We had ourselves a Ballon Festival in Chandler.

Woke up yesterday at 6:50am in order to be up when the ballons launched. Mel and I saw them when they first popped up over the fenceline. I went and woke up Jamie and watched the beginnings of the balloon race beginning from Tumbleweed Park.



Last night we went down to the park to see the balloons. Every few minutes the balloons would all light up simultaneously after a 10-count.

We saw the lit skydivers from the road as we were leaving, and watched the fireworks from over the same fenceline.

I'm thinking that balloon day will get better in coming years. This was, after all, the first time they tried it. No sign of balloons today, I might add.

Mrs. League here. Something exciting is finally happening in Chandler, Arizona. The first annual Arizona Balloon Festival is being held this weekend, not 3 miles from our house! If we go tomorrow evening, we'll be able to see over 30 lighted balloons at sunset, dudes jumping out of a plane (Flyin' Elvises!), and fireworks. Wow. My esteemed work colleague Alan hopes that all of this will happen at once, like a live version of Missle Command.

Leaguers, you have to remember that a Saturday night out on the town for Mr. and Mrs. League includes going to a niceish restaurant and a movie. I am psyched.

Recently I was bemoaning the fact via e-mail to Maxwell that I don't have bio page linked here. Not that anyone reading this page isn't already roughly familiar with my bio, but it would be a nice ego stroke to write even more about myself.

Say, said Maxwell, doesn't Blogger have a "profile" section.

And, by jiminy, it does.

So what is my personal profile?

The profile does ask those two all important questions:

About Me

and

Interests

But, what "about me"? I guess this is when I could wow folks with my amazing life story, or something astonishing which is all about me. But I have nothing.

I was born a middle-class kid and graduated from a public university. I married a wonderful girl. I now work for the state of Arizona, live in suburbs, and own a golden retriever.

Wow. Enthralling.

Interests? This is usually where profiles fall apart. People either put too much info or too little. And, invariably, this is where people try to prove how much more interesting they are than other people by listing every eclectic fancy they ever had. You'll find Henna art, interest in obscure artists nobody ever heard of, musicians whose names they found on PitchforkMedia and haven't really ever followed.

You will rarely see "I'm really into Monday Night Football and Everybody Loves Raymond. Oh, and I think NASCAR rocks. Occasionally I get so lazy I will allow myself to watch two episodes back to back of Dharma and Greg in syndication. I also have a Billy the Big Mouth Bass."

Instead, according to blogger profiles, every single blogger is a wildly free artistic soul with an amazingly exotic panoply of tastes and interests.

After that, I am defined by my media.

I note that my comments in the musical section were not published. This is what I said: I don't know anymore. I'm not foolish enough to think that because I own a lot of records in different categories that my tastes are, in any way, interesting to anyone else. Working for a mall based record shop sort of killed my belief that having a favorite music is a good idea. And who really has a favorite band after high school, anyway?

I think what I'm realizing is that I shouldn't have a bio up. And apparently Blogger doesn't think I should either, as they won't print the comments in the musical section. Maybe my disdain for bio by form and my general misnathropy is not very conducive to having a bio at all.

Anyway, I actually filled this out a while ago. I leave this for you guys to read.

Maybe I'll copy Maxwell and have folks write in and turn the whole thing into a contest.

What do you guys think?

I know this has already been circulating for a while, but...



Scientician A: What's the steering wheel for again?

Scientician B: Goddammit, Ernie, it's gotta look futuristic. It's for the Time Travel-o-scope.

Scientician A: And we have pressure gauges why?

Scientician B: To show the doo-hickeys and whatzits clackin' away. Don't you know nuthin' about nuthin'? Now go fetch me those blinking lightbulbs. We gotta fancy up this console. I still say this thing should take up most of a Woolsworth's if it's gonna be from the future.

Hardee's' decides to lighten up their menu
-Mrs. League

Mrs. League presents:
TOYS THAT SHOULD NOT BE

I know that this is probably a comma placement mistake and not a real toy, but I'm damn curious about the "38" Playtime Trampoline Happy, Birthday Bear".

**Update: They fixed the comma already.

Other toys on the bad list this year:
-Pocket Rocket Miniature Motorcycle
-Megabuster Battle Weapon
-Imaginarium Police Car Building Blocks
-Dress Me Paz (I'm imagining Paz as some naked doll version of Tipsy McStaggers)
-Fun Slides Carpet Skates (aren't these usually called socks?)
-Air Burst Rockets
-Parents Magazine Mirror Pound-A-Ball
-3 Gun Squad Set -- Uz-1 Commando Machine Gun

Couple of good news items to get you started...

Austinites and former Austinites... even under Chapter 11, Katz's Never Closes!

I suspect they will pay off their creditors with buckets of pickles.

Look, it's overpriced and the wait can be ridiculous, but I love Katz's. Seriously love it. It would be a shame if they shut down. Of course, Mr. Katz is all but a gangster, so I'd be curious to know where all the money from that joint went. How can you always be busy and still file Chap. 11?

Maybe popularity really fell off since I left... who knows..?

My brother on the weather in Austin last night? It's raining a little bit...

And this isn't so much news as infotainment, but it's Superman related and gets me pumped about primetime television:

Krypto the Superdog may be making an appearance on Smallville.

In addition to appearing briefly in a cameo on JLU this season, Krypto is getting his own cartoon for pre-schoolers, and he's now going to be on Smallville.

From Kryptonsite's Rumorville

Krypto in Smallville?

Here's some gossip for you, that again we're not posting on the spoilers page until there is some official confirmation.

Rumor has it that the title of episode #4-13 is "Krypto." For those of you unfamiliar with the Silver Age Superman comic books or recent stories in current continuity, Krypto is Superman's super-powered dog from Krypton. No word yet on how it will be handled on the show. But hey - we were right about the Flash and Mxyzptlk, so we'd say it's a safe bet!

Stay tuned.