2 page article lead in on Pg. 24

Table of Contents: Pg. 2 (next to Twitter founders @ev and @biz)

How funny that the table of contents picture is located directly next to Twitter’s @ev and @biz.  Look out gentlemen, I may be sneaking in as a male model, but it would appear that we’ve got equal billing this week!

Wait, WHAT???

This isn’t something I’m trying to pursue.  It came up pretty randomly, in fact.  Kate’s best friend, Coral Von Zumwalt, is a photographer and used to work with Art as an assistant.  Through this connection, I was asked to fill the role of “American Guy” for a healthcare article.  The other two men considered for the shoot were also 6’3″ 225+.  I’m thinking the casting call went something like:  “Big fleshy white dude….preferably corn fed and slightly sick-looking”.  Well, fit the bill I did and four hours of bright lights and “look here”, “look there”, “look back there” later and the rest is history.

Well Suzy…consider yourself BLOGGED!

Kate recently arranged for the photographer Lisa Roah to come over to the house and take pictures of the kids.  She really did a great job, capturing their little personalities perfectly.  I’m surprised that she was able to get any good shots of Mary Kate who was allegedly one continuous blur of motion during the entire photoshoot.  Jimmy, as usualy, was quite the ham.  I wonder where he getis it from…

For some more shots from the shoot, plesae visit Lisa Roah’s website at: http://www.lisaroah.com/blog/jimmy-mary-kate/

10. Top Chef
I love this show. It would be my top show if this were a bachelor’s DVR. But, it’s not and therefore there are 9 other shows in front of it on the pecking order. Ironically, we seem to always eat something really bland on the night we watch this show. It makes the food on the screen seem that much more enticing. My favorite Top Chef contestant of all time: Hung. Watching him dismember chickens was liquid gold.

9. The Real Housewives of Orange County/New York/Atlanta
Train wreck. That’s the only way to describe this show. In O.C., it’s silicone and botox mixed with greed and lack of parenting skills. In NYC, it seems to be long vacations, big shopping budgets, and skimpy Speedos mixed with poor parenting skills. Atlanta deserves a separate post of its own…let’s just say that those “ladies” could benefit from a heavy does of some Emily Post and, true to form, the kids seemed to raise themselves.

8. Numb3rs
Kate thinks the lead actor, David Krumholtz, is the bees knees. All I know is that he looks like my friend Bobby Cuza. The plots are interesting enough, and they try to be kind of Tom Clancy with a mixture of numbers, science, and criminology. It just seems really forced.

7. Criminal Minds
Once again, watching this show as a couple reminds me of the fact that Kate has a “thing” for Agent Gibson. The show consistently delivers a balanced diet of cerebral and visceral crime drama. I’ll forgive it the occasional cut corner when it comes to plot or special effect in the interest of the greater story line…an FBI unit that follows psychotic or serial killers. Extra points for
Mandy Patinkin (“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father…prepare to die.”)

6. CSI: New York
It’s pretty much the CSI formula. Crime Drama + beautiful agents + Encyclopedia Brown sized capers. The big difference here is the lighting. Whereas Vegas has dark lighting, CSI: Miami has neon lighting, New York has “dramatic lighting” which also seems dark to me. On the CSI scale, I put it ahead of Miami, behind Vegas.

5. Gossip Girl
Blake Lively…Yowza! I think there are other actors and actresses in this show. I’m not really sure about much else. I like the way it uses mobile technology to show how the kids spread information and rumors about one another. Now, if I coud just get my mobile content placed on this show…

4.CSI: Las Vegas
The O.G. DNA tracking, crime scene investigation, murder scene depicting, drama series. I will never forget picking this up on Netflix, back when Kate and I were dating… We’d watch CSI: Las Vegas DVDs for hours on end, just soaking it all up. This series is just, plain, good. We’ll miss Grissom.

3. Sesame Street
Timeless. I watched it. Jimmy watches it. Mary Kate watches it. I love how they work in the celebrity guest stars. Current fav: “I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon” by Aaron Neville.

2. Caillou
At first, I hated this bratty kid. All I new was that if I turned it on, Jimmy would sit mesmerized for 30 minutes as this little French Canadian bald boy would bitch and moan about his day to day activities. Pretty soon, I was hooked and found myself liking little Caillou. It doesn’t hurt that his parents are clearly hippies. Mom rocks the one-piece and clearly doesn’t wear a bra. Go Caillou’s mommy! Caillou’s daddy clearly loses his keys and wallet about as often as I do, which is daily. I’m starting to feel a connection here…

1. Thomas the Train
According to Quicken, Thomas the Train ranks somewhere between “rent” and “college loans” on my monthly expenses. As goes Jimmy’s obsession, so goes our DVR. ‘Nuff said. Thomas grew on me. I’m beginning to really get into the stories and the narration. Favorite engine: Silly Billy.

Honorable Mention:
- Miss America
- Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders
- Jon and Kate Plus 8
- Real World
- The Hills
- The City
- The Secret Life of the American Teenager
- 90210

What we LOVED and wish there were more episodes of:
- Arrested Development
- The Wire

Stuff we used to record, but don’t anymore:
- Jeopardy
- CSI: Miami

What we’re not watching, but that I hear about ALL THE TIME:
- Heroes
- Lost

Can you spot Jimmy in this photo? I’ll give you a hint. Follow Mary Kate’s shadow…

A few mornings ago, the kids and I started the day in the usual way: Jimmy wakes up saying, “Mommy…Daddy…Moooooommmmmyyyyy….Daaaaaddddddyyy”. After a few minutes of this, I usually roll out of bed all groggy and sleepy-eyed. As soon as I open the door, I hear, “Hi Daddy!” from Jimmy. One time he even said, “Party!” out of the clear blue.

After a quick diaper change, we head into the office and get Mary Kate. One thing is constant about Mary Kate’s wake-up routine: the smile. She smiles as big as her face will allow when we enter the room to get her. With both kids in my arms, we head for the kitchen, fill up our babas (daddy’s is hot…careful) and head for the living room to shake off the cobwebs.

This picture catches up to us after the babas and right as we sit down to eat some oatmeal, chopped up strawberries and blackberries, and possibly some baby food for MK. I setup the shot using lighting from the wooden-slotted windowshades and used the -10 second timer. I can’t believe I got both kids to look right at the lens for the shot.

Here’s to great wake ups!