Well, the last vestige of a successful broad-range local bookstore, Hawley-Cooke has been bought by Borders Books and Music. They will close briefly in a couple of months and reopen as Borders. I don’t know how employment will be affected, but I suppose our closest Hawley-Cooke contact Holly will know. Or her legions of HC spies will know.

Well, today is my 25th birthday. I am now firmly rooted in my mid-twenties, and no rounding error will say otherwise. I’d like to thank my mom, Holly and Geoff for wishing me a Happy Birthday, as well as Jeanette (step-mum), my father Neil, my brother Nick and sister Kristin for wishing me well on my birthday (we went to the tasty Thai Smile 4 for dinner). (Kristin — the Family Guy DVD set was sold out at Target, we have come to find). Even my grandmother called me at work today to wish me a Happy Birthday!

For anyone who didn’t know it was my birthday, that’s cool, because I know I’ve not known/have forgotten plenty of birthdays in the past. I now keep a big list of birthdays (something that everyone should do, but usually rely on their parents for when they are younger). Eve’s birthday was back on the 13th of August, my Uncle Jack’s birthday was yesterday, and Nick Smith’s is the 21st of August, and Jackson Cooper‘s birthday is the 23rd of August.

Oh, I must give a boatload of thanks to my dear, beloved Kelly. She baked me a cake (strawberry cake with cream-cheese icing and blueberries), played “Happy Birthday” on the piano at midnight, and mowed the grass for me yesterday. She left me a message in lip-stick on the mirror this morning, and she also left me a voice-mail exactly at midnight today that I did not notice until just moments ago (I saved it for future playing). She’s so nice and pretty, I do declare.

I get to take a half-day from work today, and I’m going to eat tasty sushi at Bendoya for lunch, and then Mom, Nick, Kelly and I are going out to the Louisville Bats game tonight, and that should be lots of fun…

(11:01:56) jacksoncooper: damn dude. happy birthday! (thanks, jackson)

Jackson, Kelly and I went to the fair yesterday! Bunnies and rednecks and chickens, OH MY! Note well our “weak shouldered” bunny friend over to the right there… We also encountered rockabilly ducks and some odd memorials to Bob Hope and Desert Storm II in aquarium format! The bunnies were extra cute this year.

Check theKentucky State Fair 2003 gallery!

Holly (she’s no dumbass) sent me an op-ed piece at CNN entitled Believe It, or Not and it discusses the shift in American Christian faith (including Catholics, mind you) where more and more Christians believe in the idea of the Virgin birth and that God is the only key to morality (among other things).

As the author Kristof states: “The faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time. The faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time.“

Man, that worries me quite a bit. People that don’t know why they should believe what they believe. I know the word is “faith”, but damn! There are ridiculous numbers of pieces of evidence that state that the Bible isn’t “the word of god”, but a constantly edited piece of literature. Many things that are the bedrock pieces of the faith are later “add-ins” by the clergy. (The “why” of that is another argument all together).

I don’t intend to impugn religious beliefs here but faith is indeed turning away from the hard texts and more into an almost oral tradition of mysticism and mythology. Know your faith, and question it. Know more, assume less.

Many of you may not know about the band Ween, but I think that there song “Where’d the Cheese Go?” might either sum them up, or perhaps give you a good introduction. You see, it was created for Pizza Hut‘s “The Insider” ad campaign, but rejected.

Ween was introduced to me by David Gruneisen, and after listening to the varied tracks he had on his MP3 share at Corvus, I came to appreciate their oddity.

Hey mister, won’t you please help my pony?

special thanks to Geoff for pointing this out!

So, my step-sister Kristin wanted to get her nose pierced. And Kelly, having had a nose-ring for some time and even second time, became the lead conspirator for this journey. Body Art Emporium (chosen by readers of LEO as the “Best Body Piercing” establishment in 2002) was the chosen piercing place. Well, I won’t bore you with details, so here is the gallery of Kristin’s Nose Ring Experience. It was a wee bit painful towards the end, but our man Doc gave it to her for free for the trouble. Nice guy!

The Andy Gallery has been updated with a few before-birth photos, and a bunch of post-birth photos (you thought I was going to say afterbirth, but I didn’t).

I’ve also uploaded a shot of my new desk and surroundings.

check it on the right over there… VisionGS is my new favorite webcam software!

if anyone is still having problems with their e-mail, websites, etc, feel free to give me a call (you should have my number), IM me at “benATthelocust”, or shoot me an email.

Oh, and if anyone (either yourself or a friend) needs reliable web-hosting for cheap, let me know! This new rack has plenty of space and bandwidth, and you know the admin, what more could you want?

As many of you know, I’m a huge White Stripes, and recently Jack White, leader of said Stripes, broke his finger quite badly in a car-accident (that also involved Rene Zellweger, of all people). Well, in a move that can only be called the truest form of fan service — Jack and Meg have provided us with pictures and video of Jack’s finger surgery. Yeah. Watch the video and note that The White Stripes are playing on the intercom in the background. Oh girl! You have no faith in medicine!