My mom and I made him a cake based on Yo Gabba Gabba characters, which he enjoys watching. I think the parents enjoyed the presentation more than he did, however! But he did like his cupcake. And it was good cake. The downside was, unlike last year when we did a Dora the Explorer cake, I had to be careful about frosting intake and eating cake fragments during the making of the cake. The final product came out nicely. The green "fur" is coconut, and the red dots are those terrible tasting cinnamon thingys. The flavor leeched into the frosting and gave it a mild cinnamon taste, which I did not like. It might be better to use either red M&M's or just make frosting blobs with the frosting gun.

And for reference, here is what the characters look like. We got pretty close, considering our medium was cake. Note we gave Brobee a smile, instead of the frown. And made them both a bit squatter, for more cake. There are gaps between Brobee's arms and body, but the coconut obscures that. In the future, we would probably do better to exaggerate the space, so it frosts better.

And just for reference, because I don't think it is on the site anywhere, here is the Dora The Explorer cake from Mary's birthday party last year.

Did not really need the reminder. :) The surgery is done. Now I have a sore throat for a few days. And over the next 10 days y surgical tape should fall off, and since they used glue instead of stitches there should not be anything to remove. Now it's just a waiting game, making sure I don't overdo anything. Nurse Melissa is taking that well in hand. And while the surgeons at Holy Cross were very good, some of the nursing staff left much to be desired. Thank goodness I had Melissa, my parents, my step-parents, and my in-laws there are various times to make sure things got done. The little things like "did he get his insulin?" or "have you tested his blood sugar recently" or "yes, he is diabetic, why did you not know that, it's on the chart." I cannot imagine doing this by myself and I was thankful I did not have to go through it alone.

And thanks to the Thorpes, who watched the dogs for two days. That was a huge help, and they came back very tired, which was great. And thank you to everyone who sent notes of support and encouragement. Those meant a lot.

Illegal bribes and kickbacks—see Bribes and kickbacks in chapter 11 of Publication 535.

A couple years ago, I was talking the Institute’s Bob Johansen about wisdom, and he explained that – to deal with an uncertain future and still move forward – they advise people to have “strong opinions, which are weakly held.”  They've been giving this advice for years, and I understand that it was first developed by Instituite Director Paul Saffo.  Bob explained that weak opinions are problematic because people aren’t inspired to develop the best arguments possible for them, or to put forth the energy required to test them. Bob explained that it was just as important, however, to not be too attached to what you believe because, otherwise, it undermines your ability to “see” and “hear” evidence that clashes with your opinions. This is what psychologists sometimes call the problem of “confirmation bias.”

Yesterday he called to visit me, when, mischievously bent to try his Judgment, I stept into my Closet, tore off the Top of Mr. Caslon’s Specimen, and produced it to him as yours brought with me from Birmingham, saying, I had been examining it since he spoke to me, and could not for my Life perceive the Disproportion he mentioned, desiring him to point it out to me. He readily undertook it, and went over the several Founts, shewing me every-where what he thought Instances of that Disproportion; and declared, that he could not then read the Specimen without feeling very strongly the Pain he had mentioned to me.