Just to clarify...

I think my last post might have left some readers thinking that Mike will be working in NYC full time from now on... Not so. He will be training for the position this week and the next, meaning he will have to take the train in to the city each day, but will only do the job regularly on Monday's. So it actually won't be that bad. It will just make for a long Monday.
W and I went to the library today. A while back a reader had suggested that I read A.J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically. Since it was just recently published, I had to get on the waiting list for it. I was able to pick it up today and started reading it this afternoon during W's nap. So far so good. It chronicles a New Yorker's attempt to follow the Bible as literally as possible in the course of a year. This guy is a writer for Esquire, so separating the secular from the holy presents several interesting challenges for him. So far he's grown a beard (it's gotten past the itchy phase) and has had a Jewish clothing tester come in and inspect his clothing for mixed fibers (the Bible says not to mix wool and linen). The clothing tester admits that he doesn't know why God commanded this, but that since He did, it must mean something to Him. At this, Jacobs made an interesting point in this: yes, it's nitpicky, but isn't that what it's all about? Following God's commandments to a "t"? I mean, it's pretty easy to follow the big and obvious ones, such as not committing murder, adultery, etc, but doesn't your devotion show more when you follow the smaller inexplicable ones?
As for W's favorite book these days, he's really into one that Santa brought for him. It's called Where is Elmo's Blanket? and it has over 30 "nifty flaps to lift!" He really loves it. It's pretty cool how you can as him to point to "Count" or "Ernie" or "Cookie Monster" and he does just that. The best is when you ask him where "Oscar" is and he lifts the flap on the garbage can and exposes Oscar.