Got Milk?

Don't you think he should be in one of those milk mustache ads?

The Benji Quiz.

You know you want to take it. (And no, you don't need to enter your actual e-mail.)

The quickest acceptance ever.

Last night, I finished up the second of the 24 arrangements and compositions I'm aiming to complete this year. (That is, 24 combined, not 24 of each; I don't have that much time.) I already knew that I was going to send this arrangement of "My Faith Looks Up to Thee" to a major publisher that'd already printed a couple of my pieces, and so I e-mailed it out to my contact there at about 10:00 last night. This morning, when I checked my e-mail for the first time around 9:30, I saw the following message:

"This is a good piece, Matthew. I want to publish it...now and hope that it gets placed into the reading sessions at the AGEHR National Seminar and then put in the next catalog which will come out in the summer '07. If that's agreeable to you I'll send you a contract."

Wow. Talk about a quick response.

Okay, fine. A balance of Benji and non-Benji topics.

For the last 15 minutes, Benji has been playing with a multi-colored plastic Slinky. He seems in equal parts confused and fascinated by it. He pulls both ends apart, and with very little resistance, the thing expands! How crazy this non-womb world is.

---
Dude, I have a Dell. (New Dell laptop, that is.) It is what I am writing this post on.

---
Benji is feeding himself. Sometimes, when I'm feeding him his bottle, he grabs onto it with both hands and holds it well enough that I can actually let go. Admittedly, he generally drops it about two minutes later, but still.

---
Now that I have the laptop, I'm hoping to have more time to do some composing -- last year I completed a dozen "major" works (as in, longer than a hymn or a mass part), and hopefully I can come close to doubling that this year. (19 days in, and I'm at 1 of 24 -- right where I should be.)

---
And combining me and 'Jamin: Let's say that Kim and I want to fund Benji's college education in full 18 years down the line, and let's say he wants to attend a private university. Approximately how much money would Kim and I have to set aside (in a 529, for example) per month for the next...okay, he's crying. Bye.

Meet the uncles

Benji has now met both of his uncles. I'm not sure which one was more scared of holding the baby, but both did well.

I am going to slowly bring bsck non-Benji topics into this blog.

The British "The Office" -- which I saw series 2 and the specials of this week -- is so awesome I decided to watch give the American version another chance last night. Um. That was not so awesome, Dawn's (or whoever's) subtle relaying of Gareth's (or whoever's) condition to his paramour (or whatever) notwithstanding. Tell me, Annie: Is this kind of ultrabroad comedy -- foot burned in a George Foreman Grill, concussion makes Gareth proxy a nicer person -- par for the course for the American version?

What's in your wallet, Benji?

Why, a Capital One card, of course!

A picture is worth, well, you know.

All decked out for Christmas

I'm not so sure Benjamin was always happy in his Christmas outfits, but he sure was cute.

Hey, why are there reindeer where my feet should be?

Is this the reindeer in headlights look?

Benjamin was a total angel during Christmas Eve Mass. He slept peacefully through the whole thing.

What do you mean someone else gets a present today? I want them all!