for ease of reading, but punctuation as provided by the kids themselves)


Dear President Bush,
Please say no to the war. Who is the war going against? I am six. I go to B. School. Thank you! -M

Dear President Bush,
If you want my opinion I would not like a war because they could attack the school. ?C, age six

Dear President Bush,
I?m six years old and I?m in first grade. How old are you? Do you have any children? Don?t do a war. Were you born in Washington DC? -M

Dear George W. Bush,
I think you should pick not to do the war. And I am seven. I know that it is sort of weird that a seven year old kid is writing to you but guess what? My friends are writing to also make people stop killing animals. ?N

Dear President Bush,
Would you please never put oil in the water? Because that kills lots of animals. My name is E. P. and I am seven years old. I think you are a great president. Please tell me what you think of me. ?E

Dear George W. Bush,
I do not want to have a war because people get hurt. I am only six years old. I am in first grade. I have one brother and a mom and a dad. ?J

Dear George W. Bush,
I am six years old. I?m in first grade. Please do not have the war in Iraq. We should have peace on earth. Do you have sons or daughters? Answer soon. Good-bye. ?H

Dear President B.,
I don?t want a war in Iraq. I am six years old. I am a girl. And I am in first grade. How old are you? Do you have any children? ?JD

Dear President Bush,
Please decide not to have the Iraq war! Me and my class do not want you to! What is it like to be a president? Is it fun? Are you proud? You should be proud! -S, age six (almost seven)

Dear George W. Bush,
No! No! No! No war in Iraq. I want peace on earth. I am only six years old in first grade. I don?t want any people to be killed. ?K

Dear George W. Bush.
Please don?t have a war. I don?t want anybody to get hurt. Someday, I want peace in all the earth. I don?t want anybody to be killed or any buildings to be destroyed. ?MP, my age is seven

Dear George W. Bush.
I do not want to have a war because I do not want people to die. I am six years old. I am in first grade. I have brown hair and brown eyes. ?JS

Dear President W. Bush,
Don?t put oil in the Alaska water. I am six and I am in first grade. My school is named
B. School. How old are you? Do you have any children? -JOD

Dear George W. Bush,
I?m seven years old in first grade. I don?t want people to cut down the rainforests. Because animals are dying and oxygen is being destroyed. Please don?t do it, please! -R

Dear President Bush,
Can you please decide not to do the Iraq war? Me and my class do not want you do decide to do the war. Maybe when you shoot, it may kill animals at the same time. Thank you very much. ?M, age seven

Dear George W. Bush,
I?m six years old and I wrote to you because I don?t want you to kill a lot of people. If the Iraqis say they want to fight, don?t tell them that you do want to fight. If they say yes, you say no. ?MH

Dear George W. Bush,
I would think it would not be good for a war against Iraq because some people will die and that is very bad. I?m six. It?s weird for me to help stop the war. -B

On a lighter note:

Yankees Ensure 2003 Pennant By Signing Every Player In Baseball. So funny because it's true. The Lord of the Rings article is damn funny too.

Strong Bad Email?!? - thanks to Liz Kane for this one.

This article sums up a lot of the feelings I had while watching the coverage of the Columbia tragedy. It was really painful to watch all of the coverage and have that old wound opened up again.

A crack me up hysterical site for any of you who actually read this blog. Jaykke, Elyzabethe and Lolleigh, I know you all will like this one.